An analysis of diet books and programs

Consumer's Reports just raterd diet books and programs. I was mildly surprised.
The highest rated book was The Best Life Diet. It gives some details about the diet but it seems balanced between good food and exercise. The con is that you don't lose much weight in phase I. The expert evaluation, science, nutrition, exercise, ease of use, meal plans were rated above average and the Nutrution analysis was the highest rating Consumer Reports gives.
The next highest rated book was Eat, Drink, & Weigh Less, not quite as good on the exercise.
Next was You On A Diet, Still pretty good but the expert evaluation, ease of use and meal plans were just average.
The South Beach Diet and the Sonoma Diet were OK, but exercise advice was below average. The worst rated book was Ultra-Metabolism.
The best diet plan was Volumetrics, with Weight Watchers coming in second and Jenny Craig close behind. Slim-Fast was rated pretty good but the dropout rate was awful. e-diets was fair, The Zone Diet also fair, Ornish Diet was a little worse but the worst was the Atkins Diet.
This is from the June 2007 issue of the Consumer's Report. If you don't get this wonderful magazine, you can find it at the library.