The Pros and Cons of Modern Diets: Part 2

January 15, 2024

There are definitely enough diets out there to make your head spin. But once you start putting in the research, there are commonalities to almost every diet, including the lifestyle recommendation to exercise more and stress less. When it comes to food, if there is any one thing everyone can agree on avoiding, it is processed foods. A few days ago we explored ten modern diet trends. Today we will cover facts around ten additional diets:

11. The Flexitarian Diet

The Flexitarian Diet is a flexible vegetarian diet. While you’re focused on plant-based foods, you may still occasionally eat meat. In this way, it is quite similar to a Mediterranean diet and is ranked just behind it as the #2 Best Diet Overall according to the U.S. News Best Diet Rankings. While the diet is flexible, there are guidelines. On a flexitarian diet, you should choose high-quality animal products, such as organic, free-range, and grass-fed choices. Lean meats are best, and any meat that you eat should be limited to just a few times a week. The benefits of the diet include weight loss, a decreased risk of both heart disease and type 2 diabetes, and cancer prevention. The risk of eating less meat is that you suffer from nutrient deficiencies, such as not getting adequate amounts of B12 in your diet.

12. A Volumetrics Diet

With a volumetrics diet, the promise is that you may still eat a large amount of food and still lose weight. The concept was created by PhD Barbara Rolls so that people could find healthy foods they enjoy without depriving themselves. With volumetrics, the focus is on feeling full. Food is separated into high energy density and low energy density categories. People should eat mainly low energy density foods, which have fewer calories and more volume. The diet relies heavily on water-based foods, or fruits and vegetables. In short, the diet is effective in helping people lose weight and doesn’t come with any risks. People are simply learning how to make smarter food choices, focusing on eating nutrient-dense foods that won’t add unhealthy calories to their diets.

13. Intermittent Fasting

While most diets focus on what to eat, intermittent fasting is based on when to eat. When intermittent fasting, you only eat during a specific window of time. “Our bodies have evolved to be able to go without food for many hours, or even several days or longer,” says neuroscientist Mark Mattson. “In prehistoric times, before humans learned to farm, they were hunters and gatherers who evolved to survive — and thrive — for long periods without eating.” In the age of screen time, people stay up later, eat more, and exercise less. Adopting a lifestyle of intermittent fasting may help curtail the negative side effects of our modern world. “Many things happen during intermittent fasting that can protect organs against chronic diseases like type 2 diabetes, heart disease, age-related neurodegenerative disorders,” Mattson says. “Even inflammatory bowel disease and many cancers.” One study showed, however, that intermittent fasting was not proven to be an effective solution in both short term weight loss and long term weight management. Going too long without eating can actually cause the body to start storing fat in response to being starved. Fasting also isn’t safe for everyone; children, pregnant women, people with type 1 diabetes, and anyone with an eating disorder are strongly advised against intermittent fasting.

14. A Pescatarian Diet

With a pescatarian diet, people focus on eating a vegetarian diet while allowing fish and seafood as additional sources of protein. The omega-3 fatty acids found in fish are believed to reduce the risk of heart attacks, high blood pressure, and strokes, as well as regulate inflammation in the body. In addition to the fat found in fish, a diet high in vegetables is also associated with a reduced risk of heart disease. One study even showed that a pescatarian diet protected against colorectal cancer, which is the second leading cause of U.S. cancer deaths. The biggest disadvantage to eating a lot of seafood is the consumption of mercury because of polluted waters. The risk can be minimized by avoiding fish known to be high in mercury and focusing on fish low in mercury, including canned light tuna, salmon, pollock, shrimp, and catfish.

15. An Ornish Diet 

The Ornish diet was created by Dr. Dean Ornish to help people reverse heart disease, high blood pressure, and type 2 diabetes. In addition to dietary changes, the Ornish diet is a lifestyle that incorporates moderate exercise, stress reduction techniques, and social support. It is a vegetarian diet that limits fat to ten percent of one’s daily calorie intake, as well as allowing only ten milligrams of cholesterol a day. On an Ornish diet, people may eat any fruit and vegetable, whole grains, legumes, soy products, and herbs and spices. Small amounts of egg whites, nuts and seeds may be eaten, but meat, fish, and egg yolks are eliminated. The plan also recommends taking a multivitamin and B12 and fish oil supplements. While vegetarian diets can lower the risks of heart disease, diabetes, and cancer, the Ornish diet is shown to reduce coronary artery disease after just one year. Because of how many foods are eliminated, nutrient deficiencies are a risk and people with a history of eating disorders are advised against the diet.

16. The TLC Diet

The TLC diet is an acronym for Therapeutic Lifestyle Changes and was created by the National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute with an aim to improve cholesterol levels. The program combines diet and physical activity to lower high cholesterol and improve heart health. The diet limits saturated fats and cholesterol from foods, and increases plant stanols and sterols that can be found in whole grains, nuts, legumes, olive oil, and avocado oil. It also urges increases in soluble fiber from fruit, beans, and oats. Both soluble fiber and plant stanols and sterols block the body’s absorption of cholesterol and fats. Similar to the DASH diet, the TLC diet also limits salt to 2,300 milligrams a day. Increasing physical activity is a key part of the diet, as a lack of physical activity is a major risk factor for heart disease.

17. An Anti-Inflammatory Diet

An anti-inflammatory diet focuses on what you should eat and what you shouldn’t eat in order to reduce inflammation in the body. In this way, it is a simple plan for people to follow. On an anti-inflammatory diet, people stay away from ultra-processed foods, which have little to no nutritional value and are often high in fat, sugar, and salt. Research shows that sugars, grains, and salt from these highly processed foods can alter the bacteria in the gut, damage intestinal lining, and switch on inflammatory genes in cells. These processed foods are also linked to shorter life spans, cancer, heart disease, and diabetes. To combat inflammation, aim for whole foods, like fruits, vegetables, whole grains, legumes, fish, poultry, nuts, seeds, olive oil, and small amounts of low-fat dairy. You may add spices to these foods to increase both flavor and the health benefits. The evidence in minimizing inflammation in the body is strongest against arthritis, gastrointestinal and heart health, and autoimmune diseases.

18. The Noom Diet

The Noom Diet is an anti-inflammatory diet that comes with a costly app, $50 a month to be exact. While it encourages more of certain foods, it doesn’t ban anything. Noom uses colors to label food, so green labeled foods like produce are encouraged and orange labeled foods like pizza should be minimized. Noom labels do contradict U.S. Dietary Guidelines which support healthy fats like olive oil; on a Noom diet, olive oil is an orange-labeled food. The main benefit of the app is guided support for people who struggle to make big lifestyle changes on their own. Otherwise, simply following an anti-inflammatory diet as described above will be far easier to navigate and afford.

19. The Pritikin Diet

The Pritikin Program for Diet and Exercise written by engineer Nathan Pritikin in 1979 recommended a low-fat, high-fiber diet paired with regular exercise to avoid heart disease and maintain a healthy weight, protocols that have become standard today. He suggested starting meals with a soup or salad, limiting high-calorie drinks and foods, avoiding snacking, eating whole foods, limiting salt and red meat, exercising, and controlling stress. The Pritikin diet is proven to help people lose weight and is approved as being heart-healthy.

20. The Zone Diet 

Similar to the Noom diet, Dr. Barry Sears developed the Zone diet to reduce inflammation. It involves rules, which include eating within one hour of waking, starting each meal with protein followed by healthy carbs and fats, eating every 4-6 hours, eating lots of omega-3 fats and polyphenols, and drinking at least 64 ounces of water a day. Before every meal, a person should assess their hunger level, and if they are not hungry, then they are in the zone, hence the diet’s name. The Zone diet aims to control hormone levels through diet in order to reduce inflammation. Because of this, the diet is popular with people who have diabetes. There is no evidence, however, that supports Sears’ claims that the diet reduces inflammation. Experts recommend simply staying away from processed foods if inflammation is a concern.

Insureyouknow.org

While there is a plethora of diets out there to try, there are factors that nearly every diet has in common, such as a focus on whole foods, especially fruits and vegetables. Insureyouknow.org can help you keep track of your lifestyle changes, including physical activity monitoring, meal plans, diet changes, and medical records. While you put in the hard work to find which methods will help you most, Insureyouknow.org will take one chore off your plate by keeping all of your information in one organized place.

Spring Has Sprung! And Summer’s Not Far Behind!

May 14, 2021

Are you ready to spend time outside this spring and summer? Research documented in the article “Access to Nature Has Always Been Important; With COVID-19, It Is Essential” shows that outdoor activity year-round is important to overall health and wellness. In additional recent studies, exposure to nature or urban green space has been associated with lower levels of stress, reduced symptoms of depression and anxiety, and improved cognition in children with attention deficits and individuals with depression. One of the earliest studies to draw a conclusive link between time spent in nature and well-being was published in 1991. It found a 40-minute walk in nature, compared with walking in an urban space or reading a magazine, led to significant improvements in mood, reduced anger and aggression, and better recovery from mental fatigue. Being exposed to a natural environment is especially important now, after more than a year of enduring a global pandemic, restrictions are being lifted for people who have been fully vaccinated.

Safe Outdoor Activities

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) provides guidelines for choosing safer outdoor activities and offers the following tips before you venture outside when you make a break from being confined indoors during the pandemic.

• If you are fully vaccinated, you can start doing many things that you had stopped doing because of the pandemic.
• Fully vaccinated people can resume activities without wearing a mask or physically distancing, except where required by federal, state, local, tribal, or territorial laws, rules, and regulations, including local business and workplace guidance.
• These recommendations can help you make decisions about daily activities after you are fully vaccinated. They are not intended for healthcare settings.
• If you haven’t been vaccinated yet, find a vaccine.

If you are fully vaccinated, you can participate in the following safe outdoor activities that can improve your mental as well as your physical health.

• Walking, running, wheelchair rolling, biking, and skating
• Gardening
• Fishing and hunting
• Golfing
• Rock climbing
• Birding
• Playing tennis
• Kayaking, swimming, canoeing, diving, boating, and sailing

Safety Tips for Exercising Outdoors

The National Institute on Aging’s “Safety Tips for Exercising Outdoors for Older Adults” include the following advice that can be helpful to exercisers of all ages:

• Drink plenty of liquids when exercising outside.
• Stay alert by not talking on the phone as you walk and keeping the volume low on your headphones so you can still hear bike bells and warnings from other bicyclists, walkers and runners coming up behind you.
• Choose routes that are well-used, well-lit, and safe with other people present. Choose routes with places to sit in case you want to stop and rest.
• Be seen to be safe. Wear light or brightly colored clothing during the day. Wear reflective material on your clothing and carry a flashlight at night. Put lights on the front and back of your bike.
• Wear sturdy, appropriate shoes for your activity that give you proper footing.
• Always walk facing oncoming traffic.
• Walk on a sidewalk or a path whenever possible. Watch out for uneven sidewalks, which are tripping hazards.
• Look for a smooth, stable surface alongside the road.
• In warm weather, play it safe and prevent hyperthermia—a heat-related illness that includes heat stroke and heat exhaustion. Know the signs of heat-related illnesses and get medical help right away if you think someone has one.

The COVID-19 pandemic has highlighted the importance of green spaces and urban parks, especially during periods of lockdown. Even a short walk, an ocean view, or a picnic by a river can leave you feeling invigorated and restored.

InsureYouKnow.org

When you get outside and get going, be sure to carry proof of identification with emergency contact information, a list of your prescriptions, your cell phone, a small amount of cash, as well as your insurance credentials. You also can keep track of your insurance records, prescriptions, and emergency contact information at insureyouknow.org that will be helpful just in case you walk out the door without your printed IDs, you’ll be able to access information online in case of an emergency.