A Newbie to this site!
I have been diagnosed with High Blood Pressure and would love any recipe ideas to help reduce this. I do not smoke and drink very little. I swim 3,4 sometimes 5 mornings a week. Any other suggestions to help with this would be much appreciated.
I've read beets, beet juice, and beet juice powder can help lower blood pressure. You could mix the powder into muffins or brownies, or put in a smoothie or just mix it in water. I think beets would go nicely in a salad as well. 
Hi Bezzer52 ,
Welcome to the Healthy Eating forum. There's a page here from NHS Choices that you might find helpful:
nhs.uk/Livewell/hypertensio...
Wishing you a great weekend.
Zest
Hi, bad luck! I too have found out I have high blood pressure and quite high cholesterol. I'm not overweight, or even plump, dont drink more than 3 units a week and eat healthily. Ive tried raw beetroot every day for weeks, eating oatbran daily, barley, only wholegrain anything and lots of veg. I started walking at least two miles several times a week, deliberately including as many hills as possible. Still during a period of personal crisis my readings were often 200/115. I now take one amlodipine a day and am usually in the yellow or orange range of my monitor rather than the three red readings. This is slightly higher than preferred but avoids faintness etc of being too low. If u r unlucky enough to be genetically disposed to this condition I think medication is the only solution. I have carried on eating as healthily as I can, most meals r based around veg. It can only do u good and im sure it helps (consider we all live a lot longer now, I dont want to spend the last 20 yrs senile and incontinent) , but dont resist medication as the damage done to your body by high blood pressure is much worse than any worries u may have about side effects.
Ninn. I get the impression from your post that you are very stressed out about your blood pressure. The stress and your constant thoughts about it could itself be contributing to the problem. Try not to think about it so much. Relax more. When you are in bed at night, just before you go to sleep, tell yourself the truth = that your body is going to deeply relax now; that there is nothing more you can do about your blood pressure tonight; and accept that your body will now deal with it. Then forget about it.
I assume you have a tester at home. Check it first thing in the morning each time after you've done this.
Not at all! I already had very high blood pressure before I knew about it or had any stress in my life. This only sent it to dangerous levels. I just do what I can to help maters now I am aware. If it was as easy as just telling your body to deal with it I'm sure less people would be suffering debilitating strokes.
You have partly answered your own question there. " This only sent it to dangerous levels" You say you had no stress in your life before you knew about the blood pressure problem. Think about this Ninn. Is it really true?There are very few people who do not have various stresses in their lives even if they do not mentally acknowledge them. I think my original advice is sound.
Quite frankly you have a very patronising attitude. I dont know why you feel qualified to give unsolicited advice to complete strangers about a life you are ignorant of. Obviously you have a crystal ball beside the tea leaves.
Ninn, the whole purpose of this group is to try to understand others problems and give advice which we hope will help. That is all I, and I am sure all others in the group, try to do.
Your response only confirms my belief that you have stress problems which are at least partly responsible for your high blood pressure. However I have no wish to add to your stress and will therfore no longer respond to your posts.
My genuine best wishes to you for your future.
Thats fine if it is constructive advice from experience. Not insisting you know what is best for someone based on no knowledge of their lifestyle and with no basis for this insistence that you are right, other than your obvious pleasure for knowing best. I also think your last comment confirms my first opinion, also displaying passive aggressive behaviour to patronise, demean and make yourself look the injured party. Which you seem to take pleasure in.
Olive Oil is documented to lower blood pressure. Might be why the Mediterranean diet is so healthy? Google the effects of Olive Oil on blood pressure.
If you are really stuck, try a good acupuncturist. Mine lowered my BP from 170-180 to 140 in a few weeks.
For relaxation, try meditation. Good slow deep abdominal breathing may help lower blood pressure.
Reduce your intake of fat, sodium and alcohol and i suggest eat more food rich in potassium,calcium and magnesium.
high cholesterol
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