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Nutrition / Diet

Obesity / Weight Loss / Fitness

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What are the eight most popular diets today?

There are literally hundreds of thousands of diets. Some are forlosing weight, others for gaining weight, lowering cholesterol,living a long and healthy life, etc. The Mediterranean Diet, for example, reflects the culinary habits of southernEuropean people.

The word diet comes from Old French diete and Medieval Latin dieta meaning "a daily food allowance". The Latin worddiaeta and Greek word diaita mean "a way of life, a regimen".

A diet can be described as a set course of eating and drinking in which the kind and amount of food one should eat isbeen planned out in order to achieve weight loss or follow a certain lifestyle.

This Medical News Today information article provides details on the most popular diets according to three criteria: howmany articles there are around about these diets/lifestyles, how popular they seem to be generally, and how often wereceive feedback on them.

Contents of this article:

1. Atkins Diet

2. The Zone Diet

3. Vegetarian Diet

4. Vegan Diet

5. Weight Watchers Diet

6. South Beach Diet

7. Raw Food Diet

8. Mediterranean Diet

Below you can see a list of the eight diets, a summary on each one, and links to specific articles about those diets:

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Atkins Diet

The Atkins Diet, or Atkins Nutritional Approach, focuses on controlling the levels of insulin in our bodies through diet.1

If we consume large amounts of refined carbohydrates our insulin levels will rise rapidly, and then fall rapidly. Risinginsulin levels will trigger our bodies to store as much of the energy we eat as possible - it will also make it less likely thatour bodies use stored fat as a source of energy.

Most people on the Atkins Diet will consume a higher proportion of proteins than they normally do.

Detailed look at the Atkins Diet.

The Zone Diet

The Zone Diet aims for a nutritional balance of 40% carbohydrates, 30% fats, and 30% protein each time we eat. Thefocus is also on controlling insulin levels, which result in more successful weight loss and body weight control.2

The Zone Diet encourages the consumption of good quality carbohydrates - unrefined carbohydrates, and fats, such asolive oil, avocado, and nuts.

Detailed look at The Zone Diet.

Vegetarian Diet

There are various types of vegetarian: Lacto vegetarian, Fruitarian vegetarian, Lacto-ovo-vegetarian, Living food dietvegetarian, Ovo-vegetarian, Pescovegetarian, and Semi-vegetarian.3

The majority of vegetarians are lacto-ovovegetarians, in other words, they do not eat animal-based foods, except foreggs, dairy, and honey.

Studies over the last few years have shown that vegetarians have a lower body weight, suffer less from diseases, andgenerally have a longer life expectancy than people who eat meat.

Detailed look at Vegetarianism.

Vegan Diet

Veganism is more of a way of life and a philosophy than a diet. A vegan does not eat anything that is animal based,including eggs, dairy, and honey.4

Vegans do not generally adopt veganism just for health reasons, but also for environmental and ethical/compassionatereasons.

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Vegans believe that modern intensive farming methods are bad for our environment and unsustainable in the long term.If all our food were plant based our environment would benefit, animals would suffer less, more food would beproduced, and people would generally enjoy better physical and mental health, vegans say.

Detailed look at Veganism.

Weight Watchers Diet

Weight Watchers focuses on losing weight through diet, exercise, and a support network.5

Weight Watchers Inc. was born in the 1960s when a homemaker (housewife) who had lost some weight and wasconcerned she might put it back on. So, she created a network of friends. Weight Watchers is a huge company, withbranches all over the world.

Dieters can join either physically, and attend regular meetings, or online. In both cases there is a great deal of supportand education available for the dieter.

Detailed look at Weight Watchers.

South Beach Diet

The South Beach Diet was started by a cardiologist, Dr. Agatston, and a nutritionist, Marie Almon.6

It focuses on the control of insulin levels, and the benefits of unrefined slow carbohydrates versus fast carbs. Dr.Agatston devised the South Beach Diet during the 1990s because he was disappointed with the low-fat, high-carb dietbacked by the American Heart Association. He believed and found that low-fat regimes were not effective over the longterm.

Detailed look at The South Beach Diet.

Raw Food Diet

The Raw Food Diet, or Raw Foodism, involves consuming foods and drinks which are not processed, are completely plant-based, and ideally organic.7

Raw foodists generally say that at least three-quarters of your food intake should consist of uncooked food. A significantnumber of raw foodists are also vegans - they do not eat or drink anything which is animal based.

There are four main types of raw foodists: raw vegetarians, raw vegans, raw omnivores, and raw carnivores.

Detailed look at The Raw Food Diet.

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References

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Mediterranean Diet

The Mediterranean Diet is Southern European, and more specifically focuses on the nutritional habits of the people ofCrete, Greece, and southern Italy. Nowadays, Spain, southern France, and Portugal are also included; even thoughPortugal does not touch the Mediterranean Sea.

The emphasis is on lots of plant foods, fresh fruits as dessert, beans, nuts, cereals, seeds, olive oil as the main source ofdietary fats, cheese and yogurts are the main dairy foods, moderate amounts of fish and poultry, up to about four eggsper week, small amounts of red meat, and low/moderate amounts of wine.8

Up to one third of the Mediterranean diet consists of fat, with saturated fats not exceeding 8% of calorie intake.

Detailed look at The Mediterranean Diet.

Western diet can shorten your life

Tasnime Akbaraly, PhD, Inserm, Montpellier, France, and team carried out a study that found that the "Western Diet",which is high in sweet and fried foods, raises a person's risk of dying early. They published their findings in theAmerican Journal of Medicine.9

Dr. Akbaraly said "The impact of diet on specific age-related diseases has been studied extensively, but few investigationshave adopted a more holistic approach to determine the association of diet with overall health at older ages. Weexamined whether diet, assessed in midlife, using dietary patterns and adherence to the Alternative Healthy Eating Index(AHEI), is associated with aging phenotypes, identified after a mean 16-year follow-up."

The team found that study participants who strayed from the "Alternative Healthy Eating Index" had a considerablyhigher risk of cardiovascular and non-cardiovascular death.

The advantages of plant-based diets

The well known journal, Food Technology in October 2012 published a report explaining that plant-based diets eitherminimize or completely eliminate people's genetic propensity to developing chronic diseases, such as diabetes type2, cardiovascular disease, and cancer.10

Written by Christian Nordqvist

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1. "THE PROGRAM: OVERVIEW - How Does the Atkins Diet Work?" ATKINS NUTRITIONALS. Accessed November 26th 2013.

2. Barry Sears. "The Zone Diet", Thorsons (January 4, 1999), ISBN-10: 0722536925.

3. "Vegetarian Eating" State Government of Victoria. Accessed November 26th 2013.

4. "Veganism In a Nutshell" The Vegetarian Resource Group. Accessed November 26th 2013.

5. "About us - history & philosophy" Weight Watchers. Accessed November 26th 2013.

6. Arthur Agatston. "The South Beach Diet: The Delicious, Doctor-Designed, Foolproof Plan for Fast and Healthy Weight Loss",St. Martin's Paperbacks (April 19, 2005). ISBN-10: 0312991193.

7. Robert Alan Ross. "Raw Food Life" rawfoodlife.com. Accessed November 26th 2013.

8. "What is a Mediterranean diet?" NHS, Accessed November 26th 2013.

9. Tasnime Akbaraly, PhD, Séverine Sabia, PhD, Gareth Hagger-Johnson, PhD, Adam G. Tabak, MD, Martin J. Shipley, MSc,Markus Jokela, PhD, Eric J. Brunner, PhD, Mark Hamer, PhD, G. David Batty, PhD, Archana Singh-Manoux, PhD, MikaKivimaki, PhD. "Does Overall Diet in Midlife Predict Future Aging Phenotypes? A Cohort Study" The American Journal ofMedicine.

10. Toni Tarver. "The Chronic Disease Food Remedy" Food Technology, October 2012, Volume 66, No.10. Accessed November26th 2013.

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