Healthy way to lower High Blood Pressure

We are all trying to take the healthier route and stay away from medication if we can so why not lower blood pressure by eating right? Here are just a few foods that are good for lowering Blood Pressure and the No-No's.

Good to eat!!

• Bananas, sweet potatoes, spinach, raisins, papayas, lima beans, tomatoes, and trendy coconut water for potassium
• Milk, cheese, yogurt, and other dairy products
• Broccoli, and calcium-fortified orange juice for calcium
• Tuna, salmon, mackerel, sardines, and other fatty fish; and flaxseeds, hemp seeds, pumpkin seeds, and walnuts for omega-3 fatty acids
• Herbs and spices to put a little salt-free kick in your food

Stay away!!

• Salty snacks like chips and fries
• Cured sandwich meats and pizza-topping meats like ham, viennas, sausage, and pepperoni
• Canned soups
• White bread
• Processed cheeses

All of the above foods are among the greatest dietary sources of sodium, according to the Grocery Manufacturers Association

Celebrities choose Pilates

The list of celebs who choose nothing but the best (i.e. Pilates) include the luscious Liz Hurley, the gorgeous Gwyneth Paltrow and maddeningly marvelous Madonna, not to mention Martin Amis, John Cleese and Ian McKellen.

Each celeb has had some intriguing insights:

“These [Pilates] exercises are really very necessary when you do a lot of sitting… They keep you flexible enough to pull on your socks as you get older… When I get out of the car now, I don't go arrggghhh…”

– Martin Amis, novelist and twice-a-week Pilates devotee.

“I do Pilates four or five times a week. The benefits are subtle, but it increases your flexibility and really tones you up. It also straightens your spine and improves your posture. In the past eight years, I've grown more than two and a half inches (6cm). I am 5ft 7ins (1.70m) and I am very pleased with that.”

– Belinda Carlisle, singer and pop icon.

“I'm a Pilates person. It's great. I had a hip problem. I had a chronic back, a pinched nerve and a hip problem and it's completely solved all of it. I love it. It makes me feel like I'm taller.”

– Jennifer Anniston, TV and movie star

“You have turned me into a Ferrari; my husband thanks you.'”

– Ruby Wax, actress, writer and TV personality, to her Pilates teacher

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