Top Foods That Cause High Blood Pressure

Having genetically high blood pressure or unavoidable stress is things out of your control. Eating foods that cause high blood pressure is something you can change. Making simple adjustments and eliminating those foods off your shopping list are things you can accomplish. So what are those foods?

What are foods that cause high blood pressure? The top foods that cause high blood pressure are:

Refined Carbohydrates
Low Nutrient Rich Foods
Added Sugars
Excess Sodium
Saturated Fats
Trans Fat

Why these foods? These foods have been proven in research over years to raise blood pressure. I’ll explain to you how these foods raise your blood pressure and what specific kind of foods fit into each one of these categories.

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Foods That Cause High Blood Pressure

Refined Carbohydrates

Most nutrition experts agree refined carbs should be eliminated from your daily nutrition as much as possible. Unfortunately, refined carbs are the main source of dietary carbs! Refined carbs have been stripped of most of its vitamins, minerals and fiber.

These carbs lead to spikes in blood sugar and insulin right after eating them. Eating a lot of refined carbs and low fiber have been linked to type 2 diabetes, overeating and obesity (r).

Increases in blood sugar activate the sympathetic nervous system which raises your heart rate and blood pressure (r). In addition, weight gain and obesity put you at risk for high blood pressure (r).

The following are some refined carbohydrate foods:

All kinds of flour
Most breads
Most pastas
White rice
Cookies
Cakes
Muffins
Pastries
Bagels
Pizza

Low Nutrient Rich Foods

Low nutrient foods are low in vitamins, minerals and fiber. In addition, they have many calories and other things bad for you. These foods lack nutrients beneficial for high blood pressure.

Magnesium, potassium, calcium and fiber are just a few proven by research to help lower blood pressure (r). Foods low in nutrient density include:

Refined carbs
Hot dogs
Processed foods
Candy
Alcohol
Sugary cereals
Ice cream
Most salad dressings
Mayonnaise
Butter
Most sauces and gravies
Potato chips

( Looking For Foods To EAT THAT REDUCE BP? Check out my blog post right here – 35 Foods To Help Reduce Blood Pressure (Proven By Science))

Added Sugars

Foods with many added sugars can cause high blood pressure in many ways.

High sugar can spike insulin levels which activate your sympathetic nervous system. This raises your heart rate and constricts your arteries raising BP (r).
Sugar has been shown to lessen the sensitivity of the receptors that regulate BP (r).
Sugar depletes your cells energy stores which leads to constricted blood vessels (r).
In addition, added sugars can translate into weight gain which raises your risk of high blood pressure (r).

Foods high in added sugars:

Most breakfast cereals
Donuts
Candy
Cakes
Cookies
Desserts
Ice cream
Pastries

Excess Sodium

Sodium is not bad for you but it gets a lot of negative attention. We need sodium in our diet. The bad thing with sodium is most foods are too high in it.

Excess sodium throws off the delicate potassium/sodium ratio beneficial for high blood pressure. Too much sodium will lead to excess fluid build-up which will raise your blood pressure (r).

The American Heart Association recommends about 1,500 mg a day (r). People who sweat a lot during the day will require more sodium than that. Many foods have much more than that in just one serving. One popular fast food meal contains 1,785 mg of sodium alone.

Another high sodium food tops the following list:

Take out Chinese food
Canned beans
Canned tomatoes and sauce
Ketchup
Pickles
Frozen pizza
Deli & processed meats
Canned soup
Fast foods

Saturated Fats

Saturated fats are fat molecules saturated with hydrogen molecules. They occur naturally in food and are solid at room temperature. The American Heart Association recommends limiting saturated fats. Years of research have proven they can raise your bad cholesterol and put you at high risk for heart disease (r).

Dietary fat is also a risk factor for high blood pressure. Studies have shown reducing total fat intake can lower systolic and diastolic blood pressure (r).

Some argue saturated fats are not bad and are somewhere in the middle of bad and good. Because many saturated fats are high in things good for BP like calcium, magnesium and potassium.

I would rather stay on the safe side and avoid them as much as possible and get the proper nutrients from other foods.

The following foods are high in saturated fats:

Fatty meats – Beef, lamb and pork
Chicken with skin
Butter
Cheese
Dairy products made with whole milk
Cream

Trans Fat

Trans fat is the worst kind of fat for you. They have no known health benefits, and no level of trans fat is safe.They increase bad cholesterol and lower the good. In addition they create inflammation and insulin resistance (r). This can increase your blood pressure.

They are so bad, the United States have banned them. In 2015, the FDA gave food makers 3 years to eliminate artificial trans fat from their products. Even though, it’s still possible to buy products with artificial trans fat produced before the ban (r).

In addition, the FDA allows companies to put 0 trans fat if the product still contains trans fat but less than 0.5 grams per serving. To avoid this, check the label for partially hydrogenated vegetable oil.

These foods can contain artificial trans fat:

Vegetable shortening
Certain vegetable oils
Fried fast foods
Bakery products made with vegetable shortening
Certain microwavable popcorn
Certain non-dairy coffee creamers
Some frozen pizzas
Certain crackers
Some potato chips

The other trans fat is natural. Natural trans fat is formed by bacteria in the stomach of some animals. They make up about 3-10% of the fat in beef and lamb, 0-2% in chicken and pork and 3-7% of the total fat in dairy products like cheese and milk (r).

These foods may contain some natural trans fat:

Lamb
Beef
Goat
Milk
Cheese
Butter
Cream

Blood Pressure Explained