According to the annual diet rankings from US News & World Report, the raw-food diet has been identified as the worst overall eating plan for 2023. This diet consists only of uncooked foods such as fruits and vegetables, sprouted grains and beans, and occasionally raw animal products such as fish or unprocessed dairy. It has surpassed the ketogenic diet, also known as the keto diet, which previously held the lowest ranking in several categories, but has now moved up slightly in the rankings.
US News & World Report conducts an annual review of popular diets with the help of experts in health and nutrition. This year, 24 diets were evaluated based on factors such as overall healthiness, ease of following, and potential for weight loss and disease prevention.
The raw-food diet was ranked the lowest overall due to a lack of evidence demonstrating the benefits of eliminating cooked foods, the diet’s extreme restrictiveness, and its potential to cause hunger due to the lower calorie and protein content of raw foods compared to prepared foods.
The raw-food diet has been ranked as the worst by a panel of experts for 2023, surpassing the previously ranked worst diet, the keto diet. This is because it is difficult to maintain in the long term. While short-term diets may lead to temporary results, often for weight loss, healthy diets in the long term involve eating strategies that can be sustained. According to Gretel Schueller, the managing editor for health at US News, “At the end of the day, it’s about how long can I stay on this, can I do this in the long term. You may look good for a few months but will eventually return right back to where you started.”
According to experts, excessive restriction in a diet plan can lead to its failure.
Diets that have strict rules or eliminate certain food groups may appear to be effective at first, but they can be difficult to sustain. If you stop following the diet within a few weeks, the benefits will not last. Gretel Schueller, the managing editor for health at US News, said, “The moment you’re overly restrictive or feeling deprived, you’ll jump off and not stick to it long term.”
The panel of experts stated that other diets that ranked poorly were also excessively restrictive or difficult to follow in the long term or eliminated potentially nutritious food groups. These included commercial diets such as the low-carb Atkins diet, as well as SlimFast and Optavia, which rely on highly processed shakes, bars, and supplements to replace whole foods. In contrast, the top-ranking Mediterranean diet and other highly rated plans include a variety of foods, do not exclude any food groups, and are adaptable to different lifestyles. According to Schueller, “The diets that rise to the top are ones we’ve known for years use a common-sense approach to healthy eating, incorporate whole foods, and are flexible.”
The keto diet ranked slightly higher in 2023
The high-fat, low-carb keto diet, which has previously been ranked as the worst diet for healthy eating, has now been ranked first for quick weight loss and 20th overall in this year’s rankings. In recent years, evidence has suggested that keto and low-carb diets can help individuals manage their weight, and blood sugar, and can be structured in a way that includes more nutrient-dense foods and healthy fats. However, the keto diet was ranked last for heart health due to its high saturated fat content and the potential for eliminating nutrient-rich foods such as fruit, certain vegetables, and whole grains. Despite these concerns, the keto diet has moved up in the rankings, now placed in the bottom five for the year. Schueller stated, “We’re seeing that it has the potential to be done healthily when it’s done properly. Ask yourself what people are replacing carbs with. If it’s a healthy answer, that makes all the difference.”