Best Diet Plans- Getting in shape, improving overall health, and keeping yourself active never gets old. If you are looking for this year, then take a halt and give this post your precious read. We have included trendy eating plans and which ones to avoid to keep your overall health upright.
The new year is just a few steps away and everyone must be gearing up with their new diet resolutions— ‘new year, new me. People will jump to start following trends to shade those extra kilos that they put on last year. Moreover, this would last a few weeks or let’s say months and they will certainly resume their old dietary habits. Some will even think of becoming personal trainers to keep themselves fit and help others in achieving dietary goals. If you are someone who finds yourself on a similar rollercoaster then stop that ‘self-blame game as you are not alone in this. Many people are sailing on the same boat as you are. But it’s never too late to bend things in your favor, especially when it comes down to your health. Everyone has their own agenda for following a food regime—some merely look for a weight-loss diet and pursue a short-term plan. Whereas others plan for a religious thing. Whatever your purpose is, we will introduce you to some trendy diet plans to follow this year. Let’s get going!
Table of Contents
Best Diet Plans for Your Overall Health
Types of diets—which works and which don’t?
Trends have introduced so many types of diets—keto, vegan, Mediterranean, etc. to stay fit and healthy. you might know each diet trend’s benefits but are you aware of its drawbacks? Yes, each one has its own sort of downsides which you know before altering your eating habit. Let us discuss each diet type along with their benefit and downside.
1. Vegan
This diet excludes all animal-based products including dairy products, honey, and eggs. Following a vegan diet is considered the best diet for loss weight and offers other benefits including:
- High fiber.
- Low cholesterol.
- Lower inflammation.
- Eliminates obesity and chronic diseases.
- Less risk of heart-related diseases.
Downsides:
- Low level of B12 (increases risk of depression and heart stroke).
- Expensive.
- Time-consuming cooking.
- Every vegan food is not necessarily healthy. For example, Oreos and pop-tarts are considered vegan but many health experts don’t recommend people eat much of them.
Bottomline
You can improve your health by eating plant-based foods. You can speak to your doctor about taking protein and supplements to prevent any sort of nutritional deficit. Research shows massive benefits from a vegan diet. However, following this diet would be difficult for people who grew up eating dairy products and meat. You can even try exercise to lose weight.
2. Intermittent fasting
The key focus of intermittent fasting is when to eat, it is one of the best diets to lose weight. It includes fasting and eating in alternative periods repeatedly. Some people follow eating only once in six or eight hours every day and some eat one meal for a few days a week. In this diet, drinking enough water is encouraged to avoid dehydration.
Benefits:
- Restrictions on food are nil.
- Any schedule can be followed according to the preference.
- Fasting improves diabetes and eliminates obesity, cancer, neurological disorders, and diabetes.
Downsides:
- Doesn’t work for people taking medications like insulin as it needs people to consume food regularly.
- In some cases, fasting leads to undereating, irritability, or overeating.
Bottomline
The intermittent fasting diet is not for you if you suffer from an eating disorder because it causes starving, binging, and over-restricting food consumption. But if you follow it correctly, it is the best diet to lose weight and reduce the risk of chronic disease.
3. Keto
The key goal of the keto diet is pushing the body to ketosis, which means burning fuel and fat instead of carbohydrates. The keto diet replaces carbohydrates with nuts, seeds, and avocados. However, people who follow this diet often end up consuming saturated fats such as red meat, cheese, oil, and butter.
Benefits:
- Helps in shading weight.
- Type 2 diabetes can be well managed.
- Helps in reducing seizures as it minimizes inflammation in the brain.
Downsides:
- Unintended weight gain can lead to kidney complications, high cholesterol, or even heart palpitations.
- It can cause an acid surge in the bloodstream which is dangerous for Type 1 diabetics.
- Keto restricts fruits, so it cannot be a lifelong solution for any person.
Bottomline
The Keto diet should be followed after consulting with an experienced medical practitioner. They will assist you in food modification if you are not eating enough saturated fat and protein. They might permit eggs and steak for breakfast but eating such a diet will not offer any long-term health benefits.
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4. Carnivore
The carnivore diet is the opposite of vegan which comprises only meat, eggs, and butter. This type of diet is strongly not recommended. However, let us discuss it more in detail.
Benefits:
- Elimination of sugar and carbs helps in losing weight.
- Protein-rich diet keeps fuller for longer.
Downsides:
- Not having vegetables and fruits eliminates important vitamins, antioxidants, fiber, and minerals that help the body in lowering disease risks.
- Processed and red meat is connected to some cancers.
Bottomline
The carnivore diet is not recommended as it can only offer short-term weight reduction advantages but carries long-term health risks. We suggest you try some of the best fitness apps instead of opting for this diet plan.
5. Mediterranean diet
The Mediterranean diet includes vegetables, fruits, seeds, lean meats (fish and poultry), grains, beans, nuts, and potatoes. This diet restricts dairy products, sweets, and red meat. Olive oil is the key source of fat. This diet also encourages people to lead a life full of physical activity.
Benefits:
- Minimizes risk of heart-related diseases, Parkinson, cancer, cognitive decline, and diabetes.
- Easier to maintain.
Downsides:
- Cutting back on dairy products leads to vitamin D deficiency.
- Certain food like fresh nuts, fish, and berries can be difficult for some people to afford or even find.
Bottomline
The Mediterranean diet is counted among the healthiest diet for people of any age. You can easily make adjustments to your existing diet. This diet is one of the eating patterns to follow for individuals with any health condition.
6. DASH diet
DASH is known as the Dietary Approaches to Stop Hypertension. This type of diet is recommended for people with hypertension and heart disease. DASH diet focus on high potassium and low sodium food such as vegetables and fruits, low-fat dairy products, beans and lentils, poultry, fish, and unsalted nuts. This diet restricts fast food, sweets, processed food, and alcohol.
Benefits:
- Helps in lowering blood pressure.
- Easy to adapt and maintain irrespective of lifestyle and culture.
Downsides:
- Too low sodium intake is as unhealthy as taking too much of it.
- Incorporating fiber-rich food into an already full-of-fiber diet can be unhealthy.
- Be mindful of opting for high-fiber food as high consumption can lead to diarrhea and even bloating.
Bottomline
The DASH diet is highly recommended for people with heart disease. Speak to your doctor, if your sodium level concerns you. You need to adjust your taste buds if your existing food plan consists of salty products. Following this diet will offer you to explore new flavors and experiment with sodium-free spices.
7. Sirtfood diet
The sirtfood diet is one of the latest food trends that focuses on the intake of sirtuin-rich food such as green juices, blueberries, matcha, and red wine. This newest eating pattern is gaining a lot of popularity, it is high in polyphenols which is an advantageous composite found in plants. It helps in boosting mood and metabolism. This diet also aids in losing weight and increasing energy. Sirt foods comprise dark chocolate, citrus fruits, kale, turmeric, apples, green tea, and blueberries. If you opt for this diet, you will follow it in two phases. In the first phase, you will have one sirtfood meal with three green juices in a day. The second phase includes having 3 sirtfood meals in a day with only one glass of green juice.
Benefits:
- There is calorie restriction which helps in losing weight.
- Sirtfood contains good nutrients that the body needs to avert kidney-related diseases and other chronic illnesses.
Downsides:
- The sirtfood diet is not properly researched.
- Restrictions in food can lead to fluctuations in weight.
- Undereating or overeating can impact metabolism.
Bottomline
Many sirtfood including beverages have health benefits and can be enjoyed with an existing diet. As the scientific evidence of a sirtfood diet is not much, we recommend you to skip it.
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8. Potato diet
The potato diet is just eating potatoes with light flavors. This type of diet restricts sour cream, butter, cheese, and bacon. Except potatoes eat nothing, that is what this eating plan says. According to the book ‘’Potato Hack: Weight Loss Simplified’’ which was released back in 2016 says that potatoes not only toughen the immune system but also offer energy while losing weight. Potatoes are a rich source of getting nutrients but many wonder how merely consuming them helps in losing weight. A person opting for this dietary plan should follow the rules extremely restrictively.
Benefits:
- Filled with essential nutrients like vitamin C, healthy carbs, fiber, and potassium.
- Good for short-term weight loss plans.
- Affordable diet plan.
- Rich in fiber and nutrition to keep you energized in the weight loss journey.
Downside:
- Eliminating all food from the diet leads to an insufficiency of proteins, vitamins, minerals, and fats that bones, the immune system, and muscles require to stay healthy.
- Difficult to follow.
- Restrictive dieting leads to unhealthy eating behaviors like binge eating.
- Merely eating potatoes cannot meet all the essential nutrients that a body requires.
Bottomline
Even if this diet needs to be followed for 3-4 days, you will definitely suffer a lack of nutrients in your body. If you have seen any celebrity following the potato diet then we strongly recommend not following this eating plan. This is because the long-term health risks are way bigger than losing weight for a short duration.
9. Paleo diet
The paleolithic or paleo diet is based on the hunter-gatherer era that focuses on eating fruits, vegetables, fish, eggs, fish, nuts, seeds, and lean meats. This type of diet restricts foods that were unavailable before industrial farming like legumes, sugar, processed food, grains, and dairy. This diet’s name happened to be paleo because it is the same food group that humans ate ages (in the paleolithic era) ago. It is believed that following this diet minimizes the lifestyle illnesses such as heart disease, obesity, and diabetes.
Benefits:
- Prevents heart disease, some cancers, type 2 diabetes, and obesity.
- Helps in losing weight.
- Lowers intake of highly processed food like candy and chips.
- Minimize blood pressure.
- Make you feel fuller for a long duration.
Downsides:
- This diet is too restrictive which makes it difficult to follow for long.
- People opting for this eating plan miss out on fiber, legume vitamins, whole grains, vitamins, and protein from dairy and plant-based milk substitutes.
10. Mind diet
When you combine the DASH diet with a Mediterranean eating plan, you get the mind diet that majorly focuses on brain health. This type of eating plan is aimed to prevent the likely non-functioning of the brain and dementia. Mind diet contains flavonoids, vitamins, and carotenoids that reduce inflammation and oxidative stress.
Benefits:
- Lower blood pressure and heart-related risks.
- Improves brain health.
- The healthiest diet combination.
- Minimize the risks of brain-related diseases like Alzheimer’s and Parkinson’s.
- High fiber intake.
- Support heart and maintain good blood pressure.
Downsides
- Don’t emphasize physical activity.
- Low sodium intake is unhealthy.
- Food groups are difficult to find and even afford.
Bottomline
DASH and Mediterranean diets are considered the healthiest eating plans according to research. Following the combination of these two types of diets will bring healthy results. You can considerably lower the risk of illnesses associated with the brain.
Parting thoughts
Whenever you consider opting for a new eating plan, identify why you are considering this change in your diet. This is because whenever you start a diet plan it is normal to slip back into old eating habits and this goal of altering your diet will help you stay firm. For example, if you want to lose weight ask yourself—why do I want to do it? Just for looking thin or due to a health reason. Whatever your purpose is, you need to identify it because it will help you a lot in following your new dietary plan uninterruptedly. Once you know your solid objective, pick the right diet plan that help you realize your health objective this year!
