From: Bart (cache22.ipsmodems.com)
Subject: You are missing something
Date: October 11, 1999 at 09:04:03 PST

In Reply to: Zone Diet vs. Atkins--Isn't the Zone actually a healthy option? posted by Parker on October 07, 1999 at 19:50:00:

What you are missing is that you're trying to determine the lesser of two evils, which one will take longer to kill you. The answer is: it doesn't matter. An unhealthy diet is unhealthy, period. Yes, Sears is a super low calorie diet (which he himself does not adhere to, if you've seen him at 230 pounds -- not likely if you were consuming 1400 calories a day for four years, as per his diet). The problem is that you're eating terrible foods, known to be associated with all the major degenerative diseases plaguing modern countries consuming these foods. And then of course, Sears has no longterm data showing that people can actually eat this way over a long period. Most people simply go on his diet for as long as they can stand it, lose weight (sure, ketosis works!), their metabolism slows down (to compensate for the perceived starvation), they eventually go off the diet (hey, I lost the weight I wanted to lose!), they begin eating more calories but their metabolism is still slow and takes a couple months to adjust, the weight comes back on (it always does on those diets), and meanwhile they've lost kidney function, muscle mass (including around their heart), their cholesterol and other biomarkers rise as they've made no fundamental change to a healthier diet. They just lost weight on the short term, and mortagaged some of their health and longevity to do so.

The better solution is a plant-based diet naturally lower in calories (you know, eat more, but fewer calories to get full, and get the known protection against a variety of diseases which plant substances are shown to provide), regular exercise, stress reduction and to avoid gimmicks intended to get a diet guru rich.

So is Sears less harmful than Atkins? Are you likely to get cancer, heart disease, osteoporosis, diabetes and stroke SOONER with Atkins than Sears? Who cares! The point is they'll both continue leading you toward illness, not away.