For many years, A Diet plan named DASH is very recurring and recommended in the United States departments as a control on the Hypertension and High Blood Pressure.
There are currently 50 million people in the United States suffering from Hypertension problems and also the ailments related to Hypertension to it and it is a very sincere problem. High Blood pressure can lead to heart attack, kidney damage, aneurysm, and damage to many organs also.
The U.S. based National Institute of Health, US Department of Agriculture, and many others had recommended the D.A.S.H Diet to American citizens due to its advantages observed related to the Hypertension patients. The AHA considered the DASH diet as “specific and well-documented among diverse groups.”
History of Dash Diet
DASH Diet which is an acronym of the Dietary Approaches to Stop Hypertension. It was originally developed as an eating style to cope with hypertension issues.
This widespread prevalence of Hypertension led the U.S. National Institutes of Health to motivate to research on the role of dietary results on blood pressure. In the year 1992, the NHLBI worked with 5 most respected medical research center on this theory. Multiple people with medical proficiency were involved in this research to test two different types of experimental diets. The first type of diet was higher in fruit and vegetables and was low in calcium, potassium, fiber. While the second one was high in fruits, vegetables, and includes low-fat dairy products, as well as lower in overall fat and saturated fat. This second diet is later on named a DASH diet.
This research proved that dietary habits can affect the Blood Pressure by respectively showing the DASH diet lower down the blood pressures by an average of 5.5 and 3.0 mm Hg. The hypertensive portion of the study both showed the largest reductions in blood pressure. Reducing the Salt/Sodium (approx usage of 3/4 teaspoon of salt) from this diet is the proposed reason why it is so beneficial for BP.
Dash Diet Plan
Following are the plan’s items usage:-
- Grains: You need to have daily 6 to 8 servings (Bread, Cereal)
- Vegetables and Fruits: Daily 4 to 5 servings of seasonal veggies and fruits in the form of Juice and raw or boiled form. Quantity should be 1 or 1/2 of both.
- Fat-Free/ Low-Fat Milk-based products: 2 to 3 serving of Milk /yogurt/ cheese.
- Nuts, Seeds, or Legumes: 4 to 5 servings every week in the form of raw nuts (quantity 1/3), 2 tablespoons of peanut butter, cooked legumes (quantity 1/2).
- Fats and Oils: 2 to 3 servings with 1-2 tablespoons usage
- Sweets and other sugar-based products: 5 or less per week with only 1 tablespoon of usage. The calorie amount should be less than 2600 in only 2 servings.
- Meat-based products: Fewer in a week Servings, 1 egg/ 1 ounce of cooked meat/fish (if you want weight loss, then exclude this).
Beside this Alcohol, caffeine items are excluded from the diet because of blood pressure rise due to them.