DASH Diet Food List

Image from pixabay.com

The DASH diet stands for Dietary Approaches to Stop Hypertension, a healthy diet that has been proven to help achieve and maintain a healthy weight. Even so, the main benefit of this modern diet is to control hypertension and reduce cholesterol.

The DASH diet focuses on reducing sodium, fat and cholesterol intake by increasing the intake of protein, fiber, and ensuring adequate vitamins and minerals. This diet helps us choose healthy foods and take other actions to help control blood pressure and improve overall health.

Research sponsored by the National Institutes of Health (NIH) shows the benefits of the DASH diet for lowering blood pressure as well as doctor's medicines. The results shown are also fast. Many people who follow the DASH diet experience a decrease in blood pressure in only fourteen days. This happens because a diet that is rich in minerals, high in fiber, low in saturated fat and sodium can help lower blood pressure.

Usually people who have high blood pressure also have other medical conditions, including heart disease. Fortunately, the DASH diet will also benefit this condition. Because of its high fiber intake and rich in vitamins and minerals, this diet can help lower cholesterol, more easily control blood sugar, and can reduce the risk of some types of cancer.

The DASH diet advises us to eat several portions of food every day from various food groups. The amount of food needed can vary depending on how many calories we need per day. Running a DASH diet is easy, because we can make changes gradually. For example, starting to limit yourself to not consume more than 1 teaspoon of salt per day. Then after the body has gotten used to this diet, we can reduce salt intake again to 2/3 teaspoons per day. This amount includes all the intake of salt that we consume daily, both those that come from packaged foods, snacks, self-made dishes, and so on.

If you have hypertension and want to try to adopt the DASH diet, there are several foods that you can choose to consume. This food is believed to help you in controlling blood pressure. Here are foods that are used as options for consumption for those of you who try to do the DASH diet

1. Vegetables

Some types of vegetables that can be selected include tomatoes, carrots, broccoli, sweet potatoes and various other types of vegetables. These vegetables contain lots of fiber, vitamins, minerals like potassium and magnesium. Most importantly, fresh vegetables are the best choice than those that are frozen.

2. Fruits

Fruit is considered practical and healthy because it only requires a short time for supply and presentation. A piece of fruit can be served with other food or as a snack. Certain fruit skins like apples should also be consumed, because they also contain healthy nutrients and fat.

3. Meat, poultry and fish

Meat is rich in protein, B vitamins, iron and zinc, but has variations in fat and choleterol content, so it should be consumed in half or a third portion. For chicken meat, it should be consumed without the skin. As for fish, you should choose the type of salmon, herring or tuna. These fish have omega-3 contents high enough and can help reduce cholesterol levels.

4. Nuts

Nuts such as peas, almonds, sunflower seeds and kidney beans are very good for consumption because they contain magnesium, potassium and protein, as well as phytochemicals that are beneficial for protecting the heart. Most importantly, you should still not over-consume and avoid frying it.

Soybeans like those in tofu and tempeh can also be used as an alternative to meat consumption. This is because tofu and tempeh have amino acids to make proteins more complete, as well as from meat sources.

5. Wheat

Examples of wheat menu that can be selected are bread, rice, pasta and cereal. Do not forget to choose the 'whole grains' because they contain lots of fiber and nutrients. If possible, you can also choose brown rice. For bread, you should avoid adding margarine or cheese sauce.

Share this post