The Zone Diet (long post)
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| Mon, 08-23-2004 - 11:05pm |
I've been using the zone diet as a guide to eating over the past few months. There have been times I've followed it strictly and other times when I've completely toppled off the wagon. According to the diet's designer, Barry Sears, PhD, "The Zone" is the metabolic state in which the body works at peak efficiency. This can be achieve by eating the right amount of protein, carbohydrate and fat with every meal and snack. The approach to weight loss and improved health is based on the body's hormonal response to food. I got started by reading "Enter The Zone" by Barry Sears, PhD. In the book, he gives a detailed explanation about how insulin levels affect the body's metabolism and why it's not a good idea to swear off fat from our diet entirely. The Zone diet seeks to achieve a healthy hormonal balance through diet which keeps insulin levels low and causes your body to burn stored fat. The primary rule is to maintain a beneficial ratio of protein to carboydrate every time you eat. The ideal is about .75, which is three grams of protein to every four grams of carbohydrate. That may seem confusing, but the author explains how to calculate this ratio in an easy way. Math is involved, but once you get used to it, it sort of becomes second nature. The simplest way to do it is to divide your plate into thirds. One third of the plate should be protein, which for most women is a 3oz portion which is roughly the size of the palm of your hand. The other two thirds of your plate should be fruits and vegetables. Add a small amount of monosaturated fat. Your own daily protein requirements are calculated in order to determine how much you should be eating per day. Breads and grains can be eaten, but sparingly because the are high on the glycemic index and as such, the cause insulin levels to rise. They are considered more like condiments. Most carbs should come from fruits and vegetables that are lower on the gylcemic index.
If anyone's interested in this diet, I strongly recommend reading one of Dr. Sears' books. I would not have been able to figure this diet out by the website alone. I read Enter the Zone. You might not care about the scientific principles behind this diet, but I thought they were interesting, even though I didn't retain enough of it to be able to explain it to anyone! There is also a book called "A Week in the Zone" which proports to be a good book for beginners. It outlines how the diet works and gives food recommendations. I didn't read that particular book because all of the info was contained in Enter the Zone, which I had already read. The "official" zone website is at www.drsears.com If you click Zone Tools, which is at http://www.drsears.com/drsearspages/zonetools.jsp and look on the left of the page, you will see links to FAQs, a summary, a day in the zone, etc. The site also has a calculator for determining your percentage of body fat.
Before I read about The Zone, I was eating lots of low fat foods and I really cut out the extra fat - mayo, salad dressing, nuts, butter, etc. I ate lots of high carbs like pretzels, bagel, bread, cereal, etc. After I read this book, I started eating protein with every meal and snack. I'm eating a much bigger breakfast on this diet than I ever have, but I got used to it. It was hard to eat a lot of protein in the morning, but it certainly tied me over til lunch. I also started eating a small amount of monosaturated fat with each meal. I was shocked to add fat to my diet and not gain weight!! I am sure that it makes me feel fuller, especially with snacks. As far as weight loss, I have lost six pounds of body fat and gained two pounds of muscle. Not a tremendous amount in five months, but my focus was more on eating nutritiously as opposed to losing a lot of weight. I'm 5'4 and 127 now which is a healthy weight for me. Plus, I can't say I follow the diet strictly enough to be able to comment much on how well it helps with weight loss. I am not sure how much weight loss is attributable to this diet and how much is attributable to an increase in exercise, although with exercise I have not been consistent. I suspect it's a combination of the two. I can say that after following this diet, I notice a difference in how I feel when I'm "in the zone" as opposed to when I overeat the carbs. When I eat zone favorable meals I do seem to have more energy and be able to stay mentally more clear. As far as additional health benefits, I noticed an improvement in my complexion which I attribute to eating foods in the zone which don't cause the body to have an inflammatory response, as well as drinking more water and exercising.
It seems that lately I've seen a number of experts advocating eating protein with each meal, eating monosaturated fats, increasing the amount of fruits and vegetables and eating foods more foods which are lower on the glycemic index which is essentially what this diet is recommending. It was tough at first to give up a lot of the bread & starch that I'd been so used to, but now I don't even love the taste of pretzels like I used to! Even when I don't follow it strictly, I still like to use it as a guide.
Debbie
Edited 8/24/2004 8:52 pm ET ET by esperada


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Thanks for the great post Debbie.
Miranda, if you do look into this further, let me know what you think.
Debbie
Debbie, I have a recollection of a woman at work doing this plan before her wedding, and she became quite a fanatic, and seemed to be unable to eat ANYTHING!
Debbie
BUT I am really glad it works for you. The only way I’d do Zone is if I could afford the 35 dollars a day to have it delivered or if I had a personal chef. I am much too busy for all that. LOL
Hey Debbie, thanks for the info.