What’s The Healthiest Diet? The Verdict Is In!
The annual ranking of best diets is in for 2023. What is the best diet? What do all of the best diets have in common? Let’s see!
According to U.S. News & World Report’s panel of medical and nutrition experts the results are:
#1 Mediterranean Diet
The #1 diet is the Mediterranean Diet, scoring a near perfect 4.6/5. The Mediterranean diet s rich in fruits, vegetables, grains, nuts, seeds, beans and olive oil. It is low in meat, eggs, dairy, sugar and saturated fat and moderate in fish. It can also include moderate red wine.
A search through The Natural Path website will show you that the Mediterranean diet has been proven to benefit heart health, cognition and Alzheimer’s, Parkinson’s, ADHD, long life, sleep, breast cancer, prostate cancer, bladder cancer, weight loss, diabetes and more.
#2 DASH Diet
Coming in at #2, with a score of 4.4/5, is the DASH Diet. Like the Mediterranean diet, the DASH diet is rich in vegetables, fruits, nuts and whole grains and poor in saturated fat sources like meat and dairy.
The DASH diet has been proven to prevent high blood pressure and. It also benefits ADHD, depression and mood, weight loss and diabetes.
#3 Flexitarian Diet
In a tie with 4.4/5, the flexitarian diet also emphasized plant foods and includes lots of fruits, vegetables and whole grains. This diet asks you to gradually reduce your meat and increase meat free days until you are only eating meat on special occasions (Note: there are lots of vegetarian foods that are great for special occasions).
#4 The Mind Diet
Recent research has experimented with combining the Mediterranean Diet with the DASH diet. The hybrid that results comes in at #4 with a score of 4.3/5.
The MIND diet focuses on plant based foods and lowers animal based meat and saturated fats as well as sweets. It recommends eating green leafy vegetables at least 6 times a week along with at least one other serving of vegetables every day. It recommends at least 3 servings of whole grains a day and at least 2 servings of berries a week, 3 of beans and 5 of nuts. Red meats (beef, pork and lamb), cheese, butter, stick margarine, sweets and fast and fried foods are limited. Fish can be eaten once a week and poultry twice. The diet emphasized olive oil and allows a little wine. Researchers developed the diet by analyzing the Mediterranean and DASH diets and selecting the foods with the strongest evidence for preventing dementia. They found that green leafy vegetables were at the top of the list.
The MIND diet is best studied for cognition, but it has also been shown to help prevent heart disease.
It is easy to see what the healthiest diets all have in common. They are all variations on a vegetarian diet. They consistently emphasize eating lots of fruits, vegetables, grains, nuts, seeds, beans and berries. And they all limit saturated fat from animal sources.
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The Natural Path is intended for educational purposes only and is in no way intended for self-diagnosis or self-treatment. For health problems, consult a qualified health practitioner for a comprehensive program.
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