Dieting, if done right, is an excellent recipe for staying healthy. We are putting emphasis on “if done right” because it is possible to diet wrong. This happens when you don’t stick to your diet plan well enough or when you just fail to pick the diet plan right for you. In this article, GoodHealthRecipe will be filling you in on the 10 best dieting plans for overall health.
1. Paleo Diet
This diet plan takes root in the Paleolithic era. It has many names, the most common being the stone age diet.
People believe that eating the same foods as our ancestors from that era will see us healthier and safer.
The diet encourages foods such as meat, vegetables, notes, oils, etc.
Related: The Best Low Calorie Foods to Help You Lose Weight (And Foods to Avoid)
2. Mayo Clinic Diet
As the name suggests, the Mayo Clinic Diet takes root in the prestigious medical organization, Mayo Clinic.
Like the Volumetric Diet, this isn’t a short-term diet plan; it seeks that dieters develop diet and lifestyle patterns that stick with them for a while.
To make its diet plan more easily understood, Mayo Clinic developed a pyramid illustration. The base of this pyramid comprises more encouraged habits and meals, like exercise and vegetables, with subsequent layers comprising less and then lesser encouraged habits.
You can expect to lose about 10 pounds two weeks after beginning this diet plan, Mayo Clinic says.
Read: Side Effects You May Not Know About Skipping Breakfast
3. Low Carb Diet
This is amongst the most popular weight loss plans out there. As the name implies, one is encouraged to stick to ‘low carb’ foods whilst on this diet plan.
You are supposed to shunt carbohydrates for something else, like fat, as is done with the keto diet, etc.
Low carb diets work by promoting the use of excess calories whilst seeing to it that no excess calories are being stored up.
Since they usually contain a lot of protein, they may have an impact on your appetite and your muscle mass based on studies.
Read: Keep These 8 Things in Mind If You Really Want to Lose weight
4. The Mediterranean Diet
This diet plan hasn’t been looked upon as one of the best diet plans for overall health for no reason. It really is a rich diet plan and relatively easy to stick to, and it is ranked number one in the 2022 best diet overall in U.S. News.
The Mediterranean Diet plan comprises foods that are traditionally consumed in Mediterranean areas like Greece and Italy.
These foods include (but are not limited to): fruits and vegetables, whole grains, fish, nuts, lentils, nuts, etc.
Eggs are also included, only if the dieter can stick to eating just very little.
The Mediterranean Diet does not allow refined grains, trans fats, processed meats, sugars, etc.
This diet plan is helpful in losing and maintaining lost weight. The meals present offer protection from heart disease and cardiovascular issues.
Read: Should You Have Cheat Meals? (And Why?)
5. DASH Diet
DASH is an acronym for Dietary Approaches to Stop Hypertension.
This plan is the perfect diet plan for individuals living with high blood pressure. Unlike the others listed above, it is not meant to facilitate weight loss. Although people experience weight loss whilst sticking to the plan.
DASH comprises meals that do not cause a rise in blood pressure. That is foods that are low in salt and fat.
Salt, in excess quantity, is capable of raising blood pressure to a certain degree.
With DASH, you are expected to eat more vegetables, fruits, whole grains, and milk. And less meat.
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6. Vegan Diet
This is a very popular diet plan, and it’s great for your overall health. I am guessing you have heard about it at least once.
With the vegan diet, you are not expected to eat animal products. Not meat nor eggs. None of those. You are only expected to eat vegetables in as many recipes as you want.
The health benefits of the vegan diet are vast.
Research shows vegan diets are cost-effective, and they can help:
- Lose weight
- Put in check the risk of heart disease
- Decrease your blood pressure
- Put you at lesser risk of diabetes
7. The MIND Diet
This is an acronym for The Mediterranean-DASH Intervention for Neurodegenerative Delay.
This diet is the result of perfectly blending the Mediterranean and the DASH diet plans to come up with a plan that focuses on the brain and nervous system.
This diet plan isn’t the strictest of diet plans but encourages you to stick to eating: leafy vegetables, nuts, and non-starchy vegetables.
You can also have fruits like apples and berries.
The MIND diet, according to a study, is also believed to reduce the risk of Alzheimer’s disease.
Read: 10 Tips for Eating More Sustainably
8. Weight Watchers
This isn’t your regular diet plan. We call it the ‘flex,’ as it does not stop you from eating whatever you want. You can eat, but only enough, as you have limited ‘food points.’
The weight-watchers program can be thought of as something of a point grading system for food.
Dieting, thus, is made fun. The “video game” kind of fun.
How effective is this program? Well, in a review of 45 studies, the results showed that people who practiced WW lost as much as 2.6 percent more weight than people who didn’t.
9. Intermittent Fasting
Intermittent fasting is a diet plan championed by many, especially because of its weight loss and overall health benefits. This diet plan includes going for a while without food at scheduled intervals.
This helps with weight loss, as it helps your body burn calories. Only if you don’t take to eating too much after your periods of fasting are over.
Doing this defeats the purpose of your dieting already.
Related: Keto Diet: What to Eat (And What Not to Eat)
10. The Volumetric Diet
Prof. Barbara Rolls, a professor of nutrition at Penn State University, developed this diet plan. U.S. News has ranked it number 5 in the best diet overall 2022.
Unlike many usual plans, the volumetric diet plan isn’t supposed to be short-term. It is developed to be a gradual change in diet habits that stays with you for a long while.
The Volumetric plan works to help you lose weight by making sure you consume only foods that are low on calories, dense with nutrients, and water-rich.
Although it does not prohibit you from eating whatever you want, you are advised to stick to only these kinds of meals.
With the Volumetric Diet, you are expected to exercise for about an hour daily. Your exercises can range from cardio to weight lifting.
It’s a perfect plan: both a diet and an exercise plan.
Photo by Brooke Lark on Unsplash
