Ongoing are days when fitness is also becoming a status element apart from being one of the means of healthy and mindful living. Hence, you can easily get a zillion of different diet plans from the internet and various other sources. However, a good diet plan should be beneficial to help you reach your fitness goals and improve your overall health as well.
Even if you have successfully found a couple of them that satisfy these requirements, you may not be noticing significant results in your body even after following them consistently for a long period. Here comes the importance of compatibility. This means the diet plan you are choosing should be compatible with your physiology and its particular features. Here in this article, you will come across a couple of different diet plans and also some tips and tricks that may help you determine whether it would work for you or not. Thus, you will never waste your efforts and time by investing in an inappropriate diet plan.
Mediterranean Diet
This diet is considered one of the best diets by a lot of people across the globe. It may help you have the maximum nutrition from your dietary choices. Apart from that, it is also well-known for its ability to prevent a lot of lifestyle diseases and other kinds of infections. Moreover, many experts also recommend this particular diet to their clients on account of the sustainability of this diet. Every diet should be based on realistic and practical goals so that the individual would be able to carry it for a longer period in their life. Unrealistic goals may start with greater enthusiasm but are more likely to be quit halfway. It is also the best diet that provides the individual with a significant improvement in their overall wellness along with weight loss.
This diet is a modern adaptation of the traditional dietary practices of the people in Italy and Greece. Vegetables, fruits, and whole grains are given more importance in this type of diet with moderation warnings in food items like poultry and dairy. Limitation can be seen imposed on red meat. Processed food items and foods with added sugar are restricted in this dietary pattern. However, if your priority is just weight loss, this may not be the right diet for you, even if it can stimulate weight loss in individuals.
DASH Diet
Dietary Approaches to Stop Hypertension is the full form of this abbreviated diet name. This can be followed by people who are suffering from the issues of hypertension along with a fitness goal of weight loss. However, the priority of this diet pattern would be on lowering the blood pressure of the individual. Salt and refined sugar intake is limited in this diet. Along with it, consumption of lean meat, fruits, veggies, and whole grains is highly encouraged. The DASH diet was not curated to help people lose the extra pounds of fat accumulated in their bodies. However, many people who practiced the DASH diet for a consistent period have reported significant weight loss too. It is also a popular diet to help people stay away from the risk of various cardiovascular diseases.
Plant-based Diets
Plant-based diets existed in the world since ancient days but not for the prime purpose of weight loss or overall improvement of health wellness. Vegetarianism and veganism are some of the dietary practices included in this type of diet. However, flexitarian is another type of diet that has been recently included under the umbrella term of plant-based diet. During the earlier days, it was the spiritual, religious, and ethical reasons that made people follow these types of diets.
However, nowadays concern for animal welfare and health purposes have also become the reasons why people follow this style in their diets. If you wish to follow a plant-based diet, it is advised not to consume animal-based products in your food choices. Whereas vegetarians consume animal-based products, but exclusively dairy-based. On the other hand, vegans strictly restrict the consumption of any animal-based product. A flexitarian diet allows you to consume animal products however in moderation and with relatively lesser portions and frequencies than plant-based products. Weight loss benefits accompany this type of diet along with its potency to prevent lifestyle diseases such as cholesterol, hypertension, and type 2 diabetes. However, if you are a meat, poultry, or dairy lover, this might become a bit challenging for you and you may find it difficult to sustain for a longer period.
Weight Watcher’s diet
This is one of the best diets if your primary target is to lose weight. Weight Watcher’s diet is the full form of the WW diet. One of the most attractive characteristic features of the WW Diet is that it does not restrict the individual on any kind of food item. However, there is a set of points that you need to follow along with this type of diet.
Hence, you may need to control portions and frequencies even when it comes to those food items that you would like to binge on. This is a dietary journey with a destination. Once you reach your desired weight range, you may quit this dietary practice and switch to something more sustainable like the Mediterranean diet. According to a lot of scientific studies that it is found that you may need to practice this dietary style for at least 52 weeks to have the desired results.
Conclusion
Now you know what type of diet to choose and follow if you are into weight loss. If you wish to have a healthy and gradual weight loss but with priority to some other health concerns and wellness improvement, it is better to switch to a different dietary style. If you are someone who finds it difficult not to survive without animal-based products, you know what dietary style to ditch and what to adapt. Feel free to experiment with the styles according to the health and fitness goals that you are pursuing for the time being. It is also important not to punish yourself by choosing something that is in no way compatible or sustainable with your lifestyle and tastes.
References
- World Health Organization. Controlling the global obesity epidemic. World Health Organization; Geneva: 2020. [Google Scholar]
- G.A. Stevens, G.M. Singh, Y. Lu, G. Danaei, J.K. Lin, M.M. Finucane, A.N. Bahalim, R.K. McIntire, H.R. Gutierrez, M. Cowan, C.J. Paciorek, F. Farzadfar, L. Riley, M. Ezzati, I. Global Burden of Metabolic Risk Factors of Chronic Diseases Collaborating Group (Body Mass National, regional, and global trends in adult overweight and obesity prevalences https://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?eid=2-s2.0-84869180863&partnerID=10&rel=R3.0.0
- Volek JS, Vanheest JL, Forsythe CE. Diet and exercise for weight loss: a review of current issues. Sports Med 2005;35:1-9. https://doi.org/10.2165/00007256-200535010-00001
