Read the Labels: Beans

As I was perusing the USDA potassium:sodium counts of foods, I came across the amazing heart health value of beans. Here are the astonishing facts from the USDA for 2 of my favorite types of beans:

1. Black Beans (1 cup): 611 mg potassium, 2 mg sodium, 0.9 grams fat - a 305:1 potassium:sodium ratio!
2. Kidney Beans (1 cup): 713 mg potassium, 4 mg sodium, 0.9 grams fat - a 178:1 potassium:sodium ratio!

Are you kidding me - 305:1 & 178:1!???!!? That is unbelievable when you consider a 3:1 diet is good for your heart!

Now comes the hard truth. If you buy raw black beans (or kidney), the food preparation time is ridiculous. You have to soak the beans for hours and do all kinds of time consuming preparation. No chance I could keep these in my diet if buying in raw form. Yet, go to your typical grocery store and they have all types of "ready to eat" canned beans. But, here comes the big letdown again - read the labels on your typical canned beans - SODIUM off the charts! Here's one popular brand and what they have done to their canned black beans:

• Bush's Best: 450mg sodium per 1/2 cup (that's 900 mg per cup - canceling out the potassium...)

As I was about to toss beans off my food list, I came across Kuner's brand canned beans with 10mg of sodium per 1/2 cup. Thus, Kuner's canned black beans deliver a potassium:sodium ratio of 611:20 (or 31:1) per 1 cup serving! Similarly, Kuner's canned kidney beans deliver a potassium:sodium ratio of 712:20 (or 35:1) per 1 cup serving. Must be expensive to get beans prepared healthy, right? Wrong - Kuner's cans average about 85 cents at my local stores (as low as 70 cents when on special).

So, it was that easy.... Identify beans as a target high potassium food, browse the grocery store shelves, find the brand willing to prepare them without sodium for a reasonable price and I have a 31:1 to 35:1 ingredient to add to my diet. Just read the labels...

The Truth About Salmon

Everywhere you read in the high blood pressure literature, salmon is talked up as a "magic food" for your heart - great in potassium, great potassium/sodium ratio, great in omega-3, great tasting, etc etc etc.

So, naturally I wanted to have salmon in my heart healthy diet. But, here is the problem I ran into: my heart healthy diet is low in fat (and yours should be too) but on a random stroll through the grocery store I found salmon high in fat beyond belief!

Was it true, salmon could not be in a heart healthy diet with a low fat focus? I needed to go to my reference shelf and study salmon. A summary of the findings:

• [good salmon] Fish, salmon, pink
• 1/2 fillet (124 g) = 5.5g fat
• potassium/sodium/magnesium = 513/107/41
• [average salmon] Fish, salmon, chum
• 1/2 fillet (174 g) = 7.4g fat
• potassium/sodium/magnesium = 847/99/43
• [average salmon] Fish, salmon, coho, wild
• 1/2 fillet (178 g) = 7.7g fat
• potassium/sodium/magnesium = 772/103/59
• [bad salmon] Fish, salmon, Atlantic, wild
• 1/2 fillet (154 g) = 12.5g fat
• potassium/sodium/magnesium = 967/86/57
• [bad salmon] Fish, salmon, sockeye
• 1/2 fillet (155 g) = 17g fat
• potassium/sodium/magnesium = 581/102/57
• [bad salmon] Fish, salmon, chinook
• 1/2 fillet (154 g) = 20.6g fat
• potassium/sodium/magnesium = 778/92/188

Most of the salmons listed above have so much fat that, regardless of their impressive potassium:sodium ratio, you cannot avoid the "obesity factor" of high blood pressure by eating them.

So, there you go: incorporate pink salmon into your heart healthy diet and you can maintain the high potassium, low sodium, low fat diet your body so desperately needs. I have found that my local grocery store sells frozen pink salmon fillets at a very reasonable price - the yummy taste of grilled salmon has remained in my heart healthy diet!

Read the Labels: Salsa

If you are like me, spicy foods are a central part of your eating habits. I like to add salsa to just about everything I eat; from traditional tacos and quesadillas to the less traditional salads and grilled cheese sandwiches.

So, what happened when I embarked on my high potassium/low sodium focus? Would salsa survive? Fortunately, the answer is, "Yes, salsa can be a part of any high potassium/low sodium heart healthy diet AS LONG AS you read the labels."

This can best be demonstrated by example. Lets look at a selection of salsas and a 1 tablespoon serving of each:

• [good] Santa Barbara Salsa's Mango and Peach Salsa: 42.5 mg sodium, 0 g fat.
• [good] 505 Southwestern Green Chile Sauce: 47.5 mg sodium, 0 g fat.
• [good] Archer Farms Corn Relish (available at Target): 42.5 mg sodium, 0 g fat.
• [average] Kroger Tomatillo Salsa Verde (available at King Soopers): 90 mg sodium, 0 g fat.
• [bad] Pace Picante Sauce: 125 mg sodium, 0 g fat.
• [bad] Texas Pepper Works Barn Burner Salsa: 190 mg sodium, 0 g fat.

Note that these counts are for 1 tablespoon - I found this is what is a typical serving for me. Some people may go upwards of 2 tablespoons a serving, if so then double all the counts. In addition, the potassium count for salsa is generally 1/2 to 1 of the sodium count (i.e., typical store bought salsa has a 1:2 to 1:1 potassium to sodium ratio). Not surprisingly, the salsas with lower sodium tend towards the 1:1 ratio - meaning they are a "net neutral" addition to your diet.

So, what does all this mean?

1. [store bought] Salsa is not a vehicle for you to increase your potassium to sodium ratio.
2. Used in moderation, a low sodium salsa can contribute flavor to your diet with a pretty neutral impact.
3. Read the label: if you want to keep salsas, you must use the "good" or "average" sodium varieties.

Conclusion: Keep salsa as a component of your diet, for flavor, but only when you choose the brands low in sodium. That is, a small sodium contribution of the right salsas can be offset by other high potassium ingredients (black beans, corn tortillas, etc); thus allowing you to keep the flavor while staying healthy.

A perfect breakfast: yogurt, fruit & granola

A recipe for a perfect high potassium, low sodium, low fat & economical breakfast.
Main ingredients: bananas, melons, yogurt and granola/fiber cereal.

Here is a great hearth healthy breakfast option:

• 1 banana
• 1/2 cup melon (I do 1/4 cup servings of 2 of cantaloupe, watermelon or honeydew melon)
• 1 6 oz serving of fat free yogurt
• a 1/4 to 1/3 cup serving of granola or fiber based cereal

We buy 2 medium sized melons (whichever 2 of cantaloupe, watermelon or honeydew is on sale). After slicing the melons into tupperware, this yields about 2 weeks of breakfast for 2 people (eating this 4-5 mornings a week, each).

The average nutrition & cost breakdown:

• banana: 550 mg potassium, 0.5 g fat, 2 mg sodium, 10 cents.
• melon: 185 mg potassium, 0.15 g fat, 10 mg sodium, 40 cents.
• yogurt: 280 mg potassium, 0 g fat, 100 mg sodium, 40 cents.
• granola: 230 mg potassium, 0.6 g fat, 50 mg sodium, 15 cents.
• TOTAL: 1245 mg potassium, 1.25 g fat, 162 mg sodium, $1.05 per breakfast.

WOW: your heart will kiss you for this. A whopping 8:1 potassium to sodium ratio, low fat and no hole in your wallet! Starting my day with an 8:1 meal is how I got my blood pressure under control.

For completeness, this analysis is using: (1) Kellogg's "All Bran" as the granola/fiber cereal, adjust the nutrients/cost to your favorite granola or fiber cereal; (2) the average of cantaloupe, watermelon & honeydew for the melon count; (3) typical prices for these foods at supermarkets in the Colorado mountains.

Identifying basic foods high in potassium, low in sodium and low fat

After my last post, you may be asking, "If a low fat/lean turkey sandwich has 1500 mg of sodium, how can it be possible to create a complete diet with 1000-1500 mg of sodium per day?????" It is actually not that hard: it takes a little planning and a little flexibility. The key is to identify the high potassium, low sodium and low fat basic ingredients that appeal to your tastes and build from these ingredients.

Searching google for "low sodium foods" (or anything similar) will make your head spin - everybody is trying to sell you something, nobody wants to make it easy. After much (painful) investigation, I discovered that all the websites and books giving you sodium and potassium counts are actually just reiterating data readily available from the USDA. So here you go, the 3 places to research your diet and identify the basic ingredients to put to work for you:

1. USDA Nutrition Data: The authority on nutrition counts - available in many different forms to suit your needs (PDF files for each nutrition type, database load files, etc). A great source of "raw data" if you want to build your own database or spreadsheet to analyze foods.
2. Nutrition Data from Self: A searchable interface to the USDA data - just type a food into the search box and get the USDA results. If you do not want to download all the raw data from the USDA, this is a good website to use for searching the USDA data. 
3. The World's Healthiest Foods: A list of the healthiest foods (i.e., base ingredients). Instead of searching the USDA data, this website has preselected some of the foods and enumerated them for you.

These are the starting points - identify high potassium/low sodium/low fat heart healthy ingredients that suit your tastes and start building recipes and meals from these.

I will highlight some of my favorite heart healthy ingredients in future posts...

Sodium, Sodium Everywhere...

So, it sounded so simple, "remove sodium from my diet and strive for 1000 mg of sodium a day." Heck, I don't even like the taste of salt and do not eat salty foods. Simple, so I thought.

Then I started analyzing what was in my typical/favorite meals: Sodium, Sodium Everywhere! It is not just salt, it is everywhere!

As I mentioned in past posts, I have never had a problem with obesity since I have maintained a low fat diet since my mid 20s. I thought my diet was perfect until I took a look at the evil sodium devil. Lets look at what was one of my favorite low fat (and I thought completely healthy) lunches: Barbeque Turkey Sandwich:

1. 2 slices of large sourdough bread: 3 grams of fat, 400 mg of sodium.
2. 2 slices of lean turkey sandwich meat: 2 grams of fat, 820 mg of sodium.
3. 1 TBSP of barbeque sauce: 0 grams fat, 120 mg of sodium.
4. Small serving of low fat cheddar cheese: 2 grams of fat, 120 mg of sodium.

The result: 7 grams of fat (very low fat), 1460 mg of sodium - OUCH!

So that was my typical meal: low fat and high sodium, even though I was using seemingly healthy ingredients. Multiply this by 3 for a typical day and I was consuming 21 grams of fat (excellent) and 4380 mg of sodium (horrendous). Your heart will never survive on 4380 mg of sodium a day.

What was wrong? Take a closer look at the ingredients: nothing was fresh, everything was processed & preserved. That was it: processed foods are chock full of sodium, that's how they are preserved and mass distributed!


Another lesson learned in my quest for a healthy diet: sodium is lurking everywhere in processed foods, check the labels you'll be astonished. Luckily, as I will demonstrate in future posts, removing the evil sodium devil from your diet is not actually that hard, you just have to pay attention.

Success: How I lowered my Blood Pressure

Heart Healthy is High Potassium, Low Sodium & Low Fat - it is that simple...

So, I took everything I learned about the "contributing factors" to high blood pressure (HBP) and made myself a plan of attack to lower my blood pressure.

My Plan:

1. Walk 1-2 hours per day, briskly with my dogs, 4-5 days a week.
2. Hike/run 8-14 miles 2-3 days a week (again with my dogs).
3. Maintain a diet with a "low fat" focus.
4. Modify my diet so my potassium:sodium ratio was 3:1, at worst, every day (hitting 5:1 or better many days).

The results: after about 2.5 months, my blood pressure measured 113/80 (down from 140/95).

That is, it is working! I've never felt better and the blood pressure keeps declining!

The hardest part of this plan was item #4 - finding a way to increase potassium, lower sodium and maintain a low fat focus. As such, I will devote a lot of space in this blog to 2 topics: (1) recipes for a positive potassium/sodium/fat mix that taste good; (2) lessons on sodium (it's everywhere, not just salt).

Heart Healthy is High Potassium, Low Sodium & Low Fat - it is that simple...

Contributing factors to High Blood Pressure

Summarizing my findings on what causes/contributes to high blood pressure... HBP happens when you have too many of the following 9 contributing factors:

1. Overweight.
2. Lack of physical activity.
3. Tobacco use.
4. Stressful lifestyle.
5. Alcohol consumption.
6. Increasing age.
7. Family history.
8. High sodium intake.
9. Low potassium intake.

The first 7 factors were not a surprise to me, they are common to many medical conditions. As for my personal situation: I had none of the first 4 factors; I do drink, so #5 was against me; at 42, age was only a slight factor; #7 (family history) was against me. So, looking at the first 7 factors: #1-#4 did not apply, #6-#7 are out of my control, only #5 could I change. I found it hard to believe that I could get such high blood pressure at a relatively early age from just alcohol and family history. So, there must be something to the last 2 factors I needed to learn.

To be honest, I had never heard anything about potassium before in my life. It was never mentioned in any "healthy diet/healthy eating" literature I had encountered; it was never mentioned in any health classes I had in my childhood. It was an unknown commodity to me. Here is what I found:

High blood pressure (and its negative impact on your heart) is a man-made disease. Before the (rampant) existence of HBP people: (1) did not drink or smoke; (2) were active and not overweight; (3) ate a diet where the ratio of potassium to sodium ranged from 3:1 to 5:1 (i.e., 3:1 means 3 mg of potassium for every 1 mg of sodium in food intake). Conversely, the typical person today (especially in the US): (1) does drink or smoke (or both); (2) is inactive and overweight; (3) eats a diet with a potassium to sodium ratio of 1:5 to 1:10. Yikes, mankind had reversed itself on every contributing factor to HBP and its eventual negative impact!

Back to my situation: drink=yes/smoke=no, active=yes/overweight=no - 3 of 4 I am "in the clear". So, I studied my diet and, sure enough, my potassium to sodium ratio was in the 1:5 to 1:10 range.

So, changing my diet to a healthy potassium to sodium ratio was apparently the key. And, from the background research I mentioned in the last post: there is a wealth of studies that have demonstrated a reduction in blood pressure by focusing on getting your potassium to sodium ratio to the 3:1 range or better.

I now had my mission, it was just a matter of execution ;-)

Researching high blood pressure

I figured I had 2 options for dealing with my sudden & unexpected case of high blood pressure (HBP).

(1) I could go to a doctor, get prescribed some scary sounding drugs, not understand why I had HBP, discover the unfortunate side effects (every drug has some) and live a life addicted to a drug I feared for a disease I did not understand.

Sorry for the negative view of the healthcare industry; but this pattern is the only pattern I have ever experienced with the medical/pharmaceutical industry...

(2) I could learn about the disease myself and construct a profile of my body/life against the disease. From here I could build a lifestyle and natural plan to reduce my blood pressure.

Given my clear bias, I obviously chose approach #2 and started on a path to understand HBP, why I had it and how I get rid of it. Sounded simple, but... Do a google search for "lowering high blood pressure" and you get 24 million results! Do a google search for "lowering high blood pressure naturally" and you get 20 million results! I went to my local library and found row after row of books about HBP!

I visited the first 400 results from each google search and skimmed a dozen books in the library. Below are the two resources I found that best explained HBP to me and taught me how to adjust my lifestyle to lower blood pressure. Hopefully these vetted starting points can help others get to results instead of spending days/weeks looking for good, unbiased starting points...

Great online overview: Natural Remedies for High Blood Pressure
Great book with pointers/references to studies backing up all the findings: What Your Doctor May Not Tell You About Hypertension: The Revolutionary Nutrition and Lifestyle Program to Help Fight High Blood Pressure

It all started when...

It all started when I went to a blood drive to donate blood... I had been healthy all my life: exercising regularly and eating a low fat diet. Apparently this was not enough. I was 42 at the time and I was about to learn what I didn't know (but needed to know) about eating right.

Donating blood was a regular thing for me. I always got pleasure out of the "light physical" that accompanied it:

• Pulse: always 55-65 for me (people joke that my heart barely pumps ;-)
• Temperature: typically around 96.8 (not 98.6) - consistent with the low pulse.
• Blood Pressure: typically around 100-110/70.

So, giving blood was a double positive: help others and validate my health.

This all changed in May 2010. It had been over a year since my last donation - I was busy with work and just kept "forgetting" to do my typical 2-4 times/year donation. So what happened? Happy to be in the light physical step, waiting for the nurse to say, "Wow, your readings are ultra-healthy!" But it did not happen this way. What did the nurse say, "blood pressure is 145/90".

WHAT! 145/90! I made her redo it 2 more times: 140/95, 145/95 .... I had HIGH BLOOD PRESSURE! What was I going to do. I was astonished.....