The New Nordic Diet

Diets that eliminate a whole food group or emphasize a single food (think cabbage or grapefruit) never stick. Why? They don’t teach you sustainable ways to change your approach to eating. But here’s one trendy diet that does: The New Nordic Diet can help you shed a significant amount of weight without your having to torture yourself, according to a new study in the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition.

A spin on the classic Mediterranean diet, the New Nordic Diet is built around not one or two, but 15 food groups: fruit and vegetables (especially berries, cabbage, root vegetables, and legumes), potatoes, fresh herbs, plants and mushrooms ideally gathered from the wild, nuts, whole grains, wild meat, fish, shellfish, and seaweed. The plan emphasizes going organic and is known for being environmentally friendly.

Guidlines include: taking in more calories from plants and fewer from meat; boosting your intake of food from seas and lakes, such as fish, shellfish, and seaweed; and choosing food that comes from the wild, rather than a farm, whenever possible. Why? Wild fruit and vegetables have been shown to be more nutrient-dense than farm-grown produce, and wild meat (for example, game meat) tends to be naturally lean. Free-range meat is a good alternative. 

In the study, people were assigned to follow either the New Nordic Diet or a diet rich in refined grains, processed food, and sugar. After 26 weeks, the Nordic group had dropped 7 pounds more than the less-healthy eaters and showed greater reductions in hip and waist circumferences, body fat, and blood pressure.

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As an added bonus, the New Nordic Diet is designed to be “highly palatable” (that is, delicious), and people in the study were allowed to consume as much of the Nordic foods as they wanted. In fact, the researchers say this was not intended to be a weight-loss study—they just wanted to look at the overall health effects of following the New Nordic Diet—but that the participants likely shed excess lard because the recommended foods are super-satisfying and high in fiber.

The takeaway: Deprivation is not the answer if you hope to lose weight for the long haul. But choosing to fill up on nutrient-dense, filling foods that you love—like the New Nordic Diet recommends—can help the weight come off.  

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