The Ornish Diet was created in 1977 by Dr. Dean Ornish - a clinical professor of medicine at the University of California, San Francisco, and founder of the nonprofit Preventive Medicine Research Institute in nearby Sausalito - to help people "feel better, live longer, lose weight and gain health." The diet is low in fat, refined carbohydrates and animal protein, which Ornish says makes it the ideal diet. But it's not just a diet: It also emphasizes exercise, stress management and relationships. On nutrition, for instance, Ornish categorizes food into five groups from most (group one) to least (group five) healthful. It's the difference, for example, between whole-grain bread and biscuits, between soy hot dogs and pork or beef ones. Ask yourself what groups tend to fill up your grocery cart, and decide how you want to fill it up. As for exercise, Ornish stresses aerobic activities, resistance training and flexibility; you decide what you do and when. To manage stress (long a core element of his program), you can call on deep breathing, meditation and yoga. Find a combination that works for you and set aside some time each day to practice. Finally, Ornish says that spending time with those you love and respect, and leaning on them for support, can powerfully affect your health in good ways.While followers can cater the plan to their goals - whether that's losing weight, lowering blood pressure or preventing cancer - the program to reverse heart disease is the one for which Ornish is best known since, as he says, it's the only scientifically proven program to do so in randomized controlled trials without drugs or surgery. If that's your aim, only 10% of calories can come from fat, very little of it saturated. Most foods with any cholesterol or refined carbohydrates, oils, excessive caffeine and nearly all animal products besides egg whites and one cup per day of nonfat milk or yogurt are banned, though the plan includes some seeds and nuts. Fiber and lots of complex carbohydrates are emphasized. Up to 2 ounces of alcohol a day are permitted. This regimen, combined with stress-management techniques, exercise, social support and smoking cessation, formed the basis of Ornish's landmark heart disease-reversal trial in the 1990s.U.S. News experts rank the diet highly in most categories - especially heart health - due in part to its solid evidence-base. The whole foods, plant-based diet is made up predominantly of fruits, vegetables, whole grains and legumes, minimally processed and low in fat, sugar and refined carbohydrates. But it's not just a diet: It also emphasizes exercise, stress management and relationships.