High blood pressure
High blood pressure can happen when your
heart has to work much harder to push the blood around your body,
and when your coronary arteries become damaged or
narrowed.
It increases the risk of coronary
heart disease as it can cause damage to the linings of your
arteries which could lead to a heart attack.
Reducing your blood pressure
High blood pressure can be caused by arteries being damaged by
smoking or narrowed or blocked by fatty deposits. You may also have
high blood pressure because you are overweight.
Eating unhealthy food that has a lot of salt such as
sausages, burgers, crisps and snacks, takeaways or ready meals can
increase the risk of your blood pressure being high.
The star of our video, Stephen, says, "Before,
I would eat really unhealthy food like pork pies, fast food and
convenience meals. Now I have changed the way I eat. I eat a lot of
fruit now.
"On occasion I eat meat - lean meat only - rather than fatty red
meat."
Cut down on salty food and don't add salt at mealtimes. Try
cooking with herbs instead of salt. If you like takeaways,
try to limit how many you have in a week as they can also be high
in saturated fat.
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