20 Foods to Avoid With High Blood Pressure

Various people in this world suffer from high blood pressure and hypertension. This is a condition in which the normal speed of blood flow in your blood vessels increases at an unusual and alarming level. As a result, your blood vessel walls are weakened and your heart will begin to pump at a higher-than-normal speed also. It is this fast pumping that causes your heart to get over-exerted, an activity that results in heart attacks and other heart troubles. That said, high blood pressure or hypertension can be decreased with the help of certain foods. However, others might aggravate the condition and give you a more difficult time. Let's explore Foods to Avoid With High Blood Pressure and how they can impact your health. 20 Foods to Avoid With High Blood Pressure 1. Salt When it comes to problems of hypertension, salt certainly is the worst culprit. Anytime you increase the sodium content in your diet, you end up disturbing the ion balance of your body which is usually extremely sensitive. This increased sodium content results in the kidney's failure to effectively filter your blood. Once the kidneys are unable to produce sufficient urine and in a good manner, the amount of water in the blood will increase leading to a subsequent increase in blood pressure. Based to food experts or nutritionists, for everyone to avoid suffering from hypertension, they have to maintain their sodium intake below 1,500 milligrams. Read also: Top 7 Fruits Good for Kidney Health and How to Use Them for Detox 2. Refined Oil / Margarine Refined oils refer to a sort of fat that contains additives. These additives help you to make the oil appear cleaner and clearer. While the end result after these additives seems great, the truth is that these refined oils and margarine are filled with omega-6 fats. Therefore, this increases your risk of developing heart disease especially if you are diabetic. It also causes you to be more susceptible to both blood clotting and additionally urinary retention. Read also: 15 Best Foods to Lower High Blood Pressure Naturally 3. Popcorn Popcorn could be a healthy food simply as long as you are making it yourself at home. This particular way, you keep away from soaking the popcorn in caramel, and butter and sprinkling either in excess of salt or sugar over it. Remember that the popcorn that's available in supermarkets or the type you buy in movie theatres is loaded with both sodium and margarine. Margarine might be an inexpensive option compared to butter, but it is surely much more dangerous. Therefore, if you really have to eat popcorn, make it yourself. 4. Cheese Besides the fact that cheese is not good for people who are lactose intolerant, it is also not good for your overall health. It is indeed tasty and to some degree has some health benefits like providing you with protein and calcium; however, the type you find in supermarkets is packed with salt which isn't great for your blood pressure. Whenever you eat too much cheese you get an increase in cholesterol levels and as a result, you increase your chances of getting heart disease. Read also: 5 Natural Ways to Lower Blood Pressure and Improve Heart Health 5. Canned Soups Whenever you see canned soups displayed, it is easy to believe that they are so nutritious. They look great in advertisements also, since the manufacturers state that they are loaded with healthy and nutritious vegetables. But, this is not the case. These canned foods simply aggravate hypertension. They contain a lot of sodium which is bad for you as it increases just how fast blood flows in your vessels. Therefore, when you're buying a canned soup, make sure that you go for one that is labeled "low sodium." 6. Deli Meats Deli meats refer to processed meats that have been made to last for a prolonged period without getting spoiled. Many people like going for these especially since you can use them to make a quick sandwich which they consider nutritious. Because the meats are loaded with sodium, this couldn't be further from the truth. Simply a two-ounce serving of deli meats possesses close to 600 mg of sodium. When you pair the deli meat with other components while you make your delicious sandwich, the sodium content shoots to an even higher level. Read also: 14 Foods You Didn’t Know Could Kill You 7. Chinese Take-Out For many people, Chinese take-outs have grown to be a favorite. This is undoubtedly as we live such a fast-paced daily life and in such a society, we rarely have enough time to prepare healthy meals daily. Therefore, we quickly jump at the opportunity to get budget-friendly options and quick foods like Chinese take-out. Sad to say, these Chinese take-outs possess so much oil with a lot of sodium in them. This would explain why if you looked at sautéed veggies from a Chinese food place, you would notice that it's rather shiny. Chinese take-out also is full of canned sauces which might be high in sodium and other ingredients that put you at risk of developing hypertension. 8. Frozen Pizzas People believe frozen pizzas are a quick and great fix when they are unable to cook lunch or maybe when they are too lazy to get something to eat. With them, all you have to do is pop them inside your oven for a few minutes and let the cheese start melting. Also, allow the dough to turn golden and crispy in color. That said, to conserve your frozen pizza, you will need a fair amount of salt. As you know, this type of sodium content makes blood pressure much more aggressive and also makes you a lot more susceptible to different heart diseases. 9. Tomato Sauce Can Anytime you go for a pre-made sauce, keep in mind that it's a sodium bomb. They contain a lot of salt because the salt is used to preserve them. This same salt then causes a disturbance in your body’s electrolyte balance. When the electrolyte balance in your body is disturbed, your kidneys also get affected. The final result is then an increase in blood pressure levels. This just means that your beloved pasta dish may be the cause of your unhealthy high blood pressure thanks to the sauce. 10. Pickles In many cases, when you need to preserve anything, salt would be the answer. This is exactly what happens with pickles. These vegetables heavily depend on salt to stay fresh however, the worst part is that they are often dipped in plenty of oil or vinegar so that they can ferment and keep taste. A lot of people eat pickles with some sort of side dish. Sometimes they are also put in burgers and sandwiches in different parts of the world. These high amounts of sodium aggravate your blood pressure, which you don't want. Read also: 15 Unhealthy Foods That You Should Avoid 11. Alcohol If you're a fan of alcoholic drinks, it will be depressing to know that there isn't a single health benefit of drinking alcohol. Any time you eat too much of it, you are going to experience an increase in your blood pressure levels temporarily. But, if this turns into a trend, there will be long-term effects which include high blood pressure, along with other heart diseases. If you develop the habit of drinking alcohol, you are more likely to become obese. Obesity simply increases your chances of getting high blood pressure. 12. Baked Goods Baked goods come with impressive smells and could seem to be healthy because some of them have been marketed as such. For some, their great taste reminds you of particular fruits. That as well as the idea of eating something that is freshly baked seems nutritious and healthy. But, remember that these baked goods contain a lot of sugar which might cause a spike in your blood pressure levels. Salt is also added to all pastries, bread, croissants, and other cakes. It is this quantity of salt that increases blood pressure because of the sodium increase in your bloodstream. 13. Bacon Eating bacon is a sure way to add on calories, which is not a great idea. They are just sticks of fats that have been fried with pools of cholesterol. The worst thing about them is that so many people like to add bacon for breakfast, which is the most essential meal of the day. Therefore, if you create the habit of eating something unhealthy in the morning, the effects are even more adverse compared to if you eat them at any other time of the day. Because of the amount of extra fat in bacon, your blood pressure will increase resulting in overexertion of your heart. 14. Coffee Coffee has its share of amazing benefits and is such a great drink to get in the morning. It's also a terrific substitute for an energy drink. But, if you drink large amounts of caffeine you could witness a spike in your blood pressure. This results in hypertension. Coffee can furthermore allow you to lose your libido which is another reason to reduce your intake. Remember, since the blood pressure level spike that's a direct result of drinking coffee is so sudden, it may lead to even more harm to you. 15. Candy Chocolates, toffees, and candy bars additionally result in an increase in the amount of sodium in your body. Candy also can cause a violent spike in your blood sugar levels which results in high blood pressure. If you take sugary foods in large quantities, you may also become obese and overexert your heart. This can raise your blood pressure levels and cause you to have more heart disease. 16. Carbonated Drinks Carbonated drinks are harmful and supply the body with a lot of unwanted sugars. Additionally, they cause a lot of different diseases aside from just aggravating your blood pressure. If you develop the habit of drinking carbonated drinks, you will also ruin your oral health and your body will become dehydrated. This sort of dehydration can cause an imbalance in your body's electrolytes leading to hypertension and a subsequent rise in your blood pressure. You will be much healthier if you limit the amount of carbonated drinks you drink. 17. Ramen Noodles Ramen noodles, cup noodles, or any other pre-packaged noodle meal is preferred among lazy adults and college students but highly damaging to your body. Just one package of generic ramen noodles contains 14 grams of unwanted fat and a whopping 1,580 mg of sodium. The small flavor packet that comes with it is the main culprit, containing most of the sodium. 18. Red Meat When you go to a doctor and they find out that you have high blood pressure the first thing they'll advise you to do would be to give up eating red meat or to significantly reduce the quantity you eat. Red meat provides the body with a lot of haem iron and this haem iron is connected with blood pressure. Red meat has also a lot of sodium in it as compared to white meat which is why you need to generally reduce your intake of it. After all that you do not want to develop hypertension. 19. Donuts Donuts are generally a preferred snack for people of different ages. They are however really unhealthy and destroy one's oral health. Acid is deposited in your mouth, and that's how they do it. Donuts moreover result in obesity and we know that obesity leads to hypertension. Furthermore, it causes an exertion of your heart and also a spike in your blood sugar levels therefore aggravating your blood pressure further. 20. Whole Milk Didn't expect to find this one along the list, did you? Milk is a fantastic source of calcium, but high-fat dairy sources, like whole milk, offer you much more fat than you need. At least one cup serving of whole milk has about 8 grams of fat, 5 grams of which are saturated. Saturated fats are even worse for you than some other types and have been associated with heart disease. Try using 2 % milk or, a lot better, 1 % or skim.

3. Popcorn

4. Cheese

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