How to Decrease High Blood Pressure

Filed under: General Health, Nutrition, Training, Weight Loss

I know I have been talking about Tim Collins a lot this week, but it is a truly amazing story. EC and Pete flew out to Kansas City to see him on Opening Day yesterday, and lo and behold Timmy got to pitch the 9th inning. While KC lost 4-2, Timmy threw 19 pitches, 10 for strikes leading to 1 hit, 1 walk, 1 strikeout and 0 runs. Not too shabby for a 21 year old kid huh?

I also hope that those of you not living in the Northeast are loving life right now, as up here in Augusta, Maine we are projected to get 8-14 inches of heavy, wet snow today! Awesome! I love shoveling.

Anyway, onto actual nutrition content.

Jonny Bowden had a recent article called Foods to Fight High Blood Pressure that I thought was excellent overall. However I feel that there were a few important points that were left unsaid that I wanted to touch on and expand on the topic a bit. To truly get the most out of this post, I recommend you read that one first, though I will provide a small recap:

• Approximately 1 in 3 US adults has high blood pressure, and 25% of them don’t even know it
• High blood pressure is directly responsible for over 56,000 US deaths each year
• The research generally shows that excess sodium in our diets contributes to high blood pressure for many
• While cutting back sodium can help, consuming more potassium can be just as effective for managing blood pressure
• In fact increasing potassium intake without decreasing sodium will still improve blood pressure
• Here is the list JB provides on potassium containing foods:

1. Swiss Chard – 961 mg per cup
2. Bananas – 422 mg in one medium banana
3. Spinach – 839 mg per cup
4. OJ – 496 mg per cup
5. Dried apricots – 550 mg per 1/4th cup (1 serving)
6. Sweet potatoes – 542 mg per medium sweet potato
7. Avocados – CA variety – 690 mg per, FL variety – 1067 mg per
8. Cantaloupe – 368 mg in 1/4 of a medium cantaloupe
9. Figs – 381 mg per half cup
10. Peaches – 322 mg in one large peach
11. Beans – 477-1224 mg per cup
12. Kale – 299 mg per cup

• Some other foods lower blood pressure by other mechanisms such as celery, garlic, beet juice, whey protein powder and vitamin D.

Now my two cents.

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