Can you imagine sunbathing while enjoying a plate full of fresh fruits, vegetables, whole grains, and lean meats? Between each serving of food or meal, are you sipping a glass of fine wine, mindful of your location surrounded by hikers, cyclists, and small hillsides dotted with olive trees?
Well, whether you can or not, this is the scenario offered by one of the latest diet programs available. Dr. Connie Gutterson’s Sonoma Diet is a weight loss plan that promotes the healthy and tasty eating style of the Mediterranean and Sonoma Valley, California. However, are all these illusions of self-promotion and self-marketing to attract customers, or will it really work?
This article answers this question by detailing the pros and cons of the Sonoma diet to help prospective dieters determine if the program is right for them.
The Sonoma diet:
Pros
– EASY:
The Sonoma Diet is extremely simple for dieters to use. There are no formulas to calculate as with the Weight Watchers program, and grams or calories per day are not counted. Rather, plate and bowl sizes are used for portion control.
– THE POSITIVE EMPHASIZES:
The emphasis of the Sonoma Diet Program is on what you eat rather than what you can’t eat. Although the show still has a list of forbidden foods that dieters are supposed to avoid.
– TASTE THE FOOD:
There is a focus within the Sonoma Diet on slowing down and savoring food. This is marked by the healthy use of fine wines with meals after the initial 10-day period. By using tasty recipes, meals are enjoyed, and by slowing down, dieters avoid overeating.
– NUTRITION:
The Sonoma Diet has a strong nutritional component, which encourages dieters to consume a number of phytonutrients and antioxidants. This is key to the diet, as it is based on nutrition, not hunger. The dieter stays healthy and keeps his metabolism rate at an effective level.
– EMPHASIS ON WHOLE FOODS:
Emphasizing whole foods in the diet and very few processed foods helps dieters improve their health and lose weight.
– STRUCTURED DIET
There are definitely several weight loss programs and diets that lack a prescribed structure for their participants to follow. One of the strengths of the Sonoma diet is its step-by-step guide, however, obviously, this is a personal choice for each individual.
The Sonoma diet:
Cons
– LACK OF FLEXIBILITY
A diet analysis shows that most Wave 1 menus only offer around 950-1100 calories for women and 1050-1300 for men. Once you hit Wave 2, the diets only get 200 to 300 extra calories. Now while this is going to be effective in losing weight, it is difficult for people to live up to this. People will go hungry for the first week and in the long run this is not sustainable for most dieters.
– LACK OF ORIENTATION WHEN HUNGRY
Given the levels of hunger that some may experience during the Sonoma Diet, there is a lack of instructions on what to do and what to eat when hungry.
– LIMITED SIZES, IN PARTICULAR VEGETABLES
Compared to most other diets, the Sonoma Diet has an extremely controlled food volume, especially when it comes to vegetables. The lack of available vegetables may be unintentional, but people will generally experience a shock when it comes to the amount of food they can consume when they stick to serving sizes on the Sonoma Diet.
– FORBIDDEN FOOD
By emphasizing whole foods, the Sonoma Diet is doing a great job of providing nutrients to dieters. However, the amount of forbidden foods does not leave dieters with so many alternatives or substitutes in terms of sugars, fats, etc. This can be difficult for dieters to handle.
– LACK OF CARBOHYDRATES IN WAVE 1
In many diets there is a risk of a carbohydrate drop. However, the Sonoma Diet is designed as a low carb diet and has no means of managing this risk, which can occur in the first phase of the diet, Wave 1.
In conclusion, it is clear that the Sonoma Diet offers both positives and negatives for dieters. It is important for each dieter to address these issues in terms of their own personality and make a decision that suits them personally. If you like a structured diet with a focus on flavors, health, and wellness, the Sonoma Diet is for you. However, if you need a higher level of flexibility and food consumption, an alternative may be recommended.
