Are you suffering from hypertension (high blood pressure)? If yes, you can prevent it easily by consuming the DASH diet.  

DASH Diet stands for Dietary Approaches to Stop Hypertension. This diet plan is created by the experts of the National Institute of Health (NIH). It is not only effective on hypertension but also promotes weight loss. For better results, you should consume the diet in its recommended servings.  

Learn more in detail about the dash diet.  

What is the DASH diet?  

The DASH diet is specifically designed to prevent high blood pressure. A recent study shows that billions of people worldwide suffer from high blood pressure, which is bad. Because high blood pressure is linked to other serious conditions like heart disease, kidney disease, or stroke.  

This diet consists of fruits, vegetables, whole grains, poultry, nuts and seeds, fish, and low-fat dairy products, etc. And a person needs to avoid the intake of red meat, saturated fats, sugar, and salt.  

As it is an overall healthy diet, that’s why it is also beneficial for losing weight, lowering cholesterol levels, and preventing diabetes.  

This diet reduces your blood pressure because it focuses on fruits and vegetables and reduces your salt intake. As per the regular DASH diet program, salt intake should be no more than 1 teaspoon (2300 mg) per day. Scientists believe that the key reason this diet helps to manage blood pressure is the low intake of salt.  

Following the dietary guidelines to take this diet can produce better results.  

Benefits 

Besides reducing high blood pressure, the dash diet has many other benefits such as:  

• Weight loss: The DASH diet is one of the diet plans that promote weight loss. Because it contains fruits, vegetables, low-fat dairy products, etc. All the food items do not contain saturated fats instead fiber, nutrients, and vitamins can help to reduce weight. During this diet, you have to prevent or limit the intake of red meat, fats, sugar, and salts which can increase your body fat. And this diet has healthy alternatives to junk foods to encourage them to eat this diet and decrease their weight.  
• Reduce cancer risk: Blood pressure is linked with some forms of cancer. As the DASH diet manages blood pressure it helps to reduce the risk of some cancers including colorectal and breast cancer.  
• Reduce the risk of metabolic syndrome: Some studies found that this diet can reduce the chances of developing metabolic syndrome by 81%.  
• Prevent diabetes: As high blood pressure is also linked with type 2 diabetes; this diet is effective in improving insulin resistance which can help you to prevent diabetes.  
• Lower heart disease risk: In a recent review on this diet by a woman, this diet is effective to reduce the chances of up to 20% developing heart disease or stroke.  
• Prevent kidney disease: This diet limits your sodium intake which lowers your blood pressure and also decreases the fluid buildup in the body. This fluid buildup is the common cause of kidney disease.  

Precaution to follow 

This diet is greatly beneficial for people who have blood pressure problems, obesity, type 2 diabetes, and kidney or heart diseases. But it is not good for people who don’t have these problems, because limiting salt intake is bad for normal people as their bodies don’t get enough sodium, they need to maintain the necessary functions.  

The human body needs a certain amount of sodium in our diet as it conducts nerve impulses, helps in contracting and relaxing the muscles, and helps to maintain the balance of water and minerals. The recommended dose of sodium from dietary guidelines is less than 2300 mg (about twice the weight of a small paper clip) per day for a person. In this diet plan, limit salt to 1500 mg (about half the weight of a penny) per day.  

While some scientists still debate that reducing salt intake is not beneficial even for people with high blood pressure. Whether it is true or not, you need to see whether it works for you. If it works, then limit your salt intake or if it does not then stick with the average intake.  

This diet plan doesn’t specify any particular food items, only the food you should prevent. But you need to follow specific servings of different food groups. Each serving you consume is based on how many calories you should eat.  

When you follow this diet plan, avoid eating red meat, whole grains, poultry, or fatty food items. And limit the intake of sugar and salt.  

The DASH diet is created by the experts of NIH (National Institute of Health) to prevent or reduce high blood pressure problems which are growing these days. As this diet contains fruits, vegetables, low-fat dairy products, etc. this diet has high nutritional value, vitamins, and antioxidants which make this diet healthy. This diet reduces the risk of some cancers, kidney disease, heart disease, or diabetes. It also promotes weight loss, and it gives some healthy alternatives to people who want to lose weight. If you are following the diet and don’t have high blood pressure, only limit your salt intake if required.  

Want to learn about the serving plan of this diet?  If you want to learn more about diet and nutrition, call us on 1-347-384-5690 to get a consultation. And if you’re in need of dietary advice, get a consultation, or walk in for an appointment at 1797 Pitkin Avenue, Brooklyn, New York 11212. You can also visit our website to book an appointment online at https://doralhw.org or contact us at info@doralhw.org if you have any queries.