Dash Diet Tops List: Best Overall Diet

DASH diet was named the best overall diet, and Weight Watchers the best of the commercial diet programs, in U.S. News and World Report's first-ever assessment of 20 popular diet programs and dietary approaches.

Recommened for people with hypstertenion or prehyptertension, the DASH diet promises to lower blood pressure in 14 days. The DASH 'eating plan' is heavy in fruits and vegetables, and low-fat or non-fat dairy, with whole grains - allowing up to 12 servings a day of grains and grain products, although a minimum of 3 servings must be whole grains. It is definitely *not* a starvation diet - in fact, as the DASH diet website acknolwedges, the hardest part might be meeting the minimum serving requirements:

Even though most people know that this seems like a very healthy way of eating, they initially may find it hard to implement and sustain. The average American gets 2 - 3 servings of fruits and vegetables combined each day, so following the DASH diet can involve making a concerted effort.

The site then goes on to promote the recommended book, the DASH Diet Action Plan. The DASH acronym stands for Dietary Approaches to Stop Hypertension. Promoters of the diet claim that weight less was not originally a major consideration of the diet, but that the book provides tools for adapting the relatively high-calorie diet for weight-loss purpose.

Speaking of weight loss, Weight Watchers ranked number 1 among weight-loss diets, followed by Jenny Craig and the trendy Raw Food Diet.