The DASH Diet, developed in part by LSU’s Pennington Biomedical Research Center, has been named number two diet of 2019 according to U.S. News and World Report. Researcher Catherine Champagne says the diet emphasizes more greens, and shares similarities to the popular “Mediterranean diet”.
“Fruits and vegetables, whole grains, and not a lot of meat, but they encourage fish. It includes nuts, which imparts a Mediterranean type of fat.”
The Mediterranean diet, which features more oils and less meat, was ranked number one, and the “flexitarian” diet, a vegetarian diet that permits occasional meat consumption, came in at three.
The Dash Diet calls for two to three daily servings of dairy, six to eight servings of lean meats, two to three servings of fats and oils, six to eight servings of whole grains, and eight to ten servings of fruits and veggies. Champagne says fruits and vegetables are the key to this diet.
“We wanted to get the levels of nutrients, especially magnesium and potassium, and dietary fibers, up to certain levels.”
It also recommends four to five weekly servings of nuts, seeds, and beans, and only five or fewer servings of sweets a week.
The number one goal of the Dash Diet is not weight loss, but lowering blood pressure. That being said, if you stick to DASH, you’ll likely be on the right side of the “calories in, calories out” weight loss equation.
“It can be used for weight loss, we have used it for weight loss, but in order to lose weight it really is about calories.”
The full diet is available online at the Mayo Clinic’s website.
