Live Longer, Live Stronger Column: Your blood pressure, it's more important than we think!

A healthy blood pressure reading is critical to our health and livelihood, considering it can prevent heart attacks, strokes, kidney damage and many other health issues. Those who eat more plant-based diets have lower blood pressures, in part because they weigh less — slimmer people have lower blood pressures.

Plants provide many abundant nutrients, and potassium is one of them, which is great for controlling blood pressure. Additionally, eating a “whole food, plant-based diet” has tremendous health benefits, and avoids sodium. “Whole food” means nothing has been added — including salt — and nothing has been taken away.

Here’s something to get excited about: A healthy plant-based diet can improve your blood pressure right away! You’ll lose weight by trading high-fat, high-sugar and high-salt foods for healthy vegetables, nuts, seeds, beans and whole grains, not to mention fruit. And guess what? You’ll be healthier in many other ways, as well!

Here are the steps to take control of your blood pressure, or keep it at healthy levels for your lifetime:

__1. Power up the plants!__ Avoid meat, poultry, fish, dairy products and eggs, and ramp up the healthy, huge variety of plant-based foods in the produce and freezer sections of the store. A note about cheese: It’s high in sodium, fat and calories, and you won’t believe how much better you’ll feel when you give it up!

__2. Lower the fat.__ By avoiding animal products, you’ll naturally reduce fat intake, but oils are bad actors for your health. Don’t heat foods with them, but if you must use oils, drizzle them lightly on foods after they are cooked. They have no nutrients, are high in calories and block absorption of all of the great nutrients your plants are providing.

__3. Eat foods rich in natural fiber.__ Plants again! Only plants have fiber, and all plants have fiber!

__4. Minimize sodium.__ Don’t add salt to foods, and read labels! If the container says it’s 240 calories per serving, there should be 240 or less milligrams of sodium.

If you are taking blood pressure medications, never change the dosage without consulting your physician. As you add plants and reduce animal products, your blood pressure will lower, and you need to check it daily to make sure it doesn’t get too low. Notify your physician to help you regulate the dosage of your meds; the fewer you take, the better you’ll feel.

Give this all a try for a week, then two, then three. You’ll be convinced by how much better you feel, and you'll live longer and live stronger!

Cheryl Mothes is a natural health nutrition counselor who loves helping others realize the impact nutrition can have on living their best, as well as preventing and reversing disease. She and her husband Rick Hetzel own Fresh Healthy Café to offer healthy food choices to the community.