I Have Been Able To Lower The Sodium Content In My Diet?

— -- Question: I have been able to lower the sodium content in my diet. Is there anything else I can do with my diet that might help lower my blood pressure?

Answer: Lowering the sodium in your diet is a great way to start in regulating your blood pressure. Other things you can do with the diet can be very simple.

One thing is avoid excess alcohol consumption. Over two drinks per day can actually increase your risk of developing high blood pressure by 1 1/2 to 2 times.

To help normalize your blood pressure, or in fact potentially lower it, attempt to use foods in the diet that are rich in magnesium, calcium and potassium.

Rich sources of potassium are bananas and cantaloupe. An excellent source of magnesium is broccoli, green leafy vegetable.

If you are looking for all three of them you, can find them in green leafy vegetables like spinach, which contains calcium, magnesium and potassium.

One other thing that's actually good for you -- you just need to be careful and look at the label -- is dark chocolate.

It's been shown in small studies that dark chocolate that contains over 70 percent of pure cocoa that hasn't been refined at all, can help lower blood pressure.