My dash diet experiment

"Dash diet didn't work for me - but here's how I lost 20 pounds in 20 days - without saying no to my favorite foods or exercising hard..."

- by Angela

Yes, it's true. I lost 20 pounds in 20 days:

- without dieting
- without saying "no" to my favorite foods (like chocolate cake)
- without joining a gym or exercising like crazy

In a minute, I will tell you exactly how I did it. But before that, allow me to tell you a bit about myself and how my life used to be not too long ago (you'll see that we probably have a lot in common).

So, until about 6 months ago, my life was a mess. I was about 45 pounds overweight. And, they may tell you that "fat people are cute" (most of my friends used to tell me the same) - but the reality was that:

- I was treated like a lower life form. I remember at least two people calling me "fat ass" while in the bus. Is that rude or what?

- I was unemployed and I couldn't find a job either - even though I knew I was smarter and more qualified than others. Yes, the "thin and sexy people" would always get the job. What does my weight have to do with how I perform in my work?

- Although I have a cute face and a reasonably nice personality, I couldn't find someone to have relationship with. My friends had set me up with a couple of "blind dates" but those went sour faster than you can say "chocolate cake." My last relationship had ended about 3 years ago - and I knew what the reason was when I saw my ex 1 month later with a super-sexy blond he met at the gym...

- I couldn't fit into my favorite jeans. I had to wear these extra large clothes - that actually made me look even fatter than I was...

- My self-esteem was at an all-time low. When everything in your life goes wrong, it's not hard to imagine why. There where days when I was almost afraid to look myself in the mirror. I didn't really want to have an "honest look" at myself. And, eve if I did, I didn't think that there was a way for me to change my life...

- Because of my depression, I was doing the last thing I should be doing: eating even more. I'm very much what you would call an "emotional eater." Whenever I would feel sad, I would eat a double serving of pasta or some chocolate cake ( I love chocolate cake). I admit I was goinga little over board with it as at some days I would eat 3 "normal servings" of chocolate cake in one sitting...

- Because of my eating habits, I was feeling sluggish and very low on energy all day long. I was getting tired very easily and didn't feel like "living" at all. I'd much rather sit on the couch and watch TV...

I had tried everything you can imagine but nothing worked (I even tried the dash diet but got no results).

One day, a relative of mine whom I hadn't seen for 6 years, didn't even recognize me when she saw me. She wasn't mean or anything but I could see it in her eyes that she felt pity for me - which was even worse...

I had already tried several (rather expensive) weight loss programs and weight loss drugs and I was never able to lose weight and maintain it. I would lose 10 pounds and 3 weeks later I would gain it all back with interest - plus, I was out my money and time...

But I'm not telling you all this to feel sorry about me. As you'll see, all this changed very soon. Keep reading to find out how I did it and how you can do it too...

One day, I saw an ad for a new weight loss product. I didn't think much of it, as ads for weight loss products are a dime a dozen. Most of those products are just overpriced and ineffective junk (do I sound bitter?). So I just forgot about the whole thing...

But a week later, I met a friend of mine whom I hadn't seen for over 3 months. She used to be overweight too - only this time she wasn't. In fact, she looked great! I asked her how she did it and she said she was usng this new weight loss product. And what do you know, it was the exact same product I had seen being advertised a week ago!

I thought to myself: "I have to get my hands on some of this stuff." And I did. There was a free trial available so I took advantage of it.. It arrived at my doorstep 2 days later.

Now, what I conveniently "forgot" to tell you is that I hate dieting or exercising. I mean, I'm not an Olympic athlete or something. What I have found is that, if I don't like my weight loss program, I won't stick to it...

In my opinion, self-discipline and willpower are grossly overrated in our society. For how long do you think you can be disciplined and "tough it out"? 1 day? 2 days? 2 weeks? That's how most people are and that's OK - that's just human nature. So I won't pretend I'm someone I know I ain't.

I had read some weight loss advice on some weight loss forums I used to hang out at. It's not that I didn't really know what to do: It was just that I hated going to the gym or "eating right."

So, I asked myself: "How can I create a weight loss program that I actually ENJOY?" Sounds like a tall order, right? When most people hear the terms "weight loss" or "diet", they immediately connect that with months of starvation and sweating their butts off at the gym. Well, I knew that there was no chance I would do that - so I came up with a more "manageable" plan...

1) The first thing I did was make sure that I was drinking enough water a day. Now, most people drink almost no water during the day - or a couple of glasses max. On the other hand, super-athletic types may drink a gallon a day (about 5 liters). I wanted to avoid these extremes so I just made sure I drank about 1,5 liters of water a day (about 51 oz). Not too much but not too little either. I found that water kept me fuller and I wasn't having that many cravings. I would drink some first think in the morning and then a glass about 30 mins before a meal. I would also drink a small glass immediately after any meals that contained fat, while I was using my new weight loss product.

2) As I said, I don't like exercising. But I knew I needed to become more active. I knew I wouldn't join a gym. I hate too much effort. Plus, I didn't want the "gym rats" who where in great shape to laugh at me behind my back. So what I did was make a list of all the activities I enjoyed. NOT activities that would make me sweat - just activities that would burn a few more calories than just sitting on the couch.

For me those activities where:

- Going for a 30-minute brisk walk at the park while listening to my favorite music in my portable MP3 player.

- Riding my stationary exercise bike at home at level 3 (it went from 1-10) while watching my favorite TV shows like Desperate Housewives or Seinfeld.

I'm not saying that I would do both of them every day - but I would try to do at least one of them a day. If at some point I was getting tired or bored, I would immediately STOP exercising as I didn't want to develop an aversion for that type of exercise (very important - you have to like your exercise program - not hate it). Consistency is the name of the game. As they say "you are either consistent or non-existent." That said, I found that, while I was on my new weight loss product, I had more energy (without feeling jumpy) and I could "keep going" without feeling tired. That's probably because the food I ate was being digested more slowly and gave me sustained energy rather than energy spikes that would "dive" later.

3) What about diet? Even though I know its healthy, I admit that I don't like "diet food" too much. I knew I had to find a way to continue eating my favorite meals while also losing weight. I know this may sound hard to believe but I didn't really changemy diet all that much. Because I was drinking a glass of water 30 mins before each meal, I wasn't feeling as hungry so I naturally ate less (without feeling hungry). I also made sure that I was taking my new weight loss product religiously.

A very important lesson I learned is that you should strive for PROGRESS - NOT PERFECTION. Perfection doesn't even exist - besides, it's very tough to stick to...

4) Something else that will help you stick to your weight loss program is motivation. And nothing is more motivating than seeing RESULTS. Once every 5-7 days I would weigh myself as well as measure my waist and hips. No need to drive yourself crazy and do this every day. This isn't necessary or even logical. The bodyweight may fluctuate from day to day. But over longer periods of time, you should see consistent success. Keep in mind that the fat we have around our hips and belly is usually the last to go - so don't worry if you don't see results for the first few days. That's normal. Something else that I did was put on my clothes and see how they fit. I saw that they would feel looser and looser on me. And after a while, I was able to wear the smaller sizes that I had somewhere in my closet. Seeing that I was losing weight, losing inches and droping sizes added fire to my motivation!

After 20 days (the 4th time I had weighed myself), I had lost 20 pounds. I had also lost 5 inches around my thighs and 6 inches around my belly! And after 2 months total on this program, I had lost all my 45 extra pounds!

So, how did losing weight actually change my life?

- First of all, my family was giving me compliments all the time about the new way I looked. My friends also gave me compliments although I could see that some of them where feeling very jealous deep down (which is fine by me - I'm not complaining :-))

- My self-confidence skyrocketed. Not only did I look different - I also acted different. I was more outgoing and "chatty" (before losing weight I was really introverted and closed in myself).

- I managed to land a new office job. I admit that I was qualified for the job but the fact that I also looked good during the interview didn't hurt a bit! I had been interviewed several times in the past for similar jobs but never got them. I wonder why?

- Now that I was feeling more confident and had a job, I also started going out more. And I see how guys look at me now. The same guys wouldn't even notice me a couple of months ago. I know this may sound shallow but it's really nice to feel wanted and liked...

I know that this may not sound fair but overweight people are not treated the same in our society. They just don't get the same chances, you know?

If you are overweight now, ask yourself:

- What are you missing on right now by having all that extra weight?
- How much better will you feel when you lose all your extra weight?
- How much more confidence will you have?
- How more liked and accepted will you be?

If you want to lose all your extra weight without suffering in the process, then I can't recommend highly enough that you use the same weight loss program I just outlined. You may want to modify it here and there to suit you better but remember to KEEP THINGS SIMPLE AND FUN.

Above all, take advantage of all the shortcuts you can and let "modern technology" do the heavy lifting. By using the weight loss product I used:

- You will have more energy

- You will not feel as hungry or have as many cravings

- You will boost your metabolism and burn more calories even while you sleep

I have used many weight loss products and programs in the past and I was very dissapointed. If you haven't lost weight until now, it's NOT your fault! Most popular programs don't work for average people.

It's nice to find one that works for a change. The company that makes this product is so confident that they offer you a free trial.

Hope this helps a little...

To a new slim you,

Angela

The dash diet menu

In this article we are going to take a quick look at the Dash Diet Menu to see if it is all it's cracked up to be - and if we can actually achieve our New Years weight loss goals if we follow it! Read on..:-)

The Dietary Approaches to Stop Hypertension of DASH diet is a weight loss plan geared toward eating in a moderate and sensible way. This approach is becoming more popular as it focuses on a real world approach to eating well. You can actually eat out and enjoy yourself without having to count every calorie in your food if you follow their advice. For the road warriors out there, fast food is even ok with this diet's diverse approach. A lot of restaurants even help those on diets by using icons on the menus to allow diners to identify low-fat dishes. Diners also are given more leeway in choosing how their meals are cooked.

Researches believe that the combination of nutrients from eating this way will lower blood pressure. The DASH diet can also help reduce the risk of chronic disease as well as keeping a balanced and healthy weight.

The DASH diet promotes food that is low in cholesterol and saturated fat. Cutting back on fats is ok to still keep the taste of good food and a menu of variety. Using this very popular approach, here are a few key ingredients to making sure you succeed (no pun intended..:-)

1) Stay away from bread if you can - but if you're so hungry and the rolls on the table are too tempting - it's ok - just DON'T use butter.

2) For salad dressing - ask for low fat and on the side.

3) Choose tossed green or spinach

4) Ask that your food be cooked with olive oil instead of butter.

5) It is best to choose foods that are steamed, grilled, broiled, roasted or stir-fried.

6) Choose vegetables as side dishes. Baked potatoes and rice is also ok.

7) Skip French fries and onion rings

8) Cut any visible fat from meat.

9) Its better to drink water, club soda, juice, diet soda, tea or coffee

10) Say no to too much booze! (limit yourself to two)

13) Its better to avoid soup and choose instead fruit or salad

14) Be aware of salt intake, always!

And of course....The jumbo sized rule is coming next!

15) Always avoid eating too much!

Other things that the DASH diet points out are more obvious traps that dieters fall into like the Salad paradox...Don't believe that simply because it's got green in it, it means it's healthy or low calorie - some salad dressings are fat, fat, FATTENING!

A sensible approach to dieting for sure, but it's not going to revolutionize your figure, or transform you into a hard body anytime soon. But if you simply want to be a bit healthier and self - aware, it is a small but significant step in the right direction!

Stop! Are you sick and tired of being overweight, unhappy and out of shape? I was!

Dash diet to solve hypertension

What is the DASH diet?. DASH stands for Dietary Approaches for Stopping Hypertension. It is a common term used by physicians all over the United States. Basically it involves a diet which consists of foods that have proven to lower high blood pressure, or hypertension. Of course, the DASH diet also calls for a minimization of foods that are well known to contribute to high blood pressure as well.

The DASH diet is not truly defined by any means, and therefore is broad in its various executions. However, the guidelines that the DASH diet gives to people with hypertension have shown to enable them to lower their blood pressure in a matter of weeks, with drastic improvements for periods over six months of DASH dieting. This drastic improvement has led to its increased and continued usage of the DASH diet by physicians across the country.

The components of the DASH diet are very simple, and are easy to follow. The major contributors to the lowering of participants’ blood pressure are the fruits, vegetables, legumes, seeds, and nuts. The good cholesterol, fiber, and negative calories are all good components of a well balanced and healthy diet. Olive oil is also encouraged, and has shown to contribute lower blood pressures with studies throughout the Mediterranean countries and their inhabitants which use olive oil daily.

Another healthy change that the DASH diet brings to the average American diet are the low-fat items. For instance, the DASH diet recommends low-fat dairy products and lean meats such as poultry and fish. Now, some fish contain more fats than others, so it is important for you to balance your intake between the two. Besides, the fattier fishes are actually more expensive on average! Finally, it is important for you to take in several whole grain products each day. Oatmeal for breakfast is a popular solution, as well as granola bars as between-meal snacks.

The most important step in the DASH diet is to minimize foods and items which contribute to high blood pressure. The main contributors to hypertension are inactivity, excess sodium, excess alcohol, excess body weight, and inadequate magnesium, potassium, and calcium. If you also noticed, DASH diet foods are also foods that are recommended for weight loss diets. The reason that these foods are found in the DASH diet and in weight loss diets is due to the fact that most people with hypertension are usually overweight. The most effective treatment for hypertension, disclosed by most physicians, is weight loss.

One of the closest diets that you can compare to the DASH diet is the Vegan diet. I was able to write an article recently, “Make The Vegetarian Diet Work For You”, which explains the benefits and uses of Vegan foods towards your health. A lot of the foods that you see recommended in the DASH diet are also foods that are a part of the Vegan diet, which would explain the fact that Vegan’s are very rarely diagnosed with hypertension.

Proper documentation on the DASH diet is available from your physician, as well as at several online dietary sources. I would definitely recommend researching DASH diet foods and to start planning your daily diet around them immediately. The health benefits that you will see with the lowered blood pressure is important in the short term for better health and well-being, however it is critical in the long term. The DASH diet will help to extend your life due to your cardiovascular system’s inability to operate for years under a higher pressure than what it is designed for. You also will be able to access dietary tips and extensive information at my website listed below. My free membership fitness tuning site focuses on dietary as well as fitness aspects in order to contribute towards a healthy lifestyle for people of all ages and body types.

Dash diet recipes

There are many people who our following DASH diet recipes in hopes of lowering their blood pressure, but the diet doesn't just lower blood pressure. The American Heart Association recommends it for those who have cardiovascular problems or high blood pressure and are looking to eat a heart healthy diet. The good news is like most heart friendly diets it can also lead to weight loss.

The word DASH stands for Dietary Approaches to Stop Hypertension and the diet has been proven to lower blood pressure in as little as 14 days. The diet provides guidelines on how many servings from each food group should be eaten daily. To increase heart healthy minerals like, calcium, magnesium and potassium more servings of vegetables are eaten daily. When most people eat less meat and more vegetables, while cutting out junk food they end up reducing their calorie intake. Of course reducing daily calorie intake can lead to weight loss. The diet also stresses reduced sodium and for this reason processed foods should be limited, whole grains and other high fiber foods are encouraged.

Ironically this diet is endorsed by the Mayo Clinic, not the fad 3 day grapefruit diet which often wrongly carries the name of the Mayo Clinic in it. Anyone Looking for DASH diet recipes should get the book, The Dash Diet Action Plan by Marla Heller. The book not only has recipes but a complete 28 day meal plan and gives guidance on how to adjust calorie intake for more weight loss. It also contains more helpful tips on lowering your blood pressure by making positive changes to ones lifestyle.

The DASH diet is a healthy common sense approach to nutrition. It is easy to follow and though it does restrict or limit certain foods, you won't be left feeling hungry. The diet isn't just for those who are looking to eat heart healthy diets. Some of the recommendations like eating less processed foods can and should be part of any diet plan.

What is the dash diet?

It is known that diet does influence conditions of hypertension and certain diet plans can help in lowering the elevated blood pressure. This dietary approach to controlling hypertension is called "DASH", short for "Dietary Approaches to Stop Hypertension".

Is It Really Effective

Studies, supported by NHLBI (National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute), were conducted to evaluate effects of nutrients, as they occur together in food, on blood pressure. This study was the basis for DASH. The study showed that a diet which was low in saturated fat, total fat, and cholesterol and rich in low-fat dairy products, vegetables and fruits dramatically reduced the elevated blood pressures. Incidentally this diet is rich in potassium, magnesium, and calcium, as well as fiber and protein.

In the clinical tests, the DASH diet, which is rich in vegetables, fruits and low-fat dairy foods but low in amounts of saturated fat, total fat, and cholesterol, brought down systolic blood pressure on an average by about 6 mm Hg and the diastolic blood pressure by about 3 mm Hg. In case of patients with high blood pressure the diet worked even better --11 mm Hg drop in the systolic and about 6 mm Hg in the diastolic. Significantly these reductions came about within 2 weeks of starting the DASH diet!

What Is Permitted In DASH

The DASH diet plan is rich in many nutrients. It is beneficial not only in condition of high blood pressure but for general good health also. If you follow the recommended 2000 calories a day diet plan, your body will be getting 500 mg of magnesium, 1240 mg of calcium and 4700 mg of potassium; these amounts are 200% to 300% of what most Americans get in their normal diet.

Relation between high blood pressure and being overweight has been known for long. It is quite natural, therefore, to find that the diet suggested for reducing blood pressure has shades of a diet normally associated with natural cure for weight loss. Many components of the DASH diet plan such as low saturated fat, total fat and use of a large amount of low-fat dairy products, vegetables and fruits which include fiber and proteins are similar to a natural weight loss diet plan.

The DASH plan gives detailed diet plans corresponding to different levels of calorie intake intended. It is quite easy to adapt the DASH plan for weight loss or fast weight loss by selecting the suggested DASH diet for calorie intake which is less than what one is already taking.

Please note, however, that if you are taking medication for high blood pressure condition, do not stop the therapeutic treatment you are receiving when you start on DASH diet plan; consult your physician about the drug treatment.

What is the dash diet eating plan?

DASH (Dietary Approaches to Stop Hypertension) diet eating plan is one of the non-pharmacologic therapy in high blood pressure management. It is a part of lifestyle modifications including: low in saturated fat intake, increase fruits and vegetables intake, more substituted carbohydrate-containing food such as whole grain products, increase intake of fish, poultry as well as nuts. Study showed that DASH diet eating plan has the greatest effect on reduction of blood pressure and cholesterol compare to normal diet. Result can be seen within 2 weeks!

Tips To Lower Calories Intake With DASH Eating Plan!
1.Increase fruit
A day an apple keeps doctor away! Apple and dried apricots are the best choice in dietary plan for high blood pressure patients.
2.Increase vegetable
Hamburger! Yes, it could increase your blood pressure even though it is a favourite food for most peoples. I know it is very hard for you to stop eating it. However, I would suggest you to take 3 ounces weight of meat instead of 6 ounces with a bigger size.
This is the same in reducing intake of chicken with only a 2 ounces weight and accompany with a plate of raw vegetables.
3.Increase fat-free or low-fat milk products
Example, an ordinary ice-cream can be replaced with low-fat-containing yogurt.

Reducing Salts And Sodium
With the approach of ingesting more fruits and vegetables in DASH eating plan, it has made it easier to consume less salt and sodium consequently owing to its lower content of sodium. In addition, fruits and vegetables are potassium-rich diet which plays a role in reducing high blood pressure. Others common dietary sources are milk products and fish.

Tips To Reduce Salt And Sodium
Restrict salt-rich containing foods. It is preferably to take no or low-salt-added foods.
Increased intake of vegetables.
No salt-added rice, noodles or any other mixed dishes
Removing excess salt from preserved food such as tuna or beans which are being preserved in a can form.