List of diets

This is a dynamic list and may never be able to satisfy particular standards for completeness. You can help by adding missing items with reliable sources.

An individual's diet is the sum of food and drink that he or she habitually consumes. Dieting is the practise of controlling one's diet.

Only diets covered on Wikipedia are listed.

A

• Alkaline diet: The avoidance of relatively acidic foods – foods with low pH levels – such as grains, dairy, meat, sugar, alcohol, caffeine and fungi. Proponents believe such a diet may have health benefits; critics consider the arguments to have no scientific basis.
• Atkins diet: A low-carbohydrate, high-protein diet, populised by nutritionist Robert Atkins in the late-20th and early-21st centuries. Proponents argue that this approach is a more successful way of losing weight than low-calorie diets; critics argue that a low-carb approach poses increased health risks.

B

• Best Bet Diet: A diet designed to help prevent or mitigate multiple sclerosis, by avoiding foods with certain types of protein.
• Blood Type Diet: A diet suggesting that people's diets should reflect their blood types.
• Body for Life: A calorie-control diet, promoted as part of the 12-week Body for Life program.
• Breatharian diet: A diet in which no food is consumed, based on the belief that food is not necessary for human subsistence.
• Buddhist diet: While Buddhism does not have specific dietary rules, some buddhists practise vegetarianism based on a strict interpretation of the first of the Five Precepts.

C

• Cabbage Soup Diet: A low-calorie diet based on heavy consumption of cabbage soup. Considered a fad diet.
• Cookie diet: A calorie control diet in which low-fat cookies are eaten to quell hunger, often in place of a meal.
• Crash diet: a general term to describe diet plans which involve making extreme, rapid changes to food consumption. Such diets are often considered to pose health risks.

D

• Detox diet: An umbrella term to describe diets based on not consuming or getting rid of harmful substances. Examples include restricting food consumption to foods without colourings or preservatives, taking suppliments, or drinking large amounts of water. The latter practise in particular has drawn criticism, as drinking significantly more water than recommended levels can cause hyponatremia.
• Diabetic diet: An umbrella term for diets recommended to people with diabetes. There is considerable disagreement in the scientific community as to what sort of diet is best for sufferers.
• DASH Diet (Dietary Approaches to Stop Hypertension): A recommendation that those with high blood pressure consume large quantities of fruits, vegetables, whole-grains and low fat dairy foods as part of their diet, and avoid sugar sweetened foods, red meat and fats. Promoted by the US Department of Health and Human Services, a United States government organisation.
• Dr. Hay diet: Developed by William Howard Hay in the 1920s. Divides foods into separate groups, and suggests that proteins and carbohydrates should not be consumed in the same meal.
• Dukan Diet: A multi-step diet based on high protein and limited carbohydrate consumption. It starts with two steps intended to facilitate short term weight loss, followed by two steps intended to consolidate these losses and return to a more balanced long-term diet.>

E

• Eat-clean diet: Focusses on eating foods without preservatives, and on mixing lean proteins with complex carbohydrates.
• Earth Diet: An example of raw foodism; encourages exclusively eating foods in their natural state.
• Edenic diet: A diet based on what Adam and Eve are believed to have consumed in Garden of Eden. Usually either vegetarian or vegan, and based predominantly on fruit.
• Elemental diet: A medical, liquid-only diet, in which liquid nutrients are consumed for ease of ingestion.
• Elimination diet: A method of identifying foods which cause a person adverse effects, by process of elimination.

F

• Feingold diet: A diet which attempts to combat hyperactivity by avoiding foods with certain synthetic additives and sweeteners.
• Fit for Life diet: The dietary aspect to Fit for Life, a book by Harvey and Marilyn Diamond. Its recommendations include not combining protein and carbohydrates, not drinking water at meal time, and avoiding dairy foods.
• Flexitarian diet: A predominantly vegetarian diet, in which meat is occasionally consumed.
• Food combining diet: A nutritional approach where certain food types are deliberately consumed together or separately. For instance, some weight control diets suggest that proteins and carbohydrates should not be consumed in the same meal.
• F-plan diet: A high-fibre diet, intended to facilitate weight loss.
• Fruitarian diet: A diet which predominantly consists of raw fruit.
• Fad diet: A generic term to describe diets which may (or may not) be effective in the short term, but are not considered beneficial in the longer term. Some diets described as "fad diets" may pose longer term health risks.

G

• Gerson therapy: A form of alternative medicine, the diet is low salt, low fat and vegetarian, and also involves taking specific suppliments. It was developed by Max Gerson, who claimed the therapy could cure cancer and chronic, degenerative diseases. These claims have not been scientifically proven, and the American Cancer Society claims that elements of the therapy have caused serious illness and death.
• Gluten-free diet: A diet which avoids the protein gluten, which is found in barley, rye and wheat. It is a medical treatment for coeliac disease.
  • Gluten-free, casein-free diet: A gluten-free diet which also avoids casein, a protein commonly found in milk and cheese.
• The Graham Diet: A vegetarian diet which promotes whole-wheat flour and discourages the consumption of stimulants such as alcohol and caffeine. Developed by Sylvester Graham in the 19th century.
• Grapefruit diet: A fad diet, intended to facilitate weight loss, in which grapefruit is consumed in large quantities at meal times.

H

• Hacker's diet
• Hay diet
• Herbalife
• Halal diet
• Hallelujah diet
• High-protein diet
• High residue diet
• Health Management Resources

I

• Inuit diet: Inuit people traditionally consume food that is fished, hunted or gathered locally; predominantly meat and fish.
• Israeli Army diet: An eight-day diet. Only apples are consumed in the first two days, cheese in the following two days, chicken on days five and six, and salad for the final two days. Despite what the name suggests, the diet is not followed by Israel Defense Forces. Considered a fad diet.
• I-tal: A set of principles which influences the diet of many members of the Rastafari movement. One principle is that natural foods should be consumed. Some Rastafarians interpret I-tal to advocate vegetarianism or veganism.

J

• Jenny Craig
• Joel Fuhrman diet
• Junk food diet
• Juice diet

K

• Kangatarian: A diet originating from Australia. In addition to foods permissible in a vegetarian diet, kangaroo meat is also consumed.
• Kosher diet: Food permissable under Kashrut, the set of Jewish dietary laws, is said to be Kosher. Some foods and food combinations are non-Kosher, and failure to prepare food in accordance with Kashrut can make otherwise permissable foods non-Kosher.
• Ketogenic diet: A high-fat, low-carb diet, in which dietary and body fat is converted into energy. Used as a medical treatment for refractory epilepsy.

L

• Lacto vegetarianism
• Liquid diet
• Low-carbohydrate diet
• Low carbon diet: Consuming food which has been produced, prepared and transported with a minimum of associated greenhouse gas emissions. An example of this was explored in the book 100-Mile Diet, in which the authors only consumed food grown within 100 miles of their residence for a year. People who follow this type of diet are sometimes known as locavores.
• Low-fat diet
• Low glycemic index diet
• Low-protein diet
• Low sodium diet
• Lemonade diet

M

• Macrobiotic diet
• Master Cleanse
• McDougall diet
• Medifast Diet
• Mediterranean diet
• Montignac diet

N

• Natural Foods Diet
• Negative calorie diet
• Nutrisystems Diet

O

• Okinawa diet
• Omnivore
• Organic food diet
• Ornish Diet
• Ovo-lacto vegetarian diet

P

• Paleolithic diet
• Perricone diet
• Pescetarian diet
• Plant-based diet
• Prison loaf
• Pritikin Program for Diet and Exercise

R

• Raw foodism: A diet which centres on the consumption of uncooked and unprocessed food. Often associated with a vegetarian diet, although some raw food dieters do consume raw meat.

S

• Scarsdale Medical Diet
• Shangri-La Diet
• Slimming World diet
• Smart For Life
• Sonoma diet
• South Beach diet
• SparkPeople diet
• Stillman diet
• Subway diet
• Sugar Busters!
• Swank diet

V

• Vegetarian diet: A diet which excludes food containing meat. Vegetarians also avoid food containing by-products of animal slaughter, such as animal-derived rennet and gelatin.
  • Vegan diet: In addition to the requirements of a vegetarian diet, vegans do not eat food produced by animals, such as eggs and dairy products.
• Very low calorie diet: Consuming fewer than 800 calories per day. Such diets are normally followed under the supervision of a doctor.

W

• Weight Watchers diet: Foods are assigned points values; dieters can eat any food with a points value provided they stay within their daily points limit.
• Western dietary pattern: A diet consisting of food which is most commonly consumed in developed countries. Examples include meat, white bread, milk and puddings. The name is a reference to the Western world.
• Word of Wisdom: The name of a section of the Doctrine and Covenants, followed by members of the Latter Day Saint movement. Dietary advice includes only eating meat "in times of winter, or of cold, or famine".

Z

• Zone diet: A diet in which a person attempts to split calorie intake from carbohydrates, proteins and fats in a 40:30:30 ratio.

See also

• Glycemic index
• Nutritional rating systems
• Online weight loss plans