You might have read about the DASH diet and wondered if it’s just another quick weight loss scheme. Far from it. It’s actually a very healthy approach to eating that was developed by the US National Institutes of Health to help people control their high blood pressure and cholesterol. DASH is an abbreviation for Dietary Approaches to Stop Hypertension. The diet encourages the consumption of lots of unprocessed, nutrient packed foods such as whole grains, fruits and vegetables, lean white meats and fish, while avoiding sugar, sodium and red meat. In fact, this plan is actually one of the most healthy weight loss programs you can find today.
The diet also advises against eating too many processed foods. Once people learn to give up these overly processed products they often find that food has a much better flavor. Processed foods contain three quarters of the sodium found in the average diet. This is why the DASH diet discourages them. Sodium is the leading cause of high blood pressure. Reducing your sodium intake by eliminating processed foods from your diet is a big step towards controlling your blood pressure and living a healthier, longer life.
It’s not just people with high blood pressure who can benefit from the DASH diet. In addition, it places an emphasis on lifestyle makeover instead of restrictive eating that will help you towards your goal of achieving a healthy body weight. The DASH program was the result of a large group of studies that examined many popular eating plans and their typical outcomes.
This lifestyle program not only tells people what foods are good for them, it also advises them as to how to choose healthy, satisfying foods as a replacement for nutrient poor fast food. This component of the program is perhaps the most important, because when people change their eating habits, they start to long for their old low nutrient favorites. By substituting a healthier food that satisfies the body, people are less likely to cheat. This makes it more likely they’ll stick to the diet over the long haul.
There’s also a book of guidelines that has been published for the diet called Your Guide to Lowering Your Blood Pressure with DASH. This guide shows the nutritional information for many foods and gives suggestions for healthy alternatives for the less nutritious ones. The guide also provides meal ideas that meet the DASH guidelines, along with a nutritional analysis. It also features a useful resource section which includes the names of organizations that can help people get started with the plan, and provide support to maintain it.
As you can see, the DASH diet isn’t the latest rapid weight loss diet to make the rounds. The results of much research has contributed to these dietary recommendations. This program comes highly recommended by many leading experts in the area of nutrition and health. For people with hypertension problems, this program is one of the most recommended ways to manage the problem apart from medication. It’s also ideal for people who are looking for a healthier approach to eating or practical, nutritional weight loss advice.
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