Earlier I was answering a reader who was asking about whether to go on the Atkins or South Beach diet. Here’s another consideration I’d raise for him to think about:
One thing that you don’t mention in your list but that may be
important is the fact that you are a guy. After reading lots of diet
books, it has become clear to me that certain diets are better suited
to "guy psychology" and others to "gal psychology." In other words,
guys and gals will find certain diets easier to do than others. For
example, diets that require more complicated cooking tend to be easier
for women than men on average, since women are more comfortable doing
complicated cooking on average.
The most extreme "gal" diet I’ve yet encountered is the Fat Flush diet,
which is so female-centered that the author doesn’t even bother writing
the book for both sexes. Instead, the author writes exclusively on the
assumption that the person doing the diet is female and then, at the
back of the book, has a single question devoted to "Can guys do
this diet?" It’s also clear from the nature of the diet why the writes so exclusively for
women. It’s not just that most dieters are women, it’s that the diet is
so micro-regimented that very few guys doing their own cooking would be willing to attempt it .
Guy dieters tend to have more of a "Just tell me what I need to know
and let me get on with it" attitude and don’t want to have to deal with
complicated menu plans or cooking.
Judged by that standard, Atkins is
more of a "guy" diet, and South Beach is more of a "gal" diet (though
nowhere near as much as Fat Flush).
Don’t get me wrong: Both genders can do perfectly well on both
diets. Many men may even prefer South Beach to Atkins (particularly if
they aren’t doing all of their own cooking), and many women may prefer Atkins
to South Beach (particularly if they are cooking for just themselves
and don’t want to make a lot of speciality dishes for just one person).
I’m simply saying that, on average, I suspect Atkins fits a little
better with guy diet psychology and South Beach fits a bit better with
gal diet psychology.
You mileage may vary.
Hi Jimmy!
At the end of two weeks of the Atkins diet, I felt as though I were sweating beef tallow. All I wanted was a cracker. My partner’s blood sugar dropped to hypoglycemic levels and we both determined that Atkins was not for us.
South Beach, however, allowed us both to drop weight safely and in a relatively brief time. Of course, we’re both especially enthusiastic about cooking our own food, so I guess that might also be another reason why the diet worked so well for us.
Since I know about Atkins and the principles, that is what I am doing and it is going well for me. I lost 15 pounds the first week almost effortlessly with no major hunger pangs! I am really big so it’s not as excessive as it sounds. Possibly if I knew about South Beach I would do well on it. My husband is definitely an Atkins person.