Review: Gradual changes
Rating: 4 out of 5
Date: 02 26, 2014
Julie Carpenter introduces her book on DASH DIET: How to Stop Hypertension with 7 Days of Meals, Dash Diet Recipes and Tips to Improve Your Heart Health with the following comments: `The Dietary Approaches to Stop Hypertension (DASH) eating plan is designed to help people with hypertension lower their blood pressure. The DASH diet advocates increasing the consumption of whole grain food, poultry, fish, beans, seeds, nuts, low-fat or fat-free milk and dairy products and loads of fresh fruits and vegetables. This is aimed at reducing the body's salt and sodium intake, as well as sweets, sugar-containing beverages, fats, and red meat.' And that pretty well sums up the flavor of this terse but helpful book on nutritional prevention of hypertension. But she adds, `In a nutshell, following the DASH diet plan allows you to: Expand your food choices instead of limiting your options Enjoy what your are used to eating, without having to try out strange new food groups Lose weight the healthy way- with a balanced eating plan, instead of starving yourself Prepare simple, easy- to- make menu plans that are healthy and delicious at the same time.'The DASH diet includes fruits and vegetables, promotes consumption of low of fat-free milk and milk products, whole grains, poultry, fish, seeds, beans and nuts and is meant to lower sodium intake and encourages eating fewer fats and red meats. Julie then spends considerable time discussing just what hypertension is, how it is diagnosed, the causes and the prevention, with an emphasis on sodium restriction.  Once the foundation is laid she offers further assistance by laying out 7 days of Meals: Dash Diet Recipes, Breakfast Recipes, Lunch Recipes, Dinner Recipes, and even Dessert Recipes.She closes her book with solid tips to guarantee staying with the new concept of eating and how to readjust your lifestyle to comfortably be a permanent member of the hypertension free life. Not of a lot of new material here, but Julie's presentation makes the difference. Grady Harp, February 14