Diets and food rules
14 guides. Each one sets out the rules, grades the evidence for every claimed outcome and shows who backs or doubts it.
- Anti-inflammatory dietAn anti-inflammatory diet is an eating pattern meant to lower chronic low-grade inflammation: more oily fish, olive oil, vegetables, fruit, legumes, nuts and whole grains, and less processed meat, refined carbohydrate and sugary drinks.Promising
- Avoiding red meatAvoiding red meat means cutting or eliminating beef, pork, lamb and especially processed meats such as bacon, ham and sausage.Debated
- Avoiding seed oilsAvoiding seed oils means cutting soybean, canola, corn, sunflower and similar oils rich in the omega-6 fat linoleic acid, based on claims they cause inflammation and chronic disease.Controversial
- Avoiding ultra-processed foodAvoiding ultra-processed food means building meals from whole and minimally processed foods and limiting industrial formulations with additives, which make up over half of calories in the US and UK.Debated
- Carb cyclingCarb cycling means changing carbohydrate intake from day to day instead of eating the same amount daily.Debated
- Carnivore dietThe carnivore diet is an animal-foods-only pattern of meat, fish, eggs and animal fat, often under 20 g of carbohydrate a day.Controversial
- DASH dietThe DASH diet (Dietary Approaches to Stop Hypertension) is an eating plan rich in vegetables, fruit, whole grains, low-fat dairy, beans and nuts, with little red meat, sweets or saturated fat.Well accepted
- High-protein dietA high-protein diet supplies more than the RDA of 0.8 g of protein per kg of body weight a day, usually 1.2 to 1.6 g/kg and up to 2 g/kg or more for athletes.Well accepted
- Ketogenic dietA ketogenic diet keeps carbohydrate under about 20 to 50 g a day so the body burns fat and makes ketones, defined in supervised programs as blood BHB of 0.5 to 3.0 mmol/L.Debated
- Low-FODMAP dietThe low-FODMAP diet is a three-phase elimination diet for irritable bowel syndrome (IBS), developed at Monash University.Well accepted
- Low-glycemic dietA low-glycemic diet favors carbohydrate foods that raise blood sugar slowly, rated by the glycemic index (GI): 55 or less is low and 70 or more is high.Debated
- Mediterranean dietThe Mediterranean diet is an eating pattern built on vegetables, fruit, legumes, whole grains, nuts, fish and olive oil as the main fat, with little red or processed meat, butter or sweets.Well accepted
- MIND dietThe MIND diet (Mediterranean-DASH Intervention for Neurodegenerative Delay) is a brain-focused hybrid of the Mediterranean and DASH diets that scores 15 food groups: more leafy greens, berries, nuts, beans, whole grains, fish and olive oil, and less red meat, butter, cheese, sweets and fried food.Debated
- Plant-based and vegan dietsA plant-based diet gets most or all of its food from plants: vegan diets exclude all animal foods, vegetarian diets exclude meat and fish.Well accepted