How to control high blood pressure through diet

The most important thing for patients with hypertension is their daily diet. A reasonable diet can better control the increase in blood pressure. The daily diet should be light, and pickled and fried foods should be avoided. The diet should be high in potassium, calcium, and magnesium, and low in fat and calories.

1. Follow the dietary principle of "five highs and three lows". The principle for hypertensive patients to choose food is "five highs and three lows". That is, high in calcium, potassium, magnesium, vitamins, fiber, and low in sodium, calories, and fat. This type of food includes vegetables such as celery, onions, potatoes, carrots, mushrooms, water chestnuts, fruits such as bananas, citrus, persimmons, papayas, as well as milk, dairy products, fish, shrimp, kelp, sesame, dark green vegetables, nuts, etc.

2. Eat less smoked food. Smoked food contains more sodium salt, which can easily cause fat to deteriorate during the smoking process. Excessive intake can easily aggravate the symptoms of high blood pressure. Therefore, foods such as smoked meat and smoked fish should be eaten less or not.

3. Avoid eating fried food. High-temperature frying will destroy vitamin A, B vitamins, vitamin C, and vitamin E in the oil, and cause fatty acids to deteriorate. The longer the frying time, the more likely harmful substances will be generated. Studies have shown that if the frying temperature exceeds 200°C and the frying time exceeds 2 minutes, a large amount of cyclic amines will be formed. Cyclic amines and deteriorated fatty acids enter the human body with fried food and can damage the liver, blood vessels, and heart, easily cause high blood pressure, and easily cause cancer.

4. Avoid eating pickled food. Pickled food contains more nitrates and nitrites. Once they react with secondary amines in meat to form ammonium nitrite, it can increase the risk of gastric cancer. Excessive salt can also easily lead to high blood pressure and increase the burden on the kidneys.