High blood pressure affects almost everyone whether you have it or a family member has it. Once you are diagnosed with high blood pressure, it lasts a lifetime. Though high blood pressure can be controlled and treated, it is usually called “the silent killer” because it has no symptoms. Usually if left untreated, it can cause a heart attack, stroke, or even kidney failure.

Blood pressure is measured systolic over diastolic. Systolic is the top number while diastolic is the bottom number.

Blood Pressure Numbers:
	Systolic	Diastolic
Optimal	Less that 110	Less than 70
Normal	Less than 120	Less than 80
Pre-Hypertension	120-139	80-89
Stage 1 High Blood Pressure	140-159	90-99
Stage 2 High blood Pressure	160 or higher	100 or higher

It is very important to get your blood pressure checked often, not just once a year. If you do have high blood pressure you should have it checked weekly.

Risk Factors For High Blood Pressure:
Age	Obesity	Family History
Physical Inactivity	HIgh Sodium Diet	Smoker
Excessive Alcohol Consumption	Low Fruit & Vegetable Comsumption

Ways to Reduce/Prevent High Blood Pressure:

• Consume the recommended servings of fruits and vegetables daily.
• Consume low-fat dairy products (milk, yogurt and cheese) daily.
• Reduce saturated fat intake.
• Include whole grains, poultry, nuts and seeds in your diet.
• Reduce your sodium consumption to 2,400 mg or less per day.
• Limit your alcohol consumption to 1-2 drinks per day.
• Exercise at least 30 minutes per day.
• Try to maintain a healthy weight.
• Try not to smoke if it’s possible.

Ways to Reduce Salt Intake:

• Try using reduced sodium or no added salt products.
• Buy fresh, frozen, or canned vegetables that have no added salt on the label.
• Use lean meats, fish and poultry instead of canned, smoked or processed types.
• Limit cured foods and foods packed in brine.
• Choose low sodium ready to eat breakfast foods.
• Cook rice, pastas, hot cereals, vegetables without salt.
• Rinse canned foods, all vegetables, meat or any canned items that can be rinsed.
• Try to limit using or eating convenience foods which usually have lots of salt in them.
• Take the salt shaker off the table and use more spice instead of salt.
• Cut salt in recipes by ¼ or ½ to reduce the sodium content.

High or Low Sodium?

What is classified as high or low sodium can be confusing. To be classified as high sodium, a food has to have 400 mg or more of sodium per serving. Low sodium foods are foods with 100 mg of sodium or less.

High Sodium Foods (More than 400 mg):
Canned soup	Gravy, can or jar	Pickles
Cheese crackers	Ham	Pizza
Hot dogs	Olives	Rice mixes
Salt	Soy sauce	Bouillon cubes or   granules
Steak sauce	TV dinners

Low Sodium Foods (Less than 100 mg):
Bananas	Cream cheese
Bread	Dried beans
Fresh fish	Jello
Lemon juice	Oatmeal
Potatoes	Spaghetti
Tomato paste	All fresh vegetables
All fresh fruits

Sources:

• National Heart, Lung, Blood Institute
• The DASH Publication, LSU Publication #2899
• Brown, J. E. Nutrition Now. 4th Ed., 2004
• Bowe’s and Church’s 17th Ed. Food Values of Portions.