When it comes to matters of health, prevention is better than cure. It is prudent to prevent a disease or symptom from developing rather than try to cure it later with costly medication and trauma to the body. This applies to blood pressure and heart diseases too. It is wiser to prevent increase in blood pressure when one is young at age and thus prevent heart disease at later stage.
It is believed that one in very three American will develop high blood pressure as he ages. This will increase risk of heart disease putting 1/3 of the total population in high-risk category. Also, high blood pressure is not always associated with increased age. Other factors also contribute to its increase which later affects heart functioning leading to various heart diseases. Some factors that contribute towards increased blood pressure are smoking and drinking excessively, laid back lifestyle and lack of exercise, and of course poor dietary habits.
DASH Diet Action Plan, which is widely recommended by doctors and nutritionist, is an ideal choice to reduce elevated blood pressure and prevent heart diseases at early stages of life. This diet plan is recommended by numerous recognized institutions such as The National Heart, Lung and Blood Institute, The American Heart Association and US Guidelines for treatment of high blood pressure among others. This diet have been proven to effectively reduce blood pressure in 14 days
DASH diet provides solution in the form of easy guidelines that are simple to follow. It has 28 days’ meal plans, guidance and recipes. Specifically, the DASH diet plan includes 6-12 servings per day of grains and grain products, 4-6 servings per day of fruits, 4-6 servings per day of vegetables, 2-4 servings per day of low fat or non fat diary foods, 2 or less serving per day of lean meats, fish or poultry, 3-6 servings per week of nuts, seeds and legumes, 2-4 serving of fats and sweets.
Once you have decided to follow DASH diet, you need to learn more and evaluate your status in consuming the recommended amounts of dairy, fruits and vegetables. Also, you need to evaluate status in consuming DASH recommended quantities of meats, nuts and whole grains. Also, to have continuity, prepare action plan that will help in eating DASH diet for the next month. In short, keep track of the progress made and whether your blood pressure has reduced in 14 days or not. Consult your dietician and medical expert regularly and take their feedback on progress of this diet.
Though DASH diet is not a weight-loss plan, it eventually helps in loosing weight. Also, excess weight can be a contributory factor in elevated blood pressure leading to heart disease and other complications. It also helps in reducing cholesterol level which is also a contributory factor in increasing blood pressure. High blood pressure makes the heart to work harder in order to pump nutrient and oxygen-rich blood into the body and this leads to scarring of heart leading to heart diseases and other complications associated with it.
No related posts.