Mediterranean-style eating
Plant-forward, olive-oil centred, flexible, and culturally adaptable.
Read guide →Knowledge hub
Diet types are different tools—not competing identities.
Most named diets fall into a few broad families: food-quality patterns, macronutrient-restriction diets, timing-based plans, exclusion diets, and medically directed therapeutic diets. Understanding the family is often more useful than memorizing the brand.
Start here
Compare the rule the diet changes: what you eat, how much you eat, when you eat, or which foods you exclude.
Food-quality patterns
These approaches emphasize combinations of minimally processed foods rather than strict macronutrient targets. They are generally adaptable and can often be maintained long term.
DASH
A structured pattern emphasizing nutrient-rich foods and lower sodium intake.
Read guide →Healthy eating framework
A non-branded meal-building approach for people who do not need a named diet.
Read guide →Plant-based eating
A spectrum ranging from plant-forward to fully vegan patterns.
Read guide →Macronutrient-focused diets
These plans change the balance of carbohydrate, fat, or protein. Their effects depend heavily on which foods are removed and what replaces them.
Low-carbohydrate diets
Moderate to substantial carbohydrate reduction, with wide variation in food quality.
Read guide →Ketogenic diet
Very low carbohydrate intake intended to create nutritional ketosis.
Read guide →Timing-based approaches
Intermittent fasting changes the eating schedule rather than defining a complete food pattern. It can be combined with many diets, which means timing and diet quality should be evaluated separately.
Explore intermittent fasting →
Exclusion diets and therapeutic diets
Some diets remove foods for allergy, intolerance, religious, ethical, digestive, or medical reasons. A medically necessary elimination diet is different from a broad commercial claim that everyone should avoid a food group. Therapeutic diets for epilepsy, kidney disease, diabetes, gastrointestinal disorders, or inherited metabolic disease should be individualized by qualified professionals.
How to compare any diet type
- Identify the main rule.
- List what is removed and what replaces it.
- Check nutrient adequacy.
- Review evidence for your specific goal.
- Test cost, cooking, social, and family fit.
- Look for a realistic maintenance phase.