If you suffer from high blood pressure, your diet plays an important role. The DASH diet for hypertension was created specifically designed to lower blood pressure levels. Read on to find out what the DASH diet includes and how effective it can be.

What you need to know:

Basics of the DASH Diet
Dash diet tips
Dash diet food list
How does the DASH diet benefit people with hypertension?

Basics of the DASH Diet

The DASH diet for hypertension, which stands for Dietary Approaches to Stop Hypertension, is a diet plan that helps to lower or reduce your blood pressure by including more fruits and vegetables, whole grains, and lean meats while reducing salt, processed sugar, fats, and red meat from your diet. The DASH diet limits sodium consumption to 2300 milligrams or 3/4 teaspoons of salt daily. This lowers your sodium level and, in turn, lowers your blood pressure.

Dash diet tips

There are some Dash diets for hypertension tips you can integrate into your life:

Consider adding veggies for your lunch and dinner.
Add fruit to your meals and snacks.
Don’t overuse butter, which can lead to a high-fat diet.
Drink skimmed milk or low-fat dairy products.
Don’t overeat red meat. Limit your portions.
Add dry beans to your diet.
Eat nuts, yogurt, plain popcorn, raw veggies, and pretzels.
Consider using non-sticky cooking gears. They can help you manage oil or butter while cooking veggies and meat.

Dash diet food list

If you are following a DASH diet for hypertension, the goal is to reduce the sodium intake in your diet. This diet includes specific foods from different groups and the servings you should include in your meals. Here’s what a 2,000-calorie DASH diet food list should include:

Grains

This generally includes whole-wheat or whole-grain bread. You can also have half a cup of whole-grain breakfast cereal, oatmeal, brown rice, or whole-wheat pasta (or any whole-grain).

How much to eat: 6-8 servings per day.

Vegetables

All types of vegetables are allowed in this diet, including 1 cup of leafy green vegetables like methi or Amarnath or half a cup of vegetables like carrots, tomatoes, and broccoli, both raw or cooked.

How much to eat: 4-5 servings per day.

Fruits

The DASH diet relies mainly on fruits and vegetables. So, you can include fruits available around the year, like apples and pears, and even seasonal fruits like mangoes and berries.

How much to eat: 4-5 servings per day.

Nuts, seeds, and legumes

This broad category includes nuts like almonds, peanuts, hazelnuts, or walnuts. Oilseeds like flaxseeds or sunflower seeds can be a good snacking option too. You can also consume pulses, legumes, and beans like kidney beans (rajma) or lentils (dals).

How much to eat: 4-5 servings per day.

Dairy products

You should choose low-fat options if you are including dairy products in your diet. You can have skimmed milk, low-fat yogurt, or low-fat cheese.

How much to eat: 1-2 servings per day.

Fats and oils

While following this diet, you should include more vegetable oils. You can use margarine instead of butter, sunflower, olive, or canola oil. You should also try to cut coconut and palm oil from your diet.

How much to eat: 2-3 servings per day

Condiments and seasonings

Consider choosing several condiments and seasonings like spreads, herbs, vinegar, and salsas that can spice up your meals without the sodium overcharge. Consider going for meals low in sodium.

How much to eat: along with dinner, lunch and breakfast.

You can also include sugary desserts or sweets with processed sugar as part of this diet, but it should be in small servings and less than thrice a week.

How does the DASH diet benefit people with hypertension?

Here is how you can benefit from the DASH diet, especially if you have hypertension.

Reduces high blood pressure levels: A DASH diet can help you greatly decrease high blood pressure levels. Just 2 weeks of following this diet can help you lower your systolic blood pressure by fourteen points.
Improves bone strength: DASH diet contains all the essential nutrients required to strengthen your bones and reduce the risk of osteoporosis. This is especially true because of the increased calcium intake from dairy products and veggies.
Reduces bad cholesterol levels and risk of metabolic diseases: A balanced DASH diet can help reduce the risk of metabolic disorders such as diabetes, cerebrovascular and cardiovascular diseases. A balanced diet leads to low sugar consumption, which lowers bad cholesterol levels and blood pressure.
Reduces the risk of gout: Helps reduce uric acid levels, which can help people suffering from hyperuricemia.

Does the DASH diet help everyone?

It is advisable to control your salt intake to reduce the risk of blood pressure or hypertension. So, while this diet is designed specially for individuals with high blood pressure levels, anyone can partake in this diet to keep their blood pressure levels in check.

Healthy DASH cooking techniques

Here are some of the healthy DASH food cooking techniques that you can use to eat safe and healthy meals:

Spice it up

Add various flavors without using excess salt or fat. Try onions, spices, vinegar, peppers, gingers and garlic powder to add that zing to your meal.

Use healthy cooking techniques

Unhealthy cooking habits can sabotage your efforts to stick to the DASH diet. Rinse canned food products to get rid of excess sodium.

Create lower-fat alternatives

Use fat-free milk alternatives and prepare light stews. Add veggies, brown rice, tofu, or try whole-wheat recipes.

Follow a DASH Diet food list to reap incredible health benefits. Continue eating healthily to live healthily.

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