Thursday, August 8, 2013

DASH diet to reduce the blood pressure level

Following DASH diet is one of the best ways recommended by health experts to reduce the blood pressure level. What is a DASH diet? This is a common question asked by many people. Generally, a DASH diet is the abbreviation given for Dietary Approaches to Stop Hypertension. This healthy diet pattern focus both on quantity and quality of foods. To get the best health advantage, it is very essential to intake the right amount of foods at the right time. In this article, we are going to see how a DASH diet can improve your body health naturally.



As per studies, following a proper DASH diet is found to be very beneficial to reduce the amount of sodium level in body. Generally, a person following DASH diet is advised to include a variety of pressure lowering food items in diet. Presence of compounds like calcium, potassium and magnesium in food sources can certainly lower the level of blood pressure in body. Apart from reducing the blood pressure level, following a proper DASH diet can prevent many health risks like cancer, heart diseases, osteoporosis and stroke. 

How a DASH diet will influence the sodium level in your body? This query is quite common among many of us. Generally, food items included in a DASH diet is deciding its health benefits. Main food sources included under this diet program are fruits, vegetables, low-fat dairy products and whole grains. According to the foods included in diet, a DASH diet can be mainly divided into two as standard diet and as lower sodium diet. In a standard diet, person is advised to include up to 2300 mg of sodium per day. Unlike a standard diet, person is advised to include up to 1500 mg of sodium per day in a lower sodium diet. Both diets are generally given to reduce the amount of sodium level in your body. 

What to eat while following a DASH diet? You can hear this question from the face of many people. As per studies, a DASH diet can include food items with low saturated fat and cholesterol level. Let's consider the case of grains first. To get the best result, person who follow DASH diet is advised to include six to eight times servings of grains per day. Common grains recommended for a person who follow a DASH diet include cereal, bread, pasta and rice. For example, a single serving of grains include 1 ounce dry cereal, 1 slice whole wheat bread and half a cup cooked cereal. Grains, naturally low in fat reduces blood pressure level and keeps the person to stay fit and healthy. 

Apart from grains, vegetables play a great role in DASH diet. To get satisfactory result, it is recommended to include four to five vegetable servings per day. Some of the best recommended vegetables in DASH diet include tomatoes, carrot, broccoli and sweet potatoes. For example, people can include half a cup of raw vegetables and one cup of green leafy vegetables in their servings. While consuming vegetables, make sure to serve it at least four times per day. At present, you can easily get fresh and frozen vegetables from super markets. Always make sure to buy food sources with low sodium level. At present, people can easily check the sodium level of a food item by checking its label. 

Fruits, another main component in DASH diet can be served four to five times per day. They are low fat compounds and contains only a little amount of sodium level. Certain fruits like coconut and avocado are high in fat level. In this case, people are recommended to serve options like grapefruit juices and other citrus fruits. 




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