High Blood Pressure Support Group

Hi mzspoiled,

I was diagnosed with hypertension a couple of years ago. The best thing you can do to help with HBP is to cook your own meals. They have several websites that offer low sodium recipes, Most grocery stores have a section for no salt or low sodium items. Low sodium items can be very bland but just use fresh herbs and Ms. Dash to season up your dishes. Ms. Dash has no sodium. Here are some low sodium websites, I hope this helps you out.

http://www.cooking-for-compliments...
http://www.recipezaar.com/recipes/...
http://www.lowsodiumcooking.com/fr...

I have an excellent recipe for sunrise muffins, with no sugar or salt. If you eat muffins, I will post it for you!

I have the same problem. The doctor said no salt, I don't even use it anyway, I never did

Hi mzspoiled!

Are you also incorporating exercise to your daily changes with HBP? Food has a big impact on blood pressure, but the more you exercise, the more flexible you can be with your diet.

Try switching out the salt with different herbs like the replies above mentioned, too.

Hope this helps.

Angela- I would love the recipe.

I do exercise, but I am really trying to stick with what the doctor said and not cheat. I know I can do it, it is just a little hard, I love dill pickles and am sad that I can not have them. Thank you for all of the comments.

Sunrise Muffins - good to freeze and eat for breakfast with no sugar/salt.

4 eggs beaten
1 1/2 cups apple juice
2/3 cup light oil
Blend the above well

1 cup grated carrots (preferably fresh, organic)
1 grated apple
1/2 cup coconut
1/2 raisins
1/4 cup chopped almonds
Add to above liquids and stir.

Sift together:
2 cups freshly ground whole wheat flour (I have a grain grinder!)
1 cup unbleached white flour
2 1/2 tsp. baking powder
2 1/2 tsp. cinnamon

Mix into the liquid. Please have 12 muffins tins lined with cupcake paper holders and sprayed with Pam ready before you mix Spoon mixture into tins, about 3/4 of the way up. Pop in the oven

Bake at 350 for 20-25 minutes and enjoy.

Not bad from memory. I guess this means I use this recipe too much, since I have it stuck in my brain. I like it, but it is not sweet and sticky - but very healthy.

Hi! Maybe I can help: most people should consume no more than 2.4 grams of sodium per day (2,400 milligrams). So your doctor wants you to eat no more than 1,200 milligrams sodium per day. Wow! That's a challenge. I'm facing the same thing, only my doctor just told me to decrease sodium without specifying a grams/day limit. I have been actively decreasing sodium and it's worked! My blood pressure has improved to a "prehypertension/normal" range. It's great that you exercise regularly; so do I. Only, I've made an effort to exercise just a little more.

As far as diet is concerned: I now eat lots of fresh fruits and veggies. I never get canned veggies as they are loaded with salt. Instead, I steam them and never add salt. I make my own soups because the canned soups are so salty. Also, deli meats have lots of sodium so I opt for the low sodium versions. Basically: make fresh, home cooked meals versus ready made/processed foods. Most frozen meals, canned meals, snacks, and deli meats are loaded with salt.

Now going out to eat is a real challenge! I got a book called, "Eat this Not that!" by Zinczenko and it really helps guide my choices at restaurants.

Well, you have your age and the fact that you eat well and exercise on you side. I bet diet modifications will make a huge difference by your next dr. visit.
Good luck! Let us know!!

I too have HBP and have been on medication for it for about 5 years. More recently, my BP started zooming up even with meds. I have cut my sodium to below 1000 mgs a day and often around 500 mgs. It really isn't that hard to do. What helps a LOT is baking my own bread without sodium. Donald Gazzaniga has written several cookbooks with very low sodium recipes, including bread. Most store bought breads have between 110 to 400 mgs per slice. Don's bread has between 7 and 15 mgs per slice. That's right seven! He has a web site which is www.megaheart.com. You will find at least one bread recipe there. He has recipes for everything from soup to desserts. By the way, baking powder and baking soda both have LOTS of sodium in them, but there is a low sodium baking powder available at some health food stores and you can buy it online through a site Gazzaniga provides. I have found that salt is really totally unnecessary in so many foods. Pie crust, breads, cookies, most baked goods do not need salt at all. Salt is in them as a preservative but how long does a pie last at your house? It doesn't need to sit on a shelf for a week or two. Oh, I should tell you that since I've cut sodium to less than 1000 mgs per day, my blood pressure rarely goes over 125/80 even when my heart is out of rhythm and usually is much lower than that. Also, I've lost 18 pounds without trying and have no swelling in my ankles as I used to. It really makes a difference.

not to knock your doc or you..but 1,200 mgs is low.. if both of your kidneys work well then the kidneys let go what salt is no neded..same with potassium and magnesium any nutrient....so did they ever say what happens if the sodium goes to low...i have blood p since 19 im 47..`1 kidney..works ok....i try to limit salt to 1800 aday..its way to hard to do...i never eat out..or very seldom eat processed food...but to me 1.200 mgs aday is nothing...1 slice of cheese just to say is 400....and id you exercise 5 days aweek..you sweat salt out...salt use to be the biggest deal on hbp...now there not so sure..sodium is a needed nutrient..

Some people are very sensitive to sodium. Donald Gazzaniga, for instance, the man whose cookbooks I recommended, is one who is. His story is that he was scheduled for a heart transplant. His doctor recommended that he get sodium down to 1000 mgs a day. He did and went further down to 500. Nine years later, maybe 10 by now, he is still alive and kicking, writing cookbooks, and never had the heart transplant. His heart disease has been greatly abated by lowering sodium to 500 mgs per day. You can check his story out yourself on his website, www.megaheart.com.
I don't know the man personally. I'm not cheerleading him. I'm just passing on information, which I've learned from his books and website that I'm using in my own search for better health. I would like to add that sodium, of course, is found naturally in all foods, very little in fruits and vegetables and not a whole lot in most meats and fish. Humans subsisted for millennia on non-processed foods and pretty low amounts of sodium. I agree that sodium is necessary in our diet, but definitely not at the levels in which its found in the heavily processed foods that most people eat today. Some restaurant meals have been found to contain as many as 4000 or more msgs. 2300 msgs is the recommended level for healthy people per DAY. 1800 may be just fine for you, and that's great! It isn't for me, however, and a lot of other people.