Hypertension is one of the most common lifestyle diseases today worldwide. According to a research presented in 2018 at the 70th Annual Conference of the Cardiological Society of India (CSI), one in five young adults in India has high blood pressure; that equates to around 80 million people, which is more than the entire UK population. However, if you look at data 50-60 years back, the people suffering from high blood pressure in India were negligible.
There are four major issues now that need to be resolved:
The fact that the younger population in India is being diagnosed with high BP is very alarming and the main cause for this is their erratic lifestyle, stress levels and poor eating habits.
Majority of the population with high blood pressure simply pops a pill to control it instead of making lifestyle changes to treat the root cause and to completely reverse it.
If we do not make lifestyle changes to reverse it & are just dependent on pills then we are at high risk for the heart the attack, stroke, atrial fibrillation, chronic kidney disease and cognitive decline; all these complications that come with prolonged High BP.
Most people with hypertension live in a myth that high BP is a lifelong disease. However, the fact is that it is a lifestyle disease and not a lifelong disease. Hence the correct lifestyle changes to reverse it is the need for an hour.
However, the good news is that high blood pressure is a preventable and reversible disease with the help of right lifestyle changes and focusing primarily on plant foods. Today we are going to share with you 5 strategies that can help you reverse your high BP. But before going to these strategies, we first need a mindset change - that we will not live with our high BP, instead, we will reverse it.
Strategy 1: Increase intake of Plant Foods - If we consume a Plant-Based Nutrition Dense diet that is high in fiber and micronutrients, your blood pressure will reduce to a great extent. A diet rich in potassium, magnesium, omega -3 fatty acids and nitrates is very crucial for the reversal of high blood pressure. Hence foods like drumsticks, flax seeds, Papaya, Pomegranate, zucchini and many others are excellent for high BP.
Strategy 2: Start Walking & Stop smoking - Researchers have shown that walking can dilate your arteries and make them flexible. And the more the arteries dilate, the more nitric oxide they produce - which is required for reversing high BP. Equally important is to avoid smoking which damages each and every blood vessel in our body.
Strategy 3: Meditate & Pranayam - It has been proven scientifically that every day practising good lifestyle activities like yoga, meditation, pranayama can prove to be beneficial in numerous ways such as relaxing the nervous system, easing the tensions in the body and improving blood circulation.
Strategy 4: Lemon Water - Mix fresh lemon juice with plain water and drink throughout the day. Lemon water is highly alkaline and drinking lemon water throughout the day can be an easy way to improve blood pressure.
Strategy 5: Although eating a plant-based food will definitely reverse lifestyle diseases and high blood pressure in particular, we should make note of these 5 superfoods that are excellent for reversing high BP -
● Flax Seeds Powder
● Raw Papaya
● Drumsticks
● Beetroot
● Spinach
Today we are living in the world of information and in the world of information, ignorance can only be a choice. Hence the first step towards reversing high BP is the right awareness and knowledge. Once we have understood what is right, all we need to do is apply it and make it your lifestyle and habit.
