[Veto!]

low-carbohydrate diets such as the Atkins, South Beach and The Zone.

On the contrary, the Zone is not a low-carb diet. It recommends plenty of carbs, almost too much to eat, but they are low-glycemic carbs like fruit and veggies, rather than high-glycemic carbs like pasta and bread. The Zone is an excellent balanced diet that works.

[Myrddin]

The Zone works for me IF I exercise constantly. I went from 216 to 162 in 1996 on the Zone. I also skated almost 60 miles per week (20 miles on each of 3 days. 15 miles was usually non-stop in around 66 minutes).

Moving to Idaho and 9-11-2001 took away the 5 mile paved loop of asphalt where I could skate. A section of that path crosses the dam over Miramar reservoir in San Diego. Now I follow Atkins and lift weights M-W-F. I can do that in my basement year 'round. My wife prefers the Nordic Track treadmill. I programmed that using shareware call I2Workout for a 45 minute walk at inclines of 2.5% to 10% and speeds of 2.5 MPH to 4.2 MPH. She lifts some weights too. We run off to Yellowstone National Park about every other week. Hiking at 7,500 to 8,500 above MSL gets your heart rate up a bit too.

[El Gato]

On the contrary, the Zone is not a low-carb diet. It recommends plenty of carbs, almost too much to eat, but they are low-glycemic carbs like fruit and veggies, rather than high-glycemic carbs like pasta and bread. The Zone is an excellent balanced diet that works.

Neither is Atkins a "low carb" diet by that measure. You count "net carbs", which exclude the low glycemic index stuff like fiber. One local Tex-Mex place went so far as to develope their own, made fresh on site, low net carb tortillas, which are in some ways tastier than the regular ones, with a 7 fold decrease in net carbs to less than 3 per tortilla. (And they only chage about a quarter extra for stuff made with them).