Nutrition basics (19)
- Dietary fiber: Essential for a healthy diet
- Artificial sweeteners and other sugar substitutes
- Added sugar: Don't get sabotaged by sweeteners
- see all in Nutrition basics
Healthy diets (12)
- Mediterranean diet recipes
- Vegetarian diet: How to get the best nutrition
- Sample menus for the DASH eating plan
- see all in Healthy diets
Healthy cooking (14)
- Meatless meals: The benefits of eating less meat
- Healthy eating: Jazz it up with these tips
- Healthy cooking for 1 or 2
- see all in Healthy cooking
Healthy menus and shopping strategies (13)
- Free range and other meat and poultry terms
- Cuts of beef: A guide to the leanest selections
- Mayo Clinic Healthy Weight Pyramid: A sample menu
- see all in Healthy menus and shopping strategies
Nutritional supplements (3)
- Herbal supplements: What to know before you buy
- Supplements: Nutrition in a pill?
- Calcium and calcium supplements: Achieving the right balance
Free
E-newsletter
Subscribe to Housecall
Our weekly general interest
e-newsletter keeps you up to date
on a wide variety of health topics.
Mayo Clinic Housecall
Stay up to date on the latest health information.
What you get
- Free weekly e-newsletter
- Mayo Clinic expertise
- Recipes, tools and other helpful information
- We do not share your e-mail address
Sample menus for the DASH eating plan
Interested in following the DASH eating plan but not sure how? Here are sample menus to get you started.
By Mayo Clinic staffThe eating plan known as Dietary Approaches to Stop Hypertension (DASH) is used to lower or control high blood pressure. The DASH diet contains foods that are lower in sodium. A key goal is to include foods that are rich in nutrients that are also associated with lowering blood pressure — potassium, magnesium and calcium. The DASH diet features menus with plenty of vegetables, fruits and low-fat dairy products, as well as whole grains, fish, poultry and nuts. It offers limited portions of red meats, sweets and sugary beverages.
Maybe you want to try the DASH diet, but aren't quite sure how to incorporate DASH into your own daily menus. To help you get started, here are three days' worth of menus that conform to the DASH plan. Use these menus as a basis for your own healthy meal planning.
Remember that on some days, you may eat more of or fewer than the recommended servings for a particular food group, or you may exceed your sodium goal. That's OK, as long as the average of several days or a week is close to the recommendations. Also note that the values for nutritional information may vary according to specific brands of ingredients you use or changes you make in meal preparation.
Next page(1 of 2)
- Sheps SG, ed. Mayo Clinic 5 Steps to Controlling High Blood Pressure. Rochester, Minn.: Mayo Foundation for Medical Education and Research; 2008.
- Your guide to lowering blood pressure with DASH. National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute. http://www.nhlbi.nih.gov/health/public/heart/hbp/dash/new_dash.pdf. Accessed Dec. 10, 2010.
- Blumenthal JA, et al. Effects of the DASH diet alone and in combination with exercise and weight loss on blood pressure and cardiovascular biomarkers in men and women with high blood pressure. Archives of Internal Medicine. 2010;170:126.
- Nelson JK (expert opinion). Mayo Clinic, Rochester, Minn. Dec. 10, 2010.
- Nutritionist Pro diet analysis (computer program). Stafford, Texas: Axxya Systems; 2008. http://www.nutritionistpro.com/dietanalysis.php. Accessed Dec. 29, 2010.
Find Mayo Clinic on