Keeping your blood pressure normal and low is important. High blood pressure will increase your risk for stroke.

What if you could reduce your blood pressure by adding one food to your diet and avoiding the side effects of blood pressure medications?

The researchers who published the following study investigated just that.

Research on legumes lasting 3 weeks or more that reported data for systolic, diastolic, and/or mean arterial blood pressure were included (Jayalath VH, et.al., 2014).

The researchers concluded that dietary pulses (legumes) significantly lowered blood pressure in people with and without hypertension.

Beans and lentils contain high amounts of potassium and is a low glycemic index food.

An easy way to add beans or lentils to your diet is to always have either cooked or canned beans or lentils in your refrigerator. That way you can easily add them to salads and soups.

Beans and lentils also provide other benefits.

Reference

Viranda H Jayalath 1, Russell J de Souza, John L Sievenpiper, Vanessa Ha, Laura Chiavaroli, Arash Mirrahimi, Marco Di Buono, Adam M Bernstein, Lawrence A Leiter, Penny M Kris-Etherton, Vladimir Vuksan, Joseph Beyene, Cyril W C Kendall, David J A Jenkins, Effect of dietary pulses on blood pressure: a systematic review and meta-analysis of controlled feeding trials, Am J Hypertens. 2014 Jan;27(1):56-64.