A Week With the DASH Eating Plan
The DASH eating plan requires no special foods and has no hard-tofollow recipes. The following DASH menus allow you to plan healthy, nutritious meals for a week. There are a variety of delicious whole foods that fill you up while fueling your body and lowering your blood pressure and cholesterol levels. You’ll find plenty of fruits and vegetables, fish, poultry, lean meats, beans, nuts, whole grains and low-fat dairy.
Built around the recommended number of servings in each of the DASH food groups, these menus sometimes call for you to use lower sodium, low-fat, fat-free, or reduced-fat versions of products.
These menus are based on 2,000 calories a day. Serving sizes should be increased or decreased for other calorie levels. Daily sodium levels are either 2,300 milligrams or, by making the suggested changes, 1,500 milligrams. The total daily servings by DASH food group are listed at the top. Next to each food item on the daily menu, you can check the exact serving amount for that item. These menus give examples of heart healthy meals. How can you create your own and make the DASH eating plan part of your daily life? Start by learning how your current food habits compare with the DASH eating plan by using the What’s on Your Plate? worksheet for a few days.
Explore the Heart Healthy Eating webpage (healthyeating.nhlbi.nih.gov) to try new foods or learn how to make old favorites heart healthy. Choose your favorite foods from each of the DASH food groups based on your daily calorie needs to make your own healthy menus. Don’t worry if some days are off target for your daily totals. Just try your best to keep the average of several days close to the recommended servings and sodium levels. Following the DASH eating plan means you’ll be eating delicious food that is also good for you. It can help you control your blood pressure, manage your weight, and lower LDL (bad) cholesterol levels —keeping your heart healthy.
