Heart‑healthy shopping tips and habits from community health workers

Heart health starts with the grocery lists we build and the decisions we make down the grocery aisles. Balanced, healthy food choices play a major role in a person’s overall health, but have a direct influence on hypertension, or high blood pressure.

“Maintaining a healthy diet to prevent or manage hypertension reduces a person’s risk of stroke, heart attack or heart disease,” says Lakeisha Waites, community health specialist.

Community health workers (CHWs) like Waites are experts in hypertension support. They offer communities free blood pressure screenings accompanied with hypertension prevention and management advice. Here are their recommendations on what to fill your shopping cart with and what to leave on the shelf:

• Buy and eat fresh fruits and vegetables, low-fat dairy products, whole grains and items that are low in saturated fat and cholesterol. Most of these foods are found around the perimeter of a grocery store.
• Limit your consumption of items high in sodium, processed foods, red meats, caffeine and saturated fat sugars.
• Look for options that are low in sodium or have no added salt to reduce your salt intake. Reading nutrition labels can shed light into salt, sugar and fat contents of food. Buying ingredients to prepare meals at home also allows you to control the amount of sodium you’re putting in your meals.

“Eating pork, red meats and other foods that are high in sodium can have the biggest effect on blood pressure,” says Perla Gomez, community health specialist. “People are often surprised that inadequate sleep, alcohol consumption and tobacco usage have a big impact on blood pressure, too.”

Exercising for at least 30 minutes a day, managing stress levels and getting seven to eight hours of sleep have a positive impact on heart health. Practicing daily, healthy habits like a balanced diet and having regular blood pressure checks all help to reduce or manage hypertension. CHWs recommend regular blood pressure checks to understand trends in your numbers.

“Regular blood pressure readings help protect organs, reduce risk of a stroke and heart attack and improve quality of life long-term,” says Destiny Johnson, community health specialist. “Overall, effective management leads to better health and longer life expectancy.”

Explore locations where CHWs are offering free blood pressure checks by visiting the IU Health Bloomington Community Facebook page.