Thursday, February 5, 2009

Dash Diet Facts - Fad Diet Or Real Deal

By Cathy Maree

You may not have heard of the DASH diet, produced by the National Heart, Lung and Blood Institute to help control hypertension. DASH is an abbreviation for Dietary Approach to Stop Hypertension. In general the Dash diet meal plans limit sodium intake and encourages people to eat nuts, whole grains, fish, poultry, as well as the inclusion of fruits and vegetables. It discourages eating red meat, sweets, and sugar. Read on for more facts about the DASH diet.

The DASH diet resulted from a series of studies that researched dietary plans and their outcomes. The diet not only describes healthy foods, it lists tasty alternatives for junk foods. Coming up with decent junk food alternatives helps people bond to the diet for many months. The diet also discourages eating processed foods.

The DASH diet comes complete with a published guide book. This guide shows the nutrition facts of many foods and shows their beneficial alternatives. It also explains in details the meal plans of the DASH diet along with dietary information for those plans. The complete guide also details resources such as organizations that can help individuals start and maintain the diet.

Yahoo maintains a complete page devoted to the DASH diet. The information page links to a lot of information including videos, testimonials, and in depth explanations.

One reason the DASH diet discourages the eating of processed foods is that they hold 75% of the sodium in our daily dietary needs. And as we know now, sodium causes hypertension, removing it from the diet will limit the dangers.

A lot of individuals think the DASH diet is a fad diet, but it isn't. It was created after painstaking research, and many health guru's have belief in it. Not only is it a fantastic diet for people who have high blood pressure, but it's a great diet for anybody who has the desire to eat healthy and stay healthy. If you jump on the DASH diet program today you will most likely never have to deal with hypertension or high blood pressure issues. - 16004

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