DASH stands for 'Dietary Approach to Stop Hypertension', as certified by the National Heart, Lung and Blood Institute. It is a diet which mainly focuses on keeping a balance between the levels of sodium, potassium, magnesium and calcium in our body, with the sodium intake being approximately 1500 mg. All these minerals play pivotal roles in controlling the blood pressure.

The DASH diet encourages an intake of 2000 kCal per day. Seven to eight servings of grains are allowed, while the serving sizes of vegetables and fruits are both restricted to four to five. Fat-free dairy products have serving sizes of two to three. Less than two servings are encouraged for meat, poultry, fishes, fats and oils. Intake of nuts, seeds and dry beans should be limited to four or five servings per week. Sweet intake is lower than five servings per week. This diet is able to lower a person's blood pressure in approximately two weeks, by decreasing the intake of sweets and red meats. This therefore decreases the amount of saturated fat, cholesterol and total fat taken in by the body.

One can start off by cutting back on snacks. A snack should typically consist of fruits or vegetable servings, or nuts and raisins. Taking skimmed milk is also a good method to start off with.