What’s the DASH Diet and Why Doctors Call It the Best Diet.

How to lose belly fat? How to lose weight fast without exercises? Doctors say that this diet is the most effective way to improve your overall condition. According to the National Institute of Health, it scored a 3.3 out of 5 in the “Weight Loss Effectiveness” category and 4.5 out of 5 in “Health Usefulness”. Out of 40 diets evaluated, it was chosen number one! So who is this all-star? It’s something called the DASH diet.

The DASH diet is an easy, safe, and useful plan that can help you feel better and get rid of excess weight. You can lose weight gradually, no starving or yo-yo dieting. It won’t shock or stress your body out.

DASH stands for Dietary Approaches to Stop Hypertension. It’s a diet developed specifically to reduce blood pressure in those with hypertension. But scientists understood later on that this diet resolves tons of other health issues.

It reduces cholesterol, prevents stroke and heart failure, and brings the weight down to a healthy level, even for those with obesity. Plus, it’s considered the best diet to prevent diabetes. Besides controlling blood pressure, people following it managed to improve insulin resistance.

TIMESTAMPS
What’s it all about? 1:23
A few general rules to lose weight 2:15
What you can eat to lose fat 3:37
What food you should avoid for losing weight 5:13
How to plan your diet 5:44
Weight loss benefits 6:18
Is it easy to follow the DASH eating plan? 7:17

SUMMARY
The DASH diet wasn’t originally designed for weight loss, but there have been some studies proving that this eating plan can help people get rid of unwanted pounds.

The DASH diet balances all the necessary nutrients and minerals, like calcium, potassium, protein, and fiber, that are responsible for brain and overall organ function. It improves the condition of your hair and skin as well.

What’s convenient about this diet is that you don’t have to calculate and monitor each nutrient: you just need to reduce your salt intake and eat certain recommended foods, for instance, fruits, vegetables, grains, protein-rich foods, and dairy products.

Compared to trendy crash diets, DASH is different. This is a complete lifestyle change. It’s for people who need to take care of their eating habits throughout their lives. There’s no cutting out or starving involved. You can have all sorts of tasty dishes.

Detailed Discussion:

What’s DASH All About?

What is the DASH diet and why doctors call it one of the best diets? Doctors say that this diet is the most effective way to improve your overall condition. According to the National Institutes of Health it scored a 3.3/5.0 in the weight loss effectiveness category and 4 out of 5.0 in healthy usefulness out of 40 diets evaluated. It was chosen number one.

What is this this all-star? The DASH diet is an easy, safe and useful plan that can help you feel better and get rid of excess weight. You can lose weight gradually. No starving or yo-yo dieting. It won’t shock or stress your body out. DASH stands for Dietary Approaches to Stop Hypertension.

It’s a diet developed specifically to reduce blood pressure in those with hypertension. What scientists understood later on that this diet results in dealing with other tons of health issues.  It reduces cholesterol, prevent stroke and heart failure and brings weight down to a healthy level even for those with obesity. Plus it’s considered the best diet to prevent diabetes. Besides controlling blood pressure people following it managed to improve insulin resistance.

The DASH diet balances all the necessary nutrients and minerals like calcium, potassium, protein and fiber that are responsible for brain and overall organ function. It improves the condition of your hair and skin as well. What’s convenient about this diet is that you don’t have to calculate and monitor each nutrient. You just need to reduce your salt intake and eat certain recommended foods, for instance fruits, vegetables, grains, protein-rich foods and dairy products.

Compared to trendy crash diets, DASH is different. This is a complete lifestyle change it’s for people who need to take care of their eating habits throughout their lives. There’s no cutting out or starving involved you can have all sorts of tasty dishes.

A Few General Rules to Lose Weight on the DASH Diet

You just need to keep in mind a few general rules. It’s not about the quantity of the food as much as it is about the quality. Drink 67 ounces of fluids per day. Ideally it should be still water or green tea. Just limit the tea to no more than four cups a day.

Try to eat five times per day. It’s basically better to have smaller portions but eat more often. Limit your daily calorie intake to be around 2,000 to 2,500 calories per day. If you have a sweet tooth you’ll need to control yourself.

You don’t have to stop eating sweet foods completely. Just no more than five times a week. Try to eat more cereals, seeds, beans, lean meats and vegetables. You should avoid drinking soda or alcohol. This is because too much alcohol elevates your blood pressure plus it harms your liver, heart and brain. Limit your snacks to no more than eight per day in between meals but have a bite only if you’re really hungry not bored.

Remember that tobacco use is prohibited. Reduce your salt intake to a maximum of two to three teaspoons a day. Your diet should include whole wheat, bread, exclude smoked or fatty foods, pickles, pastries and canned fish or meat.

What Can You Eat to Lose Fat on the DASH Diet?

According to the DASH principle, to come up with a proper diet plan you should keep in mind your goals. Do you want to lose weight or become healthier? If you want to slim down your menu should contain fewer calories. In other words you need to reduce the size of your servings for anyone on the DASH diet.

You can have the following:

• Cereals no more than seven servings per day. One serving should be a slice of bread
• Half a cup of cooked pasta or half a cup of oatmeal for example.
• Fruits:  no more than five servings a day. This could be one fruit 1/4 cup of dried fruits or half a cup of juice
• Vegetables 5 servings in a day, half a cup of steamed vegetables could be a serving.
• Non-fat dairy products: two to three servings per day. For instance 1.8 ounces of cheese or five ounces of milk would do just fine.
• Seeds beans and nuts. Five servings a week. one serving is ounces animal and vegetable fats three servings per day this could be 1 teaspoon of olive or linseed oil
• Sweet dishes no more than five times a week. A teaspoon of honey or jam is okay.
• Fluids: 67 ounces per day. Water is preferred but green tea and juice are fine too.
• Protein 7 ounces of lean meat fish or eggs a day is ideal

What to Avoid on the DASH Diet

Of course it is a diet and lifestyle change so you’ll have to avoid all the typical unhealthy products, fast food and chips, smoked and canned food, salami, sausage, fatty meat, candy, cookies and other sweets and soft drinks. Because our bodies form a dependency to junk food you can eliminate harmful products little by little.

Don’t try to go cold turkey you’re only setting yourself up for failure. Take baby steps over time and your cravings will disappear.

How to Plan Your Diet on DASH?

You can create your own menu by taking into consideration the diets rules in incorporating the products you’re allowed to eat. You don’t have to do anything special to create your diet plan. You just need to include the necessary products and gradually exclude the bad ones.

If your goal is to lose weight cut the amount of recommended servings. You can also find all kinds of tasty – approved dishes on the Internet and abundance of recipes, appetizers and drinks, main dishes and even desserts can be found there once you look for them.

Weight Loss Benefits of the DASH Diet

The DASH diet wasn’t originally designed for weight loss. But there have been some studies proving that this eating plan can help people get rid of unwanted pounds.

In a 2006 study researchers divided 810 adults with borderline to mild hypertension into 3 groups.  The first group was given some general advice on how to change their lifestyles so that they could get their blood pressure under control.

The second group were given instructions to keep their sodium intake under 2,300 milligrams a day, exercise and limit their alcohol consumption.

People in the third group had to follow the same directions as those from the second group but also eat according to the DASH guidelines.

After a year and a half people from the second group became approximately eight pounds lighter while those from the DASH group lost an average of nine and a half pounds and these results were significantly better than the results of the first group who managed to drop only three pounds on average.

Is It Easy to Follow the DASH Eating Plan?

First let’s consult with the experts. According to those numbers from the National Institute of Health we mentioned earlier DASH scored a 3.4 out of 5 in the category of easiness to follow. But of course we’re only human and it’ll be a bit hard to say no to your favorite salty sugary or fatty drinks otherwise this diet doesn’t restrict you from entire food groups.

There are tons of recipe options out there so you’ll definitely find something suited to your taste. Get ready to experience some difficulties going out.  Most restaurants serve huge portions of salty or fatty foods so when you go out to eat opt for fruits and vegetables and avoid soups. Also ask the chef not to season your meat.

As for alcohol you can allow yourself a bit every now and then but remember that you still have to limit yourself. For the ladies that’s no more than one drink a day and men shouldn’t have more than two per day. What’s considered a drink that’s five ounces of wine one and a half ounces of liquor or 12 ounces of beer.

A nice feature of this diet is that you never feel hungry as the main idea is to have a satisfied feeling of fullness. Remember no starvation yes it might be hard to live without chips, pickles or cookies at first but your palate will adjust plus your meals won’t taste bland if you add some spices and herbs.

Have you ever tried the DASH diet? If so how did you like it? Tell us in the comments below remember to share with your social following to help someone who might need it.