Posted on 2nd Nov 2009 @ 7:55 AM

I have been on a diet for as long as I can remember , but as the years passed I managed to chose the one that was best for me . In other words ,one that didn't make me go on a pantry candy attack in the middle of the night!! . The article below talks about the 13 most popular diets out there . Maybe one of this adjust to you.. Happy reading.

 

The key to successful dieting is finding a diet that suits your lifestyle and your bank balance! So knowing the different types of diet around is the first step in choosing the right dietary program for you.
Calorie controlled, Weight Watchers points system, cabbage soup, Atkins, South Beach, Detox, Low Carb, Body For Life, Zone diets....what diet type is best for you?
There is a wide range of diet types, from calorie controlled (where you can, more or less, eat most things – in moderation of course!) to the Atkins or South Beach diets (which are very specific as to what you can and cannot eat).
Within this site, we take a brief look at each type of diet so as to give you an idea as to which weight loss plan would best suit you. For example, if you are vegan, following a diet that has lots of fish in it really won’t work! Or, if you are don’t have a lot of time to spend preparing and cooking elaborate, special diet meals, then a diet where ready and simple meals are a ‘no-no’ won’t work for you either!
It’s understandable that sometimes your willpower flags when you are forced to cook and/or eat something that normally you wouldn’t touch!
Choosing the right diet type - that is one that fits in with your lifestyle as opposed the other way round - means you’ll have more chance of sticking to it. And that means more chance of success!
Read information about the major types of diet available:

• Weightwatchers
• GI Diet
• Mediterranean Diet
• Healthy Eating Diet
• Atkins Diet
• South Beach Diet
• Detox Diet
• Low Carb Diet
• Dairy Free Diet
• Zone Diet
• Cabbage Soup Diet
• Low Salt Diet
• Vegetarian Diet
 

Weight Watchers
Weightwatchers is one of the World's most popular weight loss programs and has been around since the 1960s. The concept of Weight Watchers is not to offer a "quick-fix" solution to weight related problems, but more about adopting a healthier eating plan (that also will help you lose, then maintain your new, weight).
The Weight Watchers program is about developing a healthy lifestyle, includes mental, emotional, and physical health.

The dietary program is a lot about group support and you are expected to attend regular meetings for weigh-ins and motivation. Most foods are allowed, each of which has a point value.

When you attend your first meeting, you will be given an amount of points you are allowed to consume every day. Some types of physical exercise will cancel out some of the points consumed, so the more exercise you get, in theory, the more you can eat!

The dietary program is also good as it allows some flexibility with the points. For example, when you have a special occasion coming up.

The emphasis of the weight loss plan is very much on the points, not on what foods you eat. And so you are encourage planning your meals using the points system. As there are very little foods that are actually restricted on this diet, it is probably one of the easier diet programs to follow.

Many dieters also find the group support given at the meetings invaluable. However, if you are happy to do the diet on your own, you can attend online meetings – great if you are short of time or work irregular hours.
About Weight Watchers
Philosophy
Weight Watchers has always believed that dieting is just one part of long-term weight management. A healthy body results from a healthy lifestyle - which means mental, emotional and physical health. Weight Watchers does not tell you what you can or can't eat. We provide information, knowledge, tools and motivation to help you make the decisions that are right for you about nutrition and exercise. We help you to make healthy eating decisions, and we encourage you to enjoy yourself by becoming more active.
At Weight Watchers we believe that healthy, long-term weight loss is within everyone's reach and we will help you reach your weight loss goals:

• Providing you with two ways to lose weight: Full Choice plan or NoCountTM plan.
• Guiding you to make positive changes to your behavior.
• Motivating you every step of the way.

History
In the early 60's, Jean Nidetch, an American woman from Queens, New York, discovered the best way to control her weight was to be able to eat normal food and talk to friends and other people who could understand, and support her.
Jean invited some friends to her house for a coffee one day and asked if they'd join her in following a medical diet recommended to her by her hospital dietician.
They agreed to meet regularly just to talk about how they were getting on. Jean started holding meetings in other people's houses too and the group began to expand. She teamed up with businessman Al Lippert and together they founded Weight Watchers.
Four years later, the first meeting in the UK was held near Windsor. Since then the company has continued to expand: in the UK alone over 6,000 Meetings are now held each week by a Weight Watchers Leader who has also lost weight successfully with Weight Watchers
 

GI Diet
The GI diet is big in the news right now, with businesswomen, first ladies and pop stars all reportedly using this diet to control their weight.
So, what is it all about?
The GI Diet is very easy to follow and adapt to, with its many followers claiming they don’t even feel like they’re on a diet at all! If you want to lose weight without feeling hungry or deprived, then this could be the plan for you!
Using the Glycemic Index (GI) as a guide, no food groups are excluded - it takes the best fats, carbohydrates and proteins and offers you a plan that will help you banish cravings, lose weight and improve your health, all while eating satisfying foods.
The GI diet is said to be particularly suitable for people with an underactive thyroid, people who have type 2 diabetics, and people who have polycystic ovaries (PCOS). This is because following the plan will help to slow down the release of energy from food and stabilize insulin levels. Following a low GI way of eating will help all of the above conditions. However, we can all benefit from better control of blood sugar and insulin levels – even if we don’t have any of the conditions mentioned.
The theory behind low GI diets is similar to that behind low-carbohydrate diets. That is, high GI foods raise blood sugar and insulin levels and cause weight gain as well as energy highs and lows (have you ever had that mid-afternoon slump where you reach for chocolate of a cup of tea loaded with sugar just to get a pick me up?)
If you eat low GI foods, you'll lower your blood sugar and insulin levels, maintain a steady level of energy and you'll lose weight if you need to, or maintain it if you don’t.
The GI diet isn’t only suitable for people who want to lose weight - a low GI way of eating can be beneficial for everyone, including people who want to maintain their weight and people wanting to eat healthily.
While you can’t work out the GI value of a food, there are easy ways to follow this eating plan. A lot of supermarkets such as Tesco, now label foods if they are low GI and any good GI diet website gives lists of foods that can be used for guidance on what foods are high, medium and low GI.

The Mediterranean Diet
The Mediterranean diet is an exciting new diet plan to follow – especially with tastes that are reminiscent of holidays such as yoghurt and fruit for breakfast, salmon and roast vegetables for lunch and snacks of crackers and humus! Imagine a tasty Italian pasta dish or an exotic Greek dish – it’s really not like being on a diet at all!
Research published in the Journal of the American Medical Association shows that following a Mediterranean diet can increase longevity. This is because the Mediterranean diet is high in fruit, vegetables, nuts, seeds and grains as well as olive oil – a product rich in monounsaturated fats. And fish is often eaten instead of red meat - meaning that the diet is a rich source of essential fatty acids and antioxidant – a way to help improve cholesterol levels and protect the heart.
It is well documented that people living in the Mediterranean regions have a much lower incidence of heart disease and cancer – and it is not all down to the sun and sea! A Mediterranean style diet is jam packed full of goodness!
Italian researchers have also found that following the ‘Med’ diet (also known as the Sunshine Diet) is beneficial for people with metabolic syndrome (an early indicator of Type 2 diabetes and cardiovascular disease risk).
This diet is based on traditional cuisine in the countries around the Mediterranean, which means you get a varied, tasty selection from Turkish to Italian, or Moroccan to Greek foods – yum! Follow it and you’ll benefit from lots of health-related benefits as well as well drop those pounds!
And as red wine is packed full of antioxidant substances called flavonoids - and these protect against both heart disease and cancer - even a glass of red wine day isn’t a sin - it’ll be like being on holiday all the time!

The eDiets Healthy Eating Plan
The reason that many people fail to stick to a diet is normally because they do not like the types of food stipulated in the plan or find it laborious finding the right ingredients in the shops and having to cook up something special.
And that is what is so good about the eDiets Healthy Eating plan – it allows you to follow a plan that consists of delicious and healthy foods based on your preferences, meaning you will find it easier to stick to and very unlikely to stray from. The meals are low in fat and saturated fat for optimum health.
This Healthy Eating Plan diet is designed for you as an individual to enable you to meet you goal – whether it be weight loss you are aiming for or simply a healthier eating plan. Perfectly balanced and full of variety, this could be your ideal diet.
A typical days’ menu would be something like this: muesli with milk and a yummy fruit scone for breakfast; a tasty pitta pocket with Greek salad and yoghurt for lunch. For dinner you’ll enjoy scrummy sweet and sour chicken with rice and crispy vegetables - delicious! You can even have snacks, such as a mousse, so you should never feel deprived of food or hungry!
Other benefits of this eDiet Healthy Easting Plan are that it helps reduce your risk of heart disease, stroke and diabetes. If you are using it as a weight loss plan, you can continue you with it as a lifelong eating plan to maintain your goal weight.
Another benefit is that because this diet is fairly flexible and based on your tastes and lifestyle, food no longer becomes an issue as it can do when you are trying to loose weight – those feelings of guilt and negative feelings associated with dieting cease to exist.
 

Atkins Diet
In the ‘80s we had the ‘F-plan’, in the Noughties, we’ve got the Atkins diet. Devotees to the Atkins plan claim to shed their unwanted pounds quickly and easily while still being able to tuck into ‘fry-ups’, while those whose tried it and fallen ‘off the wagon’ report feeding ill and hungry throughout it.
Love it or hate it, the Atkins diet has actually been around longer than you may think. Developed in the early ‘70s by the late Robert C. Atkins, M.D. (who was reportedly over weight when he died), his book - "Dr. Atkins' Diet Revolution" - introduced the Atkins Diet to the world.
Atkins’ theory is that the way your body processes the carbohydrates you eat -- not how much fat you eat -- that causes you to gain weight. By lowering your carbohydrate input, and eating high protein food, your body should enter a state of Ketosis. This is where your body burns fat as fuel.

The diet has four stages, the first 14 days of which are very strict indeed. You gradually re-introduce food but opting for a healthier option – ex. eating whole wheat bread instead of white.
The Atkins Diet may be suitable for you if you like to eat a lot of meat, as bacon and eggs form a big part of the ‘acceptable’ diet, while in the first few weeks, pasta, alcohol, certain vegetables and other carbohydrate-rich foods are banned.
There is a list of acceptable foods, which you are not allowed to stray from – not even one chip! - so if you find to hard to follow ‘rules’, you may find the Atkins diet heavy going.

 South Beach Diet
Developed by cardiologist Dr. Arthur Agatston, this diet first became popular in Miami. It was developed into book form, and is now a worldwide best seller.
The weight loss advice focuses on a healthy balance between good carbohydrates and fats. The idea is to decrease ‘bad’ carbs (eg baked goods and soft drinks) to help you metabolize what you eat better. The South Beach dietary program also claims to improve insulin resistance, leading to weight loss.
While there are three phases to the plan – the first of which is about banishing your carvings and, to some, can be daunting - this diet plan aims to change your dietary lifestyle. The last phase is meant to change the way you eat forever.
While for the first two weeks of the plan you are not allowed bread, rice potatoes etc, for most of the diet you'll eat normal-size helpings of meat, poultry and fish as well as vegetables, eggs, cheese, and nuts.
You’ll gradually re-introduce foods as the plan progresses, albeit in smaller portions. To maintain your healthy weight for the rest of your life, you’ll follow the South Beach ‘rules’. Not as scary as it sounds, healthy eating is something that we should all follow, lifelong.
Like the Atkins diet, if there are lots of foods you don’t enjoy or you cannot stick to a diet where food stuffs are restricted (even in the short term), this may not be the diet for you.
 

Detox Diet
Detoxing diets are not so much about weight loss, but about cleansing the body by removing poisons and toxins. This type of dietary program has gained popularity in the Western world as people become more aware about overloading their body with foods and drinks that are toxic.

Celebrities such as Carol Vorderman and Kim Wilde advocate a regular ‘detox’ to keep them healthy and trim.

A detox program can be beneficial to your overall health by also retraining your taste buds and appetite – but, as with all dietary programs, always consult your Doctor before embarking on one.

Most people who do go on a detox diet find that they do lose weight and maintain a healthier eating plan even after the detox has finished.

There are many different types of detoxing programs available which you can find out about online or in books and other resources.

There are liquid detox diets (normally found in chemists) but these should only be followed for the recommended time on the instructions as such simplified) diets may have dangerously low amount of calories and poor nutritional content. This is not a good practice to employ long term when dieting as not only will your health be damaged, but once you start eating ‘normally’ again, the weight will pile back on even faster.

Because detoxing can be a shock to the body, it is recommended by nutritionists that you start it the program at a time when you don’t have a lot of other things on – especially not anything strenuous or physical.

Many people report a variety of symptoms when they first start a detoxing dietary program, for example, lack of energy, an outbreak of spots, headaches etc. But this is just part of the body’s cleansing process and, so detox fans report, at the end of the dietary program, you should feel lighter, your skin should be clear and you’ll have renewed energy levels

Low Carb Diet
Low carbohydrate diets are said to be great for those who want to lose weight as well as those who are not overweight as a reduced carbohydrate lifestyle can maintain their health and vitality.
There are lots of different versions of the low-carb diet – The Atkins Diet being one. They all work on the same premise however - a very strict reduction in the consumption of carbohydrates.
A low-carb diet may be suitable for you if you like to ‘snack’ or ‘graze’ as you can eat until you're full, as long as you eat only allowed foods. The allowed foods include meat, fish, poultry, cheese and eggs, and a limited amount of green vegetables.
As with most diets, stray onto ‘Not allowed foods’ list (which include all foods with sugar in it eg soft drinks, pasta and rice) and your diet will fail.
While reducing your carbohydrate intake, you are encouraged to eat more fats – but good fats! These are fats such as olive oil, butter, lard, fish oil, tallow, palm kernel oil, peanut oil, and flaxseed oil.
There are tons of low-carbohydrate recipe books and even low carb recipes online, so finding interesting meals to eat shouldn’t be a problem! Or, why not sign up for our FREE Low Carb Recipe Booklet for some great meal ideas?

Dairy Free Diet
More and more people are realizing – or suspecting - that they are intolerant to dairy products. If you experience uncomfortable bloating and flatulence when you eat foods containing dairy products, then you may find that by switching to a dairy free plan will ease the symptoms.

Adverse reactions to foods are only estimated to affect 1-2% of the population, and young children are more likely to suffer from some form of reaction because their immune systems are not yet fully developed. Most do eventually grow out of these intolerances.

However, if you do not know whether you are lactose intolerant, by following this plan, you will be able to decide whether eradicating dairy foods from your diet has improved the bloating etc and your overall health.

Certainly, the Dairy-Free diet is very healthy – it can build strong bones and teeth while avoiding dairy products and includes those very necessary nutrients calcium, vitamin D as well as other essential nutrients normally supplied by dairy products.

If you lactose intolerant or you feel you may be and want to eliminate dairy products from your diet, this plan ensures that you won't go short on calcium or other nutrients found in dairy foods. The Dairy-Free plan includes protein-rich soy products to achieve a healthy and balanced diet.

A typical days’ menu would be delicious Wholegrain toast with olive spread and marmalade followed by fresh fruit cocktail. Lunch would be a yummy Chicken salad sandwich with and dinner would be tasty Beef enchiladas with salad. Snacks could include Hummus with crackers.

Your Dairy-Free Plan should include leafy green vegetables, beans, fortified breakfast cereals and juice as well as fish with soft bones to ensure that you get plenty of calcium

 

 Zone Diet
The Zone Diet is commonly thought of as a life-long hormonal control strategy and was developed by Dr. Barry Sears. The aim of the diet is to keep the hormone insulin in a tight zone: that is one that is not too high and not too low.
The Zone Diet principle is that food should consist of personally targeted portions. How this ‘personal’ target of portions is reached is by taking into account factors such as your level of activity, fat percentage, and gender. The diet says that 40% of the calories should come from carbohydrates, 30% from protein and 30% from fat.

Each food is given a ‘block’ value and you then work out your dietary program based on getting enough of blocks from protein, carbohydrates, and fat.

By maintaining this balance of insulin within the body, according to the principles of the Zone diet, it should reduce your hunger cravings.

There are plenty of resources to get you started on the Zone diet, whether you buy a book or look online. In fact, your next meal could be based on the Zone principles!

Cabbage Soup Diet
The Cabbage Soup Diet is a quick fix diet for those people who only have a few pounds to lose. Unlike most other dietary programs, it does not encourage a change in the way you eat, long term – it is more a way of shifting surplus pounds in the short term.

Many people go on the Cabbage Soup Diet in the week leading up to a big event where they want to that little bit ‘svelter’.
The diet program lasts for seven days (and must not be exceeded) and, for many people, a week on a strict diet is something achievable if they don’t have mammoth amounts of weight to lose.

A lot of the weight loss you see will be water, but many people find they do drop a dress size after having been on the seven day program.

Basically, you eat as much cabbage soup as you want for a week, plus a very limited amount of other foods. To stay on the program for longer than a week will be counter-productive and will affect your health and energy levels.

Low Salt Plan
The Low Salt Diet Plan is great for your health – it will lower your blood pressure and reduce fluid retention, meaning your heart will benefit. Another benefit is that by using the Low-salt Plan, you’ll introduce your taste buds to new food flavors. After a few weeks on the plan, you’ll become much more aware of excess salt in your diet and will probably find it quite revolting!

While cutting your salt intake can be easier said than done as so any foods contain 'hidden' salt, by using this plan, you can make healthier, lower sodium choices. You can enjoy satisfying, tasty meals on a low sodium diet as it uses fresh herbs, spices and other healthy, tasty foods for satisfying meals. You can further reduce salt intake by selecting a recipe-based plan to avoid those high in salt processed convenience.
A day’s menu could be something like this: A tasty Whole meal fruit scone with jam and fruit for breakfast. For lunch a yummy Moroccan cous cous salad. Dinner could be Chicken pasta with cheese and spinach sauce, salad, followed by a fruit mousse for dessert. A snack could be refreshing frozen yoghurt with fruit

To get the most out of the plan, do read nutrition labels on packaging when in the shops and compare products to find lower salt versions of foods like bread and breakfast cereal. Always pick ‘no added salt’ foods whenever possible. And limit how often you eat high sodium foods like ham, cheese and bread.

Top Diets Vegetarian Plan
Whether you currently are a vegetarian, or you want to be a vegetarian, this diet will ensure you’ll enjoy a diet rich in nutrients as well as have lots of tasty, satisfying and healthy meals. You’ll lose weight too, if you need to!
While there are now lots of vegetarian foods available in the stores compared now to 20 years’ ago, it can be still difficult finding foods that are meat free as well as healthy. And if you want to follow a vegetarian eating plan but are concerned that you won’t get essential nutrients, then this is the plan for you!
By following this Vegetarian Diet Plan, you can avoid animal products, based on your own requirements. Vegetarian diets are lower in saturated fats and this plan will help you reach the full benefits of vegetarian eating. You’ll consume more fruit, vegetables and vitamin-rich foods as well as boost your fiber intake. Your diet will include protein from plant-based foods and you’ll increase your consumption of soy, legumes and beans. All foods that are great for health and well-being!

The Vegetarian Diet Plan provides a delicious array of meat-free meals, and can be tailored to meet your own requirements - modify this diet to suit lacto-vegetarian, lacto-ovo vegetarian or vegan lifestyles.

A typical day’s eating plan would be – for breakfast Wholegrain cereal with toast and fruit . For lunch a mouth-watering Middle Eastern pasta salad. Dinner would be satisfying Tofu and bean enchiladas with fruit and salad and a snack could be Hummus on crackers with fruit juice .

To get the most from this diet, do include a variety of protein sources, such as legumes, tofu and nuts and use healthy cooking methods like grilling instead of frying.
 
Source: UK DIETS ONLINE