Why Does Potassium Work for Hypertension High Potassium Foods for High Blood Pressure – Dr.Berg

So in a few of my videos , I talk about the relationship between potassium and blood pressure .

But I had someone recently ask why does potassium help lower blood pressure ?

And that's what this video is about .

Just some quick background information .

Only 2% of the population , and I'm talking about Americans , get enough potassium .

2% .

That means 98% of Americans are deficient .

They're just not getting enough .

Most of them don't know that they need a lot .

They need about 47 100 milligrams a day to achieve the RDAs for potassium .

I'm not talking about bananas , because bananas only have about 300 milligrams .

So you'd have to consume a lot of bananas to achieve this , and then the problem with that is all the sugar that comes along with it .

But mostly you're gonna get your potassium from leafy greens , certain vegetables .

The problem with that is an average American only consumes 1 and a half cups of veggies per day when they actually need about 7 to 10 cups .

But realize when I'm talking about 7 to 10 cups , I'm talking about like loose lettuce .

I'm not talking about concentrated like broccoli for example or cauliflower .

This would be for leafy greens .

So if you're gonna do something more dense , maybe you do 4 4 cups , something like that .

And also if you chop this up and cut this down , this is gonna come down a lot less because you're actually making it more dense .

But the point is that the more vegetables that you eat , the closer you're gonna get to this amount .

You can also get potassium from , fish and some meats and nuts , and then definitely avocados .

That's a really good source .

Most people just don't get enough potassium from their diet .

Also , when you consume refined carbohydrates , both in grain carbohydrates and sugars , you'll deplete your potassium even more .

When you're under stress , you deplete your potassium .

When you take a diuretic , you deplete your potassium .

There's many different ways that people end up being deficient in potassium .

If we take a look at sodium , the opposing mineral , 90% of Americans are consuming too much of sodium .

So we're really heavy on the sodium , very light on the potassium .

And what this creates is a situation where your blood pressure is gonna start going higher and higher and higher .

Potassium in general has a diuretic effect .

It's going to get rid of fluid .

Potassium causes the smooth muscle in your arteries to dilate .

It's a vasodilator , thus lowering the blood pressure .

Also , potassium keeps the vascular system from being stiff , Because if your arteries are stiff , that alone can cause hypertension .

Either increase the foods that are high in potassium , which I'll put some links down below on that , Or take potassium as a supplement or an electrolyte powder , and you're gonna find that your blood pressure is gonna start coming down .

Now the other cause of hypertension is low vitamin d 3 .

So if you take vitamin d 3 and potassium or get it from the food , you will find that your blood pressure should be coming down .

The other thing I wanna mention about potassium is it also lowers the risk of getting a stroke .

And the way that that occurs is that potassium directly affects the consistency of blood .

It reduces clotting , as in blood clots .

Potassium can kill 2 birds with 1 stone .

Of course , that's not the best analogy , but it can actually help reduce hypertension and decrease the risk for a stroke .

Hey .

We're back .

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