occasional red meat and fish, which are good sources of protein. Eggs and dairy may also be eaten on occasion.
The flexitarian diet has been shown to reduce the risk of some types of cancer and heart disease. It can also assist in managing your weight and may help prevent diabetes.
The flexitarian diet doesn’t set specific calorie counts or require complicated food tracking. Instead, the idea is to increase the number of plants or plant-based foods in your diet over time and to eat meat, dairy and eggs less often.
The flexitarian diet emphasizes eating foods such as:
- A variety of fruits and vegetables
- Whole grains
- Legumes (such as beans and lentils)
- Nuts
When beginning a flexitarian diet, cut meat from your diet 2 days a week, and eat no more than about 3 ounces (roughly equivalent to the size of a deck of cards) each time. After a while, you can go from 5 days of meat a week down to 3 or 4. Eventually, you want to eat vegetarian 5 to 7 days a week and limit your meat consumption to just 1 or 2 days a week (no more than a total of 9 ounces of meat a week).
Any beef, chicken or turkey you eat should be labeled as organic, free-range, pasture-raised or grass-fed, and should be lean cuts. Fish should be labeled as wild-caught.
Some examples of foods you can eat on the flexitarian diet include:
- Black beans
- Tofu
- Brown rice
- Quinoa
- Lentils
- Plant-based milks (such as soy, almond, coconut and pea milks)
- Nut butters
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The MIND diet
The Mediterranean-DASH Intervention for Neurodegenerative Delay (MIND) diet combines two of the other diets on this list — the Mediterranean diet and the DASH diet — with the aim of reducing brain function decline as you age.
As with the Mediterranean and DASH diets, the emphasis is on eating:
- Whole grains
- A variety of fruits and berries
- A variety of vegetables (especially green leafy ones)
- Healthy fats, such as olive oil
- Fish
- Poultry
The MIND diet highlights berries specifically as healthy fruit options because they’re high in antioxidants, which can help reduce oxidative stress. This kind of stress is thought to cause cellular damage in the body, especially in the brain.
The MIND diet also highlights green leafy vegetables, as they may help reduce the risk of cognitive decline.
The MIND diet should be combined with other healthy habits, such as:
- Exercise
- Not smoking
- Prioritizing quality sleep
Foods to avoid (or at least limit) on the MIND diet include:
- Pastries and other sweets and desserts
- Cheese
- Fried foods
- Butter and stick margarine
- Beef, pork, lamb and other food items made from these sources
Some examples of foods you can eat on the MIND diet include:
- Raspberries
- Blueberries
- Spinach
- Lettuce
- Chicken
- Turkey
- Fish
- Nuts
- Olive oil
The TLC diet
The Therapeutic Lifestyle Changes (TLC) diet is an expansion of the DASH diet. This diet is a three-part program — part diet, part physical activity and part weight management. The TLC diet or TLC program is used to help people reduce high cholesterol (including those on medication).
Cholesterol is a fatty substance the consistency of wax that can build up in the walls of cells. When your body makes too much cholesterol, it can get stuck in the artery walls and cause blockages that may lead to heart attacks and coronary artery disease (CAD).
The diet part of the TLC program includes:
- Limiting saturated fat to 7% or less of daily calories
- Consuming less than 200 mg a day of dietary cholesterol
- Eating the appropriate amount of calories for you to maintain a healthy weight
You’ll want to make sure to read nutrition labels when looking for foods that fit the TLC diet, specifically looking at saturated fat, cholesterol and calories.
Saturated fats are those that are typically solid at room temperature or when placed in the refrigerator. Foods highest in saturated fats include:
- Fatty meats
- Poultry with skin on
- Whole-milk dairy products
- Lard
- Certain vegetable oils (such as coconut oil and palm oil)
Foods that are high in dietary cholesterol also tend to be high in saturated fats, so you’ll want to avoid these foods as well. They’re usually foods that come from animals, such as:
- Liver and other organ meats
- Shrimp
- Egg yolks
- Whole-milk dairy products
Some examples of foods you can eat on the TLC diet include:
- Oatmeal and oat bran
- Bananas
- Apples
- Berries
- Broccoli
- A variety of beans, including black, kidney and white beans
- Lentils
- Chickpeas
- Barley
- Chicken without skin