The Zone Diet

Are you, or have you ever been "in the zone"? What does it mean?

The zone diet was conceived 10 years ago. Perhaps surprisingly it was not intended to be a guide to losing weight. Instead Dr Sears intended the zone diet to be respected as a health plan. The zone diet focuses on the power of natural foods to help regulate the body into a state of health, in particular with respect to circulation and blood sugar levels. The zone diet was supposed to sit nicely in the hands of cardiologists. Instead the eating plan is now widely accepted as an efficient way to lose excess body fat.

The zone diet is all about balance. The aim is to "settle" the body's natural processes down by balancing carbohydrates, protein and fat. This controlled consistency eventually stabilizes the production of insulin, as blood sugar levels become less erratic.

As the diet is based around these proportions, it should be easy for people to follow and integrate into their daily lives. There really is nothing hard or tricky about this diet.

The Zone Diet is similar to the South Beach Diet in that it encourages the differentiation between what are considered good foods and bad foods. This is with respect to their carbohydrate types. The zone diet encourages the use of complex carbohydrates such as whole grain breads, instead of simple carbohydrates, such as refined white bread, which upset blood sugar levels at a faster rate.

The zone diet uses a measure of how "good" or "bad" these carbohydrates are called the Glycemic Index. Diets have been based around this index alone (such as the now common GI Diet).

The zone diet recommends the following proportions for your diet: 30% fat, 40% GOOD carbohydrates and 30% protein. For this reason you may hear the zone diet being referred to as the 40 30 30 plan. Just as the zone diet requires the dieter to select good carbohydrates (those low on the Glycemic Index), the dieter should as far as possible select good mono-saturate fats, such as those found in almonds for example.

Again, in this respect the zone diet is simple to follow. No need to get out the scales to measure out the exact proportions. Just use common sense, learn to look at what you're putting on your plate and get used to working out roughly the proportion of fats, carbohydrates and protein that lay before you.

Once you've been following this balanced approach to dieting, your body will eventually hit the "zone" and you will begin to lose weight at a natural rate. Most people following the zone diet actually find this rate to be quite fast. This is largely due to how imbalanced their diet was prior to starting the zone diet.

For more information see: Zone Diet Info.