Nutrition and Health Nugget for Blood Pressure
The Habit-My husband and I prefer having fresh
beetroot and carrot juice twice a week.
The Recipe- Take a medium size
beetroot. Cut it into half. Take one half beetroot and 4 baby carrots. Blend it
in a blender. Add some water. Liquefy it. Sieve and get the fresh juice out.
Keep the residue for adding it in some recipe. Don't throw. It has Important fiber
still left. Water though dilutes the nutrition but too much concentration of
these nutrients can also be a problem. Go slow and go safe.
The
Nutrition-What goes in are rich vitamin and mineral
content-vitamins A, B-1, B-2, B-6 and C, as well as folic acid, manganese,
potassium, calcium, iron and fiber along with the benefits from carrots
too.(Not to forget carrots add a bit of sweet taste too.) No additional
sweetener required.
The Health-One of the biggest benefits that
studies have shown is the effect of beetroot on the Blood Pressure.
What is Blood Pressure-In a layman's language it is the high force of the
blood flow against the artery walls.
While 120/80 is the normal and ideal range, when
these limits move beyond, it becomes a matter of concern. A Prehypertension
range is: 120-139 over 80-89. Beyond this one is diagnosed for having a high blood pressure.
Among many triggers/causes, research has shown
that the amount of sodium intake is one of the important causes for having a
high Blood Pressure.
Therefore, one of the significant factors that needs to be
controlled is the sodium intake and keeping it below 1500 mg per day. The U.S.
Food and Drug Administration recommends that individuals consume no more than
2,300 milligrams of sodium per day, and that certain groups limit intake to
1,500 milligrams per day. http://healthyeating.sfgate.com/fda-recommended-sodium-intake-1873.html
That pretty much means that it's not only the
salt shaker we should control but also the sodium content in lots of packaged
and canned food that we buy. Restaurant foods are the highest in sodium content
and hence restaurants should not be a regular affair. Indo-Chinese
foods-ranging from noodles to soups are the big devils. Soya sauce one of the
key ingredients of Indo-Chinese food is pretty high in sodium content (1 tsp
contains 560mg of sodium). Keep your restaurant trips limited.
The chicken fries, French fries, buffalo wings
dipped in variety of sauces or those pakoras(fritters), samosas, chaats,paani
puris are food very high in sodium content. There are various salad dressings
which are very high in sodium and hence should be avoided. Use herbs and spices to add flavor to your food rather than just
relying on salt or salt related products. The point is-keep outside
food, packaged food, processed foods to a limit.
It's recommended that one should always check the
sodium level (found in the nutritional table printed on every product). Keeping
the 1500 mg/day in mind, one can make decisions what to buy and what not to
buy.
Walking the talk- Every
time I go for grocery shopping, I look for food that contain 140 milligrams of
sodium or less in each serving. These are considered low-sodium foods. A food
that has a sodium concentration of 5 milligrams or less per serving can be
labelled a sodium-free food. For more information, do check out
the FDA’s label reading tips for determining the sodium
levels in your favorite products. Therefore, make a healthy choice.
Why talk of Beetroot here?
Because studies have shown that there is an
inverse relationship between potassium found in beetroots and sodium that you
can utilize, as a way to reduce the sodium in your body. An increased potassium
level in the blood reduces the sodium level. Through the consumption of
potassium-rich foods you can help eliminate some of the excess sodium from your
body.
That is just one factor that we looked
at-Sodium-Blood Pressure-Beetroot.
Maintaining a safe blood pressure limits, maintaining
sound health is a matter of health conscious diet, healthy lifestyle habit and
not to forget the big E-EXERCISE.
Disclaimer-The aim of this article is not to
provide/suggest any medical advice, diagnosis or any kind or treatment.
Image courtesy-Pixabay
Yummy yummy
ReplyDeleteAnd healthy too Bhanu. :)
ReplyDelete