Blood Pressure Aid

Lowering your blood pressure (BP) can be tricky, but with a simple change in diet, you may be able to knock it down a few points and enjoy a healthier lifestyle.

The High Blood Pressure Diet
For help with lowering your blood pressure without medication, try to get 20 percent of your daily calories from whole-grain, high-fiber foods instead of refined "white" carbs. It could drop your systolic BP 4 to 8 points and your diastolic BP another 6 to 8 points.

Another bonus of going to a high blood pressure diet is that it can help reduce high cholesterol. Because high blood pressure and high cholesterol often go hand in hand – and both put you at risk for cardiovascular disease – eating to control one issue may help you solve the other.

Here's How Fiber Helps
Both soluble and insoluble fiber (what are those, you say?) were shown to lower blood pressure in middle-aged people with the unfortunate combo of borderline high cholesterol and prehypertension. Soluble fiber does double duty by lowering cholesterol, too.

Help yourself to both kinds of fiber with these tasty recipes from EatingWell.com.

Recipe Corner

• Southwestern Corn and Black Bean Salad (13 grams of fiber per serving)
• Butternut and Barley Pilaf (8 grams of fiber per serving)
• White Beans, Spinach, and Tomatoes Over Parmesan Toasts (15 grams of fiber per serving)
• Trio of Peas (5 grams of fiber per serving)

Fiber isn't the only edible way to lower your blood pressure. Here are 12 more eats that also help.

Whole-grain diets reduce blood pressure in mildly hypercholesterolemic men and women. Behall, K. M., Scholfield, D. J., Hallfrisch, J., Journal of the American Dietetic Association 2006 Sep;106(9):1445-1449.