By Setareh Kiumarsi
High Blood Pressure
What should I avoid and what should I eat?
Do you have high blood pressure?
Reduce the following foods in your diet because they increase blood pressure:
Salt (except Himalayan pink salt), chips, cheese puffs, ginger, cinnamon, rosemary, saffron, lemon balm, spicy foods and hot spices (black pepper, red pepper, curry, chili, masala, cayenne), caffeine (including black tea, coffee, instant coffee, chocolate), alcohol, cigarettes, beef, veal, pork, cured meats, fast food, processed foods.
What foods help lower blood pressure?
Include these in your diet:
Basil, parsley, spinach, garlic (cooked), pomegranate, blueberries, raspberries, barberries, apples, pears, sweet lemon, grapefruit, kiwi, peaches, plums, squash, cucumber, broccoli, cauliflower, celery, cilantro, coriander seeds, thyme, fenugreek seeds, fenugreek, nettle, tomato, sumac, rhubarb, hibiscus tea, watermelon, warm lemon-honey water, coconut water.
In the next section, I’ll talk about home remedies for high blood pressure.
Home Remedies for High Blood Pressure
Do you have high blood pressure?
Drink a glass of parsley/celery juice on an empty stomach: put 3 handfuls of parsley and 1 stalk of celery through a juicer. Add 1 teaspoon fennel powder, 1 teaspoon apple cider vinegar, and 1 teaspoon honey before drinking.
During the day, instead of coffee, instant coffee, or black tea, drink one of the following herbal infusions every hour:
Basil/Hibiscus tea:
Add a few fresh basil leaves and a few hibiscus petals to a glass of boiling water and let it steep.
Valerian/Nettle/Coriander seed tea:
Mix these three herbs whole (not powdered) in equal amounts. Add 1 teaspoon of the mixture to a glass of boiling water and let it steep.
You can also use Ananda’s calming herbal tea.
Have a berry smoothie as a snack:
Blend 1 tablespoon blueberry, 1 tablespoon raspberry, 1 cup warm water, and 1–2 teaspoons honey. (If you don’t have blueberries and raspberries, use 2 tablespoons edible barberries instead.)
Now that it’s pomegranate season, juice 1 or 2 pomegranates in the morning and pour the juice into a jar. Every hour, mix 2 tablespoons of the juice with a cup of warm water, add 1 teaspoon honey, and drink.
In a bowl, mix 2 tablespoons yogurt with a bit of water until smooth. Then add 1 cup warm water, grate a cucumber into it (with the skin), add a handful of chopped fresh cilantro, 2–3 pinches of thyme, and 1 pinch of salt. Enjoy this as a snack.
To a cup of watermelon juice, add 2 pinches of cardamom or cumin powder and 1 pinch of coriander seed powder. Have this as a snack.
Low Blood Pressure
Do you often have low blood pressure?
Before bed, soak a handful of raisins in a cup of boiling water. Add 1–2 pinches of salt and 1/2 teaspoon rosemary powder or a few fresh rosemary leaves. Let it sit overnight. In the morning, eat the soaked raisins and drink the water. Don’t eat anything for at least 30 minutes afterward.
What else?
Whenever your pressure drops, eat one of the following mixtures every hour to bring it back up:
In a cup of boiling water, add 1/2 teaspoon cinnamon powder (or a piece of cinnamon stick), 1 pinch of saffron, 1–2 pinches of salt, and 1 tablespoon honey.
In a cup, mix 1/3 lemon balm distillate with 2/3 warm water, add 1–2 pinches of salt and 1 tablespoon honey.
If you republish this post, which was written with care and in the hope of well-being for all, please credit the author “Setareh Kiumarsi.”
