HOW TO LOWER YOUR BLOOD PRESSURE NATURALLY

Part 5 : Saturated Fat

When you have high blood pressure, it's a good idea to reduce your consumption of saturated fat.

Why is that?

The saturated fat that you eat doesn't quite get directly deposited into your arteries. It's too simple to say that. But there is a very strong link between  how much saturated fat you eat and the condition called atherosclerosis (furring up or narrowing of the arteries).

And the narrower your arteries become the harder your heart has to work to push blood round your body and the higher your blood pressure becomes.

As the arteries get damaged they harden and reduce in elasticity. While healthy arteries rely on this elasticity to help even out the surges of blood pressure they experience when the heart beats, arteries that have become more rigid are unable to do so and blood pressure rises as a result.

To make matters worse, if high blood pressure is untreated it actually damages artery linings and leads to further hardening of the arteries – a vicious circle.

So it's important to do all you can to protect your arteries by eating a healthy diet low in saturated fat and also talking all the steps you can in consultation with your doctor to lower your blood pressure. 

Don't cut all fat out of your diet as some fats are beneficial to your health. You need fat in your diet because

• some essential fatty acids can not be produced by the body
• fat is required to build the cell membranes
• fatty acids are needed for the central nervous system and hormone production
• they contain the fat soluble vitamins A, D, E and K

So eat some fat but take care with the saturated ones. They are the kind that are solid at room temperature and are mainly of animal origin. It will be helpful to

• When you use oil choose the polyunsaturated kind such as safflower, sunflower, corn, olive and canola oils.
• Cut down on red meat and select less fatty cuts, trimming off any visible fat.
• Avoid processed meats, which tend to be high in fat.
• Cut down on dairy products too and choose low fat varieties of milk, cheese and yogurt.
• Steam, boil, grill, dry bake or poach food rather than frying.

Although it's a good idea to cut down on butter as this is high in saturated fat, it's not such a good idea to replace it with many of the alternative spreads, such as margarine on the market today. These are often high in trans-fatty acids which have been linked with an increased risk of high blood pressure and coronary heart disease. Many food scientists favour butter over margarine as a result.

The best idea is to cut back on both margarine and butter, spread it thinly and take your bread without either if you can.

Similarly take care with hydrogenated and partly-hydrogenated fats as they are often called in processed foods (look at the labels) and avoid them if you can.  Trans-fatty acids are produced in the hydrogenation which is the process of turning liquid oils into solids to be used in cooking.

Recommendations are that we have as little of these types of fats as possible and some countries are starting to regulate the amount allowed in margarine.

As for total fat, the UK advises that for healthy adults no more than 35% of calories should come from fat (a maximum of 10% from saturated fat), with the majority monounsaturated and polyunsaturated fats, while in other countries such as a US an upper limit of 30% as the total amount of calories from fat is recommended.  It seems sensible  to use the lower limit as the maximum you should eat if you have high blood pressure and to keep saturated fats and hydrogenated/trans fats to a minimum.

The link to the next part of this course will arrive in your email inbox in 3 days. If you have arrived at this page without an email subscription and would like to receive all 30 parts of this course you can subscribe for FREE using the form on the top left of the page. Alternatively if you would like to download the whole course as an ebook so that you can read it and print it out immediately you can do so for just $9.95 - you'll also receive a special bonus (worth $14.95). See Lower Blood Pressure Ebook offer for details.