These days, it seems like there are just as many diets—from keto, to intermittent fasting, to the warrior diet—as there are shoes in Carrie Bradshaw’s closet.
One diet that seems to be gaining traction is the Mayo Clinic diet, which has actually been around since the 1940s. Instead of purely focusing on *what* you eat, the Mayo Clinic diet is more about encouraging an overall lifestyle shift to help improve your general health.
Meet the experts:
Christine Nguyen, DO, is a family medicine and women’s health expert at Mayo Clinic in Jacksonville, Florida.
Karin Evans, PhD, RD, is a registered dietitian with Top Nutrition Coaching in Fort Mill, South Carolina.
But, like many diets, some controversy also comes with the Mayo Clinic diet. While some of the benefits are that it’s supposed to help you feel good, increase your energy, and lower your risk of chronic diseases, Karin Evans, PhD, RD, a registered dietitian with Top Nutrition Coaching, notes that the lower calorie goals (especially in the first couple of weeks on the plan) might be troubling for some who have never dieted before.
Ahead, learn more about the pros and cons of the Mayo Clinic diet, its different phases, the menu and meal examples, how effective it is for weight loss, and its potential risks.
What is the Mayo Clinic diet?
The Mayo Clinic diet is two-fold, having to do with changing both your eating and physical activity routines. “It follows eating plans that are low in calories, but still delicious and filling, while having you burn more calories through increasing your physical activity throughout the day,” says Christine Nguyen, DO, a family medicine and women’s health expert at Mayo Clinic in Jacksonville, Florida.
The diet has its own “Healthy Weight Pyramid,” which establishes a hierarchy of food groups: The base is fruits and vegetables, next is carbohydrates, then protein and dairy, fats, and finally sweets.
In general, “half of the plate would be your vegetables, a quarter of it would be the carbs, and then the last quarter would be the protein—typically about the size of a deck of cards,” Dr. Nguyen says.
While there’s been a ton of buzz around protein recently,…