Whether or not you’re facing high blood pressure issues, you should considering reducing your sodium intake as you try to improve your eating habits.

When considering your diet and which foods should be emphasized less, it’s not always obvious where you’ll find a lot of sodium. This slideshow of the 7 saltiest foods offer up a good start. For example, one can of soup has a whopping 1,622 mg of sodium! If you’re buying soup at the store, make sure to get the low-sodium version.

Next, 2 slices of pizza has an incredible 1,280 mg of sodium! If pizza is a big part of your diet, you need to reconsider your eating habits. Pizza is also loaded with simple carbs, so start thinking of replacements.

Check out the entire list for more ideas of foods that need to be a smaller part of your diet.

The CDC has done a great job of making the public aware of the dangers of hypertension yet many don’t make the changes necessary to keep their high blood pressure under control.

High blood pressure quadruples the risk of a death from stroke and triples it for heart disease. So the CDC is pushing for more action.

Previously, public health officials and groups in the private sector unveiled Million Hearts, a campaign to prevent 1 million heart attacks and strokes by 2017. One plank of that plan is to improve the proportion of people with controlled blood pressure to 65 percent from 46 percent.

So what will it take to achieve a goal like that? The CDC has some ideas.

Among them:

Take the blood pressure medicines you’ve been prescribed.
Lose weight and stop smoking.
Measure and keep track of your blood pressure between doctor visits.

Simple lifestyle changes like consuming less salt and sodium and sugar along with maintaining a healthy weight and getting regular exercise go a long way toward keeping your blood pressure down.

Hypertension is a contributing factor to stroke, and heart attack.

Strokes kill twice as many women as breast cancer every year.

450,000 women will have a stroke this year alone.

The unique risk factors for women include hormone therapy such as birth control pills and hormone replacement at menopause.

High blood pressure is the universal risk factor for stroke for all people and anyone can have a stroke at any time.

It is important to seek medical attention immediately if you notice any stoke symptoms.

Every moment your brain is without oxygen irreparable damage can be done to the brain.

Scientists say that salt is the number one killer in the world.

High blood pressure is the culprit in most deaths worldwide and salt only exacerbates hypertension which causes heart attack and stroke.

It is not simply table salt, however, which contributes to alarmingly high sodium intake.

Fast food, packaged foods even breads and cereals contain a high amount of sodium to preserve shelf life and enhance the taste of otherwise low quality food products.

Reducing daily sodium intake by 2,000 milligrams at the population level could prevent 1.25 million deaths from stroke and almost 3 million deaths from cardiovascular disease each year, according to an analysis published in the British Medical Journal in 2009. A 1,200-milligram reduction could save up to $24 billion annually in U.S. health costs, according to a study published in the New England Journal of Medicine in 2010.

Inflammation is at the root of so many illnesses that prevention is the key to good health.

Heart disease, hypertension, diabetes, cancer and many auto-immune diseases like arthritis would greatly benefit from preventing and treating inflammation.

According to Liponis, there are blood tests, which can detect low levels of inflammation in the body. Doctors can either look at white blood cell count—the higher the count, the more inflammation—or look at c-reactive protein, which is an even more accurate test that can find levels of inflammation so low a person can’t feel them.
To prevent inflammation, Liponis recommended a few simple steps, including regular exercise, staying at a healthy weight, and taking various supplements such as vitamin D and fish oil.

Also, adding spices like turmeric, ginger and garlic can help keep inflammation at bay.

Dr. Andrew Weil offers and anti-inflammatory diet to fight chronic inflammation disease.

The authors found that different blood pressure readings in the two arms were a sign of the narrowing or hardening of a person’s arteries, particularly on one side of the body.

It’s important to take blood pressure in both arms.

Although seemingly minor, a difference of 15 millimeters of mercury or more between systolic readings in the two arms meant the risk of peripheral vascular disease was two and a half times greater and the risk of cerebrovascular disease was 1.6 times higher. It was also associated with a 70 percent greater risk of dying from heart disease. The precise number of the higher or lower systolic reading was less important than the extent of the difference between them. A difference of even 10 millimeters was enough to raise the risk of peripheral vascular disease.

Risk factors for stroke are strong predictors of future mental impairment.

Maintaining cognitive health is important for everyone as they age but for those who are already at risk for stroke the need is more urgent.

The volunteers were followed for an average of more than four years. After eliminating from consideration any who had had a stroke, the researchers found 1,907 who were cognitively impaired. After controlling for age, sex, race and education, researchers found that high blood pressure and left ventricular hypertrophy independently predicted cognitive impairment, and the more risk factors a person had, the greater the risk for mental problems.

There are facts about your weight which could change the way you think about your body.

A growing body of literature suggests that size doesn’t matter when it comes to your health. A study published in the Archives of Internal Medicine surveyed 5,440 American adults and found that 51 percent of the overweight and almost 32 percent of the obese had mostly normal cholesterol, blood sugar, blood pressure, and other measures of good health.

Further defying conventional wisdom, the article also reported that 23.5 percent of trim adults were, in fact, metabolically abnormal-making them more vulnerable to heart disease than their heavier counterparts.

You don’t always hear good news about potatoes when it comes to your health, however, purple potatoes are a different story according to Joe Vinson, a chemistry professor at the University of Scranton in Pennsylvania.

On average, diastolic blood pressure — the bottom number in a blood pressure reading — dropped by a statistically significant 4.3 percent and systolic blood pressure — the top number in a blood pressure reading — dropped by 3.5 percent.
While eating potatoes, most of the subjects — even those on anti-hypertensive medications — experienced lower blood pressure, and none of the subjects gained weight.

Baked and boiled potatoes are best while frying at high temperatures seems to destroy the health benefits of potatoes.

Enjoy in moderation and improve your health/

There seems to be a never ending list of excuse from smokers who fail to quite this nasty, damaging, expensive habit.

Everyone is a victim of some major roadblock to good health.

Well, the buck stops here!

Read the top myth busting facts that will help you stop smoking for good!

Myth I’ve smoked for so long; the damage is already done.

Myth Switching to ‘light’ cigarettes will cut my risk

Myth My other healthy habits may make up for my smoking.

Myth Trying to quit smoking will stress me out — and that’s unhealthy.

Myth The weight gain that comes with quitting is just as unhealthy as smoking.

Myth Quitting “cold turkey” is the only way to go

Myth Nicotine products are just as unhealthful as smoking.

Myth Cutting back on smoking is good enough

Myth I’m the only one who is hurt by my smoking.

Myth I tried quitting once and failed, so it’s no use trying again.