How many times a year do you start a new diet or do diets scare you all together and you haven’t had the heart to try one yet? Your weight-loss journey doesn’t have to be scary, stressful or complicated. Here are seven healthy weight loss plans that will help you achieve the body that you’ve been dreaming about.

The Mediterranean Diet

According to the 2019 US News and World Report best diets. The Mediterranean diet is ranked number one on the list of best diets overall. This diet is not your traditional weight loss plan that has you counting calories, limiting your portions of food you can eat.

This diet includes – fruits, vegetables, whole grains, protein from seafood, and eggs. The exciting part of this diet is you can enjoy your dessert and wine.

Why does it work?

It replaces butter with healthy fats such as olive oil and canola oil. Red meat is replaced with healthier options like tuna, mackerel or salmon. It also limits the intake of processed foods which usually have high sugar and sodium content. The Mediterranean diet is a delicious and healthy way to eat and a long-term solution to managing your weight.

The Volumetrics Diet

This diet was developed by Dr. Barbara Rolls. A professor of nutritional sciences and obesity researcher at Penn State.

Researchers have consistently ranked the volumetrics diet as one of the best weight loss plans. The diet revolves around the idea of consuming fewer calories. Those following this plan stick to food low in calories and high in fiber and water content. Soups, big portions of vegetables, and fruits we make up for the diet.

If food is divided into 4 groups. Group 1 and 2 is to eat mostly. Small portion sizes of foods in group 3, and less choice of food in group 4.

• Group 1: Soup, Non-starchy fruits and vegetables, and skim milk (broth-based)
• Group 2: Low-fat dishes like chili and spaghetti, legumes, breakfast cereal, Starchy fruits and vegetables, and low-fat meat.
• Group 3: Cake, salad dressing, meat, cheese, fries, pizza, and bread.
• Group 4: Chocolate, butter, oil, crackers, chips, and nuts.

The best part about this diet no food is off-limits, you just enjoy it in moderation.

The Dash Diet

The DASH diet stands for { Dietary Approaches to stop hypertension }. According to the National Institute of Health, the DASH diet scored a 3.3 out of 5 in the weight loss effectiveness category and 4.5 out of 5 in the health usefulness category. While it was initially developed to prevent lower high blood pressure. There have been several studies proving that following this diet can help you shed those extra pounds.

According to the renowned dietician and author Jennifer Koslo. The diet lowers the risk of heart diseases while helping you with weight loss. This diet includes good servings of vegetables, fruits, whole grains, and lean protein that provide the right amount of nutrients.

The tricky part you have to limit sugar consumption sodium intake and reduce alcohol consumption. The diet also emphasizes the importance of exercise and getting plenty of rest. This one is not a short-term fad diet. Look at it more as a lifestyle change.

The Keto Diet

This weight-loss plan focuses on extremely low carb and high-fat foods. Where only 5% of your calorie intake can come from carbs. Its main goal is to send your body into ketosis. According to Medical News Today, when your body goes into ketosis. It will force your body to cut fat instead of glucose to produce energy.

Foods in this plan:

• Meats: Poultry fish and eggs
• Higher fat dairy: Butter, cheese, and cream.
• Healthy Fats: Oils, nuts, and seeds.
• Vegetables: Which are low in carbohydrates including tomatoes, onions, green vegetables, and peppers.

Anything that would increase the carb intake to more than 5% is avoided including grains, fruits as well as refined sugars, and sweeteners. While it may lead to a quick weight loss. This is a short-term diet.

Experts don’t recommend it for extended periods or for everyone since it lacked nutritional variety. Our advice should consult your doctor before you try it.

The Paleo Diet

This is short for the Paleolithic diet. it’s sometimes called the Stone Age diet. The idea that you eat the same foods as our ancestors. This is more of a hunter-gatherer type of diet before we relied on any agriculture while there aren’t any solid guidelines about exactly what our ancestors ate.

If you follow this diet you have to avoid procced foods as well as unnatural sugar. You just have to stay natural as you can eat whole foods, fruits, nuts, seeds, things you would find in a foraging type of environment.

Benefits:

Studies from PubMed show that paleo diets and have a big result when it comes to weight loss and it says that people who participate in the Paleo diet consume between 300 900 fewer calories each day. This diet can possibly reduce cholesterol, blood pressure, blood sugar, and other risk factors that are linked to heart disease.

One of the downsides seems to be that this diet doesn’t allow you to eat any whole grains or legumes that are generally pretty healthy.

The Vegan Diet

The vegan diet is really more than a diet. Its highs into a lifestyle that doesn’t use any products or consume anything that’s made from animals. This diet is a plant-based diet. You have to balance your diet to get all the necessary vitamins and nutrients.

Today there are many meat alternatives to choose from. Some popular choices include tofu, mushrooms, and Tempe which can replace what meat usually provides.

Benefits:

The medical news today says, vegan diets can be really great for you. Animal fats can potentially have harmful effects depending on how they’re consumed. Eating a purely plant-based diet has a lot of nutrients your body needs. The negative side of the vegan diet is that it can be lacking in certain vitamins if not planned properly.

Vegans can sometimes be lacking in vitamins like iron, vitamin D, zinc, and others. However, if you do your homework and plan a balanced diet you can have a very healthy diet and can lose weight in the process as vegan diets are known to reduce calories.

Low-carb Diet

Low carb diets can come in all shapes and sizes. They’ve been popular for a really long time and are basically exactly what they say, you reduce your carb intake and force your body to use stored fats as energy instead of the regular carbs you’d normally be ingesting.

Benefits:

Weight loss is the main benefit of this one because you’re ingesting fewer carbs than you’re burning you’re bound to lose weight. These types of diets are also great for getting rid of belly fat which according to PubMed and is very dangerous and can become impacted around a person’s organs.

Once you get into the routine you’ll start to find yourself getting less hungry which will also help you consume fewer calories.

The negative side of this diet is that it’s not for everyone. This diet can be really hard and getting past the point of being hungry or not feeling yourself and really affect some people.

Additional Tips

• Pair your diet plan with a little activity or rather some weight training.
• Exercising is the key to losing extra pounds faster. You don’t have to sweat it out in the gym for hours.
• Add a 15 to 30-minute walk through your daily schedule or some weight training twice a week.