A fabulous diet created by the National Heart, Lung and Blood Institute to control hypertension is the DASH diet. DASH stands for Dietary Approaches to Stop Hypertension. The diet encourages fruits, vegetables and whole grains while discouraging sugars, sodium and red meat. Here’s more information about the DASH diet.

Many studies contributed to the creation of the DASH diet. The diet not only describes good foods, it lists delicious alternatives for junk foods. Junk food and cheating is often the key to ending a diet, so replacing junk foods makes this diet last. The diet also emphasizes fresh as opposed to processed foods – fresh foods often taste better.

The DASH diet comes complete with a published guide book. This guide shows the nutrition facts of many foods and shows their healthy alternatives. The guide also details the DASH diet meals and their nutrition information. The complete guide also details resources such as organizations that can help people start and maintain 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 not another fad diet. It is endorsed by health organizations and experts around the world. Even people who don’t suffer from hypertension or high blood pressure can enjoy its benefits. Use the DASH diet to avoid problems like high blood pressure.