ABSTRACT
Dietary intervention for obese patients with cardiovascular disease (CVD) presents a challenge because of the many different diets available to promote weight loss and to improve blood lipid levels. Weight-loss diets can be classified as low-calorie diet (LCD), defined as providing 800 to 1500 cal/day, or very low calorie diet (VLCD), defined as providing 800 cal or less per day. It is beyond the scope of this chapter to cover every weight-loss and/or lipid-lowering diet. This chapter will review the following LCDs: the National Cholesterol Education Project (NCEP) diet, the Dietary Approaches to Stop Hypertension (DASH) diet, glycemic index (GI), plant-based diets, and the post-gastric bypass diet; VLCDs will also be reviewed.
