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Mayo Clinic diet: A weight-loss program for life
Mayo Clinic's approach to weight loss is not a diet. It's a lifestyle that can help you maintain a healthy weight for a lifetime.
By Mayo Clinic staffIf you're overweight, you've likely tried many diet and weight-loss plans, from the low-carb diet to the low-fat approach. You might have even tried the Mayo Clinic diet — or what you thought was the Mayo Clinic diet.
But whatever the method, you may not have had much success and are still trying to lose weight. That's not surprising. Most people who diet find weight loss a never-ending roller coaster ride.
That's where Mayo Clinic's weight management program can help you. This approach to weight loss isn't like most diets. It's a lifestyle program that can improve your health and help you maintain a healthy weight for a lifetime.
Not just another diet
Mayo Clinic's approach to weight loss is based on Mayo Clinic research and clinical experience. It recognizes that successful, long-term weight management needs to focus on more than the food you eat and the pounds you lose. It needs to focus on your overall health.
The eating plan has a simple goal — to help you adopt a long-term lifestyle that allows you to achieve and maintain a weight that's healthy for you. The Mayo Clinic weight management program can be summarized in four essential components.
1. Eat well with the Mayo Clinic Healthy Weight Pyramid.
The Mayo Clinic Healthy Weight Pyramid helps you adopt a healthy, lifelong eating plan. This means no severe restrictions on the foods you eat and no extreme hunger. The base of the pyramid focuses on generous amounts of healthy foods that contain a small number of calories in a large volume of food, particularly fruits and vegetables. Healthy choices in moderate amounts make up the rest of the pyramid, which focuses on whole-grain carbohydrates, lean sources of protein such as legumes, fish and low-fat dairy, and heart-healthy unsaturated fats.
Use the pyramid to help you select the right kinds and amounts of food. If you eat the recommended number of servings, use the proper serving sizes and are physically active every day, the pyramid approach can help you lose weight at a safe pace of 1 to 2 pounds a week.
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