If you need some extra oomph to keep to your New Year’s diet and health resolutions, U.S. News just came out with its annual diet rankings. U.S. News editors and reporters extensively researched and selected 29 diets, which were then put through a panel of health experts. To be top-rated, a diet had to be relatively easy to follow, nutritious, safe, and effective for weight loss and against diabetes and heart disease.
Check out the categories below and click on the links to access individual diet plans:
• Best Diets Overall combines panelists’ ratings in all seven categories. Includes DASH, Mayo Clinic and Mediterranean diets. All categories were not equally weighted. Short-term and long-term weight loss were combined, with long-term ratings getting twice the weight, due to a diet’s sustainability.
• Best Commercial Diet Plans uses the same approach to rank 12 structured diet programs marketed to the public. Includes Weight Watchers, Jenny Craig and Slim-Fast.
• Best Weight-Loss Diets was generated by combining short-term and long-term weight-loss ratings, weighting both equally. Some dieters want to drop pounds fast; others, looking years ahead, are aiming for slow and steady. Equal weighting accepts both goals as worthy. Includes Biggest Loser Diet, Raw Food Diet and Atkins.
• Best Diabetes Diets is based on averaged diabetes ratings. Includes Flexitarian Diet, Vegan Diet and Vegetarian Diet.
• Best Heart-Healthy Diets uses averaged heart-health ratings. Includes Ornish Diet, TLC Diet and Engine 2 Diet.
• Best Diets for Healthy Eating combines nutritional completeness and safety ratings, giving twice the weight to safety. A healthy diet should provide sufficient calories and not fall seriously short on important nutrients or entire food groups. Includes Volumetrics, Traditional Asian Diet and Nutrisystem.
• Easiest Diets to Follow represents panelists’ averaged judgments about each diet’s taste appeal, ease of initial adjustment, ability to keep dieters from feeling hungry, and imposition of special requirements. Includes Weight Watchers, Jenny Craig and Flexitarian Diet.
• Best Plant-Based Diets uses the same approach as Best Diets Overall to rank 11 plans that emphasize minimally processed foods from plants. Includes Anti-Inflammatory Diet, Eco-Atkins and Macrobiotic Diet.
