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4 min read<\/p>\n4 min read<\/p>\n
IF YOU ASK <\/strong>registered dietitians<\/a> what is the best diet for men, you\u2019ll be met with a chorus of \u201cnone!\u201d That\u2019s obviously not what a guy wants to hear if they\u2019re looking for ways to get healthy or bulk up<\/a>.<\/p>\n So we went back and asked a different question. What\u2019s a good diet for guys looking to get shredded, sleep better, keep their heart healthy\u2026you get the gist. This one sparked some discussion, and it moved the needle away from the no-carbs-no-cookies-no-joy restrictive diet convo to something more goal-oriented.<\/p>\n \u201cWe must always provide the \u2018why\u2019 before one is willing to try,\u201d says Leslie Bonci, MPH, RDN<\/a>, former sports dietitian to the Kansas City Chiefs and owner of Active Eating Advice. On top of what\u2019s your end goal, Bonci says you want a flavorful diet you can start\u2014and stick to\u2014for a long time.<\/p>\n Below, our Men\u2019s Health nutrition advisors consult on what makes a ‘good’ diet, and a few of their favorites.<\/p>\n First, What Makes a ‘Good’ Diet? <\/p>\n LIKE MANY THINGS<\/strong> in the realm of nutrition, the answer isn\u2019t etched in stone.<\/p>\n As Dezi Abeyta, RD<\/a>, founder of Foodtalk Nutrition, says, the concept of “good versus bad” in diets is nuanced and can’t be simplified into black-and-white categories.<\/p>\n \u201cWe must consider factors like access to food, education, money, and cultural differences,\u201d he adds. Now if we were to categorize by quality diets and those with \u201croom for improvement,\u201d here\u2019s how he would define things. \u201cA quality diet is accessible, diverse, protein-rich<\/a>, plant-forward, and consistent. It includes colorful fruits and vegetables, fiber, and omega-rich fats.”<\/p>\n Here\u2019s another aspect to consider: is your diet sustainable? If you don\u2019t have enough variety for different meals or ingredients are too expensive, it won\u2019t work for you in the long term. \u201cA diet with room for improvement often lacks access to nutrient-rich foods, education on nutrition, and consistency in protein intake. It also tends to be high in added sugars and highly processed foods,\u201d Abeyta says.<\/p>\n Of course, life is all about moderation. Food included. The occasional cookie or cheeseburger isn\u2019t going to derail your overall health goals.<\/p>\n 6 Diets for Men, According to RDsFlexitarian plant-based diet for better performance<\/p>\n Abeyta calls the flexitarian plant-based diet one of the best diets for men aiming for performance. This \u201csemi-vegetarian lifestyle,\u201d emphasizes plant-based food options most of the time, but also leaves some room to enjoy the occasional meat-lover plate<\/a>.<\/p>\n With a higher focus on beans, nuts, whole grains, and produce, you’ll likely see massive benefits with the inclusion of micronutrients, fiber, and overall advantageous distributions of macronutrients. Abeyta says this nutrient-packed combination is linked to reduced risk of Type 2 diabetes and heart disease.<\/p>\n Balance performance diet for muscle growth and recovery<\/p>\n Another top pick for Abeyta. This diet emphasizes ample protein intake<\/a> (between 1.7 and 2.0 grams per kilogram of your body weight per day, in fact), strategic caloric and macronutrient distribution throughout the day, and prioritizing anti-inflammatory foods. Altogether, this diet supports muscle growth<\/a>, sustained energy, and optimal recovery.<\/p>\n This diet does so \u201call while emphasizing quality sleep, stress relief strategies, as well as a strength program that allows you to have some sort of progressive overload,\u201d he says.<\/p>\n Eating around the world diet to close nutrient gaps<\/p>\n Abeyta promotes this global eating regimen, as \u201cincorporating diverse cultural cuisines into your diet, enhances flavor, boosts overall nutrient intake, reduces the risk of deficiencies, and promotes better health outcomes.\u201d<\/p>\n Embracing foods from various cultures<\/a> provides a broader array of essential nutrients, combats nutrient gaps, and fosters a greater appreciation for global culinary traditions, ultimately contributing to optimal health markers like cholesterol levels<\/a>, blood pressure, and body weight.<\/p>\n Mediterranean-style diet for better overall health<\/p>\n Bonci appreciates the emphasis on produce and beans on this well-researched<\/a>, healthy diet as it contains \u201cfoods that have fiber and help one fill up, not out.\u201d<\/p>\n A Mediterranean-style diet<\/a> focuses more on fish than other animal proteins, eggs, olive oil, and whole-grain breads. Most importantly, this diet fills you up and leaves you satisfied. \u201cProtein is a side rather than front and center, but meals are hearty, provide \u2018the chew,\u2019 and staying power,\u201d says Bonci.<\/p>\n Intermittent fasting to prevent overeating<\/p>\n New to the IF or intermittent fasting<\/a> bandwagon?<\/p>\n \u201cIntermittent fasting is basically time-restricted eating, where you only eat within a designated window of time during the day,\u201d says Bonci. \u201cShortening the hours one chooses to eat can be easier to follow than changing the foods one eats.\u201d<\/p>\n Studies have found that weight-loss friendly plans<\/a> like IF work better for those who tend to overconsume at night as they are eliminating the excess calories, but not depriving themselves during the day.<\/p>\n Volumetrics for weight loss<\/p>\n Want to eat more and still lose weight<\/a>? Volumetrics may be for you.<\/p>\n Volumetrics is a plan that lowers the energy density (or caloric content) of meals by increasing the liquid content of your meals with salads, soups, stews, chilis, etc. Bonci says some key advantages of this diet are the visual appearance of more food on your plate and feeling full longer since these foods take up more room in the gut.<\/p>\n \u201cThe beauty of volumetrics is that the plate\/bowl is not tiny, but the calories are lower since some are displaced by having a higher fluid content,\u201d says Bonci. \u201cPlus, foods such as soups, stews, and salads require a utensil and take longer to eat.\u201d This principle can also be applied to shakes where volume can increase with veggies, ice, frozen fruit, and yogurt without such a high-calorie cost.<\/p>\n Perri is a New York City-born and -based writer; she holds a bachelor\u2019s in psychology from Columbia University and is also a culinary school graduate of the plant-based Natural Gourmet Institute, which is now the Natural Gourmet Center at the Institute of Culinary Education. Her work has appeared in the New York Post, Men’s Journal, Rolling Stone, Oprah Daily, Insider.com, Architectural Digest, Southern Living, and more. She’s probably seen Dave Matthews Band in your hometown, and she’ll never turn down a bloody mary. Learn more at VeganWhenSober.com<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"4 min read IF YOU ASK registered dietitians what is the best diet for men, you\u2019ll be met…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":1120134,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","_share_on_mastodon":"0"},"categories":[4318],"tags":[305141,232270,17687,305142,1331,105,258961,1381,4434,229432,305140,291041,16,15],"class_list":["post-1120133","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-nutrition","tag-according-to-rds","tag-collection-diets","tag-content-type-how-to-service","tag-contentid-a33e415d-b11d-4473-a1ac-c4b94e3daef8","tag-displaytype-standard-article","tag-health","tag-issyndicated-false","tag-locale-us","tag-nutrition","tag-read_time-5","tag-shorttitle-6-diets-made-for-men","tag-sponsored-false","tag-uk","tag-united-kingdom"],"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@uk\/117009102787778519","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1120133","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1120133"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1120133\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/1120134"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1120133"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1120133"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1120133"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}![\"Headshot](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/bba99f41-f599-4411-be4a-d014d50f0701_1534360513.file.png\" "\\"Headshot")
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