The Mediterranean-like DASH and the plant-centric Ornish eating plan topped this year’s rankings of diets by a panel assembled by U.S. News & World Report.
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Despite the buzz about paleo and raw food diets, a new ranking of the 35 top diets puts these two near the bottom of the list.
Why?
The U.S. News & World Report rankings are based on evaluations by a panel of doctors, nutritionists and other health experts. For each diet, the experts evaluated short-term and long-term weight loss, ease of adherence, and how the advice stacked up against current dietary guidelines. The experts also considered health risks.
And when it comes to paleo, or the caveman diet, the verdict is that eating the way our hunter-gatherer ancestors did is not very realistic.
One expert concluded that “a true paleo diet might be a great option: very lean, pure meats, lots of wild plants.” But the problem, according to the report, is that it’s too difficult to follow in modern times. The experts say that in avoiding dairy, grains and other mainstays of the modern diet, paleo followers may miss out on key nutrients. And, the panel concludes, “if you’re not careful about making lean meat choices, you’ll quickly ratchet up your risk for heart problems.
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source: NPR.org
