• Check with your health care provider to see if you need to lose weight.
• If you do, lose weight slowly using a healthy eating plan and engaging in physical activity.
  

• Engage in physical activity for a total of 30 minutes on most days of the week.
• Combine everyday chores with moderate-level sporting activities, such as walking, to achieve your physical activity goals.
  

• Set up a healthy eating plan with foods low in saturated fat, total fat, and cholesterol, and high in fruits, vegetables, and lowfat dairy foods such as the DASH eating plan.
• Write down everything that you eat and drink in a food diary. Note areas that are successful or need improvement.
• If you are trying to lose weight, choose an eating plan that is lower in calories.
  

• Choose foods that are low in salt and other forms of sodium.
• Use spices, garlic, and onions to add flavor to your meals without adding more sodium.
  

• In addition to raising blood pressure, too much alcohol can add unneeded calories to your diet.
• If you drink alcoholic beverages, have only a moderate amount—one drink a day for women, two drinks a day for men.
  

• If you need drugs to help lower your blood pressure, you still must follow the lifestyle changes mentioned above.
• Use notes and other reminders to help you remember to take your drugs. Ask your family to help you with reminder phone calls and messages.
  

Reproduced from Your Guide to Lowering Blood Pressure by the National Heart, Lung and Blood Institute of the National Institutes of Health. NIH Publication 03-5232. May 2003.