High Blood Pressure Diagnosis? What To Change First

Transcript:

Kara: Welcome to Dishing Up Nutrition. I'm Kara Carper, a Licensed Nutritionist, and I'm here with my cohost Brandy Buro, Licensed and Registered Dietitian. Today we're digging into a really important topic that affects about half of adults in the United States, and that is high blood pressure or hypertension.

Think about that for a moment. Half of the adult population battles with high blood pressure. It increases with age. That is one risk factor. 70% of adults over the age of 60 have high blood pressure. So we're going to talk about what you can actually do about it with changes to food and lifestyle.

Brandy: Yeah, I think this is a great topic because so many people deal with hypertension and it is a really common issue that comes up when I'm working one-on-one with clients in the clinic. Somebody might go in for their annual physical, and sometimes I even hear about clients learning they have hypertension when they go in for their dentist appointment because they're often checking blood pressure there too.

Also, that can come as a shock and you might leave with a new medication after that physical, or maybe you're getting the advice just to lose some weight and maybe cut back on the salt shaker. Sometimes that's really the only advice that some of my clients get, and that's why they're talking with me to figure out what else can I do? Because maybe they don't really want to start that medication.

Kara: Right. And for a lot of people, I imagine that feels really discouraging. So if you are listening and you're thinking to yourself, I have high blood pressure. I was diagnosed a long time ago. Maybe you were just recently diagnosed, and you're thinking, I would love to get this under control, but I don’t know where to start.

Brandy: Mm. Yeah. So this is, we're glad you're here. This is a great place to start. Our goal today is to make this really practical for you. So we're going to walk you through why blood pressure and heart health are so connected and why it's not just the salt shaker.

So we're going to describe the role that sugar and processed carbohydrates play in hypertension. And then of course, we're going to leave you with some practical ideas for real food meals, and some other lifestyle habits that are going to help you bring down your blood pressure.

Kara: So I want to start with a bigger picture. Throughout our 20-ish years of recording episodes on Dishing Up Nutrition, we've done several shows on heart health and heart disease. One of the things that sticks with me is that heart disease is still the leading cause of death for women.

Sugar & processed carbs are drivers of heart problems

Unfortunately, we have spent years blaming some of the wrong things when it comes to heart health and high blood pressure. There's a misconception that has been around for over 50 years that all fat is bad, and all fat is unhealthy. There hasn't been enough time looking at things like sugar, how much sugar is in your food and beverages?

What is in your processed foods, and how are those ingredients drivers of heart problems, and potentially negative consequences with your labs. Like your cholesterol panel, you know, your triglycerides might be too high. Your HDL might be too low. Your blood pressure might be getting too high.

Real food in balance help correct biometrics

Brandy: Right, exactly. So when we're working with clients at Nutritional Weight & Wellness, we are getting everybody, pretty much everybody that walks through the door started with a real food plan. So we're basically talking about eating animal proteins, chicken, fish, eggs, natural fats like avocados and olive oil, and lots of vegetables.

And what happens when we do that? We see all these biometrics start to correct themselves. We see triglycerides decrease. We see HDL cholesterol or that protective cholesterol start to increase, which is what we want to see, and we see blood pressure come down. It isn't magic, you know, it's not a trendy diet. This is just eating real food in a very specific balance that is gradually healing your body, resulting in better, better health, better numbers.

Kara: And that's a really empowering message, Brandy, you know, those lab numbers don't just randomly move on their own. It's when people are very deliberate and take the time and energy to shift what they're eating. That might look like decreasing sugar, getting rid of ultra processed foods and adding in more of those real foods that you just gave examples of. You know, that's really when those labs start to change and improve, and you can see blood pressure going down, cholesterol markers change at your follow-up with your provider.

Brandy: Yeah. And everybody wants to see that. And I just want to say right away that it's not about losing the weight. You know, weight loss is not really the solution to correcting these numbers, it's really about what are you doing to lose the weight? Because it's often the changes that you're making that are in the background, improving these numbers and weight loss usually follows as a side effect.

If you're one of our clients, we're not going to just tell you to lose weight, and your blood pressure is going to magically correct itself. It's really about what are we doing to support your health, like cutting out processed carbohydrates, balancing your blood sugar. These are things that are going to improve your blood pressure and your heart health and weight loss is usually a side effect of those lifestyle changes.

Overviewing roles salt & processed food play when it comes to high blood pressure

Kara: Exactly. Okay. Let's jump into the idea that salt is a villain, that salt is the main villain when it comes to high blood pressure. And again, you know, maybe you recently had a diagnosis of high blood pressure and the advice you were given was cut back on salt.

Many patients are not told to cut back on sugar, cut back on sugary beverages, cut back on processed carbohydrates, and those are really the things that Brandy and I are going to talk about that will help to improve blood pressure numbers. You know, the bigger issue here is our modern processed diets.

So let's not focus so much on the salt from the salt shaker that's, you know, causing trouble. It's really the salt and the sugar and the bad fats, like vegetable oils that are typically found as ingredients in packaged foods, in processed foods, and in ultra processed foods.

Those can be really problematic, not just eating them one time, but on a regular basis. You know, the processed foods that have that combination, the trifecta of the sodium, the sugar, and the bad fats.

Brandy: Right.

Kara: They're often found in restaurant meals, prepackaged frozen meals. Those tend to be some of the highest sources of sodium and other bad ingredients, right?

Brandy: So it's not just the sodium. But we're thinking most of our sodium is coming from processed foods. So what else is in processed foods? There's also the sugar, there's also refined oils, right? Like you called it the trifecta. So we can't blame it all on the salt. There's a lot, a lot of other things going on that tag along in those processed foods. And when you talk about like going out to eat, restaurant meals, especially fast food, with all of these ingredients, but especially high in sodium.

So if you think about like a fast food entree, generally there's going to be about 2300 milligrams of sodium in just one meal. So, just for a little perspective, the USDA general guidelines recommend that adults consume less than 2300 milligrams of sodium for an entire day, not just one meal. If you are somebody that already has heart disease or hypertension, the recommendation is to limit your sodium intake to about 1500 milligrams per day.

So when you're eating out at a restaurant or fast food, most people are consuming close to double what the recommended salt intake is without even adding any of your own salt. So that's just from eating processed foods and restaurant foods.

Kara: So if you tuned in today and you were thinking, hmm, I need to reduce my sodium, but hey, I barely use the salt shaker. Now I barely use table salt. Well, it's not usually the salt in the salt shaker that's the problem. It's everything Brandy was just discussing. You know, it's if your meals are coming from fast food or really any type of restaurant, it's going to be higher sodium. And if you also have a tendency to buy prepackaged meals or munch on salty snacks throughout the day, that's where the excess sodium's coming from. Not from putting a little bit of salt on your chicken at dinner.

Brandy: Right, exactly. So, you know, as far as salt goes, we're not saying that salt doesn't matter because it does, but for most people it's where are they getting their salt? Is it coming from processed foods or is it coming from what they add to a homemade meal?

So we can't ignore the other things that tag along with processed foods, sugar, refined carbohydrates that behave very similarly to sugar. And again, processed foods also come with a big dose of sodium too.

Kara: Hopefully that clears up a little bit about the salt misconception, that that is the only villain when it comes to hypertension. Let's shift into the topic of sugar, because this is where a lot of people are surprised. And this might be new information when we eat a lot of sugar and/or processed carbohydrates that turn into sugar in our body quickly, our pancreas needs to produce more insulin to really manage that high blood sugar.

And so just an example, maybe you have a bagel for breakfast. We know that a medium sized bagel converts into about 14 teaspoons of sugar or glucose in the bloodstream. Yeah, that's really too much for anyone. And so that is going to lead the pancreas to kind of go in working overtime and creating a lot of insulin just to get that high glucose out of the blood and into our cells.

Now over time, if we consistently have higher sugar or higher carbohydrate diet, that's going to create excess insulin being circulated through our bloodstream. And so our nervous system will raise the heart rate and our blood vessels become constricted. And that is kind of the pathway that can lead to hypertension or high blood pressure.

Brandy: Right.

Kara: And so when we talk about insulin, it's a hormone, but it's not just a hormone related to prediabetes or diabetes. It's also very much linked to heart health and high blood pressure.

Brandy: Absolutely. Insulin actually has a nickname called the master hormone because it does have influence over so many aspects of our health, not just blood sugar. And when you're dealing with chronically high insulin levels as a result of chronically high blood sugar numbers, perhaps you are eating a lot of high carb foods or a lot of sugar sweetened beverages.

Other things like bread, pasta, rice crackers. Even too much fruit could result in high blood sugar numbers and high insulin levels. This can all lead to high blood pressure from a few different factors. High insulin is going to basically shift your body into storage mode, and that affects your kidneys, it impacts your blood vessels and your nervous system like you just kind of hinted on Kara. So all of that affects your blood pressure.

Kara: Let's walk through the mechanism of how high insulin levels can lead to high blood pressure. You know, insulin sends signals to your kidneys to hang on to sodium, and so then what happens is because sodium pulls water with it. Having more sodium is going to automatically mean more water. And so more water equals higher blood volume.

Higher blood volume means there's higher pressure in your arteries. So that's why people that have high insulin levels that eventually can lead to insulin resistance. Which is very similar to prediabetes. And that starts, remember that starts from high blood sugars. They also typically have a sensitivity to sodium. They also have fluid retention, swelling, edema, and these are all things that are happening, you know, from high blood sugar and high insulin.

Brandy: Right.

Kara: And so even just simple changes with improving the quality of your carbohydrates, getting rid of the processed carbohydrates, switching over to real food carbohydrates and paying close attention to the quantity of carbohydrates, typically someone with heart disease or high blood pressure should be limiting their grams of carbohydrates to about 30 grams per meal. That's really important. So improving the quality and usually decreasing the quantity down to about 30 grams of carbs with a meal.

Brandy: Right.

Kara: So, you know, sodium reduction is part of that, and it often happens naturally. By improving the way that we're eating, you don't even really have to focus on that so much.

Brandy: Exactly. Even by switching to real food carbs like vegetables fruit, whole grains, there's no sodium unless you add it. So that alone is going to drop down to your sodium intake. And then just being mindful of, like you said, quantity of those carbs. It kind of ties in that blood sugar piece and that insulin piece.

One of our main goals for blood pressure management is blood sugar management because we know that high insulin levels over time contribute to that insulin resistance. So that high insulin, one result of that is it's going to tighten your blood vessels. So over time, blood vessels become more constricted and the space that that blood has to flow gets smaller and smaller. So now you have a higher blood volume from that water retention and it's going through vessels. So one way to picture this is like taking a garden hose, cranking up the water pressure all the way up. Then you squeeze the hose at the same time and the water just comes blasting out the end. Right? So that's high blood pressure.

Kara: And then on top of that, insulin increases your stress response. So that chronic high insulin activates your fight or flight nervous system that can increase adrenaline and cortisol, all the stress hormones. So it's kind of a vicious cycle, but even if you don't walk around feeling stress, internally, your body is stressed, which means your heart needs to beat harder.

The blood vessels tighten, the blood pressure increases, and so this is really important, I think, for people to know that you might not know that you have high insulin or insulin resistance, because often it's invisible even for like up to a decade. It can quietly keep your body in this low-grade stress state all day long.

Brandy: Exactly. Yeah. And sometimes you don't know until it's already reached like a disease state when you see high A1C or a high fasting blood sugar at your physical. But there are ways to kind of monitor that. Even like high blood pressure could be a first sign of insulin resistance developing, and I thought this was interesting. High insulin levels over time contribute to that insulin resistance and insulin resistance can actually change the structure of your blood vessels.

Now, this part happens slowly, but it's really important to understand in terms of how like hypertension can develop. So as insulin levels remain high and that insulin resistance develops over time, vessels start to lose their flexibility and that blood pressure climbs even higher.

Kara: This is why high blood pressure often shows up with other diagnoses such as prediabetes and type two diabetes. They're all part of the same hormonal pattern. We need to take a quick break. This is Dishing Up Nutrition. Our topic today is high blood pressure diagnosis. What to change first? We'll be back in moment.

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Kara: Welcome back. You're listening to Dishing Up Nutrition. I'm Kara Carper, a Licensed Nutritionist here with Brandy Buro, Licensed and Registered Dietitian. If you have a diagnosis of high blood pressure or have a loved one with high blood pressure, we are giving tips on how to lower that naturally with some changes to your diet and lifestyle.

Practical tips on how to implement healthy changes into your lifestyle

The first half of our show today, we discussed the science behind the connection between sodium, sugar, and unhealthy fats and how those can exacerbate insulin being too high, and insulin resistance, which can lead to things like prediabetes, type two diabetes and high blood pressure. Now we're going to give some practical tips on how you can implement some of these healthy changes into your day-to-day lifestyle.

Brandy: That's right. So when I think about like what do I change first, given all the science we talked about, high blood sugar gives rise to high insulin gives rise to hypertension, my first question is going to be, well, what are you drinking? Sugar sweetened beverages like soda are one of the fastest ways to spike your blood sugar and spike your insulin and send you down this path of high blood pressure.

So what you drink really matters. So think about where sugar is hiding in your beverages. Soda, the creamer in your coffee, even juice, you know, ounce for ounce juice has the same amount of sugar as soda, and that is a huge blood sugar spike.

Kara: I think that's a great thing to look at first, Brandy, is what are we, what are our beverages? Are we getting sugar that we don't even know about in our beverages? And another thing, the second thing that we would recommend looking at for your diet is are you eating ultra processed or processed carbohydrates?

Those can often be very high in total grams of carbohydrates. And again, we want to keep our grams of carbohydrates to about 30 if we want to keep a nice, healthy blood pressure. And so there are foods that tend to spike our glucose or our blood sugar more rapidly. Things like cold breakfast cereal, granola bars, crackers, chips, any kind of pasta or noodles, microwave popcorn, really any kind of popcorn.

The foods that come in a box or a can, or you're taking out of the freezer, going through a fast food drive-through. Basically, things that you can't grow in your garden or pick from a tree are more processed carbohydrates that are going to contain more grams of carbohydrates. Those are usually the trifecta foods as well that have the sodium, the high sodium, the high sugar, and the unhealthy vegetable oil. So that's our combination that can increase insulin and eventually can lead to high blood pressure.

Brandy: Exactly. So I mean, all the foods you just kind of described, you know, that could be a typical fast food takeout meal, even like a “healthier” fast casual restaurant. Like a deli, you know, you could get a sub sandwich with a couple pieces of bread. Maybe you add on the chips, maybe you also get a soda. You know, that's just a ton of sodium all in one hit. And it's a big hit of carbohydrates too. That is a recipe for high blood pressure.

You compare that to something like a sheet pan meal where you have some chicken thighs and some vegetables tossed in avocado oil. Maybe season it up with some taco seasoning. You know, you can even add a little bit of salt and it's still going to be a fraction of sodium that you find in that deli or takeout meal.

Plus, we have a good amount of protein. We have some healthy fat mixed in there, and fiber from those vegetables. All of that together is very quickly going to stabilize your blood sugar and your insulin levels and help keep your blood pressure in a good place. So this is what we see in our clients when they start eating a real food meal plan like this.

We see blood sugar come down and blood pressure comes along with it. And you know, what I try to instill in my clients is this message that a homemade meal does not have to be complicated. It can be as simple as throwing some chicken breasts or chicken thighs on a pan with some salt and pepper, avocado oil, steaming a bag of frozen broccoli. It can be really, really simple. But that is something that can very quickly get your blood pressure and blood sugar in a very, very good place.

Kara: I love a good sheet pan meal or a, you know, one pot meal. We have so many great recipes on our website as well, which is weightandwellness.com.

Brandy: Yeah, spelled out Weight and Wellness.

How long might it take to see blood pressure start improving?

Kara: Now you might be wondering how long will it take to see my blood pressure start going down, start improving? Well, as soon as you start eating real food and switching over to real vegetable and fruit carbohydrates instead of the boxed, canned, and frozen processed carbohydrates, you might see an improvement even within the first week or two, but usually by the first month, if you are consistently improving what you're eating, you may see an improvement of a five to 10 point drop from that top number of your blood pressure reading, which is the systolic blood pressure.

You'll probably also notice improvements like less swelling. Maybe you tend to have swelling around your ankles. That's a very common place with high blood pressure. So that's the good news. It does not take long for your body to start showing signs of improvements. And of course the longer you stick with it, the better the improvements will be and the more significant.

Alcohol increases blood pressure

Brandy: That's right. But yeah, I guess some feedback I get from clients, like within the first two to three weeks might be, I just feel less inflamed, you know? And I think addressing some of that inflammation that you see come down pretty quickly. Speaking of inflammation, I do want to talk about alcohol. Alcohol is something, it's a substance that will immediately increase your blood pressure after you consume it, and the more you drink, the more impact it's going to have on your blood pressure and your overall cardiovascular system.

So it's not just blood pressure. We know that alcohol is also one of the main culprits of high triglycerides. So even if you've heard the message, you know, one glass of wine a day can be good for your heart health. Honestly, when it comes to alcohol, less is more. The best way to protect your heart is to limit alcohol as much as you can. For some people, that means eliminating it, but I just like to think of alcohol as a less is more mentality.

Kara: No alcohol is always ideal; a lot of people who already are drinking in moderation don't want to completely give it up. So reducing frequency can also be very helpful when it comes to high blood pressure. You know, maybe instead of having a drink every night, they switch to two or three nights and just kind of choose which nights they prefer to have that cocktail. That can be a really big step in the right direction for overall heart health and blood pressure.

Brandy: Definitely.

Kara: And I remember working with a client who wasn't drinking in excess or anything, but he was having a couple of drinks each night and was hesitant to go alcohol free. I gave the suggestion to work on cutting back, cutting his alcohol intake in half, and he also made substantial improvements in everything else he was eating and added a little bit of movement, some just some simple walking, you know, in the neighborhood. But within a few months he was able to completely get off of his blood pressure medications.

Brandy: That is amazing.

Kara: Just really by making those subtle changes.

Brandy: And didn't completely say no more alcohol, but like reduced it in half. So it sounds like he kind of established like some boundaries around how much, maybe when.

Kara: Yes.

Caffeine can affect blood pressure

Brandy: And stuck with that along with everything else that you were working on. That's great. That's a great story. Well, speaking of beverages, we've talked about soda, we've talked about other sugar sweetened beverages, alcohol, I do want to take a minute to address caffeine. This question comes up a lot when we talk about blood pressure. Because caffeine is a stimulant, so it's not hard to imagine how caffeine can increase blood pressure.

So caffeine can cause a short-term bump in your blood pressure. It stimulates your nervous system, it tightens your blood vessels a little bit. For some people, especially if you already have high blood pressure, that increase in blood pressure can be a little more noticeable. But the good news is you don't necessarily have to give up caffeine completely.

Many people that have high blood pressure are able to keep caffeine around a modest amount, maybe one regular cup of coffee, you know, that generally is considered a safe amount. That being said, there are people that are a little more sensitive. Not everybody responds in the same way. So if this is a concern for you, if you're unsure, I recommend doing a little experiment on yourself.

Test your blood pressure before and after you drink caffeine. That way you know the impact that caffeine has on your blood pressure. So I recommend testing it before you have that cup of coffee, and then maybe an hour or 90 minutes after that cup of coffee so you know what you can tolerate.

Blood pressure friendly day of eating example

Kara: Let's get practical about what a blood pressure friendly day of eating looks like. If you regularly listen to Dishing Up Nutrition, you will recognize that we have a similar blueprint for healthy eating. And this goes for if your goal is weight loss or cancer prevention or issues with acid reflux or high blood pressure. So that's what's so great about the blueprint. So strive for eating every three to four hours. So that's three meals and maybe one snack.

Brandy: Right?

Kara: Each of those meals and snack or snacks, would contain animal protein like eggs, chicken, fish, beef. If you can tolerate dairy, something like cottage cheese. And we also are adding in a healthy fat. Examples are butter, olive oil, avocado, avocado oil, or nuts and seeds.

And then our third macronutrient is carbohydrates coming mostly from vegetables and fruit is okay, but you still want to watch the fruit. A serving is a half of a cup or a small piece of fruit. And it's okay to add a starchy vegetable or a small serving of grains like quinoa or brown rice or wild rice. Or sweet potato. But again, quantity matters, especially when it comes to heart health and you know, a half cup of something starchy is adequate for a meal.

Brandy: Right. More of an accent than the base of your meal. Just an accent. So I want to just start building a day, kind of walk our audience through what this might look like over the course of the whole day. So I'm going to start with breakfast. I'll share what I had this morning.

This is a pretty common breakfast for me. I start in my pan with some butter. I'll add in at least a cup probably, approaching two cups of vegetables. Today, I had mushroom, pepper, onion, a bunch of kale, and I just sauteed all of that and I cracked a couple of eggs on top, threw in some couple ounces of diced ham, and on the side I had some blueberries. Sometimes I put in leftover sweet potato or leftover roasted potato, and that for me is a really great breakfast. Holds me over until lunch.

Kara: I might copy that Brandy because I have not done that combination and it sounds really delicious and pretty simple.

Brandy: So good.

Kara: And so lunch can also be simple. You know, it doesn't have to be complicated. You can get maybe organic, pre-washed, pre-bagged mix of greens or some kind of a salad mix. We don't recommend using the dressing in those, but definitely use those greens and then add in that animal protein, 4 ounces of cooked chicken. It could be canned salmon, canned tuna, or leftover meat from dinner, steak, even some shrimp would be great.

And then add an olive oil based dressing. Could be oil and vinegar. You can put some sliced avocado or olives for another healthy fat. And then maybe you like fruit on your salad and you dice up some apple or put some berries on top, so I mean, the possibilities with salads are endless.

Brandy: Yeah.

Kara: But our blueprint, again is just a few cups of greens and then our palm size quantity of protein. And then we're topping with some healthy fats and additional carbohydrates in the form of, you know, fruit or chickpeas or something like that.

Brandy: Perfect. Yeah. Endless possibilities. And then we're approaching snack time. I almost always have a snack somewhere around the three, 4:00 PM area. Something that's been working for me lately is some Greek yogurt, just plain, full fat Greek yogurt. I mentioned I have blueberries around, so I might do a few more blueberries in there for my carb and some chopped nuts, a little handful of pecans.

If you're not into dairy, you don't tolerate dairy very well, a very easy alternative might be a couple of hard boiled eggs or maybe tuna with a small apple and some mayonnaise, some avocado oil based mayonnaise.

And then dinner. I mentioned sheet pan meals, which I love because they're very easy, very forgiving. Earlier this weekend I made some roasted cauliflower with chickpeas and another sheet pan had chicken thighs, and I just kind of did a Mediterranean spice mix on that with some avocado oil. Very easy, and I've got leftovers for the whole week.

Kara: You have some great ideas. Glad I'm paired with you today so I can get those ideas. And so the dinner that you just described contained protein, fiber, and healthy fats. All three of those things stabilize blood sugar and will keep you satisfied. You know, I see this a lot when folks are not eating enough satiating foods, especially at dinner.

Maybe it's low protein or it's low fat. It's a very small amount of vegetables, maybe a half cup. That increases the likelihood of wanting to go back for something later, something sweet. And that's where you can kind of get into trouble, especially if you're wanting to reduce your blood pressure. You want to stay away from, the craving or the hunger that's going to lead you for the snacky foods or the sweet foods before bed.

Brandy: Exactly. We're trying to avoid, again, those processed foods or foods that are going to spike our blood sugar, because that's going to lead to a blood pressure issue. But as you can see, all the meals that we described are real food. It's nothing too special or magical. It's just food you can get at the grocery store.

And we're eating a good amount of food. We're not restricting, we're not asking you to eat less. You might actually be eating more. And people are surprised how quickly their blood pressure numbers can start to improve just by these simple tweaks in their eating. It's not extreme, and maybe they're also going on a few extra walks, but just with that blood pressure can dramatically improve. When my clients are following a real food plan of protein, vegetables, natural fats, several times a day, blood pressure, blood sugar, both come down fairly quickly.

Lifestyle factors to consider to lower blood pressure

So I did mention maybe walking a little bit more, and you mentioned too in your client story that one thing that he did was integrate a little bit more movement into his day. And that is an important aspect as far as lifestyle goes, of what you can do to lower your blood pressure. And it doesn't have to be like really intense, you know, hours in the gym, just something gentle, consistent.

Really movement is one of the best medicines that we have to lower blood pressure and in general, our heart health, you know, and something I've been working on with my clients is kind of getting away from this idea that movement or exercise has to be like this huge commitment, like an hour at 5:00 AM in the morning or an hour after work.

Just thinking about what you can do in little segments throughout the day. You know, maybe it's 20 air squats after lunch. Maybe it's a 10 minute walk before you get in your car and drive home after work. You know, these little movement snacks as I like to call them, they add up throughout the day and they just seem a little more attainable.

Kara: Those are great ideas. I like the air squats and the movement snacks or if it's too cold outside, you know, there's a lot of YouTube videos that you can do at home.

Brandy: Yes.

Kara: May not even need equipment for several of those. You know, check out your local gym as well. I just was working with a client who has a membership at a local fitness establishment here in Minnesota and she's only paying $19 a month.

Brandy: Oh, that's amazing.

Kara: And I know also check with your insurance provider because many will offer discounts on gym memberships, especially for seniors. So you might even have like a free membership of a local gym.

Brandy: Definitely looking into your insurance benefits. Well, a couple other things that I wanted to cover as far as the lifestyle factors go would be stress and sleep. Stress and sleep play a huge role in our blood pressure. Chronic stress raises our stress hormone cortisol and cortisol raises our blood pressure.

So if you are somebody that struggles with high blood pressure, you're probably already aware that being under a chronic state of stress increases your blood pressure even more. What I like to think of, you know, our real food diet, gentle movement, those are both tools in your toolkit to help manage that stress.

Just knowing that high blood sugar levels can increase our stress and, you know, who doesn't feel better after a little walk outdoors, you know, with a loved one or your dog? So you can think of some of these other strategies as stress management tools.

Kara: Oh yeah. That movement is so important for not only physical health, but emotional and mental health as well.

Magnesium is a helpful tool for regulating blood pressure

Now, we're not talking too much about dietary supplements today, but there is one that is really efficient at, you know, especially when it comes to heart health, and that is the mineral called magnesium. And you know, it can be helpful for insomnia. If you are not a great sleeper, you can take your magnesium before bed.

If you sleep fine, you can take your magnesium anytime of day. But it has a really big impact on managing blood pressure and keeping it in healthy levels. Again, this is just one factor. It's one tool in our toolbox. You know, when we sleep, our blood pressure does lower overnight and it gives our hearts and our blood vessels a chance to rest.

So this is another thing that's really important, is getting a good night's sleep because if that sleep is too short or it's disrupted, that can increase blood pressure. So I'm someone that struggles with sleep, and I do take 600 milligrams of Magnesium Glycinate before bed. It's water soluble. Our body just uses what we need. We urinate out the rest. So it's not one of those, you know, things that can build up and become toxic.

Brandy: An OD on magnesium.

Kara: Exactly. So if you are someone that consistently gets five or six hours of sleep per night, or you tend to wake frequently, or you can't get to sleep, maybe you have sleep apnea, these can all increase cortisol again, that stress hormone, which can lead to high blood pressure.

So we have a lot of other podcasts that are strictly just talking about sleep and insomnia. So definitely check that out because this is a really important thing to get under control if you have high blood pressure.

Brandy: Absolutely. Yeah. It's so important. We could probably talk a whole hour about, about sleep and we have, so look, look up those other episodes for more insight into how you can get enough sleep, enough quality sleep. We're aiming for, you know, seven and a half, nine hours of quality sleep every night. You know, that's what's going to move the needle on seeing improvements in your blood pressure and your overall heart health.

Like you mentioned, Kara, magnesium before bed can help with that, but it can naturally just help lower blood pressure. Because what magnesium does, it actually relaxes your blood vessels. So it just kind of dilates your blood vessels, so there's more space for your blood to flow, and it effectively helps lower your blood pressure.

So when you factor in its role in improving sleep, plus relaxing blood vessels, it's working to lower your blood pressure from a couple different angles. If anybody is struggling with blood pressure management, this is one supplement that I absolutely recommend that they get started on.

Recap

Kara: You might be under the impression that for lower blood pressure, you need to just lose weight. But here are some changes that are going to give you real results. Eating fewer processed foods and more home cooked meals, reducing sugar and refined carbohydrates, and cutting back on alcohol and caffeine and sugary beverages.

Yes, so great tips from a dietary standpoint. Some other things you can think about elsewhere in your life would be prioritizing quality sleep and enough sleep. Shooting for seven and a half to nine hours of night of restful sleep. Finding daily movement that you can stick to, be consistent with.

Hopefully it's something that you enjoy. Remember that it doesn't have to be intense or complicated. It can happen in five to 10 minute segments throughout the day. And finally, think about stress in your life. What tools do you have to manage your stress? Eating real food and regular movement can be part of that plan. But thinking about time in nature, time with loved ones, even deep breathing can dramatically drop down your stress.

Kara: And finally, get support. Brandy and I always encourage working one-on-one with a nutritionist to get an individualized plan that fits your life.

Schedule Nutrition Counseling

And we at Nutritional Weight & Wellness are in network with many insurance providers, so you might have coverage for nutrition therapy you didn't even know about.

Brandy: Right.

Kara: You can also join our Dishing Up Nutrition Facebook community, and that's a free resource for our listeners.

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Brandy: And if there's one thing I hope you take away from today's episode, it's that high blood pressure is not just a genetic issue or from eating too much salt. Food really makes a difference.

So we consistently see that when people are eating real food, you know, animal-based proteins, vegetables, and natural fats, and weed out that sugar and processed ultra processed carbohydrates and maybe make some gentle lifestyle shifts, their blood pressure and their heart health start to improve.

Kara: Thanks for joining us today. We hope you feel encouraged and empowered when it comes to your blood pressure and your heart health. You can learn more about us at our website, weightandwellness.com. If you'd like to speak with someone live, call our main office at (651) 699-3438, and remember to share this episode with someone who could benefit from hearing this message. Our goal at Nutritional Weight & Wellness is to help each and every person experience better health through eating real food. Have a wonderful day.