The DASH diet is an eating plan that helps control and can prevent hypertension (high blood pressure). DASH stands for Dietary Approaches to Stop Hypertension. This diet comes from the DASH studies conducted by researchers sponsored by the National Heart, Lung and Blood institute. They found that controlling hypertension with a diet low in sodium and saturated fat, and high in fruit and vegetables can significantly reduce the risk of having a heart attack and stroke.
DASH recommends increasing your intake of fruits, vegetables, low fat dairy, whole grains, nuts, fish and poultry. Fish and nuts contain monounsaturated and polyunsaturated fats plus omega 3 fatty acids which help keep the heart and arteries healthy and elastic. The diet also focuses on significantly reducing saturated fat, cholesterol, and sodium. Saturated fat has been shown to cause increase plaque deposits on arteries. This plaque will harden and form clots that can either block blood flow through arteries or break away from the artery wall. To help prevent this, avoid consuming high fat red meat and high fat desserts with refined sugar.
The DASH diet recommendations are similar to the guidelines laid out in the Mypyramid plan. The amount of servings per day on the DASH diet is as follows:
6-8 grain servings (1 serving = 1 slice bread)
4-5 fruit servings (1 serving = ½ cup)
4-5 vegetables servings (1 serving = 1 cup leafy greens or ½ cooked vegetables)
2-3 for low fat or fat free dairy servings (1 serving = 1 cup milk or yogurt)
4-5 serving of nuts per week (1 serving = 2 tablespoons peanut butter)
6 servings or less of lean meat, poultry and fish (1 serving = 1oz cooked meat, poultry or fish)
2-3 servings of fat, preferably monounsaturated or polyunsaturated oils (1 serving = 1 teaspoon vegetable oil)
For more information, visit http://www.nhlbi.nih.gov/health/public/heart/hbp/dash/new_dash.pdf.
