Mediterranean diet world’s best, Keto worst: US News & World Report

The Mediterranean diet is followed in Southern European countries such as Greece and Italy, part of the blue zone - regions where people live the longest.

Low in red meat, sugar and saturated fats, the diet is one of the main reasons why the region boasts of much lower rates of chronic illnesses such as cardiovascular diseases and cancer.

The diet focuses on consuming monosaturated fat, which is found in olive oil and some nuts, which over time is known to lower possibility of heart disease, cancer, depression, while also reducing weight.

Eat: Fruits, beans, whole grains, nuts and seeds, olive oil and fish. Cheese and yoghurt are the main dairy products in the diet, along with small amounts of red meat, up to four eggs a week and a small amount of wine.

DASH diet stands for Dietary Approaches to Stop Hypertension. The diet does not focus on losing weight, but rather on lowering blood pressure by incorporating foods that are rich in nutrients such as magnesium, calcium and potassium.

The regular DASH diet also limits the consumption of sodium to not more than 2,300 mg (1 teaspoon) per day, while the low salt version encourages consumption of not more than 1,500 mg (3/4 spoon) of salt a day.

Eat: The diet focuses on consuming more of fruits, vegetables and whole grains, while discouraging the use of tropical oils, full fat dairy, sugary sweets and processed foods.

Dietitian Dawn Jackson Blatner coined the term flexitarian by combining two terms – vegetarian and flexible, in her book, “The Flexitarian Diet: The Mostly Vegetarian Way to Lose Weight, Be Healthier, Prevent Disease and Add Years to Your Life.”

Here, the key is to not avoid meat completely, but eat a more plant-based diet. Experts say that such a diet can help in weight loss and reduce the chances of getting diseases such as cancer, heart disease and diabetes.

An ideal serving would be a quarter of the plate with meat, a quarter with whole grains and the rest 50 percent with vegetables.

Eat: Legumes, lentils, tofu, fruits, starchy vegetables such as sweet potato, peas, corn, non-starchy vegetables such as carrots, green beans, cauliflower, nuts and seeds, whole wheat grains such as ragi, jowar, broken wheat, amaranth, etc. You can also slowly reduce your meat intake by following these guidelines: Beginner: 6–8 meatless meals/ 21 total meals each week Advanced: 9–14 meatless meals/ 21 total meals each week Expert: 15+ meatless meals/ 21 total meals each week

While you can eat what you want to, the emphasis here is on shifting towards a healthier diet and an active lifestyle.

The programme works on a point-based system where every food you eat is assigned SmartPoints based on four pointers – calories, saturated fat, sugar and protein. Foods that are higher on sugar or saturated fats are assigned higher points and foods that are higher in lean proteins are assigned lower points.

You are given a daily and weekly allowance, and you can eat what you want within that budget. The final goal for all the members is to have a healthy weight and ‘BMI’ of under 25.

Eat: Lean proteins such as chicken, eggs, sea food, non-fat yogurt, tofu/ fruits, vegetables, carbohydrates such as oats, brown rice, sweet potatoes, healthy fats such as avocado, nuts, olive oil.

Created by a team of experts from Mayo Clinic, the diet is a long term one which focuses on eating healthy food and exercising. The Mayo Clinic Diet book was first published in 1949 and then updated in 2017.

Mayo Clinic Diet has two phases – Lose it (the first two weeks when you start the diet), live it – the second phase which is lifelong.

The diet encourages you to plan your meals using a pyramid. The Mayo Clinic Healthy Weight Pyramid places fruits, vegetables, and exercise at the base of the pyramid, carbohydrates in the next layer, followed by proteins and finally sweets.

Eat: Oatmeal, fruits, nuts, whole grains like quinoa, brown rice, whole wheat bread, vegetables, proteins from legumes, low fat dairy and fish, healthy fats from olive oil and avocado. Sweets, while allowed, should be limited to 75 calories a day.

Created by late Professor Martha Clare Morris, a nutritional epidemiologist at RUSH University Medical Centre, this diet aims to prevent decline in brain health and dementia that can occur as people get older.

The MIND diet focuses on eating food that is good for the brain such as berries. As the name suggests, the diet combines the Mediterranean diet and DASH diet – two of the healthiest diets.

Eat: Take atleast three servings of whole grains daily, green leafy vegetables such as spinach and salads, other non-starchy vegetables, berries, a variety of nuts, olive oil as main cooking oil, fatty fish such as salmon and trout atleast once a week, not more than one glass of wine, preferably red, daily.

Snack on nuts on most days and eat half a cup of beans every other day.

Created by the US National Institute of Health’s National Cholesterol Education Program, the TLC Diet aims to cut down on cholesterol.

Participants need to follow a diet that Is low on trans fats, saturated fats and cholesterol. It requires people to get less than 7 percent of their daily calories from saturated fat, less than 200 mg a day of cholesterol and 25–35 percent of daily calories from total fat.

The program also requires participants to stay active and get atleast 30 minutes of exercise every day.

Eat: Fruits, vegetables, legumes, whole grains, fish, poultry and lean meats.

The plan, created by Penn State University nutrition professor Barbara Rolls, requires you to fill up on low-calorie, nutrient heavy food. This particular approach to eating helps you determine the energy density of a food and make meal plans accordingly.

The diet divides food into four categories: Category 1 (very low-calorie density): calorie density of less than 0.6. Non starchy fruits and vegetables, non-fat milk and soup; Category 2 (low calorie density): calorie density of 0.6–1.5, starchy fruits and vegetables, cereals, grains, legumes and low-fat meat; Category 3 (medium calorie density): calorie density of 1.6–3.9, cheese, pizza, French fries, bread, ice cream, cake; Category 4 (high calorie density): calorie density of 4.0–9.0, cookies, butter, oil, chips, nuts, chocolate.

The diet recommends that you prioritise foods that belong to category one and two, watch what you eat in category three and limit category four options.

Eat: soup, fruits, vegetables, pasta, yogurt

The Nordic diet incorporates elements of Scandinavian cuisine and culture. The diet was designed by nutritional scientists from University of Copenhagen along with co-founders of the Michelin star Noma restaurant.

The Nordic diet has 10 concepts: 1) eat fruits and vegetables every day; 2) eat more homemade food, 3) eat whole grains, 4) eat more seafood, 5) eat less meat 6) eat organic whenever possible, 7) buy foraged food from local farmers markets, 8) produce less waste, 9) avoid additives, 10) eat seasonal food.

Eat: Whole grains like oats, rye, barley, fruits such as berries, vegetables such as carrot, cabbage and potatoes, fatty fish such as salmons and herrings, legumes such as beans and peas.

Pioneered by clinical professor of medicine, Dr Dean Ornish, the Ornish diet is low in fat, refined carbohydrates and animal proteins.

It focuses on foods that have powerful anti-cancer, anti-heart disease and anti-aging properties. The diet categorises food into five groups, with group one being most healthy and group five being least healthy.

Eat: The diet emphasises on eating plants in its natural form, portion control, limiting bad carbs such as refined flour, white rice, concentrated sweetener, including four grams a day of good fat such as flax seed oil, fish oil, nuts and seeds, eating plant-based protein such as beans, tofu, tempeh and legumes, moderate use of salt, reduced intake of caffein and incorporating a low dose of supplements such as vitamin B12.