Are you suffering from high blood pressure? Then don’t take it lightly. It is ruining your body chronically over the years since the symptoms are not revealed. Hypertension, commonly known as high blood pressure is a big risk factor that increases the chance of fatal heart failure. Complication regarding high blood pressure may initiate dementia, poor eyesight, and kidney failure and artery aneurysm. If it is left untreated, high blood pressure may enlarge your left heart that limits the required blood flow to the rest of the body and results in sudden death due to cardiac arrest.
Effects of uncontrolled high blood pressure in the body
Why high blood pressure is dangerous?
In the normal process, the heart pumps blood through the smooth arteries. Healthy arteries are strong, elastic, and flexible. Inner walls are clear so that blood flows uninterrupted, supplying nutrients and oxygen to the vital organs. But in case of high blood pressure or hypertension, the pressure of normal blood flow through the arteries is gradually increased. As a result, it damages the inner linings of the arteries and makes it non-elastic. This, in turn, conceals the required flow of blood in the body. A consistent flow of blood through a weak artery may enlarge its wall and form a bulge (aneurysm) which is responsible for deadly internal bleeding.
Affects Heart
Hypertension increases blood flow, more than the required rate for the body. The heart needs to work harder while pumping blood to the entire body due to high blood pressure. This causes the left ventricle to stiffen, losing elasticity (left ventricular hypertrophy). This reduces the efficiency of blood pumping to your body that yields a sudden cardiac death.
Brain Death
Like your heart, your brain depends on blood and nutrients. When the brain is deprived of sufficient blood or oxygen, blood cells are caused to die, and stroke occurs. Disease like dementia (disability of speaking, reasoning, or memory), Transient ischemic attack (TIA), and blindness are the result of high blood pressure.
However, the good news is adopting a better lifestyle, and a healthy diet can reduce the risk of threatening complications with high blood pressure.
Foods to avoid with high blood pressure
The key advice is to stay away from sodium saturated and processed foods.
Salt
Each salt grains is equal to poison for the people with high blood pressure or heart disease. Say no to salt or sodium saturated products. Avoid any type of processed or preserved foods. They are considered as the sodium bomb. Swimming has lots of benefits even it can control blood flow and improve health.
Deli Meat
Processed deli lunched meat are stuffed with sodium as it is preserved with salts. A small piece can contain about 500 mg of sodium. Chicken skin & red meat are full of saturated and Trans fat. Adding pickle, condiments, and cheese with your simple sandwich becomes a great source of sodium.
Frozen Pizza
Any type of pizza is hazardous to intake as a diet in high blood pressure. It combines cheese, cured meat, tomato sauces that are good resources of sodium. It is suggested to stay away from frozen pizzas in hypertensions.
Pickles & Preserved Tomato Sauces
Preservation of food requires salt as mixing salt as a preserving agent makes food edible for a longer period. Salt delays the decaying of preserved foods such as pickles, tomato sauces, etc. However, these foods are very dangerous for high blood pressure. Even tomato products with added salts are harmful.
Canned & Packaged Soups
Time-saving & easy to prepare canned soup is high sodium saturated. If you’re a high blood pressure victim, these foods are too dangerous for your health. It is better to make your own low sodium soup recipe.
Alcohols
Alcohols are full of calories that can lead to weight gain that is also harmful to high blood pressure. It also spoils the medication of high blood pressure. Excessive intake of alcohol increases blood pressure.
Now that you are well aware of the foods that are a big no-no during hypertension try to maintain a healthy diet. A little attention can keep the hazardous risk factors of high blood pressure at bay.
