Do you have high blood pressure and are unsure what to do to get it down? Are you hesitant about starting HBP medication to get your blood pressure under control? There are things you can do to get it down, naturally.  

Are you looking for an easy way to get it down without the work? Well, there is no such thing as having excellent health without work. Sorry, friend. It’s going to take some action.

You must not get overwhelmed by the list and think you must do all these to get your high blood pressure down. Of course, incorporating all these things will help lower your blood pressure, but you can start with one item and build on that over time.  

What Causes Hypertension?

One of the primary underlying causes of high blood pressure is related to your body, producing too much insulin and leptin in response to a high-carbohydrate and processed food diet.

As your insulin and leptin levels rise, it causes your blood pressure to increase. Research published in 1998 in the journal Diabetes reported that nearly two-thirds of the test subjects who were insulin resistant also had high blood pressure, so the link is significant.

Dr. Mercola

What Can Help Lower Your High Blood Pressure?

1. Potassium

If you consume a lot of salt in your daily eating, adding potassium (a mineral) to your daily intake may be beneficial.  

Potassium allows your body to process the sodium/salt intake and expel it from your body. In doing so, potassium relaxes your blood vessels’ walls, allowing blood to flow more easily. Thus, contributing to lowering your blood pressure. Potassium also helps with muscle cramps.

2. Calcium/Magnesium

These minerals go beyond stronger bones and teeth. Calcium/Magnesium is also beneficial for women regarding PMS/PMDD. 

Calcium helps lower your blood pressure by relaxing your blood vessels and tightening when needed. Magnesium also assists you by preventing your blood vessels from constricting, causing high blood pressure. Try this Calcium/Magnesium supplement.

3. Garlic 

Allicin is found in garlic and is responsible for lowering high blood pressure. You can add garlic to your meals, salads, etc., or you may prefer to take a Garlic supplement like this one. 

4. Nitric Oxide

Nitric Oxide allows your blood vessels to open and blood to flow more efficiently, lowering your blood pressure. You may have low nitric oxide levels, quickly testing with at-home testing strips.  

5. Omega 3

Fish oil omega 3 has helped me in so many ways, including lowering my triglycerides. But, it also helps lower high blood pressure by improving your overall cardiovascular system. 

6. Folic Acid

This supplement helps open your blood vessels and improve your skin, hair, and nails. Try this Folic Acid. 

7. CoQ10

You’ve probably heard about Coq10 for antiaging benefits, but it also helps lower high blood pressure. CoQ10 is an antioxidant that helps your body convert food and produce energy. I use this CoQ10.

CoQ10 is thought to improve heart-related conditions, like high blood pressure, by increasing the production of energy in cells, neutralizing free radicals that cause cell harm, and preventing the formation of blood clots.

Verywellhealth

8. Lower Salt Intake

Increased levels of salt make it harder for your kidneys to eliminate water. Adding this extra strain causes your blood pressure to increase. Limit your salt intake by avoiding processed foods (contain high sodium levels), ready-made meals, soups, sauces, and more. Read the food label and see how much sodium that bottle of ketchup, soup, or pasta sauce contains. 

9. Food Changes

Changing your regular food or diet (I’m not too fond of the word diet) is essential. In making healthier food changes, you may naturally lower your sodium intake, and increase your potassium, calcium, etc., naturally with food. 

You can begin with whole 30, paleo, or keto eating methods. Everyone is different, so your body may respond better to one of these than the other. Try these out and see which is the best option for you.  

I’ve found a winning balance with all 3 of these methods of eating healthier. I’m not 100% off cheese (paleo), as I enjoy fat bombs from the keto method. I do avoid grains and make most meals with whole foods at home. Find what works for you. You don’t have to follow each method as die-hard as you think. Sure, it’s easier to make the complete change in the beginning, but with experience and attention to your body’s response, you can adapt to what works best for you. 

Still, the main culprits will stay off the list, like sodium, sugar, grains, and fried foods. No matter how you modify your eating habits. These offenders are not beneficial to any healthy lifestyle.

Learn more about Grains, the top ingredient Paleo, Keto, and Whole-30 recommend avoiding.

10. Exercise

You knew it was coming.

You can’t improve anything health-related without moving.

How are high blood pressure and exercise connected? Regular physical activity makes your heart stronger. A stronger heart can pump more blood with less effort. If your heart can work less to pump, the force on your arteries decreases, lowering your blood pressure.

Mayo Clinic

If you’re not used to going outside and walking around, it’s time to start. It’s that simple get up and start walking. Exercise doesn’t mean creating a full-on gym routine, running miles on end, or doing bodybuilding. You don’t have to go from 0 to 100 in one day.

Make it easier on yourself by walking. Start by doing what you can and build up from there. Find things you enjoy, like walking outside, yoga, hiking, biking, whatever it is, do it.

Be safe if you’re going to the gym during COVID. Stay with it and get moving! It’ll improve your stress levels too.

Use a Blood Pressure Monitor

If you’re dealing with high blood pressure, monitor your BP daily. Use a blood pressure machine and log your results daily to track changes. I’ve used this base model and just upgraded to this one. 

Tracking your blood pressure daily will also help you improve your blood pressure from your changes in food and supplements. 

What Happens If You Do All This, and There Is Still No Change in Your High Blood Pressure?

Then it’s time to get more serious and drill down.

If you’re doing the necessary steps, perhaps you must make more specific modifications to your body.  

Did you eliminate or lower your salt/sodium intake? Seriously, did you take the time to calculate how much salt is in each of your meals? You’d be surprised to realize that some of your food and snacks are still high in sodium. Use a tracking app like Lifesum or Shopwell (not an affiliate) to assist you in drilling down on your intake and finding alternatives. Take the extra steps, and you may find some eye-opening answers. Both apps will help you and make it a little easier on you.

Lastly, I recommend reading the Paleo Cardiologist for more information.

Are You Consistent in Your Healthier Changes?

Be honest with yourself. You will only be hurting your health if you’re not totally honest.  

Are you consistent with taking your supplements? Are you taking them every day for at least a month before determining they’re not working? And are you eating healthier consistently every meal? Even “bad” or “cheat” meals will increase your blood pressure. Are you monitoring your blood pressure every day and keeping a log?

As I mentioned above, you’ll need to take action to lower your blood pressure and begin to feel better. Everything listed here is helpful for your overall health. Eating healthier and avoiding sugar, sodium, and grains will help your overall health. You may lose weight, yay! Or you may start to have more energy, have a clearer mind, and not feel so sluggish and worn down; you may have lower blood pressure!

All of these things in your health intertwine. Focusing on lowering your blood pressure is a great place to start and will have a domino effect on the rest of your health.

Please don’t fall into the trap/myth that high blood pressure runs in your family, so there’s nothing you can do about it because it’s hereditary.

Nope.

That is not a good answer. 

It’s also a myth. It is so common to hear this, and it’s baffling to me because it allows people to have a victim mentality that your health is not your own. It is your own. You may have a family history, but you can also make the necessary changes in your life not to follow the same path. Do everything you can to not be just like your family. 

Let’s Take a Closer Look Into Your Family

You may have the same unhealthy lifestyle or health issues as your family because you also eat and live the same unhealthy lifestyle as a said family member. Which is maybe what caused or led to their high blood pressure, high cholesterol, or what have you. You followed in their path.

It’s interesting to see a healthy and active family where the parents are fit and active with kids following the same suit. It’s what the kids know and are taught to be. Likewise, if you see unhealthy parents, the children are usually the same as their parents. It may not be every single case, but more so than not. 

Reflect on what you’ve seen in your family. How did you grow up, and what were you taught or shown to be healthy or unhealthy? How have healthy or poor habits been passed on to you? What healthy or unhealthy habits are you passing on to your family? Just something to think about.

I, too, was raised with regular, fatty meals, saturated fats, lots of sugar, high sodium foods, etc. My parents now live with healthy eating habits. But only after both suffered a stroke and diabetes. Their lifestyle has since drastically changed after poor dietary eating leading up to that point. 

So I’m there with you, friend. I use my parent’s health issues as a wake-up call to not follow suit and live my healthiest life by making healthy lifestyle changes. I work on it every day. You’ll need to do the same if you want to be around for a long time.

Let’s be clear; it is no one’s fault; I’m not blaming your parents or family. When you know better, you do better. Use these observations as a way of improving your health.

You’ve made all of these changes for months, and still, your blood pressure is high.

At this point, if you can say without a doubt you’ve done these things at 100%, then it may be time to look at starting BP medication. As I am not a doctor, please talk with your doctor and see what steps you can take to be healthier. However, I strongly believe that making these changes will help you lower your blood pressure.

Personally, after making the change to more Paleo and avoiding foods with high sodium, my BP went back to normal ranges. When I eat at a restaurant, I know my BP will go up due to the amount of sodium used.  

It will take about 24-48 hours for my levels to get back to normal. It’s essential to be mindful of how your blood pressure reacts to certain foods or meals. This way, you know what to avoid. It’ll be different for everyone. You can also try an elimination diet to find foods that cause reactions or try an at-home food allergy and intolerance test. I’ve done both and have found food sensitivities trigger other health issues such as coughing and congestion.

Where Do You Begin?

First, I would start with modifying your daily meals and sodium intake. This way, you start with an improved diet change and pinpoint what change or supplement is helping you lower your blood pressure.

No two people are the same; therefore, no two people will respond the same or need the same supplements or diet changes to see the benefits. 

What works for one may not work for you. This is the key to making lasting changes in your life. You’re not like anyone else. You’re unique and need to find what works for you and not someone else.  

It brings me joy to share my journey and everything I’ve tried/learned to help you on your journey. And give you some tips, so you know you’re not alone. I am releasing a reference guide that you can print and quickly go back to; instead of stopping what you’re doing to try to find that one site you saw that one thing on, click here for the guide. 

I wish you peace and guidance on your journey. Take care and be well.

Check out the Top Supplements To Take Everyday blog post for more, and Do you live in one of these cities suffering from high cholesterol?

UPDATE 4/1/2021

I began tracking my foods and meals to see the correlation between the foods I eat and my BP. I also monitored my weight daily to see if the influx or decrease affected my BP. Of course, the foods I eat play a significant role in my BP, mainly when we would go out to eat.

The next day my BP would be higher than my normal reading. So I cut back on going out, best for everyone in the family. It’s hard sometimes because I don’t want to cook every single day. I get burnt out like everyone else. I stick to meal planning, which keeps my BP within range for the most part.

If I feel it creeping back up, I can now associate that with it because we went to dinner. It’s all the salt that restaurants use to cook with (I don’t use it at home). And if you eat out enough times back to back, you’re consuming high sodium amounts, thus increasing your blood pressure. And in doing so, you keep your blood pressure elevated. Thus not giving it a chance to come back down.