Weight loss and healthy living has long been a top resolution for the New Year. Earlier this month -- capitalizing on our interest -- ABC debuted a new weight loss show called "My Diet is Better than Yours."
In a twist, the contests on this show have the power. They decide if they are going to stick with the diet plan/trainer they are on or move to another trainer. Trainers left in the dust get eliminated.
The diets included a more plant-focused version of Atkins or Paleo, a vegan diet combined with yoga, a diet that isn't a diet at all, a diet that swaps your favorite foods with healthy substitutions and a diet that focuses on exercising while you do everyday tasks.
The season finale airs Thursday at 9 p.m. locally, so you'll be able to see which diet plan helped contestants lose the most weight. It's a pretty good guess that anything that seems too faddish probably won't be very effective.
Redbook recently gave a rundown of the top 30 diet plans that are worth trying (and the 25 diets that are complete BS.) It's no surprise that the diets focused on lifestyle changes rather than short-term or extreme diets are the ones that made the list.
Here are 10 of the diets mentioned (I'm putting them all in caps even though they may not be proper nouns):
- Weight Watchers
- Mediterranean Diet
- DASH (Dietary Approaches to Stop Hypertension) Diet
- MIND Diet (a combination of DASH and Mediterranean)
- TLC (Therapeutic Lifestyle Changes Diet)
- Paleo Diet
- Vegan Diet
- Vegetarian Diet
- The Zone Diet
- Ornish Diet
Also making the list were Nutrisystem, Jenny Craig, Seattle Sutton, Atkins, and the Biggest Loser Diet. Rounding out the list of effective diets were many that addressed specific health issue such as the Heart Healthy Diet, the Anti-Inflammatory Diet and the Low Cholesterol Diet.
The list of 25 diets that are not worth your time include :
- Gluten-Free diets
- Meal Replacement diets
- Cabbage Soup Diet
- Supplement diets
- Low Fat Diet
- Hypothyroidism Diet
- Elimination Diet
- Sacred Heart Diet
- Macrobiotic Diet
- Raw Food Diet
- The Smoothie Diet
- The Ketogenic Diet (unless you are a serious athlete)
No doubt there are people who swear by the diets on both of these lists -- whether those diets have been effective or not -- which probably points more to the idea that weight loss is more about the individual than any specific diet.
