DASH Diet: Healthy Eating to Lower Your Blood Pressure

Discover how DASH can help you lower your blood pressure and improve your health.

DASH stands for Dietary Approaches to Stop Hypertension.

The DASH diet is a healthy-eating plan designed to help prevent or treat high blood pressure, also called hypertension. It also may help lower cholesterol linked to heart disease, called low density lipoprotein (LDL) cholesterol.

High blood pressure and high LDL cholesterol levels are two major risk factors for heart disease and stroke.

Foods in the DASH diet are rich in the minerals potassium, calcium and magnesium. The DASH diet focuses on vegetables, fruits and whole grains. It includes fat-free or low-fat dairy products, fish, poultry, beans and nuts.

The diet limits foods that are high in salt, also called sodium. It also limits added sugar and saturated fat, such as in fatty meats and full-fat dairy products.

Keep reading this article on Mayo Clinic.