DASH Your Way to a Healthy Heart

If you are looking for a blueprint of how to eat healthy, from foods readily available from your local grocer, without the brand name of a famous diet attached, the government may have an answer for you with its DASH diet plan, available free from the National Institutes of Health's website. DASH stands for Dietary Approaches to Stop Hypertension, and it is has actually been shown to reduce high blood pressure, and prevent heart attacks and strokes.

What does the plan allow you to eat? Real food: It emphasizes hearty portions of fruits, vegetables, grains, and plant proteins from legumes and nuts; along with more moderate servings of low- or non-fat dairy products, and small servings of meat, poultry, and fish. The total package is a low saturated fat diet that is also low in cholesterol, and high in dietary fiber, potassium, calcium, and magnesium, and moderately high in total protein, though low in animal protein.

The diet plan shown on the website is for a 2,000-calorie-a-day diet but it can easily be adjusted to your particular caloric needs. One caveat, the closest thing to a "snack" food on the list is mini-pretzels, followed by mixed nuts.

Here's why you might be interested: It is estimated that two in five women who eat a typical American diet will develop cardiovascular disease sometime after they reach age 50, this includes heart attacks and strokes. There is evidence that, for women, the DASH diet can decrease that heart attack risk number by 24 percent, and the stoke risk number by 18 percent. This is evidenced by a study that began in 1980, and ended in 2004, when researchers from Simmons College, in Boston, studied the eating habits of over 88,000 women.

Even before the 24-year study was completed, it was known that the DASH diet could help prevent or reduce high blood pressure, and lower LDL "bad" cholesterol, the well-known precursors to heart attacks. High blood pressure is also know to lead to kidney disease and if untreated can cause permanent eye damage.

During this 24-year study, researchers did notice that the women who ate closest to the DASH diet also tended to lead healthier lifestyles; they were less likely to be smokers, more likely to exercise regularly, and consume more omega-3 fatty acids and fiber than the women who scored poorer in the study.

Although this DASH study tracked only women, researchers believe men could experience similar benefits from this long-term approach to healthy eating.