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What is the DASH diet?

Some diets attract the attention of health lovers with their fantastic results; people who are overweight or looking for an unusual diet for their problem.

The DASH diet is one of the diets that have become popular due to their versatility, although they were originally conceived as a therapeutic diet for hypertensive patients. The diet has gained close attention due to the fact that one of the factors of hypertension is overweight, which the DASH diet turned out to be aimed at. DASH - Dietary Approaches to Stop Hypertension.

The second factor that the DASH diet pays attention to is salt, which retains a large amount of water in the body and prevents the elimination of digestive waste, maintains edema, and high blood pressure.

We are not talking about a salt-free diet, since salt is vital for maintaining internal osmosis, completeness of filling the bloodstream, tissues and interstitial fluid. But according to the rules of this diet, salt will have to be limited.

The same restriction applies to sweets and fats (replace sweets with fruits, and fatty foods with low-fat or vegetable products). But the norm is also imposed on vegetable fats, for example, no more than a tablespoon per bowl of salad, preference is given not to fried, but to boiled meat and vegetable products, stewed and dried.

Promising weight loss will not appear after a week, but body weight will begin to decrease due to the decrease in edema, a decrease in the consumption of sweet and fatty foods.

The diet implies that a lot of attention will be paid to cereals - cereals, cereals, whole grain croutons and breads.

In the DASH diet, the emphasis is on the number of meals (five), the number of snacks (no more than eight), the serving size of the product is reduced to half a cup, For example, a side dish the size of half a cup of porridge, boiled pasta or mashed potatoes, which may correspond to one slice of bread, one potato. The diet involves little, but often eat and drink a lot of fluids, but high-calorie drinks (beer, kvass, sweet soda, cola, sweetened juices) will have to be postponed.

Sweets of synthetic quality will have to be limited and replaced with natural, natural sweets - fruits, jams, preserves, jellies, marshmallows, mousses and the like. But nobody forbids pure chocolate, as well as dried sweet fruits and dried sweet vegetables.

The decrease in the consumption of meat dishes is compensated by the intake of legumes, mushrooms, which successfully replace protein foods of animal origin. That is, it is allowed to eat a small portion of meat, but a good amount of legumes.

The consumption of all products is reduced to half and then a quarter of the portion per meal. The diet does not dispose to overeating, but it also does not provide life from hand to mouth. You can always eat something from the recommended foods: a slice of low-fat cheese, a handful of nuts or dried fruits, fruit, a slice of boiled meat or fish. The main thing is that the meal should be in small portions of 8 ounce, in the main five receptions and 3.5 ounce - during a snack. As a result, about 2.5 thousand calories should be gained during the day. For people with high physical or mental stress, the number of calories increases, the main thing is that the expenditure of calories during the day is greater than the sum of the calories eaten.

The DASH diet is not a temporary food diet. This is a diet for life, a transition to a new pattern of food consumption. And this diet is worth trying, because the diet is recommended for people suffering from high blood pressure, the diet is designed to prevent strokes and heart attacks.

Of course, small portions of food strain the nervous system of a person untrained for such fractional meals. But do not immediately grab the scales and weigh the portions, it is enough to gradually move to small portions, removing a tablespoon of the product from the usual portion size, and reducing the drinking high-calorie foods by a sixth of a glass. Gradually, more high-calorie foods are replaced with less high-calorie ones, for example, 9% fat-free cottage cheese, milk and kefir 2.5% fat by 1%. This transition will not be noticeable. And gradually the body will get used to eating food boiled or stewed, not fried. Frying can be replaced by grilling, which is equally delicious.

Vegetables and meat are not stewed in large quantities of sunflower oil, if its addition requires a stewing recipe. All fatty foods are reduced in quantity.

The result of such a diet as the DASH diet is not only weight loss and the prevention of hypertension, but also the prevention of edema and disorders of the urinary system.