Free Healthy Living Diets

A healthy lifestyle includes a balanced diet and regular physical activity within your capabilities. It may seem complicated or expensive to get started, but there are several free and healthy diets available. For further assistance, a nutritionist can help you evaluate any diets that you are considering, or can work with you to develop your own individual meal plan to meet your needs.

USDA Food Guide

The USDA Food Guide is an eating pattern based on meeting your nutrient requirements and decreasing your risk for chronic diseases, such as heart disease and type 2 diabetes, according to the 2010 Dietary Guidelines from the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. This balanced diet recommends getting a variety of nutritious foods from different food groups while limiting your intake of added sugars and saturated fat, and emphasizing physical activity. The number of servings to eat from each food group depends on your calorie intake.

Mediterranean Diet

A Mediterranean diet refers to the general traditional pattern of eating in countries around the Mediterranean Sea, and this diet may reduce your risk for heart disease because it lowers levels of unhealthy LDL cholesterol in your blood, according to the Mayo Clinic. The diet emphasizes whole grains, fruits and vegetables, monounsaturated fats, such as from olives and canola oil, herbs and spices, a moderate amount of red wine and more fish and poultry than red meat. A visual guide, such as the Mediterranean Food Pyramid, can help you plan your meals.

DASH Diet

The Dietary Approaches to Stop Hypertension diet, or DASH diet, may lower your blood pressure within just a couple of weeks if you have high blood pressure, according to the Mayo Clinic. This diet emphasizes a high amount of fiber and potassium from whole grains, fruits, vegetables, low-fat dairy products and nuts and legumes. A standard DASH diet has a limit of 2,300 mg sodium per day, and you may want to follow a low-sodium DASH diet, with no more than 1,500 mg sodium, if you already have high blood pressure.

Healthy Healing Foods

The Healthy Healing Foods pyramid is free diet for a healthy lifestyle from the University of Michigan. The diet emphasizes foods that may reduce your risk for disease, or that provide high amounts of beneficial compounds. The diet is largely plant-based, both to promote your health and to be more environmentally friendly, compared to animal-based products. The base of the Healthy Healing Foods pyramid is water, to demonstrate the importance of this nutrient, and the tip of the pyramid is for Personal Space, which includes occasional treats in your diet and lifestyle.