South Beach Diet vs Zone Diet: How Do They Compare?

The Cardiologist and the Biochemist

Developed by cardiologist, Dr. Arthur Agatston, The South Beach Diet was developed to help his heart disease patients lose weight and control cholesterol levels by limiting the consumption of certain carbohydrates, starches, and fat. He believes that bad carbs, as defined by ranking high on the glycemic index, tend to affect your blood sugar faster, which stimulates your appetite, causing you to eat too much and gain weight. This weight gain contributes to heart disease and other health problems.

The Zone Diet is described as a synergistic anti-inflammatory dietary plan. Developed by biochemist Dr. Barry Sears, the Zone approach is to reduce levels of silent inflammation, which makes the body gain excess weight. Dr. Sears believes that hormones must be re-balanced in order to reverse this silent inflammation. This is done by triggering the release of certain hormones in your gastrointestinal tract that tells the brain to stop eating. By boosting these hormones quickly, it increases satiety, thereby reducing hunger and you eat less.

A Short survey of South Beach Diet vs Zone Diet

• Both diets encourages three meals and two snacks every day. Neither is intended to be a calorie-deficient diet.
• Both have a 2-week induction phase which cause rapid weight loss. After that, you can expect to lose about 1 to 2 pounds a week on either diet.
• Both diets are very restrictive about high glycemic index foods such as grains and sugars.
• The source of the foods is another difference between the South Beach Diet vs the Zone Diet: The South Beach plan does not require you to purchase any pre-package meals, though they do make snack and meal replacement bars. You can get “into the Zone” without purchasing the program’s food, but if you do, the shipment contains carb items for a two-week period, though you will supply the bulk of the meal.
• The Zone’s 2-week ZoneFast™ Package Program includes foods such as breads, bagels, cookies, and pasta – all of which are off-limits in Phase 1 on South Beach. The SB plan restricts carbs during the first two weeks and gradually re-introduces of them in Phase 2.
• Balanced by a ratio of 40-30-30 (40% carbohydrates, 30% protein, and 30% fats), a meal on the Zone diet will not exceed 500 calories, and the snacks should be under 100 calories each. The South Beach plan does not require you to count calories or carb grams.
• As for potential dangers resulting from either diet, the results are unknown. The South Beach Diet vs the Zone diet has no clear winner, since neither has been tested in controlled clinical studies.

South Beach vs Zone: What the Doctors Say About Their Diets

Dr. Agatston: “We are really trying to control hunger, not count calories. Americans are overweight by and large because of the types of carbohydrates we are eating. The main idea of the

Dr. Barry Sears says that eating the 40-30-30 ratio of carbs, proteins, and fats at each meal keeps the body in “the Zone” for approximately five hours. If you eat regularly, including the snacks, so that the longest time between meals is only 2 or 2½ hours, you can spend a lifetime in the Zone, which is the optimum level for your body to be engaged in continually processing blood sugar and staying at peak performance.

Different Diets – Same Goal

Both South Beach diet vs Zone diet work on the theory that one can quell hunger by maintaining stable blood sugar levels which is achieved by eating a diet that doesn’t cause carb cravings. And when this is achieved, it is easier to eat less calories because you aren’t hungry. On either diet, you eat every 2½ hours, but have consumed fewer carbohydrates that produce excess insulin. (More insulin drives down blood sugar levels, which causes you to feel hungry again.) These diets are both designed by professionals to help you reach your weight loss goals. Since no diet is right for everyone, you should carefully consider the South Beach diet vs the Zone diet to decide which is right for you.

Compare Diet Plans - The South Beach Diet vs. Other Popular Diets

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