Best Diets for Healthy Eating
The last thing you want from a diet is a risk to your health. Any diet should provide sufficient calories and not fall seriously short on important nutrients or entire food groups. The Best Diets for Healthy Eating rankings weigh nutritional completeness and safety, with particular emphasis on safety, based on ratings in those categories of 5 (best) to 1 (worst) by a panel of experts. (See how we did it.) Of the 29 popular diet programs ranked by U.S. News, the government-endorsed Dietary Approaches to Stop Hypertension (DASH) plan stood at the top of the Healthy Eating list.
Eco-Atkins
Eco-Atkins recipes | Eco-Atkins reviews
Although it outperformed traditional Atkins, the experts felt Eco-Atkins is too fat-heavy and carb-light. Still, dieters needn’t worry about malnourishment or overly rapid weight loss. Its 3-star score is middle-of-the-road.
Engine 2 Diet
Engine 2 Diet recipes | Engine 2 Diet reviews
The Engine 2 diet is healthful—if followers can get the right amount of all the important nutrients. Experts were skeptical about that prospect, and gave the diet a below-average 3.1 stars. They were also apprehensive about the plan’s exclusion of vegetable oils: “We have evidence that these offer a host of benefits,” one expert said.
Medifast
Medifast recipes | Medifast reviews
It doesn’t perfectly align with the government’s guidelines for healthy eating, experts concluded, because it provides a little too much protein and too few carbs. At 800 to 1,000 calories a day, it also dips low for many dieters. That’s less than half the amount recommended in federal guidelines for men from 21 to 40 and nearly that much less for women in that age group. The experts found it “moderately” safe.
Vegan Diet
Vegan Diet recipes | Vegan Diet reviews
Veganism can conform with a healthful eating plan, but it takes work, and the risk of insufficient amounts of key nutrients like calcium, vitamin D, vitamin B-12, zinc, and iron is real. That worried experts a bit, but they still gave the diet a respectable 3 stars.
Macrobiotic Diet
Macrobiotic Diet recipes | Macrobiotic Diet reviews
The expert panel found the macrobiotic approach moderately sound in this category. Experts liked that it emphasizes natural, organically and locally grown whole foods. On the daily menu: Lots of whole grains, veggies, beans, and tofu and tempeh. But planning is needed to make sure it meets government dietary recommendations. That worried the experts enough that they scored it below most of the other diets in nutritional completeness.
Dukan Diet
Dukan Diet recipes | Dukan Diet reviews
If you want a healthy diet, look elsewhere, our panel concluded. The high amount of protein could lead to long-term health problems, and shutting out entire food groups poses a risk of nutritional deficiencies. Possible side effects include lethargy, bad breath, and constipation.
Paleo Diet
Paleo Diet recipes | Paleo Diet reviews
Slapping the diet with multiple low ratings, the experts couldn’t accept that entire food groups, like dairy and grains, are excluded, making it hard for dieters to get all the nutrients they need. It’s one of the few diets that experts actually considered somewhat unsafe and only somewhat complete nutritionally.
Atkins
Atkins recipes | Atkins reviews
Way too much fat and too few carbs in the view of the experts, who questioned whether dieters can build a nutritious and safe diet with the severe restrictions imposed on veggies, whole grains, and fruits. Absent long-term safety data that might indicate otherwise, the panel put Atkins at the bottom of the pack.
Raw Food Diet
Raw Food Diet recipes | Raw Food Diet reviews
Because the food diet could come up short in calories, calcium, and vitamins B-12 and D, just a handful of experts scored it higher than 2 for nutritional completeness. As for safety, the experts felt the risk of food poisoning from contaminated raw or undercooked ingredients was real.
