Life
6 Best Ideas To Steal From Popular Diets, Because Why Stick To One When You Can Use Them All?
Trendy diets are all the rage nowadays. It's hard to find someone who isn't swearing by the Paleo diet or raving about their newest juice cleanse. While following a set of guidelines can definitely help in developing healthier eating habits, many of these strict diets are not actually scientifically proven to be good for you.
So how should you be eating? Though following a structured diet may not be the best idea, pulling the best concepts from each can help make for a powerful healthy eating plan. With the help of Nutrition Consultant Dana Kofsky, we've come up with list of the healthiest ideas to pull from each popular diet to help you create a well-rounded eating regimen.
Image: sweetonveg/Flickr
Vegan Diet
“The best takeaway from this diet is to include plants into your diet to keep the body in an alkaline state, which helps it perform better, overall,” says Kofsky. Limiting animal products and increasing your vegetable intake can help lower your cholesterol, lower your blood pressure, and lower your risk of heart disease, among other benefits.
Mediterranean Diet
Most researchers and nutritionists consider the Mediterranean Diet to be one of the healthiest diets around. “The best concept from this diet is to get a good dose of healthy fats,” says Kofsky. “These fats can help keep your heart healthy.” Try swapping out your butter for olive oil the next time you cook, and use plenty of nuts and avocado to get your fill of healthy fats.
Paleo Diet
Though eating like a caveman has proven to be exceptionally popular over the last couple years, its efficacy has been disputed. However, according to Kofsky, the healthiest part of the Paleo Diet is to focus heavily on the consumption of fats and proteins while eliminating refined carbohydrates, including sugar and alcohol.
Anti-Inflammatory Diet
The Anti-Inflammatory Diet, also known as the Wellness Diet, cuts out foods such as saturated fat and sugar that could throw your body’s functioning out of whack. “My favorite part of this diet is that it helps you cut out processed foods,” says Kofsky. “It’s as simple as reading the labels in the grocery store and making sure you’re eating whole foods.”
Gluten-Free
While not everyone is gluten intolerant or has Celiac’s disease, cutting down on gluten can help encourage you to avoid refined carbohydrates or once-in-awhile treats such as cookies or cake. Lessening your gluten intake can also encourage consumption of other healthy whole grains such as quinoa or brown rice.
Image: sweetonveg/Flickr
The Blood-Type Diet
“The best takeaway from this diet is to follow the guideline based on the theory of biochemically eating correctly,” says Kofsky. This means not everyone should be eating the same exact diet, as we are all wired differently, so listen to your own body’s cues and try not rely on strictly counting calories.
Image: elanaspantry/Flickr
