Sample DASH Menu
Want to give DASH a try? Here's a sample day's eating plan developed by the National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute that appears in the pamphlet Your Guide to Lowering Your Blood Pressure With DASH (.pdf). The menu allots 2,000 calories per day, so serving sizes should be adjusted to meet your calorie needs.
| Sodium (mg) | Substitution to Reduce Sodium to 1,500 mg | ||
|---|---|---|---|
| Breakfast | |||
| ¾ cup bran flakes cereal: | 220 | ¾ cup shredded wheat cereal | |
| 1 medium banana | 1 | ||
| 1 cup low-fat milk | 107 | ||
| 1 slice whole-wheat bread: | 149 | ||
| 1 tsp soft (tub) margarine | 26 | 1 tsp unsalted soft (tub) mararine | |
| 1 cup orange juice | 5 | ||
| Lunch | |||
| ¾ cup chicken salad: * | 179 | Remove salt from the recipe* | |
| 2 slices whole-wheat bread | 299 | ||
| 1 tbsp Dijon mustard salad: | 373 | 1 Tbsp regular mustard | |
| ½ cup fresh cucumber slices | 1 | ||
| ½ cup tomato wedges | 5 | ||
| 1 tbsp sunflower seeds | 0 | ||
| 1 tsp Italian dressing, low calorie | 43 | ||
| ½ cup fruit cocktail, juice pack | 5 | ||
| Dinner | |||
| 3 oz beef, eye of round: | 35 | ||
| 2 tbsp beef gravy, fat free | 165 | ||
| 1 cup green beans, sautéed with: | 12 | ||
| ½ tsp canola oil | 0 | ||
| 1 small baked potato: | 14 | ||
| 1 tbsp sour cream, fat free | 21 | ||
| 1 tbsp grated natural cheddar cheese, reduced fat | 67 | 1 tbsp natural cheddar cheese, reduced fat, low sodium | |
| 1 tbsp chopped scallions | 1 | ||
| 1 small whole-wheat roll: | 148 | ||
| 1 tsp soft (tub) margarine | 26 | 1 tsp unsalted soft (tub) mararine | |
| 1 small apple | 1 | ||
| 1 cup low-fat milk | 107 | ||
| Snacks | |||
| 1/3 cup almonds, unsalted | 0 | ||
| 1/4 cup raisins | 4 | ||
| 1/2 cup fruit yogurt, fat free, no sugar added | 86 | ||
| Total | 2,101 |
Source: National Health, Lung, and Blood Institute, National Institutes of Health, U.S. Department of Health and Human Services
Reader Comments
Substitution to Reduce Sodium to 1,500 mg
I find the article on the DASH diet to be quite interesting and fairly informative. The one major point that needs to be addressed, in my opinion, is that mentioned in the subject above. I am a graduate chemist with an advanced degree in Biochemistry. It has come to my attention that there is a vast amount of research, both in this country and other areas of the world, which strongly indicates it is not the sodium in salt that is at the root high blood pressure, but the chloride. One may access much of this by simply searching for chloride as the cause of high blood pressure on the internet. If this is true then the popular substitution of other chloride containing chemicals in place of table salt is certainly counter productive.
Associated with the above is another thing that continues to bother me greatly. This the use of sodium and salt interchangeably in the literature on the subject of high blood pressure. "Table salt is Sodium Chloride not just Sodium!"
I hope this cause some discussion and possibly at least the use of the words Table Salt instead of just Sodium in articles discussing the problem of high blood pressure.
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