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THE DASH DIET The DASH diet focuses on vegetables, fruits and whole grains. It includes fat-free or low-fat dairy products, fish, poultry, beans and nuts. The diet limits foods that are high in salt, also called sodium. It also limits added sugar and saturated fat, such as in fatty meats and full-fat dairy products. Dietary Approaches to Stop Hypertension, or DASH, is an eating plan designed to help treat or prevent high blood pressure, which is clinically known as hypertension. It emphasizes eating plenty of fruits, vegetables, whole grains, and lean meats. It is low in salt, red meat, added sugars, and fat. While the DASH diet is not a weight loss diet, many people report losing weight on it. How it works The DASH diet recommends specific servings of different food groups. The number of servings you are encouraged to eat depends on your daily calorie intake. For example, each day an average person on the DASH diet would eat about: five servings of vegetables five servings of fruit se