The Zone Diet promises that dieters can expect to lose one to two pounds per week.
One to two pounds a week is pretty rapid and steady weight loss and it’s a sign of a quality program.
Additionally, many Zone dieters have found they’ve been able to lose much more than that, particularly in the beginning.
Whether you have a few pounds to lose or have a much larger weight loss goal, the Zone Diet may be a good solution.
What Is the Zone Diet?
The Zone Diet differs from other diets in that it places great emphasis on hormonal imbalances as the primary cause of weight gain.
The theory is that if you’re hungry all the time, it’s not because there’s something wrong with you – it’s because your hormones are out of balance. This diet strives to help you put them back in balance.
The Zone diet is similar to other diets in that it approaches weight loss as a three-step program. The first step or “Zone” is what’s called “Zone Fast.”
It’s a two-week fast weight loss plan that puts you on a structured meal plan.
The plan is designed to reduce inflammation in your body, provide you with foods that make you feel full longer and to rebalance your hormones.
Your hormones are largely responsible for regulating your metabolism. Resetting them or balancing them can help you even out your blood sugar and speed up your metabolism.
The next phase is where you’ll begin to add variety to your structured meal plan.
You’re still restricted to Zone Food products. However, the assortment to choose from is larger.
You’ll stay in this zone until you reach your desired weight loss goal.
The final zone is the maintenance zone. Here you’ll again be using many Zone Food products. Nevertheless, you’ll have more freedom to control what and how you eat.
Is the Zone Diet Right for Me?
If you need a 100% controlled environment and a structured plan, then the Zone Diet may be right for you.
While you’re able to eat a tasty variety of foods, your meals and menus are planned and there’s a lot of structure to this diet.
Additionally, if you’re looking for a program to join, then the Zone Diet may be right for you. The Zone Diet offers three different weight loss programs.
They include the Zone Fast, Standard Package, and a Custom Package. You also receive online community support, recipes and a website full of fitness and health information.
The program may not be for you if you’re on a tight budget. One week on the Zone Diet Standard Program is $70.
Nonetheless, it comes with all the food you’ll likely need excluding fresh produce. We’re talking about breakfast, lunch, dinner and snacks for a week. That $70 is probably less than you spend on groceries.
While the Zone Diet is fairly structured compared to other diets, you are provided with more tools, resources, and advice than perhaps any other diet plan.
If you are looking for a one-stop weight loss solution, the Zone Diet may be the perfect diet for you.
How to Lose Weight with Zone Diet
As one of the newer diets on the market, the Zone Diet is rapidly taking hold as one of the best and most popular.
Like many on the market, the Zone Diet is the result of many years of intense study into the way the human body uses the food sources it is given.
Through this research, the folks at Zone Diet have managed to find a way to make your body use the food to its fullest advantage and make you lose weight.
The Zone Diet is gaining wide spread acceptance as a true form of weight loss and anything but a fad diet.
Dr. Sears is the man responsible for the Zone Diet and all of its inner workings.
For years he has studied the effects that certain foods have on the body’s fat burning potential.
With this research, he has found the formula of foods and drinks that actually spur the body into over drive and help it to burn off the unnecessary fat and make you lose weight.
The Zone Diet is nothing like the other starvation diets that have come down the pike.
In most cases, you do not have to give up the foods that you love, but simply make adjustments in the daily regimen. This all speaks to the unique way that the Zone Diet works.
Instead of cutting out the meals the Zone Diet adds two additional meals to the daily routine.
The Zone Diet works to stabilize and increase the insulin output of the body.
With this insulin, the body can more readily burn the fat to make certain that you are losing weight. This diet does not work in miracles or days even.
There is a standard amount of time that you will need to work to make sure that you have maintained the proper procedures in the diet. This will help to build the body’s natural defenses against weight gain.
Through this, you will be training your body to accept and decline certain foods in order to keep the weight that you lose off.
The Zone Diet is being actively referred to as the diet of the stars. Many of those in Hollywood and surrounding areas have found that this diet is vastly superior to the other diets currently on the market and therefore increasing its popularity to new levels.
Zone Diet – A New Weight Loss System
The Zone Diet works on the principle that 100,000 years ago, we were meat eaters, and our metabolism is designed to handle the demands of a meat-based diet.
Madonna, Demi Moore, and Jennifer Aniston swear by the results of the Zone Diet, which was created by Barry Sears, Ph.D.
This diet contains 40% carbohydrate, 30% protein, and 30% fat and is known as the 40-30-30 plan.
As the food industry evolved, more carbohydrates have been introduced into our daily diet, thus causing an imbalance in our metabolism to burn fat.
The reason for our extra weight can also be attributed to the many grains and starches in our diet (pasta, rice, bread, and potatoes).
The Zone Diet’s approach calls for a return to the diets of our ancestors where meat, fruits, and vegetables are the main dietary foods.
This diet suggests that you need the right ratio of carbohydrates to proteins and fats in order to control the insulin in the bloodstream.
Too much of the hormone (insulin) can increase fat storage and inflammation in the body (conditions that are 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.
Although you are not prohibited from any particular food group, it is best to avoid food with high fat and carbohydrates such as grains, starches, and pasta.
The ideal sources of carbs are fruits and vegetables and for monounsaturated fats, olive oil, almonds, and avocados are recommended.
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.
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.
Celebrities and some health experts say that the Zone’s recommendations do not stray far from the USDA’s (United States Dietary Association) dietary guidelines and therefore are advocates of the Zone Diet.
Others argue that the Zone Diet has flawed ratios but Sears argues that the Zone diet is a low-glycemic-load diet that has adequate protein.
A critic of the Zone diet such as the AHA (American Heart Association) classifies the Zone Diet as high protein and does not recommend the Zone Diet for weight loss.
They contend that the Zone Diet has not been proven effective in the long term for weight loss. The AHA issued an official recommendation warning against diets like the Zone Diet.
They believe that the Zone Diet is hazardous as it restricts the intake of essential vitamins and minerals present in certain foods. The AHA also contends that the protein ratio in the Zone diet is too high even if the minimal fat ratio is good.
Robert H. Ecker M.D of the A.H.A. finds the Zone Diet’s theory on insulin flawed and argues that there is no scientific proof that the hormone insulin plays a big role in weight regulation.
The other component of the Zone diet worthy of note is the supplementation of diet with fish oil.
Fish oil, particularly pharmaceutical grade fish oil, provides omega 3 fatty acids which are an important component in healthy cells.
Study after study in the past five years has confirmed the importance of fish and omega 3 fatty acids in the diet.
A sample meal on The Zone’s eating plan might include:
1 3 oz. portion of broiled salmon
Spinach salad with apples and walnuts dressed with walnut oil and lemon juice
1/2 cup of brown rice
1 glass fruit or vegetable juice
The eating plan recommended by The Zone diet combines small portions of low-fat proteins, fats and fiber-rich vegetables and fruits.
It also suggests eating some protein with each meal or snack, and at least 3 meals and 2 snacks daily.
Who should use the Zone Diet?
As always, if you’re under the care of a physician for any chronic medical condition, you should consult them before embarking on any diet plan that substantially changes your eating habits.
There are significant differences between the Zone Diet and that recommended for diabetics and heart patients, for instance.
Overall, the recommended portions of foods and the balance between them should be consistent with a healthy diet. This is also maintainable for a lifetime.
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