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This story originally appeared on CookingLight.com by Brierley Horton.
Every January, U.S. News & World Report releases their list of the best diets—which are divided into categories such as best overall, best for weight loss, best for ease, best for diabetes and heart health, and more. It’s a much-anticipated moment (or at least it should be, if you ask us) because the recommendations come from a panel of nationally recognized experts who rated each diet. But the rankings also give you a chance to review which diet works best for you and your health goals—because one diet doesn’t fit all.
Related: Why the Mediterranean Diet Is So Healthy
The reviewers have expertise in diet, nutrition, obesity, food psychology, diabetes, and heart health, and they rated the diets across seven categories: how easy it is to follow, its ability to produce short-term and long-term weight loss, its nutritional completeness, its safety and its potential for preventing and managing diabetes and heart disease.
This year, U.S. News & World Report ranked 41 diets—from the well-known Weight Watchers, now referred to as WW, to the Ketogenic Diet and Whole 30, and to lesser-known diets like the Nordic Diet and Volumetrics.
So, who came out on top?
The Mediterranean Diet! It ranks as the Best Diet Overall—for the second year in a row. Last year—you might recall—it tied with The DASH Diet and this year DASH got bumped down to the number two spot. Research shows this way of eating—brimming with plant-based foods, healthy fats, whole grains, and even the occasional glass of red wine, may help you live longer and ward off various chronic diseases, so it’s not all too surprising that it took the best overall diet spot. But it also swept in other categories—winning Easiest Diet to Follow, Best Diet for Healthy Eating, and Best Diet for Diabetes.
What about the other categories? Here’s a complete roundup of the categories and winners.
Now that we’ve talked about which diets you should follow this year, which ones should you skip? These diets consistently ranked poorly across all of the U.S. News & World Report categories: Dukan Diet, Acid Alkaline Diet, Whole30 Diet, and Body Reset Diet.
This article originally appeared on CookingLight.com