5 Foods that Help Lower Blood pressure that You Haven't Thought Of

If you are trying to manage your blood pressure with diet, you probably already know that bananas and other high potassium foods such as beans, sweet potatoes and leafy greens. But to really get the maximum benefit from diet, you should consider these other lesser known foods. By eating the right combination of foods, many people can achieve blood pressure drops comparable to those achieved using medication.

Here are five lesser known options that you can add to your hypertension-fighting diet.

1. Beets
    Nitric oxide (NO), on the other hand, acts as a signaling molecule,
    one that is typically beneficial to health. It gives signals to the
    cells in your arteries, telling them to soften and relax. This action
    greatly improves vasodilation, which reduces blood pressure. For
    this reason, nitrate-rich foods that are not exposed to very high
    heat are beneficial because they can become nitric oxide. Beet
    juice and beet greens are an especially rich source of nitrates.

2. Figs
    Figs are one of the most potassium-rich fruits, with about 232mg
    of potassium in just two small figs.

3. Pistachios
    Pistachios are a healthy way to decrease blood pressure by
    reducing peripheral vascular resistance, or blood vessel
    tightening, and heart rate. One NIH study found that a diet
    with one serving of pistachios a day helps reduce blood
    pressure.

4. Pomegranate Juice
    Despite Pom Wonderful's recent kerfuffle with the FDA over the
    health claims made for its pomegranate juice product,
    pomegranates are a healthy fruit that you can enjoy raw or as
    a juice. Several small studies have concluded that drinking a
    cup of pomegranate juice once a day for four weeks can help
    lower blood pressure over the short term.

5. Olive Oil
     Olive oil is an example of a healthy fat. It contains polyphenols,
     which are inflammation-fighting compounds that can help
     reduce blood pressure.

When combined, the nutrients in these foods can work synergistically to lower your blood pressure. The benefits are often noticed quickly and can be as much as a 5 point drop for some people.

Dairy No Magic Bullet for Weight Loss

Have you heard recently that dairy might help boost weight loss? A study funded by the Danish dairy industry concluded that it did after randomly assigning people to low calorie diets either low or high in dairy products.

They forgot to mention that after 6 months there was no difference in weight or body fat loss between the groups.

Want to lose weight? Don't expect dairy to speed the process along. Consume fewer calories in your diet or burn more through activity.

Bone Broth

Bone broth is a soup stock made from animal bones and cartilage that has become very popular due to its perceived health benefits. According to Tod Cooperman, MD, of ConsumerLab.com, it can in fact be a healthful food. But as often happens, as soon as anything gets a reputation - deserved or not - for being healthful we start to see it on our grocery store shelves and the commercial version often delivers far less of the healthy ingredient than what is needed to have any impact.

The health benefits of bone broth derive from the significant amount of the protein collagen that it contains when traditionally prepared (i.e., when you make it yourself at home). The problem is that store bought versions can vary significantly in the amount of collagen that they actually deliver. Collagen levels are not required to be listed on nutrition labels and so - surprise!! - they rarely are. The nutritional information that companies do provide clearly comes from their marketing departments and is often wildly inaccurate.

What to do if you want to make bone broth a part of your diet? Make it yourself. Its pretty simple, here is a basic recipe to get you started.

If you prefer to buy your broth at the grocery store, do a little research first. There are some good ones out there but you want one that delivers lots of collagen for the price and you want that verified by an independent testing lab.
Here are two that, according to ConsumerLab, you can trust:

Jarrow Formulas Beyond Bone Broth Spicy Beef Ramen Flavor (powder).

Pacific Organic Bone Broth Chicken (liquid).