Top ten dietary taboos for high blood pressure

1. Avoid long-term high-sodium diet 2. Avoid excessive intake of saturated fat and trans fat 3. Avoid long-term heavy drinking 4. Avoid frequent consumption of added sugar drinks and high-sugar desserts 5. Avoid blindly excessive sodium supplementation (including sports drinks that many people like to drink) 6. Avoid long-term high purine foods 7. Avoid long-term excessive coffee drinking (especially more than 3 cups of strong coffee per day) 8. Avoid eating processed foods with invisible salt content 9. Avoid overeating and eating too fast 10. Avoid extreme eating patterns such as complete vegetarianism/excessive dieting.

Last month, I met a 62-year-old patient in the outpatient clinic. He had been suffering from high blood pressure for 8 years and had been well controlled by taking medicine. But after summer, he lost his appetite and drank cold porridge with pickled cucumbers every day. His blood pressure soared to 160/100 in half a month. I was still wondering why something was wrong without stopping the medicine - in fact, he had fallen into the trap of a high-sodium diet. You must know that the World Health Organization recommends that healthy people consume no more than 2,300 mg of sodium per day. People with high blood pressure should limit their sodium intake to no more than 1,500 mg, which is about the amount of an ordinary beer bottle cap. His plate of pickled cucumbers looked small, and the salt content was equivalent to half a bottle cap. There is no reason to not exceed the standard if he eats it every day. I would also like to mention a current minor controversy in the academic community: many popular sciences say that ordinary salt should be replaced with low-sodium salt. Indeed, for patients without abnormal renal function, low-sodium salt can reduce sodium intake and supplement potassium, which is good for blood pressure control. However, if you are a patient with chronic kidney disease or taking Prili/Satan antihypertensive drugs, blindly eating low-sodium salt may cause hyperkalemia, and in severe cases, even induce arrhythmia. You must first seek evaluation from your attending doctor, and do not blindly follow the trend of changing salt.

Many people are aggrieved, saying that I usually use very little salt in cooking, but why is the sodium still too high? There is a 30-year-old Internet worker next to me who was very confused when he was first diagnosed with high blood pressure. Later, I found out after we talked that he eats two packs of soda crackers as a snack every afternoon and at least 4 takeaways a week. The sodium content of those two packs of soda crackers alone is 2000mg, which is almost the recommended amount for a day. Add in the salt hidden in the braised chicken and spicy soup base in the takeout, and it has already exceeded the limit. There is a lot of salt hidden in plums, preserved fruits, processed meat products, noodles and even soaked dry foods. When buying things, check the ingredient list. If the sodium content exceeds 30% NRV per 100g, try to avoid it as much as possible.

The controversy over drinking is even greater. In the past, it was indeed said that drinking a small amount of red wine can ingest resveratrol, which is good for blood vessels. However, in recent years, more and more evidence-based medical evidence shows that drinking alcohol will increase blood pressure, even in a small amount. The so-called "blood vessel softening" benefits are far less than the effects of alcohol on blood vessels and liver. Therefore, the current mainstream guidelines recommend that patients with high blood pressure should not drink alcohol at all. If there are social activities that cannot be avoided, men should not exceed 25g of alcohol per day, and women should not exceed 15g. This means that white wine should not exceed 1 tael, and red wine should not exceed half a cup. Drink less if you can.

As for whether you should avoid coffee, it really depends on the person. If you don’t feel any discomfort when you occasionally drink a cup of light coffee, and your blood pressure does not fluctuate after drinking it, you can drink it, and you don’t have to completely ban it. However, if you are sensitive to caffeine, feel flustered or have a headache after drinking it, or drink more than 3 cups of strong black coffee every day, it will indeed stimulate the sympathetic nerves to continue to be excited and raise your blood pressure. It is best not to drink this, or you can switch to decaffeinated coffee.

Last year, there was a 28-year-old young man who weighed 180 pounds. He was just diagnosed with high blood pressure. He said that he usually doesn’t like salty food, but he was affected by it. After careful questioning, he found out that he had two cups of iced milk tea a day, and sometimes added a piece of cake when he worked overtime. His intake of added sugars exceeded several times. Eating too much sugar will not only make you gain weight, but will also affect insulin sensitivity and aggravate blood vessel inflammation. Over time, your blood pressure will naturally become unstable. Don’t think that only salty foods can affect your blood pressure. Sweet foods can have serious consequences.

There are also many people who have a misunderstanding. In the summer, you sweat a lot, so you need to supplement sodium, so you often buy sports drinks. There was a young man who drank a bottle of sports drinks to replenish energy after working out in the summer. His blood pressure was well controlled, but after a week of high blood pressure, it reached 140. In fact, there is no need to supplement sodium for ordinary fitness and daily sweating. The sodium intake of normal meals is enough, just drink boiled water. Only those who sweat several liters during high-intensity exercise need to be properly supplemented. Drinking sports drinks will increase the burden of high blood pressure.

Don't think that you can only become an "ascetic" if you are diagnosed with high blood pressure. I have seen many patients become completely vegetarian as soon as they are diagnosed with the disease, and do not touch any meat or eggs. As a result, their blood pressure has not dropped after three months, and they first develop iron deficiency anemia, and their whole body feels weak. Some people go on extreme diets to lose weight, eating too little and causing electrolyte imbalances, which can lead to greater fluctuations in blood pressure. Stress control is a long-term thing. These taboos do not mean that you can't touch even half of them. Occasionally, if you are craving for a bite of pickles or drink half a cup of milk tea, you don't have to be too mentally burdened. Most of the time, you stick to the boundaries and relax, which makes it easier to stick to it.