As garden season approaches and we’re all longing to get our hands in the dirt, consider planting these foods that can help you fight hypertension or high blood pressure or buying them from your local farmers market:
Hypertension
Your Rx from the Garden: garlic, spinach, potatoes, onions, sunflower seeds, dried beans
Also known as high blood pressure, hypertension is a silent killer. Millions of us have it and don’t know we have it, so we don’t treat it, placing oourselves at risk for heart attacks and strokes.
If you have a blood pressure monitor or make use of one at your local pharmacy, keep a few things in mind:
• Blood pressure can change throughout the day. It’s usually lowest early in the morning.
• Blood pressure goes up when you’re moving around. If you’re taking a reading, sit still for at least five minutes before measuring.
• Blood pressure responds to stress and illness. When you visit your doctor’s office you may experience “white coat hypertension,” which is one of the most common forms of elevated blood pressure, but it usually temporary. Many of us get nervous in the doctor’s office, and often our blood pressure will be elevated due to an illness or pain.
• If your doc tells you that your pressure is high, ask for a second reading later in the visit r ask if you can monitor your blood pressure at home over the coming month to determine whether there is really a problem. Long-term stress is another story, and it should be addressed to eliminate one of the most common underlying causes of hypertension.
Your Garden to the Rescue
Garlic is a primo vegetable to help relax blood vessels. Allicin, a sulfur compound that give garlic is odor and its power, has been shown to relax blood vessels and lower blood pressure as well as some other impressive heart healthy benefits we’ll talk about in the cholesterol-lowering section.
Spinach, sunflower seeds and dried beans (think kidney beans, pintos and navy beans) are all good sources of magnesium. Your blood vessels are like rubber tubes that are stretched to the max, making them thin and taut. But if the tension on the tube is released, the tube becomes wider and more flexible. Magnesium works just like that in your arteries, helping blood flow more easily and lowering pressure. Studies show that people who eat magnesium-rich diets have lower blood pressure.
Potatoes (baked or roasted, without butter or sour cream, please!) are an excellent source of potassium (as are the above mentioned foods) that helps regulate fluid balance in the body. Excess water, fluid buildup and bloating (usually caused by a sodium-potassium imbalance) put extra pressure on the blood vessels and increases blood pressure. Getting extra potassium from potatoes and other veggies can help reduce the fluid buildup and normalize blood pressure.
