DASH Diet thread

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  • zeejane03
    zeejane03 Posts: 993 Member
    edited February 2019
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    Fruit - 2
    Veggie -9
    Grain -4 +2 servings beans
    Dairy -3
    Meat - 4oz salmon
    Nuts - x
    Fats- olives
    Added sugar: yes, fat free Catalina dressing and low calorie honey mustard

    Solid day today, though a bit high on calories (there was an unplanned serving of afternoon oyster crackers and an extra serving of beans at supper because I was to lazy to separate the two servings from the container :p ).
  • emmamcgarity
    emmamcgarity Posts: 1,594 Member
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    Urgent care visit for sick kid threw my dinner plan off. Opting for lean cuisine
  • zeejane03
    zeejane03 Posts: 993 Member
    edited February 2019
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    Today is not going to be DASH compliant-Subway for lunch and probably pizza for supper, due to all day errands/dentist appt/kid's music lesson/friend over for supper to help my husband (hence the pizza lol). I did eat my regular whole grains bread/cheese breakfast and the sub will include protein and 2 servings of veggies. Then it goes down hill from there Lol.

    That's what I love about DASH-we can work towards hitting the recommendations but if we have a day here and there where we have to take a break, it's not a big deal. Seems like a 'real life' way of eating :)

    Emmamcgarity-hope your kiddo is feeling ok!
  • emmamcgarity
    emmamcgarity Posts: 1,594 Member
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    Thanks! I ended yesterday hitting my fruit/veg servings due to my containers being prepared at the start of my day. I snacked on those packed apple slices in the way to urgent care then the celery sticks after the pharmacy. Both of my teenagers now have strep and I am caring for them but keeping my distance in hopes I don’t catch it.

    Today should be ok. I’ve already had 2 whole grains, 4 fruit and 1.25 dairy. Lunch will hit 2 veggies and another two veggies planned at my afternoon snack. I find if I hit the goals early in the day I do better
  • anthocyanina
    anthocyanina Posts: 86 Member
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    margbarco wrote: »
    How do you all measure/weight/count fruits and veggies?

    On a tracking day I weigh fruits and veggies, before cooking if I'm making the meal. If I'm tracking when eating out, I just eyeball servings. I count a serving of cooked veggies as smaller than a serving of raw, depending on how much water it loses through cooking. For example, a serving of cooked carrots is a little smaller than raw and a serving of cooked spinach is a lot smaller than raw.

    I eat a lot of vegetables and fruits so I don't worry about not getting enough. It's usually protein that I need to watch to make sure I get enough.
  • emmamcgarity
    emmamcgarity Posts: 1,594 Member
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    Fruit -4
    Veggie -4
    Whole grain -2.5
    Dairy -2
    Meat -4oz
    Nuts - 0
    Added sugar: yes

    I opted for Lean cuisine for dinner tonight since the kids are on chicken soup until they are feeling better.
  • lemurcat2
    lemurcat2 Posts: 7,885 Member
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    I'm back home tonight (had dinner on the road). I've been generally DASH compliant for breakfast and lunch, not really for dinner, but back to normal tomorrow.
  • zeejane03
    zeejane03 Posts: 993 Member
    edited March 2019
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    Yesterday was pretty crappy food wise-started out ok, but by afternoon I had totally gone off the rails. The highlight was when I realized that I had eaten over 150 calories just in orange Lifesavers, while I was waiting around for various appointments (my dd had an hour and a half dentist appointment, followed by a piano lesson...). It was when I I was scarfing down a bakery cupcake (and eating part of my kids), that I had a 'doh' moment-PMS had arrived, the only time of the month where I crave sweet stuff. Made me feel a lot better realizing this, and this morning I'm feeling back to normal and not wanting to do a face plant into a bag of sugar lol!

    Should be a solid DASH day today!

  • Mauitn
    Mauitn Posts: 12 Member
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    I have gotten Marla Heller's latest book and cookbook and will begin reading. I have tried other diets, but find it difficult to eliminate whole categories of foods (meat, dairy, etc.). I don't have as big a problem limiting the sodium. I have a lot to learn, but it's time...
  • zeejane03
    zeejane03 Posts: 993 Member
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    Mauitn wrote: »
    I have gotten Marla Heller's latest book and cookbook and will begin reading. I have tried other diets, but find it difficult to eliminate whole categories of foods (meat, dairy, etc.). I don't have as big a problem limiting the sodium. I have a lot to learn, but it's time...

    Glad you're joining us!
  • emmamcgarity
    emmamcgarity Posts: 1,594 Member
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    Fruit -4
    Veggie -4
    Whole grain -2
    Dairy -1
    Meat -6oz
    Nuts - 0
    Added sugar: yes

    My third trip to urgent care this week... This time for mom for flu. Pre-planning helped with staying mostly DASH compliant. I opted for a side salad with nuggets from chick-fil-s after picking up Tamiflu and other meds for mom.
  • emmamcgarity
    emmamcgarity Posts: 1,594 Member
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    Yesterday
    Fruit -5
    Veggie -0
    Whole grain -4
    Dairy -2
    Meat -3oz
    Nuts - 1
    Added sugar: yes

    Breakfast and lunch yesterday were very DASH compliant. Then I took a break from life to hang out with friends. Lots of walking and lots of fun. Then margaritas and Mexican food. Back to DASH today. I am liking that even though yesterday was over on calories I feel good about where DASH lands nutritionally over time even when I am not 100% compliant. I also received my cholesterol screening results from the health fair at work a couple weeks ago. All my numbers were good. Another 15 lbs will put me in a healthy BMI.
  • lemurcat2
    lemurcat2 Posts: 7,885 Member
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    I'm traveling so much lately -- off again tonight and then another quick trip at the end of the week and then have to visit my father and his SO the following week (although they always eat healthy and pretty DASH compliant anyway) and then go to Virginia the following week. Although I haven't been reporting in, I find I like doing DASH when traveling because it's easy to just choose the most DASH compliant things. It's not that different from what I used to do (I used to choose vegetables when available, and then lean protein/fish, and then fruit), but it's helpful when I am eating less meat in general and can focus on the DASH categories.

    I think I'm going to go plant-based during Lent (although not when at my dad's place, since for family reasons I should eat what is served), so that will not be DASH compliant and I'll probably try to log more to watch nutrients, but other than the dairy should fit in well and I might actually start eating my grains and figure out my best plant-based sources of calcium.
  • zeejane03
    zeejane03 Posts: 993 Member
    edited March 2019
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    lemurcat2 wrote: »
    I'm traveling so much lately -- off again tonight and then another quick trip at the end of the week and then have to visit my father and his SO the following week (although they always eat healthy and pretty DASH compliant anyway) and then go to Virginia the following week. Although I haven't been reporting in, I find I like doing DASH when traveling because it's easy to just choose the most DASH compliant things. It's not that different from what I used to do (I used to choose vegetables when available, and then lean protein/fish, and then fruit), but it's helpful when I am eating less meat in general and can focus on the DASH categories.

    I think I'm going to go plant-based during Lent (although not when at my dad's place, since for family reasons I should eat what is served), so that will not be DASH compliant and I'll probably try to log more to watch nutrients, but other than the dairy should fit in well and I might actually start eating my grains and figure out my best plant-based sources of calcium.

    Kudos to you for still trying to stick with DASH with all the traveling!

    I've been playing around with the DASH categories-I know it's set up the way it is for specific reasons, but I'm also feeling led to go more plant based right now. So trying to figure out what that looks like (still eating fish etc 3-4 times a week but then really working on getting beans to be a focal point of my diet, more veg/fruit etc).

    I was also pretty loosey goosey with my calorie intake last month and at the end of the month I missed my target. I'm just working on some vanity pounds so not to big of a deal, but I have 5-7lbs I still want to lose and I'm at a snails pace right now. Thinking about how I want to proceed-I even had a moment of insanity and was looking up Weight Watchers online last night :o:D I might try a premium membership at Cron. for a month and see how I like that-with the premium I could divide up my food intake to categories, which I could then set up DASH style (so my categories would be Grains, Vegetables, Dairy etc).

    Today was not DASH compliant-had a potluck at church and I ate All The Food lol. Tomorrow I have dental work in the morning, which will put off eating through the afternoon, then I'm having supper out with my husband (I think we're going out for Italian/pasta), and then I have a meeting at night where there will be a dessert bar. I'll be back at it on Tuesday though!

    ETA: just re-looked at Libra, my goal for last month was 2lbs and I lost 1.5lbs, so actually not to bad considering I had several high calorie days/weekends!
  • emmamcgarity
    emmamcgarity Posts: 1,594 Member
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    I’ve considered rejoining Weight Watchers occasionally. Their online tracker used to have check boxes for each serving of the WW Good Health Guidelines which are basically DASH. I’d be curious to dig through some of the recipes.

    My strategy in February was to increase exercise and be more DASH compliant. That got the scale moving again since I had been pretty lazy over the holidays.
  • zeejane03
    zeejane03 Posts: 993 Member
    edited March 2019
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    2pm and I've had a grand total of 170 calories, courtesy of dental work blech. I was able to get in my whole grains toast/cheese before my appointment and I'm going to wait until supper at 5 to eat again. My mouth is 'thawing' right now and is pretty sensitive.

    We decided on a Mexican restaurant for supper and I'm going with soft food lol. I've got a temporary crown in now and I've got to baby it-no hard/sticky foods until I get my permanent crown in. I'm looking at either a veggie burrito, (a flour tortilla filled with grilled onions, bell peppers, refried beans, Mexican rice, and lettuce. Topped with creamy pepper-jack cheese sauce and diced tomatoes), or a bean burrito, (A flour tortilla filled with our homemade refried beans, lettuce and tomatoes. Topped with homemade burrito sauce and melted Colby cheese). Both are pretty DASH compliant and with my breakfast this may end up being a solid DASH day after all :)

    I also picked up some softer foods for the next few days, going to miss my meal sized salads but no hard veggies for a while. Instead I'll be focusing on things like rice and beans, cooked/soft veggies, green smoothies, a few frozen entrees etc.
  • lemurcat2
    lemurcat2 Posts: 7,885 Member
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    I'm way down south and was eating in a surprisingly compliant way until king cake was pushed on me. Not complaining, I'd never actually had it before.
  • zeejane03
    zeejane03 Posts: 993 Member
    edited March 2019
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    Fruit -- x
    Veg -- 4
    Dairy -- 2
    Grains --5
    Meat -- x Beans (alternative protein)--2
    Added fat -- x
    Nuts and seeds --x
    Added sugar -- x

    Got the veggie burrito tonight-it was amazing! I estimated my portions a bit (counted a burrito sized tortilla shell as two servings of grains etc). I also ended up eating a Green Giant veggies steamers this afternoon, which got in some more veggies. Probably a higher calorie day with the burrito but still a solid day considering the dental work/weird eating schedule and then the eating out :)
  • emmamcgarity
    emmamcgarity Posts: 1,594 Member
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    Fruit -4
    Veggie -4
    Whole grain -2
    Dairy -1.5
    Meat -5oz
    Nuts - 0
    Added sugar: yes