Some Knowledge

Today is diet day.  The DASH diet stands for Dietary Approaches to Stop Hypertension.  It is a diet that is designed to control high blood pressure.  There is a PDF document available from the government here that describes this diet plan and what it entails.

The basic premise of this diet is that sodium intake should be severely limited.  The plan states that you should maintain a healthy weight, get more physical activity, limit intake of sodium and alcohol, and take your blood pressure medication.  You should also limit your intake of saturated fats and cholesterol.

The dash diet plan gives guidelines for the different foods you should be eating, and prescribes amounts of foods for diets of various caloric intakes.  They list recipes and food preparation guidelines and give detailed information on how to work your meals.

If you are trying to lower your sodium intake it is very important to prepare your own meals from fresh ingredients.  Prepared foods such as canned soup, sauces, even canned tomatoes and pickles are often very high in sodium.  You will need to read the labels on different foods to see which have salt added to them.  Sometimes even things like meats and baked goods have high amounts of sodium because salt is added in the packaging.

If you are looking for a way to lose weight and maintain a healthy cardiovascular system it might be a good idea to check out this diet plan.  The foods you eat definitely affect your health.  With proper care and some effort you can do a lot towards maintaining a healthy body.