Day Two | Lower Blood Pressure

Breakfast

• 3-egg-white omelet stuffed with 1 cup of assorted grilled vegetables, such as onions, bell peppers, mushrooms, and broccoli
• Bowl of blueberries (fresh or frozen and thawed) and sliced bananas
• 1 cup hot cocoa. Mix nonfat milk or soymilk, 1 tablespoon cocoa powder, and 1 packet of sugar substitute, such as Splenda.

Midmorning Snack

• A big handful of grapes

Lunch – Lower Blood Pressure!

• Lower blood pressure with 1 to 2 cups of Pritikin’s Cream of Crab & Mushroom Soup. The soup makes 8 cups. Freeze what you don’t eat today in single-serving containers for easy-to-thaw-and-heat-up soup for later in the week. Pritikin-style homemade soups are much healthier than many restaurant and canned soups because Pritikin soups are very low in sodium – about 100mg of sodium or less per 2-cup serving. By contrast, 2 cups of most canned and restaurant soups contain a blood-pressure-busting 1,200mg or more. That’s shocking considering that our Institute of Medicine, comprised of the nation’s leading experts on health and nutrition, recommend that we consume no more than 1,500 mg of sodium for the entire day.
• A huge salad of baby spinach and other fresh veggies, such as sliced carrots and tomatoes, topped with your favorite canned beans. (Look for no-salt-added varieties since rinsing the beans through a colander removes only 30% of the added sodium). Toss salad with about ½ teaspoon of wasabi (to taste) and 3 to 4 tablespoons of rice vinegar.
• ½ whole-wheat bagel smeared very lightly with a teaspoon of plant sterol-enriched margarine such as Benecol. Plant stanols and sterols have been found to block the absorption of cholesterol in the intestines, which can help lower LDL (bad) cholesterol levels in the blood. Go lightly on the margarine, not more than 1 or 2 teaspoons daily, because all margarines, even heart-healthy ones, are dense with calories and can sabotage your weight-loss goals.

Midafternoon Snack

• 1 pear
• 1 cup of nonfat plain or no-sugar-added yogurt (good choices include Dannon Light & Fit, Stonyfield Farm, and fat-free, plain Greek-style yogurts such as Oikos and Fage)

Dinner

• 2 to 3 cups of mixed baby salad greens and ½ to 1 cup of cherry tomatoes, halved, with 1 to 1½ tablespoons of Dijon mustard, 1 to 2 tablespoons of balsamic vinegar, and 1 to 2 teaspoons of canola oil.
• Spinach-Stuffed Salmon with Mango Sauce. Eating seafood at least twice weekly is great insurance that you’re getting enough heart-healthy, essential omega-3 fatty acids.
• 1 cup cooked whole-wheat couscous

Dessert

• 1 cup fresh strawberries in 1 tablespoon Marsala wine