Besides lowering your salt intake to reduce your blood pressure, getting more potassium in your diet will help with hypertension too. According to The Journal of Clinical Hypertension, adult cases of hypertension would decline by 10% if people got more potassium in their diet. High blood pressure is the most common reason for people to visit the doctor and the pharmacy.
In cultures that eat a lot of
fruits and vegetables, hypertension only affects about 1% of the population. This is because they eat more of a whole food diet, where as an industrialized society such as ours, processed and pre-prepared foods are more commonplace. Frozen meals and pre packaged food contain high sodium content from the sauces and preservatives.
According to the American Heart Association, the average American diet consists of double sodium and just half the
potassium that adults need. An adult needs 4,700 milligrams of potassium every day according to federal dietary guidelines.
These are some foods you should eat to increase your intake of this nutrient. Potatoes, sweet potatoes, fish – halibut, tuna, and beans like white beans or lima beans; bananas are the most common food people think of because the content is so high.
Magnesium and calcium have also shown to reduce hypertension. If you make an effort to eat fruits and vegetables on a regular basis, you’ll undoubtedly consume the vitamins and nutrients you need to maintain a healthy diet.
