Day Eighty Four!!

The mad dash


Another diet is called the DASH diet. This diet focusses on quite the opposite of both Atkins and Keto, it focusses on a high content of fruits, vegetables, and low fat dairy products and low fat. This diet has been endorsed by the American Dietetic Association and is also based in sodium restriction as well as weight management. The idea behind the diet is to minimize the risk of heart disease and stroke. So the main goal of this diet is to limit saturated fat, which which also helps to control blood pressure.


This diet is composed of four areas. 
Number one; the goal is to eat 8-10 servings of vegetables each day. A serving is what fits in the palm of your hand. The goal of increasing the fruits and vegetables is to increase your potassium to balance sodium intake.
Number two; to consume 2-3 servings of dairy products a day, which is recommended as skim or low fat milk as well as yogurt.
Number three; to have 2-3 servings of oil or other fats such as olive oil, peanut oil, safflower oil and sunflower oil. 
Number four; to aim for 4-5 servings of beans, nuts or seeds every week and to consume about 6 ounces of lean protein everyday. Six ounces, is the size of your hand.


The basis for the DASH diet is to be able to eat to minimize the risks of heart disease, hypertension or high blood pressure. For adults, normal blood pressure is 120/80. If you are under the age of 50 the second number is most important. If you are over 50 it is the top number that is most important. There are several things that can be a risk factor for high blood pressure such as; ethnicity, age, minimal physical inactivity, obesity, diets that are high in sodium and low in potassium, diets low in vitamin D, sleep apnea, pregnancy, kidney disease, insulin and stress.


Essentially managing your sodium intake as well as managing your weight is what is needed in order to make this diet work. Normally, the way in which your kidneys function is that they get rid of the extra salt intake through your urine in order to keep your water balance normal. If your salt intake is high then your body will hold onto extra water, and too much water increases the amount of blood you have in your body, which, in turn increases blood pressure, and as such, a high salt diet may cause or worsen high blood pressure. It is good to remember that most of the salt found in the typical Canadian diet does not come from the salt shaker, it actually comes from processed food. So, reducing your amount of salt intake in your diet will decrease your risk of high blood pressure, and if you decrease your sodium intake per day of just one tsp of salt you can reduce your risk of heart disease.


Only, when I take a good look at this diet, what I see is a huge amount of sugar intake. Milk, fruit, vegetables, starches, and grains, all contain sugar. So what is so interesting about this DASH diet, is that a high sugar diet is also linked to heart disease, stroke, obesity, diabetes, high cholesterol, and cancer. 


The need to rely upon that stupid food guide makes this diet a mad dash to being overweight in my books.