Once
hypertension has been diagnosed, there is no cure unfortunately but you can control it through proper diet, exercise,
stress management and drugs. If you are
overweight then yes losing weight will surely bring down your blood pressure. Exercise when done regularly will also help in controlling BP and having a well-balanced diet which includes plenty of fruits and vegetables as they are good sources of potassium in our diet also helps to lower BP. Cut down on fat intake from butter, clarified butter, milk cream, margarine and fatty meats if non-vegetarian. Choose lean meat, fish chicken and eggwhites.
Choose refined vegetable oil for cooking such as olive oil, canola, rice bran oil etc and limit its intake to not more than 3-4 tsp in a day per person.
Include low fat milk/curd and cheese. Avoid processed cheese as it is rich in sodium.
Cut down on your intake of salt which raises BP. You can do this by following:
1. Limit salt intake to not more than 5 gm or 1 leveled teaspoon per day.
Add salt to foods after cooking to retain the flavour. This way you can also control the amount of salt that you take in.
2. Avoid salt preserved foods like ketchups, sauces, pickles, processed, canned and packaged foods like ready-to-eat meals, chips, salted biscuits, salted nuts etc.
3. Use lemon, vinegar, black pepper and herbs for seasoning and flavour instead of salt.
4. Read food labels of packaged foods for sodium content/salt content and avoid highly salted ones.
Try to de stress by
meditation, do some deep breathing exercises in fresh air which will help in reducing stress and lower BP as well.
Alcohol and
smoking also raises BP so steer clear of such habits.