Dash into the DASH Diet to Solve Hypertension

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.

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]

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...

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...

Obesity Surgery Can Lead To Memory Loss, Other Problems
Weight loss surgery, such as gastric bypass surgery, can lead to a vitamin deficiency that can cause memory loss and confusion, inability to coordinate movement, and other problems, according to a study published in the March 13, 2007, issue of Neurology®, the scientific journal of the American Academy of Neurology. The syndrome, called Wernicke encephalopathy, affects the brain and nervous system when the body doesn't get enough vitamin B1, or thiamine. [click link for full article]

The Answer To Childhood Obesity: 15 Minutes Of Football?
ALSPAC The Avon Longitudinal Study of Parents and Children (also known as Children of the 90s) is a unique ongoing research project based in the University of Bristol. It enrolled 14,000 mothers during pregnancy in 1991-2 and has followed most of the children and parents in minute detail ever since. [click link for full article]

Obesity Drives US Surgical Procedure Volumes Higher
Millennium Research Group (MRG) has conducted a detailed analysis of surgical procedures in its US Surgical Procedure Volumes 2007 report. The report finds that over 11 million Americans are considered morbidly obese, and by 2011, over 13 million will be- driving the volume of surgical procedures in the US throughout the next five years. [click link for full article]

Potential Link Between Obesity And Environmental Chemicals
A team of researchers at the University of New Hampshire is investigating whether the increasing ubiquity of chemical flame retardants found in foam furniture, carpeting, microwaves and computers might be related to the climbing rate of obesity in the United States. [click link for full article]

Research In Childhood Obesity In Children Highlights Physical Activity Levels
A British study, involving 5,500 children and published in the latest issue of PLoS Medicine, used accurate methods to measure the 'fat mass' of the children and the amount of physical activity they were taking. The researchers, based at the University of Bristol, concluded that low levels of activity, particularly moderate and vigorous activity, play an important role in the development of obesity. [click link for full article]