The Mayo Clinic Diet was developed by Mayo Clinic nutrition specialists in response to popular demand for a medically valid eating plan -- and a proliferation of counterfeit, fad or even dangerous diets trying to cash in on the Mayo Clinic's reputation. A few diets are like the real one, applying a habit-based approach. You reshape your lifestyle away from old, unhealthy habits that sabotage weight loss and adopt new, healthier habits.
2005 U.S. Guidelines
In 2005, Tommy G. Thompson, U.S. Secretary of Health and Human Services and Ann M. Veneman, Secretary of Agriculture, published dietary guidelines to guide U.S. citizens in eating plans. The diet they promote is like the Mayo Diet. In advising the overweight and under-exercised U.S. population, they write. "...many Americans must make significant changes in their eating habits and lifestyles." They also write, "The consumption of [healthy food] products is especially important for children and adolescents who are ... developing lifelong habits." The 2005 guidelines stress a balance of healthy foods based on the U.S. Department of Agriculture Food Pyramid. They also advise balancing calorie intake against calorie burning with exercise and limiting unhealthy fats and oversweetened beverages and confections. The 2005 guidelines and the Mayo diet both rely on the same medical science and common sense. Neither is strictly a weight-loss plan, but they achieve a normal weight by helping your body arrive at a biologically sound balance.
American Heart Association
The diet plan and philosophy of the American Heart Association is like the Mayo Diet. Nutritional researchers at the AHA note the importance of a habit-based approach to a diet, saying "small changes on a daily basis can bring big results. The desire and momentum to keep new habits in place for a lifetime come from you." The AHA diet recommendations do not specifically target weight loss but show how to eat nutritionally balanced meals and combine wise food choices with exercise that burns calories so you eventually arrive at a healthy weight. Avoid excess fats and carbohydrates not only to lose weight but to prevent heart problems.
Food Addicts Anonymous
Food Addicts Anonymous serves people with unhealthy eating habits that have caused or aggravated abnormal biochemistry and addiction to certain foods. When extreme habits become an addiction, FAA specialists say, dieters must abstain from the offending foods -- usually sugar, starch and wheat products. But the approach is similar to that of the Mayo Diet in that a healthy diet must be nutritionally balanced, use the USDA's Food Pyramid and provide proper amounts of sugars and starches, with wheat replaced by nutritionally equivalent grains. FAA's food abstinence is not absolute but a strict control on excess, which reflects the same principles promoted by the Mayo Diet.
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