Cardiovascular Diet

It's one that will help you maintain a normal blood pressure. Normal blood pressure value is 120/80 mmHg. Prehypertension is measured with 120-139/80-88 mmHg. Stage 1 hypertension is 140-159/90-99. Stage 2 hypertension is 160/100mmHg.

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Basically a cardiovascular Diet is a fat restricted diet. A good way of maintaining this diet is by cooking food at home rather than going to restaurants or food stalls. Cooking at home will allow you to measure the amount of fat you use to cook as compared to restaurants whereby food is served to you without any knowledge of how it was cooked.

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FOODS TO EAT. They include: any fresh fruits, green leafy vegetables, whole grains, nuts, seeds, olive oil, lean beef, skinless poultry, egg white, fish, low fat dairy, legumes, soy beans e.t.c

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FOODS TO AVOID. They include: coconuts, butter, ice cream, fried/deep fried foods, egg yolk, bacon, processed/canned food, organ meats, hot dogs, sausages, tomato sauce, mayonnaise, soy sauce e.t.c

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In general one should avoid foods with high calories and high fat content. For those who are overweight one should reduce portion size slowly and should increase the amount of greens and salads in the diet.

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Avoid snacking on baked and processed food or sugary drinks. Drink at least two litres of pure water throughout the day. Also engage in moderate physical activities such as walking, cycling and moderate jogging. This will enable you to maintain a healthy body weight.

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Also avoid saturated fats e.g margarine, butter or solid fat. Dieting will enable you maintain good body weight hence in turn it will maintain your blood pressure in a normal measurement. Always keep track of anything you eat because no matter how small it might be, it will eventually contribute to your daily caloric intake. The higher your daily caloric intake, the faster you’ll gain weight.

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Always check your weight and blood pressure regularly. Make sure your daily caloric intake doesn’t exceed your daily caloric needs.