dash-diet-tips.com

Dan Carlin asked:


s diet created by the National Heart, Lung and Blood Institute to control hypertension is the DASH diet. In fact, DASH is short for Dietary Approaches to Stop Hypertension. The diet encourages fruits, vegetables and whole grains while discouraging sugars, sodium and red meat. Here’s more information about the DASH diet.

The DASH diet is the result of hundreds of nutritional studies. The diet plan not only includes showing people good eating habits, but also shows them healthier alternatives to junk foods. This is important because when dieting many people miss the junk foods that they normally eat. Substituting something else for them that satisfies the body, helps avoid cheating and creates the possibility of maintaining a diet in the long-term. The diet also discourages eating processed foods.

There’s even a guide book published for the diet called Your Guide to Lowering Your Blood Pressure with DASH. The guide lists foods, their nutrition information, and healthy alternatives. The guide also details the DASH diet meals and their nutrition information. The manual even has a list of resources to help maintain the diet, and how to obtain these resources. It’s one of the most complete guides that explains a diet plan.

A great resource for the DASH diet is Yahoo’s information page. The information page links to a lot of information including videos, testimonials, and detailed explanations.

Processed foods contain ¾ of the sodium found in the average diet, so the DASH diet discourages them. Because sodium causes hypertension, cutting it from the diet will reduce the risks.

The DASH diet is not another fad diet. It is endorsed by health organizations and experts around the world. It’s for anyone fighting high blood pressure or who want to eat a healthy diet in general. Why wait for high blood pressure to start eating right, avoid it now see using the DASH diet.

Steve

MAIKEL WOOD asked:


High blood pressure or Hypertension is a malady many people suffer from. The optimum level of blood pressure is 120/80 mm Hg and blood pressure even slightly over this level is considered as a sign of unhealthy state. Higher your blood pressure above normal, the greater is the risk to your health.

It is known that diet does influence conditions of hypertension and certain diet plans can help in lowering the elevated blood pressure. This dietary approach to controlling hypertension is called “DASH”, short for “Dietary Approaches to Stop Hypertension”.

Is It Really Effective

Studies, supported by NHLBI (National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute), were conducted to evaluate effects of nutrients, as they occur together in food, on blood pressure. This study was the basis for DASH. The study showed that a diet which was low in saturated fat, total fat, and cholesterol and rich in low-fat dairy products, vegetables and fruits dramatically reduced the elevated blood pressures. Incidentally this diet is rich in potassium, magnesium, and calcium, as well as fiber and protein.

In the clinical tests, the DASH diet, which is rich in vegetables, fruits and low-fat dairy foods but low in amounts of saturated fat, total fat, and cholesterol, brought down systolic blood pressure on an average by about 6 mm Hg and the diastolic blood pressure by about 3 mm Hg. In case of patients with high blood pressure the diet worked even better –11 mm Hg drop in the systolic and about 6 mm Hg in the diastolic. Significantly these reductions came about within 2 weeks of starting the DASH diet!

What Is Permittd In DASH

The DASH diet plan is rich in many nutrients. It is beneficial not only in condition of high blood pressure but for general good health also. If you follow the recommended 2000 calories a day diet plan, your body will be getting 500 mg of magnesium, 1240 mg of calcium and 4700 mg of potassium; these amounts are 200% to 300% of what most Americans get in their normal diet.

Relation between high blood pressure and being overweight has been known for long. It is quite natural, therefore, to find that the diet suggested for reducing blood pressure has shades of a diet normally associated with natural cure for weight loss. Many components of the DASH diet plan such as low saturated fat, total fat and use of a large amount of low-fat dairy products, vegetables and fruits which include fiber and proteins are similar to a natural weight loss diet plan.

The DASH plan gives detailed diet plans corresponding to different levels of calorie intake intended. It is quite easy to adapt the DASH plan for weight loss or fast weight loss by selecting the suggested DASH diet for calorie intake which is less than what one is already taking.

Please note, however, that if you are taking medication for high blood pressure condition, do not stop the therapeutic treatment you are receiving when you start on DASH diet plan; consult your physician about the drug treatment.



Sorrel

Paul J Johnson asked:


Just as CoQ10 appears to be beneficial in reducing blood pressure levels, nitrates, another alternative natural remedy, also appear to have a positive affect on reducing hypertension.

What are nitrates? Nitrate is a salt of nitric acid, and is an essential plant nutrient found in soil that is taken in by plants and used as their primary nitrogen source. Thus, nitrate is a natural part of all vegetables, fruits and cereals. Nitrate should not be confused with nitrite - a chemical substance within the body created by the digestion of foods containing nitrite (fish, mean and poultry preservatives) or nitrate.

How can nitrates help with hypertension? New studies have found that nitrates, nutrients found in leafy green vegetables such as lettuce and spinach, may actually help control blood pressure by maintaining the health of blood vessels. This may not come as a surprise to some people, especially considering the fact that past studies have discovered that the DASH (Dietary Approaches to Stop Hypertension) diet, a diet rich in vegetables and fruits, can lower blood pressure.

However, although the DASH diet has had a positive effect on those with hypertension, researchers are not sure what exact nutrients within vegetables and fruits are responsible for lowering blood pressure. For this reason, new studies that focus on nitrate have been conducted to determine if nitrate is one of the main reasons for the drop in hypertension.

One short-term study involving 17, non-smoking and healthy young adults, observed the effects a nitrate supplement had on the participants. Each person was given a daily dose of nitrate supplement that equalled the amount found in 150-250 grams of vegetables rich in nitrate (IE. lettuce, spinach, beetroot, etc.). They were to take the supplement for three days, and then take a daily placebo during three different days.

The results of the study concluded that although the nitrate supplement did not reduce systolic blood pressure (the higher number of a blood pressure reading), it lowered diastolic blood pressure by an average reduction of 3.7 mm Hg. The researchers that conducted the study found that the benefits of the nitrate supplement were similar to those found in the DASH studies that were also tested on healthy individuals.

Nevertheless, despite the findings, it is clear that more research needs to be done in order to find out just how effective nitrate supplements are in lowering blood pressure.

That being said, you don’t need to wait for research to prove the affects nitrate has on lowering blood pressure, when it is common knowledge that fruits and vegetables are an essential part of a healthy diet and are required to maintain a strong and healthy immune system. Therefore, there is no harm in adding more nitrate-rich foods to your diet and cutting back on fatty fried foods.

The following is a list of foods high in nitrates. You may find that you’ve already made many of these foods an active part of your lifestyle:

- Lettuce

- Spinach

- Cabbage

- Beets

- Radishes

- Carrots

Nitrate can also be found in the air, water and is also a preservative found in foods including cheese, processed meats, and fish, as well as in spirits and liqueurs.



Annie Banany