The Dash Diet Action Plan

We chose this DASH Diet book because it wasn't loaded with recipes, and it seemed to be very similiar to the way we typically eat (some other books had recipes for breakfast, lunch and dinner EVERYDAY, and the foods seemed a bit more exotic) however, ultimately we were dissatisfied with the limited number of recipes, and bored with the somewhat bland food.We were unable to read the book from cover to cover, because we felt like most of the information was "common knowledge." Looking at the meal plans, they were not much different from what we typically eat. A little simpler, but it was MORE food. My husband was recently diagnosed with hypertension, and we both need to drop a few pounds, so we decided we would follow the 28 day meal plan, exactly as written, just to see...Unfortunately, we couldn't find a way to follow this "exactly as written" and had to make MANY modifications. At times, we felt as if the author was just typing in whatever sounded good, without taking into consideration the availability of certain products, or the abilities of the average reader (see below for more information).It's nomal food, with good flavor and it is the first "diet" we have tried that has been easily portable (which is very important considering we both work full time!). We have just finished our first 28 days, and the results have been impressive - my husband's blood pressure is within normal limits, he has dropped 16 lbs., and I have lost 8 lbs.Variety was an issue. There are things such as Pluots, to add more variety, but since they are not available in our area we made a substitution. There were various types of juices for breakfast, but many, such as "peach nectar" are not available in our area, so we had to make substitutions.We were impressed at the limited waste with this plan. For the items such as tacos, chili and spaghetti sauce, the left overs were just enough for another meal, and were easily frozen. We were intially concerned about all the perishable fruits, but the weeks are laid out so that perishable ingredients are used first. We were pleasantly surprised that we didn't have a single berry go bad before it was used!We have MANY suggestions for improvement:1 - Include more recipes, or instructions on what to use, for the foods listed in the 28 day menus. It was frustrating the recipe section was so limited AND it included 3 recipes not even referenced in the 28 day menus! To compound this frustration, there were several items that WERE refereneced that needed recipes or further instructions...For example, many menus include coleslaw or italian coleslaw. There's a recipe included for italian coleslaw, but not one for regular coleslaw. Scalloped Potatoes and Chicken Eggrolls were used in the menus, however there were not any recipes or instructions to use frozen, pre-packaged or prepared.2 - Many of the recipes included were not REALLY recipes. For example, the Stir-Fry, dumping bags of broccoli slaw and frozen peppers in a pan with prepared stir fry sauce isn't really a recipe! Same with the Southwestern Omlet, I saw no value taking up recipe space for instructions on putting Egg Beaters and frozen peppers in a pan together.3 - Give examples of brand names. Cheese, for example - Many menus called for "Reduced fat, low sodium cheese." We found reduced fat, and found low sodium but never found reduced fat AND low sodium. We had a similar problem with canned tomatoes. The recipes called for low sodium stewed tomatoes, whole tomatoes, and tomato sauce. The stores in our area only carry low sodium tomato sauce and diced tomatoes. For the tomato recipes, we ended up substituting Ragu Lite tomato basil, which seems to fit the profile...since Ragu is a national brand, it would have been nice if the book had suggested it as a good alternative. Low-Soduim stir-fry sauce? Is there such a thing? The only "low-sodium" item we were able to find in the Asian section was Soy Sauce. For this, I think a better recipe would have been in order...the rest of the "recipe" simply called for bagged ingredients, so it wasn't really a recipe at all. Lastly, sugar-free, fat free frozen yogurt...same as everything else, we could find non-fat, but not sugar-free non-fat.4 - Don't repeat dinners. We were dissappointed that there were repeats of dinners, especially considering it was only 28 days. Don't get me wrong, the food is good, but we sometimes felt like we were eating the same things, so it felt very uninspiring. We fully understood the merits of repeating lunches, to avoid waste, but dinners? The recipes were easly paired down to accomodate 2 people, and left-overs were not incorporated in the 28 days...there is no explaination for the repeats.4 - Consider more variety with flavors - Maybe some Mediterranean or better Mexican and Chinese recipes (tacos and stir-fry are fairly played out, and could have easily been one of the "extra" recipes in the back).Overall, we didn't think this was a great book. We are impressed by the results we have, so we can't really complain...Going into this, we thought it was the "same old, same old" and it was...but we quickly realized, "knowing" the rules and following them are two completely different things, and we never would have realized the mistakes we were making if it were not for this 28 day road map.With the help of another DASH Diet book, we will be doing another 28 Days; hopefully it will prove as successful as the first!!! I wish this 28-day plan had enough variety and information that we could just start over, but atlas...it doesn't.

Make sure you are ordering the correct book in this series.

This is a book for the masses, a comprehensive "primer" that, while bound to sound repetitious and obvious to many who have read several heart books, could be of benefit to those new to the subject. The problem is that a book such as this--a collection of conventional wisdom, much of it expressed as do this, don't do that ("exercise more," "reduce saturated fats"), is unlikely to "shake up" the healthy reader into a sudden awakening to his or her mortality and may be disappointing to those seeking more radical, salient advice.Having read Esselstyn, Ornish, The China Study, and several others, it wasn't until nearly half way into DASH diet that I found some warnings worthy of the attention they haven't received from other sources. Most recent books on CVD tend to focus so relentlessly on diet and cholesterol--those HDL and LDL levels--that they say little to nothing about triglycerides and blood sugar count. If "Dash Diet Action Plan"'s explanation is to be believed, one reason for the omission could be that "Metabolic Syndrome" flies in the face of some of the pro-carb, anti-animal fat recommendations of other, currently popular and best-selling plans. According to the "Dash Diet" author, insulin resistance can actually be worsened by a hi-carb, low fat diet, leading to the conversion of blood sugar to high triglyceride counts.It's small wonder that the major action (and profit) is to be found with the surgeons who essentially are expert "body plumbers," able to open arteries and keep blood flowing--for a certain amount of time. But the cardiologist, general physician, or layman faced with trying to decide how to make unnecessary the surgeon's services has, in some respects, the greater challenge, given the variables of diet, emotional-mental factors, genetics, environment (who can measure precisely the role of toxins in water, food and air?).It's understandable that to sell books no author-expert can afford to sound overly tentative, uncertain, or complex. But those authors who tend to trumpet loudest and longest about the miraculous curative powers of some pill or vitamin are probably the ones to be regarded with the greatest suspicion and caution.

I checked this book out from the library to get an idea about what the DASH Diet was and found there were a lot of interactive pages in it where you could write your own goals, or check off items if you wanted to track your meals or progress. That being the case, I decided to order it since I enjoy that kind of interactive approach. I also could see right away the principles discussed in here as far as healthy eating were not fadish or extreme. They were right in line with what I already knew to be healthy eating, but with a little more specifics. Since my goal was to find a diet that would help me develop healthier eating habits, this was great. Not only does it do that, but it also has about a month's worth of daily sample meal plans that you can try out if you're interested in testing it, and those plans include modified portion sizes for lower calorie diets for weight loss, if that happens to be your goal (I appreciated it since it was part of mine). Coming from an extremely poor way of eating, I haven't fully incorporated all the principles (and I still hate vegetables, so that part is a work in progress), yet I've still noted lower blood pressure already. Part of that, I'm sure, is exercise though (which is also discussed in the book, but I was doing that before reading it). I actually knew quite a bit about health before getting this book, but reading about these things and having the interaction helps me keep motivated. If you know a lot about health already and don't need the help to stay focused, this probably isn't for you, but if you do need help to stay motivated or you don't know much about how to create a healthy lifestyle, this is a great book!

I've bought lots of diet books, and found them all to be quite difficult to put into practice. This diet book makes it very easy. It concentrates on stocking up on the right foods, and eating in the right proportions so you can never go wrong. It gives advice on what to do on the days when you may not be able to stick to the diet 100%, gives you strategies for dealing with and preparing for a variety of situations - e.g. have some healthy snack prepared for difficult days or days you will be on the move or even in a McDonalds. It also gives advice on proportion and weight of each kind of food. The recipes are adaptable and easy to prepare.I'd recommend this book for anyone who values their health and wants a sensible, medically proven, healthy diet. I've lost pounds and realised that most of my problems were from eating the right food but in the wrong proportions, rather than simply eating junk food. Diet is not as simple as just eating the right things, and there are a lot of things here that were new to me - i.e. the value of calcium rich low fat foods in reducing weight. My energy levels are through the roof and I rarely feel hungry. Sounds too good to be true, I know, but believe me I've searched long and hard for something that suits me and I was really at the point of giving up, so this probably has saved my life!

Bought the newest version of these series by Maria Heller ( Red colour ) and thought, wow fantastic, let's try the other 2 books. I was disappointed. Nothing wrong with it, all the info is fine but it's like an educational book about diet rather than a recipe book. Also it is seriously old fashioned in the layout and wording like something in grandma's bookshelf from when she was young. Nothing like the Red newer book which is full of easy to follow recipes with measurements in cups, spoons.

As weights and measures are pretty much the cornerstone of any diet this diet book is rendered useless for anyone who lives in a country that has the metric system for weights and measures as all its measures are in the American system.

This was ok as far as it went but I was expecting a little more in the way of practical hints and tips and a few more ideas about recipes. I suppose I will just have to by a dedicated recipe book to accompany this one. The main problem I have with it is that it is obviously written for the US market so many of the references are not relative to the UK

This book is great with food plans and list of food that have the three key minerals in After 2 weeks of following this diet my blood pressure had decreased and is now normal and no need for medication.