Heart disease remains the number one killer of both women and men in the country. One indication of heart disease is having high blood pressure, which happens when fats, cholesterol and nutrients start to accumulate along the walls of your arteries restricted the flow of blood. This increases your blood pressure and makes you more susceptible to a heart attack. Here are some things that you can do to help lower your blood pressure.

The foods you  put into your body  are critical in determining whether or not you will get high blood pressure. Eating less meat, prepackaged food, and salty snacks, and eating more raw fruits and vegetables is one way to help lower your blood pressure. One raw fruit in particular is virtually a wonder food when it comes to lowering your blood pressure. This miracle fruit is the grapefruit.

Partaking in grapefruit will not only lower your blood pressure, it will also lower your cholesterol, keep your trigylcerides (blood fats) level lower, help maintain proper insulin levels, and even help you lose weight! All this, and provide you with your daily dose of Vitamin C as well as other cancer fighting antioxidants. .

While both yellow and red varieties of grapefruit were shown to help lower blood pressure and cholesterol levels; a recent study found that the red grapefruit was the one that proved to be the most effective. The red grapefruit is apparently higher in anti-oxidants than the yellow, which help reduce your  triglyceride levels.  This study also found that eating grapefruit is more effective in lowering your blood pressure than statin drugs are.

While eating red grapefruit is preferable, eating the yellow one is an adequate alternative if the red grapefruit proves to be unavailable.  It is recommended that you eat at least one, if not two grapefruits a day in order to enjoy the full benefits. It is said that if you eat one half of a grapefruit, or drink one glass of freshly squeezed juice before each meal; you can expect to lose around 2 pounds a month

Another benefit of grapefruit is that studies have found that it can help people maintain their insulin and glucose levels. Researchers believe that enzymes in the fruit help control the increase of insulin that happens after you eat, helping you digest your food better. This results in less nutrients being stored as fat.

Grapefruit has also been found to be a strong cancer fighter. It contains high levels of phytonutrients, antioxidants (carotenoids, limonoids, flavonones) and lycopene, all of which been found to help prevent cancer. Grapefruits are also high in fiber, vitamins C and A.

Both red and yellow grapefruits are in season between November and May and are available at a store near you, and even online.