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Popular Diet Plans
The Paleo diet
The idea of this diet is to eat like the hunters and gatherers of the Paleolithic era.
You can eat: Fresh fruits and vegetables, seafood, lean meat and healthy fats.
You cannot eat: Sugar, grains, saturated and trans fats, salt, processed foods, dairy, legumes and potatoes.
Exercise is recommended.
The Whole30 diet
Whole30 is used as an elimination diet to determine if food is causing skin conditions, allergies or digestive issues.
You can eat: Fruits, vegetables, grass-fed meat, seafood, nuts, seeds and salt.
You cannot eat: Dairy products, grains, corn, beans, lentils and sugar.
You must eat food in its original form. For example, you can’t mash bananas and mix them with eggs to make a pancake—the idea is that the pancake is a food that got us where we are now, so we don't want anything like that.
The gluten-free diet
This diet was developed for people who have celiac sprue, an intolerance for foods that contain gluten. It has become popular for weight loss.
You can eat: Fruits, vegetables, beans, lentils, dairy, healthy fats, rice and corn.
You cannot eat: Wheat, barley and rye.
Note that some gluten-free products contain more sugar than similar foods that contain gluten. This diet may not seem very restrictive, but gluten is in many things you may not expect—such as soy sauce, salad dressing, mayonnaise, ketchup, cold cuts, soups, processed cheese, gravy, ice cream and veggie burgers.
The ketogenic diet
The ketogenic diet is a type of low carb diet that is focused on a specific ratio of fat, protein, and carbohydrates. The diet is generally 70% fat, 25% protein and 5% carbohydrates, with the goal of reaching a state called ketosis. Ketosis is a metabolic state in which the body burns fat for fuel instead of carbohydrates.
You can eat: Healthy fats, eggs, meat, poultry, seafood, full-fat dairy, leafy greens, low carb veggies and berries.
You cannot eat: Bread, pasta, sugar, milk, corn, beans, rice and other grains.
This diet has been used in the medical community since the 1920s to treat children who suffer from epileptic seizures. It is also used for people with prediabetes, type 2 diabetes and metabolic syndrome. The ketogenic diet has recently become a popular weight loss diet, but more research needs to be done to determine the long term effects on the body.
Intermittent fasting
Intermittent fasting is an eating style where you eat within a specific time period, and fast the rest of the time. Though intermittent fasting is an effective way to lose weight, it's less a diet and more a lifestyle choice.
Red flags for a diet plan
If it recommends specific food combinations or eating certain foods at a specific time of the day.
Rigid meal plans or plans that have few choices about foods you eat at each meal.
If it says there is no need to exercise.
If it says you can eat an unlimited quantity of a food or foods. The cost of doing this is that you miss important nutrients from other foods.
How many calories do you need?
Simply stated, in order to lose weight you must burn more calories than you take in. You can do this by eating less, exercising more or a combination of both. While many diets can lower your daily calorie count, it is important to understand first how many calories you personally need to consume to simply maintain a healthy weight.
Cornell University has a calculator to determine calorie requirements to maintain your current weight based on your present height, weight and age. You’ll find it at http://www-users.med. cornell.edu/~spon/picu/calc/beecalc.htm. If you would like to lose 1 pound a week, the general recommendation is to subtract 500 calories per day through diet or exercise. Remember that you should never consume fewer than 1,200 calories per day.
You can also find a chart on the USDA site showing how many servings of each food group you need based on your caloric needs. The web address to that chart is https://fns-prod.azureedge.net/sites/default/files/usda_food_patterns/HealthyUS-StylePattern-RecommendedIntakeAmounts.pdf
Considerations for choosing a weight-loss program
It should not recommend fewer than 1,200 calories per day.
It should not promote quick, large weight loss. A weight loss of 1 to 2 pounds per week or less is considered healthy weight loss.
The plan should not leave you feeling hungry most of the time.
The plan should include foods from all of the food groups.
Information about any of the diet plan’s health risks are listed.
The program is compatible with your lifestyle.
© 2019 by The Curators of the University of Missouri, a public corporation Strength in Numbers