DASH Diet

We talked in length about the dangers of high blood pressure, and here is a way to manage it, at home, and to keep the rest of your body healthy as well. (It may also be necessary to manage high blood pressure with medication, although this is a conversation to be had with your doctor.)
The DASH Diet is a way of modifying what you eat so that you keep hypertension either at bay or in check. DASH actually stands for: Dietary Approaches To Stop Hypertension. Remember, hypertension is the condition of having a high blood pressure.
Sometimes hypertension, or even prehypertension, can be treated or managed through diet and exercise (lifestyle changes!) alone. Certain foods help to lower blood pressure by a few points over time, while abstaining from some foods can also drop blood pressure several points over time.
The DASH diet is merely a fancy term for a way of healthy eating, and there are other health benefits to be had in addition to blood pressure management such as the possible management or prevention of other systemic diseases like heart disease and stroke, cancer and diabetes. Here’s how the DASH diet works.
Most food we eat should be either a fruit, vegetable, legume, or whole grains (obviously, there’s wiggle room in any of these categories—looking at you, gluten free folks!) and also included are fish and nuts. Red meat should be eaten sparingly—but that’s good advice for any healthy diet.
One thing important to the DASH diet, is the deliberate moderation of sodium, which should be, at least, below 2300 mg each day, although for those who suffer from full-blown hypertension it’s recommended they reduce that daily total to 1500 mg. The average American diet is said to be up over 3500 mg a day in sodium! It’s been proven that a reduction of sodium in our diets results in a lower blood pressure.
Things to Remember!!
This is not a diet abstaining from calories, a diet where you need to consume only very little (although if you are managing your weight as well—weight loss or weight maintenance—eating routinely within the guidelines of the DASH diet will make it easier to monitor your daily calorie intake). The DASH diet just leans heavily on the things we already know are good for us, and rejects or limits those things that aren’t.
If you have any questions about the Dash Diet or Weight Loss, call Central Wellness today.