Better Diets

The Volumetrics diet was created by Penn State University nutrition professor Barbara Rolls and is meant to be a long-term lifestyle change rather than a strict diet.

How it works
The eating plan is designed to promote weight loss by having you fill up on nutrient-dense foods that are low in calories and high in water.

Meanwhile, it limits calorie-dense foods like cookies, candies, nuts, seeds, and oils.

The Volumetrics diet divides food into four categories based on food’s calorie density, which can be calculated with a formula created by Rolls. These categories are:

Category one: includes foods of very low calorie density, like non-starchy fruits and vegetables, nonfat milk, and broth-based soup
Category two: includes low calorie-dense foods, like starchy fruits and vegetables, grains, breakfast cereal, low fat meat, legumes, and low fat mixed dishes like chili
Category three: includes medium calorie-dense foods, like meat, cheese, pizza, bread, and ice cream
Category four: includes high calorie-dense foods, like crackers, chips, chocolate candies, nuts, butter, and oil
Meals on the Volumetric diet consist mostly of foods from categories one and two, with limited amounts of food from categories three and four.

WW, formerly Weight Watchers, is one of the most popular weight loss programs worldwide.

While it doesn’t restrict any food groups, people on a WW plan must eat within their set number of daily points to help them reach their ideal weight (24Trusted Source).

How it works
WW is a points-based system that assigns different foods and beverages a value, depending on their calorie, fat, and fiber contents.

As you work to reach your desired weight, you must stay within your daily point allowance.

The Mediterranean-DASH Intervention for Neurodegenerative Delay (MIND) diet combines aspects of the Mediterranean and DASH diets to create an eating pattern that focuses on brain health.

How it works
Like the flexitarian diet, the MIND diet does not have a strict meal plan, but instead encourages eating 10 specific foods with brain health benefits.

Per week, MIND includes eating:

six or more servings of green, leafy vegetables
one serving of non-starchy vegetables
five or more servings of nuts
Other foods it encourages multiple times a week include:

berries
beans
olive oil
whole grains
fish
poultry

Vegetarianism and veganism are the most popular versions of plant-based diets, which restrict animal products for health, ethical, and environmental reasons.

However, more flexible plant-based diets also exist, such as the flexitarian diet. This is a plant-based diet that allows eating animal products in moderation.

How it works
Typical vegetarian diets restrict meat of all kinds but allow dairy products. Typical vegan diets restrict all animal products, including dairy, butter, and sometimes other byproducts like honey.

The flexitarian eating plan does not have clear-cut rules or recommendations about calories and macronutrients, so it’s considered more of a lifestyle than a diet. Its principles include:

consuming protein from plants instead of animals
eating mostly fruits, vegetables, legumes, and whole grains
eating the least processed, most natural forms of foods
limiting sugar and sweets
Additionally, it allows the flexibility to consume meat and animal products from time to time.

Dietary Approaches to Stop Hypertension, or DASH, is an eating plan designed to help treat or prevent high blood pressure, which is clinically known as hypertension.

It emphasizes eating plenty of fruits, vegetables, whole grains, and lean meats. It is low in salt, red meat, added sugars, and fat.

While the DASH diet is not a weight loss diet, many people report losing weight on it.