Dietitians give the 4 best eating plans for losing weight and keeping it off | Businessinsider

• One of the best diets for weight loss is the whole food diet, which eliminates all processed foods.
• The Mediterranean diet discourages the consumption of red meat, but encourages vegetables and whole grains.
• A plant-based diet can also help you lose weight, as some meats have been linked to weight gain.
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Every year, new fad diets appear with the promise that drastically changing your diet can help you lose weight. But actually, this kind of fast weight loss doesn’t last.

If you want to improve your diet, the best thing you can do is adopt healthy habits that you don’t mind maintaining in the long term. Following diets like the Mediterranean diet or the flexitarian diet can improve your health and help you lose a few pounds.

Here are four types of diets that really improve your health and aren’t too difficult to stick to:

1. Mediterranean diet

There is no standard definition of Mediterranean diet per se,” but emphasizes heart-healthy, plant-based foods, says Heather Seid, M.S.a registered dietitian and manager of the Bionutrition Research Core at Columbia University.

The Mediterranean diet gets its name from the traditional cuisine of the region and generally consists of:

• fresh fruits and vegetables
• whole grains such as brown rice and whole wheat
• Nuts and seeds
• lean protein like fish and birds
• Dairy products only in moderation
• vegetables like beans and lentils
• Heart-healthy fats like olive oil instead of butter

The diet also advises against eating things like processed foods, red meat, and too much sugar, all of which can contribute to chronic diseases I like it heart disease Y diabetes.

It has been shown that following the Mediterranean diet help with weight control and can promote weight loss because:

• Foods in the diet tend to be higher in fiber and healthy fats, which make you feel fuller and help stabilize blood sugar, says Seid. this can make you least likely overeating or craving sugary snacks.
• “Heart-healthy fats are also slower to digest, which makes people feel full longer,” says Seid.

Research also suggests that following an eating plan such as the Mediterranean diet may reduce the risk of heart disease, strokeY type 2 diabetes.

2. DASH diet

The board dietalso known as Dietary Approaches to Stop Hypertension, was originally created as a way to treat high blood pressure, but can also help you lose or maintain weight.

The DASH diet helps lower blood pressure by encouraging a diet rich in key minerals: It promotes foods high in potassium, calcium, magnesium and low in sodium, says Julie Stefanskia registered dietitian and spokesperson for the Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics.

The DASH diet is similar to the Mediterranean diet in that it consists of eating high fiber foods such as vegetables, fruits, and whole grains. However, there are two main differences:

• “Unlike the Mediterranean diet, the DASH diet promotes low-fat or fat-free dairy products rather than full dairy products,” says Seid. some experts believes low-fat dairy is better for heart health, especially if you already have heart disease.
• Additionally, DASH strongly limits your salt intake, which can help control hypertension — the goal is to stay below 2,300 mg of sodium per dayor about a teaspoon of salt.

If your current diet includes a lot of red meat and butter, following the DASH diet can help you change your weight. “Lean protein and low-fat dairy are less calorically dense and can contribute to an overall caloric deficit and subsequent weight loss,” says Seid.

“Even without a major change in weight, the DASH diet can have a desirable impact on blood pressure,” which could motivate you to stay on the diet and possibly lose weight in the long term, Stefanski says.

3. Whole Food Diet

A whole food diet includes all the major food groups, but you’ll need to read your product labels. The diet emphasizes foods that have not been refined or processed; this means checking that your food:

• They do not contain chemical preservatives such as benzoates or sorbates.
• not contain additives as artificial color dyes.
• Do not have words on the label such as “refined”, “bleached”, or “hydrogenated” that indicate processing.

Some examples of processed and unprocessed foods include:

Switching your diet toward whole foods can help with weight loss, since processed foods can pack on extra calories, says Stefanski. Processed foods tend to be higher in calories because they often have added sugar and fat.

Eating a diet of processed foods can also prompt you to eat more calories. AN very small study from 2019 found that people ate more and gained more weight when consuming an ultra-processed diet and ate less and lost weight when offered meals with the same number of calories but from unprocessed foods.

Four. plant-based diet

the goal of a plant based diet is to eliminate or reduce animal products such as meat, dairy and eggs. There is several different types of plant-based diets you can choose from, including:

• Vegetarianwhich eliminates all meat but includes eggs and dairy.
• pescatarianwhich eliminates all meat except shellfish.
• flexitarianwhich includes eggs and dairy products and allows the occasional consumption of meat.
• veganwhich eliminates all animal products, including eggs and dairy.

Following plant-based diets can help you lose weight for a number of reasons, including:

• Reduce or eliminate red meat and processed meats, which have been linked to long-term weight gain.
• Plant-based diets are generally high in fiber, which adds bulk to meals. “This means people can consume fewer calories while still feeling full,” says Seid. In fact, a little studio 2021 that compared a low-fat, plant-based diet with a low-carbohydrate diet that included meat found that people ate 550 to 700 fewer calories per day while on the low-fat plant-based diet compared to when on the low-carb diet with meat.

However, there are many highly processed foods on the market that are plant-based; for example, non-dairy ice cream is vegan, but it’s often full of sugar. “People should be looking for whole food-based options instead of processed or convenience foods,” says Seid.

Insider Takeaway

We know that short-term diets don’t really work to help you Lose weight and keep it offbut you may have better luck trying more flexible, long-term eating habits that you can maintain and enjoy.

“Choosing to increase foods that make up a Mediterranean eating style or DASH-focused plan may have longer lasting benefits that focus on health rather than just weight,” says Stefanski.

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