Rouses JAN-FEB_2017_FINAL-flipbook

the Eat Right issue

dietary calcium also significantly reduce blood pressure. Additional sub studies by the DASH investigators showed improvements in blood lipids and other cardiovascular risk factors.  Reduction of cancer risk has also been suggested. So it’s an all-around healthy diet for a number of reasons, many disease related. “The DASH Diet is rated highly for people with diabetes due to the types of foods and the emphasis on low glycemic index foods — whole fruit as opposed to fruit juice, vegetables prepared without a lot of added fats, etc.While not designed to be a diabetic diet, the health benefits of the nutrient dense foods fit well into a diabetic eating plan.  It emphasizes whole grains, vegetables and fruits, low-fat dairy products, lean meats and is low in saturated and trans fats.  As always, controlling one’s calories is also essential, along with matching insulin or oral meds to carbohydrate needs as your doctor prescribes.” Champagne said the diet is also perfect for people trying to lose weight. “Losing weight is all about counting calories. Knowing the food groups and amounts for your necessary weight loss is important. Pennington Biomedical has a great weight loss calculator on our website (www.pbrc.edu). The best way to get started is to keep a journal of your intake (or use a phone app) and count those calories. Studies have shown that that is one of the best ways to ensure initial success.” Still free of hypertension, medication and those extra pounds after ten years,Matherne said the DASH diet may have saved her life. “It helped me to recalibrate my body by working with the foods I eat. I have South Louisiana roots, so there are times when I must still have that shrimp poor boy. I just don’t do it every day, or even every week. I make it a special occasion. “The diet helped me to understand that I had unwittingly devolved into eating a largely processed food diet. The diet preaches the avoidance of processed foods, and I am strict about avoiding them. I have been transformed into a whole foods person. For example, instead of buying pre-processed peanut butter or almond butter, both of which contain preservatives and sugars, I grind my own nut butters at Rouses. It’s so easy, the mill is set up right in the bulk food section of the stores. It’s so easy, so there is simply no excuse not to.” Highlights of the DASH diet Based on a 2000 calorie diet, the following amounts of foods in these groups are suggested daily: • Grains, 6-8 servings • Fruits, 4-5 servings • Vegetables, 4-5 servings • Low fat or fat free dairy, 2-3 servings • Meat, poultry, or fish, 6 ounces or less per day • Fats and oils, 2 to 3 small servings (a tablespoon or less) • Weekly additions: nuts, seeds, dry beans, and peas, 4-5 servings; sweets limited to 5 small servings or less. • The diet emphasizes that no more than 28% of calories should come from fat and 18% of calories should come from protein.  • Sodium intake is limited to 2300 mg with more benefits as one reduces sodium even further.

Pennington Biomedical Research Center, Baton Rouge, La

The DASH Diet The DASH diet can be downloaded at http://docsdash.pbrc. edu/dash-diet/. Tips are offered on how to start and stay on the eating plan, as well as a week of menus and some recipes. The menus and recipes are given for two levels of daily sodium consumption — 2,300 and 1,500 milligrams per day. Twenty- three hundred milligrams is the highest level considered acceptable by the National High Blood Pressure Education Program. The 1,500 milligram level can lower blood pressure further and more recently is the amount recommended by the Institute of Medicine as an adequate intake level and one that most people should try to achieve. All the menus are lower in sodium than what adults in the United States currently eat — about 4,200 milligrams per day in men and 3,300 milligrams per day in women. Those with high blood pressure and pre-hypertension may benefit especially from following the DASH eating plan and reducing their sodium intake.

28

MY ROUSES EVERYDAY JANUARY | FEBRUARY 2017