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The Safest Diets

With a universe of diet plans to choose from, no wonder it's so hard to pick one that is safe and works for you. The simple truth is that when it comes to dieting, one size does not fit all. Different personalities might require different types of diets to find success. MayoClinic.com suggests one way to make sure the diet you choose is safe is to evaluate whether it promises huge amounts of weight loss in a short amount of time, or relies upon a gimmick, such as excluding entire food groups.

  1. Balanced Nutrition

    • It is important to eat a balanced diet, which means including servings from all the food groups on the U.S. Department of Agriculture's food pyramid: fruits, vegetables, carbohydrates, protein, dairy and even sweets in minimal amounts. The human body was built to run on a combination of all these types of nutritional fuel. Any diet that suggests you completely remove any of these from your eating plan is not likely to give you long-term success and could cause a nutritional deficit.

    Physical Activity

    • Sometimes overlooked by diets that focus solely on a gimmick or fad, physical activity is an essential factor in any weight-loss plan. Once again, humans are designed to move. Activity is what causes the body's engine to run and, in return, burn up the food fuel you put into it. A sedentary lifestyle is not conducive to good health, and any diet that eschews the necessity of at least some amount of physical activity misses the goal of a balanced approach.

    Restricted Calories

    • In addition to posing health issues, long-term, low-calorie diets should only be undertaken under a physician's supervision. Any person with an obvious or yet undiscovered underlying issue could find his health compromised by cutting calories too much. Provided you eat a balanced diet and get an appropriate amount of vitamins and minerals, a daily caloric intake of 800 to 1,500 calories should be safe and cause weight loss. Diets that put you on 800 or fewer daily calories should be viewed with some suspicion unless they include medical oversight.

    Modest Promises

    • Bold promises are unfortunately a frequent part of the marketing plan for many diets. The Mayo Clinic diet uses a phased approach that generates a six- to 10-pound weight loss in the first two weeks, then settles into a two-pound weekly loss goal, a rate that seems to be generally agreed by the medical community as safe. A diet that blasts out of the gate promising you will lose an amount greatly over these numbers should be viewed with some skepticism and, at the very least, thoroughly researched before attempting it. You should always check with your doctor before starting any weight loss program.

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