With those New Year’s resolutions in full swing, a million different diets seem to be swarming the Internet. With so many options to choose from, it can end up becoming just as difficult to pick a diet as it is to stick to one. Lucky for you, U.S. News & World Reporthas ranked 35 of the most popular diets in order from best to worst — and you might be surprised with what they’ve concluded.
The evaluations of the diets were conducted by a panel of doctors, nutritionists and other health experts. For each diet, the experts evaluated short-term and long-term weight loss, health risks, ease of adherence and how the advice stacked up against current dietary guidelines.
Surprisingly, despite the buzz surrounding paleo and raw food diets, both of these came in towards the very bottom of the list (#35 and #33, respectively). Why? According to the survey, a true paleo diet is too difficult to follow in modern times (although we think Stephanie Gaudreau would disagree). Avoiding dairy, grains and other fundamentals of the modern diet may lead paleo followers miss out on key nutrients. An expert chimed in to add “if you’re not careful about making lean meat choices, you’ll quickly ratchet up your risk for heart problems.”
As far as the reasoning behind the low ranking of the raw food diet, the experts concluded that, although it’s effective for weight loss, it’s “impossible to follow and its nutritional completeness and safety were concerns.” They address that some choose to eat raw or undercooked meat, fish, milk or eggs in order to stick to the diet, which can be unsafe. And because the diet is so restrictive, they also point out that it’s not appropriate for children, since some restrictive diets have been linked to growth problems.
So what diets came out on top? The number one and two diets deemed the best for 2015 are some you may have never heard of before: the DASH and TLC diet. For the fifth year in a row, the DASH diet (Dietary Approaches to Stop Hypertension) ranked number one overall. This diet relies heavy on fruits, vegetables, low-fat dairy, whole grains, poultry, fish and nuts. This is said to work not just for weight control but also to lower high blood pressure.
Ranking second is the TLC diet (Therapeutic Lifestyle Changes). This diet aims to quickly reduce cholesterol by cutting back sharply on fat, limiting daily dietary cholesterol intake and getting more fiber. While low fat diets like this do tend to result in weight loss, the main priority for the TLC diet option is health.
For a definitive list and details about all 35 diets reviewed by U.S. News & World Report, click here. If you’re still looking for a little more research before you ditch what’s left of your holiday sweet stash, these are the top five diets currently trending on Yahoo this week: the Mayo Clinic Diet, 3-Day Diet, DASH Diet, South Beach Diet and Grapefruit Diet.
Are you kicking off 2015 with a diet? Which one are you trying? Share with us in the comments below.
