If you have low blood pressure, eating more salt, drinking more fluids, and adjusting your meal size can all help raise your numbers. Unlike the advice most people hear about cutting sodium, your goal is the opposite: increasing it to help your body hold onto fluid and maintain blood volume. The specific changes depend on what’s causing your low blood pressure, but dietary shifts are one of the first and most effective interventions.
Why Salt Is Your Main Tool
Sodium helps your body retain water, which increases blood volume and pushes blood pressure up. For most people, health guidelines recommend staying under 2,300 mg of sodium per day. But if you have orthostatic hypotension (blood pressure that drops when you stand up) or a related condition like POTS, recommendations flip dramatically. The American Society of Hypertension suggests 2,400 to 4,000 mg of sodium daily for these patients. The Canadian Cardiovascular Society recommends around 4,000 mg, and a Heart Rhythm Society consensus statement goes as high as 4,800 mg for people with POTS.
That’s roughly double to triple what the average person is told to eat. A common approach is adding 1,000 to 2,000 mg of sodium to your diet three times per day through food, not just shaking more salt onto meals. Your doctor may check your sodium levels through a urine test to gauge whether you’re hitting an effective range.
High-Sodium Foods Worth Adding
Rather than just reaching for the salt shaker, building sodium into your meals and snacks throughout the day is more practical and consistent. Good options include:
- Snacks: Salted nuts and seeds, pretzels, salted popcorn, olives, pickles, cheese portions, salami sticks
- Meal additions: Soy sauce, miso, gravy, cheese sauce, stock cubes, ready-made pasta or curry sauces, taco seasoning, garlic salt, celery salt, ketchup
- Protein sources: Smoked meat or fish, anchovies, bacon, fish tinned in brine
Cup-a-soup is a particularly easy option because it combines sodium with fluid, addressing two needs at once. Keeping salted snacks accessible throughout the day helps maintain a steady sodium intake rather than loading it all into one meal.
Drink More Fluids Than You Think
Fluid intake works alongside sodium to expand blood volume. When you’re dehydrated, even mildly, your blood volume drops and so does your pressure. Most guidance for people with orthostatic conditions recommends drinking 2 to 3 liters of fluid per day, which is roughly 8 to 12 cups. Water is fine, but electrolyte drinks or broth-based soups count toward both your fluid and sodium goals.
Drinking a large glass of water (about 16 ounces) quickly before standing or before a meal can provide a short-term blood pressure boost. Research on people with orthostatic syndromes found that drinking 480 mL of water in under five minutes produced a measurable rise in blood pressure. This is a simple, no-cost strategy to use before situations where you know your pressure tends to drop.
Eat Smaller Meals More Often
Some people experience a noticeable blood pressure drop after eating, a condition called postprandial hypotension. It happens because your body diverts blood to your digestive system after a large meal, temporarily reducing pressure elsewhere. The bigger the meal, the bigger the drop.
The fix is straightforward: eat six smaller meals instead of three large ones. This keeps your digestive system from demanding a huge blood flow shift at any one time. If you notice dizziness, lightheadedness, or fatigue within 30 to 60 minutes after eating, postprandial hypotension is a likely cause. Reducing refined carbohydrates at meals can also help, since high-carb meals tend to produce a more pronounced blood pressure dip than meals built around protein and fat.
Caffeine and Licorice
Caffeine raises blood pressure in the short term, which is why some people with hypotension find that a cup of coffee before a meal or before standing helps. It’s not a long-term fix on its own, but it can be a useful addition to your routine, especially in the morning when blood pressure tends to be lowest.
Licorice root is a more unusual option. Real licorice (not the candy flavoring) contains a compound called glycyrrhizin that alters how your body handles sodium and potassium, leading to fluid retention and higher blood pressure. One small study found that 100 mg of glycyrrhizin per day, taken as about 3.3 grams of licorice over two weeks, raised blood pressure in young, healthy people. The European and World Health Organization guidelines consider 100 mg of glycyrrhizin per day the upper safe limit for most people, so this is something to use cautiously and discuss with your doctor rather than self-prescribe in large amounts. Too much can cause dangerously low potassium levels.
Foods and Habits That Can Make It Worse
Alcohol is one of the biggest culprits. It dilates blood vessels and promotes dehydration, both of which drive blood pressure down. If your pressure is already low, even moderate drinking can leave you dizzy or faint. Large, carbohydrate-heavy meals (think a big plate of pasta or a stack of pancakes) pull blood toward your gut and can cause a sharp postprandial drop.
Skipping meals is another common trigger. Going long stretches without eating, combined with inadequate fluids, compounds the problem. If you’re someone whose blood pressure runs low, consistency matters: regular meals, regular salt, regular fluids, spread throughout the day rather than concentrated in one or two sittings.
Putting It Together
A practical daily approach looks something like this: start your morning with a glass of water and a salty breakfast (eggs with cheese and a side of smoked salmon, for example). Keep salted snacks like nuts or pretzels with you for mid-morning and mid-afternoon. Use soy sauce, miso, or stock cubes to boost the sodium in lunch and dinner. Drink fluids steadily, aiming for 2 to 3 liters total. Have coffee if it helps, and consider a cup of broth or soup as an afternoon pick-me-up that covers both salt and hydration.
The shift can feel counterintuitive, especially if you’ve spent years hearing that salt is bad. But for people with chronically low blood pressure, sodium is a tool, not a threat. The key is working with your healthcare provider to find the sodium target that’s right for your specific situation, since conditions like kidney disease or heart failure change the equation significantly.