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The Zone Diet Plan

What is the Zone?

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Dr. Sears Zone Diet - Pro and Cons

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About Dr. Barry Sears


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Zone Diet Food - What Zoner Eat?

The Zone Diet Plan

 

 

 

The Introduction to Zone Diet

Zone Diet was introduced by Dr Barry Sears, PhD. The zone for maximum calorie burning is 40 percent carbohydrate, 30 percent protein, 30 percent fat. So it is also called the 40-30-30 eating plan.

Zone Diet is based on hormones, not calories. It claims that carbohydrates make people fat as most of them are insulin resistant. The author claims carbohydrate consumption produces insulin, which causes too many calories to be stored as fat. He also goes on about eicosanoids.  Eiconsanoids are hormones which are synthesized from essential fatty acids. The Zone claims that eicosanoids are the most powerful of all hormone systems and have ultimate control over all physiological functions.  Carbohydrates create bad eicosanoids which in turn increases insulin production.

With the Zone Diet you have to carefully balance the nutritional content of each meal in the ratio of 40-30-30. Dr Sears created the Zone Diet based on his experience gained through research into the effects of foods on hormone production and metabolic activity. Zone Diet aims to ensure optimal health by using foods to manage metabolic activity and hormone production, which will lead to the zone and, not incidentally, weight control.

 

Main Basis of Zone Diet

Not just a common man like you and me but high profile celebrities like Madonna, Demi Moore and Jennifer Aniston support this diet and are admittedly taken away by the results of the Zone Diet.

Originally created by Barry Sears, the Zone Diet works on the premise that 100,000 years ago, we were meat eaters and our bodies was designed to handle the demands of a meat-based diet. As we have been refined and evolved, more carbohydrates have been introduced into our daily diet, causing an imbalance—mainly due to food grains. The reason for our extra weight could be attributed to the many grains and starches in our diet (pasta, rice, breads, and potatoes). The Zone Diet’s strategy calls for a return to the diets of our ancestors where meat, fruits and vegetables are the main dietary items. It wouldn’t be an exaggeration if we say it is journey back to our Mother Nature.

 

How Does This Zone Diet Work?

Basically the Zone Diet is purely scientific phenomenon. The Zone Diet works by working the right ratio of carbohydrates to proteins and fats in order to control the insulin in the bloodstream (in 40-30-30 ratio). It is evident that too much of the hormone (insulin) can increase fat storage and inflammation in the body which is associated with obesity, type 2 diabetes and heart disease. Sears asserts that by using the Zone Diet you are actually optimizing the body’s metabolic function. Through the regulation of blood sugar, you allow your body to burn excess body fat and you can become and stay slim-trim and yet fit.

The Zone Diet does not actually prohibit you from any particular food group; however food with high fat and carbohydrates such as grains, starches, and pastas should be avoided. Fruits and vegetables are the preferred source of carbohydrates and monounsaturated fats (such as olive oil, almonds, avocados) are the ideal choice of fats. The Zone Diet claims to use food as a drug for overall good health, weight loss and prevention or management of heart disease and diabetes. Basically it increases the overall health of the entire body—including mind and soul.

Sears says that you can test to see whether you are ‘hormonally’ correct by eating following the Zone Diet and see how you feel four hours later. To simplify the Zone Diet, fill one-third of a plate with low-fat protein, and then two-thirds with fruits and vegetables and enjoy your life with good food rather keeping your body starved and deprived from good food.

 

Conclusion by Dr Sears:

Most diets, including high-protein diets, only create deprivation, hunger, and fatigue in the hope that enough weight loss is generated to fit back into your clothes, at least temporarily. Every week at the check out counter you will find hundreds of magazines touting and advertising the newest diet usually developed by some Hollywood celebrity. These diets generally fail, because they are so nutritionally unbalanced. It is impossible to follow them for a lifetime. This is why the Zone is NOT a diet. It is a life-long food management system that provides tremendous flexibility in your food choices to achieve the hormonal goal that guarantees permanent fat loss. That hormonal Holy Grail is to maintain insulin in the Zone; not too high, not too low i.e. at equilibrium!

 

 

 

 

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