Dash Diet Meal Plans are hot commodities considering as many as 50 million people in the United States suffer from hypertension or high blood pressure. Fortunately, there are some good meal plan options that can help get you on the way to wellness.
The Dash Diet was created by the National Institute of Health based on a series of studies seeking to discover what diet lowered high blood pressure the most.
DASH stands for:
- D – Dietary
- A – Approaches to
- S – Stop
- H – Hypertension
The studies’ conclusions were that the proper diet should focus on a diet low in fat, cholesterol and sodium (preferably less than 1500mg). The preferred foods to eat were fruits, vegetables, whole grains, poultry and nuts. You should avoid red meat, sugary foods, and high fat items.
Okay, you know all that. What you really want to know is how to menu plan effectively. What are your best options?
GOVERNMENT RESOURCES
The NIH is a government agency that created the Dash Diet. As such, let’s take a look at what they have to offer for resources. It has put together a free 56 page guide to following the diet.
Within this guide is a seven day sample meal plan. This is a decent option and well worth reading to get you started on the diet.
COMMERCIAL RESOURCES
There are two great books that really offer some great choices for meal planning on the DASH Diet.
THE DASH DIET MEAL PLAN
This is arguably the best resource you can get on the DASH Diet. It is straightforward and easy to follow. Its bias is action, not theory. This is just what you need to get started. Moreover, the book provides 28 days of meal plans for a 2,000 calorie diet. However, it does cover how to tweak the plans if you need to lose weight.
Also, the book has a great section on how to eat out and stay within the confines of the diet. After reviewing many different diet books, this book is truly a masterpiece of efficiency and practicality. Everything you need to know is here. Here is the book on Amazon.com
IN 12 WEEKS YOU CAN CONTROL YOUR HIGH BLOOD PRESSURE WITHOUT DRUGS
This book is also a good choice. As the title suggests, the book takes you through a 12 week program to begin lowering your blood pressure. This book does not necessarily follow a strict DASH Diet approach, but it is an excellent source of information for lowering your blood pressure. I would strongly recommend it as a companion to the Dash Diet Action Plan. Here is the book on Amazon.com
Because this diet is a government created plan, the commercialization of the plan is relatively minimal. Nonetheless, the above sources are very good and well thought out most likely because there is nothing left to sell you. There are no pre-packaged foods or supplements. Each book gives you everything you need to know in one easy resource.
Hopefully, these Dash Diet Meal Plans will get you started on calming that blood pressure!