U.S. News and World Report came out with its annual list of the best diet options. Based on some guidelines like ease of following the diet, nutritional value, safety, effectiveness for weight loss and protection against diabetes and heart disease, the magazine consulted with a panel of health experts and ranked diets, of which we bring to you the Top 10-
1. Weight Watchers –
Overall Score – 3.9/ 5
What – No food is off-limits according to this diet but is instead based on a PointsPlus system which provides a framework to measure and limit the quantity of food consumed. Weight Watchers’ core approach is to assist members in losing weight by forming helpful habits, eating smarter, getting more exercise and providing support.
Ease of Compliance – Ranked No. 1 as it is the easiest to follow
Good for Heart Health? Yes
Good for Diabetes? Yes
Long Term Benefit? Rated best commercial diet for short term and long term weight loss. It also provides lifetime benefits for members like support and tools to keep off the weight for good.
Read about the Superfood for the heart- Blueberries, here.
2. HMR Diet –
Overall Score – 3.6/ 5
What – The basic theory behind the Health Management Resources program is reducing the number of calories one consumes, increasing activity level, and stressing personal accountability to help clients lose weight and keep it off. This program is divided into two phases.
Phase One – The Quick Start phase. As the name suggests, this phase helps you lose weight quickly over three weeks with meal replacements which include shakes, meals, nutrition bars and cereals that are delivered right to your door.
Phase Two – Starts when one reaches their goal weight. This is the maintenance phase in which one begins to include other healthy food options into their HMR meal replacements slowly. The biggest plus of this diet is convenience, as HMR meal replacements save a lot of time and effort.
Ease of Compliance – It is considered to be a lifestyle change rather than just a weight loss program, and the expensive meal replacements make it difficult to follow and impractical for most.
Good for Heart Health? Average rating on the ability to prevent heart disease or improve heart health.
Good for Diabetes? Yes
Long Term Benefit? Not as effective for long term weight loss as it is for short term.
If you would like to read more about the Superfood to lower your blood sugar, here.
3. Biggest Loser Diet –
Overall Score – 3.5/ 5
What – Inspired by the Biggest Loser TV show and books, the six-week program is based on “The Biggest Loser’s 4-3-2-1 Pyramid”: four servings of fruits and vegetables, three servings of protein foods, two servings of whole grains, and 200 calories of good fat each day. It requires a lot of hard work as you need to exercise a lot and count the calories for health improvement and weight reduction.
Ease of Compliance – Difficult to follow the strict diet and exercise regime in real life, every day.
Good for Heart Health? Scored above average as it includes both a healthy meal plan and exercise.
Good for Diabetes? Yes. Considered best diet for diabetics.
Long Term Benefit? No
4. Jenny Craig
Overall Score – 3.5/ 5
What – It is a complete weight management plan that includes prepackaged meals, personal consultation, exercise plan and online support. The diet restricts your calorie intake, making sure you eat fewer calories than you burn, yet caters to occasional cravings for sweets. It might be a little expensive, and doesn’t allow eating out, but you can be sure of dropping up to 2 pounds a week if you are motivated and strictly adhere to the diet.
Ease of Compliance – Ranked #2 as it is very easy to follow
Good for Heart Health? Moderately effective
Good for Diabetes? Yes
Long Term Benefit? More beneficial for short term loss than for long term, but above-average rating for long-term benefits too.
5. Raw Food Diet
Overall Score – 3.5/ 5
What – Ranked at #3 along with Biggest Loser and Jenny Craig Diets, this is a restrictive diet that focuses on weight loss, as well as overall health. It emphasizes on eating raw foods, which have not been cooked in any way. This makes the meals labor intensive and difficult to keep up.
Ease of Compliance – You need tools and time to prepare the meals, which makes it difficult to adhering to in the long term.
Good for Heart Health? Not very effective if considering only as a heart diet.
Good for Diabetes? Yes
Long Term Benefit? Good for both long and short term weight loss benefits.
If you are interested in the Raw Food Detox Diet, we encourage you to read here.
6. Volumetrics
Overall Score – 3.4/ 5
What – This diet allows you to eat, lose weight and keep it off. Pioneered by Barbara Rolls, Ph.D., this approach focuses on making people feel full by the choosing the right food rather than focusing on how much to eat. You are likely to lose up to a pound a week, by eating energy dense foods that provide fewer calories but more volume. Foods are split into four categories allowing a dessert a day too.
Ease of Compliance – It is a flexible plan with low effort requirement.
Good for Heart Health? Yes, as it puts emphasis on eating lots of fruits, vegetables, and whole foods.
Good for Diabetes? Yes
Long Term Benefit? Yes, good for both long and short term weight loss benefit.
7. Atkins
Overall Score – 3.3/ 5
What –This old and trusted diet plan promises to lose up to 5 pounds a week by cutting carb dense foods. Divided into four phases until you reach your desired weight, the approach first cuts off high-carb foods, alcohol, and nuts, and concentrates more on vegetables. Over the next stages you slowly add back what you had cut out from your diet earlier, like first add low carb foods like seeds and berries, then add fresh fruits and slowly whole grains. The idea is to include most healthy foods as you reach your target weight.
Ease of Compliance – You don’t need to take some special consultation or buy funky foods, but with food restrictions you need to watch what you are eating. So this diet is rated as medium in the level of difficulty.
Good for Heart Health? No
Good for Diabetes? No
Long Term Benefit? Not very beneficial for long-term weight loss, but it outperformed its competitors in the short term benefits.
8. Flexitarian Diet
Overall Score – 3.3/ 5
What – Ranked at #2 for the Plant-based diet, it is written by author and dietician, Dawn Jackson Blatner. She suggests that if you are willing to become a “flexible vegetarian” you are more likely to lose weight, and get healthy. The diet suggests eating meatless on most days, it also restricts a lot of carbs, and reforms your eating habits, but nothing is off-limits.
Ease of Compliance – There are no packaged meals or in-person meetings which mean you can stock up on your veggies and start losing weight by preparing some relatively simple meals with little exercise.
Good for Heart Health? Above average score meaning this has the potential to boost heart health.
Good for Diabetes? Yes
Long Term Benefit? Good for both long-term and short-term weight loss benefits.
9. Slim-Fast Diet
Overall Score – 3.3/ 5
What – Ranked at #7, this diet promises to make you lose up to 2 pounds a week using the simple meal replacements that the diet offers. Referred to as “3-2-1 Plan”, you are suggested to eat, three 100-calorie snacks (snack bars available in different flavors from Slimfast, or a healthy snack like fruit and nuts), two Slimfast meal replacements of 200 calories (also offered in the form of protein bars and shake mixes) and one 500-calorie meal that you can prepare on your own.
Ease of Compliance – Medium, as there are ready to eat snacks available and you just need to plan your meals, keeping in mind the calorie limit.
Good for Heart Health? No, falls below average
Good for Diabetes? Yes
Long Term Benefit? The long term benefits of the diet are ranked lower than the short term benefits.
10. Vegan Diet
Overall Score – 3.3/ 5
What – The Vegan Diet not only helps you lose weight but also keeps it off for a long time. But making a transition to a vegan diet needs a lot of commitment and planning as giving up meat and dairy can be challenging. You need to make sure that you are introducing the right foods which are rich in fiber with, like whole grains, lots of leafy vegetables, seeds, and nuts. You also need to reduce the intake of sugar and fruit juice.
Ease of Compliance – Considered one of the most difficult because of its restrictive nature and the choices one needs to make for nutritional completeness.
Good for Heart Health? Has the potential of improving heart health
Good for Diabetes? Yes
Long Term Benefit? Yes, keeps off the weight in both long and short term.
Enjoyed Top 10 Weight Loss Diets that Actually Work? Share it with your friends so they too can follow the Superfoodsliving journey.
Share on Pinterest
