Managing Your Blood Pressure by Lowering Your Sodium Intake

Regular check-ups with your physician will allow you to keep on top of your current blood pressure.  It is up to you to help reduce your risk of high blood pressure by maintaining a healthy eating plan low in sodium, a healthy body weight and regular exercise.

Lowering your Sodium Intake

Lowering your intake of sodium is one of the key components from the recently released 2010 Dietary Guidelines for Americans. Although sodium is a component that is necessary in our diet, often times we include too much of it.  Too much sodium increases your risk of high blood pressure and heart disease. Reduce daily sodium intake to less than 2300 mg; for adults 51 or older, African Americans, those with hypertension, diabetes or chronic kidney disease reduce to 1500 mg per day.

Try the following tips to help curtail your sodium intake:

Read the labels: Soups, breads, canned foods and frozen meals are often packed with sodium.  The next time you are in the supermarket take a look at the nutrition label and choose the foods with the lower sodium numbers. Some boxes to pay attention to are cereals, crackers, pasta sauces, canned beans and vegetables and frozen meals.  Low sodium on a label means the product has less than 140 mg of sodium per serving; very low sodium means 35 mg or less per serving and salt or sodium free means less than 5 mg sodium per serving AND does not contain sodium chloride.

Balancing act: If you feel your next meal will be higher in sodium than you would like, try balancing it with potassium. Potassium citrate is naturally found in some foods and has been shown to lower blood pressure.  Foods that are great sources of potassium include bananas, raisins, orange, potato, dried beans and peas, salmon, sunflower seeds and yogurt.

DASH Diet: The DASH diet stands for Dietary Approaches to Stop Hypertension. This meal plan is low in sodium and rich in fruits, vegetables, whole grains, low-fat and non-fat dairy products. The DASH diet has been shown to have blood pressure lowering effects.
To learn more about the DASH diet and how medical nutrition therapy can help you, Contact Bonnie R. Giller, MS, RD, CDN, CDE and get started on your journey to a healthier lifestyle!

Avoid Added Salt: Often times, restaurants include additional salt to their dishes.  The next time you are dining out, make a request to your waiter/waitress to ask the chef to please leave off any additional salt to your dish.

Become familiar with herbs and spices: When cooking your next meal, leave out the salt and experiment with various herbs and spices.  Try basil, curry powder or ginger on your fish, or season your poultry with rosemary, thyme or marjoram.

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