Which would you prefer to control your high blood pressure, taking expensive medication that has nasty side effects every day for the rest of your life, or switching to a proven diet that can help bring your blood pressure back to normal in about 2 weeks?

It sounds like a silly question yet millions of people continue to take blood pressure medication when they could turn their condition around by adapting the DASH diet as part of their cure. 

The Dietary Approach to Stopping Hypertension (DASH) is a diet specifically designed to lower blood pressure. Unlike fad weight loss diets, it is not difficult to stick to and it has tremendous benefits not only in controlling blood pressure but reducing the risks of other diseases such as diabetes and cancer as well.

Diet plays a major role in both developing high blood pressure and also in lowering it. Food is our body's fuel. If you take a minute and think about it, consuming a poor diet is very similar to pumping leaded gas into a car that runs on unleaded. The engine will still start but it will run rough and over time will simply stop running because of carbon build up. Loading our bodies up with salt, sugar and saturated fat has the same impact.

The DASH diet plan works for two reasons. Firstly it is made up of foods rich in vitamins, minerals, fiber and antioxidants that lower pressure and reverse damage to the blood vessels. Secondly, and just as important, it replaces the junk that caused the problem in the first place.

Here's a quick run down on the types of foods you can expect on the DASH diet:

• Whole grains like oatmeal, cereals and whole grain bread that provide complex carbohydrates and fiber.
• Fresh fruits and vegetables like tomatoes, spinach, beans, bananas and berries that provide potassium, magnesium, fiber and antioxidants.
• No fat and low fat dairy products such as low fat milk, yogurt and cheese providing calcium, protein and magnesium.
• Lean white meats, poultry and fish to provide protein and magnesium.
• Nuts seeds and beans like kidney beans, almonds and pistachios for protein, fiber and vitamin B.
• Good fats and oils like olives, canola oil; and avocados for our essential fats.

It does take commitment to the diet to make it work and that will take some planning on your part particularly for meals you eat out. However, compare that bit of work to the drudgery and discomfort of blood pressure medication and I think you will agree the it is worth the effort.

Following the DASH diet plan, coupled with a bit of daily exercise and relaxation techniques, can drop your blood pressure reading by 20 points in less than two weeks. Give it a try. Your heart will thank you.