The Dash Diet for a Nigerian Audience
The DASH diet is rich is a variety of food nutrients that help lower blood pressure including potassium, calcium and magnesium.
As a result, this diet is good for heart health and people withmetabolic syndrome, high triglycerides, PCOS, diabetes, and/or hypertension.
DASH is the eating plan recommended by the NIH. It features foods that are low in saturated fat, total fat, and cholesterol, with a particular focus on fruits, vegetables, and low-fat dairy.
WHAT TO EAT
– Wholegrain and whole-wheat including bread, cereal, rice, oats and pasta
Fruits
– Vegetables e.g efo riro cooked in very little red palm oil, fresh salad without dressing
– Sweet potatoes
– Some fish
– Poultry
– Red meat in small amounts
– Low-fat yogurt
– Skimmed milk
– Grilled or roasted poultry
– Tuna
– Small amounts of almonds and cashew nuts
– Kidney beans
– Local beans
THINGS TO DO
- Wash canned foods to remove some of the sodium content
- Always go for unsalted nuts
- Cook poultry without skin and fat
- Cut back your meat portion and allow more room for vegetables
- Go easy on cheese as it also contains high levels of sodium content
- Cook traditional soups with little oil especially mainstream vegetable oil. Use more of red palm oil but sparingly
POINTS TO NOTE
The DASH diet does not address caffeine consumption, and the correlation between caffeine and blood pressure remains scientifically unclear
Alcohol can increase blood pressure therefore limit intake. For more on this, click here to read our article on alcohol
The DASH diet is not a weight-loss programme
