Developed by Dr Barry Sears more than 31 years ago, Zone diet encourages followers to eat a certain amount of protein, carbs and fat in every meal in order to reduce inflammation in the body. This particular diet has been popular over decades and is being followed by a number of people. The zone diet instructs people to include 40 % carbs, 30 % protein and 30 % fat in the diet. As part of the diet, carbs should have a low glycemic index, protein must be lean and fat should be of good quality. This diet is celebrated as one of the most successful weight loss diets in the world.
What is Zone Diet ?
- This diet states that once you reduce inflammation, you will lose fat at the fastest possible rate
- This will slow down aging, reduce the risk of chronic diseases and improve your performance
- This diet tells you to include complex carbs like whole grain millets (oats, barley) and lots of vegetables in the diet (citrus fruits and berries)
- Healthy fat like nut seeds, oils like olive oil, sesame oil, peanut oil and sunflower oil etc
- Lean protein like egg whites, tofu, lean fish and chicken breast etc should be included in the diet
- Starchy food like corn, potato need to be avoided
- High sugar fruits have to be limited and no processed or refined food should be consumed
- Tea and coffee should be consumed in limited quantity
- Your diet should roughly comprise of 40 % carbs, 30 % protein and 30 % fats
There are two ways to follow the zone diet
The Hand Eye Method
- This methos is designed to be a simple way for a beginner to follow the zone diet
- You use your hands to determine the portion size
- Your five fingers remind you to eat five times a day and never to go without food for five hours
- You use your eyes to estimate portion size on your plate
- To design a zone friendly plate, you need to first divide your plate into thirds
- You estimate the appropriate portion size of lean protein and favourable carbs for your meal
- A serving of low fat protein should be about the size and thickness of your palm
- Rest of your plate is balanced with primarily low glycemic vegetables and small amounts of fruits
- In other words, two thirds of your plate should be filled with carbs with low glycemic index
- And one third of your plate should have a source of lean protein, roughly the size and thickness of your palm
The Zone Food Block Method
- The zone food block allows you to personalise the zone diet by calculating how many grams of protein, carbs and fat you should have daily
- The average male eats 14 zone blocks per day, while the average female eats 11 zone blocks per day
- The number of zone blocks you should eat per day depends on your measurements
- Main meal such as breakfast, lunch or dinner contains three to five blocks while a snack always contains one zone block
- Each zone block is made of a protein block, a fat block and carb block
- Protein block contains 7 grams of protein
- Carb block contains 9 grams of carbs
- Fat block contains 1.5 grams of fat
Benefits of being in the ‘Zone’
- Losing extra body fat as fast as possible
- Maintaining wellness in the older age
- Slowing down the rate of aging
- Performing better and thinking faster
- Increasing blood flow
- Controlling blood sugar levels
- Overall increased quality of life
Some basic rules of the zone diet
- Eat a meal or snack within an hour of waking up in the morning
- Start each meal or snack with a low fat protein, followed by foods containing healthy carbs and fats
- Eat small and frequent meals during the day, every 4-6 hours after a meal or 2-2.5 hours after a snack, whether you’re hungry or not
- Consume plenty of Omega 3 and polyplenols as they have anti inflammatory properties
- Drink atleast eight ounces of water daily
- Each meal should be approx 300-400 calories
- The zone diet promises that when you’re in the zone, you think quicker, perform better physically, avoid illness and shed pounds at the fastest possible rate
- The theory Sears puts out is that inflammation throws off hormonal communication within the cells, hampering efficiency and performance and this balanced diet helps you get rid of the inflammation at the earliest