Looking to change up your diet in the new year? Go Mediterranean.

The diet focused on fruits and vegetables, healthy fats, and lean meats like fish is the best of 2019, according to rankings released on Wednesday from "U.S. News and World Report."

Eating Mediterranean means embracing more plant-based foods, healthier oils like olive, as well as whole grains and lean meat. The rankings also list Mediterranean as the best for overall healthy eating and the easiest to follow.

"It’s really healthy, balanced, (and) considered nutritionally complete," said Angela Haupt, assistant managing editor of health at U.S. News.

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Last year, the Mediterranean diet tied with the DASH diet, short for Dietary Approaches to Stop Hypertension, the government-backed plan aimed at helping followers lower their blood pressure.

This year, Haupt said research tying the Mediterranean diet to longer, healthier living propelled it to the top.

"It’s a really nice example of the potential to love food that loves you back," said Dr. David L. Katz, founding director of Yale University’s Prevention Research Center and founder/president of the True Health initiative.

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Katz was among a group of nutrition experts who participated in a panel for U.S. News to evaluate 41 different diets based on categories including weight loss and effectiveness against diseases such as diabetes.

Mediterranean also ranked as the best for diabetes and heart health.

The DASH diet finished second overall. The flexitarian diet, a modified vegetarian diet where users eat animal products in moderation, ranked third, followed by the MIND diet, a variation on the Mediterranean or DASH diets emphasizing foods good for brain health.

For people hoping to shed pounds in 2019, the rankings show Weight Watchers as the top weight loss diet overall, followed by Volumetrics — which categorizes foods based on energy density — and the flexitarian diet.

Haupt said diets such as Weight Watchers or the popular Keto diet, a high-fat, low-carb way of eating, work better for weight loss because they're "more restrictive of calories than other plans."

Haupt notes the important thing when choosing a diet is being honest with how you eat and choosing a plan that best fits your preferences.

"No one diet is right for every single person," she said. "You really have to think about what is best for you."

Follow Brett Molina on Twitter: @brettmolina23.