According to the CDC, currently about 119 million Americans have high blood pressure—that’s about half of US adults!

And that number is particularly startling when you consider that back in 2017 (just 8 years ago) “only” 75 million Americans had hypertension. That’s an increase of nearly 60 percent.

Now, during that time period the BP ranges for what is considered “high blood pressure” were lowered which instantly reclassified people who had formerly been considered as having normal blood pressure into the land of the diagnosed.

But that doesn’t explain ALL of the 60 percent increase.

What’s going on?

The begging questions here are: Why are so many people suffering from high blood pressure? And why are those numbers continuing to soar?

Well, you don’t need to look too far because much of the answer lies in our diets and lifestyle habits:

• We are increasingly relying on ultraprocessed foods which lack essential nutrients and are loaded with salt, chemicals and GMO ingredients;

• We drink soda by the truckload;

• 80 percent of us don’t even come close to getting the recommended amount of weekly exercise;

• And we rely on medications to fix everything for us and make us feel better!

So as sad as it is to say, it’s no wonder we’re overweight, sickly, and have blood banging up too hard against our arteries.

Listen up!

If you have high blood pressure, or even if your blood pressure is normal and you want to keep it that way, you need to make sure your diet and lifestyle habits support not only normal blood pressure, but optimal health overall!

The good news is, it’s not that hard to do.

Just making a few small but impactful changes can make all the difference in the world for you.

This means not only lower blood pressure, but weight loss, fewer aches and pains, better sleep and more energy too!

Here’s what you need to do:

Avoid packaged foods, fast food and refined carbs 

Avoiding packaged foods, fast food and refined carbs (like white bread, snack chips and sweets) helps you naturally eliminate two of the biggest culprits behind high blood pressure—salt and sugar.

Although you’re probably not surprised about salt raising your blood pressure, you may wonder about sugar. Well, there are 3 ways that sugar raises your blood pressure:

1- Sugar leads to overweight, which is a high blood pressure risk factor.

2- Sugar can promote sodium retention, which can cause hypertension.

3- Sugar is a very inflammatory substance, and can cause arterial inflammation and elevated insulin, which can ultimately drive up your blood pressure.

Concentrate on real foods, especially lots of fresh vegetables, meats, fish, poultry, eggs and good fats like real butter. This will also help ensure that you get more potassium, which is just as important as reducing salt for blood pressure.

Get enough Omega-3 essential fatty acids

Omega-3 essential fatty acids have been proven to lower blood pressure and increasing numbers of doctors are advising their patients to up their Omega-3 intake.

In addition to incorporating more fatty fish like salmon into your diet (see a quick recipe below), one of the best ways to engage this natural anti-inflammatory and help lower blood pressure is to take a pharmaceutical-grade fish oil supplement like VitalMega-3.

VitalMega-3 provides a soothing 1,200 mg of inflammation-taming Omega-3 essential fatty acids in every 2-capsule dose, including the EPA and DHA fats that are crucial to brain and heart health.

Squeeze in some exercise

Regular exercise has been shown in countless studies to help lower blood pressure.

Now, you don’t need to get fancy or join a gym! You can walk in your neighborhood or on a treadmill, join a class, or use DVDs in your home.

That’s how I started in martial arts, by the way. I did Billy Blanks’ Tae-Bo DVDs in my living room for 4 years. During that time I developed a love for martial arts and started formal training. Now 22 years later I’m a 4th degree black belt in karate and a (new) black belt in mixed martial arts and I still actively train!

Just be sure to get your doctor’s OK first—trust me, he or she will be thrilled.

Get enough vitamin D

Low levels of vitamin D are associated with high blood pressure and it’s easy to see why. Vitamin D has inflammation-fighting properties, and since inflammation is a driving force behind high blood pressure, without vitamin D’s protection, you may be more prone to arterial inflammation and increases in blood pressure.

Vitamin D also works to “escort” calcium where it needs to go in your body. Without vitamin D’s help, calcium may build up in your blood vessels and drive up your blood pressure.

You can help make sure you have enough vitamin D by getting brief unprotected sun exposure (20 minutes) each day and supplementing with a top-quality formula like Optimum DK Formula with FruiteX-B.

Optimum DK Formula provides a therapeutic 5,000 IU dose of vitamin D3, plus its partner vitamins K1 and K2 and the mineral boron.

All of these nutrients work together synergistically to support strong cardiovascular health, as well as immune and bone health too!

Reduce stress

Stress and hypertension go hand in hand, so do whatever you need to do to reduce stress in your life.

Regular exercise is a natural stress reducer as well as a terrific way to lower blood pressure, so that’s another good reason to dust off those sneakers.

Now start on your way to better blood pressure and improved overall health!

To your health,

Sherry Brescia

 

PS: Here is a quick and easy way to prepare salmon:

Drizzle salmon fillets with melted butter and add desired seasoning. (I like to use Adobo seasoning or Buck’s if you can find it.)

Air fry at 400° for 8-10 minutes or until fish is just about cooked through.

Air broil for 1-2 minutes and serve.

If you’d like, make a quick mustard sauce to serve with the fish by combining 1/2 cup sour cream, 1/4 cup mayonnaise, 2 tablespoons mustard and a dash of cayenne pepper. Yum!