In Reply to: high presure posted by john clemens on September 24, 2000 at 22:07:08:
: please advise me on a good diet for lowering blood presure
There is no diet in itself that will lower blood pressure if you have been diagnosed with high blood pressure.
It is usually recommended that you limit salt in your diet, even though you may not be salt sensitive, because salt retains body fluids which can tend to raise blood pressure. Also limit or avoid caffeine (regular coffee, tea, colas and processed chocolate are examples of beverages and foods that contain caffeine).
It is also recommended you avoid stress which can temporarily raise blood pressure.
It is also recommended that you start a regular exercise program, aerobic type, but only after clearing with your doctor. Exercise tends to help lower blood pressure.
High blood pressure is a risk factor for heart disease, so a low fat diet, especially low in saturated fat, would be to your benefit.
You should also make sure that you don't have secondary hypertension where there is a medical reason for your hypertension such as a kidney problem. This only happens in about 10% of cases. About 90% of the time a person with hypertension has what is called essential hypertension for which there is no known cause except it does run in families. With essential hypertension, medication is usually needed to keep your blood pressure under control.
Ken