dash diet has been ranked the best diet for the 8th year in a row by us news world report it has also been voted best for diabetes heart health and healthy eating originally designed to lower blood pressure dash diet is apparently very effective for weight loss lowering cholesterol and managing or preventing diabetes dash stands for dietary approaches to stop hypertension in research studies people who were on dash lowered bp within 2 weeks dash was created by research sponsored by the us national institute of health the research found that blood pressure could be lowered without the use of medication it lowers your blood pressure by limiting salt saturated fat and cholesterol and increasing foods high in finer protein and nutrients these nutrients include potassium calcium and magnesium researchers found that by cutting back on empty carbs you can not only lose weight but also control bp those on dash need to do the following eat more fruits vegetables and lowfat dairy foods cut back on foods that are high in saturated fat cholesterol and trans fats eat more wholegrain foods fish poultry and nuts limit sodium sweets sugary drinks and red meats