Hypertension, or high blood pressure, affects nearly 50% of the world’s population, including around 60% of people over age 60. Hypertension increases people’s risk of serious medical conditions like heart disease, stroke, and kidney failure. Since scientists have traced links between hypertension and the diets people eat, they’ve developed diets like the DASH diet to help people reduce their risk of high blood pressure and its associated complications. If you’re looking to lower your blood pressure, you should check out what the DASH diet has to offer.
What The DASH Diet Is
Short for Dietary Approaches to Stop Hypertension, the DASH diet is a balanced eating plan focusing on healthy eating, blood pressure reduction, and overall heart health. Developed by researchers after noticing that vegans, vegetarians, and other people who eat plant-based diets are less likely to develop high blood pressure, the diet focuses on eating more foods rich in calcium, potassium, and magnesium while cutting down on foods that are high in sodium, saturated fat, and sugar.
The main foods you could and would eat when on this diet are fruits, vegetables, and whole grains along with chicken, fish, beans, nuts, and low-fat or fat-free dairy products. While on the diet, you would also cut down on red meat, salt, full-fat dairy products, and any foods with added sugars.
The DASH Diet By The Numbers
The standard version of this diet limits your salt intake to 1 teaspoon or 2,300 milligrams (mg) a day; lower-sodium versions aim to cut salt intake down to 3/4 of a teaspoon of 1,500 mg. Based on your health needs or the recommendations of your healthcare provider, you can adjust your sodium intake anywhere in-between these two amounts. Ways to lower your daily salt intake include buying low-salt or no-salt-added foods, choosing plain vegetables and lean skinless chicken and fish, ordering dishes with less salt at restaurants, and avoiding highly processed foods.
Rather than mentioning specific foods you should eat, this diet has recommended daily servings of different food groups. Based on a 2,000-calorie daily diet, you should have 6 to 8 servings of whole grains and 4 to 5 servings each of vegetables and fruits. Also aim for 6 or fewer servings of lean chicken, meat, or fish; 4 to 5 servings of nuts, seeds, and legumes; 2 to 3 servings of fats and oils; and 2 to 3 servings of low-fat dairy products a day. Avoid having more than 2 servings of red meat or 5 servings of candy or soda a week. Men shouldn’t have more than 2 and women more than 1 alcoholic drink a day.
Adopting The DASH Diet
When changing from your current diet to the DASH diet, incorporate foods that are high in potassium, magnesium, calcium, protein, and fiber and low in saturated fats and sugars. Also boost the amounts of fruits, vegetables, and whole grains you eat; choose lean fish and chicken and low-fat or fat-free dairy products; and cook with vegetable oil instead of other kinds. One of the benefits of this diet is that it doesn’t require you to buy any potentially hard-to-find or overly expensive special foods and drinks, since all the foods and drinks that make up the diet can be found in most grocery stores and restaurants.
The diet offers a broad range of options for the foods you can eat to meet your daily nutrient and calorie requirements. One serving of whole grains could be a slice of whole-grain bread or 1/2 cup of cooked rice; one serving of vegetables could be a 1/2 cup of leafy spinach or kale or 1/2 cup of sliced broccoli or carrots; one serving of fruit could include a medium apple or 1/2 cup of peaches. 1 egg or 1 ounce of cooked chicken or fish could provide one full serving, as could 1 cup of low-fat milk, 1/3 cup of nuts, and 1 teaspoon of vegetable oil.
The Benefits Of The DASH Diet
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Besides lowering your blood pressure levels, the DASH diet offers many other potential benefits. Versions of the diet that contain at least 126 grams of lean protein (found in lean chicken, fish, and beans) have been proven to reduce body fat in adults over 65 with obesity. Likewise, numerous studies have linked eating a DASH diet with lower risks of diabetes, heart disease, kidney disease, metabolic syndrome, and endometrial (uterine), hepatic (liver), breast, and lung cancer. While medical intervention is still necessary for managing these types of conditions, low sodium, mostly plant-based diets like the DASH diet have shown positive results in boosting your overall health and enabling you to live a longer life.
Final Thoughts
Hypertension is a very common condition that impacts the lives of billions of people around the world. High blood pressure can result in many severe medical conditions like heart disease and kidney failure, so keeping your blood pressure low is an important part of leading a healthy life. Designed to cut out foods high in sodium and saturated fats in favor of those high in essential nutrients like calcium, potassium, and protein, the DASH diet can help reduce hypertension, lower weight, and promote a healthier existence for people who adhere to it. If you’re looking to keep your heart and body weight healthy, switching to the DASH diet might be a worthwhile life decision.
Disclaimer: This article is intended simply to provide information. It does not replace the medical advice of a physician. Please speak with your doctor if you have any questions or concerns.
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