The Circulatory

Pomegranates are in season! This special fruit has been known for its healing properties for centuries. In fact, it’s featured prominently in ancient Greek, Egyptian, and Indian texts for its medicinal properties.

So what makes pomegranates so special? It turns out that modern science has validated their wide range of positive health effects. Here’s a few reasons why pomegranate deserves a place on your plate this fall:

We’re all dealt a genetic hand, and knowledge of that can sometimes cause us to act irrationally. In terms of high blood pressure, this might look like not getting our numbers checked (kind of like an ostrich with its head in the sand). Or it might lead to us thinking “I’m going to have high blood pressure and die from some comorbidity anyway, so I might as well eat and drink whatever I want, smoke, be a couch potato, and/or not manage my stress.”

Diuretics help remove excess sodium (salt) and water from the body, and in doing this, promote the production and excretion of urine. Diuretics that aren’t “potassium-sparing” can cause us to lose potassium as well. We need to be careful about losing potassium. More about that later.

Just thinking of what we need to do to make a difference in our blood pressure can be overwhelming: cut back on sodium, increase your potassium intake, lose weight, stop smoking, get more exercise, manage your stress…