Lose weight through the DASH diet: new book shows you how
Simon & Schuster
The DASH diet first gained a name for itself 15 years ago as a successful eating approach that would lower blood pressure, more than just just reducing salt intake. Now, though, it’s been heralded as an effective method for losing weight — earning a number one ranking from US News and World Report for “Best Overall Diet,’’ topping Weight Watchers, Jenny Craig, and South Beach.
Developed by five research teams across the country (including one at Harvard), the Dietary Approaches to Stop Hypertension diet involves eating mostly grains — focused on whole-wheat bread, pasta, and other whole grains — as well as 8 to 10 servings a day of fruits and vegetables. Protein should consist of low-fat or nonfat dairy foods (two to three servings a day), as well as two daily servings of lean meat, fish, eggs, or chicken. Sweets are limited.
Now, though, Dr. Thomas Moore, one of the original DASH diet researchers at Harvard, has written a book called the DASH Diet for Weight Loss that has specific meal plans and recipes to follow if you’re trying to lose weight — from 1,200-calorie-a-day plans up to 2,600 calories a day.
“This is basically a very healthy diet, and we wanted to come up with a method for people to lose weight, while also enabling them to stick with habits that they could follow for the rest of their life,’’ said Moore, who is the associate provost for the Boston University Medical Campus.
DASH is probably the closest thing our nation has to an “American’’-style eating model that’s also nutritious. It allows us to continue to eat cereal for breakfast, sandwiches for lunch, and a sirloin steak or grilled chicken breast for dinner, much like the French partake of foie gras and Nicoise salads and the Greeks pop olives and stuffed grape leaves.
And it’s been shown in clinical trials to reduce high blood pressure about as well as medications such as beta blockers. Those who have followed the diet in observational studies had about a 18 percent lower risk of heart attacks and 24 percent lower risk of strokes compared with those who didn’t.
Here’s a sample 1,400-calorie day on the DASH diet for weight loss — designed by Boston Medical Center nutritionists — that appears in the book:
Breakfast (205 calories)
1 ounce bran flakes (3/4 cup)
1/2 cup sliced banana
1/2 cup nonfat milk
Morning snack (150 calories)
1 small low-fat granola bar
1 medium apple
Lunch (465 calories)
2 1/2 cups of raw leafy greens and vegetables (bell peppers, carrots, tomatoes)
4 ounces grilled skinless chicken breast
1 hard-boiled egg
1 tablespoon unsalted roasted sunflower seeds
1 tablespoon low-fat creamy Italian dressing
Half a 7-inch whole-wheat pita pocket
Afternoon snack
1 cup nonfat vanilla yogurt
1 medium orange
Dinner
Piled-High Veggie Pizza (Roll out one 12-ounce package of prepared pizza dough and top with 1 cup low-sodium tomato sauce, 1/2 cup shredded low-fat mozzarella cheese, sliced mushrooms, chopped broccoli florets, and sliced red bell pepper; bake at 450 degrees F. for 15 to 20 minutes; serves six.)
1/2 cup sliced mango
Evening snack/dessert
2 dark-chocolate kisses
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