Key Takeaways
- Hypertension, or high blood pressure, occurs when the force of your blood against your arteries is consistently too high. It can increase your risk of heart disease, stroke, kidney disease, and other health problems.
- There is a large amount of evidence to suggest that diet plays a key role in blood pressure management. The Dietary Approaches to Stop Hypertension (DASH) diet has been shown to reduce blood pressure.
- A registered dietitian nutritionist can provide you with information about what to eat to lower your blood pressure, teach you to read nutrition labels, help you with meal planning, provide cooking tips and recipe modifications, and advocate for your needs with the rest of your care team.
Hypertension, or high blood pressure, occurs when the force of your blood against your arteries is consistently too high. This puts stress on your heart and blood vessels, which can lead to an increased risk of heart disease, stroke, and kidney disease.
High blood pressure can result from complex interactions between your genetics and your environment, with diet being a key environmental factor that influences blood pressure.
There is a large amount of evidence to suggest that individual nutrients like sodium (one of the minerals found in salt) and potassium, as well as certain dietary patterns, are directly linked to blood pressure. The Dietary Approaches to Stop Hypertension (DASH) diet has been shown to reduce blood pressure in clinical trials. A registered dietitian nutritionist can help you make dietary changes to manage your blood pressure.
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Can a Nutritionist Help with High Blood Pressure?
Studies show that when a registered dietitian is part of the multidisciplinary team providing care to help a person reduce their high blood pressure, there are significant reductions in blood pressure.
If you’re living with high blood pressure, a registered dietitian nutritionist can help you make changes to your diet to reduce your blood pressure.
5 Ways a Nutritionist Can Help with High Blood Pressure
Diet is a key modifiable risk factor for high blood pressure, and working with a registered dietitian nutritionist can teach you what to eat to manage your blood pressure.
1. Provide Information About What to Eat to Lower Blood Pressure
There’s a lot of nutrition information available online, and it can be confusing to try and figure out which advice to follow. A registered dietitian nutritionist is a nutrition expert who can teach you the fundamentals of how to reduce blood pressure through diet and help you identify where to find credible information.
2. Teach You to Read Nutrition Labels
One of the most important parts of a blood pressure-lowering diet is reducing your sodium (salt) intake. A nutritionist or registered dietitian can teach you how to read nutrition labels so that you can identify how much sodium different foods contain. This will enable you to make informed choices about which foods to include in your diet to reduce blood pressure.
3. Assist You With Meal Planning
If you’re new to a blood pressure-lowering diet, you may struggle with meal planning. A registered dietitian nutritionist can work with you, considering your individual needs and preferences, to develop a meal plan to help manage your blood pressure.
4. Provide Cooking Tips and Recipe Modifications
Learning to cook with heart-healthy fats and less salt can be a difficult learning curve. Luckily, when you work with a nutritionist or registered dietitian, you will learn strategies and techniques for cooking to lower your blood pressure.
5. Advocate for You With Your Doctor or Health Team
Managing blood pressure often requires a team approach, but in many cases, you may not know how to advocate for yourself with your doctor or health team. A registered dietitian has experience collaborating with other healthcare providers and can communicate with your care team to ensure you receive the best care possible. This could include referrals to mental health professionals, helping you get a prescription to aid with quitting smoking, or advocating for specialty care to examine the underlying causes of your high blood pressure.
Managing High Blood Pressure with a Meal Plan
The DASH diet is one of the most well-studied diets for lowering blood pressure. While one focus of the diet is reducing sodium (salt) intake, the diet also focuses on including foods high in calcium, potassium, magnesium, and fiber, as these nutrients can help lower blood pressure.
The DASH diet recommends eating plenty of non-starchy vegetables and fruits. It also recommends eating low-fat or fat-free dairy products, whole grains, lean proteins, fish, nuts, seeds, and heart-healthy fats such as olive or canola oil and avocados.
The DASH diet recommends limiting sweets and sugar-sweetened beverages, foods high in saturated fats, foods high in sodium, and alcohol.
If you decide to work with a registered dietitian nutritionist to create a meal plan to manage high blood pressure, they will take into account the principles of the DASH diet and your personal preferences to tailor to your specific needs.
What to Expect at My First Appointment
Your first visit with a registered dietitian nutritionist for blood pressure management will include an in-depth assessment of your food and nutrition habits, your heart health blood work, your blood pressure, and a review of your current medications and medical history.
Once the assessment portion of the appointment is completed, your dietitian will provide education about how to reduce your blood pressure through diet.
Follow-Up Appointments
Your registered dietitian nutritionist will monitor your diet (including sodium intake), heart health blood work, blood pressure, and medications. They will also listen to any concerns you have about the nutrition care plan you developed together at the previous visit and will help you identify new goals based on your current health and blood pressure and previous experiences.
How Do I Find a Nutritionist for High Blood Pressure?
If you’re looking for a nutritionist or registered dietitian to help you manage your blood pressure, consider telehealth appointments. A telehealth appointment can be done from the comfort of your own home and can allow you to access care even if you live in an area that doesn’t have a lot of healthcare services.
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Takeaway
Diet is an important risk factor for high blood pressure, and dietary patterns such as the DASH diet have been shown to reduce blood pressure in clinical trials. While sodium is a large factor in lowering blood pressure, other nutrients such as calcium, potassium, magnesium, and fiber are also important for lowering blood pressure.
Managing High Blood Pressure with an RD
Working with a registered dietitian nutritionist trained in blood pressure management can make it easier to understand what you need to eat and drink to manage your blood pressure.
Find a dietitian near you that accepts insurance using Nourish.
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Frequently Asked Questions
One of the most common nutrition therapies for high blood pressure is the Dietary Approaches to Stop Hypertension (DASH) diet. The DASH diet has been shown to reduce blood pressure. In addition to being a low-sodium (salt) diet, the DASH diet also emphasizes foods that are high in calcium, potassium, magnesium, and fiber.
The DASH diet includes plenty of non-starchy vegetables and fruits, moderate amounts of fat-free or low-fat dairy products, whole grains, lean proteins, fish, nuts and seeds, and heart-healthy fats like olive and canola oil and avocados. Sweets and sugar-sweetened beverages, foods high in saturated fats, foods high in sodium, and alcohol are all limited on the DASH diet.
Sodium (salt) is directly involved in the development and progression of high blood pressure. Since over 70 percent of the sodium in our diet comes from highly processed foods, a diet high in these foods could lead to the development of high blood pressure.
Certain fruits and vegetables have been shown to effectively control blood pressure. It’s thought that this effect is mediated by their potassium content, flavonoid and polyphenol (antioxidant) content, and fiber content. Some of the fruits and vegetables associated with blood-pressure-lowering effects include pomegranate juice, citrus fruits, and garlic.
Other foods that have been associated with blood-pressure-lowering effects include low-fat dairy products, spices (such as chili peppers, cinnamon, black pepper, and turmeric), green tea, and foods high in omega-3 fatty acids (such as fatty fish).
