20 Popular Diets Ranked, Winner Crowned | XFINITY TV News

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In a commercial promoting Jenny Craig, Carrie Fisher says, ?As your weight decreases your confidence increases.? Likewise Jennifer Hudson?s dramatic weight loss ? she went from a size 16 to a size 6 on Weight Watchers ? inspired her to sing ?It?s a New Day.?

Many Americans desiring a svelte figure are paying attention. Weight loss is a $50+ billion a year industry.

But what are the best diets? Is there one specific diet that works better than others?

To find out, U.S. News and World report put the 20 most popular to the test, ranking them in eight different categories and crowning a winner that, according to their web site, is ?relatively easy to follow, nutritious, safe, and effective for weight loss and against diabetes and heart disease.?

How to get picky eaters to choose healthy options:

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A panel of health experts broke the diets down into eight categories: overall, short-term weight loss, long-term weight loss, easy to follow, nutrition, safety, for diabetes and for heart health.

And the winner? It?s not Fisher?s beloved Jenny Craig or Jennifer Hudson?s favorite, Weight Watchers.

The government-designed Dietary Approaches to Stop Hypertension (DASH) snagged the top spot.

According to U.S. News and World Report: ?DASH was developed by the National Institutes of Health (NIH) to fight high blood pressure, not specifically as an all-purpose diet. But it certainly looked like an All-Star to our panel of experts, who gave it high marks for its nutritional completeness, safety, ability to prevent or control diabetes, and role in supporting heart health. Though obscure, it beat out a field full of better-known diets.?

Watch a 23-year-old man tries to fulfill a promise he made to his late mother on ?Extreme Makeover: Weight Loss Edition?:

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That?s not to say Weight Watchers and Jenny Craig didn?t make the cut. They came in second and seventh place, respectively. Other popular diets, like Slim Fast, Nutrisystem and South Beach, earned a place on the list too.

To see the full list of the best diets as ranked by U.S. News and World Report, click here.

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Source: http://xfinitytv.comcast.net/blogs/2011/tv-news/20-popular-diets-ranked-winner-crowned/

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