Should Persons with Hypertension Eat Salted Ham during Christmas

Nowadays low-salt diet is highly recommended for a healthier life and this is especially important for those that have hypertension, kidney disease, cardiovascular diseases, etc.

During Christmas, ham is a delicious appeal to many people, but it is a pity that those that have high blood pressure should not have too much or in some severe illness conditions, it should be avoided. This is because ham is highly salted and too much intake of ham will worsen the blood pressure and make it harder to be brought under control.

Even for healthy people, long term high-salt diet is great risk factor for developing high blood pressure and hypertension patients should have strict restriction on their daily salt intake within 2-5g. High-sodium foods include ham, bacon, sausage, pickles, chips and highly processed foods such as cheese, luncheon meats, canned soups, etc. In addition, condiments like mustard, soy sauce and ketchup are all high in salt and they should be limited or be replaced by low—salt seasonings like herbs and spices.

However, it does not you can not eat ham at all if you have hypertension. If at present your blood pressure is well controlled, you can have some ham, but do not have too much. Another good way to help you enjoy delicious ham without aggravating your blood pressure is to buy pre-cooked hams and cook it by yourselves with low-salt seasonings.

Reducing salt content in the foods can have immediate and obvious effect on lowering blood pressure, therefore if your blood pressure is very unstable and refractory to be controlled with medicines, it is better that you do not eat ham.

Besides these foods that you should limit or avoided, there are also many other delicious foods that you can enjoy and some are beneficial for your high blood pressure. These beneficial foods include:

Hawthorn

Edible fungus

Honey

Celery

Onion

Garlic

Carrots