It is quite possible to get rid of hypertension, for this it is only necessary to change the diet. The developed Dash diet allows you to normalize pressure and weight.
Benefits of changing your diet
Contrary to popular belief, there are diets that contribute not only to weight loss, but also to the overall healing of the body. One of the most well-known therapeutic nutritional methods is DASH (a dietetic approach aimed at preventing hypertension).
But not only people suffering from pressure surges can use the developed menu, but also those who just want to lose weight and improve their health. After all, as a rule, the treatment of hypertension begins just with a change in the principles of nutrition. The disease in most cases is directly related to overweight, excessive cholesterol and salt.
A proper balanced diet can be called a Dash diet. Its menu includes all the substances that are necessary for the full functioning of the body. It is also important to understand that this is not just a diet, but a lifestyle that is advisable to adhere to on an ongoing basis.
Basic principles
America’s leading cardiologists have developed a special diet for hypertension. Its menu contains a large amount of plant fiber. But it is so useful for the heart and blood vessels. But foods that can increase blood pressure and cholesterol are excluded from nutrition.
The indicated diet is high in calories, which can frighten overweight people. If you want to lose weight, then you need to consume daily not 2000 kcal, as the developers recommend, but 1600.
Also, in addition to changing the diet, it is advisable to reconsider the lifestyle. To increase the effectiveness of the diet, you can do fitness, start running. If the load is contraindicated for health reasons, then you should get used to regular walking.
Recommendations for hypertension
If you decide to start the fight against high blood pressure, then the Dash diet will help you. The weekly menu includes not only vegetables, fruits, but also legumes, fish, meat, cereals, nuts, sour-milk products and milk.
It is important for hypertensive patients to pay attention to the fact that it is necessary to abandon soy sauce, various salty seasonings and additives, which include sodium glutamate. Instead, you can use spices, herbs, various spices, lemon or a small amount of wine. If you reduce the amount of salt, then the pressure normalizes faster. In addition, the kidneys and heart begin to work more efficiently. You can reduce the risk of various negative manifestations of hypertension by consuming fish oil in capsules or sea fish.
Also, diet developers recommend less processing products, abandon conservation.
Start of change
Before deciding on fundamental changes, you need to understand what a Dash diet is. Its menu is quite diverse. But its main feature is that you need to eat regularly. Even 5 servings of sweets are allowed per week. Each of them corresponds to 1 cup of sparkling water, 15 g of chewing sweets, 1 tbsp. l jam, jelly or sugar.
Change your diet in one day is almost impossible. Therefore, specialists have developed special recommendations to get used to the regime. You need to start with the fact that you need to remove ½ from the usual daily amount of oil, margarine or salad dressing. It is also important to gradually start introducing plant foods into the diet. For example, if you eat 1-2 vegetables a day, then for lunch or breakfast you need to add one more portion. The same thing needs to be done with fruits. Gradually, their number must be brought to the necessary.
You also need to monitor the amount of dairy products. For example, sweet tea for lunch is better to replace with a cup of milk. In addition, it is necessary to reduce the amount of alcohol consumed. On the day, men are allowed to drink up to 60 ml of vodka or 240 ml of wine, for women, the portion is reduced by 2 times.
It is important to limit the consumption of meat products. They should be no more than 200 g per day. If you eat a lot more meat, then reduce the portion gradually. You need to create your diet so that the menu is dominated by vegetarian products.
Gradually try to increase portions of rice, vegetables, and legumes. Do not exclude sweet snacks, various desserts. Dash diet provides what they should be. As a snack, you can use low-fat products, various fruits, including those that were canned in their own juice, nuts, raisins, unsalted popcorn.
Vegetable portions
The main principle of the diet is that every day a certain amount of certain foods must be present in the diet. The developers found that it is optimal to eat 5 servings of vegetable crops daily, which are necessarily included in the Dash menu. Each of them corresponds to one of the following items:
- 3 inflorescences of broccoli;
- green onions (10 feathers);
- a cup of leafy vegetables of green color (lettuce, spinach);
- 1/3 of the average cucumber;
- 13 radishes;
- 8 young carrots;
- 6 slices of squash;
- 1 ordinary tomato (or 3 small);
- half a cup of salad of boiled potatoes and shredded white cabbage;
- 1 bell pepper;
- 1 corn;
- 2 small beets;
- ¾ glasses of vegetable juice;
- 1 artichoke;
- 4 things. Brussels sprouts;
- 6 shoots of asparagus;
- 7 mushrooms;
- 1 average in size turnips;
- ½ cup boiled beans;
- 10 whetstones of deep-fried french fries;
- a quarter cup of tomato dressing or pasta;
- 1 baked potato;
- 1 onion;
- 1 cup of vegetable or bean broth.
But not only vegetables are the basis of the diet.
Fruits
Other plant products are equally important. Proper diet without fail includes fruits. 5 servings of these foods should be consumed daily. Each of them may consist of:
- one fruit (apple, banana, pear, peach, orange);
- pieces of melon;
- ½ grapefruit;
- ¾ cup fruit juice;
- 7 strawberries;
- 0.5 cups of frozen fruit;
- 12 grapes;
- 11 cherries;
- half a glass of any chopped fruit (they can be fresh or canned);
- 1.5 medium plums;
- a quarter cup of dried fruit;
- 2 apricots;
- halves of mangoes;
- 1/8 avocado;
- 1/4 papaya;
- 1 kiwi;
- 9 pcs. dried apricots;
- 5 pieces. raisins.
Do not forget that 5 such servings will need to be eaten daily. You can choose what you want, yourself.
Cereal products
Dash diet is primarily intended to improve health. Therefore, nutrition should be balanced and complete. And this is impossible if we abandon crops and bread. Every day you need to consume 7 servings of these products. Each of them may include:
- bagel 6 cm long;
- 1 piece of bread;
- 1 bun or small cake (weighing up to 30 g);
- 3 large or 6 small crackers;
- 3 bread rolls;
- 30 g cereal flakes;
- 9 pcs. biscuit cookies;
- half a cup of pasta, rice, cereal;
- 2 bread sticks ;
- 2 cups of popcorn.
The right combination of products is the foundation that therapeutic diets use. First of all, medical diets should be aimed not at losing weight, but at improving health. And this can only be achieved if all the necessary trace elements, vitamins and
nutrients enter the body in sufficient quantities
.Protein Products
Dash is not a vegetarian diet, as some might think. Although certain limitations are still present in it. Nevertheless, 2 servings of protein products are required daily. These include meat, fish, chicken, eggs, seeds, nuts, beans, crab meat, shrimp.
So one serving of protein products may consist of:
- beef or pork low-fat boiled meat (in the amount of 55-85 g);
- boiled chicken without skin (55-85 g);
- boiled fish (55-85 g);
- 1 egg or 2 proteins;
- one third of a cup of peanuts or walnuts;
- 30 g of lean ham;
- ¼ cup of sunflower seeds or pumpkin;
- 1.5 sausages;
- 6 shrimp;
- half a cup of soy cheese;
- 4 Pacific or 11 Atlantic oysters;
- a quarter cup of canned salmon;
- 1/3 cup of crab meat;
- canned fish (55-85 g);
- ½ cup baked beans.
Dairy
Inclusion in the diet of fruits, vegetables, meat and cereals will not replace integrated nutrition. It is also important to consume 3 servings of dairy products daily. It can be yogurt, cottage cheese, cheese. Each serving consists of:
- 1 cup of milk, kefir, acidophilus, yogurt or another drinkable fermented milk product;
- 55 g of processed cheese;
- cups of pressed cottage cheese;
- half a cup of condensed milk;
- half a glass of non-fat dry milk;
- 50 g of hard cheese;
- 1.5 cups of frozen milk.
Possible menu options
Even knowing how many foods can be consumed daily, many find it difficult to compose a diet. A developed diet for hypertension for a week can help.
The menu may be as follows. For breakfast, you can eat a cup of rice (or any other cereal crop) with honey, 40 g of cheese, a slice of butter. After 2-3 hours, a second breakfast should follow. It can consist of 1 fruit (of your choice) and a serving of nuts.
Lunch should be nutritious. For a third meal, a cup of soup is suitable. It is desirable that the vegetable broth be the basis for it, and you can fill it with vegetable oil. You can supplement the soup with a slice of bread and boiled chicken (or meat). On the second, cook porridge (for example, buckwheat), make a salad. For an afternoon snack, the ideal option would be fruit (kiwi, orange, apple, cherries, grapes). Do not forget about dinner. It may include fermented milk products. You can not just eat yogurt, but make, for example, a cottage cheese casserole. You can supplement it with a glass of juice.
This is just an approximate nutritional option for those who like the Dash diet. The menu for the week should be varied. It is desirable that it includes the maximum possible number of products from the list. For example, when planning a diet, alternate meat, fish, and legumes. This will make it possible to get the maximum benefit from nutrition. But, besides this, such a variety ensures that you will not get bored or bored with the new regime.
Reviews
Speaking about whether the correct diet is effective, one must understand that it must be adhered to at least six months. Although the first results are noticeable, judging by the reviews, after a few weeks. With a change in nutrition, people begin to feel better, sharp pressure surges disappear, and cholesterol levels normalize.
If you want to smoothly lose weight and fix it, then the Dash diet will come to your aid too. Reviews indicate that it helps to lose about 3-4 kg per month. However, the weight is not returned. Of course, such a pace of weight loss is not suitable for everyone, but they are not stressful for the body. In addition, a person quickly adapts to fractional nutrition. People who have experienced the effects of the diet claim that over time it became difficult for them to eat large portions. They are used to drinking enough fluids, eating vegetables and fruits. And this only contributes to the fact that the weight does not return.
Hypertensive patients say that their well-being improves significantly if they adhere to the principles that the Dash diet recommends. The menu for the week, compiled in accordance with all the rules, helps to make the diet not only useful, but also diverse. And experts do not get tired of repeating that without changing food habits and lifestyle, it is almost impossible to fight high blood pressure.