Atkins Diet: The high-fat, high-protein, high-profile and low-carbohydrate diet. This means you can eat meats, cheese, eggs, poultry, fats and oils. It restricts carb in food such as grains, fruits and veggies. Less popular since Dr Atkins died of a heart attack!
Zone Diet: Means eating the "right" foods, which, in this case they say, is 40% carb, 30% protein and 30% fat.
GI Diet: This stand for "Glyvemic Index". In a nutshell this looks at the effect of carbohydrates on blood glucose levels, ranks them and then compares them gram for gram to other foods. Don't worry about the maths, or what to eat, simply follow their page-by-page "traffic light" guide. Where oat bran is considered bad/red and jellybeans good/green. Go figure.
GL Diet: " Glycemic Load" is an adapted easier version of the GI way of life. This diet is less restrictive than GI and takes the carb content and the portion size of our food into account. This says you don't need to cut carbs completely, so in theory is not totally antisocial.
Weight Watchers: This is an old faithful- the low- to moderate-fat diet plan where emphasis is on portion size and calorie control, measuring by allocating points to foods. This diet is often supported with diet meetings and public "weigh-ins" and if it's good enough for the Duchess of York it's worth considering!
Ornish Diet: The opposite to the Atkins. Well, we're all different, aren't we? This is a very low fat diet which allows a complex mix of carbs, a little meat, dairy and next to no fat.
Blood Group Diet: Working with the make-up of the four blood types, this prescribes a diet specific to your blood type. It promises you will lose weight and improve your digestion. The theory here is certain foods react negatively with components in certain blood types and are best avoided. First things first : find out what blood type you are and see if the menu appeal.
The Macrobiotics Diet: Supposedly Gwyneth Paltrow's choice of diet (and who wouldn't want to look as fabulous as her?) But it's a no-messing, low-fat, high-fibber diet of whole grains, vegetables, sea algae-yuk- and (bird) seeds, prepared in accordance with specific principles. Good grief. It is said to synchronize eating habits with the cycles of nature. Hard core, not for the faint-hearted.
The Popcorn Diet: Rumoured to have been tried by Madonna but one that's not generally recommended. They say that popcorn is high-fibber, low fat and readily available it's a solution in itself. Well, that seems easy enough, especially if you love going to the cinema, but in reality it should be just one part of a low-fat diet.
