What is the Best Diet for Weight Loss?​

One of the most common questions I get asked by patients, family and friends, is “What diet should I go on to lose weight?” The simple answer is there is no specific diet that is superior for weight loss.

A “diet” implies a short term change in eating habits that ends when a goal weight has been achieved. As everyone knows, that leads to weight regain and more difficulty with future weight loss (“yo-yoing” or metabolic adaptation in medical terms).

This means the diet you follow should be one that is sustainable, balanced, and not overly restrictive. The diet that works best for weight loss is the one that becomes part of your lifestyle and you can maintain for the long term!

However, there are health benefits with following certain types of diets and you may benefit from following a certain diet due to an underlying health condition. Make changes because of the impact on your health, not just because of changes on the scale!

Some examples of diet with health benefits are:

• •  Mediterranean Diet: there is decreased risk of cardiovascular disease and LDL (“bad”) cholesterol. 

• • Plant-based diet: there is a decrease in cardiovascular disease, diabetes and LDL cholesterol.  

• • The DASH diet: there is decreased blood pressure. 

• • Low carbohydrate diet (Keto Diet): there is a decrease in triglycerides and risk of diabetes and an increase in HDL (“good”) cholesterol. 

• • High protein, low glycemic index diet: there is weight maintenance.

• • Low fat diet: there is a decrease in total and LDL cholesterol.

Is there a general consensus for a healthy diet? It is recommended to have a baseline meal plan that is:

• • High in: protein, vegetables, and fruits

• • Low in: processed foods, processed sugars, saturated and trans fats, and salt.

It’s also important to leave room for “indulgences”! Studies also show that people who are very rigid (have all or none thinking) with their diets are more likely to overeat and be prone to eating disorders. Leave room for flexibility to have an occasional dessert or your favorite fast food  without feeling like you’ve “fallen off the bandwagon”. These are parts of our lives and as long as you maintain healthy foods as the basis of your lifestyle, indulgences have their place as well.

What I’m not discussing in this article is the impacts of metabolic adaptation as well as weight loss or caloric restriction on people’s appetites and how it can make maintaining a lifestyle dietary difficult. That is another reason the support of healthcare professionals is important! At Manhattan Medical Weight Loss we take your personal preferences and cultural identity into consideration to make a long term sustainable treatment plan.

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