High Blood Pressure

[moldy]

The human autonomic nervous system (ANS) which controls blood pressure (BP) is a highly sensitive machine. Doctors love to prescribe drugs against high BP but it is actually much much better to change your lifestyle - more exercise, better eating (and drinking) habits, cut smoking, etc. than to use drugs.

I've read this thread and understand that:

More exercise

Better eating and drinking habits

Quitting smoking can help lower BP.

Question:

Are there any specific foods that help lower Blood Pressure?

I don't believe there are any foods that actually lower blood pressure. Take away the salt, donuts, coffee, fat, booze, and sugar and I suppose you are left with the foods that should be eaten.

If you find that rather onerous, then mild exercise progressing up to moderate exercise will lower your blood pressure and probably heart rate too. But if there are question marks over your blood pressure you must get the go ahead from a doctor first and for heavens sake be sensible about it.

[agudbuk]

The human autonomic nervous system (ANS) which controls blood pressure (BP) is a highly sensitive machine. Doctors love to prescribe drugs against high BP but it is actually much much better to change your lifestyle - more exercise, better eating (and drinking) habits, cut smoking, etc. than to use drugs.

I've read this thread and understand that:

More exercise

Better eating and drinking habits

Quitting smoking can help lower BP.

Question:

Are there any specific foods that help lower Blood Pressure?

I don't believe there are any foods that actually lower blood pressure. Take away the salt, donuts, coffee, fat, booze, and sugar and I suppose you are left with the foods that should be eaten.

If you find that rather onerous, then mild exercise progressing up to moderate exercise will lower your blood pressure and probably heart rate too. But if there are question marks over your blood pressure you must get the go ahead from a doctor first and for heavens sake be sensible about it.

You could try to reduce cholesterol levels which in the long term may help with BP

Plant stanols found in some yoghurt drinks and "butter/ margarine" spreads (Benecol ) and

Oatmeal as in plain porridge both are said to reduce Cholesterol levels

[ThaiPauly]

A year after I started this thread my BP is now much lower, I do keep an eye on it, 130/95 was yesterday's reading.

I have not really changed my lifestyle, still smoking and drinking too much, but it seems not to be a problem at the moment.

There are definatley changes I want to make to it, but its very difficult as my back problem makes it virtually impossible to do any excercise, but my weight has remained constant and I am only about 5 kgs overweight

[Wrong Turn]

You could try to reduce cholesterol levels which in the long term may help with BP

Plant stanols found in some yoghurt drinks and "butter/ margarine" spreads (Benecol ) and

Oatmeal as in plain porridge both are said to reduce Cholesterol levels

Yeah. Every morning I have Oats, with cinnamon and a banana for breakfast, for cholesterol.

I'm also to to reduce sodium intake. Sodium can be in many foods (especially restaurants) but we're unaware of how much, and we often cannot actually taste the sodium in our foods.

I am going for moderate paced walks 3x per week from about 1.5 to 2 hours.

(Thanks also, to Moldy for the info on foods. I suppose it's about elimination and reduction.)

[moldy]

You could try to reduce cholesterol levels which in the long term may help with BP

Plant stanols found in some yoghurt drinks and "butter/ margarine" spreads (Benecol ) and

Oatmeal as in plain porridge both are said to reduce Cholesterol levels

Yeah. Every morning I have Oats, with cinnamon and a banana for breakfast, for cholesterol.

I'm also to to reduce sodium intake. Sodium can be in many foods (especially restaurants) but we're unaware of how much, and we often cannot actually taste the sodium in our foods.

I am going for moderate paced walks 3x per week from about 1.5 to 2 hours.

(Thanks also, to Moldy for the info on foods. I suppose it's about elimination and reduction.)

Wrong Turn. I think it's the elimination and reduction that makes it seem such a chore. I reckon balance in all things. I understand stress is a major cause of high blood pressure too, so possibly just being relaxed will lower BP. Indulging yourself with a bar of choc, a few pints and maybe cigs too makes you feel good - possibly there is a trade off then.

Op, you have my utmost sympathies with the back problem. Do you think you could manage using one of those sit back and relax bicycle machines ?. You see exercise is so important. I think carrying a few pounds extra is neither here nor there generally, but if you have a back problem I'm guessing it might be best to slim down if you can.

But the more I read up on this subject the more it seems there is no norm really. The danger is people come on and say you should be 120/80 or whatever as if that is equivalent to getting A+ in an exam. It just isn't like that and various factors come in to play, not the least of which is age. OP for instance is pretty much where you'd expect a 30-50 year old to be really.

[moldy]

This is more by way of interesting discussion than any medical fact

As I was surfing for info. one site stated that Asian people tend to have higher blood pressure. This might be explained by greater incidence of smoking, fatty foods, etc, but might it also be a way of coping with the heat. Certainly people with low blood pressure tend to suffer the heat more as I recall.

So maybe some rise is to be expected perhaps and may even be desirable (within reason).