The Top Diets

With the quarantine 15 happening, more of us are interested in upping our body confidence.

But looking good should come second after the need to improve our health by increasing our exercise times or dropping pounds or both.  Exercise more is usually number one on most people's New Year's resolution lists (losing weight is number two). And, by now—midway through the year—many of us had forgotten about it until swimsuit season arrived. 

How do you make diets work?

What everyone says about diets is that, to work, you have to pick one that will change your attitude to food and your daily eating habits. If you're stressed and turning to comfort foods and stodge, switching to a new habit is hard. You might need to retrain your brain to think happy when over-indulging in veggies instead of carbs or drinking water instead of soda. It is possible to change your thought patterns and start a new habit: https://jamesclear.com/three-steps-habit-change.

Changing your attitude and realigning a food focus is often the step you need to take to open the door to healthier eating or a different nutritional basis and give you a chance of success. 

US  News & World Report says that the top diets are still the old faithfuls... The DASH diet, judged the best of all by their panel of health experts, was developed to avoid health issues and relieve high blood pressure. It's also easy to find lots of free information on the DASH diet online.

Nutritious diets 

The diets reviewed had to be nutritious and help with weight loss and the battle against concerns such as diabetes and heart disease. The top diets give your more chance of success because they aim to alter your view of what's healthy and what's not and help to change your lifestyle, your health, and your longevity stats. 

If feeling good and having more energy are on your list of resolutions, see the US News & World Report summary of the best diets. The piece includes links and reviews/recipes.

What are the best diets?

According to the US News & World Report the best diets are the DASH Diet, Mediterranean Diet, MIND Diet (which combines the best of the previous two). The Flextarian (for casual vegetarians), the Mayo Clinic, TLC, and Weight Watchers all tie for fourth place.

The best diet for diabetes is The DASH Diet. The second best is The Mediterranean Diet and the next is The Vegan Diet.

What about the Ketogenic Diet? Is it good for you?

Could be, say the experts. When you cut down on unhealthy 'white' carb foods such as flour and sugar, your body starts to use fat and protein for energy and during this process you lose weight. You store less insulin, which may be a good thing and it could be that this lower insulin level helps raise good cholesterol and lower the bad... so it could be a correct choice for your heart and circulation issues. Check with your doctor before going on this diet, though, especially if you're diabetic—. A Ketogenic Diet may also help control or reduce acne. More info on the pluses and minus of The Ketogenic Diet.

Whole foods (i.e. not processed or packaged) and vegetarian/plant-based diets may be the best overall choices for health reasons. Read all about it! See menu suggestion for a whole food healthy diet.

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