For many, getting sufficient potassium into the diet is a problem. Produce is very high in potassium. Americans do not eat enough daily fruits and vegetables to supply the body with optimum levels of this mineral.
We are getting too much sodium in our foods. It’s like a seesaw with potassium on one end and sodium on the other. Have too much sodium, pressure goes up. Have more potassium with less sodium, pressure goes down. Counter balancing potassium with sodium neutralizes the pressure raising effects creating that “healthy balance”. The chairs are both in the air with blood pressure chilling out with normalcy.
Renovating Your Mind calls convenience foods “overpriced nutritional garbage”. Frozen meals, processed meats, crackers and snacks are loaded with sodium. Salt helps to create an addiction for the taste of this food. The goal of the manufacturer is hooking you on the product with the help of salt for repetitive purchases. Levels of sodium in the products promote their continual purchase but are not conducive with long-term health. Continual bodily abuse with high dietary sodium results in elevated blood pressure leading to strokes, heart attacks and kidney disease.
Blood pressure is based on the flexibility of the vessels carrying blood. Think of your blood vessels as long stretchy tubes. Some as narrow as the line you could draw with a pencil.
The more sodium in the diet, the more rigid those tubes become, leading to higher pressure. Hardening of the vessel walls causes high blood pressure. Continued flexibility of the blood vessel is what ensures normal blood pressure. That is where potassium from produce comes into keep the pressure in the low-normal range.
When the heart beats faster during exercise, stress, high humidity, etc. blood pressure goes up. Blood vessels instantly respond by relaxing, opening up their circumference normalizing blood pressure.
In a patients with high blood pressure, the vessels can’t relax and remain constricted. The vessel walls are hard and no longer can flex so the blood pressure remains elevated. Excess sodium over many decades are the main reason for this serious insult to a quality life. Then the day comes along when you are hit with a heart attack, stroke or kidney failure so you need dialysis.
Over one-third of Americans have high blood pressure, leading to 17% of all deaths in the US.
This is where potassium comes in to stop YOU, from being like 33% of our society. Increases in potassium intake will lower blood pressure. Another benefit with sufficient potassium in the diet is blood vessels become less stiff thereby helping to normalize blood pressure. This lowers the risk of strokes, heart attacks and memory loss.
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