The MIND Diet is consistently in the top 5 diets ranked by U.S. News & World Report and #1 for best diet for brain health in 2025. So, maybe you have heard of it. In this article I’m going to compare and contrast the MIND diet with the Hallelujah Diet. What I really want you to understand are the principles for an ultra-healthy way of eating, not just the rules and meal plans for a particular diet, whether you follow the MIND diet or the Hallelujah Diet. It turns out that they have much in common, but I will reserve my judgment until the end of the article.
What is the MIND Diet?
The MIND Diet is a combination of the Mediterranean Diet and the DASH Diet (Dietary Approaches to Stop Hypertension). The acronym stands for Mediterranean-DASH Intervention for Neurodegenerative Delay, but it points to this diet being designed with it being good for the mind and brain health. It was developed by the late Dr. Martha Clare Morris and colleagues at Rush University. Her goal was to use dietary interventions to reduce the risk of Alzheimer’s and other neurodegenerative diseases. The MIND diet emphasizes leafy greens and berries and other plant-based foods and limits the use of animal product foods and sweets.
What is the Hallelujah Diet?
The Hallelujah Diet, created by the late Rev. George Malkmus, is a Biblically inspired 85% raw / 15% cooked vegan diet. The aim of the Hallelujah Diet is to model our modern diet after what we believe was man’s original diet given in Genesis 1:29. Amends are used to account for the lower nutritional content of modern foods, such as drinking vegetable juice and including cooked foods. The focus on raw, living foods is to help nourish the body at the cellular level and support the body’s self-healing capacity that is built in by our Creator. There is no focus on a particular disease with the Hallelujah Diet, as the same optimal diet tends to bring order to the body and self-healing from all ailments. Bernie Siegel, author of Love, Medicine and Miracles, quipped, “There is no such thing as an incurable disease, only incurable people.” George Malkmus counted more than 170 different ailments that had been reversed or improved by the Hallelujah Diet.
What are the Similarities Between the MIND and Hallelujah Diet?
Emphasis on Plant Foods
The MIND diet prioritizes plant-based foods such as leafy green vegetables, other vegetables, berries as the primary fruit, whole grains, nuts, and beans.
The Hallelujah diet focuses on raw vegetables, raw fruits, vegetable juice, nut, seeds, and then a little bit of cooked plant foods like whole grains, legumes, steamed vegetables and so on in moderation for about 15% of the diet.
Both diets promote a high intake of nutrient-dense, minimally processed plant foods which are rich in fiber, phytonutrients, and antioxidants.
Elimination of Processed Foods
The MIND diet limits processed foods including sweets, fried foods, and refined grains to protect brain health.
The Hallelujah diet also eliminates processed foods, refined sugars, white flour products, highly processed vegetable oils, and artificial ingredients. These are all seen as “toxic” to the body.
Seed Oils
The MIND diet recommends only extra virgin olive oil for salads and cooking. Butter and margarine are discouraged.
The Hallelujah Diet likewise says to avoid processed vegetable oils, without eliminating flax seed oil and other cold-pressed seed oils. Extra virgin olive oil and coconut oil are the main recommended oils.
Animal products
Red meat, processed meat, butter and cheese and other foods that are high in saturated fats are discouraged on the MIND diet. It does allow the use of poultry and recommends at least one serving of fish a week.
Animal products such as meat, dairy, and eggs are all completely excluded from the Hallelujah Diet. (The only exception is the use of fish oil for the provision of EPA and DHA.)
Health Goals Beyond Weight Loss
The MIND diet targets brain health and cognitive function. It is good for other things as well, as the Mediterranean diet and DASH diet are both good for cardiovascular health, metabolic syndrome, diabetes, and longevity. But the focus is on brain health.
The goal of the Hallelujah Diet is to enhance overall wellness, boost immunity, and reverse chronic diseases through nourishing the body at the cellular level. Maintaining a normal body weight is just a nice side effect of feeding the body what it needs to thrive.
What Are the Differences Between the MIND and Hallelujah Diet?
Flexible or Intense?
The MIND diet is really a very healthy flexitarian diet. The emphasis is on whole grains, leafy greens, and berries as the preferred fruit, but it includes some animal products, especially poultry and fish. The flexitarian diet approach makes the MIND diet more practical for everyday life for more people including dining out, vacations, and special occasions.
The Hallelujah Diet is more intense and can appear to be more rigid. There are no animal products permitted on the Hallelujah Diet. It takes more work to prepare food on the Hallelujah Diet because of the raw salads and juicing and raw food prep in general (though blenders can help a lot). When you eat your cooked food in the day is very flexible, but should be limited to just about 1 serving a day. The intensity is especially important when a person is facing a life-threatening condition.
Role of Supplements
The nutrition on the MIND diet is derived from food with no specific recommendations of individual supplements. The people behind the diet are probably not against supplements; they just aren’t part of the MIND diet.
The Hallelujah Diet recommends supplements to fill in nutritional gaps and potential deficiencies such as B12. Many of these deficiencies are found in all diets. For example, vitamin D3 and K2, iodine, and DHA are shortfall nutrients in everyone’s diet. As a result of the supplements, people following Hallelujah Diet’s recommendation get optimized amounts of all known nutrients.
A Diet or A Lifestyle?
The MIND diet focuses only on food. It is a guide for what to eat.
The Hallelujah Diet includes a holistic lifestyle, of which food is only a part. Rejuvenating sleep, fresh air and sunshine, social engagement, an active lifestyle with lots of movement for strength and flexibility, and detoxification methods are encouraged. Biblical patterns for dealing with stress, bitterness, anger and negative emotions as well as confronting life’s disappointments and tragedies are encouraged. Body soul, and spirit must be well and in harmony for optimal health to be realized.
What Do I Think of The MIND Diet?
Here’s my opinion, for what it is worth.
I think the MIND diet is one of the best distillations of the common research that is out there on diet and neurodegenerative disease. It is simpler than the Wahl’s Protocol, which is also a very nutrient dense diet, but of the paleo genre. The flexitarian approach makes it easy for people to adopt the principles of health eating without having to throw out entire categories of food. It is pretty close, in many ways, to what we want people to do with the Hallelujah Diet. The MIND diet isn’t a ketogenic diet or paleo diet, which makes it easier for more people do adopt.
My main issue is that the MIND diet doesn’t go far enough, in my opinion; it is a huge step in the right direction. If people get even that much right about their diet we would have a lot less disease in the world. But if you are a person who wants it all, don’t stop with the MIND diet.
Wrapping It Up
The MIND diet is a mostly plant-based diet, but more flexitarian than the Hallelujah Diet. The focus on leafy greens and berries is commendable. It is a great step, but optimal health usually requires more effort than what is required to follow the MIND diet. For someone who isn’t quite ready to adopt the Hallelujah Diet, the MIND diet would be a great place to start.
What do you think? Have you tried it? Have you recommended the MIND diet to someone else who thinks the Hallelujah Diet is too radical?