The results are out and the top diets for 2019 are revealed. The Mediterranean diet takes the top spot for the second year in a row, making it the best diet for this year’s health and fitness goals.
Mediterranean Diet
U.S. News & World Report analyzed 41 of the most popular diets to identify the best, and this year’s top spot goes to Mediterranean diet, which was also the best diet in 2018. It involves consuming a lot of plants, healthy fats, lean meats, and whole grains while avoiding processed food, refined sugars, and red meat.
This diet is linked to heart health as well as other health benefits such as healthier gut, lower cancer and heart disease risks, and healthier kidney. This year, apart from being the best diet overall, it was also deemed the best for healthy eating, the easiest diet to follow, the best plant-based diet, most heart-healthy diet, and the best diet for diabetes.
Best Diets For 2019
In overall rankings, the DASH diet followed the Mediterranean diet as the best diet, while the Flexitarian diet ranked in third. DASH diet stands for Dietary Approaches To Stop Hypertension, and focuses primarily on lowering sodium intake and increasing the consumption of foods containing minerals that are good for lowering blood pressure. These include fruits, vegetables, whole grains, low-fat dairy, and lean meat.
Meanwhile, the Flexitarian diet focuses primarily on eating mostly a plant-based diet and cutting down on meat consumption without removing it from the diet completely. It is also on the list of best diets for healthy eating, weight loss, and diabetes.
The Weight Watchers (WW) diet took the top spot for best weight loss diet and best commercial diet plans categories, while the Health Management Resources (HMR) Program was deemed as the best for fast weight loss.
It's important to remember that no single diet is the best for everyone. As for the rankings, they were made primarily to determine which diets are likelier to lead people to healthy eating, and which ones are rather misguided.
