Are you thinking about embracing one of the popular diet plans? Since there are so many to choose from, it’s important to find the best option for your health. This will usually be the one that offers the most nutritional benefits, ensuring that your body gets everything you need. It also needs to provide the right level of calories too and ultimately prioritize your safety and wellbeing. This means that any diet that favors fast weight loss over your health should be avoided. With that in mind, let’s look at the best diets for you to consider that will offer you the nutrition your body needs.
Paleo Diet
At the surface, the Paleo diet is easy to understand. It’s based on what a caveman used to eat with the thinking being that when we were wild and primitive, we were at our healthiest. At least, we were in terms of nutritional value in our meals. So, immediately, there are foods that you cannot consume on this diet, including sugar, legumes, grain and dairy. Instead, you need to focus on fish, fruit, vegetables, poultry and, of course, meat.
The main aim of choosing this diet is to avoid the diseases of modern civilization. This includes anything like type 2 diabetes and heart disease, both of which have been linked to the foods that this diet option cuts out.
While it may sound beneficial, many experts suggest that this diet does come with a few issues. Mainly, the restrictive nature makes it difficult to get everything you need for a healthy diet. For this reason, those who follow it tend to need to rely on supplements.
How much you eat and what you consume will usually depend on the goals you set. Many people follow this diet with no goals, and as such, they can eat whatever they want. One might assume that the main benefit of the Paleo diet is weight loss, and it’s true; if you have weight to lose, you’ll see significant drops when you cut out the food this diet teaches you to avoid. However, there may be further benefits for your health.
One review has suggested that when compared to other diets, the nutritional value of this option was able to significantly lower blood pressure for those found with signs of metabolic syndrome. These signs have been linked to heart attacks and strokes. Studies have also shown that the Paleo diet will help you regulate blood sugar levels. This is because 63% of calories tend to come from processed or refined foods when following the typical American diet.
Furthermore, this diet encourages you to consume various foods that will boost energy levels. These include eggs, nuts and avocados. You will also be benefitting from a large supply of healthy fats. This has been linked to lowering levels of oxidative stress in the brain.
Autoimmune Protocol
As you might have guessed from the name, this diet is based on the idea of improving your autoimmune system. Studies show that this diet may help to reduce inflammation of the gut. It is another restrictive diet, largely limited to meats and veggies. Typically, you will maintain this restrictive diet for six weeks before introducing other foods.
The idea of this diet is to take the pressure off your immune system by providing a boost to your diet. One of the main conditions that it is useful for would be a leaky gut. Certain research suggests that some autoimmune issues are triggered by holes in your intestines, which allow food into the rest the body. The immune system is then forced to react.
The diet is often linked to the Paleo diet; however, it is far more restrictive. With this diet, you will, however, be emphasizing the importance of vitamins and food rich in nutrients. You will also be focusing on foods that have high levels of omega-3 fatty acids.
Similar to Paleo, this diet is designed to help you avoid foods like grains, processed sugars, dairy and industrial seed oils. You should also avoid anything with artificial sweeteners, nuts or seeds and nightshade vegetables. If you’re not sure about that term, this includes everything from eggplants to potatoes and various other veggies.
On the other hand, honey, syrup, olive oil, fermented foods, vinegar, herbs and gelatin derived from grass-fed beef are all fine. Fruit is a tricky one as while some reports suggest you should be eliminating it completely, others suggest between 10 and 25 grams for each day.
There are many benefits of this diet. Since it focuses almost entirely on eating healthy foods, you will notice changes to your body over time. The biggest benefit is, of course, the perceived lower levels of inflammation. People with autoimmune conditions in particular will benefit from these diets, including Crohn’s disease, rheumatoid arthritis and psoriasis. It may help reduce some of the symptoms of these types of conditions.
With this diet, it’s useful to keep a record of the foods that you are eating because there is some flexibility with routes that you can take here. You will be able to determine which option is right for you.
People often think that if they don’t have issues with certain foods, then there is no need to avoid it and as such, this diet won’t be the right choice for them. However, that’s far from the case. You may just have eaten foods like tomatoes for so long that you wouldn’t want to know that cutting it out of your diet would improve your health. As such, it could still be worth trying the AIP diet to see if it helps you in the long-term. It may be a few weeks or even months before you start to see a change from removing a certain food from your diet.
Ketogenic Diet
The Ketogenic diet is completely different from the previous two that we have discussed. With this diet, you need to focus on high-fat, low-carb foods instead of certain healthy possibilities. Studies have shown that this diet can help you both lose weight and improve your general level of health. Indeed, research has even suggested that this diet can benefit against certain conditions, such as diabetes, Alzheimer’s and epilepsy. So, if you are concerned or you have been diagnosed with any of these conditions, you could certainly benefit from this diet.
There are actually various different forms of the Ketogenic diet. For instance, there is one based around low carbs, high fat and moderate protein. Typically, 75% of what you eat here will be fat. Alternatively, another form of the diet provides 35% protein and 60% fat. Be aware that only the standard diet has been meticulously studied. So, if you are looking for the health benefits linked to this diet, then that is certainly the one that you should follow. Some studies do suggest that this diet is more beneficial to your health than the typical low-fat diet that is often recommended. Indeed, one study found that this diet helps participants lose over two times more weight in the same period as a traditional low-fat diet. It even beat diets recommended for people with diabetes. This is likely because the diet provides a high level of protein and increased ketones, as well as lower blood sugar levels. Another study found that this diet is able to lower sensitivity to insulin by a tremendous 75%.
Other studies have shown alarming effects related to a variety of conditions. For instance, the diet has been suggested as a way to lower tumor growth and help with risk factors related to heart diseases like body fat and blood pressure. Another research study has found that the diet can reduce and slow the impact of both Parkinson’s and Alzheimer’s.
There are a few side effects to be aware of when you decide to follow this diet. One is the infamous Keto flu, which usually emerges a few days after you start this diet plan. It’s worth pointing out that this is an adaptive issue and you need to give your body time to adjust. You’ll notice everything from low levels of energy to poor mental function. It’s also worth noting that this diet does change water and mineral balance for your body. So, you will need to make sure that you are increasing salt levels in your meals.
Plant-Based Diet
As the name suggests, this diet is based on eating foods that come from plants. So, fruits, veggies, nuts, seeds, whole grains beans and more are all on the agenda. A common misconception here is that you’ll need to stop eating meat and dairy, but that’s not the case. It’s just a matter of increasing your plant intake and making sure that this is where the bulk of your foods are coming from.
So, why is this good for you? Well, similar to other diets on this list, research shows it’s positive for heart disease, metabolic syndrome, types of cancers and even depression. Other studies have linked it to remaining healthy even as you continue to age.
This isn’t that surprising as vegetarian diets have been shown to provide similar benefits, particularly when followed for long periods. The additional benefit, though, is that with plant-based diets, things aren’t quite as restrictive. As such, you can still get the protein, the fat, the carbs, the vitamins and basically everything you need to keep your body in great shape. Depending on the path you choose, though, you might once again find you need supplements.
Getting started with this diet is easy. One of the best ways to begin is to simply make sure that you are increasing the level of veggies in your diet. Furthermore, you can get rid of the junk foods for dessert and have fruit instead.
A lot of people are worried that when you decide to follow a diet like this, you will struggle to get the level of protein that you need. This idea tends to come from the belief that meat is the main and indeed only source of protein. This is not true, as collards, spinach and kale are all high in protein. So, if you add these to your diet, you’ll still be getting what your body needs.
We hope you find this advice useful and make sure that you discover the right diet for your optimum level of health. If you’re worried about your immune system, the autoimmune protocol diet could be the best choice. Alternatively, if you want to improve your diet without being restrictive, a plant-based option will be the best choice.
