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Short Summary
Main recommendation: Stop eating the seven foods Dr. Ken Berry lists, because he says they raise blood sugar, triglycerides, and insulin, which he links to higher blood pressure. He argues the main culprits are foods made of wheat, sugar, and vegetable oils rather than the meat, cheese, or salt they come with.
Key Points
- The seven foods the title promises are: 1) pizza, 2) waffles and pancakes, 3) pasta, 4) hamburgers (with buns, ketchup, and fries), 5) hot dogs (with buns, fries or chips, and ketchup), 6) angel food cake, and 7) chicken nuggets.
- Dr. Berry describes high blood pressure as part of metabolic syndrome, driven by chronically elevated blood sugar, triglycerides, and insulin.
- He explains the mechanism: these elevations cause the kidneys to retain sodium and water, increasing blood volume and therefore blood pressure.
- He says the same food pattern can also worsen pre-diabetes, type 2 diabetes, fatty liver, and high triglycerides.
- Dr. Berry claims high blood pressure is not necessarily chronic and irreversible, contrary to what he says some doctors tell patients.
Details Worth Noting
- Concrete instructions: Remove wheat-based foods (pizza crust, pasta, buns, waffles, pancakes, breading), added sugars (syrup, ketchup, soft drinks), and vegetable-oil-based products from the diet. Keep foods like eggs, and eat hamburger patties, but leave off the bun, ketchup, and fries. Limit sugary drinks, which he specifically names as a large 44-ounce soft drink and ice-cold Coke or Pepsi.
- He says the pizza sauce likely contains sugar, so it should be considered too.
- He advises that angel food cake is no better than other cake because it is made of wheat, sugar, and vegetable oils.
- He is a family physician presenting his own views; these are his claims, not professional medical advice, and blood pressure medication decisions should be made with a clinician.
Bottom Line
Dr. Berry's core claim is that the carbohydrate-heavy, oil-containing parts of these foods, not the meat or salt, drive the blood pressure problem, so cutting them is the first step he recommends.
