Low blood pressure or hypotension does not always have tell-tale symptoms. However, a few prominent signs of low BP can be dizziness, dehydration, and fatigue, among others.
The ideal way to battle this condition is to follow a proper food diet. In this article, you will find everything you need to know about foods for low blood pressure patients.
So, without any delay, let’s begin!
The food that you consume has a direct impact on your heart health and blood pressure. Moreover, a diet that lacks proteins, vitamins B12 and B9 (also known as folate) can prevent your body from producing enough cells, which can lead to anaemia and low BP.
As a result, it is vital to have meals that include the right proportion of all the nutrients. This will assist your body in maintaining a normal pressure of less than 120/80 mm Hg.
According to healthcare experts, blood pressure below 90/60 mm Hg is an obvious sign of hypotension. Therefore, as a treatment protocol, doctors and dieticians prescribe a healthy diet that helps raise one’s blood pressure.
Given below is a list of the foods that are good for low blood pressure patients, sorted in order of most effective to least with respect to water content. Here, take a look:
Besides reducing hypertension, raisins effectively manage low blood pressure as well.
You can soak about 10 pieces of raisins in water overnight. The next morning, you can eat them one by one on an empty stomach. Alternatively, you can also take water in which raisins were soaked.
Beverages such as tea and coffee can lead to an increase in your heart rate, alongside a temporary spike in blood pressure. In fact, the blood pressure goes up within the first hour of having caffeine, with its effects lasting for about 2-3 hours.
Here, you must note that this increase is small and short-term. Additionally, an intake of caffeine does not affect everyone in the same manner, and regular coffee drinkers may not experience any increase in their blood pressure after consuming caffeine.
Vegans and vegetarians can consider consuming broccoli as this vegetable includes folate, iron, and high water content. In fact, one cup of raw broccoli contains about 89% of water. Therefore, it is an excellent choice to include in a food diet for low blood pressure people.
Additionally, a cup of raw broccoli contains about 2.5g of protein and 78mcg of folate. Moreover, a cup of cooked broccoli contains roughly 1mg of iron along with 93g of water.
Meat is a great source of minerals, protein, and vitamins. That said, individuals with low blood pressure who cannot consume red meat can resort to eggs due to their high levels of folate, vitamin B12, protein, and iron. A hard-boiled egg provides 9% of vitamin B12’s recommended dietary allowance (RDA).
Further, it contains 6.3g of proteins, 22mcg of folate, and 1.2mg iron. Also, around 87g of water is present in raw egg whites.
Hence, including eggs in your diet is ideal to avoid anaemia, which leads to low blood pressure.
Cottage cheese is a high protein food for low blood pressure. A cup of low-fat cottage cheese contains 28gm of protein. Therefore, it is a good source of protein for vegetarians.
Besides, this food item has 30% of sodium’s reference daily intake (RDA) along with 59% of B12 vitamin and 7% of folate. Moreover, a 100g serving of low-fat cottage cheese contains 82gm of water.
Chicken is another great source of protein and vitamin B12. A 100g serving of chicken breast contains 31g of protein. Furthermore, 75g of the same is packed with 0.3mcg of vitamin B12.
Additionally, one can get enough fluids by consuming chicken, as it contains around 76g of water. Therefore, a proper diet for low blood pressure individuals must include poultry products like chicken.
Salmon and other fatty fish are rich in omega-3 fats, which are linked with health benefits for the heart. In fact, 100g of salmon contains 22gm proteins and 61mg sodium, both of which can keep your blood pressure in check.
Also, pink salmon contains around 75gm of water in its raw form. Moreover, doctors recommend consuming salty food items like smoked fish, which can increase blood pressure.
People suffering from anaemia and hypotension must consume lentils as they are rich in iron and folate. A 100gm serving of lentils contains 3.3mg of iron and 181mcg of folate.
For instance, a 100gm serving of canned baked beans contains 72gm of water. Therefore, if you have low blood pressure, it is advised to include lentils in your diet.
Red meat is an excellent food for low blood pressure patients as it contains a high amount of protein and iron. Cooked red meat contains around 28gm to 36gm of protein per 100gm. Furthermore, a 100gm serving of red meat, such as ground beef, contains 2.7mg of iron.
Red meat like pork tenderloin and smoked beef has around 70gm of water. Thus, red meat intake is a must for people with low BP.
Meat liver, particularly beef liver, is rich in vitamin B12 and proteins vital for maintaining normal blood pressure. A 100g serving of beef liver contains 20.35g of protein, 4.78mg of iron, and 18.7mcg of vitamin B12.
Additionally, a 100gm serving of pan-fried beef liver contains 62gm of water. Therefore, individuals can avoid medical conditions like anaemia and hypotension by consuming meat liver, which makes it one of the foods that are good for low blood pressure patients.
At this point, you might wonder how food can impact your blood pressure. Take a look at the following section to find the answer to your question!
Thus, one can conclude that certain foods have a positive impact on low blood pressure. At the same time, there are types of food that can lower one’s blood pressure even more. Therefore, it is imperative that individuals with low BP avoid them.
Here is a list of the top 5 food items that can be harmful to people with low BP:
Consumption of alcohol leads to dehydration, which is a trigger for low blood pressure conditions. Therefore, it is extremely harmful to patients with hypotension. Moreover, as it is necessary to keep the body hydrated all the time, one must avoid regular alcohol intake.
Large food portions with an excessive amount of carbohydrates can further lower one’s blood pressure. This happens because your body works harder to digest the food, resulting in a drop in blood pressure level.
Therefore, health experts recommend a small portion of carbohydrate-rich food for low blood pressure patients, which should be consumed at regular intervals.
Although milk contains a high amount of water and nutrients, it contains calcium that slows down the absorption of iron in the gut. This results in anaemia, which can then lead to low blood pressure. Hence, one must avoid excessive consumption of milk and other calcium-rich food items.
It is evident from the above list of foods for low BP patients that lack of protein and vitamin B12 in the diet can worsen their condition. Therefore, vegetarians or vegans not consuming poultry products, which are rich in these nutrients, can suffer from low blood pressure.
Foods with higher salt content are essential for hypotension patients. Therefore, if you are suffering from low BP, you must not consume low-sodium foods like frozen fish, unsalted nuts and seeds, dried peas and beans, etc.
So, to sum up, individuals must consider consuming food for low blood pressure from the above list. Doing so will increase the intake of nutrients that can improve the condition, thereby allowing one to maintain a healthy body.
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