Food items included in the DASH diet meal plan

Food items included in the DASH diet meal plan

FThe DASH diet has recently gained a lot of popularity in the area of healthy diets as it has proven its capability to reduce high blood pressure significantly. You can decrease your blood pressure level or prevent yourself from hypertension by just following this diet plan. With the utilization of this diet plan, you have to reduce the intake of sodium in your diet chart and alternatively, you have to increase the intake of various other food items or fruits to enhance nutrients in your diet plan so that it can help in lowering the blood pressure. This diet plan is also useful for those people who are dealing with cancer, osteoporosis, heart stroke, and diabetes.

The proper meal plan for the DASH diet is described below in detail:

The DASH diet especially focuses on the servings of the food, not on the type of food you are eating. Therefore, you must know the quantity of the food item you should take while following the dash diet plan.

Whole grains
Whole grains should be consumed six to eight servings every day. There are various types of food items that fall under the category of whole grains like whole grain breakfast cereal, whole wheat or whole grain bread, bulgur, brown rice, oatmeal, and quinoa. A serving of any food item describes the quantity of the food item to be consumed such as one serving of whole-grain bread means one slice of bread, one serving of whole grain cereal describes one ounce of cereal, and a half cup of rice, pasta, or cereal.

Vegetables
According to the DASH diet, you can have every vegetable. You have to just give attention to the serving of the vegetables daily. The consumption of vegetables every day should be four to five servings such as you can consume one cup of green leafy vegetables like spinach every day or a half cup of sliced vegetables like carrots, broccoli, or tomatoes.

Fruits
It is advisable in the dash diet plan that you can eat about four to five servings of fruits each day. You can consume fruits like peaches, apples, berries, pears, mango, and pineapple. One serving of every fruit may include one medium apple, half cup of peaches or one-fourth cup of dried apricots.

Dairy
In the DASH diet plan, you can have dairy products about two to three servings every day. It is important to choose those dairy products, which are low in fat or with no fat. There are various dairy products that are beneficial for your health like yogurt, milk, cheese, and many more. You can have one cup of low-fat milk, one cup of low-fat yogurt, and forty-five grams of low-fat cheese while following this diet plan.

Meat
For the DASH diet plan, you have to choose lean meat products. You can have one ounce of cooked fish, meat or chicken, and one egg while you are following the dash diet plan. You can have six or fewer servings of these meat products every day.

There are several more items that you can include in your dash diet like nuts, legumes, seeds, fats, oils, candies, and many other products every day.