"It looks interesting man, but it doesn't really appeal to me. I get my nutrition from fresh, raw organic produce, meats, etc. and it's working great for me!"
It's certainly possible that there are other approaches that work well. I don't see why eating 8 meals a day should be the only way.
"Why is that then? I've heard quite a few people take the complete opposite extreme and recommend drinking a gallon of milk a day, which contains a huge amount of calories."
Typically those doing this are looking to put on tons of size. Mark Rippetoe suggests this in his program Starting Strength.
I don't think drinking a gallon of milk would be considered a basic diet guideline :)
It all depends on your goals I guess
I do the Zone -- it's a very sensible, straight forward and simple program. I do it Mon-Fri and take the weekends off. On weekends I eat healthy, but don't measure anything and if I want to treat myself to something, I do it and don't worry. Doing this for about 6 weeks now, I leaned out quite a bit and am down 9lbs. I did it strictly for performance reasons, not aesthetic reasons, and am very pleased with being leaner and lighter and not losing any energy or strength that I've noticed.
Here's how I ate to drop about 35lbs or so... I exercised as well
eat a small meal every 2-3 hours (Basically 6 meals a day)
choose a palm sized portion of lean protein and a fist sized portion of good carbs in each meal
add veggies to atleast 2 meals
one serving of healthy fats
Lots of water
FOOD LIST:
PROTEINS:
Chicken breast,
Turkey breast,
Lean ground turkey,
Salmon,
Tuna,
Shrimp,
Lean ground beef,
Egg whites or substitutes,
Low-fat cottage cheese,
CARBS:
Baked potato,
Sweet potato,
Steamed brown rice,
Pasta,
Oatmeal,
Beans,
fruit,
Fat-free yogurt,
Whole-wheat bread,
Whole-wheat Tortilla
FATS:
Avocado,
Pumpkin seeds,
Cold-water fish,
Natural peanut butter (Careful with this one),
nuts,
0live oil,
Flax seed oil
^^ sounds kind of like the body for life diet. great thread