14 Day Dash Diet For Weight Loss: The Complete Dash Diet Recipes Plan for Beginners (2016)

Chapter 3. DASH Diet and Its Characteristics

There is no need to go on starvation and deprivation in DASH diet – it is simply a way to eat healthier so that you will experience long term health benefits. It is in fact not a diet program that includes video CD’s or anything like that. DASH diet is basically the epitome of right eating in America – this is how everyone should eat.

Plus, this diet also does not only encourage healthy eating habits, but the recipes qualified under this diet offer recommendations on healthy snacking – this helps every individual avoid processed and junk foods. The diet in its totality does not only target those experiencing high blood pressure. DASH is the total approach to living and eating healthy by lowering salt intake and increasing consumption of vitamins, minerals and essential nutrients.

To help you get a better understanding of this diet, take a quick look at its features:

DASH is Fiber-Rich

This diet promotes a high fiber intake lifestyle by promoting consumption of more servings of vegetables, fruits as well as whole-type variety of grains. By doing so, you feel full while helping your body fight high blood pressure.

In addition, consumption of more fiber has something to do with regulating blood sugar levels in the blood, which also promotes weight loss.

DASH is Minerals and Vitamin Rich

The necessary vitamins and minerals that the body needs can be found in the vegetables, fruits as well as whole grains. Basically, whole foods in general and unprocessed ones are packed with good nutrition.

Also, most fruits and vegetables come with high amounts of potassium and magnesium that aids a lot in regulating blood pressure in its normal levels.

Healthy Fats

Eating good fats is the thing in DASH diet – the goal of this diet is to diminish the consumption of bad fats as much as possible. There are mainly two types of fats: the bad ones and the good ones. Saturated fats and trans fats found in junk or processed foods as well as margarine and other fatty products are considered the bad guys.

Such sources of fats must be replaced with good fat sources like the omega 3 fatty acids from fish like salmon and tuna, seeds, nuts as well as dairy products with zero or low fat content as well as lean meat like poultry.

Reduced Salt Intake

Averagely, Americans daily allowance for sodium is at 3500 mg a day. The DASH diet is stricter when it comes to salt intake since the study proved that reducing salt intake offers significant effects to lowering hypertension and reducing body weight.

With the DASH diet, an individual is allowed to take 1500 mg to 2300 mg of salt a day. This should be followed in order to reap the wonderful benefits of this diet.

DASH Says “NO” to Sugar, Caffeine and Alcohol

If you want to become successful in adopting the DASH diet, you need to let go of sugar most of the time. So, forget about over indulging in your favorite soda drink or perhaps munching on processed sugary snacks you love to grab in the grocery store shelves. The diet is about making healthier choices that are satiating and satisfying.

Also, the diet recommends cutting back or totally eliminating caffeine and alcohol as these have less or no nourishing value and are loaded with tons of sugar that could contribute to diseases like hypertension, diabetes etc.

Calorie and Sodium Intake

There is really not much restriction when it comes to DASH diet. The principles are simple and the food choices are highly accessible. Any person going through this diet could adopt 3100 calories a day at a maximum or opt for a low of 1500 calories per day.

The same thing goes with sodium – there is an option to go for 1500 mg of salt consumption a day or choose a higher amount at 2300 mg a day. Of course, the amount of sodium and calories you will have to take each day has to depend on certain factors like the following: age, current weight, physical activity, any present conditions like hypertension etc.

Ideally, overweight individuals should opt for lower sodium and caloric intake, and the other way around for those who are within their normal weight levels. In case of hypertension, low salt diet is vital. To get the best advice, it is highly recommended to speak to a doctor or a nutritionist.