U.S. News & World Report Looks at 41 Diets, Ranking 35 from Best to Worst
Jan. 6, 2015 -- Tis the season to start dieting.
Besides resolve, of course, you need to figure out how you'll shed those pounds.
If you’re still thinking about which diet you may want to try, U.S. News & World Report is offering its annual list of best diet plans. The Best Diets of 2015 is the publication's fifth effort to rank diet plans from best to worst to help consumers pick wisely.
Once again, the top spot goes to the DASH diet for the best overall diet for health and wellness. The National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute developed the diet to help people prevent and treat high blood pressure. It emphasizes eating lots of fruits, vegetables, whole grains, and low-fat dairy foods while reducing salt. DASH stands for Dietary Approaches to Stop Hypertension.
Weight Watchers held on to its No. 1 spot for the best weight loss diet. Weight Watchers assigns point values to foods and gives dieters a target number of points.
The diet rankings are based on reviews of the plans by a panel of experts in diet, nutrition, diabetes, weight loss, and heart health. None of the experts has financial ties to the diet industry, says Angela Haupt, senior editor of health and wellness at the publication.
This year, the report looked at 41 diet plans, nine more than in its 2014 report, and ranked 35. The experts rated the plans on a number of factors, such as how easy they are to follow, nutritional value, safety, and short- and long-term weight loss. They considered how well the plans could help prevent and control heart disease and diabetes.
The various categories and winners include:
- Best overall: DASH Diet
- Best for weight loss: Weight Watchers
- Best for diabetes: DASH Diet
- Best for heart health: Ornish Diet
- Best for healthy eating: DASH Diet
- Easiest to follow: Weight Watchers
- Best commercial plans: Weight Watchers
- Best plant-based: Mediterranean Diet
Best Overall Diets
The No. 2 overall best diet was the TLC Diet, which stands for Therapeutic Lifestyle Changes. The National Institutes of Health created the plan, which emphasizes reducing the amount of saturated fat you eat to avoid raising cholesterol.
The Mediterranean Diet ranked third overall. It's a way of eating rather than a formal diet plan. It focuses on eating foods like fish, fruit, vegetables, beans, high-fiber breads, whole grains, nuts, and olive oil.
source : DASH Diet Is Tops Again, Fifth Year in a Row
