The DASH diet, or the Dietary Approaches to Stop Hypertension diet, is a nutrition plan that helps manage hypertension, or high blood pressure, and lower cardiovascular risk. Recent studies have also shown that the DASH diet may positively impact kidney health, even for people with chronic kidney disease (CKD). Luckily, the DASH diet shares many of the same guidelines for a healthy diet as the Dietary Guidelines for Americans, so it's suitable for the broader population, too. Keep reading for more details on incorporating aspects of the DASH diet and the possible benefits for people with kidney issues.
What can I eat on the DASH diet?
Though studies show that the DASH diet helps improve heart health and other outcomes, it's similar to a generally healthy diet and doesn't eliminate any specific foods or food groups. The diet emphasizes more fruits, vegetables, whole grains, healthy fats, and lean sources of protein. While including more of the nutrients that improve health, like potassium, calcium, magnesium, and dietary fiber, the diet is lower in saturated fats, trans fats, and sodium.
The DASH diet emphasizes:
- Eating more vegetables and fruits
- Incorporating whole grains, such as brown rice, 100% wheat or whole wheat products, barley, oatmeal, or quinoa
- Including fat-free or low-fat dairy products. Look for nonfat versions of cows' milk dairy instead of 2% or whole milk versions.
- Lean protein and cuts of meat, including fish, poultry, and beans. Leaner cuts of beef and pork can work in moderation, too, such as loin and round cuts
- Healthy fats, including nuts, seeds, and vegetable oils
The DASH diet discourages:
- High sodium foods, including
- Foods you cook yourself and add salt to
- Foods that are preserved with salt, like meat jerkies, packaged pickles
- Processed foods with added sodium. Commonly consumed high sodium processed foods are packaged soups, chips, crackers, pizza, and frozen meals. Monitor this by checking how much sodium a product has per serving on the Nutrition Facts Label.
- Foods high in saturated fats, which include:
- fatty cuts of meat, like ribs, steaks, or other meats with a lot of marbling from fat
- full-fat or whole milk dairy
- tropical oils, including palm kernel oil, palm oil, coconut oil
- Sugar-sweetened drinks
- Sodas
- Juices with added sugar
- Fruit drinks
- Sweets and dessert foods
- Candy
- Cakes
- Cookies
- Baked goods
- Ice cream
- Chocolates
Benefits of the DASH diet
For the general population, the DASH diet has the following benefits:
- Emphasizes fruit, vegetable, and whole grain intake and a generally healthier eating pattern
- Decreases risk factors of cardiovascular disease
- Lowers blood pressure, even when study participants ate the same amount of sodium as a typical diet level
- Lowers LDL, which is the "bad" kind of cholesterol that causes plaque to build up in the arteries. This buildup increases your chances of heart attack and stroke
The DASH diet may be helpful for people with kidney issues in particular. In addition to lowering blood pressure, which is a contributing problem in many types of kidney disease, the diet may also:
- Decrease the risk of kidney stones in men and women of varying ages
- Lower the risk of progressing to end-stage renal disease in people with moderate/stage 3 CKD and hypertension. This finding was especially strong in people with diabetes and non-Hispanic African Americans
- Decrease chances of rapid decrease in glomerular filtration rate, though this finding was from a study that focused only on older white women enrolled in the Nurses' Health Study
Key nutrients to consider
Always check with your medical team before making big diet changes, especially if you have a dietary restriction, are in the later stages of CKD (stage 4 or 5), or are on dialysis.
A key component of the DASH diet is increasing potassium-rich foods, like fruits, vegetables, and low-fat dairy. Big increases in potassium intake could be dangerous for people with later stages of CKD. Though these foods are healthy and beneficial to include in your diet, you may need to stick to a certain number of servings per day and not consume as many as a typical DASH diet eating plan suggests.
All versions of the DASH diet are not necessarily low in sodium. Part of the reason that the DASH diet helps with blood pressure control is that it increases potassium intake. If you have a sodium restriction, continue to check the Nutrition Facts Label or look up sodium amounts in foods, even if the foods seem DASH diet-approved.
Tips to add DASH diet principles into your diet for CKD
- Start in one area. If you're not ready for more drastic changes, try to make positive progress instead of changing your whole diet at once.
- Try choosing leaner cuts of meat for a few meals per week. Instead of pork chops, try substituting pork loin instead.
- Focus on fresher ingredients, like choosing fresh fruits and vegetables instead of canned or prepackaged options with added sodium.
- Work on food label reading. Flip packages over in the grocery store and compare amounts of sodium per serving to choose a better-for-you choice.
- Reduce the amount of salt you add to your foods. Experiment with adding a squeeze of fresh lemon or lime juice instead of salt to finish a dish, or try different no-salt added seasoning blends. Low sodium seasoning blends come in a wide variety of flavor options.
- Lower saturated fats in milk products by changing from whole milk to 2%, or 2% to 1% before you commit to eating only skim or fat-free milk products.
- Try a serving of fresh fruit in place of a sugary packaged snack or dessert.
Other considerations
Exercise also helps manage or prevent high blood pressure and lower cardiovascular risks. If you're not physically active, try to increase your exercise level gradually. Aim to take more walks if you're spending too much time sitting, or add in some light aerobics or strength training if you're already doing enough walking. Work on increasing the amount of time you spend exercising and your exercise intensity, or how hard you're working when you exercise, over time.
