(Continued from Part 2) … here are the final three ways to reduce high blood pressure, and a note about the effective DASH diet…

8. Just a small drink

People who drink lots of alcohol can reduce their blood pressure by cutting back. In fact alcohol may increase blood pressure even in moderate drinkers. The National Heart Foundation recommends a maximum of two drinks per day for women and maximum three for men. A standard drink is 100mls wine, 300mls beer or 30mls spirits. A bottle of wine contains 7-8 standard drinks depending on the alcohol content.

9. Skip the sugar

When we cut back on saturated fat in pies, pastries, fatty, processed meat, full cream dairy foods what do we eat instead? One study compared three healthy, low saturated fat diets. One was high in monounsaturated fat, one high in protein and one high in carbohydrate. To put it in food terms, think of a sandwich. Instead of having a salami and cheese sandwich, they either had avocado or peanut butter (mono), baked beans or tuna (protein) or jam (carbohydrate). The protein and monounsaturated fat diets had the best effects on blood pressure and blood fats.

Many of us think if we just swap to the low fat, low glycemic index (GI) version of cakes, biscuits, sweet yoghurt and juice, we are doing the right thing. But a number of nutrition experts now think that eating a low fat diet with lots of processed foods containing sugar and especially fructose (the sugar naturally occurring in fruit and sometimes used by manufacturers to give foods a lower GI) may have harmful health effects including raising blood pressure. Fructose causes an increase in uric acid which in turn inhibits nitric oxide. It is nitric oxide that helps maintain normal blood pressure.

10. Control the coffee

The National Heart Foundation recommends a maximum of five cups of coffee a day. Remember that a double shot latte counts as about three to four cups of instant coffee. If you drink lots of coffee, cutting back to a more moderate level may help your blood pressure.

The DASH Diet

DASH stands for Dietary Approaches for Stopping Hypertension. In this well-known study, the people on the diet reduced their blood pressure within two weeks. Amazingly this was without reducing salt or alcohol! The people who also cut back on salt reduced their blood pressure even more. The DASH eating plan is low in saturated fat, total fat and cholesterol and high in protein, fibre, calcium, potassium and magnesium. It recommends 4-5 serves of fruit, 4-5 serves of vegetables and 2-3 serves of low fat dairy foods each day. It allows only small serves of lean meat and recommends a few vegetarian meals using dried beans, peas or lentils each week as well as some nuts or seeds most days. It limits sweets and sugars.