Tag Archives: heart

How to Help Your Clients Follow the DASH Diet

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In a review of 32 of the most popular diets of 2013, the Dietary Approaches to Stop Hypertension (DASH) diet came out on top.

Is this a surprise? Not really. After all, this is the fourth year in a row that the expert panel at U.S. News and World Report has ranked the DASH diet as the best overall diet. On its heels are the Therapeutic Lifestyle Changes (TLC) diet, the Mayo Clinic Diet, the Mediterranean Diet, and Weight Watchers. The DASH diet’s focus on limiting sodium rather than cutting out a wide range of foods, along with its positive impact on health, have combined to earn it the number one spot in the rankings.

What positive impact on health?

Well, according to the National Heart Lung, and Blood Institute,”Following the DASH eating plan and eating less sodium (salt) can lower high blood pressure or your risk for the condition. Results from the DASH research showed that following a DASH plan containing 2,300 milligrams (mg) of sodium per day lowered blood pressure. Following a DASH plan containing 1,500 mg of sodium lowered blood pressure even more (systolic blood pressure was lowered by about 7 to 12 mmHg).” The U.S. News and World Report’s panel further asserts that the DASH diet has “also been shown to increase ‘good’ HDL cholesterol and decrease ‘bad’ LDL cholesterol and triglycerides, a fatty substance that in excess has been linked to heart disease.”

In other words, the DASH diet is good for your heart, especially when it comes to your blood pressure.

So, how can you go about helping your clients adopt the DASH diet?

There are a few ways you could go. One is with DASH posters like the Make the DASH poster or an About Your Blood Pressure poster. You could also offer handouts to clarify the key points of the DASH diet — both the Make the DASH brochure and the Blood Pressure 101 handout have been both popular and effective. For more intensive work, there are presentations like 4 Lessons to Lower Blood Pressure and DASH Diet Basics. Of course there are always resource bundles that combine everything you need in a single package. Top-selling DASH bundles include the Blood Pressure 101 Educational Materials Bundle and the 6 Lessons of Heart Health.

For More Information:

Now is a great time to show Paleo Versus DASH:

Paleo Versus DASH Diet

 

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Announcement: Updated Heart Month Materials

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For Immediate Release: January 8, 2014
Media and Consumer Inquiries: 800-462-2352

Louisville, CO — Food and Health Communications, Inc has released a series of new nutrition education materials in the Nutrition Education Store. These new materials promote updated diet and heart disease health information, just in time for Heart Month.

The diet and cholesterol education resources cover the updated cardiovascular disease care guidelines from the the American Heart Association and the American College of Cardiology. The blood pressure education materials feature the new guidelines from the Journal of the American Medical Association and the National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute’s JNC 8. The new blood pressure poster features the DASH diet as a healthful approach to reduce heart disease risk. The materials also discuss heart disease, lifestyle risk factors for heart disease, diet and exercise routines to adopt in order to improve health, the long-term impact of heart disease, the basics of cholesterol, a review of body mass index, a closer look at the role of excess salt in the development of heart disease, an exploration of the importance of fruits and vegetables to good health, and much more.

The launch of these resources was prompted by Judy Doherty, PC II, who founded Food and Health Communications, Inc in order to provide necessary resources to busy health educators. To further that end, the heart education materials take a wide range of formats that will appeal to a broad audience. Each one features tools for a few different learning styles, ensuring that there is something for everyone. The full complement of posters, presentations, handouts, tearpads, clipart, worksheets, recipes, bulletin board kits, banners, and tabletop displays are all available at nutritioneducationstore.com.

For more information, visit www.foodandhealth.com or www.nutritioneducationstore.com.

The updated heart materials include…

Blood Pressure Poster

DASH and Your Heart Brochure

 

Heart-Healthy Cooking Presentation

 

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Presentation Idea: DASH to a Healthy Heart

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Did you know the DASH diet won first place in a recent USA Today Diet Survey? Stay tuned for a post coming up about the contest and the DASH Diet.

Trying to teach the basics of the DASH diet and promote heart health? Do this great activity, which is perfect for a class session or a break during a heart health presentation.

Assemble a display of elements of the DASH diet. This should include pictures, models, or empty containers of healthful foods. Add some exercise equipment (to represent the importance of physical activity), and a scale or tape measure (to represent weight management). Arrange these items into your display before participants arrive.

Once everyone has made it to the classroom, discuss the display:

  • What is included?
  • What is absent?
  • Why?

Ask participants to brainstorm the link between all these items. After the discussion, reveal that these are all key elements of the DASH diet, which was developed to help fight high blood pressure.

DASH to Better Blood PressurePass out copies of the Make the DASH for Heart Health (available in the store). Have students read through it. Discuss its main points as a group, then have participants list the steps they are going to take in order to reduce their high blood pressure (or their high blood pressure risk, if they currently don’t have high blood pressure) on the back of the page. These can remain private or be shared with the class, depending on your group’s comfort level.

No handout? No problem! Have students extrapolate from the display and discussion to create a guide to the DASH diet in their notes.

If you need decorations for your classroom or office, have the participants make and illustrate their own handouts, then turn them in to you. You can make the DASH handout design into a contest and display the winners, or just photocopy the best ones for distribution to the rest of the class.

If you have access to computers or smartphones, participants could also do further research on the DASH diet with those, incorporating what they find into their handouts.

This presentation idea is an excerpt from the educational program, The 12 Lessons of Diabetes. This program follows the same format as the other fantastic 12 Lessons packages and is chock-full of insight from a wide variety of health and nutrition professionals. If you are interested in Diet and Heart Disease, see the 6 Lessons of Heart Health Program

View all DASH Diet Education Materials here.

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Free Handout: Substitute Your Way to Heart Health

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It’s time for another free nutrition handout! This week’s installment is all about simple substitutions that your clients can make in order to improve their heart health. There’s a preview below, and, if you like what you see, scroll down for a link to download the PDF for free.

Choose OatmealBaked Goods

  • Choose oatmeal or another whole grain cereal instead of baked goods. Top your oatmeal with fruit and skim milk.
  • You can also try 100% whole wheat breads instead of sugary baked goods. After all, MyPlate does insist that people should make at least half of all the grains they eat whole grains, every day.

Butter

  • Try trans-fat-free light tub margarine instead of butter.

Cheese

  • Substitute fat-free ricotta for regular or reduced-fat ricotta.
  • Use a little bit of cheese that has a strong flavor instead of a lot of cheese that has a mild flavor. For example, try Swiss, Parmesan, or cheddar cheese as flavoring agents and keep the amount you use in the dish on the small side.

Egg Yolks

  • Use egg whites instead of whole eggs.
  • Try a nonfat egg substitute.

To see the whole handout, download it today!

If you’re looking for more nutrition education resources or items that address the diet and heart health education theme, check out the amazing featured products below…

Heart Health Poster Value Set

Lighten Up Your Cooking Handout

Lower Your Heart Attack Risk Score Heart Health Brochure

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