The Zone Diet: Just Another One-Size-Fits-All Diet

The Zone Diet, is an eating program popularized by former MIT and University of Virginia biochemist Barry Sears. According to Sears, a person can stay fit if he/she eats meals in which 40 percent of the calories are from carbohydrates, 30 percent from proteins and 30 percent from fats.

Putting it simply, the Zone Diet preaches: eat the butter but don’t spread it on the bread.

Sears' 1995 book, The Zone, sold some 1.5 million copies and has been translated into 14 languages. The Zone promotes “hormonal thinking” when it comes to food, rather than thinking of calories, and blames insulin, not dietary fat, for making Americans obese. According to Sears, people should think of food “not as a source of calories but as a control system for hormones.”

The Zone Diet’s 40-30-30 ratio was designed to control the body’s insulin production and restricts certain carbohydrates which rapidly release glucose – grains, bread, pasta, rice and other starches – in favor of more protein, in the form of lean meat, egg whites, poultry and fish; and includes fats like olive oil, canola oil, macadamia nuts, almonds and avocado.

Sears believes that the human body is genetically programmed for his 40-30-30 carbohydrate-protein-fat ratio. But while the Zone Diet did provide weight loss results for a lot of people, it’s far from being a healthy eating plan.

Here are the reasons why the Zone Diet is just another one of those fad diets:

• The Zone Diet is a one-size-fits-all diet – To become optimally healthy, one has to eat according to his/her unique Nutritional Type, Dr. Joseph Mercola explains. Meaning, some people thrive with more carbohydrates on their diet; others on eating more proteins. Dr. Mercola’s no-grain diet is designed to help people get to their weight ideal weight and prepare them to eat according to their Nutritional Type.
• Faulty nutritional suggestions – While the Zone Diet appreciates the value of omega-3 fats and limiting grains, it has its share of questionable recommendations. For one, canola oil is not best oil. Soy isn’t the healthiest food either. Ice cream, as we know, is loaded with sugar, one of your main obstacles to good health. Eating too much fish exposes people to the dangers of mercury. Also, without fat, the Zone Diet is bound to leave you hungry.
• The Zone Diet is too structured – Many dieters will find it hard to stick to the 40-30-30 ratio when they’re not at home or eating out. If they do find a Zone Diet menu in a restaurant, it’s not gonna come cheap – a five-course Zone meal goes for around $50.The Zone Diet sets specific time intervals for eating, like breakfast within an hour after getting up and dinner within two and a half hours of the prescribed afternoon snack. In the long run, the more structure a dieter has to follow, the more confusion and temptation he/she has to deal with.

Dr. Mercola’s no-grain diet will provide dieters with a totally new dieting experience that is based on time-tested principles. By helping you eliminate cravings, yo-yo dieting and confusion, The No-Grain Diet is the last diet book you’ll ever need.

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