If you are unhappy with your body weight, it makes sense that one of the first things you do is adjust your eating habits with the goal of shedding some extra pounds. Diets have long been the go-to for people trying to lose weight, but it’s important to choose the right one. Some diets that may help people lose weight quickly actually deprive the body of key nutrients it needs to function properly, while others are just fads that aren’t based on science.

If you opt for a diet to lose significant weight quickly, it might work. But here’s the catch: this kind of diet plan is often not sustainable, which means that dieters are likely to revert to old eating habits. Rather than jumping on a diet bandwagon only to fall off later, the wiser choice is to adopt an armory of healthy eating habits that you can live with—and maintain long-term.

With that in mind, these are five of the most popular, healthy, and effective eating strategies that may help you lose excess weight.

1. The Flexitarian Diet
   The flexitarian diet gets its name from a play on the words “flexible” and “vegetarian,” because it allows people to get the benefits of vegetarian living without totally giving up meat-based proteins. This diet focuses on ingredients that are easy to find in your local grocery store and easy to prepare, with a heavy emphasis on fruits, vegetables, lentils, beans, and whole grains.
2. The Volumetrics Diet
   Volumetrics isn’t so much a diet as a healthy approach to eating, which is why we like it. This plan focuses on cutting energy density from your eating habits and focusing on foods that help you feel satisfied and not hungry. Foods that are high-density, like sweets, cookies, crackers, chips, butter, and oil, are eaten sparingly. The focus is on lower-density foods, like fruits and vegetables, grains, and beans. The more strictly you follow volumetrics, the more weight you are likely to lose.
3. The Mayo Clinic Diet
   The Mayo Clinic diet is another system based on making healthy eating choices that you can maintain for a lifetime. It’s developed by medical professionals and based on the belief that engaging in healthy food choices while eliminating unhealthy eating habits (like eating in front of the TV) will help you lose weight and embrace a healthier lifestyle. The goal is to fill up on healthy foods, like fruits and vegetables, and eat moderate amounts of foods like whole grain carbs, lean proteins, and low-fat dairy to round out your diet.¹
4. The DASH Diet
   The DASH (Dietary Approaches to Stop Hypertension) diet is an eating plan designed to help lower blood pressure. To do this, foods that are high in sugars, saturated fat, and sodium are limited. Instead, you focus on eating heart-healthy foods that are rich in calcium, potassium, and magnesium, like vegetables, fruits, and whole grains. Lean proteins, low-fat dairy, beans and nuts are also part of this eating plan.²
5. The Ornish Diet
   This diet was developed by Dr. Dean Ornish, a medical professor at the University of California, San Francisco and founder of the Preventive Medicine Research Institute whose goal is to help people “feel better, live longer, lose weight and gain health.” Like most of the healthy eating systems we’ve already described, the Ornish diet focuses on eating fruits and vegetables, whole grains, legumes, lean proteins, and other foods that not only help you lose weight but also promote an overall healthier body. Another big focus of the Ornish diet is on maintaining healthy relationships and engaging in regular exercise, both factors key to living a healthy, happy life.

We’re Here to Help

So many people who struggle with obesity or being overweight get caught in a painful (and unhealthy) cycle of zealously embracing strict diets, only to find that they’re too difficult to maintain. The key is to find healthy eating habits built around foods you don’t mind eating and can easily prepare as part of your daily routine. Working with a licensed dietitian is a great way to get started. He or she will help you identify foods you should focus on and foods you’re better staying away from or only eating in moderation, then build out a flexible meal plan to get you started. Once you know how to properly fuel your body with healthy food, you’ll start to notice changes in your physique, mood, and energy level. To learn more about how you can develop healthy eating habits that will last a lifetime, contact us to schedule a meeting with our weight loss experts.