How Not to Diet

by Michael Greger

A comparison of dietary quality of popular weight-loss plans scored Ornish’s low-fat, plant-based diet the highest and Atkins’s low-carb, more ketogenic diet the lowest.2447 In general, using a variety of nutritional quality indexes, researchers found that the more plant-based people eat, the healthier their diet scores.2448 Ironically, even though plant-based eaters are restricting entire categories of foods, they end up getting more nutrition. A paper entitled “A Vegetarian Dietary Pattern as a Nutrient-Dense Approach to Weight Management” found that those eating more plant-based were getting higher intakes of nearly every nutrient: more fiber, more vitamin A, more vitamin C, more vitamin E, more of the B vitamins thiamine, riboflavin, and folate, and more of the minerals calcium, magnesium, and iron.2449 This came as no surprise. The Journal of the American Dietetic Association editor in chief responded, “What could be more nutrient dense than a vegetarian diet?”2450