optimum health: paleo or zone?

[Rich Krauss]

I'm a little confused....what is the consensus for optimum health, paleo or zone diet?

[George Mounce]

Zone diet using Paleo guidelines. Paleo is more about choices, Zone is about macronutrient proportions. They complement each other.

[Jay Cohen]

Originally Posted by Rich Krauss

I'm a little confused....what is the consensus for optimum health, paleo or zone diet?

Both good. Do some digging on CF boards along with Google. Ultimately, decision will be based on what works for you, not what works for others.
BTW, optimum health is not only tied to diet, but numerous other factors.

Jay

[George Mounce]

Jay hit it right on the head, nutrition is the base, but after you are eating right, you need to do something!

[Craig Brown]

It's whatever you will do. I'm a believer in the 80% rule...so whatever is solid, that you will be solid on 80% of the time or better, is what will work best AND be liveable for the long haul.

[Garrett Smith]

Prioritize the Paleo-type foods. Use the Zone (or don't) to figure out how much of each macronutrient to eat.

Bad foods are bad foods, no matter how much you eat of them (grains, dairy, sugar, etc.). Someone eating mostly bread, soy protein, and margarine, even if they do Zone ratios, will still feel and perform like crap.

That being said, the most common screwup of those doing Paleo without watching their portion/macro consumption is that they nearly always eat way too much fruit & starchy veggies (ie. way too many carbs). It's not as bad as the previous example, however, it is still an issue.

The "Zone" gives people a great place to start their eventual tweaking (if they need/desire to tweak in the future) and teaches people what portions of foods really look like. Proper foods will always be the most important.

[Mark Cotton]

I'm a little confused about following Zone Macronutrients on the Paleo. Or maybe I just don't understand.

If the Zone favors 40/30/30 how can you adapt that to Paleo? Doesn't the Paleo favor much less carb intake?

[Brandon Oto]

Not intrinsically. Paleo is mainly focused on the type of nutrient sources; all it says about carbs is that they should be "paleo" sources.

[Garrett Smith]

Mark,
Paleo done with a ton of fruit and starchy veggies can be plenty high-carb. Paleo is the short list of meat, veggies, fruit, nuts, seeds.

Zone is 40/30/30.

They are easily combined, best performed with non-starchy veggies providing the majority of the carbohydrate intake (not fruit).

[Clay Jones]

I recall something I read on the Beyond Vegetarianism website, simpy put, it said: "There is no such thing as the optimum diet." I'll see if I can find the exact link.