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The DASH Diet | ©2000 by Jerry Sobieraj, MD |
The DASH (Dietary Approach to Stop Hypertension) diet focuses on increasing the consumption of fruits and vegetables in the diet. It also encourages limiting meat, poultry and seafood in the diet. Thus, it is important for people to learn how to make meals that are not based on having a meat dish. The final element of DASH is low fat dairy products. This is an important finding, as one of the groups studied in DASH who limited dairy had only a modest decrease in their blood pressure.
The DASH diet was specifically designed to aid in the lowering of blood pressure. Prior to DASH, the only notable dietary focus was to lower sodium (table salt) in the diet. Unfortunately, only one third of people with high blood pressure show a lowering of their pressure when salt is restricted in their diet.
The investigators in the DASH study used a different approach. They carefully controlled the diet of many people with high blood pressure while permitting others to maintain their conventional diet. After 8 weeks, people adhering to the DASH diet lowered their blood pressureby 5-8 points. This effect is equivalent to what we often see when a person takes a single medication to control their blood pressure. (Published in April 17, 1997 New England Journal of Medicine). In fact, a follow up study showed that the DASH diet in conjunction with a very low salt diet was more effective than either alone (DASH Follow Up Study).
It is important to understand how we use "food groups" when planning your DASH diet. Food groups are a way of lumping foods of similar nutritional value together. Some of the terms we use to describe specific food groups will be familiar to you: dairy, fruits, vegetables, starches/legumes, etc.
When implementing the DASH diet, you will need to eat certain amounts from each food group. Some days you will be able to meet the goals for each food group, while other days, you may not do as well. It is also important to note that some food groups are eaten only oncea week.
The following is a summary of the food groups. Each food group has the number of servings required each day listed, with exceptions as noted:
| Food Group | Servings |
| Fruits and juices | 5 |
| Vegetables | 4 |
| Regular fat Dairy | 1 |
| Low-fat Dairy | 2 |
| Grains & Legumes | 7-8 |
| Nuts & Seeds | 1 |
| Fat, Oils and Salad Dressing | 2-3 |
| Beef, Pork and Ham | 4 per week |
| Poultry | 4 per week |
| Fish | 4 per week |
| Snacks and "Sweets" | 4 per week |
| Five Fruit Servings daily | One Fruit Serving: 6 oz. of Fruit Juice a small apple, orange or pear 1/4 of a melon 1/2 cup of berries 1/2 of a banana |
| Four Vegetable Servings daily | One Vegetable Serving: 1/2 cup of cooked vegetables 1 cup of raw vegetables 2 cups of lettuce, cucumbers, spinach |
| 2 Low Fat dairy servings daily | A Low-Fat Dairy Serving: 8 oz of fat free yogurt 1 cup of skim or 1% milk |
| One Regular dairy serving daily | A Regular Dairy Serving: 8 oz of regular yogurt 1 cup of 2% or whole milk |
| 7-8 Grain & Legume Servings daily | A Grain/Starch Serving: one slice of bread 1/2 pita (pocket) bread 1/3 a bagel 4-6 crackers (depends on size) 1/2 cup of cooked pasta or rice 3/4 cup of dry cereal one small potato A Legume Serving: 1/3 cup of cooked kidney beans, black beans, lentils or peas |
| 2 Fat servings daily | A Fat Serving: 2 teaspoons of butter or margarine 2 teaspoons of oil 1-2 tablespoons of salad dressing |
| One Serving of nuts & seeds: | A serving of nuts or seed: 1 oz of nuts or seeds |
| ONCE A WEEK FOODS | 4 ounces of beef or pork or ham 4 ounces of chicken or turkey 4 ounces of fish, scallops, shrimp or lobster |
| A small snack every other day is permissible | an average size cookie a small piece of cake or pie 1/2 a candy bar 4-6 oz. of frozen yogurt |
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