Study Suggests Intuitive Eating May Help Reduce Blood Pressure

Key Takeaways

• One study linked intuitive eating with lower stress and a lower chance of high blood pressure.
• Eat because you are hungry, rather than out of boredom.
• Set aside your phone and TV during meals so you can better notice when you are full.

Intuitive eating is a non-diet approach that asks people to pay attention to their bodies when deciding when and what to eat. Rather than following rigid food rules, it encourages slowing down and enjoying meals with the people at the table.

What the Study Found

A study involving 1,057 U.S. adults found an association between intuitive eating, lower stress, and a reduced risk of high blood pressure.

When people are under stress, the body shifts into fight-or-flight mode, causing the heart to beat faster and blood pressure to rise. Stress can also make it harder to keep up healthy habits such as sleeping well, eating nutritiously, and exercising.

“When people are stressed out and on the go, they’re not likely to sit down and eat intuitively or mindfully. If you’re eating on the run and you’re super stressed out, your blood pressure will automatically be a little higher than when you’re relaxing, sitting down, and enjoying your meal,” said Ashlee Carnahan, MS, RD, supervisor of the Center for Health Promotion and Disease Prevention at Henry Ford Health.

Stress may also lead people to choose less nutritious foods or eat more than they need, which can contribute to weight gain, Carnahan told Verywell. People with overweight or obesity have a higher risk of developing high blood pressure.

Intuitive Eating May Work Alongside the DASH Diet

For decades, the DASH diet has been one of the main eating patterns used to help manage high blood pressure. Multiple studies have found that following the DASH diet can lower blood pressure by about 11 mmHg, enough to move someone from stage 1 hypertension into the elevated or even normal range.

People following the DASH diet are generally advised to eat the following each day:

• 6-8 servings of grains
• 6 or fewer servings of meat, fish, or poultry
• 4-5 servings of vegetables
• 4-5 servings of fruit
• 2-3 servings of fats and oils
• No more than 2,300 mg of sodium, with 1,500 mg as a better target

Each week, they should also include nuts, seeds, dry beans, and peas, while keeping sweets to fewer than five servings.

Intuitive eating can be a helpful addition even though the DASH diet is more specific about limiting sodium and increasing produce, said Matthew Landry, PhD, RDN, an assistant professor of global health and biobehavioral sciences at UC Irvine.

It is not meant to replace other approaches that can help lower blood pressure, such as exercise, medication, and stress-management practices.

“Intuitive eating helps build a better relationship with food, which lends itself to other good behaviors that we might want to do, like getting some physical activity, or better managing our stress levels,” Landry told Verywell. “It makes eating more enjoyable and, especially when you’re already managing a chronic condition like high blood pressure, it takes a little stress off.”

How to Try Intuitive Eating for Blood Pressure Control

If you are new to intuitive eating, start by paying attention to your body and eating when you are hungry rather than when you are merely bored. Try to stop labeling foods as “good” or “bad,” and give yourself permission to enjoy a variety of foods without guilt.

“Even if you eat a treat, like a piece of chocolate, you will get more satisfaction out of a smaller piece versus eating a whole big chocolate bar if you do this mindfully or intuitively. To do that, smell it, close your eyes, savor it, let it melt in your mouth, and think about how it tastes,” Carnahan said.

Another step is to turn off distractions from your phone or TV while you eat so you can focus on your hunger and fullness signals.

“That will also help you have better conversations with whoever you are with, which is another piece of the blood pressure and relationship part,” said Carnahan. Research has shown that a strong social network can help protect against high blood pressure.

There are many ways to begin intuitive eating, and you do not have to try every strategy at once. Starting with one approach and building from there may be the easiest way forward, she added.

Verywell Health uses only high-quality sources, including peer-reviewed studies, to support the facts within our articles. Read our editorial process to learn more about how we fact-check and keep our content accurate, reliable, and trustworthy.

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