High blood pressure: Using the DASH diet
What can I do to incorporate DASH into my lifestyle?
You can make small changes to incorporate the DASH diet into your lifestyle. Slowly change your eating habits to fulfill the following recommendations.
- Eat 8 to 10 servings of fruits and vegetables each day. If you are not eating this many yet, keep track of the fruits and vegetables you eat. Slowly add more to your diet. Check what counts as a serving in the food guide pyramid.
- Eat 3 servings of low-fat or nonfat dairy foods such as milk, yogurt, and cheese.
- Limit the amount of saturated fat you eat. Substitute monounsaturated and polyunsaturated oils instead.
- Limit the amount of sodium in your diet by cutting down on the amount of processed foods you eat, such as snack items, luncheon meats, and canned soups.
See a sample DASH menu.
Here are some ideas for eating with DASH:
- Think about including fruits and/or vegetables in every meal. Take fruit to work or school for a snack.
- Drink nonfat milk. A glass of skim milk has only 80 calories and no fat and is packed with blood pressure–lowering nutrients. Have a "skinny" latte (caffe latte made with skim milk) as a way to add milk to your diet. If you don't drink coffee, try a skinny almond milk.
- Make a baked potato bar. Serve baked potatoes with a variety of vegetables, such as broccoli, and use other toppings, such as low-fat shredded cheese, chili, salsa, and refried beans. If you use canned or jar toppings, be sure to choose low-sodium varieties, or even better, make them yourself from fresh ingredients. Be creative. You could end up with 4 or 5 servings of vegetables at one meal.
- Use a variety of cut-up vegetables with a low-fat dip as an appetizer such as hummus, instead of high-fat chips and dips. Try some new vegetables. Make a stir-fry containing lots of different vegetables.
- Try some vegetarian meals featuring legumes (cooked dried beans and peas). Add garbanzo beans to a salad, use fat-free refried beans, and/or make split pea or black bean soup. Buy a vegetarian cookbook, and try one recipe each month or each week.
- Combine a ready-made pizza crust with low-fat mozzarella cheese and lots of vegetable toppings. Use tomatoes, zucchini, spinach, carrots, cauliflower, and onions.
- For breakfast, have whole-grain cereal, fruit, and low-fat milk.
- For a snack, have a smoothie made with low-fat milk and frozen fruit chunks.
- Make a dip for fruit from low-fat vanilla yogurt and cinnamon.
Test Your Knowledge
To start incorporating the DASH diet into my lifestyle, I should slowly add more fruits and vegetables to my diet. My goal is 8 to 10 servings each day.
Nonfat milk is an important part of the DASH diet.
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Why does adding more fruits and vegetables and low-fat dairy products to my diet help me lower my high blood pressure?
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| Author: | Robin Parks, MS | Last Updated: April 10, 2009 |
| Medical Review: | Caroline S. Rhoads, MD - Internal Medicine Robert A. Kloner, MD, PhD - Cardiology Ruth Schneider, MPH, RD - Diet and Nutrition | |
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