11 foods to avoid when you have hypertension and why not avoid them if you want to prevent hypertension?

People who have hypertension have been advised by their doctors to avoid salt, sugar, maggi and some oils like groundnut oil and margarine. The general rule is that with high blood pressure, you have to avoid foods that are high in fats and sodium. Here are some foods to avoid if you have hypertension.

1 Donuts and other fast foods

Donut is a must avoid snack if you have hypertension. It has a lot of calories, trans fats and saturated fats. Consuming high amounts of trans fats and saturated fats increases the amount of bad cholesterol (Low Density Lipoprotein LDL) in your body. LDL can cause hypertension to rise which may lead to further complications such as coronary heart disease.

2 Margarine

When buying margarine, it is important to pick the one with no trans fats or saturated fats. But since it is not easy to determine which is which, it is better to avoid them.

3 sugar

Sugar is very high in calories. This is a risk factor for obesity which is also a risk factor for hypertension. It is better to replace your sugar with natural honey. Avoid foods and drinks that have been sweetened with sugars. Limit your intake of sweet drinks such as top because they have been highly sweetened with artificial sweeteners. Since avoiding sweet drinks is almost impossible for majority of people, the best way to counteract this is by engaging in exercise. It is recommended that the average adult puts in at least 150 minutes of exercise every week. This will burn the excess calories gotten from sugar.

4 Alcohol

Alcohol is not healthy for those with hypertension. It is important for hypertensive people to limit their intake of alcohol. Consuming excess alcohol can raise your blood pressure and damage the wall of your arteries. Apart from raising your blood pressure, a big, fat and large belly does not look good on you if you consume alcohol in excess.

5 Red meat

It is recommended that those who are hypertensive should try as much as possible to limit their consumption of red meat. An example of red meat that we love to eat is commonly called “cow meat”.

6 Table salt

Table salt has a lot of sodium in it. In some places it is called as salt shakers or cooking salt. Sodium damages our arteries and helps in raising our blood pressure.

7 pickles

Pickles are cucumbers that are being preserved in a concentrated salt solution. In order to prevent or control hypertension, it would be wise of you to avoid pickles

8 canned tomato products

Canned tomato products are high in sodium. It should be avoided it you have hypertension. an example of canned tomato is tin tomato.

9 chicken skin

Surely, every chicken eater loves chicken skin. It is so soft, oily and tasty. Chicken skin is high in saturated fats and people with hypertension have to avoid trans fats or saturated fats.

10 coffee and drinks made with caffeine

Caffeine has been associated with an increase in hypertension. If you are hypertensive or you want to avoid hypertension, stop taking caffeine products such as coffee or coca cola otherwise, try to limit your intake of these drinks.

11 canned soup

Many people love canned soup because it is easy to prepare and does not waste time. However, canned soups are high in sodium. People suffering from hypertension should try to avoid canned soups.

Resources

http://www.healthcentral.com/high-blood-pressure/cf/slideshows/10-foods-to-avoid-with-high-blood-pressure#slide=15

http://www.healthline.com/health/high-blood-pressure-hypertension/foods-to-avoid

http://www.thestreet.com/story/12924541/6/10-foods-to-avoid-if-you-have-high-blood-pressure.html