Top 10 Natural Remedies to Lower Your High Blood Pressure

High blood pressure or is a tough nut to crack. There are more than 300 possible causes of hypertension; however, most of us have the condition because we are:

• overweight,
• not as young as we once were, and
• are out of condition.

We cannot do anything about our age, but we have to change the other two factors if we are to lower our BP readings to within normal levels.

Here are 10 natural remedies to lower your high blood pressure:

#1. Weight Loss: For most of us, being overweight is the result of our own poor lifestyle choices. Yet it is something we can easily do something about. All we have to do is burn up more calories (energy) than we consume and we will lose weight.
For every 10kg of weight we lose, we can expect to see our systolic pressure go down by between 5 and 20 points.

#2. The DASH Diet: Dietary Approaches to Stopping Hypertension is a set of healthy, low-fat and low sodium dietary guidelines that, if followed, can significantly lower your BP readings. Because the DASH diet is based on 2000 calories a day, it will also help you lose weight.
The DASH dietary principles ensure that you get sufficient quantities of all essential vitamins and minerals. This is important as most people's diets are deficient in:

• Magnesium: Magnesium relaxes the smooth muscle surrounding your arteries, causing your arteries to dilate which results in a drop of blood pressure;
• Potassium: most anti-hypertensives are potassium depleting. Green leafed vegetables and bananas are good sources of this mineral;
• Calcium: We need about 800 mg a day. Most people do not achieve this in their diet. Research has shown that calcium helps to lower blood pressure;
• Vitamin C: Vitamin C is an antioxidant that helps prevent the LDL from "oxidizing" and forming the hardened plaques in our arteries that cause them to lose their elasticity, thereby increasing blood pressure. Think of vitamin C as the nutrient that keeps your pipes from rusting. The simplest way to get enough of this essential vitamin is by eating vitamin C rich foods.

#3. Garlic: Garlic is an effective anti-hypertensive agent. Add fresh raw garlic liberally to your diet. Cooking reduces the allicin content. You can also take a good quality garlic supplement.

#4. Eat celery and parsley: We tend to think of these as garnishes on the side of our plate to make the dish look more attractive. Did you know that they are also naturally diuretic?

#5. Reduce or cut out caffeine: Drinking caffeinated beverages is just like throwing gasoline on the hypertension fire.
We are used to caffeine restricting all our blood vessels, which increases our blood pressure. However, once our body metabolizes all the caffeine our arteries dilate causing a throbbing headache.

#6. Drink plenty of water: We need to keep our bodies properly hydrated to maintain optimum health. We should aim to drink about 8 glasses of cold water each day. This helps to keep our arteries supple and removes toxins from our body.

#7. Drink green tea: Studies have shown that drinking green tea can lower your blood pressure. Drink about 3 to 4 cups a day to maintain the benefit.

#8. Cut out refined sugar: Although not directly associated with hypertension, refined sugar may be the underlying cause. Try eliminating sugar or cutting back for a few weeks and monitor your systolic and diastolic pressures. Cutting out or reducing refined sugar from your diet will also help you lose weight.

#9. Manage stress: Our modern lifestyle is stressful and that can cause hypertension. It is important for our wellbeing to take time each day to relax.

#10. Exercise: One of the main reasons why you probably have high blood pressure is because you don't exercise. Half an hour of cardiovascular exercise can lower your blood pressure by 4 to 9 points for almost 24 hours. That is why it is important to exercise most days of the week.
The most effective way to reduce hypertension is by having:

• a healthy balance diet,
• maintaining an appropriate weight, and
• having an active lifestyle.

The other natural remedies described above are most effective when forming part of such a healthy lifestyle and will help you to crack the tough nut of lowering your high blood pressure.

Robert Reddin suffers from high blood pressure. He lowered his blood pressure to normal levels using natural methods. Click here if you want to lower your blood pressure naturally. http://how-to-lower-your-blood-pressure.com