Banned for 10 million Poles. Here's what else made it to the list

• Experts recommend limiting salt, saturated fats and highly processed foods as a key element in controlling hypertension.
• The daily diet of people with high blood pressure should be based on vegetables, fruits, lean proteins, low-fat dairy products and healthy plant fats.
• It is recommended to completely avoid confectionery, fatty meats, blue cheeses, salted fish, chips, fried foods and ready-made soups and broths.
• Hypertension requires not only changing eating habits, but also quitting smoking, limiting alcohol and regular physical activity.

As experts remind us, arterial hypertension is diagnosed when three measurements taken in a sitting position after a few minutes of rest, at intervals of at least several days, show blood pressure values ​​of 140/90 mmHg or more.

Dietary recommendations:

1. If you are overweight or obese, make sure to strive to achieve a healthy body weight.
2. Reduce your salt intake (including by not adding salt to your food, avoiding highly processed foods, limiting your consumption of smoked and cured meats, as well as pickled and canned vegetables)
3. Increase your intake of potassium , a nutrient that lowers blood pressure. You can find it mainly in vegetables, fruits, and potatoes.
4. Limit your intake of saturated fats. Choose lean poultry without skin several times a week and fish at least twice a week. Eat red meat only a few times a month. To reduce the share of saturated fats in your diet, choose low-fat (up to 2 percent fat) dairy products (milk, cheese, yogurt).
5. Increase your intake of unsaturated fatty acids. Eat baked or boiled sea fish twice a week. Avoid frying, as it reduces the beneficial properties of the fish and increases its caloric value due to the added fat. Make sure to include olive oil and rapeseed oil in your diet.
6. Increase the proportion of low-fat dairy products in your diet , which are a very good source of protein and calcium. Eat 2-3 servings of dairy products daily. One serving is, for example, 1 glass of milk or 1 cup of yogurt (150 g).
7. Eat 4-5 servings of vegetables daily ( 1 serving is e.g. 1 cup of leafy vegetables or half a cup of cooked vegetables). Try to include vegetables in each of your three main meals. Eat 4-5 servings of fruit daily – if you are overweight, limit your fruit intake to 2-3 servings daily. A serving of fruit is 1 medium apple, pear, orange or ¼ cup of dried fruit.
8. During the day you can drink a maximum of 2 cups of coffee and 3 cups of tea. Do not drink caffeinated drinks before physical activity.
9. Be careful with alcohol – small amounts of it are allowed, but that does not mean it is recommended. A person with hypertension can occasionally drink a moderate amount of alcohol: for a man, this is 50-60 ml of strong alcohol, two glasses of wine or 0.33 l of beer. For a woman, these amounts are half as much.
10. Quit smoking cigarettes.
11. Increase your physical activity.

Specialists also indicate which food products are not recommended for hypertension. The list includes, among others, pastry, white bread, full-fat milk, full-fat cheese, processed cheese, fatty yellow cheese and blue cheese. It is also advised against eating fatty meats and herring and other salted fish.

You should not eat these things if you have high blood pressure:

• Pastry bread, white bread.
• Full-fat milk, condensed milk, cream, coffee creamers, full-fat cheeses, processed cheeses, fatty yellow cheeses, blue cheeses such as Brie, Camembert, Roquefort.
• Fatty meats: lamb, goose, duck, fatty cold cuts, canned meats, offal cold cuts, pates, hot dogs, salami, kabanos sausages, sausages.
• Herring and other salted fish, smoked fish, canned fish, shrimp, mussels, crabs, oysters, caviar.
• Lard, bacon, jowl, bacon, hard margarine, cream.
• Fried, french fries, crisps, potato pancakes.
• Canned vegetables.
• High-sugar compotes and jams
• Salted nuts, in chocolate, in breadcrumbs
• Ice cream, cream cakes, bars, whipped cream, cakes, tortes, candies
• Table salt, natural pepper, hot pepper, chilli, vinegar, spice mixtures containing a large amount of salt (e.g. vegetable seasoning, Vegeta), Maggi, soy sauce, mayonnaise.
• Broths and fatty stocks, bone broth soups, powdered soups.
• Canned and pickled vegetables.
• Fried, stewed after deep-frying, baked in a large amount of fat.