DASH diet has been named the best overall diet for the third consecutive year, according to a report by U.S. News.

The publication evaluated 29 diets. To be among the best, a diet had to be simple, easy-to-follow- safe, nutritious and effective in management of weight loss and diabetes.

DASH or Dietary Approaches to Stop Hypertension, U.S. News said, was developed for high blood pressure. The diet got high marks for "its nutritional completeness, safety, ability to prevent or control diabetes, and role in supporting heart health."

"Our goal is to point people to the best diet no matter what their goal is. Dieting sounds so dreadful, but it doesn't have to be that way at all," said ," Angela Haupt, health and wellness editor of U.S. News and World Report, told ABC News. Haupt added that some people just want to lower their cholesterol levels and not really reduce their waistlines.

The publication added that the diet is known to increase the "good HDL cholesterol" in the body and lower the amounts of "bad LDL cholesterol". The diet recommends high fruit and vegetable consumption and low intake of saturated fats, salt and sugar.

Weight Watchers Diet was listed as the best diet in the weight-loss category while other popular diets like the "biggest loser diet", "Jenny Craig" and "Raw Food Diet" were tied up at second spot in the weight loss category.

Haupt also said that for long term weight loss, people need to make small changes to their lifestyle that they can sustain.

"Fad diets aren't realistic, they aren't nutritious and some are flat-out unhealthy. Take the feeding tube diet," Haupt told ABC News, referring to the Ketogenic Nutrition, or K-E diet where weight loss is achieved by using a feeding to pump a blended mixture of food in the body 24 hours a day for 10 days, "Nobody should be doing this, and you don't have to," Haupt added.

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