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MyHealthNewsDaily
The best diet of 2012 is the Dietary Approaches to Stop Hypertension (DASH) diet, according to new rankings released by U.S. News & World Report.
This is the second year in a row the DASH diet, which aims at preventing and lowering high blood pressure, has won the category of "best diet overall."
"While it may have started as a [blood pressure] lowering diet, it really has incredible nutritional value," said Deborah Enos, a certified nutritionist in Seattle and a MyHealthNewsDaily contributor.
Second place was won by the Therapeutic Lifestyle Changes (TLC) Diet, which aims at lowering cholesterol, and third place went to the Mayo Clinic diet, which aims at weight loss.
"TLC is another example of a wonderful 'medical' type of diet that has gone mainstream," Enos said. But while it's low sodium requirement means it boosts heart health, it may be hard for some to follow.
The U.S. News & World Report description of the diet's strengths and weaknesses noted that "The TLC diet takes work and a certain aptitude for reading nutrition labels."
"The easy-to-follow aspect is almost more important than the weight lost on a program," Enos said. Her clients have a difficult time sticking with diets that are hard to follow, she said. "Now, for my clients who need to lower their cholesterol levels, this is an amazing and necessary diet for them to consider."
The rankings were decided by a panel of 22 experts in diet, nutrition, obesity, food psychology, diabetes and heart disease, according to the magazine's website. The experts rated the 25 diets in seven categories: how easy the are to follow, their ability to produce short-term and long-term weight loss, nutritional completeness, safety and potential for preventing and managing diabetes and heart disease. The full rankings were published online today (Jan. 4).
Best diets for weight loss
The top three diets for weight loss are the Weight Watchers Diet, the Biggest Loser Diet and the Jenny Craig Diet, according to the rankings.
"The data show that dieters had the best luck with Weight Watchers for both short and long term weight loss," and the diet ranked highly in terms of how easy it was to follow, Enos said. "The Weight Watchers plan is also the diet that people most often return to — it appears in the article (and in my own experience) to be the diet that people really refer back to over their lifetime."
The experts rated the Weight Watchers diet as a 3.7 out of 5 in the category of easy to follow, whereas the Biggest Loser diet scored a 2.9 in this category, according to the rankings. The Jenny Craig scored a 3.6, but fared less well than Weight Watchers in terms of its ability to produce weight loss.
"Let’s face the facts of our busy lives, if a program isn’t easy to follow, we probably won’t," Enos said.
Weight Watchers won the category of best commercial diet plan, edging out the Jenny Craig diet, which relied too heavily on packaged meals and came with a high cost, according to the rankings.
However, when Consumer Reports released its ratings of commercial diet plans in May, Jenny Craig ranked as the winner. The raters acknowledged criticisms that the diet is hard to follow, but cited a two-year study of 332 people showing that 92 percent of participants stuck with the diet. That study was published in the Journal of the American Medical Association in 2010.
Best diets for healthy eating
The DASH and TLC diets topped the category of best diets for healthy eating, which emphasized nutrional completeness and safety. The Mediterranean diet ranked third.
The data show that the DASH diet has the best overall nutrition, Enos said. "It has one of the highest levels of B-12 and potassium," she noted, whereas the Weight Watchers plan is low in those nutrients, and recommends that its followers take a multivitamin.
The DASH diet prescribes the number of servings of grains, vegetables, dairy and other food types that a person should eat daily, based on their calorie needs. It suggests high amounts of fiber, potassium and magnesium, and keeps sweets to a minimum.
The diet caps salt intake to the recommended daily values —1,500 milligrams for people who are age 51 or older, African-American, or have hypertension, diabetes or chronic kidney disease; 2,300 milligrams for everyone else.
The DASH diet also won in the category of best diabetes diets, while the Ornish diet, which focuses on low fat intake and emphasizes exercise and stress management, won for best heart-healthy diet.
Pass it on: One panel has decided the best diet of 2012 is the DASH diet, which emphasizes lean protein and fruits and veggies.
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The Dolce Diet....no gimmicks, just a healthy way to eat that tastes great and is easy on your grocerie dollars.
The Dolce Diet....no gimmicks, just a healthy way to eat that tastes great and is easy on your grocery dollars.
How about going Paleo? It isn't a diet at all, but a total lifestyle change. Nobody should just "diet" for a few months, going back to the foods you used to eat just puts the weight back on. People need to learn to get away from the sugars and processed foods, as hard as that may be, it's what's causing so many of our problems. Not just long enough for the diet and weight loss, but always.
As for me, I'm going grocery shopping today. Eggs and butter, lots of interesting veggies for me (and to share with my animals!) to use for snacks, salads, or sauteing, maybe some berries, and to stock up on things like beef and chicken. Oh, and don't forget the uncured bacon!
Notice, nothing that comes in a box with a million ingredients, just pure and simple foods. I don't count calories, I don't worry about when or how many times I eat, and I pay attention to when I'm full or when my stomach starts to growl. I exercise moderately, but I don't kill myself. Easy-peasy.
How about NO DIET? Why not just adjust your nutritional intake to include healthier foods? Don't call it a diet, call it a way of life and just make it part of who you are. Quit eating fast foods, drinking sodas, and make healthier choices. It really isn't that hard.
Doesn't seem like a very comprehensive list of diets...and the selection criteria seems a bit thin to me! I'm a fan of kind of a combination of a paleo diet and the the diet solution [and blog about both over at ]
Russell
Of them all, Weight Watchers is the best in my opinion...since it actually teaches you to eat normal foods in moderation. However, I am certainly a fan of the anti-diet "diet" which is clean eating.
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This article made me hungry. I'm gonna' DASH over to the grocery store and get some lean proteins, fruits and veggies now.
This really works! We have to try to lose weight in a healthy way by changing our eating habits. Also additional excercise will help in reaching this goal. Sports contribute in long term weight loss. A mix of strength and endurance training has proven itself very well in losing weight. Endurance training increases the energy consumption and thus favors fat loss, strength training builds muscles, and increases the basic metabolic rate. This program worked very well for me with my diet and i lost a lot of weight : quickweightlossdietsreviews com
How about just use common sense? If you don't eat like a pig and stay away from fast and processed foods (and exercise) you'll get in good shape quickly. Problem is, Americans are bombarded with commercials for Taco Bell, McDonalds, Papa John's and (blech) Hot Pockets so perhaps it's a good idea to avoid television as well.
This time of the year, every diet craze comes out of the woodwork. I hate diets.
Very few articles about exercise are tied to diet ones. I go to the gym 2 1/2 hours 3 times a week and I eat what I want sensibly. Common sense people. Got to exercise-diets are a multi billion dollar business and usually people who start them lose too much weight too fast only to regain it back plus more. You have to exercise. Exercise, and eat normally. And, save money.
Simple, right?
The word diet alone scares people into being inconsistent with their goals. If you program yourself to believe that you are making a change in your lifestyle for the better, then it will set better in your mind and you can stick to the set goals. http;//abs-without-exercise.blogspot.com there is great information here that many are saying is the #1 fat burning system for 2012 and beyond. This system is designed for the lazy and the hardcore trainers who's determined to have a six pack no matter what.
Good read, I think everyone should try to loose weight naturally (with exceptions for whey protein and multi-vitmains). Check out blogs like that are impartial, or just look around on youtube. There are plenty of free methods but I had great results from adding the the diet solution and the truth about abs to my routine. You have to stick to your routine! :)