Health

11 Fad Diets, Ranked From Best to Worst

These are the most popular diets people turn to when they want to lose weight, ranked

by Leah Prinzivalli | COMMENT

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Volumetrics Diet The Volumetrics Diet is a numbers game. With guidance from The Original Volumetrics Diet, a book by Penn State nutritional sciences professor Barbara Rolls, you'll learn to eat foods with fewer calories per gram aka "lower-density" foods. That means you'll eat fewer calories and still feel full. Volumetrics contains four food groups ranked by density in Categories 1 through 4. Category 1 contains the lowest-density foods, like non-starchy fruits and veggies and broth-based soup. The scale goes up to Category 4, which includes carb-heavy, fatty foods like crackers, oils, and cookies. You're encouraged to binge on the Category 1's, steer clear of the 4's, and focus mostly on the middle items like grains, fruits, and veggies. Foods high in water, like soup, fruits and veggies, and yogurt are encouraged, since water adds density without the expense of calories. You'll also lose weight: One study of 97 obese women on a low-energy-dense diet found they lost an average of 11 pounds over a year. In further good news, the fad diet has no restrictions and allows you to eat out as long as you stick to staple foods. Just make sure you like soup.

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