The pros and cons of America's favorite diet plans
At any given time one or more competing diets seize the attention of people across the country looking for the magic bullet, the exact combination of right and wrong foods to help them lose weight, get healthy and live better. And savvy marketers in food manufacturing will — as they have since time immemorial — respond to that quest with food products labeled with the trend du jour. But before you grab that paleo gluten free vegan brownie, take a step back from the snack aisle.
It's easy to buy into the hype, but just because a food is sporting whatever Mad Libs label is hot now doesn't mean it's good for you. Not to say it's the worst thing in the world — while some diets have no redeeming value whatsoever, many of the trends sweeping the internet have at least something we can take away.
Best Diet Plan
But among the cacophony, how do you know what's what?
Marisa Moore, RD, a registered dietitian and nutritionist, breaks it down with a look at the pros and cons of several of the most popular ways of eating today.
1. Paleo-ish
Paleo “really started as a throwback to human roots where the diet requires you to focus primarily on foods from paleolithic times,” Moore says. “So you can have eggs, fish, seafood, meat, vegetables, fruit, nuts and seeds, but not things that came along later like refined foods, grains, legumes, dairy, and refined sugar.”
What's the downside?
A big drawback with Paleo and friends (for our purposes we'll lump keto and Whole 30 here even though yes, yes, they're not the same thing) is their restrictive nature, Moore says. They can be hard to stick with long term. But “my biggest issue is [that it] excludes things like beans that have well-established health benefits like fiber.”
What's more, “you have to really evaluate the whole label and see what's in there,” she says. “For most paleo foods it will be a clean label but look at the sodium, is it incredibly high? [And] there are a lot of paleo desserts. I don't think people in paleolithic times were making coconut sugar brownies. Just because it's a paleo cupcake doesn't mean it's healthy.”
What's it got going for it?
“On the upside it does encourage you to eat fruits and vegetables, and fish, which is awesome,” says Moore.
https://www.nbcnews.com/better/pop-culture/pros-cons-america-s-favorite-diet-plans-ncna854396
It's easy to buy into the hype, but just because a food is sporting whatever Mad Libs label is hot now doesn't mean it's good for you. Not to say it's the worst thing in the world — while some diets have no redeeming value whatsoever, many of the trends sweeping the internet have at least something we can take away.
Best Diet Plan
But among the cacophony, how do you know what's what?
Marisa Moore, RD, a registered dietitian and nutritionist, breaks it down with a look at the pros and cons of several of the most popular ways of eating today.
1. Paleo-ish
Paleo “really started as a throwback to human roots where the diet requires you to focus primarily on foods from paleolithic times,” Moore says. “So you can have eggs, fish, seafood, meat, vegetables, fruit, nuts and seeds, but not things that came along later like refined foods, grains, legumes, dairy, and refined sugar.”
What's the downside?
A big drawback with Paleo and friends (for our purposes we'll lump keto and Whole 30 here even though yes, yes, they're not the same thing) is their restrictive nature, Moore says. They can be hard to stick with long term. But “my biggest issue is [that it] excludes things like beans that have well-established health benefits like fiber.”
What's more, “you have to really evaluate the whole label and see what's in there,” she says. “For most paleo foods it will be a clean label but look at the sodium, is it incredibly high? [And] there are a lot of paleo desserts. I don't think people in paleolithic times were making coconut sugar brownies. Just because it's a paleo cupcake doesn't mean it's healthy.”
What's it got going for it?
“On the upside it does encourage you to eat fruits and vegetables, and fish, which is awesome,” says Moore.
https://www.nbcnews.com/better/pop-culture/pros-cons-america-s-favorite-diet-plans-ncna854396
3 Week Diet Review