What is a DASH diet?
The DASH diet is a good eating plan that is very healthy. It means Dietary Approaches to Stop Hypertension (DASH). High blood pressure can be prevented with this eating habit. DASH diet plan can provide foods that are rich in magnesium, potassium, and calcium. It is a low-salt diet for hypertension. Through a DASH eating menu, your blood pressure can be controlled by the nutrients that it can give. The DASH eating plan can eliminate foods like saturated fats and added sugars that can be a great cause of hypertension. Through DASH diet foods, your blood pressure can be lowered in 2 weeks.
Having a good cholesterol level is possible with DASH foods. For this reason, DASH diet meals can also prevent heart disease and stroke. So, it is a good idea to make a DASH diet grocery list or DASH diet food list. Some examples of a DASH diet are a DASH diet for weight loss, a DASH diet for hypertension, a Mediterranean DASH diet, a DASH diet for diabetes, and a DASH diet for kidney disease. This meal plan can surely make you healthy.
Principles of the DASH Diet
In everything that we take as a discipline, there are certain principles that we need as a guide. We ought to follow these things so that we can ensure that we can be great at what we do. The DASH diet has some principles that you need to adhere to. Some of them are the following:
Concentrate on Foods with Potassium, Magnesium, and Fiber: For the DASH diet to be effective, you must choose the food that you are going to eat. Give focus on eating foods rich in potassium, magnesium, and fiber. You need four to five servings a day of food with these nutrients. Have some fruits and vegetables. The right measure is to have 1/2 of cooked fruits and vegetables or 1 cup of raw fruits and vegetables. To have potassium and fiber at best, enjoy eating citrus. You can also add eating dried beans, seeds, nuts, and peas for these nutrients. For a good amount of potassium, you should eat bananas, oranges, potatoes, and tomatoes. Eating whole grain products will also be good. Never take potassium supplements unless the doctor suggested them. Sometimes, high potassium can be bad for your health. So, you have to take just a good amount of potassium for your meal plan.Reduce Sodium Foods: To avoid much sodium, pick foods that are fresh. Do not put much salt in your foods. Instead of salt, to put flavor, you must add herbs and spices. Put a limitation on the use of sauces and canned soups. If you are used to eating these kinds of foods, be sure to eat foods with a label of “low sodium”. Use water to rinse canned foods. Do not eat many hot dogs, sausage, and bacon. As much as possible, do not eat cured or smoked foods. This will be best for your diet meal plan. Remember that you are on a DASH diet. You must eat the right foods. Or else your diet plan will not be effective. Reduce eating foods that you have to eliminate from your diet.Eat Foods Rich in Calcium: Calcium is a great nutrient that you should get in a DASH diet. You must concentrate on eating foods that are fat-free. So, if you are going to eat cheese, yogurt, or milk, be sure to choose products that are low-fat. You can choose lactose-reduced milk. 1% of milk products daily will be good for your diet plan. If you are not fond of eating dairy products, you can gain calcium by having calcium supplements.Get a Good Weight: Your DASH diet will be nothing if you will not have proper weight. So, you have to concentrate on eating foods that can give you a good weight. Combined with exercise, you can get the proper weight that you need. So, a diet and exercise plan is needed. In eating, remember to reduce calories. Eat small portions of foods with fats. As much as possible, pick low-fat foods. You should need 25 to 35 grams of fiber daily. So, ensure to eat foods with fiber every day. Give yourself regular exercise. 30 minutes of aerobics can help you to maintain a good weight. Exercise every day to lose some weight. Also, one important thing is to remove bad eating behaviors.Quit Smoking: Good cooperation is needed when you are doing a DASH diet. If you are a smoker, you should start quitting smoking. Everything will be meaningless if you do not stop smoking. You will still catch the disease that you do not want to have. Realize that smoking will not do you any good. This habit may be hard to eliminate but it is in your will to do that. Be firm that you want to be healthy. Remove this vice that can even be the cause of your death. Quit smoking completely if you want to do a DASH diet. This is the only way for the DASH diet to be effective.Reduce Caffeine: Much caffeine is not good for our health. It is not good for our hearts and our brains. We can be prone to heart disease and stroke. If you want to take coffee, tea, or soda, be sure that you are going to take decaffeinated products. Do this if you want the DASH diet to be effective. This is something that you should do. Also avoid medications like Vivarin, NoDoz, Excedrin Extra Strength, or Midol. Be sure to erase caffeine from your daily calendar. Just remember that it is bad for your health. If your purpose is to be healthy that is why you are taking a DASH diet, then there will be no room for caffeine in your life.Continue Taking Medication: We engage in a DASH diet to prevent some sicknesses. Many people are taking it because they already have hypertension and they want to be healed through a good diet. They do not want their disease to get worse. So, you should know that a DASH diet will not be the sole solution to your problem. If you have hypertension, heart disease, or kidney disease, you should ensure that you will still take your medications. Ascertain that you will still follow the advice of your doctor. If there are some things that you have to do, you still have to do those. A DASH diet is not a medication for your sickness. It is just a good resort to help you to be cured.Drink Enough Water: As a general rule, you should drink eight glasses of water a day. Water can affect your energy level. It is what can maximize your physical performance. Headaches and other sicknesses can be prevented through water. It is good for our brain and our kidney. You can even have a good weight by drinking enough water. For you to not forget to drink enough water, you should place a pitcher of water on your desk. This will remind you of the need to have enough water every day.
Tips on DASH Diet
Many want to give it a try taking the DASH diet to know if it will work for them. But before you get ready to have a DASH diet, you must know some information for you to create an effective diet. You may need some practical tips that can guide you. Have some of these tips:
Make a List: A DASH diet food list or a DASH diet grocery list can help you a lot. Before going to the market, you should prepare and make a plan. Plan for the foods that you need to buy. This can be a good work plan for you to make your diet effective. Plan ahead so that you will not forget the things that you need to buy at the market. Get a paper and list down all the ingredients of your DASH eating menu. Plan for all the meals of the day. Incorporate a DASH diet into your breakfast, lunch, snacks, and dinner. This way, you can be sure of healthy meals throughout the day.Stock-up on Staples: To be sure that you will have a continuous DASH diet, you need to have a good amount of stock in your kitchen. This stock should make up of foods that will follow a DASH diet. If you lose your stock, you may tend to eat unhealthy food that will destroy your diet. You need to have the perfect discipline that you are going to follow a DASH diet all the time. So, ensure that you will have enough foods in your kitchen that will ascertain that you can keep on having a DASH diet at all times.Keep DASH in Mind: Being in the full discipline of following the DASH diet is needed. To do this, you need to keep DASH in mind all the time, especially when you are shopping. It can be easy to be tempted by unhealthy foods like pizza and chips, but you have to be firm to follow this diet to be healthy. So, always remember that you are having a good fight to be healthy. Be sure that your weekly meal plan will be perfect by having a DASH diet every day. Do not have a single day to cheat on your diet. Be decided to achieve your goals of being healthy.Buy Fresh Foods: Yes, you are going to buy the foods in your DASH diet grocery list. But you must remember to buy them fresh. Its nutrients may not be much if you will buy foods that are not fresh. You will not get the health that you want. So, it is advisable to buy food early in the morning at the wet market or to buy at stores that you know have stocks of fresh foods. This is important to obtain your goal to prevent your sickness.
How to Create a DASH Diet
To stay physically active, a DASH diet should be done. But how can you follow a DASH diet? What are the things that you need to do? Below are some of the steps that you can take to start a DASH diet. Read the following:
1. Start a Food Journal
It is best to start with a food journal. This way, you can track whether you are following the DASH diet guidelines. You can monitor the foods that you are eating and you will know how much you eat. By having a food journal, you can have the chance to make the right decisions in your DASH diet.
2. Make the Right Servings
To ensure that you are having a proper DASH diet, you should be watchful of the servings of the foods that you are going to eat. For fruits and vegetables, you need two servings every day. Eat foods that are rich in potassium and fiber. Watch out for too much sodium.
3. Use Cooking Techniques
Cooking techniques can make your food more healthy. Remember that bad cooking habits can sabotage your DASH diet. So, you have to know how to cook your food properly. You can also choose the right cookware to cook your food better.
4. Do Not Skip Meals
Do not skip a single DASH meal. Be sure to enjoy your DASH-friendly foods. Have 3 meals a day with complete integration of a DASH diet. Cook these meals at home so that they can be healthier.
FAQs
What are the benefits of a DASH diet?
The benefits of a DASH diet are having good kidney health, preventing the risk of gout, reducing the risk of cancer, having good metabolic syndrome, preventing diabetes, having weight loss, preventing cardiovascular diseases, avoiding high cholesterol, and preventing high blood pressure.
Is Salt Bad?
No, salt is not bad. But too much of it is bad. Salt is made of sodium and chloride which are also needed by our bodies. In DASH diet guidelines, the intake of salt is limited.
Having a DASH diet should be at the top of our list. Especially if we know that we are having problems with hypertension. This is the best solution so that we can overcome this sickness. Together with proper medications, we can be sure that we can be healed. Protect your health always!
