What is Harvard diet? Guidelines and foods recommended!

Weight and health conscious people are always on the lookout for a new diet. And Harvard diet is one such diet that is now a fad on the internet and social media. This diet promises slimness, fitness and longer life.

Harvard diet

The Harvard diet gets its name from the fact that researchers from the Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health created it. This diet aims to enhance the life expectancy of those who adopt and adhere to this diet. It is the latest craze on the internet with people trying it on themselves.

It was in 2011 that this diet was designed. Its other name is Harvard’s Healthy Eating Plate diet. It serves as a base or guide to develop more balanced and healthier meals for the day. The diet recommends to have more fresh fruits and vegetables and to eat high protein foods such as whole grains and lean animal protein such as chicken, fish and unprocessed meat.

Half of the plate should be fruits and vegetables. Add color and variety to your meals. One-fourth plate should be whole grains. Quinoa, whole wheat, oats, barley, brown rice and foods made from these grains count. And the remaining one fourth plate should be protein sources. Animal protein, nuts, seeds, legumes, lentils, pulses come in this category.

More details of this diet

Besides stressing on fresh fruits, vegetables, and lean protein, the diet advises to avoid sugary foods and beverages. And though it encourages people to eat vegetables, it does not want them to have more of white potatoes. This is because the developers of this diet feel that more than the amount of carbs consumed in a day, it is important to consume the right type of carbs. And white potatoes can adversely affect blood sugar levels.

As regards fats, the emphasis is on healthy fats and oils. These include olive oil, sunflower, canola, peanut, soy, corn etc. Avoid partially hydrogenated fats since they have trans fats in them.

The experts from this Harvard Nutrition School strongly believe that changing one’s eating habits a bit can help overcome chronic health conditions that lower life expectancy and increase likelihood of early deaths.

Thus this diet can help to decrease chances of chronic illnesses such as cancer, diabetes, major acquired heart diseases and the like. With this, a person can live longer and have a quality of life.

Water is essential

In place of the sugary beverages, the diet experts advise people to drink more of plain water. One can have tea and coffee that is unsweetened. They can opt for water filled fruits and vegetables. Moreover, the salt, sugar and saturated fats intake should be kept low and below the recommended limits for each food component. Alcohol should be nil or in moderation. One should have adequate minerals and vitamins.

The diet advises that people should aim to attain and maintain normal weight for age and height. They should stay active and do regular exercises.

Also, read Sea moss: nutritional facts and claimed health benefits!

This diet is based on the latest evidence based diet science. And as new information unfolds in the field of Nutrition, this diet would be accordingly updated to reflect the new ideas and findings.