Top 3 Healthiest Lifestyle Diets

Fad diets come and go, but the diets with staying power are those that are simple. Dieters no longer want to weigh and measure or buy expensive food and ingredients to look and feel healthier. Let’s dive into a world of lifestyle diets and make the habits become part of your life.

1. Mediterranean Diet

The Mediterranean diet is the number one healthy lifestyle diet that delivers on all things healthy. It’s based on

the traditional ways people in countries like Greece and Italy used to eat.
Compared to the way people in America eat, this diet proves to be exceptionally healthy. People who follow this diet all their lives have a lower risk of developing lifestyle diseases.

Mediterranean Diet

Many studies have found that following the Mediterranean diet will result in weight loss and may even help prevent heart attack, stroke, type 2 diabetes, and premature death. The best part? There is no right way to follow this diet.

At its most basic, you should eat the following foods:

• Vegetables, seeds, whole grains, bread, nuts, potatoes, legumes,
• Seafood, and extra virgin olive oil.                                                       
• Red meat only rarely
• Cheese, yogurt, and poultry in moderation (no more than twice per week)
• Avoid sugar-sweetened beverages, processed meats, highly processed foods, refined oils, refined grains, and trans fats
• Drink water, red wine, and unsweetened coffee and tea.

2. Pritikin Diet

The Pritikin diet is a low-fat, high-fiber diet created by Nathan Pritikin in the late 1970s. It focuses on eating fresh whole foods such as vegetables, beans, whole grains, and fruits. It is significantly less expensive to eat this way because meats and processed foods tend to be far more expensive.

This diet has been tweaked by Robert Pritikin, Nathan’s son, since its inception. It still focuses on plant-based foods and adheres to the very low-in-fat original concept, but in addition to those concepts, it also calls for a calorie density solution.

Pritikin Diet

According to Robert, the main concern isn’t the number of calories, rather how dense they are in any given food. The overall idea is to avoid calorie dense foods, meaning they should have fewer calories per pound.
Like his father, he has compiled a list of “go” foods (foods you should eat), “caution” foods (foods you should eat in moderation), and “stop” foods (foods and ingredients you should avoid).

This diet is recommended by physicians and dieticians worldwide because it focuses on healthy, natural foods that are easily accessible and can help people lose weight in a sensible way.

3. The Flexitarian Diet

The Flexitarian Diet is a mostly plant-based diet but allows room for some meat and other animal products, if eaten in moderation.
Created by dietician Dawn Jackson Blatner, this diet was designed to help people reap all the benefits of vegetarian eating without having to sacrifice the foods they love; hence, the name flexitarian. It allows for some flexibility for those who may not want to give up meat and dairy products.

There are no clear-cut rules for the Flexitarian Diet. You don’t have to worry about watching or calculating the number of calories or macronutrients you consume. This is more of a lifestyle change than a diet.

The Flexitarian Diet is based on these principles:

• Eat mostly fruit, vegetables, whole grains and legumes.
• Focus on protein from plants, not animals.
• Remain flexible. Incorporate animal and meat products in moderation.
• Limit the amount of processed foods you eat. Try instead to eat foods in their most natural form.
• Limit sweets and added sugars.

The Flexitarian Diet

By Eileen Smith