The Zone

History


Published in 1995, The Zone was one of the first diets to challenge the low-fat approach advocated by everyone from Jenny Craig to the American Heart Association.

Barry Sears, Ph.D., a pioneering biochemist, offered The Zone as a way to defeat soaring occurrences of heart disease. He soon discovered an exciting side benefit—weight loss.

To date, Dr. Sears has published 10 books in The Zone series, including The Soy Zone and Mastering the Zone. The series has sold more than three million hardcover copies. A Week in the Zone is a popular starting point.

Doctrine


Eating the correct balance of carbohydrates (40 percent), protein (30 percent) and fat (30 percent) keeps the body's hormones in a perfect "Zone" for peak performance and subsequent weight loss.

The 40-30-30 ratio applies to every meal and snack. By sticking to it, you'll shed excess body fat permanently, optimize your physical and mental capabilities, ward off chronic disease, and live a longer life—just like the Okinawans of Japan, the longest-living people on the planet.

Theory


"[Americans] have become the fattest people on the face of the earth, even though we are eating less fat than we were 15 years ago," Dr. Sears writes. Why?

Flying in the face of low-fat traditionalists, he argues it's because we're consuming too many fat-free carbs, which cause a spike in insulin production. Increased insulin leads to low blood sugars and hunger, which, obviously, encourage more eating. "It is excess insulin that makes you fat and keeps you fat," Dr. Sears contends.

On The Zone diet, you control blood-sugar levels by eating small meals throughout the day. Each meal contains a 40-30-30 balance of healthy fruits and vegetables, protein, which has a minimal effect on insulin, and fat, which has no effect on insulin.

The Zone is often construed as a "high-protein" diet, but Dr. Sears says protein quantities are actually limited to about what the average American already eats. High-quality protein is essential on the diet, however.

It's the typical relationship to carbohydrates where The Zone really turns the USDA Food Pyramid on its head. The 6 to 11 servings of breads and pasta recommended daily are cut to two or fewer servings, and they're also limited to condiment size. Instead, you get your necessary carbs from 10 to 15 daily servings of fruits and vegetables.

The Diet


Skinless chicken, turkey, fish, lean cuts of meat, low-fat dairy, egg whites, tofu and soy meat substitutes make up your protein. (Dr. Sears likes to promote everything soy.)

For carbohydrates, you may eat any vegetables except corn and carrots and any fruits except bananas and raisins. You can eat a small amount of breads, pastas, etc.

Favorite fats are olive oil, almonds, avocados and fish oils. Dr. Sears prescribes the omega-3 fatty acids found in salmon and cod liver oil for their incredible effects on the brain, insulin control, and the health of the immune and cardiovascular systems.

You eat three meals and two snacks a day. Timing is important—breakfast within an hour of waking, lunch within five hours, a snack within five hours later, dinner two to three hours after the snack, then a late-night snack before bed.