The DASH Diet to End Obesity: The Best Plan to Prevent Hypertension and Type-2 Diabetes and Reduce Excess Weight

By William M. Manger, Jennifer K. Nelson, Marion J. Franz and Edward J Roccella

Called the good nutrition bible” by one reviewer, The DASH Diet to End Obesity is the ultimate guide to common sense-lifestyle changes that will improve the health of the entire family. With a special emphasis on prevention, this book is written for parents, teachers, and anyone concerned about protecting themselves and their children from the health risks of obesity.

This book is the most comprehensive guide to the DASH diet plan yet published. DASH® - Dietary Approaches to Stop Hypertension - was first formulated to combat hypertension (high blood pressure). But numerous studies have shown that the eating plan is also useful for dealing with excess weight, abnormal blood fats, Type 2 diabetes, and other health concerns.

The DASH diet has soared in popularity because not only does it allow people to take charge of their own health and that of their families, they can do it while eating delicious food. The plan emphasizes seasonings, spices, healthy oils, fruits, vegetables, nuts, and other flavorful food choices.

But unlike a mere recipe book, The DASH Diet to End Obesity explains the science and psychology of how to find success with the DASH approach. Author Dr. William Manger and his three distinguished colleagues have crafted a reader-friendly book geared to motivate people to make healthy, informed changes in their daily lives. The book offers in-depth information about fats, cholesterols, vitamins and minerals, omega-3 fatty acids, fiber, and more. An entire section is devoted to the role of salt and the dangers of consuming too much salt, especially for people who are overweight. The book also contains a special chapter about eating for the management of diabetes.

Not only do the authors present a lot of information in an accessible tone, they provide detailed descriptions of how to incorporate this knowledge into every meal with memory strategies, charts, and quick tips.

The DASH eating plan is not just a diet, however, and the book covers the importance of sleep, physical exercise, and staying psychologically motivated. The authors also dissect the reasons other diets fail, and discuss the risks and benefits of other methods of weight loss, including surgery and weight-loss drugs.

This book represents the life work of the four prestigious authors; it is not a jump-on-the-bandwagon response to the recent popularity of the DASH diet. Dr. William Manger has been such a proponent of the DASH lifestyle that he has founded an organization that teaches the eating plan to young children in schools.

Medical researchers and experts today are saying many parents could outlive their children because of runaway childhood obesity. This is the scenario The DASH Diet to End Obesity is dedicated to reversing.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Turner Publishing Company
• Release date: Mar 1, 2014
• ISBN: 9780897936934

Book preview

 Introduction

May you and all of us be enabled to lead our young people along a better, more noble path.

— The Late Canon Charles Martin

Revered and beloved Headmaster of St. Albans School

Our nation was built primarily on family, faith, and hard work; furthermore, the remarkable success of this democracy depends, to a very large extent, on the freedom we all enjoy so much. People in all parts of the world desire and seek freedom as central to happiness. However, most would agree that freedom without responsibility is unworkable and can eventually lead only to decadence and the deterioration of any society. My late brother, Jules Manger, used to say that to complement the Statue of Liberty on the East Coast of the United States we should also have a Statue of Responsibility on the West Coast. In my opinion, his suggestion was right on target because we all should appreciate, more than ever, the crucial role of responsibility in our lives and the lives of our children.

Within the past few decades, there are increasing signs that responsibility, in a variety of areas, is not a major concern of many Americans. Erosion of belief in values and responsibility can undermine and sap the strength of our nation. We face a very serious health crisis involving diseases that often result from detrimental lifestyles. Caring for these diseases has created an enormous financial burden on the public and on our government. It is essential that we all work together to stem this medical crisis, which continues to increase.

The importance of healthy lifestyles to preserve the well-being of Americans has never been more evident. Today the United States is one of the fattest nations in the world: 68 percent of Americans are overweight and 34 percent are obese (that is, at least 20 percent above ideal weight). Complications of the obesity crisis (hypertension, type 2 diabetes, harmful blood fats, and many cancers) kill three hundred thousand Americans each year and cost the nation $190 billion. It is estimated that of children born in our nation in the year 2000, about one-third of Caucasians and one-half of African Americans and Hispanics will develop type 2 diabetes if excess weight gain continues. It is possible that parents will live longer lives than their children!

The purpose of this book is to encourage, educate, and empower American adults and children to seek healthier lifestyles, which can play a pivotal role in reducing the prevalence and complications of obesity. A top priority is to prevent childhood obesity. Chapters 1 through 3 take an in-depth look at the problem: the nationwide (soon-to-be worldwide) crisis of obesity, with all of its attendant health problems. Chapters 4 and 5 introduce and examine the solution: the best eating plan for combating obesity, which we have concluded is the DASH (Dietary Approaches to Stop Hypertension) diet. Chapters 6 through 9 cover significant related topics: other weight-loss plans, the importance of exercise, DASH for diabetes, and the salt story. In the very few instances where the singular pronoun I is used, it refers to me, William Manger.

This book addresses the very core of our well-being—namely, our lifestyle. The basic and vital information and recommendations outlined here provide important guidance for those interested in improving their health and that of their family. Success by adherence to a healthy lifestyle depends on persistent motivation, which, of course, is up to you. However, it must be appreciated that a low income, unhealthy eating habits (inside or outside the home), and limited access to healthy foods may make adhering to a healthy eating program very difficult for some. Addressing those important sociological issues, which have been competently written about elsewhere, is beyond the scope of this book.

This book is written, with the help of many outstanding consultants with a wide range of expertise, to improve the health of our nation by establishing beneficial lifestyles. Francis Bacon said, Some books are to be tasted, others to be swallowed, and some few to be chewed and digested. I pray that this book is worthy of the latter category.

1  Your Life, Your Choices

You can improve your health! This truth should be clear to all Americans. You and only you can change your lifestyle, your way of life. Regrettably, in some parts of the world many die from lack of food and malnutrition, and from various diseases because of inadequate prevention and lack of medicines, immunizations, vitamins, and sanitation. Fortunately, most Americans do not face these issues. In contrast, Americans today often die from the consequences of obesity caused by too much food, fat, and sugar, or from excess alcohol, excess salt, and lack of physical activity. They also succumb to cigarette smoking, illicit drugs, some sexually transmitted infections, and preventable injuries and diseases. To repeat: You alone are responsible for your lifestyle.

Changing What You Can

You cannot change your genes, age, sex, race, or family background, but look at what you can change. You can avoid overeating; you can consume healthy foods with less saturated fat and added sugar; you can get adequate exercise; you can limit the amount of salt you eat; you can avoid drinking alcohol excessively; you can avoid smoking cigarettes; you can avoid using marijuana or other illicit drugs; you can get adequate sleep; you can avoid acquiring sexually transmitted infections; and you can observe safety precautions to help prevent injury and disease. (Injuries are the leading cause of death in individuals under age thirty-five.) You can, therefore, change your lifestyle so that you will:

live safer

live longer

look better

play better

improve your self-esteem

increase your energy

reduce stress

live healthier

feel better

work better

sleep better

improve your quality of life

enjoy better sex

be happier

There is no doubt that your lifestyle has an enormous impact on your health. The major modifiable risk factors (obesity, sedentary lifestyle, excess consumption of salt and alcohol, cigarette smoking, illicit drugs, and risky sexual activity) increase the chance for disease. No matter what your age, it is always essential to concentrate on changing an unhealthy lifestyle to a healthy one that will improve your future health, self-esteem, and quality of life, and will benefit your family and associates.

Overeating—especially excessive consumption of fat, sweets, snacks, and sugar—and drinking lots of sugar-laden sodas, other sweetened drinks, or excess amounts of alcohol are major causes of the increase of obesity in the United States. We are correctly warned that our children are growing up in a toxic food-and-beverage environment. Sadly, inadequate or unskilled parental supervision can leave children vulnerable to these obesigenic environmental influences.¹ We are constantly bombarded by advertisements for food, snacks, and drinks that encourage us to eat and drink more. The abundance of inexpensive food and non-nutritious beverages, the replacement of exercise time with screen time (TV, computers, hand-held games, and cell phones), and the availability of convenient transportation create an environment that only contributes to the crisis of obesity in our nation. The result is an increase in body fat because we consume more calories than we burn.

Some experts define overeating as an eating disorder, and others do not. Prolonged daily consumption of even a modest increase in calories—which would be difficult to categorize as an eating disorder—can account for very significant weight gain in children and adults. In addition to the ill effects of overeating, there are other types of serious but relatively rare eating disorders such as anorexia nervosa (avoidance of eating, which can cause severe malnutrition and sometimes death) and bulimia (binge eating followed by discharging the food through self-induced vomiting or the excessive use of laxatives). About 90 percent of these conditions occur in white girls and young white women and are associated with extreme psychological disturbances. Anyone with either of these conditions is very fearful of gaining weight and becoming obese. In this book, we will focus only on obesity, one of our greatest health threats. To avoid obesity and maintain a normal weight, healthy eating rather than dieting should be emphasized, since dieting is occasionally the gateway to bulimia or

Reviews for The DASH Diet to End Obesity

[jostars-1 · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

If you want to lose weight, lower your blood pressure, improve or prevent Type 2 diabetes, lower your salt intake, and/or just improve your overall health, The DASH Diet to End Obesity is the book for you. Chock full of medical and practical information, this is the only reference book you’ll need. I highly recommend it.