Karen Frazier - DASH Done Slow: The DASH Diet Slow Cooker Cookbook

Copyright 2016 by Rockridge Press, Berkeley, California

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Front Cover Stockfood/Veronika Studer.

Interior Photographs Stockfood/Sarka Babicka, .

ISBN: Print 978-1-62315-726-5 | e-book 978-1-62315-727-2

Contents

Introduction

Making a dietary change can feel daunting, particularly if its a complete overhaul of how youve eaten in the past. Many people, when they hear the words DASH diet (or any other healthy diet, for that matter), think of flavorless, bland, dry foods. They imagine theyll have to spend hours in the kitchen cooking foods from scratch using hard-to-find ingredientsor eating the same handful of boring meals over and over again. The thought of completely changing everything feels more than challenging; it may even feel impossible.

Thats why this slow cooker cookbook was written. It is designed to follow the principles of the DASH diet while providing delicious, interesting, easy-to-prepare meals that will leave you feeling satisfied. Each recipe requires 10 or fewer ingredients (plus salt and pepper) and 15 minutes or less of prep time. You just toss the ingredients in your slow cooker in the morning and come home to a tasty, nutritious meal.

Using a slow cooker enables you to build flavor into the foods you cook without putting in much time or fuss. In many cases, recipes can be doubled to save even more time, since you cook once and eat twicea great time-saver for people who dont want to spend a lot of time in the kitchen but still want to benefit from healthy DASH-diet home cooking. Many of the recipes also freeze well, so you can prepare them ahead of time and pull them out of the freezer for a quick meal on the go.

If youre trying to make a healthy diet change and you want easy and delicious recipes, this is the cookbook for you. It will minimize the time you spend in the kitchen while maximizing the healthfulness of the foods you eatand perk up your menus at the same time. Whether youre a vegan or a carnivore, whether your tastes run to the exotic or the familiar, youll find tasty dishes here that are easy to cook. Get ready to enjoy the pleasures of eating well!

DASH Diet 101

B efore jumping into information about how you can use your slow cooker to create delicious DASH dietfriendly meals, it may be helpful to review the basics of the DASH diet. If youre already familiar with the diet and its principles, then feel free to skip ahead to .

If youre following the DASH diet, youve already made the decision to take better care of your heart health. Congratulations on making a healthy choice for your overall well-being! Studies of the DASH diet, including one in the July 2001 issue of the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition, show that eating this way is likely to reduce the risk factors of coronary artery disease. Combining the diet with exercise and weight loss provides even more protection, according to the ENCORE study, as published in the January 25, 2010, issue of JAMA Internal Medicine. Studies like these show that the DASH diet is a heart-healthy way to eat.

DASH Diet Basics

The DASH (Dietary Approaches to Stop Hypertension) diet provides a template for heart-healthy eating, particularly for people who are seeking a dietary approach to lower high blood pressure (hypertension) and improve blood lipids (cholesterol). While it isnt technically a weight-loss diet, combining it with a reduction in calories can help you achieve your weight-loss goals.

The diet is quite flexible and can be customized to your own personal tastes and needs. You can adjust calorie levels to your body size, activity level, and weight goals, and you can pick and choose from a variety of food groups. Unlike other diets, the DASH diet doesnt omit or limit any macronutrients (protein, fat, carbs) or food groups (fruits, vegetables, grains/starches, meat/fish/protein, dairy, fats, legumes/nuts/seeds), but rather helps you make healthy, balanced choices from among all the food groups.