U.S. News, panel of experts identifies America's 'best diets'

SALT LAKE CITY — U.S. News & World Report has taken the yo-yo out of dieting, vetting popular diets from Atkins to the Zone diet and naming the best.

Depending on the motive — overall health, weight loss, heart health, diabetes prevention and ease of following — each of the 20 diets analyzed by a panel of 22 nationally recognized health experts has its own benefits and limitations, and each are listed in Wednesday's report.

Local registered dietician Dr. Katherine Beals said any healthy eating plan will work, participants just have to manifest a long-term commitment.

"Anybody looking to lose weight knows what they should be doing," she said. "They know they should eat more fruits and vegetables, more whole grains, low-fat dairy and limit high-calorie, high-energy foods. They know this."

Beals, a professor of nutrition at the University of Utah and participating expert in the U.S. News' six-month study, said being successful at dieting is more about finding motivation and overcoming obstacles than anything else.

"With any diet out there, the underlying basis is that you limit the calories you consume," she said, adding that the basics of healthy eating "are not exciting, not sexy, not complicated and don't require fancy technology to make it happen."

According to the magazine, the diets were ranked based on how easy they were to follow, the nutrition they provide and their effectiveness for weight loss and against diabetes and heart disease. Some are fad diets, others more tried and true, but overall, the diets that came out on top exhibited basic healthy eating habits, Beals said.

The top overall diet, according to U.S. News, is one developed by researchers at the government's National Institutes of Health and is geared primarily to battle high blood pressure. The Dietary Approaches to Stop Hypertension diet, or DASH, as it is called, is not too well-known but is as wholesome as they come, according to the panel of experts.

The fresh food-laden Mediterranean diet was ranked No. 2 overall, followed by another government design, Therapeutic Lifestyle Changes (TLC), and the "smart" Weight Watchers diet plan, according to U.S. News. The Mayo Clinic's take on health, which incorporates good habits, came in at No. 5. The magazine ruled the all-natural Raw Food, low-carb Atkins and caveman-inspired Paleo diets as the worst available eating plans — providing quick results, but are either difficult to maintain or proven to be unhealthy in the long run.