If you get to know that your blood pressure is high, you will be quick to assume that now the medicines for it will have to be taken for life. But it can be reversed with simple diet and lifestyle modifications. After 50 years of age, if blood pressure rises, it is difficult to reduce it.
Just imagine a rubber pipe carrying water for irrigation in a farm. The rubber pipe is elastic when new. Once it turns old, it automatically hardens and now starts to leak from various places, and if it leaks, the excess water will destroy the plants and other plants won’t get proper water. So, once we are old, the elasticity of our veins in which the blood flows reduce hence the pressure may rise with age.
India is known for the spices we have and now the world is running after garlic, turmeric, ginger, cinnamon, cloves. They all dilate and relax the blood vessel hence are good for maintaining blood pressure.
Garlic is the most popular culinary ingredient, its active compound allicin is known for bringing the cholesterol level down and even high blood pressure. But the ideal way according to Ayurveda to consume garlic is Lahsun Ksheerpak. Let me share how can you make it.
Take 10 gms of garlic, remove the husk, make a coarse paste of it. Add it to 40 ml of water and 40 ml of milk in a pan. Boil till it gets half the quantity. Drink half of it in the morning and half in the evening.
This formulation is mentioned in Charak Samhita for heart diseases too. People are aware of benefits of garlic, but they do not know how to consume it. Many people complain of acidity after taking garlic cloves empty stomach in the morning. So once this method is used, the acidic properties of garlic reduce because of milk. So, this is one thing you can try for sure.
One amla a day can maintain your blood pressure. I usually don’t advise Amla juices available out in the market. Fresh amla or amla powder you can have empty stomach.
Brahmi, Ashwagandha, Arjuna are few Ayurvedic drugs that can help lower the blood pressure but take it as per the advice of an Ayurvedic physician.
Pomegranate juice is proven to be effective for high blood pressure specially it reduces systolic blood pressure the upper one.
You can have green tea once a day which has many antioxidants that inhibit the damage of cells caused by free radicals. It relaxes the blood vessels and allows the proper flow of blood.
Almonds and cashew nuts are good because it reduces the swelling of the blood vessels but if your cholesterol levels are high, you should avoid cashew nuts.
From years, salt has been defamed for causing high blood pressure. You also know that if your salt intake is high, your blood pressure is bound to be high. But I want to make you aware it is not just the salt as the only culprit of high blood pressure there are many other factors too.
The first question that a person who is diagnosed with high blood pressure asks that I do not eat much salt why I have blood pressure. So, the answer to it lies in whatever you eat. A handful of namkeen that you might be enjoying with tea contains high amount of sodium which is enough to spike up your blood pressure. Large amounts of sodium are hidden in canned, processed and convenience foods.
Do you know that canned tomatoes can shoot up your blood pressure. Such sauces have high content of salt like 100-300 mg of salt per serving. So now you know what to cut down if you have high blood pressure.
I had a 25-year-old male patient who presented with high blood pressure from the past few months. He was on strict diet control and his all-blood reports turned out to be normal. So, the tough task here was why did he have high blood pressure. On getting out the details I got to know that he was preparing for civil services and would study for more than 18 hours a day. To get off the drowsiness and sleep, he would take green tea often in a day.
His green tea had caffeine as one of the ingredients. Yes, that was raising the pressure of the body. Caffeine is a very potent factor of high blood pressure. So, it’s just not tea or coffee that can give high blood pressure, do watch all the ingredients of the packets of food that you buy. Make it a habit of doing this.
High fatty food, oily foods can also increase blood pressure as they are quick to raise your bad cholesterols so keep a check on its intake.
Cheese contains sodium that increases the pressure on the blood vessels and contracts them. This may rise in the blood pressure level. This is why you should avoid excessive cheese if you are taking it.
In addition to this, Ayurveda has mentioned Atichinta (Excessive worry), Bhay (fear), Krodha (anger), Alasya (laziness or leading sedentary life) for Pittaj Hridya rog or you could say high blood pressure. Because in stress, anxiety, state of fear we usually say my heart is beating fast this means more blood pumped out, more pressure exerted on the walls so high blood pressure can result.
We should certainly take care of that one organ which works every second to keep us healthy i.e our heart. Believe me it is very easy.
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