SARAH DI LORENZO: Your heart will thank you if you DASH not crash diet

DASH is an acronym for Dietary Approaches to Stop Hypertension and a diet that became popular around 30 years ago and is still hugely popular for lowering blood pressure. It is still seen today as one of the best diets for overall health and wellness and very effective in lowering blood pressure.

Today it is prescribed by health care professionals and global organisations and is recommended by many Australian health bodies But this diet as mentioned is amazing for overall health showing to help lower the risk of other chronic diseases.

The key guidelines for the diet are to eat nutrient dense foods but also to significantly reduce sodium, added sugar and bad fats.

The best way I tell patients to follow this is to avoid food from packets, to focus on real whole foods. There are also many manufacturers now that accommodate the DASH diet with low sodium options as seen with stocks, pasta sauces and sauces.

The key principles are really good nutrition that is wholesome and clean.

The dietary guidelines include a focus on getting the recommended daily intake of fruit and vegetables. Both are rich in fibre, Vitamins such as A and C plus minerals that are really important for our heart health such as potassium and magnesium needed to regulate blood pressure.

The recommendation is five serves of vegetables per day and around four serves of fruit per day. Think of eating the rainbow, lots of leafy greens, all the colours of beetroot, carrots, capsicum and broccoli plus berries, bananas, oranges, apples and really all fruit.

Whole grains are so heart healthy. On the DASH diet the recommendations are to have around six to eight serves per day to really provide the much needed fibre for digestion and heart health.

Understanding serving sizes is really important, for example a serving of rice, oats and quinoa is half a cup cooked and bread is one slice. Think oats for breakfast, whole grain wrap or rice with a nourish bowl at lunch.

When it comes to protein which is so important the recommendation is to choose lean protein over red meat to avoid the saturated fat. I always tell my patients to make sure they have around 30 grams of protein with each meal. Good lean sources include skinless chicken and turkey, fish and for plant based options choose beans, nuts, seeds, lentils and chickpeas.

You are probably thinking that this sounds very much like the Mediterranean diet and it is not far off from that.

When it comes to dairy the recommendation is to go low fat or fat free as the reduction in saturated fat is a key principle for the DASH diet. The dairy is important for protein and bone health so it is really considered to play an important role.

Low sodium intake would probably be at the top of importance to keep blood pressure low. Recommendation is for no more than one teaspoon of salt per day or 2300mg of sodium and for those really needing to reduce their blood pressure than 1500mg of sodium per day.

One of the best ways to do this is simply cut out chips, foods in packets, and add salt to meals. I suggest to people to do all their own meal preparation, this way you know exactly what is going into your meals.

The focus on fats is to include lots of the wonderful healthy fats and avoid the unhealthy fats.

Healthy fats such as olive oil, avocado oil, chia seeds, walnuts, flaxseed, almonds and fatty fish are all encouraged as they are so heart healthy. Think nuts and seeds for snacks, chia pudding for lunch and baked salmon with vegetables for dinner. Avoiding processed snacks, fried foods and butter.

As mentioned to be avoided are all processed foods and sugary foods. So cut out the soft drinks, energy drinks, processed sugary snacks, lollies and desserts.

This does not mean you miss out, there are so many amazing ways you can still have something sweet, think of a healthy twist on an apple crumble with greek yogurt and maple syrup with cinnamon which is excellent for blood glucose regulation.

The benefits of the DASH diet are evidenced based, backed by science and include not only lowering blood pressure and lowering the risk of heart disease but also weight managements, helping prevent type 2 diabetes and just wonderful for overall good health and nutrition.

The diet is easy to implement, flexible and really can suit everyone.