TOP5.BZ

 MEDITERRANEAN DIET

What could be better than a diet that makes you healthier and yet tastes so good? Enter the Mediterranean diet - which brings foods inspired from Greece, Italy, and Croatia, and which replaces high sugar, highly processed convenience foods of modern society with natural produce, bursting with flavour. Best of all, you can drink red wine, albeit in moderate amounts.

Focus: vegetables | fruits | whole grains | legumes | nuts | extra virgin olive oil

In moderation: dairy products | cheese | poultry | eggs | seafood | bread | red wine

Reduce: red meat | refined grains

Avoid: Saturated Fats | processed meats

You can find an example of a 7-day Mediterranean diet plan here.

DASH DIET

If you suffer from high blood pressure, you might want to consider the DASH (Dietary Approach to Stop Hypertension) diet.
The main principle is to reduce the high sodium, alcohol, caffeine, and processed sugars intake commonplace in today's typical diet and replace them with foods that help lower blood pressure.

Focus: vegetables | fruits | whole grains | legumes | low-fat dairy products

In moderation: cheese | poultry | eggs | seafood | nuts | low-fat dairy products | lean meat

Reduce: sodium | red  meat | total fat | sweets | coffee | alcohol | refined grains

Avoid: Saturated fat | cholesterol | processed meats | trans fats

A typical weekly DASH menu example can be found here.

 FLEXITARIAN DIET

You enjoy and appreciate the healthiness of being vegetarian but cannot forgo meat and dairy products entirely like a vegan. Why not try the Flexitarian Diet?
A flexitarian diet is a combination of a flexible and vegetarian diet. With this diet, you can still enjoy the benefits of a vegetarian-based diet whilst at the same time being able to indulge occasionally in meat and dairy products.  Furthermore, you can reduce the likelihood of heart conditions, diabetes and cancer. Another added bonus is a natural weight loss through healthy eating. 

Focus - plant-based proteins e.g. soya beans, lentils | fibre-rich plant foods

In reduced amounts -  animal products e.g. meat, fish, eggs and dairy products | sugar

Avoid - Saturated fat | cholesterol | processed meats | trans fats

Try this flexitarian diet one-week meal plan here

VOLUMETRIC DIET

We eat to satisfy or sate our hunger and feel satisfaction from a meal once we achieve that feeling of fullness. The Volumetric diet uses this concept of satiety by exchanging high-calorific/high-density foods with which low-calorific/low-density foods.

We can organise foods into four groups, based on their energy density level. The diet encourages the consumption of more low-density food group 1 to achieve fullness instead of high-density food groups 2 to 4, leading to a gradual reduction in calories consumed per week.

Group 1 - Non-starchy fruits and vegetables | Non-fat milk | soups and broths

Group 2 - Starchy fruits and vegetables | grains | unsweetened breakfast cereal | skinless chicken | lean red meat | legumes | fish

Group 3 - meat | cheese | pizza | french fries | bread | biscuits | ice cream | cake

Group 4 - Fortified drinks | milkshakes | fast foods| potato chips | soft drinks | chocolate and confectionery | cookies | butter | peanut butter | oil | meat with fat | fried foods

The diet allows for special allowances for small portions of healthy high-density foods such as olive oil, fatty fish like salmon, and nuts. They contain essential nutrients like fatty acids (e.g. omega-3) and fat-soluble vitamins (A, D, E and K) required by the body.

Click here for a one-day volumetric diet meal plan

MIND DIET

Here is a diet plan that emphasizes the brain's health. Everyone ages eventually and Alzheimer's disease and Dementia are the two greatest concerns as people age. The MIND diet seeks to reduce the risk of mental decline with ageing by taking elements from both DASH and Mediterranean diets that help the brain. 

Focus: Green leady vegetables | berries | nuts | olive oil | whole grains | fish | legumes e.g. lentils, beans etc. | lean poultry | eggs 

In moderate amounts: wine | coffee 

Avoid: animal and processed fats e.g. margarine | cheese | fried foods | pastries and high sugar foods | red meat | saturated fats | trans fats

Click here for a one-week sample meal plan for the MIND diet