There are certain points a person suffering from high blood pressure should remember regarding dietary management of high blood pressure for maintaining good patients’ health of the hypertensive patient. Most important he/she should know that the cause of hypertension is generally not clearly known and he/she should avoid factors which may add or aggravate hypertension and increase blood pressure. He/she should understand what hypertension is and learn how to control it through diet and adequate physical exercise.
The following points should be kept in mind:
- Diet of hypertensive person is more or less normal and with proper understanding of hypertension patients’ health can be maintained at desired health state.
- Salt (sodium chloride) is one of the most important causative factors in high blood pressure and should avoid as much as is practicable. Restriction of common salt is one of the most useful non drug management of hypertension.
- Alcohol in moderation (approximately 30-50 ml per day) is beneficial in high blood pressure and heart diseases.
- Regular aerobic exercise to reduce weight is essential part of treatment of high blood pressure. It is possible o reduce blood pressure to some extent only by reducing body weight to normal or slightly below ideal body weight.
- Healthy lifestyle with regular physical exercise, intake of high fiber diet with fresh fruits and vegetables and restriction of fast foods or refined food is essential. Lifestyle modification should be permanent and not for few moths or few years. You should make healthy lifestyle a habit (habit is second nature).
N.B.: There is a saying about habit. If you remove “h”, ‘a bit’ remains. If you remove “a”, ‘bit’ of it still remains. If you remove “b”, still ‘it’ remains. So make healthy lifestyle a habit, and it will remain life long.