Exploring Different Types of Diets

There’s always a new diet trend emerging, but what can they offer us in comparison?

Recent research examined the nutritional quality and carbon footprints associated with various eating styles. Vegan and pescatarian diets scored highest for nutritional quality, followed by omnivore, clean eating and paleo eating styles.

Keto

There’s little doubt you have come across references to either the keto or paleo diet at some point when visiting a health food store or browsing Instagram feeds. These popular trends were created based on what early humans likely consumed as fuel; but are these diets healthy? Both plans involve increasing protein consumption while decreasing carbohydrates so as to burn off more body fat as fuel for your engine.

The Keto diet (also known as ketogenic diet) has become increasingly popular. By restricting carbs and increasing fat consumption, proponents of this regimen contend it helps users lose weight while simultaneously improving overall health.

Key components of the keto diet include eating healthy fats like olive oil and butter. Furthermore, fruits and starches are typically limited on this plan so it makes for an excellent way to cut back on sugar intake.

Though keto diet offers many advantages, its strict limitations and restrictive nature make it hard to adhere to for long. Magnesium and potassium deficiency is common with this diet plan and stress may result from it as it restricts intake.

The Paleo diet, on the other hand, is much less restrictive than its keto counterpart. Based on the principle that our ancestors ate foods most naturally found in nature, the Paleo diet emphasizes lean meats, seafood, eggs and non-starchy vegetables as staples while forgoing processed foods, grains legumes and dairy products.

Contrary to its counterpart, the Paleo diet is equally applicable to vegans and vegetarians alike, making it easier for these groups to follow it since more fruits and vegetables are allowed into your diet plan. You’re sure to find tasty plant-based recipes on Paleo; whether following this or any other eating plan it is important that meals are both nutritional and fulfilling – always include variety in order to avoid becoming monotonous!

READ Benefits and Challenges of a Plant-Based Diet

Paleo

Paleo diet (or the Caveman Diet) is founded on the premise that modern processed food isn’t good for humans and that eating like our ancient ancestors could actually improve health. Simply put, this means going back to basics: eating foods available during their hunter-gatherer years while limiting those that were not. Proponents believe Paleo can reduce inflammation while improving overall health by eliminating foods known to cause food sensitivities (like gluten or dairy) while simultaneously cutting back on salt content, saturated fat content and additives in processed products.

This diet emphasizes protein and healthy fats. Additionally, it limits high-glycemic carbs and removes foods not present during the Paleolithic era (like white potatoes). Instead, this eating plan recommends fruits, vegetables, nuts and seeds, lean meats and fish from sustainable sources, eggs as well as natural fat sources like avocado and olive oil as a core diet staples.

The primary drawback to the DASH diet is that it omits most legumes and whole grains – which provide essential sources of fiber, B vitamins and iron – and dairy, an excellent source of calcium and vitamin D.

A well-constructed vegan diet can provide high amounts of protein, iron, calcium, folic acid and B vitamins – as well as offering numerous beneficial phytochemicals and antioxidants.

Veganism requires careful planning in order to ensure adequate intake of nutrients. As well as foregoing animal products, this diet must limit or avoid processed food products such as processed sugar, processed salt, trans fats and vegetable oils.

A balanced plant-based diet should provide plenty of protein, potassium, magnesium and folate while being high in fiber, B vitamins and iron. Eating plenty of fresh, colorful fruits and vegetables along with whole grains and beans as staples is key in reaching these dietary targets. Also essential are adequate levels of high-quality proteins containing the amino acids arginine and methionine which are necessary for muscle strength and mental clarity – speaking to a registered dietitian can assist you with creating an appropriate meal plan that meets these requirements and goals.

READ The Importance of Breakfast

Vegan

In 2018, the Keto Diet was one of the most frequently researched diets. This plan emphasizes low-carb food high in healthy fats in order to promote ketosis – whereby your body uses its own fat stores as fuel – in your body and thus leads to weight loss as well as other potential health benefits. This diet not only aids weight loss, but it can also provide numerous other advantages.

Veganism is a form of vegetarianism that excludes all food containing meat, fish or dairy. While this diet can be beneficial in terms of protecting the environment and being healthier overall, meeting all your nutrient needs with this approach may prove more challenging – therefore it’s essential that you are aware of which vitamins can be found elsewhere.

The Paleo Diet is a nutritional plan that replicates what early humans consumed as part of their daily lives, with lean proteins, healthy fats, fruits and vegetables being key components. Furthermore, processed food consumption should be limited; making the Paleo Diet an excellent way to support chronic health conditions like heart disease, diabetes or inflammation.

Keto and Paleo diets can both be extreme. Yet both have shown significant health advantages – weight loss and improved cardiovascular health are among them – but are unsustainable over an extended period.

US News and World Report’s study examined the carbon footprints and dietary quality of different American diets commonly consumed, analyzing 16,000 adults’ eating patterns. Results from this research indicated that keto and paleo diets had the lowest quality, while most nutritious and least damaging to our planet were omnivore, pescatarian and vegan diets that include many beneficial nutrients as keto and paleo diets – providing consumers with food for thought when creating grocery lists. The US News and World Report’s research should give consumers food for thought when creating their grocery lists based on this research!

Raw

Switching up diets can be daunting, but there are various diets out there to consider and try. Each has unique health advantages and drawbacks; here are a few popular ones you should keep an eye out for:

READ Why is Fiber Important in Your Diet?

The Ketogenic Diet is an extreme low-carbohydrate diet that relies on fat as its main energy source, forcing your body into ketosis by switching fuel sources away from glucose to burning fat for fuel instead. Studies have demonstrated its efficacy at improving insulin sensitivity and decreasing inflammation; its Paleo Diet counterpart, commonly referred to as Caveman Diet or “caveman diet,” attempts to recreate what our ancestors ate by emphasizing homemade minimally processed food; it emphasizes meat, fish eggs vegetables fruits while it may prove more restrictive when it comes to carb intake than keto diet does in terms of intake; therefore providing sufficient carbs may become challenging over time!

A raw food diet is a vegan diet that emphasizes whole, unprocessed foods. It excludes cooked items like legumes, grains and white potatoes; while less restrictive than paleo diet, raw food diet still limits some essential nutrients.

Select a diet tailored to your lifestyle and goals that meets all the necessary vitamins and minerals for good health. It is wise to consult a registered dietitian prior to beginning any new diet plan.

Recent research examined real peoples’ diets and concluded that those which limit red meat, sugary beverages and processed foods tend to enjoy better health outcomes. Pescatarian diets with seafood only (not meat) had the lowest environmental impact. Omnivores, vegetarians and vegans were all evaluated according to nutritional quality and impacts on the environment; pescatarian, vegan and omnivore were the top three eating patterns ranked according to these measures. While any of these eating styles can form part of healthy eating patterns; take care not overindulging in any one food type to prevent deficiencies caused by overindulging in one or more.