What does a healthy diet look like? What's the healthiest way to eat? It depends on whom you ask. Many medical and nutrition experts claim to know the "perfect" way to eat for health, yet some of these dietary advocates disagree with each other in some fundamental ways. So, who's right . . . and who's wrong? Get your copy of The Diet Review: 39 popular nutrition and weight-loss plans and the science (or lack of science) behind them   You have tremendous latitude in what goes into your daily diet—and the choices you make can have profound consequences for your health. But what diet should you choose? The range is truly dizzying. Just some of the diets you might encounter are vegan, pegan, and portfolio. Raw food, whole foods, and Whole 30. Keto, carnivore, and paleo. Clean eating and intermittent fasting. DASH, MIND, and Volumetrics. Mediterranean, Nordic, and Okinawan. What does it all mean? And how can you begin to make sense of it? This Special Health Report is here to help. The truth is that there is no single way to eat for good health. As a species, humans are quite similar on a genetic level, yet as individual specimens we can be amazingly diverse. That's why some people may feel great on a vegan diet while others prefer a paleo diet— two dietary patterns that would appear to be polar opposites. The paleo diet includes meat but excludes grains and legumes, while the vegan diet includes grains and legumes but excludes meat and other animal products. How can both diets work? When planned well, each diet includes lots of vegetables and minimizes highly processed foods. Those are the common denominators of a healthy diet. From there, you can fill in the blanks to suit your tastes and your unique physiological needs by adding your choice of high-quality fats (nuts, seeds, avocados, olive oil, fatty fish), carbohydrates (whole grains, fruit, starchy root vegetables), and plant- or animal-based protein (legumes, soy, fish, lean sustainably raised meat, poultry, eggs, dairy). It takes a varied diet to get the vitamins, minerals, fiber, and phytochemicals required for optimal health, but there are many combinations of foods that can get you to that goal. While everyone needs carbohydrates, fat, and protein, there is no "magic" ratio that you should be striving for, as long as you avoid extremes. In fact, a number of recent studies have found that the quality of the food you eat—particularly emphasizing whole foods over processed food—is more important than whether it's low-fat, low-carb, or somewhere in between. Image: nd3000/Getty Images Share this story:

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The Diet Review: 39 popular nutrition and weight-loss plans and the science (or lack of science) behind them Featured content: • PART 1: THE BIG PICTURE • PART 2: EVALUATING POPULAR DIET PLANS • Low-carbohydrate diets • Paleo-type diets • Plant-forward diets • Intermittent fasting • Clean eating Click here to read more »