DASH diet

[maryemma]

Hello , I am a lady off almost 79 ,recently my Blood Pressure is a bit high and I have decided to try the Dash diet as life style changes. I have read up and watched a few videos. Has anyone any tips and ideas for meals etc.I have stoped processed foods and added salt . having more veg and fruit.I would like to get a wall chart for the kitched on foods to eat and not eat, but Carnt find any .I few tasty meals for two would be a great help.Thankyou.

[Eryl]

You're doing the right thing by addressing diet but the DASH diet is a bit outdated, current research shows that dietary fat has nothing to do with cholesterol but with mainly high GI processed foods. Look for a book called 'The pioppi diet'.

[maryemma in reply to Eryl]

Thankyou so much for replying to me Eryl ,I willloointo it.

[Cooper27 Administrator]

I'm afraid I don't know much about the dash diet, but it could be worth having a look on Pinterest for ideas. It's always my go to for recipe ideas

[maryemma in reply to Cooper27]

Thanks for that ,I will have a look 🤗

[Screen77]

Hi maryemma, it seems that with high blood pressure the idea is to try and avoid too much cholesterol/fat and salty food.

Fish like tuna or salmon is good to help cholesterol because it has Omega-3 in it which helps break down artery blockage. I've had salmon a few different ways:

-Salmon with roasted vegetable cous cous. Because I live in "halls", I have a shared kitchen without proper cooking implements so I just buy packet cous cous from Tesco that you pour boiling water into.

-Salmon with brown rice and steamed vegetables. Very healthy version, but it might need a sauce of some kind to stop it being too dry.

-Salmon with baby potatoes, green veggies like broccoli/green beans/asparagus and white sauce.

-Salmon with noodles, vegetables and hollandaise sauce. This one's pretty weird and hollandaise is not good in large doses due to being fatty but it adds a bit of flavour in if you put a little bit with it. I like the taste of this combo though.

Tuna would be good to eat in salad, or in a pasta bake. Other oily fish like mackerel and sardines are good too. I eat tinned sardines in tomato sauce on wholemeal toast as a light lunch, and I've tried mackerel salad but I had it smoked and found it very salty that way, I had to put lemon juice on it to tone it down. Non-smoked mackerel would be the best option.

I like to eat chicken salad wraps too, with a wholemeal wrap and chicken breast oven-cooked with the skin removed and a bit of mayo. It's a lighter meal if you're not too hungry but is still good.

White fish like hake, cod, or basa can also be eaten with mashed potatoes and veg/peas and maybe a parsley sauce or other sort; a friend of mine makes it with a mustard sauce but I don't know how to make it myself. If you want you can make cauliflower mash by boiling potatoes and cauliflower together and then mashing it all up as one. I don't really like cauliflower so this was a good way to eat it but cover the flavour. I eat white fish with roasted veg cous cous as well.

You can also make your own pizzas by putting two wholemeal wraps on top of each other with a bit of tomato puree between to stick them and then adding more puree, cheese and toppings on top. Because the base is very thin it stops you overloading it with too much on top and the wholemeal wraps are way less salty than a normal dough pizza base if you want a treat.

Omelettes are also a good meal. I like a spinach and mushroom omelette with salad every now and again.

From what I've seen the guidance is to avoid salt especially for high blood pressure. Things like soups, white bread, meat like ham/bacon/gammon and pizza are quite bad for high salt levels, and if you add salt during cooking it's best to trim that down as well. If you do like to salt for flavour it might be worth looking at alternative things like maybe mixed herbs that you can use to keep that flavour there but get rid of the salt.

Hope this helps in some way, I know it's a lot. Just thought I'd put a few ideas in!

[maryemma in reply to Screen77]

Hi Screen, wow what an amazing reply, Thankyou so much for taking the time to give me so much helpful advice.I do love eating fish ,I have salmon and sea bass every week,I like the way you put the the meal together as well ,I would eat allof those things .eggs and chicken too . This will really help me thanks again.,🙏🤗

[Screen77 in reply to maryemma]

No problem maryemma, glad I could help!

[Hidden in reply to Screen77]

Hi Screen77.

You mention not knowing how to make mustard sauce so maybe my easy recipe may suit you - I like to keep things as straightforward as possible as I don't enjoy faffing around with long lists of ingredients if I can avoid it.

Heat some milk in a non stick pan.

Mix a little cornflour in a jug with a dash of milk or water.

Take milk pan off the heat and whisk in the cornflour mixture, bit by bit until sauce thickens.

Add some mustard of your choice from a jar, to your own taste. This could be Dijon, English wholegrain or any number of other varieties that you like.

I haven't given quantities because it will depend on how many people you are feeding. I have a tendency to do things by eye anyway.

Have a good day.

[maryemma in reply to Hidden]

🤗 that sounds really easy ,thanks

[Screen77 in reply to Hidden]

Hi RofD, thank you for that, I'll take a note and try it out. I've only had it once when a friend made it at their house but I was chatting to them as they cooked and didn't really see what they put in it. It was quite nice though.

[Hidden in reply to Screen77]

I use this basic white sauce for all my sauces. Instead of mustard you could use cheese, white wine, parsley (or any other herb), onion or a whole host of other things. It just makes it a whole lot more straightforward. There are plenty of sauce recipes on the internet but some of them take so much preparation that I can't be bothered with most of them.