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The Dr. Josh Axe Show

High Blood Pressure Diet and Natural Remedies

Transcript

Josh

Hi, I'm Jordan Rubin and welcome to Ancient Medicine Today brought to you by draxe.com. We are here to share with you how to use food as medicine. Today we're going to talk about a topic that affects tens of millions of Americans and hundreds of millions of people around the world. But the good news is you don't need to turn to modern medicine, we're going to teach you how to use ancient medicine.

Josh

For a high blood pressure diet and natural remedies. Blood pressure can be a challenge. There are, as I mentioned, many people that are hypertensive or have high blood pressure. Some don't even know it. And medications certainly work, but they come with side effects. I truly believe that elevated blood pressure can absolutely be lowered, and we're going to share with you a few tricks of the trade.

Josh

And as always, If you love this information, click the like button. And if you know someone who has high blood pressure, who has some kidney issues and wants to improve their health, this is the show for them. So make sure to click that share button. Let people know that there is ancient medicine for high blood pressure. Let's get started. Number 1, vegetables.

Josh

I want to let you in on a little secret. My opinion is That the key or a key to overcoming high blood pressure is to balance your dietary potassium and sodium ratio. Check this out. The average American consumes about 10 times as much sodium as they do potassium in their diet. The natural diet should be opposite, more potassium than sodium. What does that cause? High blood pressure.

Josh

What does that cause? Diabetes. Holding of water. What does that cause? All kinds of issues with energy and other imbalances. So vegetables and their consumption, you see it on the screen, multicolored vegetables all have potassium. In fact, some of the best are celery and its juice, watermelon and its juice, especially the rind. These are great sources of dietary potassium and sodium.

Josh

When you consume a beverage or food, you want to have at least a ratio of potassium to sodium of 3:1. So vegetables are a great source of potassium. Virtually any vegetable can help you and juices, as we've talked about before, serum-soluble nutrition getting right in your cells immediately available. Number 2, fresh fruit. Right here we have apricots, fresh or dried fruit.

Josh

Fruit is a great source of, again, potassium and also antioxidants. Both fruits and vegetables have antioxidants which protect your cardiovascular system, your capillaries, your veins, and your arteries. Consume fresh fruit and as always, consume it in moderation. We like the higher fiber, lower sugar fruits. Grapefruits are great, green apples are great, berries are amazing.

Josh

In fact, cranberries, I've been saying this, Dr. Axe got me turned on to cranberries not just for Thanksgiving but every day. Day, great source of antioxidants, super low in sugar, and really good sources of fiber. Think about this, potassium, fiber, good fats, and antioxidants, that's the answer for blood pressure. Number 3, lean proteins.

Josh

Blood pressure can be a little bit related to blood sugar, so consuming lean sources of protein and really what this is meant to say are sources of protein where the animals are on a native diet. Pasture-raised animals have a better ratio of fat, and when you eat animals, you're not what you eat, you're what they ate.

Josh

Speaking of potassium and animals, bone broth is my favorite blood pressure food. Bone broth contains naturally occurring potassium in a form your body can use immediately. Serum soluble is what we call it. And the potassium and sodium is organically bound going to work right away. As always, consume 1 to 3 servings of bone broth. Make it yourself, find recipes at draxe.com.

Josh

Buy it in its frozen or container form at your local health food store or progressive grocery, or use a powdered protein made from bone broth. I make sure to get a minimum of 3 to 5 servings a day and it will help tremendously with blood pressure. Beans and legumes, remember we talked about fiber and antioxidants, beans are great sources.

Josh

My favorite beans would be lentils, split peas, mung beans, adzuki beans, and black beans. The darker the bean, darker the color, the more antioxidants. There are many other good beans, make sure to soak them to make them more digestible.

Josh

Healthy fats, this is a broad category, right there you see an avocado and avocados are a great source of omega-9 fats, fiber, vitamin E, which is good for the heart as well, powerful antioxidant of the fat-soluble variety, and avocados are good for the gut.

Josh

Other sources of fat that are really good for blood pressure would be almonds, the oil of olives, otherwise known as olive oil, olives themselves are really good, and the fat from healthy eggs and animal foods. Butter and ghee, coconut oil is great. Healthy fats are really important, particularly those from cold-water fish, flax, chia, and walnut known as omega-3s.

Josh

When you consume grains, make them sprouted. Sprouted grains which you can make yourself or now buy bread, pasta, cookies, crackers, even flour from your health food store that's sprouted unlocks the nutrition and grains can be a good source of fiber and B vitamins and also potassium depending on what you put on the sandwich or on the pasta. But if you consume grains, try sprouted.

Josh

And organic unsweetened dairy. Now, I'm going to give you a caveat here, okay? Dairy can be sort of a catch-22. Dairy in the right form, and that would be A1 beta-casein-free. I know that's confusing, but let's make it easier. Dairy from goat, sheep, or special cows. How do you know they're special? You need to know if they're A1-free, they're grass-fed and organic.

Josh

Dairy products can actually, according to clinical studies, lower blood pressure likely due to the high amount of electrolyte minerals. Calcium is even helpful for lowering blood pressure as is magnesium. We talked about potassium and sodium. All right, here are some quick tips. Cook at home. Now, I don't know about you but I like to eat out.

Josh

However, I'm also a label reader which doesn't happen when I eat out. So the question is, what oil did they use? The question is, what's in the sauce? What is in the condiments? We just don't know these things. We don't have that information. And who wants to be the weird person to ask, right? We want to make sure that we eat at home and we eat fresh meals.

Josh

And you've come to the right place for good food because the Dr. Axe Facebook page, YouTube channel, and website Have hundreds of amazing recipes. You can even sneak these delicious foods in the diet of your kids and yes, your husbands if you're a wife watching today. Increase fiber intake.

Josh

Fiber is great for the gut, it's great for the heart, and those with a higher fiber diet tend to have lower blood pressure. We talked about this before, lower sodium. I don't know where you're at on the salt side, but— I'm not. Sometimes I salt my food before I taste it. My mom used to get really mad at me and she would say, don't add salt until you taste it. And it really is a good habit.

Josh

If you consume salt, which I would minimize, I recommend consuming a high mineral salt such as a Celtic salt, maybe a Himalayan salt, one of those salts that have additional minerals other than sodium. But in general, you're better off lowering sodium. I do have a favorite condiment that sort of replaces my sodium. I don't even know if it's called a condiment.

Josh

Whatever it is, it's called Herbamare and it's a blend of organic spices that are sort of marinated with whole mineral sea salt. I've been using it for 20 years and it's really, really amazing. Lower sodium and increase potassium. There's the standard bearer for potassium, bananas, but there are other low sugar sources such as greens. I mentioned celery is amazing. Watermelon and its rind.

Josh

Every fruit and vegetable has potassium, oranges do too. Bananas just get all the credit for potassium. Get more of that, it naturally reduces sodium and helps your extracellular fluid be really, really healthy. Staying hydrated is absolutely key. One of the areas you need to focus on for blood pressure is your kidneys.

Josh

So many people have kidney issues they don't even know about, so staying hydrated with pure water, certainly with teas and herbal infusions, and there are many great fermented beverages we've talked about, and of course, bone broth. Portion control can be important. However, I would also say that the time you eat is absolutely critical.

Josh

I've seen people lower their blood pressure by simply extending their daily fast because the morning meal is called break fast or breakfast, but what if you had break fast for lunch? What if you had it for dinner? I've seen people eat the same amount of food in a smaller period of time and have lower blood pressure. That's pretty awesome.

Josh

Folks, I'm Jordan Rubin here on Ancient Medicine Today brought to you by draxe.com. And as always, there is more expanded information on the website including nearly 2,000 articles to help you lower your blood pressure and really help just about any health condition you have. And if you love this information, click that like button.

Josh

And make sure to share this information with everyone you know who needs to either lower their blood pressure or they have maybe a hereditary sort of risk factor for elevated blood pressure. This information is great for them. And as always, ancient medicine doesn't have side effects, we've got side benefits. All right, here is a quick lowdown on today's program.

Josh

To lower blood pressure naturally, diet and natural remedies would include vegetables and fruits. High in potassium, fiber, and antioxidants, sort of a trifecta of health. Lean proteins, you want to consume proteins from animals that graze and eat properly. That would include red meat, that would include poultry, that would include eggs, and we'll get to dairy in just a moment.

Josh

Bone broth is the beverage for blood pressure, probably sort of 1A with juices, fresh juices being 1B. Beans and legumes have fiber and they have antioxidants if they're colored. Make sure to get more of those. Healthy fats including monounsaturated omega-3 as well as medium-chain fats and short-chain fats are all good for your blood pressure but also for your cardiovascular system in total.

Josh

Sprouted grains, if you eat grains, make them germinated. That just means you unlock their health potential, they'll be healthier for you. Good sources of fiber, surprising sources of antioxidants and B vitamins. And last but not least, consume dairy but make sure that it comes from goat or sheep, cows that are A1 beta-casein-free, and fermented grass-fed organic is really good.

Josh

Sheep yogurt is one of my favorites, a product called Amasi is really good as well, some kefirs are really good, and they have been shown to lower blood pressure especially if they're fermented. Here's some tips. Cook at home, really, really important for you. Prepare your own meals. Draxe.com has the best healthy recipes you've ever seen.

Josh

And we want to increase fiber intake while simultaneously lowering sodium, increasing potassium. Staying hydrated is critical for your kidneys which control blood pressure and either control portions by eating the right foods first. I've talked about this on previous programs.

Josh

Protein is a good start, your highest fiber veggies next, then go to the grain or the fruit, and I bet you won't even be hungry for dessert. Or you can eat at certain times of the day where you extend your fast, which preserves your body's enzymes and can help lower blood pressure.

Josh

Folks, I promise you that if you're one of those folks that are mildly hypertensive, meaning you've got sort of a little elevated blood pressure sometimes, or you could be hypotensive and have low blood pressure. Getting your potassium levels right, increasing your fiber and antioxidants, and eating good fats, plus all these tips will get it done.

Josh

So remember, we are here each weekday, actually Monday through Thursday, 10:30 a.m. Central Time, and Friday we might be here whenever. You just got to be surprised. So sign up and subscribe here to this channel so that you can be alerted when we are on Ancient Medicine Today or one of our podcast episodes. Yeah.

Josh

Pop-ins where we take you behind the scenes on how myself and Dr. Josh Axe eat and live every day, always guaranteed to be exciting. And remember, if you love this information, click that like button, share this information with others. Tens of millions of people today are counting on you to give them ancient medicine for their modern world.

Josh

I'm Jordan Rubin on behalf of Dr. Josh Axe for Ancient Medicine Today. God bless you. See you next time.

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