Healthy Heart, Healthy Family: A Community Health Worker's Manual for the Filipino Community

Session 4 Handout Take Steps – Healthy Habits To Lower High Blood Pressure!

Download Take Steps – Healthy Habits To Lower High Blood Pressure! (340k) handout.

To prevent high blood pressure:

1. Maintain a healthy weight.
   Try not to gain extra weight. Lose weight if you are overweight. Try losing weight slowly, about 1 to 2 pounds (0.45 to 0.91 kilogram) each week until you reach a healthy weight.
2. Be active every day for at least 30 minutes.
   You can walk, dance, play sports, or do any activity you enjoy.
3. Eat less salt and sodium.
   Buy foods marked “sodium free,” “low sodium,” or “reduced sodium.” Take the saltshaker off the table.
4. Eat more fruits and vegetables, whole-grain breads and cereals, and fat-free or low-fat milk products.
5. Cut back on alcohol.
   Men who drink should have no more than one or two drinks each day. Women who drink should have no more than one drink a day. Pregnant women should not drink any alcohol.

To lower high blood pressure:

1. Practice these steps:
   • Maintain a healthy weight.
   • Be physically active every day for at least 30 minutes.
   • Eat fewer foods and sauces high in salt and sodium.
   • Eat more fruits and vegetables, whole-grain breads and cereals, and fat-free or low-fat milk products.
   • Cut back on alcoholic beverages.
2. Take your medicine the way your doctor tells you.
3. Have your blood pressure checked often.

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Information on this page is taken from the English print version of “Healthy Heart, Healthy Family: A Community Health Worker's Manual.” U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, National Institutes of Health, National Heart Lung and Blood Institute, NIH Publication No. 08-3674, Originally Printed 1999, Revised May 2008.

Last Updated March 2012