The confusion starts here!

If you decide to (hopefully temporarily) go on a “restrictive” eating program…..also known as a “diet”, where do you go to find out which one? Your neighbor, co-workers, doctor, facebook, Instagram, google.

Just for grins, I typed in “diets” on google. The top 4 hits were advertisements for different diets. The 5th was a link from usnews.com listing the top 5 ranked diets (Mediterranean, DASH, The Flexitarian, Weight Watchers and Mayo Clinic). Who do or can you trust?

From my point of view, these are all just jump off points. You need to do your own research to determine which diet (if any) fits your goals, lifestyle, time constraints and any other personal considerations. Don’t forget to ask yourself if there are any health risks associated with these diets.

The top 5 in summary:

Mediterranean: Widely recognized as a healthy diet, it includes moderate portions of fruits, veggies, whole grains, legumes, potatoes, nuts, seeds, olive oil, fish, poultry, dairy and eggs. The only minimal item, other than sweets, is red meat. This omega-3 fatty acid rich diet is considered heart healthy.

DASH: Which stands for Dietary Approaches to Stop Hypertension, was developed based on research done by the National Institutes of Health. Developed to reduce high blood pressure, this diet’s focus is on low-fat healthy foods and avoids fatty meats, full-fat dairy, coconut/palm oil and sweets. It’s baseline is 2,000 calories per day with 55% carbs, 21% unsaturated fats, 6% saturated fats and 18% protein.

Flexitarian: This is a mostly vegetarian diet with occasional eating of fish and poultry. It is primarily plant based with room for some animal products. Usually, vegan diets show a reduced risk of diabetes and cardiovascular disease. The flexitarian diet is not as restrictive as a complete vegetarian diet.

Weight Watchers: A popular diet which assigns point values to food. The dieter must stay within a certain daily point value that matches their goal. This may be the most mentally tough. People have succeeded on this diet but what happens when you come off the diet?

Mayo Clinic: Developed by the Mayo Clinic, this is a 2-pronged diet that first focuses on jump-starting your weight loss and then getting into a maintenance program. Rather than being precise on calculating food intake, the effort is put on eating more nutritious food, like vegetables, fruit, whole grains and nuts. The idea is to enjoy all your food but focus more on the nutrient dense food types. A big part of this program is an awareness of what you are eating and the amounts you are eating.

So, what’s next….

There you have it, a quick synopsis of the top 5 Google-searched diets. Is one better than the other? You’ll have to make a personal choice. Whatever you do, you’ll learn about your body and how you respond. Remember, you never stop learning about yourself.

Feel free to send me an e-mail at [email protected]

To your health and happiness,

Nate