Best diet for weight loss
A whole food plant-based diet has been shown to be the best long-term diet for weight loss. Of all the weight loss studies, it showed to have the greatest weight loss ever recorded of studies that do not use calorie restriction and exercise.[1] Calorie restriction is never sustainable on a long-term basis, it’s against our evolutionary drive.
What about keto?
Ketogenic diets can cause rapid weight loss, but most of this weight in the initial weeks are due to loss of water weight rather than fat[2]! Fat loss actually slows down on keto AND you lose muscle[3]! Studies of the effects of low-carb diets show increased all-cause mortality[4] [5] – meaning a shorter life span, and worsening of coronary artery disease which increases the risk of stroke and heart attack. It is also very hard for people to stick to long term[6] because it can make people feel nauseous and sick, and we do not get the serotonin boost that we get from carbs. Keto also has high rates of regaining the weight that was lost or more, 1-2 years later. The plant-based diet has the opposite side effects decreasing diabetes and risks for heart attack and stroke, and people are much more able to stick to a diet that does not limit portions or require calorie or carb counting.
Learn more about what keto does to weight and why its been so misunderstood
Learn more about why keto diet is not safe
What is whole food plant-based?
This is a diet centered around unprocessed plant foods to be eaten in unlimited quantities, and avoiding or minimizing meat, dairy, eggs, and fish. This is what humans have been eating for millennia prior to the industrial revolution processing food and meat factory farming. Our bodies have not evolved as quickly as our lifestyles to be able to handle all the meat and processed food we put into our bodies on a regular basis (the standard American diet). For most of human history, humans were only successful hunters 8% of the time! So the majority of their diet was plants. See Dr. Milton Mills explain how our evolutionary traits show what humans are designed to eat.
Another favorite: Dr. McDougall explains the foods we were meant to eat
[1] Wright N, Wilson L, Smith M, Duncan B, McHugh P. The BROAD study: A randomised controlled trial using a whole food plant-based diet in the community for obesity, ischaemic heart disease or diabetes. Nutr Diabetes. 2017 Mar 20;7(3):e256. doi: 10.1038/nutd.2017.3. PMID: 28319109; PMCID: PMC5380896.
[2] Bray GA. Low-carbohydrate diets and realities of weight loss. JAMA. 2003;289(14):1853-5.
[3] Hall KD, Chen KY, Guo J, et al. Energy expenditure and body composition changes after an isocaloric ketogenic diet in overweight and obese men. Am J Clin Nutr. 2016;104(2):324-33.
[4] Noto H, Goto A, Tsujimoto T, Noda M. Low-carbohydrate diets and all-cause mortality: a systematic review and meta-analysis of observational studies. PLoS ONE. 2013;8(1):e55030.
[5] Seidelmann SB, Claggett B, Cheng S, et al. Dietary carbohydrate intake and mortality: a prospective cohort study and meta-analysis. Lancet Public Health. 2018;3(9):e419-e428.
[6] Wibisono C, Rowe N, Beavis E, et al. Ten-year single-center experience of the ketogenic diet: factors influencing efficacy, tolerability, and compliance. J Pediatr. 2015;166(4):1030-6.e1.