What is DASH?
The name Dash may appear as a diet that shows speedy and significant results. DASH, however, refers to Dietary Approaches to Stop Hypertension. Just like any other diet plan, it requires you to follow specific meals to ensure you’ll achieve this diet’s goal.
Hypertension is aggravated by having increased sodium content in your blood system. Hence, you should lower its amount in your body while promoting other nutrients that will help lower your blood pressure.
Comparing DASH diet with other diet plans
DASH follows similar dietary recommendations for patients suffering from cancer, osteoporosis, stroke, heart problems, and diabetes.
The foods you’ll take in include vegetables, low-fat dairy, fruits, and a controlled amount of fish, nuts, and whole grains. DASH also promotes two types of diet concentrating on the amount of salt you can take in daily.
First, you can go with the Standard DASH diet allows you to incorporate a limit of 2,300 mg of sodium in your daily diet. Second is lower sodium DASH, which limits your sodium consumption by up to 1500 mg.
Recommended foods
Now that you know the goal of this plan, here are expert-recommended foods that you must take in daily aside from controlling social.
- Grains. Whole grains contain more nutrients and high amounts of fiber. Take these foods around six to eight servings daily. Go for brown rice since they are healthier and have more fiber than regular, white rice.
- Vegetables. Eat up to five servings of vegetables daily. Good vegetable selections include broccoli, carrots, tomatoes, greens, and others that are high in fiber, potassium, and minerals. Keep, in mind, however, that vegetable servings should not only be your side dish. They should be served as the main meal to ensure you’ll get their nutrients.
- Dairy. With a max of three servings per day, you can choose among a wide array of dairy products from yogurt, milk, cheese, and others. An important thing to remember is to choose fat-free dairy products or those with low fat to guarantee effects.
- Fruits. Similarly, with vegetables, the DASH diet requires you to eat up to five servings daily. Fruits that are high in potassium like bananas, magnesium, and fiber-rich selections like apples are your best choices. Again, your options should have low-fat content.
- Lean meat products. DASH diet limits your daily intake of lean meat as much as possible, with the maximum amount that you can take up to six servings. Follow healthy cooking methods to lower fats and choose fish with high omega-3 contents, which is good for your heart.
The good thing about the DASH diet is you will not only lower sodium in your bloodstream, but it can also promote weight loss due to healthy food selections. Though weight loss is not its goal, the diet plan gives you more benefits that make you healthy in the process.
