The Dash Diet Weight Loss Solution: 2 Weeks to Drop Pounds, Boost Metabolism, and Get Healthy (A DASH Diet Book) (17 page)

Mackerel

210

13

1.5

60

Ocean perch

110

2

0

50

Orange roughy

80

1

0

20

Oysters (about 12 medium)

100

3.5

1

115

Pollock

90

1

0

80

Rainbow trout

140

6

2

60

Rockfish

100

2

0

40

Salmon, Atlantic/coho

160

7

1

50

Salmon, chum/pink

130

4

1

70

Salmon, sockeye

180

9

1.5

75

Scallops (6 large, 14 small)

120

1

0

55

Shrimp

80

1

0

165

Swordfish

130

4.5

1

40

Tuna, canned in water

116

0.8

0.2

30

White fish

172

7.5

1.2

77

Omega-3 Fatty Acid Content in Fish and Seafood

EPA, grams

DHA, grams

Cod liver oil (1 tablespoon)

1.0

1.5

Mackerel (3.5 ounces)

0.9

1.4

Salmon (3.5 ounces)

0.8

0.6

Herring (3.5 ounces)

0.7

0.9

Anchovy (3.5 ounces)

0.5

0.9

Tuna (3.5 ounces)

0.3

0.9

Blue fish (3.5 ounces)

0.2

0.5

Swordfish (3.5 ounces)

0.1

0.5

EPA = eicosapentaenoic acid, DHA = docosahexenoic acid

CHAPTER 15

Making the DASH Diet Your Habit

A recent study showed that making one good habit could lead to adding other healthy

habits without much thought about it. For weight loss, it was more effective for people to track what they were eating than for a doctor to browbeat them into eating better. Why did that work? Because when people started tracking what they were eating, they became more aware of their actions.

So what would be great for helping to adopt the DASH Diet Weight Loss Solution

behaviors? Tracking. Keeping track of your actions. This will lead to more self-

awareness. If you eat poorly, and the next day your weight and your blood pressure are up, maybe there is a connection. But you will be the one making that connection. Not

anyone else.

[I have one more secret habit that will be key to your diet change. Make half your

plate veggies. Nonstarchy veggies. As simple as that.]

DASH Diet Servings Check-Off Form

All through this book we have indicated specific changes for you to make to adopt the DASH Diet Weight Loss Solution to help you reach and maintain a healthy weight. It is helpful to track your food intake, exercise, and weight to see how your actions pay off in terms of making you healthier. Larger copies of all the forms provided here are available on our website at
http://dashdiet.org/forms.asp.
You can download them as many times as you want, to continue to track your progress.

In this book we have two different types of forms for tracking your food intake. One

counts food groups, and the other is more of a pictorial way of representing your meal plans. Choose the form that seems most useful for you.

We also have forms to track exercise, weight, blood pressure, blood sugar (if you

need to), and overall health and well-being. The blood pressure and blood sugar logs

allow you to track how you are responding to the program. These will be useful for your physician, especially if the numbers are trending toward the low side, or are reliably in the normal range. Both the blood pressure and the sugar readings are immediate health indicators. You don’t have to take these readings unless you have been instructed to do so by your physician.

On the first line, write in your typical blood pressure readings before starting the plan.

Hopefully, your blood pressure will improve as you change your eating style, lose

weight, and add exercise. As a reminder, if your blood pressure is 140/90, 140 is the systolic reading and 90 is the diastolic reading.

The Daily Meal Plan Tracker

Blood Pressure Log

Systolic (top reading)

Diastolic (bottom reading)

Day 1

Day 2

Day 3

Day 4

Day 5

Day 6

Day 7

Day 8

Day 9

Day 10

Day 11

Day 12

Day 13

Day 14

Day 15

Day 16

Day 17

Day 18

Day 19

Day 20

Day 21

Use the exercise log to monitor the activity you perform. Remember, set a goal of

doing something active every day. If you can’t do 30 or more minutes at one time,

schedule three or more 10-minute sessions.

Weekly Exercise Log

Type of Activity

Time

How do I feel?

Day 1

Day 2

Day 3

Day 4

Day 5

Day 6

Day 7

Getting to a healthier weight or maintaining a healthy weight is a key goal for getting healthier. The following form will provide a convenient way to keep track of your

progress with weight control and your waistline.

Weight Log

Weight

Waist size

Goal weight

Initial weight

Week 1

Week 2

Week 3

Week 4

Week 5

Week 6

Week 7

Week 8

Additional benefits of making changes in diet, weight, and activity are improved

mood, higher energy level, and enhanced sense of control over your health. A diary of your feelings may provide you with additional information that will help you sustain

your behavior changes. The following is a model for a simple diary to track how the

DASH Diet Weight Loss Solution is affecting your life.

Overall DASH Diet Outcome Log

Mood, energy level, self-confidence, etc.

Initial

Week 1

Week 2

Week 3

Week 4

Month 2

Month 3

Month 4

Month 5

Month 6

As mentioned above, all these forms are available for downloading in larger formats at

http://dashdiet.org/forms.asp.

CHAPTER 16

Super-Simple, Fabulous Recipes to Make the DASH Diet Your Own

We have created a variety of recipes to make it easy for you to prepare healthy dishes at home. They mostly have short preparation time, but the ones that do take longer to prepare generally make enough for several meals. Weekends are the times to make dishes that will last for several days.

Beef and Pork

Marla’s Barbecue with Shredded Beef

Mexican Meatloaf

No Crust Pizza

Mexican-Spiced Pork Chops

Meaty Sauce over Spaghetti Squash

Hearty Extra Veggie Chili

Grilled Steak Salad

Super-Savory Sliders

Taco Salad

The World’s Best Meatloaf

Mango-Berry Salsa with Grilled Pork Loin

Marla’s Barbecue with Shredded Beef

3 pounds beef stew meat, cut into 1-inch chunks

¼ cup water

1 large (28-ounce) can tomato sauce

1 cup diced onions (fresh or ½ cup frozen)

1 cup diced yellow bell pepper

3 cloves garlic, minced

¼ cup brown sugar

½ cup orange juice

¼ cup yellow mustard (not dry)

¼ cup red wine vinegar

1 tablespoon Worcestershire sauce

teaspoon chili powder

teaspoon cayenne pepper

teaspoon black pepper

I use a pressure cooker, to speed up cooking the beef, adding about ¼ cup water

to the bottom. My pressure cooker doesn’t have a pressure gauge. If yours does,

keep pressure at about 150 pounds. Cook while under pressure for about 20

minutes. I remove the cooker from the heat, and allow the pressure to drop

naturally as it cools. You could also braise the beef slowly, on low heat, on top of

the stove with the tomato sauce for several hours, or until fork tender.

After cooking, reserve any remaining cooking liquid. Shred the beef using two

forks; remove any large pieces of fat or connective tissue. Return to the pressure

cooker (or a large skillet or saucepan). Add the onions, peppers, and garlic, and

simmer gently with some of the reserved cooking liquid. When the onions and

peppers are soft, add the rest of the cooking liquid, tomato sauce, brown sugar,

orange juice, mustard, and vinegar. You can take your time doing this, and allow

the mixture to simmer gently and develop more flavors. If you prefer a sweeter

barbecue sauce you can add a little extra brown sugar. Then add the