Lowering Blood Pressure With The Dash Diet - LR

By Lee Reid

The National Heart, Lung and Blood Institute of the United States have always promoted the dash diet to control hypertension . The dash diet or the Dietary Approaches to Stop Hypertension is a diet that limits ones intake of sodium. The dash diet though encourages the consumption of whole grain, fruits and vegetables, fish and poultry and nuts for snacks.

The consumption of red meats and sweets are a complete taboo if you are following the dash diet accurately. Therefore the diet is rich in magnesium, calcium, fiber, magnesium and potassium, which are essentials for good health. Keeping the blood pressure below 120/80mmHg is the major aspect of dash diet.

Though the dash diet is not technically a vegetarian diet, it encourages the consumption of fruits vegetables, nuts and beans more than meats. Processed foods and junk food are not encouraged in this diet at all. For these there are healthy alternative snacks that have been suggested to fill in that empty void by satisfying that sweet tooth. "Your Guide to Lowering your Blood Pressure with Dash" which is a guideline book published by the NIH will indicate details of the diet. The guide also gives guidance on proportions and alternative foods that should be consumed when on the diet.

It is proven that the dash diet will reduce the blood pressure by 6mmHg. Ones diastolic blood pressure by 3 mm Hg is also proven to reduce in dieters with normal blood pressure. 11 to 6 of a drop in hypertension is also possible with the dash diet. Risks of strokes and hear diseases are reduced immensely with the use of dash diets. Dash diet will therefore bring you advantages out of your imagination . While doing all this, the dash diet also enables one to consume 1699 to 3100 dietary calories per day!

Because of the balance in calorie intake and the consumption the cons of dash diets are almost negligible. But because this diet is high in fiber it may cause diarrhea and bloating in some people.

To counter this though one can just increase the quantity of fruit, vegetable and whole grain consumed. It will help to gain the required amount of water in your body once you take in more fibre. Once you are able to follow on with the dash diet, your health will have a proven effect for the lifetime. - 31820

About the Author:

Sign Up for our Free Newsletter

Enter email address here