Description of the DASH Eating Plan

The DASH eating plan requires no special foods and instead provides daily and weekly nutritional goals. This plan recommends:

  • Eating vegetables, fruits, and whole grains
  • Including fat-free or low-fat dairy products, fish, poultry, beans, nuts, and vegetable oils
  • Limiting foods that are high in saturated fat, such as fatty meats, full-fat dairy products, and tropical oils such as coconut, palm kernel, and palm oils
  • Limiting sugar-sweetened beverages and sweets

Based on these recommendations, the following table shows examples of daily and weekly servings that meet DASH eating plan targets for a 2,000-calorie-a-day diet.

Food Group

Daily Servings

Grains

6–8

Meats, poultry, and fish

6 or less

Vegetables

4–5

Fruit

4–5

Low-fat or fat-free dairy products

2–3

Fats and oils

2–3

Sodium

2,300 mg*

 

Weekly Servings

Nuts, seeds, dry beans, and peas

4–5

Sweets

5 or less

*1,500 milligrams (mg) sodium lowers blood pressure even further than 2,300 mg sodium daily.

When following the DASH eating plan, it is important to choose foods that are:

  • Low in saturated and trans fats
  • Rich in potassium, calcium, magnesium, fiber, and protein
  • Lower in sodium
Infographic with list of healthy DASH food, and food to avoid. See description.
Eat this: vegetables, fruits, whole grains, fat-free or low-fat dairy, fish, poultry, beans, nuts and seeds, vegetable oils. Limit this: fatty meats, full-fat dairy, sugar sweetened beverages, sweets, sodium intake.