The Mediterranean diet has long been considered the gold standard for nutrition, disease prevention, wellness, and longevity. This is based on its nutrition benefits and sustainability.
The Mediterranean diet is based on foods that people in countries like Italy and Greece have traditionally eaten. It is rich in:
Foods such as poultry, eggs, and dairy products are to be eaten in moderation, and red meats are limited.
Additionally, the Mediterranean diet limits:
Dietary Approaches to Stop Hypertension, or DASH, is an eating plan designed to help treat or prevent high blood pressure, which is clinically known as hypertension.
It emphasizes eating plenty of fruits, vegetables, whole grains, and lean meats. It is low in salt, red meat, added sugars, and fat.
While the DASH diet is not a weight loss diet, many people report losing weight on it.
The DASH diet recommends specific servings of different food groups. The number of servings you are encouraged to eat depends on your daily calorie intake.
For example, each day an average person on the DASH diet would eat about:
In addition, it’s recommended to consume nuts and seeds two to three times per week
Vegetarianism and veganism are the most popular versions of plant-based diets, which restrict animal products for health, ethical, and environmental reasons.
However, more flexible plant-based diets also exist, such as the flexitarian diet. This is a plant-based diet that allows eating animal products in moderation.
Typical vegetarian diets restrict meat of all kinds but allow dairy products. Typical vegan diets restrict all animal products, including dairy, butter, and sometimes other byproducts like honey.
The flexitarian eating plan does not have clear-cut rules or recommendations about calories and macronutrients, so it’s considered more of a lifestyle than a diet. Its principles include:
Numerous studies have shown that plant-based diets can reduce your risk of developing chronic diseases, including improved markers of metabolic health, decreased blood pressure, and reduced risk of type 2 diabetes. They can also help you lose weight
Flexitarian diets have also been shown to reduce the risk of type 2 diabetes and improve metabolic health and blood pressure, plus may have their own weight loss benefits.
The Mediterranean-DASH Intervention for Neurodegenerative Delay (MIND) diet combines aspects of the Mediterranean and DASH diets to create an eating pattern that focuses on brain health.
Like the flexitarian diet, the MIND diet does not have a strict meal plan, but instead encourages eating 10 specific foods with brain health benefits.
While it doesn’t restrict any food groups, people on a WW plan must eat within their set number of daily points to help them reach their ideal weight (24Trusted Source).
WW is a points-based system that assigns different foods and beverages a value, depending on their calorie, fat, and fiber contents.
As you work to reach your desired weight, you must stay within your daily point allowance.
As you work to reach your desired weight, you must stay within your daily point allowance. studies
For example, a review of 45 studies found that people who followed a WW diet lost 2.6% more weight than people who received standard counseling (26Trusted Source).
What’s more, people who follow WW programs have been shown to be more successful at maintaining weight loss after several years, compared with those who follow other diets (27Trusted Source, 28Trusted Source).
Intermittent fasting is a dietary strategy that cycles between periods of fasting and eating.
Various forms exist, including the 16/8 method, which involves limiting your calorie intake to 8 hours per day. There’s also the 5:2 method, which restricts your daily calorie intake to 500–600 calories twice per week.
While it’s primarily known as a diet for weight loss, intermittent fasting may have powerful benefits for both your body and brain.
Intermittent fasting restricts the time you’re allowed to eat, which is a simple way to reduce your calorie intake. This can lead to weight loss — unless you compensate by eating too much food during allowed eating periods.
Intermittent fasting has been linked to anti-aging effects, increased insulin sensitivity, improved brain health, reduced inflammation, and many other benefits (29Trusted Source, 30Trusted Source).
While certain diets can have a lot of rules, require frequent trips to the grocery store, and can be difficult to follow, intermittent fasting is known as a more simple-to-follow eating plan.
Due to the nature of the diet, there are fewer meals that you need to prepare, cook, and clean up after.
The Volumetrics diet was created by Penn State University nutrition professor Barbara Rolls and is meant to be a long-term lifestyle change rather than a strict diet.
The Volumetrics diet was created by Penn State University nutrition professor Barbara Rolls and is meant to be a long-term lifestyle change rather than a strict diet. The eating plan is designed to promote weight loss by having you fill up on nutrient-dense foods that are low in calories and high in water.
Meanwhile, it limits calorie-dense foods like cookies, candies, nuts, seeds, and oils.
Designed to be a lifestyle change over a quick fix, the Mayo Clinic diet focuses on replacing less healthy behaviors with ones that are more likely to support longevity and weight loss.
Rather than banning certain foods, the Mayo Clinic diet uses a pyramid to encourage exercise and illustrate quantities of foods you should be consuming.
Fruits, vegetables, and physical activity make up the base of the pyramid, followed by carbs in the next layer, then protein and dairy, fats, and finally, sweets.
The diet consists of two phases. An initial, 2-week phase designed to kick-start your weight loss by introducing 5 healthier habits and encouraging you to break 5 common less healthy habits.
The second phase is more of a lifestyle change designed to be followed long-term, encouraging education about nutritious food choices and portion sizes in addition to being physically active.
