What is the DASH diet?. DASH stands for Dietary Approaches for Stopping Hypertension. It is a common term used by physicians all over the United States. Basically it involves a diet which consists of foods that have proven to lower high blood pressure, or hypertension. Of course, the DASH diet also calls for a minimization of foods that are well known to contribute to high blood pressure as well.
The DASH diet is not truly defined by any means, and therefore is broad in its various executions. However, the guidelines that the DASH diet gives to people with hypertension have shown to enable them to lower their blood pressure in a matter of weeks, with drastic improvements for periods over six months of DASH dieting. This drastic improvement has led to its increased and continued usage of the DASH diet by physicians across the country.
The components of the DASH diet are very simple, and are easy to follow. The major contributors to the lowering of participants blood pressure are the fruits, vegetables, legumes, seeds, and nuts. The good cholesterol, fiber, and negative calories are all good components of a well balanced and healthy diet. Olive oil is also encouraged, and has shown to contribute lower blood pressures with studies throughout the Mediterranean countries and their inhabitants which use olive oil daily.
Another healthy change that the DASH diet brings to the average American diet are the low-fat items. For instance, the DASH diet recommends low-fat dairy products and lean meats such as poultry and fish. Now, some fish contain more fats than others, so it is important for you to balance your intake between the two. Besides, the fattier fishes are actually more expensive on average! Finally, it is important for you to take in several whole grain products each day. Oatmeal for breakfast is a popular solution, as well as granola bars as between-meal snacks.
The most important step in the DASH diet is to minimize foods and items which contribute to high blood pressure. The main contributors to hypertension are inactivity, excess sodium, excess alcohol, excess body weight, and inadequate magnesium, potassium, and calcium. If you also noticed, DASH diet foods are also foods that are recommended for weight loss diets. The reason that these foods are found in the DASH diet and in weight loss diets is due to the fact that most people with hypertension are usually overweight. The most effective treatment for hypertension, disclosed by most physicians, is weight loss.
One of the closest diets that you can compare to the DASH diet is the Vegan diet. I was able to write an article recently, Make The Vegetarian Diet Work For You, which explains the benefits and uses of Vegan foods towards your health. A lot of the foods that you see recommended in the DASH diet are also foods that are a part of the Vegan diet, which would explain the fact that Vegans are very rarely diagnosed with hypertension.
Proper documentation on the DASH diet is available from your physician, as well as at several online dietary sources. I would definitely recommend researching DASH diet foods and to start planning your daily diet around them immediately. The health benefits that you will see with the lowered blood pressure is important in the short term for better health and well-being, however it is critical in the long term. The DASH diet will help to extend your life due to your cardiovascular systems inability to operate for years under a higher pressure than what it is designed for. You also will be able to access dietary tips and extensive information at my website listed below. My free membership fitness tuning site focuses on dietary as well as fitness aspects in order to contribute towards a healthy lifestyle for people of all ages and body types.
Powerful Weight Loss and Fitness Techiques Are Available at Our Membership Website FOR FREE -- Right Now at http://www.FitnessTuning.com Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=John_Christian_Sebastian |
Fruit Juice: Making Kids Fat?
Research from Australia has concluded that children who drink 2 cups of fruit juice or fruit drinks per day were more likely to be overweight or obese than those who did not. It seems that the more fruit juice consumed, the more chance of being overweight: "Children who drank more than three glasses of soft drink - three quarters...
Rochester Study Connects Common Chemicals To Rising Obesity Rates
Exposure to phthalates, a common chemical found in everything from plastics to soaps, already has been connected to reproductive problems and now, for the first time, is linked to abdominal obesity and insulin resistance in adult males, according to a study by the University of Rochester Medical Center. [click link for full article]
Splenda Buys Hundreds of Anti-Splenda Domains
The makers of Splenda have been busy. Busy enough to purchase over 211 domain names - such as SplendaKills.com, SplendaPoison.com, SplendaVictims.com. It is an elaborate and insidious ploy to prevent any negative information being written on-line....
Red Pepper: Hot Stuff For Fighting Fat?
Food scientists in Taiwan are reporting new evidence from laboratory experiments that capsaicin - the natural compound that gives red pepper that spicy hot kick - can reduce the growth of fat cells. The study is scheduled for the March 21 issue of the ACS' Journal of Agricultural and Food Chemistry, a bi-weekly publication. [click link for full article]
Corn: How Much Do You Eat?
When I think of corn - I think of a tasty cob - freshly picked at the height of summer. If only it was really like that. Corn (Zea Mays) is actually a major ingredient in a phenomenal number of processed foods (corn syrup in particular). A new feature-length documentary - King Corn - explores the whole corn industry...
Americans Still Not Eating Enough Fruits And Vegetables, According To Two Recent Studies
"Eat your vegetables" has been heard at the dinner tables of America for a long time. Has the message gotten through? Since 1990 the Dietary Guidelines for Americans has recommended consuming at least two servings of fruits and three servings of vegetables daily. However, two studies published in the April issue of the American Journal of Preventive Medicine clearly show that Americans are not meeting the mark. [click link for full article]
Obesity At The Time Of Prostate-Cancer Diagnosis Dramatically Increases The Risk Of Dying From The Disease
Obese men who are diagnosed with prostate cancer have more than two-and-a-half times the risk of dying from the disease as compared to men of normal weight at the time of diagnosis, according to a study by researchers at Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center. The findings by senior author Alan Kristal, Dr.P.H., and colleagues appear online and will be published in the March 15 print edition of the journal Cancer. [click link for full article]