A fabulous diet created by the National Heart, Lung and Blood Institute to control hypertension is the DASH diet. In fact, DASH is short for Dietary Approaches to Stop Hypertension. In general the diet plan limits sodium intake and encourages people to eat nuts, whole grains, fish, poultry, as well as fruits and vegetables. It discourages eating red meat, sweets, and sugar. Learn more about the excellent DASH diet.

The DASH diet resulted from a series of studies that examined dietary plans and their results. The diet plan not only includes showing people good eating habits, but also shows them healthier alternatives to junk foods. Coming up with decent junk food alternatives helps people stick to the diet long term. Processed foods are also out with this diet.

There’s even a guide book published for the diet called Your Guide to Lowering Your Blood Pressure with DASH. The guide lists foods, their nutrition information, and healthy alternatives. It also explains in details the meal plans of the DASH diet along with nutritional information for those plans. The guide is complete with a list of resources to help people stick to the diet.

A great resource for the DASH diet is Yahoo’s information page. It’s complete with links to the guide, web sites of people who have followed the diet, and detailed diet plans.

Processed foods contain of the sodium found in the average diet, so the DASH diet discourages them. Hypertension can be minimized by removing processed foods, and thus sodium which causes both high blood pressure and hypertension, from the diet.

The DASH diet is far more than any fad diet. It’s scientifically supported, as well as supported and endorsed by many top health organizations. Not only is it a great diet for people who have high blood pressure, but it’s a great diet for anyone who wants to eat healthy. Why wait for high blood pressure to start eating right, avoid it now see using the DASH diet.