Summer is just around the corner and we all know what’s synonymous with summer: Weight loss. It’s almost always the talk of the town whenever the winds get a little bit more humid and the sun shines a little brighter. Left and right are get-slim quick schemes and workout challenges that just about do and promise everything we can ever think of when it comes to body improvement.
In the spirit of investigating, we’ve listed down the top 10 diets you might’ve tried this 2022 or the past year. We’ve listed down what they are, what they claim to do, and what effects they have on those who’ve tried them. Read down below to learn more.
1. Mediterranean Diet
Photo From: Everyday Health
What is It?
The Mediterranean Diet centers whole grains, fruits, vegetables, nuts, and legumes along with olive oils and lean meat and fish. From the name itself, the diet is inspired by the eating patterns of the Mediterranean population.
What are the Benefits?
According to research, people in the Mediterranean areas who observed this diet have better health conditions with a low risk of chronic illnesses. The Mediterranean diet has no strict rules or ways on how to follow and numerous studies have linked the Mediterranean diet to weight loss. It also prevents heart attack, stroke, type 2 diabetes, and premature death.
How to Follow It?
As previously mentioned, there is no distinct, step-by-step way to follow the Mediterranean diet. One would only need to go by these simple rules:
Eat More: vegetables, fruits, fish, nuts, seeds, legumes, whole grains, seafood, extra virgin olive oil.
Eat Moderately: poultry, cheese, eggs, yoghurt
Eat Rarely: red meat, sweetened beverages, processed meat, refined grains
2.DASH Diet
Photo By: Everyday Health
What is It?
DASH stands for Dietary Approaches to Stop Hypertension and from the name itself, is a diet recommended for individuals seeking to lower their blood pressure or hypertension in an effort to reduce their heart disease risk. The DASH diet focuses more on fruits, vegetables, lean meat, and whole grains. This diet also recommends no more than 1 teaspoon of sodium per day.
What are the Benefits?
The DASH diet’s benefits go way beyond weight loss. However, since this is a diet that is centered on lowering blood pressure, weight loss might just be a sweet bonus on the side. That said, the DASH diet helps lower blood pressure, decrease cancer risk, lowers metabolic syndrome risk, lowers diabetes risk, and decreases heart disease risk.
How to Follow It?
The DASH diet isn’t too particular or strict with food choices, rather it recommends specific servings of different food groups. Your consumption on the DASH diet depends on the amount of calories you can consume.
3. Flexitarian Diet
What is it?
The flexitarian diet created by Dawn Jackson Blatner encourages consumption of plant-based products while allowing animal food sources in between in moderate amounts. From the name itself, it is more flexible than stricter vegetarian or vegan diets. This kind of diet is suitable for individuals who are seeking not to cut meat out but to increase their plant-based food intake.
What are the Benefits?
Flexitarian diets have plentiful benefits, according to research. However, since the flexitarian diet has principles that are quite similar to vegetarian and vegan diets, their health benefits are also overlapping. Studies on vegan diets have noticed positive changes in total cholesterol, blood sugar levels, and weight loss.
How to Follow It?
As mentioned there aren’t any clear cut rules on how to follow a flexitarian diet. It has no distinct amount of calories and is even touted as a lifestyle than just a diet. The flexitarian diet’s foreground are these principles:
Consumption of fruits, vegetables, legumes, and whole grains
Focus on plant-based proteins than animal sources
Incorporate meat from time to time
Lessen consumption of processed foods
Limit sugar
4.Intermittent Fasting
Photo By: BBC
What is it?
If there is an eating pattern that has garnered just about the most attention in the past two years or so, it’s got to be intermittent fasting. This diet was just about everywhere when it first started getting recognition but what exactly is intermittent fasting? Intermittent fasting is described as an eating pattern that cycles between eating and fasting. Intermittent fasting or IF methods often involve daily 16-hour fasting periods twice per week.
What are the Benefits?
Intermittent fasting has several effects on the body, including weight loss since there is a deficit in caloric intake. Intermittent fasting changes hormone levels to aid with weight loss. Short-term fasting may increase one’s metabolic rate by 3.6-14%. There also have been studies that support the benefits of IF beyond weight loss, including insulin resistance, reduction in inflammation, heart health, cancer prevention, increases the brain hormone BDNF which aids the growth of new nerve cells and provides Alzheimer’s disease protection, along with anti-aging.
A short caveat before getting all excited with all these health benefits, most of these have been conducted on animals and these effects have yet to be seen on humans
How to Follow It?
Intermittent fasting has specific rules you have to follow, unlike the previous three diets mentioned. There are three ways on how to do IF, namely:
16/8 Method- the 16/8 method is also known as the Leangains protocol which involves skipping breakfast and restricting the daily eating period to 8 hours, then fasting for 16 hours in between.
Eat-Stop-Eat- the Eat-Stop-Eat method involves a 24 hour fast once or twice a week.
5:2 Diet- This method requires you to consume only 500-600 calories on two nonconsecutive days but eat normally for the other 5 days.
5. Ketogenic Diet
What is it?
Another diet that has been gaining traction in more recent times is the ketogenic diet or keto diet. The ketogenic diet has plenty in common with the Atkins diet in the sense that they are both low carb diets. Ketogenic diets require a drastic decrease in carbohydrate intake and replacing it with fat, putting the body in a state of ketosis wherein the body utilizes the fat for energy.
What are the Benefits?
Despite its controversial nature, the ketogenic diet causes notable reductions in blood sugar levels. Apart from this, the ketogenic diet is notable for resulting in weight loss along with being a satiety-promoting diet that helps one lose weight without tracking their calories. Studies have shown that a very low carb ketogenic diet was more effective for long-term weight loss compared to a low fat diet.
How to Follow It?
There are various types of ketogenic diets, namely the following:
Standard Ketogenic Diet- 70% fat, 20% protein, 10% carbohydrates
Cyclical Ketogenic Diet-5 ketogenic days with 2 high carb days
Targeted Ketogenic Diet- Adding carbohydrates around workouts
High protein Ketogenic Diet- 60% fat, 35% protein, 5% fat
6. LCIF
What is it?
LCIF stands for low carbohydrate intermittent fasting, a diet typically used for weight loss. LCIF is described as an eating pattern that is quite similar to intermittent fasting as it requires you to interchange fasting periods while maintaining a diet consisting of meals that are low carbohydrate. This diet is done within a certain timeframe for an increase in the rate of weight loss.
What are the Benefits?
This diet, which is a fusion of intermittent fasting and a low carb meal plan, has certain benefits aside from weight loss. This diet also reduces insulin resistance, protecting you against type 2 diabetes along with reducing inflammation markers and risk factors for cardiovascular diseases.LCIF is also beneficial brain health in the sense that it reduces neuroinflammation, protecting the brain against aging and disease. LCIF is also great for those watching their heart health as research shows that it reduces the likelihood of hypertension, obesity, dyslipidemia, and diabetes.
How to Follow It?
The LCIF diet dictates that you go for lengthy periods without food and that you consume low carbohydrate food when you take your meal. Since the approach is similar to intermittent fasting, the methods mentioned above are still to be followed.
7. Paleo Diet
Photo By: Healthline
What is it?
The name itself suggests that this was the way our ancestors ate in paleolithic times. What their diet legitimately consisted of is hard to tell, but most suggest that our ancestors consumed mostly whole foods. Whole-food based diets coupled with a physically active lifestyle (there weren’t any smartphones back in the day, right?), most concluded that this would result in weight loss and lessened tendencies for lifestyle related diseases.
What are the Benefits?
The Paleo diet, as previously mentioned, has plenty of benefits such as reducing one’s tendencies to acquire lifestyle-related diseases such as obesity, heart disease, certain cancers, and diabetes.
How to Follow It?
Since there wasn’t an exact record of how our ancestors ate, there isn’t a true, sure-fire way to do the Paleo diet, making it easy for anyone to fit it into their lifestyle and preferences. As for the basics, a Paleo diet instructs to consume more whole foods, meat, fish, eggs, healthy fat sources, nuts, and seeds. Processed foods must as much as possible be avoided or consumed sparingly.
8.Volumetrics Diet
Photo By: Women's Health
What is It
A volumetrics diet is said to help you feel fuller whilst consuming fewer calories. To expound, the diet calls for consumption of nutrient-dense food that are low in calories and high in water such as fruits, vegetables, and soup. The volumetrics diet’s main goal is to foster healthy eating habits with the hopes of having to adapt it as a lifestyle change than a short-time diet for weight loss.
What are the Benefits?
The volumetrics diet fosters weight loss in the sense that it promotes low calorie intake. One can increase the volume of their intake without increasing the amount of calories since the food have substantial value with low calories. This diet also encourages enough exercise in order to foster weight loss. Due to its promotion of healthy eating choices, the volumetrics diet is instrumental in countering nutritional deficiencies
How to Follow It?
The volumetrics diet has 4 categories, being:
Very Low Calorie Density (Category 1) -calorie density less than 0.6
Low Calorie Density (Category 2)-calorie density 0.6-1.5
Medium Calorie Density (Category 3)-calorie density of 1.6-3.9
High Calorie Density (Category 4)-calorie density of 4.0-9.0
One can compute caloric density by dividing the calorie in a serving size by its weight in grams. A standard volumetrics diet meal plan consists of 1400 calories per day which can be adjusted depending on your individual goals. The diet also encourages 30-60 minutes of physical activity daily.
9.Vegan Diet
What is It?
Many of us have grown quite familiar with veganism due to its popularity through the years. Veganism is the practice of consuming strictly plant-based food items, excluding any that come from animal sources. People have a variety of reasons for going vegan from environmental causes to health reasons to weight loss. There are several forms of vegan diets ranging from the raw-food exclusive raw-food vegan diet to the low fat-high carb vegan diet and even the junk food vegan diet which highlights the consumption of processed, vegan versions of household favorites such as cheeses.
What are the Benefits? The lessened consumption of meat and animal products have brought about several wonders for the body, among them are a 75% lowered risk of developing cardiovascular diseases and a 42% lower risk of dying from heart disease. The vegan diet is also useful at reducing blood sugar and total cholesterol along with a lessened chance of acquiring certain cancers, arthritis, improving kidney function, and a decreased chance of alzheimer’s disease.
How Does it Work?
Since veganism is a way of life that should be adapted as you go along instead of something that you try for a short period and give up once you’ve reached your goal, there isn’t a strict number of calories or time frame that you have to follow. The key you must remember when partaking in a vegan diet are the avoidance of eating animal food and replacing them with alternative protein-rich sources such as tofu, legumes, seeds, and nuts.
10. Kpop Diet
What is It?
If you’ve been a fan for K-culture for quite some time, it’s probably no secret to you that Korean celebrities are highly lauded for their figures. The Kpop diet is a whole foods based diet inspired by Korean cuisine that is said to promote weight loss. The diet also entails minimizing the consumption of processed, sugary, and fatty food. The Kpop diet also has a strong emphasis on physical activity.
What are the Benefits?
The Kpop diet is notable for aiding in weight loss since the diet comprises mainly of vegetables, making it a fiber rich diet. Fiber helps curb cravings and promotes satiety. Portion sizes are also reduced in this diet which is key in losing weight. Apart from weight loss, the Kpop diet is reportedly good for promoting overall health such as reducing the risk for type 2 diabetes and heart disease. The inclusion of kimchi, a popular fermented side dish in Korea, helps lower blood pressure, blood sugar, and LDL or bad cholesterol along with boosting good gut bacteria or probiotics.
How Does it Work?
In order to make this diet work, you must follow the rules of the Kpop diet which include the following steps:
Eat fewer calories
Include physical activity
Lessen fat intake
Minimize sugar intake
Avoid snacking
And there you have it. The top 10 diets you might’ve tried this year or at some point in your life. Take note that the blog above is not to promote or encourage you to try these diets, rather it is a fact-based presentation to promote better understanding of the eating practices many adapt and what they can get from it. If you are seeking to make weight changes, it is best to consult with a registered nutritionist dietitian and a weight loss and obesity specialist before making any big decisions that can impact your health.
Do you know any other weight-loss diets? Have you tried any of the diets above? Comment your experiences below!