Heart Food

The best way to ensure a life of lower blood pressure is to eat healthy and exercise. The DASH diet plan—short for “Dietary Approaches to Stop Hypertension”—is the best way to do that.

Thomas Moore, M.D., of Boston University Medical Center, worked with the original DASH clinical study and is the primary author of The DASH Diet for Hypertension. “It’s really easy to use the DASH diet because it’s so easy to understand,” he says. “DASH teaches people to eat according to food groups and the number of servings each individual needs per day. Most of those foods are whole foods. That is to say, you’re picking out fresh fruits and vegetables, whole grains and proteins that can be simply prepared at home, and you’re avoiding prepackaged foods.”

Moore claims the diet has been so successful it’s not just used to help people lower their blood pressure, but as a guide to help all Americans live a healthier life. For more information on the DASH diet and lifestyle recommendations, read The DASH Diet for Hypertension, or have a look at the DASH for Health web site.

DID YOU KNOW? According to the National Institutes of Health, maintaining a sodium intake of less than 2,400 mg of sodium per day (roughly 1 teaspoon) can significantly lower blood pressure in most adults.