Home Remedies In Your Kitchen For High Blood Pressure

When most people think about dealing with hypertension the first line of defense is often a medication. That is absolutely appropriate if blood pressure is very high. But what should you do if it is in a middle range–not quite normal but not so high as to worry your physician enough to prescribe a medication?

The first line of defense is frequently weight loss. Studies have shown that even modest weight loss can make a difference and a recent visitor to our website reported impressive results from this approach.

Remedies in Your Kitchen:

We know that losing weight is not easy. That is why we recommend some food remedies in your kitchen for helping to control high blood pressure. You may be surprised to learn that there is research to support several of these approaches.

Beets: One of the Best Remedies in Your Kitchen for Hypertension:

Beets are one of our favorite foods for all sorts of reasons (good for the brain and for enhancing stamina). Beetroot juice also has anti-inflammatory activity (Nutrients, April, 2015). Their ability to lower blood pressure, though, puts them high on our list of food remedies for hypertension. In one randomized controlled study of beetroot juice, investigators gave hypertensive patients either 250 mL of beetroot juice daily or a placebo (Hypertension, Feb., 2015). Their conclusions:
“This is the first evidence of durable blood pressure reduction with dietary nitrate supplementation in a relevant patient group. These findings suggest a role for dietary nitrate as an affordable, readily-available, adjunctive treatment in the management of hypertensive patients.(Funded by The British Heart Foundation, Clinicaltrials.gov: NCT01405898).”
Stories from Readers:

Aya has very good advice:

“There is no quick fix if you have high blood pressure. Exercise every day; watch the sodium content in foods; eat healthy meals (change your diet); do yoga; breathe deeply. Drink some beet juice every day. Magnesium helps; drink hibiscus tea. High blood pressure calls for a permanent lifestyle change.”

Peggy in the State of Washington offers this experience:

“Yes, I juice beets every day and drink one to one and a half cups a day. I wash raw beets and then juice them.

“Had an experience: was on celecoxib for two months-Blood pressure was taken 7/4/2015. It  was 205/105. I immediately drank two cups of fresh beet juice and three hours later my blood pressure was 150/79.

I quit pills. My blood pressure is good now with beet juice. I am 74 years old. I had a hip put in five weeks ago and I am recovering nicely. NO PILLS!!! I rarely take pain pills. I use aspirin instead.”

Not everyone will get such a great response from a glass or two of beet juice. Some people will require blood pressure medications. But Peggy’s story is quite fascinating.

Other Food Remedies in Your Kitchen:

Other foods that have been shown to lower blood pressure include pomegranates, chocolate, garlic, and green tea. If you find this intriguing, you may want to watch our video about home remedies in your kitchen for helping to control high blood pressure. Here is a link.

You may also find our Guide to Blood Pressure Treatment of some value.

This article was updated on 5/5/2016