What is the healthiest diet now?

The U.S. News ranking of the best diets for 2021 shows that the Mediterranean diet is number one, followed by the DASH diet and the flexible vegetarian diet, and the ketogenic diet is still at the bottom of the list.

This is a good opportunity to talk about why the Mediterranean diet and the DASH diet are good, and how a healthy diet should be eaten.

The inhabitants of countries around the Mediterranean live longer, and the incidence of chronic diseases such as cardiovascular disease and diabetes is lower than in most developed countries. The 'Mediterranean diet' has attracted the attention of relevant researchers, and in recent years, more and more people have begun to learn this dietary pattern. The Mediterranean diet has reigned as the top of the best diets list, and also ranked first in the six sub-categories of healthiest, best for the heart, best for diabetes, easiest to follow diet, and plant-based diet. The Mediterranean diet does not exclude any food group. This is both what makes it easy to follow and reflects its balanced and comprehensive nature.

And in terms of the proportion of different types of foods in the overall diet, whole grains, vegetables and fruits, legumes, nuts, olive oil and spices form the main part of the Mediterranean diet. On top of these foods at every meal, fish and seafood are eaten at least 2 times a week, dairy products are included in moderation daily, and a little bit of poultry and eggs can be eaten weekly at your discretion.

Although red meat and desserts are not completely unacceptable, they should be eaten sparingly and only on special occasions.

Sweet drinks are not included in the Mediterranean diet at all, but if you drink red wine, 2 glasses a day for men and 1 glass a day for women is considered reasonable by the Mediterranean diet.

This diet includes olive oil, fish and nuts and seeds, all of which are good sources of unsaturated fatty acids. While unsaturated fatty acids are beneficial for cardiovascular health, they also have a preventive effect on cognitive decline (including Alzheimer's disease). The intake of fruits and vegetables also has the benefits of maintaining intestinal function, improving immunity, and preventing cardiovascular disease and cancer.

Numerous studies have shown that this dietary pattern of mainly plant-derived foods with low saturated fat content is helpful for weight loss (waistline reduction), blood sugar control, and improvement of insulin resistance. The lower incidence of cardiovascular disease in countries around the Mediterranean is not just due to eating these healthy foods either.

The Mediterranean diet also emphasizes sharing food with family and friends and making moderate daily exercise a part of your lifestyle. Start by walking and biking more every day to get a little closer to this healthy lifestyle.

DASH came in 2nd by 0.1 points, a diet long considered to be the healthiest, with the full name Dietary Approaches to Stop Hypertension, which started out as a dietary recommendation set by the National Institutes of Health for people with high blood pressure. This dietary pattern emphasizes the intake of fruits, vegetables, whole grains, lean proteins and low-fat dairy products, which are rich in potassium, calcium, protein and dietary fiber and are helpful in controlling blood pressure. In contrast, fatty meats and full-fat dairy products, which are high in saturated fat, as well as sweets and sugary drinks, should be limited. In particular, dietary sodium intake is also limited to less than 2300mg per day, which translates into a salt consumption of almost no more than 6g of salt per day.

And it should be noted that in addition to processed meats that taste obviously salty, bread, cookies and even processed cereals are not low in sodium, so when buying packaged food you can pay attention to the sodium content in the Nutrition Facts table. It may not be easy to limit sodium and saturated fat intake so strictly all at once, but you can start to move closer to DASH by improving every meal and every bite, such as the following changes are easy to do: add 1 serving of vegetables and fruits to every meal eat 2 meals a week without meat cooking spices instead of salt when you want to snack with a small handful of nuts instead of packaged potato chips buy bread when you choose whole wheat after meals After taking a 15-minute walk gradually get used to this eating pattern, the protein in lean meat and dietary fiber in vegetables and fruits can also provide enough satiety to help with weight loss in addition to controlling blood pressure and preventing cardiovascular disease.

The ketogenic diet does more harm than good. The ketogenic diet, which is said to be useful for weight loss, was ranked 3rd from the bottom in this year's diet rankings, and only 15th even in terms of weight loss, while the Mediterranean diet, which was ranked alongside it, is much healthier and simpler. The ketogenic diet, a high-fat, low-carb energy source, was initially used to treat epilepsy, especially uncontrollable seizures in children. It may also provide a small improvement in brain disorders such as Parkinson's.

The ketogenic diet is indeed also a way to feel full and control your appetite if you are a high weight, heavy eater and want to lose weight quickly in the short term. However, if you want this way of eating to have good results, you also need to pair it with a fair amount of exercise. Including the initial period when you quit carbohydrates is also likely to have muscle aches, dizziness and weakness, fuzzy consciousness and other side effects, it is very difficult to stick to the exercise at first. More importantly, it has some obvious side effects, such as: large fat intake accompanied by vitamin and mineral deficiencies, which may bring about inflammatory reactions; lack of dietary fiber resulting in constipation; increased burden on the liver and kidneys; and even a large intake of red meat may increase the risk of cardiovascular disease and colorectal cancer including this ranking form also clearly pointed out that people with kidney or liver disease, pregnant and lactating Women who are underweight and have eating disorders should not try ketogenic. This includes people with existing cardiovascular disease and diabetes, which is also a risky endeavor. In short, the health risks of the ketogenic diet are very high, and I always discourage it.

If you want to lose weight or control your blood sugar, then eating more veggies may be the way to go. The "flexible vegetarian diet" is tied for 2nd place in this ranking with the Deshu diet, tied for 1st place in the list of weight loss diets and the best diets for diabetes, and was also ranked 3rd for the healthiest diet. As the name implies, a flexible vegetarian diet means that meat can be eaten occasionally on top of plant-based foods most of the time. It places more emphasis on protein intake from non-meat sources such as beans and eggs, and also emphasizes the importance of whole grains and dairy products.

People who eat mainly vegetarian diets tend to be lighter in weight, which is related to the fact that they eat a lot of vegetables, fruits and whole grains, which are rich in dietary fiber, to enhance satiety and to control blood sugar. This is not only easy to control the total calorie intake, and eat in less saturated fat. However, people who eat mainly vegetarian diet still need to pay attention to the lack of unsaturated fatty acids, iron, zinc, vitamin B12 and other nutrients. In addition to trying to ensure that you eat meat once or twice a week, you can increase the intake of nuts, algae, mushrooms and other foods as appropriate. A flexible vegetarian diet also encourages exercise, and you should ideally have 30 minutes of moderate to vigorous intensity exercise 5 days a week, plus muscle training 2 days a week.