Diets - which is the best diet? The South Beach and Zone diets

Check out what our nutritional expert has to say about the effectiveness of the The South Beach diet and the Zone diet.

The South Beach Diet
Created by Florida cardiologist Arthur Agatston as a pre-operative diet for his overweight cardiac patients, the South Beach Diet claims to offer all of the benefits of Atkins, but with much more freedom to eat the foods you really want.

Agatson is quick to point out that this is not a low-carb diet, but does reduce intake of the highly processed carbs currently dominating Western diets. Sound familiar?

The science bit
Hey, just read Atkins, on the previous page. There are barely any differences here. To be fair, there are some differences, mainly that carbohydrates tend to be allowed back in at higher quantities than for the Atkins diet. This partly accounts for the popularity of the diet, as it may not feel as restrictive or harsh as Atkins.

Does it work?
Yep! You'll definitely see weight loss with this one, too, for all the same reasons as Atkins. Carbohydrate and water depletion initially: dieters report losses of up to 16lbs in a week using this system. Sounds impressive, but it's all smoke and mirrors. Weight loss like this is very rarely, if ever, a reflection of the amount of fat you're losing.

Remember this basic rule: Easy go, easy come back… with interest!

The Zone Diet
The Zone Diet was originally developed by Barry Sears, PhD. According to Dr Sears there is an inherent genetic zone passed down by our forebears that optimises the consumption of fuel within our bodies.

The science bit
Sears argues that human evolution has changed our genetics relatively little over the last 100,000 years and, as such, the modern diet full of highly processed foods and grains is a strain on our digestive systems.

The diet calls for high protein, moderate fat and moderate carbohydrate intake to achieve its aim of weight loss. Sears claims that a ratio of 40% protein, 30% fat and 30% carbohydrate means we are eating much more in keeping with our actual genetic requirements for food.

Does it work?
Again, yes. The Zone diet appears to yield very favourable responses amongst its participants, with a huge flock of celebs now defecting from Atkins over to this more moderate system. But, hey, celebrities are a fickle lot, so what do they know?

The Zone diet puts forward some very convincing arguments, all of which make a great deal of sense. Where it falls down for me is this assumption that we're all genetically predisposed to eating the same ratio of foods, which clearly is not true. If it were, then Eskimos, who live on a diet that is 80% fat, would be extremely ill because of this. How does the Sears approach account for this? Just a few gaps!

The verdict...
So there you have it. Three of the most popular and widely used diets around today, all with plenty of science, plenty of celebs and plenty of testimonials to back them up.

The problem is that they all work! It's just that NONE of them work for everyone. There is no 'one size fits all' dietary approach that works for everyone. There can't possibly be.

The human animal comes in all shapes, all sizes, races, colours and regions of the Earth. Doesn't it seem preposterous then, that we're all trying to find 'the one' approach that will work for all of us? There is no such thing!

Basically, some of us are designed to eat high protein, some of us high fat and others high carb. For some of us shellfish make us sick, for others it's nuts. For some of us meat is the ultimate fuel that makes us feel fantastic, while for others all it takes is a piece of fruit. Bear this in mind the next time you're tempted to follow the latest 'in' diet and you'll be far happier as a result.

So what is the answer? Are we simply doomed to a life of trial and error, going from one diet to another to another? Well, that's one way you could do it, or you could take the time to learn about your own personal nutritional requirements and create your own diet. One that's unique to you alone.

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