Losing weight is hard enough without worrying that the particular diet you have selected, might not be able to give the expected results. So maybe this will make things a little bit easier, as the DASH diet took first place, for the second time, in best overall diet in the U.S. News and World Report’s Best Diets 2012.
DASH diet stands for Dietary Approaches to Stop Hypertension and it involves a menu based on whole grains, fruits, vegetables and lean proteins to lower cholesterol, healthy eating and ease life on diabetes patients.
Basically, the panel of 22 experts ranked 25 popular diets overall, based on seven categories: short-term weight loss, long-term weight loss, easy to follow, nutrition, safety, diabetes and heart health. Out of all, DASH diet stands out to comprise all the elements nutrition experts have been advocating for such a long time.
Deborah Enos, a certified nutritionist in Seattle and a MyHealthNewsDaily contributor, said: “While it may have started as a blood pressure lowering diet, it really has incredible nutritional value”.
According to the Department of Health and Human Services, DASH diet did more than just help with eating healthy. It added focus on nutrients that are said to lower blood pressure and bad cholesterol levels, such as potassium, magnesium, calcium and fiber.
As reported by dashdiet.org, this eating plan is endorsed by The National Heart, Lung and Blood Institute, The American Heart Association, The 2010 Dietary Guidelines for Americans, the 2011 AHA Treatment Guidelines for Women, The Mayo Clinic and several others.
The same website says that DASH diet helps lower blood pressure and cholesterol, and is associated with lower risk of several types of cancer, heart disease, stroke, heart failure, kidney stones, and reduced risk of developing diabetes.
To be more specific, if you’re thinking about following a DASH diet, then you should know that your menu will be comprised of grains and grains products ( at least 3 whole grain foods each day), fruits, vegetables, low fat or non fat dairy foods, lean meats, fish, poultry, nuts, seeds and legumes, as well as fats and sweets.
