The US National Institutes of Health sponsored research has led to the developed of the Dash diet to help lower blood pressure without medication. This diet can cut the risk of many diseases, including cancer, stroke, heart disease, heart failure, kidney stones, and diabetes. The Dash diet results have also proven to reduce cholesterol and improve insulin sensitivity. It emphasizes whole grains and less refined grains compared with a typical diet.
My doctor and Nutritionist introduced me to the DASH diet. In practical terms, this diet should help a person stay full and thus not crave junk foods. Over time, you should feel as though your clothes are getting looser, especially around the waist. The key to this diet is not to skip any meals or snacks (which I am unfortunately not good at doing due to my schedule) because your blood sugar and insulin can drop. The Dash diet does not focus on counting calories but rather the focus is on including the key food groups in each meal. An added benefit of the Dash diet is that it is customizable to fit the need of each person. My Nutritionist customized the diet for me by adjusting the measurements.
I incorporated the diet into our family meals. My family liked the DASH diet because it allowed them to eat bacon, cheese, and other foods that you would not expect to see in a diet’s handbook. While we followed this diet, somehow my husband lost 10 pounds and strangely enough, lowered his cholesterol while the boys had their cheese and ate it too; all three are in good health. As for me, the intended target of this diet, I didn’t lose any weight.
Since neither of the 2 diets has worked for me, the diet journey will continue. Stay tuned as we are going to start the Paleomeal diet. I will write about this diet next and share some (hopefully) positive results.