Various Diet Plans

Late-night television commercials, the Internet, hometown libraries and bookstores are sources of information on diet plans, but not all diet plans are created equal. Before you purchase another diet book, follow a plan from the Internet or join a weight loss center, learn how the various diet plans fall in line with medical recommendations to make an informed, healthy choice.

Importance

Following a diet plan designed to help you lose weight in a healthy way can help you achieve a normal, healthy weight as identified by your doctor or nutritionist. Being overweight affects not only your appearance, but also often contributes to you developing heart disease, gallbladder deficiencies, type 2 diabetes, bone and joint pain and high blood pressure.

Fad Diets

Fad diets come and go, with a soup diet being popular one time and a citrus-only diet gaining popularity another. Avoid fad diets because they fail to give you the lifelong tools required to change your lifestyle. Additionally, fad diets can be detrimental to your health, as you can develop eating disorders, nutritional deficiencies from avoiding a balanced diet for long periods, and find yourself dieting, then regaining repeatedly.

High-Protein Diets

A high-protein diet can help you lose weight, but you might find it difficult to limit your carbohydrate consumption long term. High-protein diets focus not on calories or fat, but rather on eating 30 percent or more of your diet from protein sources such as meats, seafood, eggs and dairy. The diets limit foods such as breads, high-carbohydrate fruits and vegetables. The National Institutes of Health indicates that too much meat in your diet might raise your cholesterol, cause your kidneys to work harder and raise your risk of developing gout.

Low-Fat Diets

The Ornish diet, a low-fat diet for cardiac patients and those at high risk of developing heart disease, requires a commitment to consume only 10 percent of your calories from fat. Other low-fat diet options include diets that require you to limit your overall fat intake to fewer than 30 percent or require that you count fat grams throughout the day. Low-fat diets can help you lose weight, as fat has nine calories per gram as opposed to protein and carbohydrates, which contain four calories. If you follow a low-fat diet, include healthy fats in small portions to reap the heart-healthy benefits of monounsaturated and omega-3 fatty acids in foods such as olive oil and salmon.

Commercial Diets

Commercial diets such as those found in local strip malls, on the Internet or at your workplace vary in composition and focus. Some commercial plans do not offer prepackaged foods, while others require you to eat only food you purchase from their company, or to mix purchased foods with homemade food. Choose a commercial plan that teaches you to prepare your own food, learn to eat at restaurants and how to make permanent lifestyle changes.

USDA Diet Recommendations

The 2010 Dietary Guidelines from the U.S. Department of Agriculture outlines three eating plans that can help you lose weight if you restrict your caloric intake. The Dietary Approach to Stop Hypertension plan restricts your sodium consumption while focusing on eating whole, natural foods. The USDA dietary plan, found on the MyPyramid.gov website, dictates healthy eating based on the food pyramid, with each adult needing a variety of grains, dairy, meat, oil, fruits and vegetables. The guidelines also recommend a Mediterranean diet plan, which focuses on eating whole grains, fat-free or low-fat dairy, small amounts of meat and more seafood and using olive oil for cooking or dressing salads.