The DASH Diet for Hypertension

This is no quirky diet--it's the way the major medical groups have been advising us to eat all along, but with a specific formula that tells you how many servings to eat from each Food Pyramid food group. You also get suggestions for exercising moderately, losing weight, reducing salt, and food shopping.

Included are two weeks of daily menus and 62 recipes, with modified favorites like Macaroni and Cheese and Sweet and Sour Pork with Vegetables, plus innovative dishes such as Mango/Black Bean Salad with Grilled Shrimp and Sweet-Potato Chips (baked). The authors are medical hypertension experts associated with Harvard and Duke medical centers. Recommended for people who want to lower their blood pressure or just eat more healthfully. --Joan Price

Product Description

More than 50 million Americans suffer from high blood pressure, and most of them control it by taking prescription drugs with potentially dangerous side effects. But there is a natural, affordable, and easy-to-manage alternative to medication: the DASH (Dietary Approaches to Stop Hypertension) diet. Developed by a world-class team of doctors and nutritionists, the DASH diet is clinically proven to lower blood-pressure levels and thereby reduce the risk of heart failure, stroke, and kidney disease. Now, with The DASH Diet for Hypertension, readers can benefit from:

• A hearty and healthful selection of DASH menus, recipes, even grocery lists

• DASH weight-loss and exercise programs for everyday living

• The science behind DASH, including calorie worksheets and a formula to calculate body-mass

...and much more from this revolutionary program, which is recommended by the American Heart Association; the National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute; the American Society for Hypertension; and other leading medical authorities.

This is the diet book that the USA has been waiting for but too few persons seem to know about it -- yet. It is scientifically accurate and the conclusions of the authors are sound. It is proof that eating for improved health and fitness need not be boring. Indeed, the day after I received the book, I prepared the mango/black bean salad to rave reviews and no leftovers.

The message is not new: We need to increase the fruits, veggies, and whole grain foods in our diet, and to decrease red meats, sodium, and sweets. Although the target audience is those with hypertension, nearly everyone can benefit from accepting the book's challenge to try the DASH diet for two weeks -- and for a lifetime. The fact that the authors go beyond the science and present imaginative, delicious recipes and menus is a definite strength of the book.

A salute to the authors for this timely book!


Excellent Choice   September 2, 2003
69 out of 71 found this review helpful

This diet works, and it is completely fulfilling and delicious. I am so happy I went on it. I have extremely high blood pressure--so high I will always have to take medications for it. I wanted to go on this diet simply because I thought it would be a really healthy way to lose a few pounds. I honestly was not expecting it to lower my blood pressure. Well, I was very surprised to see that it did! After two weeks my BP dropped about 12 points on the upper and 5 points on the lower, consistently. It is really surprising! I was even able to lower my dosage a little. I've enjoyed eating this way tremendously. For anyone who wants to eat healthy, this is a great way to start. This is the most scientifically supported and most highly endorsed eating plan out there.
It is similar to most sensible nutrition plans, with a little more dairy and a little less meat. It is very easy to follow.

I can only say, Congratulations and thank you to the team behind it.


The DASH diet a real miracle for me!   April 16, 2008
Edgar Paternina (Colombia. South America)
12 out of 13 found this review helpful

Well, mine was one of those very very very difficult cases for physicians. In fact in my family has been a tradition of very high blood pressures. I have been sort of a buddhist meditator for years in the aim to help my high blood pressure, and I look in Taoism to see if I could find any help for it. Almost three or four weeks ago I received my manual to lower my blood pressure in 14 days. The main problem I had with it was that I had to translate the 67 recipes into spanish, as I live in Colombia, South America, so I just tried to resume the philosophy of the DASH diet, insisting in more fruits, vegetables, less red meat, very very very little sodium and much more dairy products than we usually do.

I decided to order the Dash diet manual the day I had a very severe crisis of blood pressure, 200/120, very early in the morning, even though I had been taking the days before maximum dosis of drugs for hyper tension prescribed by my physician.

So just use it if you have high blood pressures, and you will see the results by yourself!!! It really works!

Now I am just taking one drug, and my aim is to take none, as I had to suspend another maximum dosis of drug with dangerous side effects, as for the first time in my life I had a low blood pressure crisis.




If You Have Hypertension You Need to Be DASHING   September 10, 2009
D. Cooper (Oakland, CA United States)
8 out of 8 found this review helpful

Hypertension kills. Suffering a stroke, heart attack, congestive heart failure, or damage to your eyes should be enough to get anyone to change their bad habits and get their lifestyle on track with the DASH diet. There is nothing difficult about eating fresh fruits instead of cookies or candy, and making fresh salads and cooking fresh vegetables instead of opening up a can of soggy, sodium laden mush passing as food.

Believe it or not, I told MY doctor about the DASH diet when I first got diagnosed with high blood pressure about 10 years ago. She'd never heard of it. I was only 34 but African Americans seem to have a higher rate of hypertension than any other ethnic group. My blood pressure was an unbelievable 170/110 but I had no symptoms at all. Fearful of medications, but even more fearful of dying, I looked for an alternative solution that would provide fast results, and happened across the DASH study results.

I ordered two booklets from the NHLB website and started changing my life.

When I went back for a checkup a month later, my blood pressure had dropped an amazing 32 points systolic and was within the normal range of 138/85. She was stunned and ran from the room with the booklet I gave her to show other doctors in the office. They were in disbelief and actually came in to talk to me about the program. My blood pressure continued to drop once I got a better handle on sodium and liquor intake until it reached normal where it now stays unless I go off on a tangent too many days in a row.

This was accomplished without any medication, just a steely determination to live which meant giving up things I shouldn't have been eating anyway. The book is great because it goes into a great deal of explanation and provides menu ideas to get you started.

If you can't afford to order the book right now, at least look on the web and review the online documents which support changing your eating habits per the Dietary Approaches to Stop Hypertension. I cannot recommend this book highly enough. The DASH diet saved my life.


Dash Diet works   August 25, 2006
Larry C. Hensley (Atlanta, Ga)
12 out of 14 found this review helpful

Not only has the Dash Diet helped with my hypertenion, but I have also lost a few pounds which also helps. Following the suggested foods, you are automatically eating more healthy and have more energy. I would suggest it for anyone and not just those looking to help with hypertension.