What foods can prevent high blood pressure?

If you want to prevent high blood pressure, the key is to eat less foods high in sodium, added sugar, and saturated/trans fat. Instead, eat more natural foods that are high in potassium, high in dietary fiber, and contain high-quality unsaturated fatty acids.

When I was doing health education in the community last week, I met a young man in his early 30s. He usually likes to eat braised duck heads and drink iced Coke. He always makes a note to add more spicy and more sauce in every takeout. His blood pressure during the first half of the year had reached 138/92mmHg. It was stuck at the critical high value and he was panicking. He followed my dietary advice for 3 months. Yesterday, when he checked again, it had dropped to 120/78mmHg. In fact, he didn’t eat any special “anti-hypertension food”. He just replaced his daily braised food with a palm-sized piece of lean poultry or fish and shrimp, and his cola with light chrysanthemum tea. He also made a special note on takeaways, “less salt, less sauce, no pickles as side dishes.” Occasionally, he didn’t touch potato chips when he was hungry at night. He just ate steamed corn or an orange.

It’s quite interesting to talk about. There are still many people on the Internet arguing about whether to prevent high blood pressure by not eating egg yolks at all? In fact, this really depends on the situation. The old concept was that the high cholesterol in egg yolks would increase the burden on blood vessels and affect blood pressure. However, clinical studies in recent years have long confirmed that if healthy people eat one complete egg every day, the cholesterol intake will not have a significant negative impact on blood pressure or blood lipids. On the contrary, the potassium and lecithin in egg yolks can also help maintain the elasticity of blood vessels. Only high-risk groups who already have dyslipidemia and a family history of hypertension need to properly control the amount of egg yolks. It is perfectly fine to eat 3-4 yolks a week, and there is no need to kill them with a stick.

You can also pay more attention when you go to the supermarket. Don’t just focus on whether the snacks are delicious. Turn to the back of the package to read the nutritional information. If the NRV per 100 grams of sodium exceeds 30%, try to buy as little as possible. Eat a lot of sweet plums, candied fruits, and bread. The sodium content is frighteningly high. I have seen a 100g pack of plums before. The sodium content accounts for almost 80% of the daily recommended amount. If you keep it in your pocket as a snack and eat it in an afternoon, it is equivalent to eating 4 grams of salt. Excessive sodium intake is the number one culprit of raising blood pressure.

Don’t think that to prevent high blood pressure, you have to eat clear soups and watery foods. Use olive oil and tea seed oil to replace part of the lard when cooking, and eat deep-sea fish twice a week, such as salmon and mackerel. The Omega-3 unsaturated fatty acids in these can also help soften blood vessels, which is much more reliable than spending a lot of money on health products that claim to “lower blood pressure.” Of course, that doesn’t mean you can’t eat serious food at all. Occasionally, it’s okay to meet up with friends for hot pot or skewers. Just don’t eat it every day. After all, the prevention of high blood pressure is a long-term thing. It relies on slowly adjusting your usual eating habits. Problems will not arise if you eat the wrong meal.