5 More Foods to Avoid to Lower Your Blood Pressure

We reviewed the first five bad foods to avoid which included: refined sugar, white flour, refined vegetable oils, margarine and processed meats. Here are five more 'time bombs' that compromise your weight and health:

Processed and packaged foods
Have you ever read the ingredient listing on a boxed store bought pizza, box of chicken nuggets or packet of cookies? These foods are loaded with sulphites, trans fats, artificial flavors, corn syrup, sodium, dextrose, MSG, hydrogenated or partially hydrogenated ingredients and words we have difficulty pronouncing!

There are hundreds of synthetic and unnatural ingredients that are used in our food products, far too many to list.

Just remember that if it comes in a box or package it is refined and processed and not good for you. These are bad foods to avoid and will keep you overweight and unhealthy.

Even if they have a heart smart label. Manufacturers are NOT concerned with your health, they want to make money- and lots of it!!!

Diet pop, diet foods, and diet sweeteners
Aspartame, also known as Nutrasweet, Equal, Sugar Twin, Splenda and Sweet n Low, is a sugar substitute developed by a company called MONSATO. This is a company that loves to experiment with our health. Aspartame is used in diet soda, diet products and sweeteners, as well as a lot of refined and processed goods.

There is a lot of controversy over the negative health effects of aspartame. Some researchers claim that there are over 92 documented symptoms of aspartame including a lot of neurological side effects.

The 1976 Groliers encyclopaedia states that cancer cannot live without phenylalanine, and aspartame is 50% phenylalanine.
Moreover, aspartame consumption can actually make you gain weight because it triggers your appetite for simple carbohydrates.

Avoid all aspartame/ Nutrasweet containing products, these are definitely foods to avoid. I truly believe that aspartame, trans fats, MSG and nitrates are some of the worst synthetic chemicals made by man.

Caffeine
Caffeine is highly addictive. Most of us drink caffeinated beverages for energy or to ‘start our day’. Often we order large and extra large coffee Which is equivalent to 2-3 cups of coffee in a single serving.

But have you noticed the ‘crash’ you experience shortly after??...this is usually when you reach for another cup of coffee, or caffeinated soda. Among Caffeine’s negative effects is that caffeine dehydrates you, and like alcohol, flushes out your critical heart healthy minerals: calcium , potassium, magnesium and Zinc.

Caffeine also upsets your blood sugar so you experience ‘ups and downs’ all day which affects your moods, cravings, anxiety and concentration levels and caffeine also disrupts your sleep patterns.

If you are a heavy caffeine drinker, begin cutting back- enjoy a regular coffee in the morning and then try some herbal teas or lemon water the rest of the day.
You may initially have a headache as you experience caffeine withdrawal but you will soon feel so much better!

Alcohol

If you want to lose weight and reduce your blood pressure, you need to stop drinking alcohol. Dr. Cass Ingrams states that alcohol causes heart disease:

“ It directly damages the arterial walls, causing hardening of the arteries and traumatizes the heart muscle itself.”

Alcohol is known to add empty calories to your diet. It not only damages the heart but also the stomach, the kidneys and the liver.

Alcohol is also a diuretic meaning it causes water loss and dehydration. The diuretic effect of alcohol causes your body to excrete important heart health minerals. Thus, alcohol is another of those foods to avoid.

sodium

Sodium is salt. Sodium is an essential mineral which works closely with our potassium levels. Potassium is an essential heart health mineral, but when sodium levels are high, potassium levels decrease and vice versa.

High sodium levels are directly linked to high blood pressure and heart disease.

Do you get puffy and suffer from water retention? Are you taking diuretics?
If the answer is yes, then chances are that you consume excess sodium in your diet. Your mineral levels are out of whack. Moreover, diuretic medication washes out more valuable minerals such as potassium, magnesium, chloride, sodium and zinc.

When we eat the Standard American Diet (SAD) we receive too much sodium in our diet. Sodium makes food taste good and is used in excess in refined, processed, canned goods and processed meats.

Restaurants, particularly fast food chains, also use excessive salt in food preparation.

Reduce your sodium intake by avoiding all refined and processed foods, canned foods, fast food restaurants and the salt shaker.

Add fresh herbs and salt alternatives, such as Spike, to your foods instead of salt.

So what can you eat?

Don’t think that Ive taken all the “good things” away – just the bad foods, the time bombs that compromise your health.

Millions of people the world over eat a daily diet based on fresh, natural, whole, unprocessed delicious foods and they are very slim and healthy.

Interestingly, when immigrants move to North America from their native land and keep their ethnic way of eating they are able to maintain their good health. But... when they adopt the North american way of eating they gain weight and experience lifestyle induced degenerative diseases.

Remember your health and appearance is a direct reflection of what you eat on a daily basis.

See foods to eat for a great selection of alternative foods or check out healthy food substitutions for more ideas.

Hippocrates said “let food be your medicine, and your medicine your food”.

Final thoughts:

Watch for hidden sugar, fat and sodium in all food products. Manufacturers are very clever at disguising ingredients, become a label reader.

Shop in the outer aisles at the grocery store. Buy fresh whole foods: fruits, vegetables, fresh meats, eggs, whole grain bread and low fat dairy products.

Did you check out the first part of 1 of this article?