You may be familiar with U.S. News & World Report’s annual diet review and ranking. To be rated at the top, a diet has to "be safe, relatively easy to follow, nutritious and effective for weight loss." It also has to be proven to help prevent heart disease and diabetes.

The diets are ranked by an expert panel of nationally recognized professionals in diet, nutrition, obesity, food psychology, diabetes and heart disease. They rate each diet in the following categories: how easy it is to follow, its ability to produce short-term and long-term weight loss, its nutritional completeness, its safety and its potential for preventing and managing diabetes and heart disease.

For many consecutive years, the DASH diet (Dietary Approaches to Stop Hypertension) and the Mediterranean diet have taken the top #1 and #2 rankings on U.S. News’ list. In 2021, the Mediterranean diet continues as the top ranked, with the DASH diet and the Flexitarian diet tied for #2.

What you may not be familiar with, is that Healthy For Life Meals combines the best of the best, very closely following the guidelines of all 3 of these top rated diets: the Mediterranean diet, the DASH diet, and the Flexitarian diet!

The Mayo Clinic breaks down the details of each of these highly effective diets:

Mediterranean diet

“The Mediterranean diet is high in vegetables, fruits, whole grains, beans, nut and seeds, and healthy fats. It is primarily plant based, not meat based. Protein sources include fish, poultry, beans and eggs, moderate portions of dairy products, and limited red meat.”

Read the complete Mayo Clinic overview here

DASH diet

“The DASH diet encourages you to reduce the sodium in your diet and eat a variety of foods rich in nutrients that help lower blood pressure, such as potassium, calcium and magnesium. It includes lots of whole grains, fruits, vegetables and low-fat dairy products. The DASH diet also includes some fish, poultry and legumes, and encourages a small amount of nuts and seeds a few times a week. You can eat red meat, sweets and fats in small amounts. The DASH diet is low in saturated fat, trans fat and total fat.”

Read the complete Mayo Clinic overview here

Flexitarian diet

“The term "flexitarian" has been coined to describe someone who eats mostly plant-based foods, but occasionally eats meat, poultry and fish. That kind of healthy eating is central to the Mediterranean diet — which limits red meat and emphasizes fruits, vegetables, legumes, whole grains and healthy fats — and has been shown to reduce your risk of heart disease and other chronic conditions.”

Read the Mayo Clinic overview here

Healthy For Life Meals

Since 2001, Healthy For Life Meals has made it our mission to use the nutrition guidelines of these top ranking diets to create healthy, fresh meal plans that truly provide our clients results in weight loss/weight maintenance, lowering blood pressure, lowering cholesterol, protecting against or controlling type 2 diabetes, preventing heart disease, and more.

There’s no question that following these dietary guidelines consistently can have a huge impact on health. There’s also no question that it takes a lot of time, research, planning, prepping and discipline to be consistent in preparing meals that follow these requirements. That’s where Healthy For Life Meals comes in.

Choose our 1200, 1500 (vegetarian), or 2000 calories-per-day complete meal service for pickup or delivery. Our team of culinary and nutrition professionals will do the work to ensure you’re getting the benefits of these top-ranked diet plans.

Creating complete, chef-prepared meal plans that closely follow the principles of each of the DASH, Mediterranean, and Flexitarian diets is our forte’, and we’re proud that Healthy For Life Meals checks the boxes that define the Best Diets for 2021.