Obesity

Being overweight has a dramatic effect on blood pressure. If your body weight is 20 percent or more above ideal, your risk for having hypertension is doubled. Americans tend to put on weight in their thirties and forties. As our weight goes up, so does out blood pressure, and the more pounds we add, the more likely we are to get hypertension. Recent statistics suggest that s staggering 70% of American adults are overweight.

It may not be the actual added pounds but the mere action of gaining the weight that makes our blood pressure go up. Even if you are not overweight, the pounds you've added slowly as you grow older may raise your blood pressure.

Being overweight is a health risk, but also the way you carry your extra weight has implications for your health. Scientists believe that people who have their extra weight around their abdomen, apples, are at greater risk for heart disease than pears, who store their extra fat around their hips and buttocks. This is bad news for men, who tend to carry their excess weight around theri stomachs, but good news for women, who tend to carry their excess eright around their hips. This may be why men are more likely to have high blood pressure and heart disease then women.

Although it is not easy, the damaging effects of extra weight on blood pressure can be removed through healthy eating. When you have a balanced diet, you are automatically eating less fat and eating more whole grains, fruits, and vegetables. Quick ways of losing weight are almost always ineffective over the long run. It is safer, healthier, and more fun to add things to your diet than to take things away. Following a healthy diet lets you add good-for-you foods, and never means you have to completely cut something.