All diets, sorted and explained. Even the ones we won’t recommend.

87 ways of eating, grouped by family. What each one is, what the evidence says, and whether it made it into your plan. Spoiler: not all of them did.

Timing and fasting · Low-carb and keto · Other macronutrient patterns · Regional whole-food patterns · Plant-forward · Animal-based · Medical and elimination (doctor territory) · Religious and cultural · Life stage and conditions · Weight-management programmes · Behaviour approaches · Training diets · Eating for the planet · Excluded, no how-to

Timing and fasting

• Time-restricted eating (16:8 and friends)

  Eat inside a window, close the kitchen the rest of the day. 16:8 is simple and helps you eat less, but the clock itself is no fat-burning magic. Here's what the trials show.

• Early time-restricted eating

  Breakfast like a king, then shut the kitchen mid-afternoon. Early eating windows show real promise for blood sugar. The catch: your social life eats dinner at 8.

• OMAD and the Warrior diet

  One meal a day sounds hardcore and simple. The few real studies found some fat loss, plus higher blood pressure, cholesterol and hunger. Here's the honest version.

• Chrono-nutrition: eating by the clock

  Your body has a clock, and it handles food better at some hours than others. Late dinners, big breakfasts and hunger: what the studies say, minus the guru talk.

• Eat-Stop-Eat (24-hour fasts)

  Dinner to dinner, nothing in between, once or twice a week. Eat-Stop-Eat is simple and works like any calorie cut. The studies are thin, the hunger is real.

• The 5:2 diet

  Five normal days, two days on about 500 calories. The 5:2 diet works about as well as a regular diet, with more hunger on fast days. Here's the full picture.

• Alternate-day fasting

  Fast one day, eat the next, repeat forever. Alternate-day fasting works as well as a normal diet, but more people quit and LDL crept up in one big trial.

• Extended fasting (36–72 hours)

  Days without food: the hardcore end of fasting. Clinics report few side effects, but you lose muscle along with fat, and stopping needs care. Doctor territory.

• The fasting-mimicking diet

  Five days a month of boxed low-calorie meals that trick your body into "fasting mode". The trials are real and small, and the inventor sells the box. Here's the honest read.

• Dirty fasting and fat fasting

  Butter in your coffee, a "small" snack, and you still call it fasting. Dirty fasting is eating with extra steps. What the thin evidence says, and why our fasts stay clean.

Low-carb and keto

• Keto

  The most hyped diet of the last ten years actually works, just not the way the influencers sell it. Here is what it does, what the science says, and who should stay well away from it.

• Low-carb, without the keto

  Fewer starches and sugar, no ketone counting, no bacon worship. Low-carb works about as well as other diets for weight, and better for some blood sugar problems.

• Lazy keto

  Count carbs, ignore calories, protein and food quality. Lazy keto is easier than strict keto, but nobody has studied it, and "lazy" too often means processed. Here's the fix.

• Targeted keto

  Keto most of the time, a few fast carbs right before training. Targeted keto has never been tested properly, but it fixes keto's biggest weakness for active people.

• Cyclical keto

  Keto on weekdays, carbs at the weekend. Cyclical keto sounds like the best of both worlds. The one real trial found the same fat loss as a normal diet, with worse gains.

• Atkins and modified Atkins

  The diet that made "carbs" a dirty word. Atkins won some head-to-head trials, then everyone ended up in the same place a year later. Plus its surprising medical job.

• The South Beach diet

  Atkins with better manners: lean protein, good fats and "good carbs" in three phases. Sensible ideas, a bestseller cover, and almost no trials of its own. Here's the read.

• Ketotarian: plant-based keto

  Keto without the bacon: avocado, olive oil, nuts, tofu, eggs and fish optional. The evidence for plant-based low-carb looks better than for the meaty version. Here's why.

• The slow-carb diet

  No white carbs, beans at every meal, the same few dishes on repeat, and one glorious cheat day a week. Slow-carb has no trials of its own, but some parts hold up.

Other macronutrient patterns

• High protein

  Protein at every meal keeps you full and protects your muscle while you lose fat. The evidence is strong, the kidney scare is overblown for healthy people. Here's how much.

• Carb cycling

  More carbs on training days, fewer on rest days. Carb cycling makes some sense for athletes. For fat loss, there's no proof it beats eating less in a boring way.

• The Zone diet (40/30/30)

  40% carbs, 30% protein, 30% fat, at every meal, forever. The Zone diet is balanced and protein-rich. Its hormone theory isn't backed by science, and it lost to Atkins.

• Low fat

  For thirty years we were told fat was the enemy. Then the biggest trials came back with a shrug. Low-fat isn't evil, it's just not the hero. Here's what survived.

Regional whole-food patterns

• The Mediterranean diet

  The least sexy diet on the internet has the best evidence behind it. Olive oil, fish, beans, vegetables, nuts. No shakes, no rules about the clock, no miracle. Just food that works.

• The Atlantic diet

  The Mediterranean diet's rainy cousin from Galicia and northern Portugal. Fish, cabbage soup, potatoes, bread and long family meals. Newer evidence, smaller studies, and a very good idea.

• The anti-inflammatory diet

  "Anti-inflammatory" is the wellness world's favourite word. Strip off the turmeric lattes and there's a real idea underneath: eat like the Mediterranean, skip the processed junk, and your blood markers tend to calm down.

• The DASH diet

  Invented by scientists to lower blood pressure, and it does, within weeks. Vegetables, fruit, beans, nuts and less salt. Dull name, solid results, and it works even before you touch the salt shaker.

• The MIND diet

  Mediterranean plus DASH, with extra greens and berries for your brain. Big promises from observational studies, then a proper trial that ended in a draw. The food is still excellent.

• The Nordic diet

  Rye bread, oily fish, berries, cabbage and rapeseed oil. The Mediterranean diet for people who own a proper winter coat. Modest but real benefits, and the food is easy to find in northern Europe.

• The Okinawan diet

  Purple sweet potato, tofu, greens and a little fish, eaten by some of the longest-lived people on record. Great food, honest caveats: the evidence is observational, and the old way of eating has mostly gone.

• Blue Zones eating

  Five places where people supposedly live longest, turned into a diet, a book series and a brand. The food advice is sensible. The data behind the legend is under fire. Here's what holds up.

• The Portfolio diet

  Four plant foods, eaten every day, that push LDL cholesterol down. In one small trial it came close to a starter statin. In real life, less. Still one of the best-proven diets for one job.

• Paleo and primal

  Eat like a caveman, they said. Cutting junk food works. The caveman story doesn't, and binning beans, whole grains and dairy throws out some of the best-studied foods we have.

• The Pegan diet

  Paleo and vegan walk into a bar and agree on vegetables. The pegan diet gets the plants right, then bans beans, grains and dairy for reasons the evidence doesn't back.

• Whole30

  Thirty days without sugar, alcohol, grains, beans or dairy, then a slow reintroduction. A useful reset for some, a food-anxiety machine for others, and not a single proper trial behind it.

• Macrobiotic eating

  Brown rice, vegetables, miso soup and a philosophy of balance. The moderate version is a decent plant-based diet. The strict versions and the cancer-cure claims are another story.

• Ayurvedic eating

  A tradition thousands of years old, built on warm home-cooked food, dal, vegetables and spices. The plate holds up well. The dosha theory is untested, and some remedies sold alongside it contain heavy metals.

• The sardine diet

  Social media's favourite reset: a few days of nothing but sardines, eggs and olive oil. The fish is brilliant. The diet has zero studies behind it. Keep the tin, skip the challenge.

Plant-forward

• Vegan

  No animal products at all. Good news for your cholesterol and the planet, bad news if you think chips and oat-milk lattes count as a plan. Here's how to do vegan without running out of B12.

• Vegetarian

  No meat, no fish, eggs and dairy still welcome. It's the easiest plant-forward diet to live with, as long as cheese pizza isn't your idea of a vegetable. The evidence, the traps and the fixes.

• Pescatarian

  Vegetarian, plus fish. It fixes the omega-3 and B12 gaps of going meat-free and keeps most of the benefits. Just don't think fish fingers and prawn crackers count as seafood.

• Flexitarian

  Mostly plants, a bit of meat, no membership card. It's the diet for people who like the idea of vegetarian but also like a roast chicken. The evidence is young, the logic is solid.

• Whole-food plant-based (Ornish, Esselstyn)

  Vegan, no oil, nothing processed. Built for people with heart disease, made famous by documentaries. The results are impressive, the studies are tiny, and this one belongs with your cardiologist.

• Raw food and raw vegan

  Eat more raw vegetables? Great idea. Eat nothing but raw food? The studies found weight loss, yes, but also B12 deficiency, low bone mass and lost periods. Your stove is not the enemy.

• The Nutritarian diet

  Health equals nutrients divided by calories, says Joel Fuhrman. The plate of greens, beans and berries is great. The no-oil rulebook and the founder-written evidence? Less so.

• The Daniel Fast

  A 21-day partial fast from the Book of Daniel: plants and water, no animal food, sugar, caffeine or alcohol. What is eaten, where the rules come from, and what small studies found.

Animal-based

• Carnivore

  Meat, fish, eggs and nothing else. Fans swear by it, but there's not one long-term trial, fibre drops to zero and LDL often shoots up. Here's the saner way to eat lots of meat.

• Animal-based

  Carnivore after it discovered dessert: meat, organs, fruit, honey and raw milk. The fruit is a step forward. The raw milk, the honey and the missing vegetables are not, and there's zero evidence.

Medical and elimination (doctor territory)

• Low FODMAP

  The best-studied diet for IBS, and a test rather than a lifestyle. Cut fermentable carbs for a few weeks, bring them back one by one, and do it with a dietitian.

• Gluten-free

  For coeliac disease it's the only treatment there is. For everyone else it's mostly an expensive way to eat fewer whole grains. Test first, while you're still eating gluten.

• Low GI and diabetic eating

  Low GI eating for diabetes: slower carbs, smaller portions, real food. The trials show a modest HbA1c drop, and the real danger is changing your plate without changing your medication.

• Low sodium

  Less salt, lower blood pressure: the trials are solid. The catch is that most salt comes in packets and takeaways, and the trendy potassium salt swap isn't safe for everyone.

• The renal diet

  Kidney disease changes the food rules: less salt, the right protein, and potassium, phosphate or fluid limits only when your blood tests say so. Ignore the generic lists online.

• Low purine (gout)

  Gout and the low purine diet: beer and sugary drinks are the real villains, spinach and lentils are innocent, and your genes and your medicine matter far more than your plate.

• The Autoimmune Protocol (AIP)

  Six weeks without grains, legumes, dairy, eggs, nuts, nightshades and coffee, then a slow reintroduction. Some people with autoimmune disease feel better. The proof is tiny, so do it with your doctor.

• The Specific Carbohydrate Diet

  No grains, no potatoes, no sugar except honey. A loyal Crohn's and colitis following, and one big trial where an easier Mediterranean diet did just as well. A medical diet, not a lifestyle.

• The GAPS diet

  A two-year gut diet of broth, fermented food and animal fat, sold as a treatment for autism and much more. No trials, real raw milk risks, and a sane version worth keeping.

• Low histamine

  Flushing after wine, headaches after aged cheese? Histamine intolerance gets blamed for a lot, but there's no reliable test and the food lists disagree. A short, supervised test, not a life sentence.

• Low oxalate

  Kidney stones and the low oxalate diet: go easy on spinach, nuts and rhubarb, keep your cheese, cut the salt, and drink water like it's your job. Your stone type decides the rest.

• Lectin-free (Plant Paradox)

  The Plant Paradox blames lectins in beans, grains and tomatoes for modern disease. Raw kidney beans can make you sick. Cooked ones are some of the healthiest food around. Cook them, eat them.

• Allergen-free eating

  If you have a diagnosed food allergy, avoiding it is the treatment and labels are your lifeline. The EU's 14 allergens, Singapore's rules, hidden sources, and the tests to ignore.

Religious and cultural

• Halal

  Halal is a faith rule, not a diet trend. What Islam permits, how MUIS and DACH certification work, the hidden pork and wine traps, and how your plan respects the rules without bending them.

• Kosher

  Kosher is Jewish food law, not a health label. Which animals, why meat and dairy stay apart, what pareve really means for allergies, and how your plan keeps every rule you follow.

• Hindu vegetarian

  Hindu vegetarian eating has no single rulebook: no beef for most, no meat for many, eggs and onion depending on the family. What the data shows, and how your plan keeps your rules.

• Jain eating

  No meat, no eggs, and for many no onions, potatoes, honey or food after sunset. Jain eating is ahimsa on a plate. Here's what Jains eat, why, and the B12 and iron facts worth knowing.

• Buddhist vegetarian

  Some Buddhists never eat meat, garlic or onion. Others eat meat with a clear conscience. Both can be following their tradition. How Buddhist vegetarian eating differs by tradition, and the B12 facts to know.

• Ramadan, Lent and Orthodox fasting

  Ramadan, Lent and Orthodox fasting share a word, not a rulebook. What each tradition asks, who is excused, what the research shows, and how to fast safely with diabetes or other conditions.

Life stage and conditions

• Eating on GLP-1 drugs (Ozempic, Mounjaro)

  The jab turns the hunger down. It doesn't pick what you eat. Here's how to eat on Ozempic or Mounjaro so you lose fat, not muscle, and don't feel sick doing it.

• Eating through menopause

  Fat moves to your middle, muscle and bone slip away, and the internet sells you a powder. Here's what food can actually do through menopause, and what it can't.

• Eating over 50: keep your muscle

  After 50, muscle quietly leaves and takes your strength, balance and blood sugar with it. More protein, spread over the day, plus lifting something heavy. That's the whole secret.

• Eating with PCOS

  PCOS runs on insulin as much as on hormones. Food can calm the insulin side. It can't cure the condition, and no single 'PCOS diet' beats the others. Here's what works.

• Eating in pregnancy and breastfeeding

  You're not eating for two. You're eating for one and a bit, and the bit is very picky. Folic acid, vitamin D, the real list of foods to avoid, and why fasting is off.

Weight-management programmes

• Calorie counting and flexible dieting

  Calories in, calories out is true. Your food diary isn't. Why counting works for some people, quietly wrecks others, and why our plan does the maths so you don't have to.

• Volumetrics

  Eat a big plate and still eat less? That's volumetrics: fill up on watery, low-calorie food first. One of the few diet tricks that actually survived the lab.

• Points systems and coaching apps

  Points, colours, streaks and a coach in your pocket. Commercial programmes beat doing nothing, by a few kilos. The secret isn't the points. It's the weekly weigh-in and the people.

• The Sirtfood diet

  Green juice, kale, dark chocolate and red wine to switch on your 'skinny gene'. Lovely shopping list. The science behind it lives in yeast, mice and a gym in London.

• Meal replacements and very low calorie diets

  Shakes instead of meals really do work, at least while you're drinking them. They can even put type 2 diabetes into remission. Then you have to learn to eat again.

Behaviour approaches

• Glucose-spike techniques

  Vegetables first, carbs last, a walk after dinner, maybe a splash of vinegar. Small tricks that flatten the sugar curve. Useful, cheap, and a lot less dramatic than Instagram says.

• Mindful eating

  Eat slowly. No phone, no telly. Notice when you're full. Sounds like a yoga retreat, but distracted eating really does make you eat more, now and later.

• Intuitive eating

  No rules, no forbidden foods, eat when hungry, stop when full. Great for people burnt out by dieting. Less great if your hunger signals were built by the snack industry.

Training diets

• Bulking and cutting

  Eat more to build muscle, eat less to show it. The gym classic works, but the surplus is smaller than you think, and the 'dirty bulk' mostly builds fat.

• Carb loading

  Pasta party before the marathon? Carb loading is real sports science and works for long endurance events. For a 5K, a gym session or a normal Tuesday, it's just a big plate of pasta.

• Refeeds, diet breaks and reverse dieting

  Two weeks off your diet to lose more weight? One trial says yes, another says it made no difference except to hunger. And reverse dieting? Mostly gym folklore.

Eating for the planet

• Climatarian

  Choose food by its carbon footprint. Spoiler: beef and lamb are the elephants in the kitchen, food miles barely matter, and the planet-friendly plate is also the healthy one.

• Reducetarian

  Not vegetarian, not vegan, just less meat. No rules, no label, no lectures. The easiest diet on this site, and one of the few that's good for you and the planet at once.

• Seasonal and local eating

  Strawberries in June, cabbage in January. Seasonal food tastes better and often costs less. But 'local' isn't automatically greener, and frozen peas are not a crime.

Excluded, no how-to

• The diets we won't recommend (blood type, alkaline, juice cleanses, hCG, cabbage soup)

  Blood type, alkaline, juice cleanses, hCG and cabbage soup. Five diets with big promises and no evidence, and in a couple of cases, real risks. Here's why we skip them.

These articles are general information, not medical advice. If you have a medical condition or take medication, talk to your doctor before changing how you eat.