When it comes to lowering blood pressure, most people immediately think of stress and obesity as being key factors, which they are, but the foods you eat can elevate your blood pressure as well.

An unhealthy diet includes salt and fats.  These foods will increase your blood pressure – and your waistline.  You may remember being told since you were a child that you should eat your vegetables.  Of course, fruits and vegetables are great for you.  It’s also important to add whole grains and do at least 20 minutes of exercise every day.

Salt can hide in process foods and be lurking in places where you least expect.  To prevent spoiling, salt is added to a lot of foods.  As we all know, it’s found in soups, crackers and pretzels.  But did you know that salt brings out the sweetness of cookies and cakes?  There is also an extremely high amount of sodium in diet soft drinks.

When cooking you can try to add spices, lower sodium substitutes, or salt free substitutes (like Mrs. Dash) to your dishes if you miss the flavor.  While gradually reducing your salt intake, in a couple of months, you won’t even notice it’s missing.

The recommended allowance of sodium should not exceed 1500 milligrams per day.  If you have high blood pressure, you should cut this in half.   Water can flush sodium out of your body, so drink AT LEAST 8 glasses per day.   By your next doctors visit, you’ll be surprised how much lower your blood pressure has become.

When most of us go to our Dr or a nurse and get a blood pressure check done we listen to what they tell us and then spend the rest of the day trying to remember them so we can parrot the numbers to anyone who asks.

If the numbers are high then the usual “quick fix’ is drugs, drugs that can cause problems almost as serious as the ones that they are trying to fix.

One pill that can cause asthma, or speed your heart beat up till it sounds like thumper. Another pill has the side effects of nausea and constant headaches. The third option is known to make people feel so weak they can’t even pick their kids up.

So is the only way to reduce your blood pressure a matter of popping some pills?

Pills are often the first stop for any problem in todays society but that doesn’t mean they are the only way or even the best way to get your blood pressure down to a safe level. So many of our medical problems are caused by our environment and adding more medication into the mix may not be the ideal solution.