Hi Columbonegrinder,
Just wanted to add my two pence worth on nutrition. You read so much these days, its hard to know what to believe isn't it.
I did mostly green days because I prefer vegetarian style eating to loads of meat, even though I'm not veggie, and the consensus seems to be that it is cheaper to do green days then red. I found that I felt ill if I ate much meat so red days didn't suit me, plus I foudn it restricting using my heBs for potatoes or wholewheat pasta since I felt ill if I didn't include them, whereas I didn't miss the meat and could get my protien from pulses and beans, quorn etc on green.
The whole "you shouldn't eat so much carb" arguement really doesn't sit right to my head - when I was successfully sticking to SW, I lost 3 1/2 stone eating mainly carbs and felt really healthy and full of energy, so I know from experience that the generalistic "carbs make you fat" argument doesn't hold water. The wrong type of carbs sucha as sugar, yes, but I ate "higher GI" food like baking potatoes and white rice and lost weight, so the low GI thing didn't hold any weight for me either.
What I will say is that when I chose to eat food that was lower GI I didn't have the peaks and troughs of energy. I suffered quite badly from feeling tired after lunch, which was usually a jacket potato, and usually succesfully solved it by eating a banana, but didn't feel the same if I ate new potatoes and a bit of meat and some veg, for example. More recently when I have done red days and just made sure that I had superfree food and a little bit of meat, I have felt satisfied quicker and for longer and no energy peaks/troughs, so as long as I don't eat too much meat I'm more stable in my energy on red.
I also have a gut feeling that some people are more suited to red or green days, maybe because of the way their body works? I am more suited to green, I can stick to it that way and my body doesn't bloat etc on carbs, but some people feel healthier on more protien. I do however usually eat wholemeal pasta and brown rice etc, so the "better" carbs.
The fat content thing I believe is coming to be the latest "fad" (not saying it doesn't merit consideration but I think its going to be the new "in thing"). What little I know of it is that it says you shoudl still have healthy fats, which SW and WW do mention in their plans. E.g. slimming world do allow a tablespoon of olive oil for a healthy B, so you can get it in without using your syns. I don't know much about the fat theory, but a low fat diet that is 30% fat seems awfully high to me and not something I have really come across - think about all the low fat brands that are around - the fat content of those is usually 3% or lower. I would be really interested to hear more about where your info about 30% fat came from?
FWIW on WW I seem to be eating more fat than I did on SW, but I think thats because I'm eating more lean meat, which inevitably still has A fat content, rather than potatoes veg and lentils whose fat content is negligible.