The Mediterranean Diet

The Mediterranean diet is widely known as a very healthy way of eating that helps prevent diseases, keeps you well, and helps you live longer. It’s considered the best because it provides good nutrition and can be sustained over time.

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Vegetarianism and veganism are very popular types of diets that focus on eating plants and avoiding animal products. People choose these diets for reasons related to health, ethics, and the environment.

But there are other types of plant-based diets that are more flexible, like the flexitarian diet. With this diet, you can still eat animal products, but in small amounts and not as often.

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How it works

A usual vegetarian diet avoids meat but allows dairy products. A typical vegan diet avoids all animal products, including dairy, butter, and sometimes honey.

· The flexitarian eating plan is more like a lifestyle than a strict diet. It doesn’t have specific rules about calories and nutrients. Its main principles are:

• Getting protein from plants instead of animals.
• Eating mostly fruits, vegetables, legumes, and whole grains.
• Choosing unprocessed and natural foods whenever possible.
• Limiting sugar and sweets.

Flexitarian eating also allows occasional consumption of meat and animal products.

Health benefits

Many research studies have found that eating more plants can lower your chances of getting long-term illnesses. It can make your body work better, lower your blood pressure, and reduce the chance of getting type 2 diabetes. Eating more plants can also help you lose weight (17).

Flexitarian diets, which include both plants and some animal products, can also lower the risk of type 2 diabetes and make your body healthier. They can also help with weight loss (18).

Other health benefits

If you want to live a sustainable life, eating less meat can help lower the amount of gases that harm the environment, stop cutting down trees, and prevent the soil from getting damaged (19).

Demerits

Switching to a plant-based diet, like being a vegetarian or vegan, can be hard and may feel limiting, especially if you’re used to eating a lot of meat. On the other hand, the flexitarian diet is easy to stick to because it allows for some flexibility, but being too flexible with it can lessen its advantages.

The MIND Diet

The MIND diet is a way of eating that is good for your brain. It takes ideas from the Mediterranean and DASH diets and puts them together.

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How does it work?

The MIND diet is similar to the flexitarian diet. It doesn’t have a strict meal plan, but it suggests eating 10 specific foods that are good for the brain.

Here’s what you should eat each week:

• Six or more servings of green, leafy vegetables.
• One serving of non-starchy vegetables.
• Five or more servings of nuts.

You should also eat these foods several times a week:

• Berries.
• Beans.
• Olive oil.
• Whole grains.
• Fish.
• Poultry.

Health benefits

Studies have found that following the MIND diet can lower the chances of getting Alzheimer’s disease. Additionally, research has shown that the MIND diet is better than other diets focused on plants when it comes to enhancing cognitive abilities (20, 21).

Studies have found that the MIND diet can be beneficial for older adults by slowing down the decline in thinking abilities and making them more mentally strong (22).

It might also slow down the start of a movement problem called Parkinson’s disease (23).

There isn’t much research about the MIND diet and weight loss, but because it combines two diets that help you lose weight, it might also help you lose weight.

One reason it can help with losing weight is by suggesting you eat less of certain foods such as butter, cheese, red meat, fried food, and sweets. But we still need to do more research to understand how the MIND diet specifically affects weight loss.

The Mayo Clinic Diet

The Mayo Clinic Diet was made by the well-known medical group called the Mayo Clinic.

How it works

The Mayo Clinic Diet is a way of living that focuses on making long-term changes rather than quick fixes. Instead of completely avoiding certain foods, it encourages exercise and shows you how much of each type of food you should eat using a pyramid.

At the base of the pyramid are fruits, vegetables, and physical activity, which are the most important. The next layer includes carbs, followed by protein and dairy, fats, and finally, sweets.

The diet has two phases. The first phase lasts for two weeks and is meant to help you start losing weight. It introduces five healthier habits and encourages you to break five common unhealthy habits.

The second phase is a long-term lifestyle change. It emphasizes learning about nutritious food choices, portion sizes, and being physically active.

Health benefits

We don’t know much about the health benefits of the Mayo Clinic Diet, but the Mayo Clinic says that people can expect to lose around 10 pounds in the first 2 weeks and up to 2 pounds in the following phase.

The Mayo Clinic Diet might help with weight loss because it contains a lot of fiber, which can make you feel fuller and satisfied. It could also lower your chances of getting type 2 diabetes (24).

Moreover, research indicates that combining exercise with a low-calorie diet is better for losing weight compared to only following a diet (25).

But we still need to do more research to find out if the Mayo Clinic Diet really helps people lose weight.

Demerits

The online version of the program has things like meal plans, recipes, a tool to track what you eat, virtual group meetings, exercises you can do at home, and other features. But you have to pay every month to use the program.