While some diets can be complicated -- requiring math skills to compute such things as portions, calories, carbohydrates and fats -- many online diet offerings are simple to follow and can be healthy and effective when followed properly. The easiest diets offer a wide variety of choices within food groupings, and the best diets offer online support in the form of message boards and educational articles to help you succeed.
Types
Online diets may be free or fee-based. Most online diet sites have interactive tools such as searchable databases of food calorie counts and fat or carbohydrate content.
Weight Watchers, TOPS and eDiets.com offer tools, trackers, fitness suggestions, customized diet plans and access to community support. Nutrisystem, Jennie Craig, eDiets and others also offer home delivery of pre-portioned meals, eliminating the need to count calories or plan menus. Some sites offer specialized diet plans like the Mediterranean Diet, cholesterol-lowering plans and vegetarian options.
The U.S. Department of Agriculture and U.S. Department of Health and Human Services offer free, easy-to-follow diet plans as well. The DASH plan, from HHS, has varied daily calorie levels and is designed to help lower blood pressure. MyPyramid.gov is the USDA's online healthy eating and diet plan site.
Features
At AskTheDietitian.com, the Healthy Eating for Life Plan is free and offers a simple interactive assessment to produce an easy diet plan tailored to your gender, age, height, weight, activity level, eating habits and goals. MyPyramid.gov has several tools available, including a link for checking the nutritional value of different foods and beverages.
Harvard University School of Public Health offers its own version of the food pyramid with food groups explained in depth and guidelines for choices from each group. While not a diet plan per se, Harvard's Healthy Eating Pyramid is a good place to start learning more about which foods you should eat and how much.
MyPyramid emphasizes vegetables and fruits in its diet plan, as do many of the commercial diet planners such as Weight Watchers and TOPS.
Specialized Diets
Besides the DASH diet for those with high blood pressure who want to lose weight, the American Heart Association offers a 12-week makeover for women in its "Go Red for Women" website. The program offers customizable goals, fitness and eating plans for losing weight and improving heart health.
The USDA's Online Health Information website lists options and advice for vegetarians wishing to follow the MyPyramid eating plan.
Low-carbohydrate diets and the Mediterranean Diet for heart health are both available online. Many of these specialized diets can be found at the Mayo Clinic's website.
Considerations
Choose an online diet from a reliable source such as a medical school, clinic or well-known and reputable commercial organization. An online diet may provide all the tools, information and eating plans you could wish for, but you must provide the willpower. Be prepared to dedicate at least an hour or two per week to input information and recalculate dietary needs online.
Pick a diet that includes foods you like that are easy to find at the grocery store and which allows plenty of food choices and substitutions.
Warnings
Since an online diet does not provide one-on-one supervision by a physician, in most cases, you should consult with your own doctor or nutritionist before beginning any diet plan. Avoid crash diets, which usually fail to provide proper nutrition or sufficient calories.
References
- USDA: MyPyramid
- U.S. Department of Health and Human Services: DASH Eating Plan
- AskTheDietitian.com: HELP: Healthy Eating for Life Plan
- Harvard University School of Public Health: The Healthy Eating Pyramid
- American Heart Association: Go Red for Women: Better U Makeover
- USDA: MyPyramid: Vegetarian Diets
Member Comments