Imagine this: You wake up one fine January morning, still giddy about the holidays. You hum to yourself as you do your usual routine. Coffee, pancakes, the morning paper, and all those pretty stuff. You take a shower, and just when you put on your office garb, it hits you: your clothes no longer fit.
Now before you cry out in frustration or despair, consider trying out these diets. They are easy to follow, and you know what they say; the easier to follow, the better chances of sticking to it. These stress-free diets were ranked by U.S. News experts based on a number of factors. Is the food tasty? Do they have strict guidelines to follow, like eating a specific number of times a day? Read on to find out more.
1. The MIND(Mediterranean-DASH Intervention for Neurodegenerative Delay)Diet
Looking for a no-stress diet plan? This one is for you. Though there aren't many MIND-specific recipe books, apps, or sites (for now), the diet is pretty simple to follow. The focus is on eating brain-healthy food; green leafy vegetables, berries, fish, poultry, olive oil, and wine, to name a few. You are also to avoid unhealthy food groups, including red meat, butter, cheese, sweets, and of course, fast food.
2. Jenny Craig
Wait, who's Jenny Craig? She and her husband founded a nutrition company that developed this diet. Mostly based on pre-packaged and home-delivered meals, this diet makes it easy for individuals who need proper portioning and discipline. Meals include cookies, lasagna, fish and chips, and more. You also get the services of a counselor to help you out.
3. Mediterranean Diet
With much emphasis on consuming food products found around the countries in the Mediterranean Sea, what you get is a combination of delicious yet healthy dishes. Examples include Greek Salad, Creamy Hummus with Warm Pita, and Whole Grain Pasta with Vegetables. Aside from weight loss, this diet also promotes brain and heart health, as well as cancer and diabetes prevention.
4. Volumetrics
What makes this diet fairly stress-free is that there are no banned food groups. Described by U.S. News as "getting more mileage out of what you eat", this diet doesn't require extreme changes. Instead, its focus is on making smart and attainable tweaks like having more of a certain food group that's high in starch and having less of one that's low in it. Will you lose weight? Most likely.
5. Nutrisystem
Another popular diet with emphasis on home-delivered meals, this diet promotes weight loss in an interesting way. No food is out-of-bounds, not even carbs. As an alternative, Nutrisystem focuses on stringent meal portioning. However, you would need to cut back on dining out. This will also be a good time to test your self-control when the rest of your family eats differently than you do.
No matter the kind of diet, bottom point is still the same: consuming what's good for you at proper portions. Eat right, and you will, most definitely, shed those holiday pound. Of course, there's also the talk of exercise. But that's another topic altogether.
