DASH Eating Plan
DASH is a flexible and balanced eating plan that helps create a heart-healthy lifestyle. The DASH eating plan requires no special foods and provides daily and weekly nutritional goals. This plan recommends:
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Eating vegetables, fruits, and whole grains
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Including fat-free or low-fat dairy products, fish, poultry, beans, nuts, and vegetable oils
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Limiting foods that are high in saturated fat, such as fatty meats, full-fat dairy products, and tropical oils such as coconut, palm kernel, and palm oils
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Limiting sugar-sweetened beverages and sweets. Based on these recommendations, the following table shows examples of daily and weekly servings that meet DASH eating plan targets for a 2,000-calorie-a-day diet.
When following the DASH eating plan, it is important to choose foods that are:
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Low in saturated and trans fats
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Rich in potassium, calcium, magnesium, fiber, and protein
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Lower in sodium
Daily and Weekly DASH Eating Plan Goals for a
2,000-Calorie-a-Day Diet
Food Group
Grains
Meats, poultry, and fish
Vegetables
Fruit
Low-fat or fat-free dairy products
Fats and oils
Sodium
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Nuts, seeds, dry beans, and peas
Sweets
Daily Servings
6–8
6 or less
4–5
4–5
2–3
2–3
2,300 mg*
Weekly Servings
4–5
5 or less
*1,500 milligrams (mg) sodium lowers blood pressure even further than 2,300 mg sodium daily.
Following the DASH Eating Plan
The DASH eating plan is easy to follow using common foods available in your grocery store. The plan includes daily servings from different food groups. The number of servings you should have depends on your daily calorie (energy) needs. To figure out your calorie needs, you need to consider your age and physical activity level. If you want to maintain your current weight, you should eat only as many calories as you burn by being physically active. This is called energy balance. (For more information about energy balance, go to the Health Topics Overweight and Obesity article.) If you need to lose weight, you should eat fewer calories than you burn or increase your activity level to burn more calories than you eat. Consider your physical activity level. Are you sedentary, moderately active, or active?
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Sedentary means that you do only light physical activity as part of your typical daily routine.
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Moderately active means that you do physical activity equal to walking about 1.5 to 3 miles a day at 3 to 4 miles per hour, plus light physical activity.
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Active means that you do physical activity equal to walking more than 3 miles per day at 3 to 4 miles per hour, plus light physical activity. Use the chart below to estimate your daily calorie needs.
Daily Calorie Needs for Women
Age (years)
Calories Needed for Sedentary Activity Level
Calories Needed for Moderately Active Activity Level
Calories Needed for Active Activity Level
19–30
2,200
2,000–2,200
2,400
31–50
1,800
2,000
2,200
51+
1,600
1,800
2,000–2,200
Daily Calorie Needs for Men
Age (years)
Calories Needed for Sedentary Activity Level
Calories Needed for Moderately Active Activity Level
Calories Needed for Active Activity Level
19–30
2,400
2,600–2,800
3,000
31–50
2,200
2,400–2,600
2,800–3,000
51+
2,200
2,200–2,400
2,400–2,800
After figuring out your daily calorie needs, go to the table below and find the closest calorie level to yours. This table estimates the number of servings from each food group that you should have. Serving quantities are per day, unless otherwise noted.
The DASH Eating Plan as Part of a Heart-Healthy Lifestyle
The DASH eating plan is just one key part of a heart-healthy lifestyle, and combining it with other lifestyle changes, such as physical activity can help you control your blood pressure and LDL-cholesterol for life. To help prevent and control high blood pressure:
• Be physically active.
• Maintain a healthy weight.
• Limit alcohol intake.
• Manage and cope with stress. Other lifestyle changes can improve your overall health, such as:
• If you smoke, quit.
• Get plenty of sleep. To help make lifelong lifestyle changes, try making one change at a time and adding another when you feel that you have successfully adopted the earlier changes. When you practice several healthy lifestyle habits, you are more likely to achieve and maintain healthy blood pressure and cholesterol levels.
Living With the DASH Eating Plan
Understanding the DASH eating plan will help you start and follow this plan for life.
Controlling Daily Sodium and Calories
To benefit from the proven DASH eating plan, it is important to limit daily sodium levels to 2,300 mg, or 1,500 mg if desired, and to consume the appropriate amount of calories to maintain a healthy weight or lose weight if needed.
Ways to Control Sodium Levels
The key to lowering your sodium intake is to make healthier food choices when you’re shopping, cooking, and eating out
Ways to Control Calories
To benefit from the DASH eating plan, it is important to consume the appropriate amount of calories to maintain a healthy weight. To help, read nutrition labels on food, and plan for success with DASH eating plan sample menus and other heart-healthy recipes. The DASH eating plan can be used to help you lose weight. To lose weight, follow the DASH eating plan and try to reduce your total daily calories gradually. Find out your daily calorie needs or goals with the Body Weight Planner external link and calorie chart. Talk with your doctor before beginning any diet or eating plan.
General tips for reducing daily calories include:
• Eat smaller portions more frequently throughout the day.
• Reduce the amount of meat that you eat while increasing the amount of fruits, vegetables, whole grains, or dry beans.
• Substitute low-calorie foods, such as when snacking (choose fruits or vegetables instead of sweets and desserts) or drinking (choose water instead of soda or juice), when possible.
Increasing Daily Potassium
The DASH eating plan is designed to be rich in potassium, with a target of 4,700 mg of potassium daily, to enhance the effects of reducing sodium on blood pressure. The following are examples of potassium-rich foods.
Ways to Control Calories
NHLBI meal planning tools and tips can help you follow the DASH eating plan to meet nutritional goals. Meal Planning Tools The following tools can help you prepare and choose meals that meet the nutritional goals of the DASH eating plan. • NHLBI In-Brief: Your Guide to Lowering Your Blood Pressure with DASH: Contains a DASH log for tracking daily food and physical activity levels and a shopping and menu planner. • Weekly DASH menus: Provides sample daily DASH eating plan menus at 1,500 mg or 2,300 mg daily sodium levels. These menus are based on a 2,000-calorie-per-day diet, and suggested serving sizes may be adjusted if other daily calorie targets are desired. • Heart-healthy recipes: Provide additional ideas for menu planning. Tips for Lifelong Success When changing lifestyle habits, it is normal to slip off track occasionally. Follow these tips to get you back on track. • Ask yourself why you got off track. Find out what triggered your sidetrack, and restart the DASH eating plan. • Don’t worry about a slip. Everyone slips, especially when learning something new. Remember that changing your lifestyle is a long-term process. • Don’t change too much at once. When starting a new lifestyle, try to avoid changing too much at once. Slow changes lead to success. • Break down the process. Break goals into smaller, simpler steps, each of which is attainable. • Write it down. Use the Daily DASH Log to keep track of what you eat and what you’re doing while you are eating. You may find that you eat unhealthy foods while watching television. If so, you could start keeping a healthier substitute snack on hand. • Celebrate success. Instead of eating out to celebrate your accomplishments, try a night at the movies, go shopping, visit the library or bookstore, or watch your favorite TV show. Participate in NHLBI Clinical Trials The National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute (NHLBI) leads or sponsors many studies aimed at preventing, diagnosing, and treating heart, lung, blood, and sleep disorders. Learn more about participating in a clinical trial. View all trials from ClinicalTrials.govexternal link. Visit Children and Clinical Studiesexternal link to hear experts, parents, and children talk about their experiences with clinical research. https://www.nhlbi.nih.gov/health-topics/dash-eating-plan Health Benefits of the DASH Eating Plan Three NHLBI-funded trials showed the health benefits of the DASH diet, such as lowering high blood pressure and LDL (bad) cholesterol in the blood, and shaped the final DASH eating plan recommendations. Study Results Three NHLBI-funded trials found the following health benefits of the DASH diet. • DASH (Dietary Approaches to Stop Hypertension Trial): The DASH diet lowers blood pressure and LDL (bad) cholesterol compared with a typical American diet alone or a typical American diet with more fruits and vegetables. • DASH-Sodium (DASH Diet, Sodium Intake, and Blood Pressure Trial): The DASH diet lowers blood pressure better than a typical American diet at three daily sodium levels. Combining the DASH diet with sodium reduction gives greater health benefits than the DASH diet alone. • PREMIER clinical trial: People can lose weight and lower their blood pressure by following the DASH eating plan and increasing their physical activity. DASH Trial This trial included 459 adults, some with and without confirmed high blood pressure, and compared three diets including 3,000 mg daily sodium: • Typical American diet • Typical American diet plus more fruits and vegetables • DASH diet None of the plans were vegetarian or used specialty foods. After 2 weeks, participants who added fruits and vegetables to a typical American diet or those on the DASH diet had lower blood pressure than those who followed a typical American diet alone. However, the participants on the DASH diet had the greatest effect of lowering their high blood pressure. Follow-up reports from the DASH trial showed that in addition to improving blood pressure, the DASH diet also lowered LDL cholesterol levels. High blood pressure and elevated LDL cholesterol are two major risk factors for cardiovascular disease. DASH-Sodium Trial This trial randomly assigned 412 participants to a typical American diet or the DASH diet. While on their assigned diet, participants were followed for a month at a high daily sodium level (3,300 mg) and two lower daily sodium levels (2,300 mg and 1,500 mg). Reducing daily sodium lowered blood pressure for participants on either diet. However, blood pressures were lower for participants on the DASH diet versus a typical American diet. Blood pressure decreased with each reduction of sodium. These results showed that lowering sodium intake and eating the DASH diet is more beneficial for lowering blood pressure than following the DASH diet alone. PREMIER Trial The PREMIER trial included 810 participants who were placed into three groups to lower blood pressure, lose weight, and improve health. The groups included: • Advice-only group, did not receive counseling on behavior changes • Established treatment plan, including counseling for 6 months • Established treatment plan, plus counseling and use of the DASH diet After 6 months, blood pressure levels declined in all three groups. The two groups that received counseling and followed a treatment plan had more weight loss than the advice-only group. However, participants in the established treatment plan who followed the DASH diet had the greatest improvement in their blood pressure.