An excess amount of sodium in your body can cause your body to retain fluid which increases blood pressure.
How much sodium in a day?
For most adults, it is recommended to limit the intake to 1500mg/day. Healthy people can aim for 2,300 milligrams a day or less.
It is to be remembered the guidelines for 1500mg per day don’t apply to people who lose a big amount of sodium in sweat, like athletes and workers exposed to heat stress.
To stay on track, go for low sodium, no added salt foods and also read the nutrition facts labels carefully to determine the amount of sodium added to packaged and processed foods.
Get enough potassium to keep your blood pressure in a normal range. Since potassium helps to balance the amount of sodium in our cells.
Not getting enough potassium can lead to an increase of sodium in our blood and hence will increase the blood pressure.
In addition, it is best to consume meals low in saturated fat, trans fat, cholesterol, salt (sodium), and added sugars to keep blood pressure in a normal range.
Further, it is advised to limit the intake of alcohol as it can raise your blood pressure, even if you don’t have hypertension.