The Ornish diet is a low-fat, whole-food, plant-based diet designed primarily for cardiovascular health.
It emphasizes the consumption of fruits, vegetables, whole grains, legumes, and soy products, while severely restricting dietary fat intake to about 10% of total calories.
The diet excludes all animal products except for non-fat dairy and egg whites, and it avoids refined carbohydrates, oils, and excessive sugar.
The Ornish diet can lead to modest weight loss and improvements in cardiac risk factors, such as reductions in low-density lipoprotein (LDL) cholesterol and the LDL/high-density lipoprotein (HDL) cholesterol ratio.
The diet has also been associated with regression of coronary artery disease in some patients.
Overall, the Ornish diet is a comprehensive lifestyle intervention to improve cardiovascular health by a combination of dietary modifications, physical activity, stress reduction, and social support.
Diet of 80% carbohydrates and minimal consumption of animal protein fats.
The Ornish diet is a type of very low fat vegetarian diet which lipids contribute 10% to daily calories with a ratio of polyunsaturated to saturated fats of greater than one, and in which persons otherwise eat as desired.