The Zone Diet

What You Can Eat on The Zone Diet continued...

The Zone diet keeps saturated fats to a minimum but includes olive, canola, macadamia nuts, and avocados. Certain unfavorable carbohydrates are restricted because they release glucose quickly: grains, breads, pasta, rice, and other similar starches, a deviation from conventional definitions of a good diet. Overall, the diet is higher in protein and fat than traditional diets, which would have us eat nearly three-quarters of all calories as carbohydrates.

Sears is fairly rigid about the amount of protein/fat/carbohydrate each of us needs, and takes the reader through a short course in determining our protein need, based on size, age, and activity, which then determines the amount of fats and carbohydrates we should be eating.

Happily for those of us who would be depressed at the thought of forgoing desserts for the rest of our lives, his list of allowable foods includes, among others, high-fat ice cream. Why high-fat? Because the fat retards the rate of absorption of carbohydrate into the body, according to Sears. Alas, the recommended portion is a mere half-cup.

How The Zone Diet Works

The Zone diet's eating plan is a combination of a small amount of low-fat protein at every meal, fats, and carbohydrates in the form of fiber-rich vegetables and fruits. The plan establishes a ratio for which Sears contends the body is genetically programmed (that 40-30-30 figure). And yes, we'll be thinner to boot.

Sears claims that The Zone diet is based on his 15 years of research in bio nutrition. Although the book is full of success stories, including those of elite athletes, research that validates his specific claims isn't there. That doesn't mean that Sears' theories are wrong; it's just that no scientific evidence has proven that his program works.

Sears bases his theory on using diet to control the body's production of the hormone insulin. Among insulin's many roles, it helps regulate storage of excess energy as fat. The goal is to keep a balance between fat-storing insulin and the hormone glucagon, insulin's opposite, whose job it is to release the stored glucose from the liver when it is needed. Maintaining the correct balance between the two is accomplished by watching the size and specific content of your meals. In other words, you must be mindful of what you put on your plate. Sears suggests that we think of food not as "a source of calories but as a control system for hormones."

What the Experts Say About The Zone Diet

The Zone diet draws mixed reviews from nutrition experts. Researchers at the Center for Science in the Public Interest, which rated several fad diets, recently put it on their acceptable list, unlike Dr. Atkins' New Diet Revolution, Sugar Busters!, The Carbohydrate Addict's Diet, and Protein Power. "If you ignore the scientific rhetoric, the diet isn't bad," says Bonnie Liebman, MS, nutrition director for the center's publication, Nutrition Action Healthletter. As a caveat, she points out the diet restricts carbohydrates more than necessary. "You are getting carbohydrates from fruit and vegetables on the diet, but a lot of the science is bunk," she says. What she likes is that the diet is relatively easy to follow: "You have a piece of protein the size of your palm, and you fill the rest of your plate up with fruits and vegetables."