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The beginning of the new year always comes loaded with a lot of well-intentioned purposes. One that is often repeated especially on these dates is to go on a dietEither to lose weight or to start being healthier. Although Spain has always been a country of good eating habits, this has not prevented us from falling into the diet trap. miracle and ultraprocessed foods.
If you need help finding a type of diet that keeps you healthy and perfect for you, you’re in luck. As every year, the US News & World Report has published a list of the best diets for 2021 based on different premises such as its health benefit, ease of following it or its popularity.
This traditional classification has been published for years in the first days of January and has the endorsement of the prestigious Harvard University. In the highest place is the same diet for four years: the Mediterranean. A diet full of fruits, vegetables, legumes and fish, which the Spaniards do not always strictly comply with.
The podium of nutrition
Then sharing the second place, Are the DASH diet and the flexitarian diet. the DASH diet bases its premises on try to lower your blood pressure by eating, With a thorough control of salt consumption, and advocating for the consumption of skim or low-fat dairy, in addition to reducing or even eliminating the consumption of foods with added sugars and the consumption of red meat. It also suggests reducing the consumption of saturated fats and trans fats, as well as increasing the intake of potassium, magnesium, calcium, protein and fiber.
the flexitarian diet, In turn, aims to reduce meat in exchange for increasing the consumption of fruit and vegetables on a weekly basis. There would be different “levels” in the flexitarian diet, which has come to be called “part-time vegetarianism.” But according to studies, in addition consumption of foods of vegetable origin and less of animal origin, better.
According to experts, this podium would not be surprising, given that the three diets share similarities: They are easy to follow (create grip) and focus on what foods to include and not so much what to restrict. The next diets in the classification were the Weight Watchers (WW) diet, in third place, the MIND, volumetric diets, from the Mayo Clinic and TLC, in fourth place, and the Ornish diet, vegetarian and Nordic, sharing the last place.
Commercial diets
This year’s study has included what are known as “commercial diets” and among them have highlighted the WW diet or “point diet” and the Mayo Clinic diet as the two best. Also noteworthy is the appearance of the Noom diet, Which, according to its creators, would not be so much a diet but a lifestyle focused on changes in nutritional habits.
In fact, it is based on an application also called Noom, in which you can find nutritional information and weekly challenges, tools for recording progress and recording both meals and exercise and body weight progression, a virtual training team and biometric tracking. All paid, of course.
Experts highlight the psychological component associated with the Noom diet, Which stands out from other food patterns, as a particularly relevant component in times of isolation such as the current pandemic.
For its part, diets like the Total30 (Focused on whole foods) or the well-known ketogenic diet (Based on fats), well known and popular, continue to cause some reluctance, as adherence to them is more complicated. Both occupy the final positions, being 35 and 37 among the 39 diets analyzed.
Dieting in 2021, a complicated goal
Finally, the experts responsible for compiling the ranking agree that it would not be a good option to think about “losing weight” or “dieting” during the coming year 2021, but simply about eating better: thinking about “dieting” is usually a negative thought, And suggest that last year 2020 was already saturated with negative events between confinements, social distancing and other security measures.
Therefore, they advise following the guidelines of the three best rated diets: increase the consumption of fruits, vegetables and whole grains only with the aim of improving health. With a few simple changes, you can lose weight secondarily, but not as your main goal. These are sustainable, flexible and customizable food patterns; and even allow for cultural and religious variations if necessary.
Health, they point out, would be the ultimate goal. If other goals are also achieved collateral, better.