DASH Diet thread

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  • sannasb1
    sannasb1 Posts: 8 Member
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    I finally found an active Dash Diet Group. Yeah!!! This is my 2nd go round trying to follow this plan. I tried the two week jump start the end of last year. It didn't go to well. I think it was a little to restrictive for me. So I just started the Phase 2 yesterday. And I must say it went very well and I didn't feel deprived at all. I just found this group and don't want to lose you all. Can someone tell me how I can save this thread?
  • emmamcgarity
    emmamcgarity Posts: 1,593 Member
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    I don’t know how to save the thread. I just look for it daily on the message boards. Happy you have joined us!
  • skelterhelter
    skelterhelter Posts: 803 Member
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    Breakfast: Two Kodiak Pumpkin Pancakes with sugar free syrup and banana slices on top. Coffee with splenda and salted caramel creamer.

    Lunch: Egg salad made with two hard-boiled eggs, cuban style mustard, chopped dill pickle chips, salt and pepper. Amazing! I should've left out the bread, but I didn't. I also had a side of Garlic Parmesan pretzel slims.

    Dinner: Corned beef, cabbage, carrots, and boiled potatoes on the dinner menu tonight. Irish soda bread topped with light butter.

    Snacks: Greek yogurt and a Skinny Cow ice cream sandwich later tonight.
  • zeejane03
    zeejane03 Posts: 993 Member
    edited March 2019
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    Happy Monday DASHers :) Solid day so far, I'm on track to hit my targets today- nice to start the week on a high note!

    I'm also realizing that while I'm not a fan of fruit, I really like oranges! A local store had a deal on Saturday-an 8lb bag of oranges for $4. I bought them with the idea of trying to dehydrate them, but just ate two out of the bag at the end of my lunch. They were really good, wishing I had bought a second bag lol.
  • zeejane03
    zeejane03 Posts: 993 Member
    edited March 2019
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    Vegetables & Fruit--9
    Dairy -- 2
    Grains --4
    Meat -- 4oz ; Beans (alternative protein)--1 serving
    Added fat -- 1 (olives)
    Nuts and seeds --1
    Added sugar -- yes (condiments)
  • zeejane03
    zeejane03 Posts: 993 Member
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    Vegetables & Fruit--7
    Dairy -- 3
    Grains --4
    Meat -- x ; Beans (alternative protein)--1 serving
    Added fat -- 1 (olives)
    Nuts and seeds --1
    'Other'-- I had a can of Progresso Light soup tonight for supper and it doesn't really fit into any of the categories.
  • anthocyanina
    anthocyanina Posts: 86 Member
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    kimny72 wrote: »
    The Blue Zone group there is specifically the Seventh Day Adventists, not the entire city. They are vegetarian due to their religion, and I believe they abstain from some other things as well. Hopefully their identification as a Blue Zone will catch on with others in the community though!

    I'm actually Seventh-day Adventist, and looking from the inside out, there is influence in both directions. What seems like to me a dilution of the healthfulness of Seventh-day Adventist diets, as well as elements of healthfulness catching on in the local community.
  • kimny72
    kimny72 Posts: 16,013 Member
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    anthocyanina wrote: »
    kimny72 wrote: »
    The Blue Zone group there is specifically the Seventh Day Adventists, not the entire city. They are vegetarian due to their religion, and I believe they abstain from some other things as well. Hopefully their identification as a Blue Zone will catch on with others in the community though!

    I'm actually Seventh-day Adventist, and looking from the inside out, there is influence in both directions. What seems like to me a dilution of the healthfulness of Seventh-day Adventist diets, as well as elements of healthfulness catching on in the local community.

    Oh, wow - you're famous! Didn't mean to preach to the choir :wink:

    So is DASH pretty similar to how you already ate?
  • anthocyanina
    anthocyanina Posts: 86 Member
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    zeejane03 wrote: »
    anthocyanina wrote: »
    zeejane03 wrote: »
    I'd love to hang out with the BlueZones group in Loma Linda for a few days, I think it would be so interesting!.

    It might not be what you'd expect! There aren't many people in my usual circles who eat that way on a regular basis. There must be enough people who eat less meat and more vegetables than the national average to have a measurable health effect.

    Enough people are proud of the healthy image though. A few years back, when McDonalds wanted to open up a franchise in Loma Linda, there was actually a petition to keep McD's out. I guess it wasn't enough for them to just not eat there themselves.

    I'm not sure how McD's are usually decorated. In Loma Linda it's a bright spring green inside and there are murals of fresh kiwis and tomato slices, and people bicycling, running, hiking etc. It looks like a place you'd go for smoothies, kale salads, and cold-pressed organic juices, lol.

    That's wild lol. Here (midwest), our newly remodeled McDs is done in 70s colors/theme-lots of beige/dark orange/70s green, with mod-style furniture. I wonder if the menus are the same, or if they have a different one in Loma Linda?

    You can sub a vegetarian patty in any of the quarter pound sandwiches, although I haven't tried it since I'm fussy about the kinds of fake meats and bread that I eat.
  • anthocyanina
    anthocyanina Posts: 86 Member
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    kimny72 wrote: »
    anthocyanina wrote: »
    kimny72 wrote: »
    The Blue Zone group there is specifically the Seventh Day Adventists, not the entire city. They are vegetarian due to their religion, and I believe they abstain from some other things as well. Hopefully their identification as a Blue Zone will catch on with others in the community though!

    I'm actually Seventh-day Adventist, and looking from the inside out, there is influence in both directions. What seems like to me a dilution of the healthfulness of Seventh-day Adventist diets, as well as elements of healthfulness catching on in the local community.

    Oh, wow - you're famous! Didn't mean to preach to the choir :wink:

    So is DASH pretty similar to how you already ate?

    @kimny72 famous, lol B)
    Yeah, pretty close to DASH, higher monounsaturated fat version except with a lot less meat and dairy.
  • zeejane03
    zeejane03 Posts: 993 Member
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    Yesterday, before supper:
    Vegetables & Fruit--6
    Dairy -- 2.5
    Grains --3
    Meat -- x ; Beans (alternative protein)--1 serving
    Added fat -- 1 (olives)
    Nuts and seeds --1

    Then we went out for supper and I got a Mac n' Cheese bowl, (tender elbow noodles, beer cheese, sharp cheddar, smoked gouda & crushed kettle chips, with diced tomato and bacon), which was HUGE so I ate about 3/4 of it. I also shared an order of in-house made white truffle tator tots with beer cheese dip-I definitely hit my dairy requirements lol.

    Went way over on calories but it was a pretty solid day overall. Today should be back to normal routine!

  • JTGJTG
    JTGJTG Posts: 52 Member
    edited March 2019
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    Just starting this for CHF. Not supposed to gain or lose for now, so 2000 cals for me (woohoo!). Looking forward to seeing what others are doing.
    skelterhelter wrote: »
    Dinner: Corned beef, cabbage, carrots, and boiled potatoes on the dinner menu tonight. Irish soda bread topped with light butter.
    Incredibly jealous. I'm sodium-restricted so most of that is off the table for me. My poor Irish heart.
  • emmamcgarity
    emmamcgarity Posts: 1,593 Member
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    Yesterday I got a bit off track on a road trip to the beach which meant indulging in some non DASH foods. I’m back on track again today and enjoying the ease of the DASH model.
  • zeejane03
    zeejane03 Posts: 993 Member
    edited March 2019
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    Here's a good article about fiber, with a good breakdown of its roles in our body, and how important it is-lines up very nicely with DASH's food recommendations :)

    https://www.vox.com/2019/3/20/18214505/fiber-diet-weight-loss
  • emmamcgarity
    emmamcgarity Posts: 1,593 Member
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    Great article!
  • zeejane03
    zeejane03 Posts: 993 Member
    edited March 2019
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    Towards the end of 3 months experimenting with DASH and I've really enjoyed it! I'm dealing with some uncooperative weight right now though-started the year by losing at a rate predicted, but the past few weeks my weight has been all over the place and I'm now trending up. Thinking back to what I've been eating, I definitely see where excess calories have started creeping in, even though I've mostly been following the DASH recommendations.

    In my quest to check off servings, and then also exceed the servings recommended for veg/fruit, I've lost focus on my weight. I can definitely say that eating a 'healthy/whole foods' diet does NOT automatically mean magical weight loss :p I'm still at a lower weight than what I started in January, and I'm just fussing over maintenance vanity pounds, but it's frustrating to see trend lines reverse!

    So, moving forward I'm stepping back a bit from my focus on DASH servings and I'm going to nail down my calorie intake better. I'll still be following the food principals of DASH because I really do love eating this way, but I'm going to reduce my grains and dairy intake to conserve calories.
  • NovusDies
    NovusDies Posts: 8,940 Member
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    So I experienced one of the dangers of increased fiber a short time ago when for over a week my appetite was diminished and I didn't have complete control over my food. I was filling the calorie gaps with higher calorie quick items just to keep my energy level up. My fiber levels suddenly were sub 20 most days and it almost immediately caused some missed restroom visits. Of course ramping back up is always fun too.

    It was all survivable of course but it certainly made a very unpleasant time even less pleasant for about 3 days while I adjusted downwards.

    The lesson here is that if you shoot for the higher fiber which I did and still do you may have to have supplements on hand to help when life gets in the way. It is also a good idea if you are going on vacation or something to ramp down the week before.
  • anthocyanina
    anthocyanina Posts: 86 Member
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    Usually I do overnight oats for breakfast, but today I decided to switch it up and make a breakfast smoothie:

    Mango, pineapple, a couple dates, baby spinach, rolled oats, ground flax seed, adzuki beans, and soy milk.

    Now I wish I'd taken the time to weigh everything. Here's my estimate of DASH servings: 3 fruit, 2 vegetable, 1 whole grain, 1 nuts/seeds, 1 legume, 2 dairy (soy)

    That's for the whole bottle as pictured, which realistically is enough for 2 people. All in all I'm pleased with the result. I've never put beans or grains in a smoothie before. Will absolutely do it again!
  • zeejane03
    zeejane03 Posts: 993 Member
    edited April 2019
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    emmamcgarity wrote: »
    I haven’t posted my DASH servings in a few days and it seems I’ve let more junk food into my diet. I’m holding myself accountable this week. Junk food is definitely allowed as far as I am concerned. I don’t believe in banning foods. It never goes well for me. But it seems that not sharing has put me on the wrong path. My lunch is now packed and I expect today to go better.

    Yeah, haven't tracked in a few days either, just needed a break.

    I've been trying to figure out where I'm going from here-starting in January I started a small weight loss phase to lose some winter 'fluff', and I lost a few pounds, (same time as I started DASH). But, March was a wash and I actually regained a couple back. Still less than what I started with in January but feeling bummed about that and was thinking about going back to strict IF for a while....

    then realized that today is my 6 year maintenance anniversary and my weigh-in this morning put me within a pound of my original goal weight, that I hit on April 1, 2013 :) I chose that weight to be my goal because it's what I weighed on my wedding day, when I had just turned 24. I'm now 40 years old and can comfortably fit into my size 4/6 jeans, have a BMI of a 22 and all my health markers/blood work is great. So now I'm feeling better about where my weight is at and thinking I'm just going back into maintenance mode, and not worry about trying to lose anymore. I also started running last week, (I use the term 'running' loosely here LOL), and I'm burning about 120 calories per time, right now. So as I make progress with that I may start to see my weight shift down anyways.

    Sorry, kind of rambling but I'm going to go back to tracking DASH today as well :)

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