The Zone vs. Jenny Craig - Which is the better diet for you?

We've reviewed both of these weight loss programs. Here's our breakdown: "The Zone Diet" is based on a book by "Zone" founder Barry Sears, "Enter the Zone." In his book, Mr. Sears proposes a "40/30/30" breakdown of all foods entering the body–that is, if 40% of calories come from carbohydrates, 30% from fats, and 30% from protein, then you are eating a "Zone Favorable" menu.

The book's premise is that if a diet follows that formula, insulin levels will reduce, and weight loss and fat burning will naturally result. However, this diet is not necessarily the best way to reduce insulin levels. The Zone Diet requires precise, time-consuming calculations at every meal, which many people find tedious and which interferes with busy schedules.

This is a liability to the diet–if people do not have the time to calculate every meal before they eat it (and who does have that kind of time?), they will not stay on the diet for very long. The Zone Diet has compensated for this problem by creating a line of "Zone Favorable Food Products", which is a far more expensive option than buying healthy, natural foods.

These are two reasons why we do not recommend The Zone Diet. A diet should not ask you to give up either time or money for the rest of your life.

The Jenny Craig Diet takes a more traditional approach to losing weight–eat less and exercise more. While this approach works for most people, Jenny Craig also asks for large amounts of money, for your "pre-packaged meals," for your "personal nutrition consultant," with whom you will be required to meet once a week while you are on the diet (telephone consultations are available, for the same price as a face-to-face meeting).

Jenny Craig's meals are primarily lower-calorie versions of traditional meals, with no surprises in the ingredients, and in our opinion most people would be better off learning to make them at home, or simply eating smaller portions of the meals they already make, than buying pre-packaged meals for an inflated price.

So on the Jenny Craig diet, you will eat less, exercise more, pay a nutrition counselor to keep you motivated, and buy expensive pre-packaged meals. Overall, we recommend against both of these diets. We think that participating in a diet that requires you to continually spend money for "special" foods is not a good long-term weight loss plan.

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