Why is potassium-rich food help in bringing down blood pressure? The body needs this vital mineral in balance with other nutrients to regulate your blood pressure. Sometimes our diet is lacking in it, but usually, this occurs if our diet consists of too much fast food, or we are already taking potassium wasting diuretics which flush out the potassium as the name suggests.
Because our bodies don’t store potassium, we need to make sure the food we eat is potassium-rich food to give an immediate and plentiful supply of it.
So what have I added to my potassium food list?
- Squash
- Coriander
- Red Cabbage
- White Cabbage
- Turmeric
41. Squash – 100 gm = 280 mg of potassium
I was flabbergasted at the number of different kinds of squash. Take a deep breath!!!!!! You have Australian blue, amber cup, autumn cup, acorn, baby boo, banana, butternut, buttercup, calabaza, calabash, kabocha, carnival, chayote, cucumber, Cucuzza…gasp! Gasp! Gulp!…
Eight balls, gold nugget, green-striped cushaw, hubbard, luffa gourde, lumina, Summer, sweet dumpling, sunburst, spaghetti, turban, orangetti, pumpkin, Cinderella, sweet potato, cheese, Uchiki Kuri, winter, yellow zucchini, zucchini.
Phew!!!
Squash is not only a potassium-rich food but contains other nutrients that can help bring down your blood pressure. They contain vitamin A and C, magnesium, beta-carotene an antioxidant that will help combat oxidized cholesterol.You can have a “ball” of a time choosing from this lot, but just make sure you eat it before midnight or the potassium benefits might ware off!!!
42. Coriander – tablespoon (dried) = 80 mg of potassium
Coriander is widely used in Indian food. A delight to the palate indeed, but it has other locked in delights. Did you know that coriander is known to reduce stress, act as an antioxidant, is an anti-inflammatory and is known as a potassium-rich food?
When you buy coriander, buy the whole seed to make sure you are getting its full strength of nutrients.
Crushed coriander seed loses some of the potassium, vitamin C and other nutrients.
Why not try a raw potassium-rich food drink called Potassium Punch. It is the recipe of a late raw food specialist, Dr. Norman Walker? You take a couple of sprigs of fresh coriander, four leaves of winter greens of lettuce, a half cup of spinach or watercress, 3 carrots, and 2 stalks of celery. Put them all in a juicer and drink.
43. Red Cabbage – 100 gm = 243 mg of potassium
Red cabbage has an added advantage as well as a disadvantage compared with it`s sister the white cabbage.
Although a potassium rich food, it contains less potassium than the white but makes up in double the vitamin C. Some sources have even stipulated up to 5 times more.
Normally it is associated with pickles but boiled red cabbage adds a colorful alternative to white and it contains
Anthocyanin which helps protect against heart disease.
If you don’t want to loose the red color, put a touch of vinegar in the water.
44. White Cabbage
White cabbage is the most common of cabbages and has been known to be a healthy food for decades.
The fact I find interesting is that it is said to be good for varicose veins.
Try eating it shredded along with red cabbage, carrots, yellow and green peppers and onion as a colorful and nutrient-rich salad, side dish.
The Stroke Association encourage the eating of different colored vegetables because the different colors indicate the presence of different essential nutrients.
Both types of cabbage as well as green, contain sulfur which is good for Detoxing your body and works as an antioxidant. Have you heard of the cabbage soup diet?
45. Turmeric – 10 gm = 252.5mg of potassium
Turmeric is always on my spice rack. I use it very frequently.
It is present in many foods as a colorant and protective agent which I was unaware of before.
Some of my Asian visitors to this site will know it under the names kunyit or haldi. It has high recognition in Ayurvedic and Indian Traditional medicine, and for quite some time now has attracted the attention of Western medicinal research, especially in the field of cancer.
I take powerful antioxidants that contain turmeric because it’s one of the best anti-oxidants you can get. The curcumin in the turmeric is the active ingredient known as an effective anti-inflammatory.
It is used to reduce inflamed joints, so all you arthritis sufferers out there take note!
To add up, there are two benefits that turmeric can serve to help reduce blood pressure. As a potassium rich food, turmeric is a good source, but also the polyphenols that are in curcumin may help fight against cardiovascular disease.