High blood pressure is associated with heart disease, poor diet, lack of exercise, and type-II diabetes. One third of all adults have high blood pressure, or hypertension. Hypertension is also associated with rising rates of obesity. In other words, it's not good, and you need to lower it. Common remedies include exercise, limiting alcohol, eliminating smoking, and reducing salt intake. I want to share some recent findings that show how other dietary changes can lower blood pressure.
Increase your potassium. To do this, you need more avocados, bananas, chard, lima benas, and sweet potatoes. However, it's hard to reach the recommended 4700 mg per day. I'd definitely supplement with potassium, as most MVs don't even come close to giving you what you need, even if you eat a lot of fruits and vegetables.
If you like chocolate, then here's good news for you. Danish researchers found that Dutch men with the highest consumption of cocoa from food and beverages had the lowest blood pressure and the lowest rates of cardiovascular disease. Flavonoids in chocolate relax arteries. Don't worry about studies that show that chocolate lowers body density. These studies didn't control for crappy diet and milk chocolate. Get Endangered Species chocolate.
Olive leaf extract. I mentioned this in my post about the immunity diet. This has been found to lower blood pressure with suppplementation of 250-500 mg.
Garlic- supplementation of 600-900 mg can reduce blood pressure as much as prescribed beta-blockers
Relax- Good times, music, scripture, comedy, and quiet time can relax your mind and arteries. A recent American Heart Association Study showed that old people with high blood pressure lowered their systolic blood pressure (the top number, by the way), by 6.4% by listening to music.
I haven't tried consuming olive leaf extract with garlic while I work out. It coudn't hurt, but it wouldn't be too palatable!
Kevin
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