Experts Name Their Best Diets of 2024

With New Year's resolution season in full swing, Americans are looking to set themselves up for success in 2024 when it comes to their health. What we eat plays a critical role in our physical health at any age, just as much as how often we work out. 

To help remove the guesswork, U.S. News compiled its annual Best Diets list to find which food pyramid is the best overall for adults' health. For the seventh year in a row, the ever-popular Mediterranean diet took the top spot, beating out some popular competitors in the process. The list, according to a statement, "gather[s] input from nationally recognized medical and nutrition experts to determine which diets rise to the top for nutritional completeness, ease of following, and promoting a healthy lifestyle for the long term."

The DASH diet, or dietary approaches to stop hypertension, is in second place overall. The diet emphasizes foods high in nutrients that lower blood pressure like potassium, calcium, magnesium, and fiber. Third place goes to the MIND diet, which combines the top two choices and focuses on improving brain health with the Mediterranean-DASH Intervention for Neurogenerative Delay. 

Related: A Mediterranean Diet to Save Your Heart

For the first time ever, the vegan diet was included in the annual evaluation and rounded out the overall best diets list in tenth place. Other widely followed diets on the rankings include the flexitarian, WeightWatchers, and Mayo Clinic lifestyles. 

If you're looking to lose weight specifically, your best bet lies with the WeightWatchers, Mediterranean, or Volumetrics diet, according to U.S. News. Luckily, according to the experts, the Mediterranean, flexitarian, and DASH diets are also the easiest to follow. 

Read up on the top 10 best diets overall and go on your next trip to the grocery store with confidence. 

1. Mediterranean diet
2. DASH diet
3. MIND diet
4. Mayo Clinic diet
5. Flexitarian diet
6. WeightWatchers diet
7. Volumetrics diet
8. Dr. Weil’s Anti-Inflammatory diet
9. TLC diet
10. Vegan diet