Updated on March 14, 2017


March 14, 2017
Dash Dietd
Posted by Alberto Roycor Updated on March 14, 2017

The DASH diet to control hypertension

Recently, The NHLBI (National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute) developed a diet call DASH (the acronym for Dietary Approaches to Stop Hypertension) to help controlling hypertension. This diet is composed by whole grains, fruits, vegetables, beans, low-fat dairy products; fish, lean meat and some a few nuts. The permitted sweets and sweetened beverages is very small and the salt intake – this is the most important part – is limited to 2.300 mg a day. Anyway, in certain cases, the maximum quantity of sodium permitted is 1.500 mg.

The description of the diet is rather complicated, as the NIH details the different amounts of food attending age, activity, and other circumstances of the people. We think there is an easier rule of thumb consisting of:

Try to eat homemade or specially prepared food. Ban any type of manufactured or canned product. They contain lots of salt and monosodium glutamate.

Eliminate any added amount of salt from the meals.

Eat lots of vegetables, salads, fruits, etc. Add boiled beans or chick peas to the salads.

Prepare grilled fish and meat.

Forget any soda or manufactured juices, even if they claim to be natural. The only natural juice is the one you prepare from fresh fruits.

Enjoy a very small quantity of red wine, if you want to indulge a whim.

Not being a weight loss diet, the Dash diet normally produces this effect. Hyper tense people obviously should follow this diet for life.