03.07.2024.
Ready to take charge of your blood pressure without overhauling your grocery list? The DASH diet provides a clear, achievable path to heart health with everyday ingredients.
The DASH (Dietary Approaches to Stop Hypertension) eating plan is a well-researched and effective approach to help reduce high blood pressure. By incorporating heart-healthy foods and making mindful choices, the DASH diet empowers you to take control of your health and prevent hypertension.
The DASH eating plan requires no special foods and provides daily and weekly nutritional goals. This plan recommends:
- Eating vegetables, fruits, and whole grains
- Including fat-free or low-fat dairy products, fish, poultry, beans, nuts, and vegetable oils
- Limiting foods that are high in saturated fat, such as fatty meats, full-fat dairy products, and tropical oils such as coconut, palm kernel, and palm oils
- Limiting sugar-sweetened beverages and sweets
Based on these recommendations, the following table shows examples of daily and weekly servings that meet DASH eating plan targets for a 2,000-calorie-a-day diet.
| Food Group | Daily Servings |
| Grains | 6–8 |
| Meats, poultry, and fish | 6 or less |
| Vegetables | 4–5 |
| Fruit | 4–5 |
| Low-fat or fat-free dairy products | 2–3 |
| Fats and oils | 2–3 |
| Sodium | 2,300 mg* |
| Weekly Servings | |
| Nuts, seeds, dry beans, and peas | 4–5 |
| Sweets | 5 or less |
- *1,500 milligrams (mg) of sodium lowers blood pressure even further than 2,300 mg of sodium daily.
When following the DASH eating plan, it is important to choose foods that are:
- Low in saturated and trans fats
- Rich in potassium, calcium, magnesium, fibre, and protein
- Lower in sodium
Moving to heart-healthy eating may seem difficult, but it doesn’t have to be. Here are some tips to make DASH work for you.
Change gradually.
If you now eat one or two servings of vegetables a day, add a serving at lunch and another at dinner.
If you don’t eat fruit now or have juice only at breakfast, add a serving of fruit to your meals or have it as a snack.
Gradually increase your use of milk, yoghurt, and cheese to three servings a day. For example, drink milk with lunch or dinner instead of soda, sugar-sweetened tea, or alcohol.
Choose fat-free or low-fat (1 per cent) milk, yoghurt, and reduced-fat cheese to reduce your intake of saturated fat, cholesterol, and calories and increase your calcium intake.
Read the Nutrition Facts label on frozen and prepared meals, pizza, and desserts to choose those lowest in saturated fat and trans fat.
Vary your proteins.
Choose lean cuts of meat and remove skin from poultry.
Check the labels on ground meats and poultry and select those with lower saturated fat.
Serve fish instead of meat or poultry once or twice each week.
Include two or more vegetarian (meatless) meals each week.
Aim to fill ½ your plate with vegetables and fruits, ¼ whole grains, and ¼ fish, lean meat, poultry, or beans.
Add extra vegetables to casseroles, pasta, and stir-fry dishes.
Select nutritious, tasty snacks.
Fruits offer great taste and variety. Use fruits canned in their juice or packed in water. Fresh fruits are fast and easy to eat, and dried fruits are a good choice to carry or have in the car.
Try these snack ideas: unsalted rice cakes, nuts mixed with raisins, graham crackers, fat-free and low-fat yoghurt, popcorn with no salt or butter added, and raw vegetables.
Make healthy substitutions.
- For most grain servings, choose whole-grain foods, such as whole-wheat bread or whole-grain cereals, to get more nutrients, such as minerals and fibre.
- If you have trouble digesting milk and milk products, try taking lactase enzyme pills with them. You can also buy lactose-free milk.
- If you are allergic to nuts, use beans or seeds (such as sunflower, flax, or sesame seeds).
Please follow all recommendations regarding blood pressure medicine exactly as prescribed, and consult your healthcare provider before making any changes to your medication or treatment plan.
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