DASH Diet Plan

The DASH Diet Plan is a diet based around utilizing fruits, vegetables and low fat or no fat dairy products to help improve your overall body health. Specifically, the DASH diet is designed to reduce blood pressure, specifically in those suffering from serious blood pressure problems that have been diagnosed as having hypertension and prehypertension. Hence the name- Dietary Approaches to Stop Hypertension, or DASH. Most dietary plans based on reducing blood pressure involve limiting the daily intake of sodium. Besides that, many plans don't offer much guidance. The DASH diet plan however takes a complete approach at lowering blood pressure that will also pay dividends in other areas of your health. It can be used for anybody, no matter your age, body type, gender or any other preexisting factors or conditions.

People that follow the plan, report easily losing a significant amount of weight and feeling more energetic and being able to fight off a slew of other health problems and diseases. This is why the plan is recommended by many organizations, including the American Heart Association and the National Heart, Lung and Blood Institute. Following a 2,000 calorie dietary intake, the following components make up the DASH diet. Of course, these figures would be adjusted up or down depending on your caloric intake needs. The largest component of the plan is grains, with 7-8 servings. Within that group you should eat a minimum of 3 servings of whole grains, which provide more nutritious value and less empty calories than other grains.

Following grains you have fruits and vegetables, with 4-5 servings a piece. Eating 8-10 servings of fruits and vegetables is a challenge for many people, considering the average American eats 3 or 4 throughout the day. The DASH diet book does a great job at showing you ways of incorporating these servings into your meals and snacks.

After fruits and vegetables, you have 2-3 servings a day of no-fat or low-fat dairy products. This is extremely important to the program and some people might gloss it over. After your dairy you have 2 or less servings of lean meats. This means chicken, fish and the occasional foray into another lean meat. The diet rounds out with 4-5 servings per week of nuts and legumes, and an extremely limited quantity of sweets.

The book provides a month's worth of meal plans, and shows you how to make adjustments if you need to eat fewer calories or more calories depending on body size, gender, age and goals. Another area the book covers, is how to survive and eat as healthy as possible when eating out at restaurants. This factor is especially important, as so much of today's restaurant food is absolutely terrible for you.

Overall, the DASH diet plan is a successful program that is going to be able to improve your health across the board. While designed specifically to combat hypertension, following the program can help you lose weight, prevent heart disease and live a healthier, happier life.