DASH Diet - What is it?

The DASH Diet has won the Best Overall Diet award for the year 2012. What is DASH Diet?


DASH - Dietary Approaches to Stop Hypertension

The Diet as the name suggests strives to prevent and lower BP or Hypertension.

So is it only for High Blood Pressure patients?

The Dash Diet follows a combination of a specified eating plan combined with reduced intake of salt. Dash menus have sodium in the range of 2300 mg while the average US man has a daily intake of sodium of 4200 mg. The diet is rich in potassium, magnesuim, calcium - all essential minerals and protein and fibre.

The Dash eating plan prescribes amount of daily servings per day for various calorie needs. Suppose a person requires 1600 calories per day as per her lifestyle and metabolism levels - the daily servings of various food groups is givens in the DASH Dietary Plan.

For 1600 calories per day - daily servings as per DASH

Food Group                        No of Servings          Each Serving Includes (eg)

Grains (preferably whole) -       6                        1 slice bread or 1/2 cup rice, pasta
Vegetables -                             3-4                     1/2 cup cooked veg or 1 cup raw leafy
Fruits -                                      4                       1 medium fruit, 1/2 cup fruit juice
Fat Free or Low Fat Milk         2-3                     1 cup yoghurt
Lean Meats, Poultry, Fish -        3-6                    1 oz
Nuts, Seeds, Legumes             3/Week                1/2 cup cooked legumes, 1/3 cup nuts
Fats and Oils                            2                         1 tsp

The Dash Diet plan gives the food that comes under the various food groups.

The plan has many useful tips and tricks on how to reduce your intake of calories and salt - like taking an apple instead of 4 shortbread cookes saves one 80 calories, using unsalted products whereever possible, washing canned vegetables to remove the brine or better using fresh vegetables.

Its apparent from the diet that it is appropriate for weight watchers as well as High BP patients as well as anyone willing to invest a modicum of time and energy to follow a healthy lifestyle. 

The Dash Diet can be found in entirety at the NHLBI website to download.

Fried Chicken Curry (Dry) - Easy to Cook Recipe

Dry Chicken (South Indian Style)

This is an easy to cook chicken recipe that I tried today. It turned out really well, much to my surprise. This dried chicken recipe has a tangy peppery taste and should be good to eat with chapatti. We had it with steamed rice though for Sunday lunch.

Ingredients and Preparation

Chicken (500 gm)
Ginger garlic paste (2 tsp)
Chilli powder
Turmeric powder
Curry Powder (Any good one like Gemini, Everest, Ruchi, MTR, etc)) - 2 tbsp
Curry Leaves
Green Chillies - To taste
Mustard paste (ready made or home made) - 1 tsp
Vinegar - 2-3 tbsp
Ground Pepper - 2 tbsp
Mustard seeds - 1 tsp
Onion - 2 big
Oil - 2 tbsp
Salt to taste

Marinate Chicken (500 g) with ginger garlic paste (2 tsp), turmeric powder, chilli powder, vinegar, green chilli (1-2), half tsp mustard paste (I used the Heinz mustard paste that I keep for hotdogs), freshly ground pepper and 2 tsp curry powder (I used Ruchi's Curry Powder). Try to marinate for at least 30 minutes or so, so that the flavours soak in. It is however ideal to marinate for 3 hours.

Slice 2 big onions and keep aside.

Heat oil in a deep wok (Kadhai). Add the mustard seeds. Add the onions and fry. Add the curry leaves and marinated chicken. Add a sliced green chilli. Add salt to tase. Fry on high heat till the water evaporates. Add a little water. Cover it leave it to simmer on low heat. Stir in between to see that the chicken doesn't stick to the pan.

Cooking time - Approx 20-30 Min depending on the quality of poultry.

What is Oats?

Oat is by far the Numero Uno item for most beginner dieters. Or veteran dieters? What is oatmeal? How is it eaten? How nutritious is eat? Is it for Real or just another promotion gimmick (lower cholesterol, anyone?) by commercial food specialists?

I decided to seriously look into these questions. Here are the answers I got.