Want to slim down? Reduce cholesterol? Prevent Alzheimer’s, or just live longer?
Don’t despair. If 2018 has taught us anything, it’s that there’s a diet tailored to almost every goal and body type — even those who say they can’t survive a day without cheese or wine or bread.
The good news is the best diets of 2018 served up great options for weight loss and healthy, longer living…something we can all learn from going into our 2019 nutrition goal plans.
U.S. News and World Report ranked the top diets plans based on a panel of health and food experts.
You wanna go high octane or be more balanced? Never fear. The showdown of the top diet plans have you covered.
WATCH: JUST TELL ME WHAT TO EAT
If you love healthy and fatty foods like nuts, fish and olive oil with loads of fruits and vegetables. The Mediterranean Diet — which came in first — is for you. It’s modeled after people who reside around the Mediterranean Sea and tend to live longer.
Also tied at number one is the Dash Diet. It’s more of a balanced blend geared to reduce high blood pressure. It boasts a mixture of whole grains, lean proteins, low-fat dairy and fruits and vegetables. The big no-no’s: saturated fat, sugary-sweet beverages, fatty oils and salt.
Then again why choose one when you can have a bit of both. The MIND Diet, a combination of the Mediterranean and Dash, is designed to protect the brain and prevent Alzheimer’s disease. For the MIND, you eat from ten brain-beneficial food groups including whole grains, fish, poultry, olive oil, vegetables nuts, berries, beans and, yes, even wine! The catch: avoid foods from the other five groups including red meats, cheeses, sweets, fried or fast food and stick margarine and butter.
There’s even a diet for those wanna-be vegetarians that can’t quite go the mile. The Flexitarian is a mix of flexibility with vegetarianism. It’s mostly all veggies for better health with a built-in break to satisfy that occasional hankering for a steak.
WATCH: WHEN YOU EAT MATTERS…A LOT
If you are a gamer-by nature, then the ever-popular, Weight Watchers diet is for you. This points-based plan endorsed by celebrities rates foods on a point system. Sweets have high points and foods high in nutrients have low points, thus encouraging healthier eating. Each day you can only use so many points to stay on track.
If you want to say goodbye to fat, especially saturated fat, but turn up the fiber then you may want a Therapeutic Life Change (TLC). This diet’s goal is aimed at reducing cholesterol.
For some, it’s all about the energy, at least in food calories. Volumetrics is a diet that tracks the energy density of foods. Energy density is the amount of energy or calories per gram of food. High energy-dense foods are also often high in fat and have more calories in small amounts. They include cheese, peanuts, or biscuits. Low energy-dense foods have fewer calories in larger portions. They are often high in water like fruit and vegetables.
Not only to decide on fitness goals…
