Adherence

Focusing on diet quality (logging food categories like fruits, vegetables, whole grains, and limiting red/processed meat and sugary drinks) significantly improves dietary scores and reduces 20-year cardiovascular risk, even without detailed calorie counting or weight loss.

Instead of obsessing over calories, focus on logging your food categories. Aim to increase servings of fruits, vegetables, whole grains, and nuts, while limiting red meat, processed meat, and sugary drinks. Use a simple app to track these categories rather than detailed nutritional breakdowns. This approach reduces the mental burden of tracking and has been shown to significantly improve your diet quality and reduce your 20-year cardiovascular risk, even if you don't lose weight immediately.