The Zone Diet

The Zone is one of those diets that has scientists scratching their heads – many say that it is working because people are simply eating less junk food. But for whatever reason, it has been of enormous help to so many people now that its effectiveness can’t be doubted.

Created by Dr. Barry Sears, the diet is based around the consumption of correct ratios of food groups.

The theory goes that by regulating your insulin levels, you keep your body’s metabolism performing at its optimum level and the weight falls off!

Zone: Basics

Foundation

Our genetic profile was created well before the first McDonald’s opened. Obvious I know, but the point is that our bodies are not fundamentally set up to process junk food well. Although we live in this modern world, our bodies are stuck in the past, expecting us to feed them foods like lean protein and natural carbohydrates, exactly the foods that our ancestors would have eaten

In the Zone Diet, we stick to the correct ratios of carbs, fats and protein, helping the body to regulate insulin. And keeping insulin at the right levels speeds up your body’s metabolism, so you lose weight. All you are really doing is feeding the body what it expects to be fed. The ratio of food groups is:

40% Carbs – 30% Fat – 30% Protein

This is designed to be close to the diet our predecessors might have eaten. Of course, in their time getting a good meal might have involved a day hunting dangerous wildlife across the plain. Thankfully in this modern age we can just have it delivered!

Diet

Building a Zone meal is a little tricky at first – the best thing to do is to buy a Zone cookbook. The ingredients have to be measured quite precisely. Food groups are broken into ‘blocks’ and then further into ‘mini-blocks’. For a typical meal you might use one block of Carbohydrates, but this is broken down further into three mini-blocks comprising 1 cup of green beans, 2 cups of yellow squash and (here’s the best part) 1 glass of red wine.

Actually, although The Zone does allow for two snacks a day and the occasional glass of wine, calorific intake tends to be much lower when on the diet. In that respect it is more restrictive than the South Beach Diet.

Zone: Pros

- Dieters get all the nutrients they need, as fruits and vegetables are OK to eat. Smaller portion sizes also help to build a healthier lifestyle and maintain weight loss.
- Cravings for carbs tend to disappear after a few days as the body adjusts to a new high protein diet.
- The focus on lean proteins and “good cholesterol” is healthy for your heart.
- Weight loss on The Zone can be very rapid! It is essentially a low-carb, low-calorie diet and is not suitable for long term dieting, but can give great results in a short period of time.

Zone: Cons

- Coming off the diet can result in putting the weight back on very fast as dieters return to their previous eating habits. Successful long term dieters keep carb intake below their “pre-Zone” levels.
- The diet can work out to be quite expensive. Building Zone meals requires buying cookbooks and other materials.
- The Zone can be time-consuming, as food preparation is sometimes a complicated process! It is therefore not practical for some people.
- Eating out in restaurants can be tough, as the Zone may limit your options on the menu.