Hypertensive patients are those with high blood pressure. It’s important to follow a diet that will help to keep the blood pressure to a minimum, and in some cases, medication will need to be taken. Planning your meals and thinking ahead is something that you will need to consider more frequently.
The good news is there’s a diet that is perfect for hypertensive individuals. It’s known as the DASH diet and is considered one of the healthiest diets around. It can also be followed by those with diabetes since the diet helps to keep sugar levels to a minimum.
But just knowing about the diet isn’t good enough. Knowing why you need to follow it and why it helps isn’t going to help you plan your meals. Here’s your complete guide to meal planning when following the DASH diet.
Why Is the DASH Diet Important?
Let’s start with a look at the DASH diet. You need to know why it’s important for your health and what it will entail moving forward. Just how difficult will it be to follow?
The term diet is often used to denote someone who’s following a meal plan to lose weight. This isn’t necessarily the case with the DASH diet. This is more than just a quick fix, but a long term, healthy living option. It will help you not just reduce your weight (if you need to) but maintain your weight for a healthier overall lifestyle.
The DASH diet is a low-sodium, low-sugar, high-fiber diet. It follows the recommendations that you should get at least 30g of fiber daily.
Fiber is one of the most important nutrients in the diet. It breaks down slowly, helping you to feel full. However, it also regulates the digestive system. It helps to encourage the body to break down food slowly, regulating your insulin production, glucose levels, and blood pressure levels. You will naturally feel the need to eat less throughout the day, which is where the weight loss benefits can come into play.
The DASH diet will help you follow an eating plan that will manage your calorie levels. If you need 2,000 calories to maintain your weight, you will be able to eat those and not feel hungry. If you need to lose weight, you can eat fewer calories than your body needs to encourage calories burned from the fat you store. This leads to weight loss without the feeling of being hungry or “on a diet.”
What will you eat on the DASH diet? The focus is on fruits and vegetables. The daily recommended amount of fruits and vegetables is five, so the diet will help you get those portions throughout the day. However, the diet also regulates the amount of dairy, fat, and lean protein that you eat daily. This is a diet to help you get all the macro and micro nutrients that your body needs.
The intake of legumes and nuts is reduced. While they are good for you, they can be high in calories and cause problems for your blood pressure in large amounts. You’ll have a meal plan that encourages no more than five portions of legumes, nuts, and sweet items on a weekly basis.
