Diet taboos for high blood pressure

The core dietary taboos for high blood pressure are never to absolutely ban certain foods, but to avoid the three core minefields of long-term high sodium intake, imbalanced nutritional structure, and bad eating habits. The rest of the so-called "absolute can't eats" are mostly misinformation and can be flexibly adjusted according to your own situation.

When I was at a community free clinic last week, I met 62-year-old Uncle Zhang. He held the physical examination sheet and asked me with a frown, I haven’t even touched braised pork in the past six months, why did my blood pressure jump from 140 to 160? After sitting down and chatting, I found out that he had porridge with dried radishes he had pickled for every breakfast. Each meal was only half a plate. It didn't look like much, but the sodium content of the dried radishes almost exceeded the recommended daily intake for a day.

Regarding sodium intake, there are actually different voices in the academic community. The traditional WHO guideline recommends no more than 5g of salt per day (about the amount of a beer cap). In recent years, many scholars who have studied low-sodium diet believe that patients with essential hypertension are best controlled at 3g. The effect is better if it is less than 3 g, but most doctors on the clinical frontline will make flexible adjustments. For example, workers who run on construction sites every day sweat a lot in summer. If they eat 3 g of salt, they are prone to hyponatremia. It is safer to relax it to 4-5 g.

When controlling salt, many people only focus on the salt used in cooking. In fact, they don’t even know that they are stepping into the trap of invisible sodium. An aunt I took care of before did use less salt in cooking, but she added three spoons of light soy sauce, two spoons of chicken essence, and occasionally thick soup for seasoning in each meal. After all, her daily sodium intake had already exceeded 6g. How could her blood pressure be stable? Not to mention the commonly eaten noodles, sliced ​​bread, plum preserves, and even the sports drinks we drink, all contain a lot of sodium. When buying, check the ingredient list. If sodium accounts for more than 30% of the NRV (Nutrient Reference Value) per 100g, try to touch as little as possible.

There are also many people who think that if you have high blood pressure, you must go vegetarian and don’t even dare to touch meat, which is completely unnecessary. Last year, there was a 70-year-old old lady who heard people said she should not eat meat because she had high blood pressure. She had not touched red meat for a whole year. When she came for a follow-up examination, her blood pressure did not drop much. Instead, she was found to have iron deficiency anemia and her face was as white as paper. In fact, people with high blood pressure do not need to completely ban high-fat foods. What they really need to avoid are repeatedly fried foods, non-dairy cream containing trans fatty acids, shortening, etc. Occasionally, if you are craving for a piece of braised pork or drink a sip of whole milk, as long as you don't eat it all the time, there will be no big problem at all.

As for "Can you drink alcohol if you have high blood pressure?" that everyone has been arguing about for many years, there is still no completely unified conclusion. A few years ago, it was said that drinking a small amount of red wine can dilate blood vessels and help lower blood pressure. Now the latest research from The Lancet says that even a small amount of drinking can cause cardiovascular damage. But our colleagues in the geriatric department often say that if an elderly person who has been drinking for 30 to 40 years is suddenly told not to touch a sip, and he becomes irritable for several days, his blood pressure will rise even higher. It is better to reduce it slowly, from drinking two ounces a day to one ounce twice a week. This will allow the body to adapt, which is safer.

When I usually give advice to patients, I never let them buy that kind of precise small salt spoon. Counting grams every day is too tiring, and most people can't persist for half a month. The simplest way is to reduce the amount of salt you used to stir-fry by half. If you think it is tasteless, add some mushroom powder, white pepper, dried shrimps to enhance the freshness, or add some vegetables with their own flavor such as tomatoes and onions. You can make it delicious without relying on salt, and it is easy to stick to it.

After all, the dietary taboos for high blood pressure are never meant to put a tight spell on you and not allow you to eat anything. After all, people always have some appetites in life. Occasionally, friends gather for a hot pot dinner, or eat two pieces of soy sauce meat during the holidays. As long as you don't eat haise for a long time, your blood pressure will not go out of control all of a sudden. Don't commit taboos by staring at what you eat every day. Nervous emotions have a much greater impact on blood pressure than eating a bite of pickles.