The Atkins Ornish South Beach Zone Diet

In the June 21, 2004 issue of TIME magazine, in an article titled The Atkins Ornish South Beach Zone Diet, (pg. 62) Dean Ornish, M.D., covers 13 points of "real convergnce" in the "diet wars."

1. Avoid trans-fatty acids and partially hydrogenated fats ("bad fats")
2. Consume some Omega-3 fatty acids every day ("good fats")
3. Eat fewer "bad carbs" like sugar and white flour
4. Eat more "good carbs" like fruits, vegetables, legumes, and unrefined grains such as whole-wheat flour and brown rice
5. Calories count [as in calorie balance is the only thing that leads to actual weight loss]
6. What you include in your diet is as important as what you exclude
7. Lose weight in a way that enhances health rather than harms it
8. Energy balance is important
9. Exercise more
10. Eat less red meat
11. Begin by making moderate changes in your diet
12. Talk to supliers
13. Choose quality over quantity

Any thoughts/opinions about this?

That looks like a much healthier guideline for eating then the South Beach or Atkins meat only diet. There's a nice book from Harvard University titled 'Eat, Drink, Be Healthy' that discusses the no-carb diets, and carbs in general.

The long and short is to avoid fatty foods, and refined sugars. Use whole wheat pasta, whole wheat bread, brown rice, etc. The reason to avoid the refined sugars is because they cause a very rapid sugar spike, which causes the body to start storing the extra food (as fat) by releaseing insulin. When the sugar level in the blood drops quickly because all of the extra insulin, you get hungry, and want to eat again.

After reading that book, I stopped eating all of the white rice that comes with a chinese restaurant meal and noticed I wasn't hungry in an hour. I found that amazing!

Alice

My boyfriend has been following the South Beach Diet for about.... 7 months now? It follows much of those guidelines that you mentioned and it's not meat only. : )

It has actually helped everyone in our house's eating habits. In fact, he has lost 35 lbs. with very little exercise. The South Beach Diet was no actually designed as a weight loss diet, it was designed to help those with pre-diabetes get their insulin under control and had the added benefit of weight loss.

We still indulge from time to time but he doesn't gain weight immediately from eating it because his metabolism has changed and so has the way he processes food.

I worked with a guy that did the South Beach Diet and all he ate was meat. No rice, no bread, and no pasta. Isn't that what the diet is? Or was he just flipso?

No, Atkins is more focused on all meat. South Beach focuses on good carbs and lean meats. We have the book and the food guide here at home. My boyfriend read it cover to cover before starting on it. I think some people confuse the two diets when they haven't read about them. He unfortunately probably just had heard the general premise behind each and decided to just say he was on the South Beach Diet.

SBD is much different than Atkins, and IMO much more healthy. It's more of an overall healthy way of eating rather than a "diet" per se. Emphasis on lean meats, whole grains, unprocessed food, lots of veggies, little or no simple carbs like refined sugars and white flour.

I flirted with it on and off for awhile, but currently am having more weight loss success with Weight Watchers. However, I do still believe that SBD is an excellent way to eat healthy long-term.

*laughs* I couldn't even say it -- let alone do it!!!!!

Thanks for this information I am going to have to follow this my husband has to be on a low carb diet and I really don't have any recipes to follow or anything. But this has helped me out alot.
Thanks