In case you are planning on visiting your doctor for hypertension, you may find the DASH diet as a recommendation on your prescription.
Doctors and dietitians often suggest this diet to individuals seeking dietary management for high blood pressure, heart disease and diabetes.
Dietary Approaches to Stop Hypertension(DASH) is a diet plan with restricted meals high in sodium, added sugar, and saturated fat.
The DASH diet is loaded with food containing potassium, calcium, and magnesium to keep your high blood pressure at bay.
The two significant factors that can cause heart disease and stroke are spiked blood pressure and a rise in LDL cholesterol levels.
The DASH diet has shown excellent results in reducing blood pressure within two weeks. This diet lowers the low-density lipoprotein, also known as the bad cholesterol, level in your blood.
1. Does a DASH Diet Mean Cutting Sodium off Your Diet?
2. Foods to Focus on in The DASH Diet
3. Where To Start?
4. Breakdown of Nutritions in a DASH Diet
5. Tips to Follow While On A DASH Diet
6. Side-Effects
7. FAQ
Does a DASH Diet Mean Cutting Sodium off Your Diet?
The DASH diet requires you to lower the amount of sodium in your diet.
According to a survey, a diet consists of 3,400 (mg) of sodium per day, which is way more than the ideal amount in the DASH diet.
DASH diet offers two types of low sodium diets.
One diet limits your sodium intake to 2,300 (mg), approximately the amount of sodium in 1 teaspoon salt. The other diet allows 1,500 (mg) in a day.
Food to Focus on in The DASH Diet
It’s better to focus on the inclusions than the exclusions of elements when going on a DASH diet. It will make it much easier to focus on the benefits of this diet.
A DASH diet is a jampack diet full of minerals that gives your heart all its health benefits. It is a diet rich in lean meat, fruits, vegetables, legumes, low-fat dairy products, poultry and low salt. It is specifically curated to treat high blood pressure.
A simple way is to incorporate food in your diet that is rich in potassium, calcium, magnesium, fibre, and protein.
The DASH diet requires cutting back on food. It can be confusing where to start and what to eliminate.
You can quickly get used to the DASH diet with some baby steps. For starters, restrict your daily consumption of sodium to 1 teaspoon. After your body has adjusted to the diet, holding on to ⅔ teaspoon of sodium will be easier.
The DASH diet plan provides a daily and weekly analysis of your nutritional needs. The number of servings from each food group depends on your daily calorie intake.
Map out the categories of your DASH diet. It will make it easy for you to follow the diet with the proper nutrition from every food group-
Food Group |
Serving |
Details |
Grains |
6 to 8 servings daily. |
Each serving would include |
Vegetables |
4 to 5 servings a day. |
Each serving would include |
Fruits |
4 to 5 servings a day. |
Each serving would include 1 medium fruit, 1/2 cup fresh, frozen, or canned fruit, or 1/2 cup fruit juice. |
Fat-free or low-fat dairy products |
2 to 3 servings a day. |
Each serving would include |
Lean meats, poultry, and fish, |
and six 1-ounce servings or fewer daily. |
Each serving would include |
Nuts, seeds and legumes |
4 to 5 servings a week. |
Each serving would consist of: |
Fats and oils |
2 to 3 servings a day. |
Each serving would include 2 tablespoons of olive oil as a salad dressing, |
Sweets and added sugars, |
five |
Each serving would consist of: 1/2 cup sorbet, and 1 cup lemonade |
There are, as such, no fatal side effects of this diet, but as your body takes time to adjust to a diet low in sodium, you may initially experience some mood swings, frequent hunger, craving for salt and sugar and bloating.
A1. A Dash diet is advised for people trying to control hypertension. It is a planned diet with low sodium content.
A2. Foods such as vegetables, fruits, low-fat dairy products, whole grains, etc. are some foods to eat when on a dash diet. Avoid food with high sodium content.
A3. Some things to avoid on a dash diet are red meats, high-sodium foods, added sugar, high fat, etc.
A4. Other than controlling high blood pressure, dash diets are also known to boost insulin resistance.
A.5. DASH diet aids in water retention and weight management and helps obese people to reduce weight.
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