Zone Diet - How to Lose Weight With This Diet
If you have heard of the benefits you can gain from the Zone Diet by Barry Sears, PhD, they you have likely been wanting to try it out.
While the idea of balancing your hormones with food sounds complicated, it isn't as bad as it seems.
Rather than having to purchase expensive specialty foods, or count calories, this diet is all about three basic ingredients: carbohydrates, fats, and proteins.
The Basic Concept Of The Zone Diet The entire program is based on a precise ratio of 1:2:3, and all meals and snacks center around it.
The smallest amount is one gram of fats.
With this, you need to consume two grams of protein, and three grams of carbohydrates.
If you were to have two grams of fat, you would have to eat four grams of protein, and six grams of carbohydrates to put everything back into balance.
Achieving The Required Balance You need to consume approximately one gram of healthy fats with each meal.
Some of these include oils such as canola and olive as well as foods such as avocados.
Each day you can include two grams of protein based foods with each snack and meal.
This translates into a serving the size of the palm of your hand for regular meats.
Next, you'll need to include three grams of carbohydrates.
You will want to choose carefully, however.
When you eat healthy carbs such as whole grains and lentils, you will be fine.
If you select poor carbohydrates such as those found in breads, pastas, and carrots you will have to lower your portion size to keep your diet in balance.
Example Meals And Snacks If you are still a little unclear as to how to follow the Zone Diet, here are some examples to get you started: If you start with a single unit fat such as canola oil to cook with, you could have two units of chicken.
Once it's cooked, cut it up, and add it to a healthy green salad.
This could include lettuce, onions, radishes, kohlrabi, and cooked lentils.
If you were to make a homemade avocado dip, you can match the rest of your meal to that.
Cook and chop a lean steak, which can then be added to a tortilla.
Since this is a 'bad' carbohydrate, you can only have one, but you can dress it up with healthy carbs such as lettuce and beans.
For dessert, you can have a mixed fresh fruit bowl with blueberries, apple, and strawberries.
Milk products are one area of the Zone Diet that Sears doesn't particularly discuss.
Things such as milk releases glucose very quickly, so you will want to keep that in mind.
With milk and milk products, always choose no fat or low fat if you have to in order to minimize the effects they have on your hormonal balance.
Products such as egg white substitutes are also a good thing to avoid.
Instead, opt for egg whites alone.
For dessert, you can still have some of your favorite treats.
These include ice cream, and baked treats.
However, the meal plan limits you to no more than a half-cup.
While the idea of balancing your hormones with food sounds complicated, it isn't as bad as it seems.
Rather than having to purchase expensive specialty foods, or count calories, this diet is all about three basic ingredients: carbohydrates, fats, and proteins.
The Basic Concept Of The Zone Diet The entire program is based on a precise ratio of 1:2:3, and all meals and snacks center around it.
The smallest amount is one gram of fats.
With this, you need to consume two grams of protein, and three grams of carbohydrates.
If you were to have two grams of fat, you would have to eat four grams of protein, and six grams of carbohydrates to put everything back into balance.
Achieving The Required Balance You need to consume approximately one gram of healthy fats with each meal.
Some of these include oils such as canola and olive as well as foods such as avocados.
Each day you can include two grams of protein based foods with each snack and meal.
This translates into a serving the size of the palm of your hand for regular meats.
Next, you'll need to include three grams of carbohydrates.
You will want to choose carefully, however.
When you eat healthy carbs such as whole grains and lentils, you will be fine.
If you select poor carbohydrates such as those found in breads, pastas, and carrots you will have to lower your portion size to keep your diet in balance.
Example Meals And Snacks If you are still a little unclear as to how to follow the Zone Diet, here are some examples to get you started: If you start with a single unit fat such as canola oil to cook with, you could have two units of chicken.
Once it's cooked, cut it up, and add it to a healthy green salad.
This could include lettuce, onions, radishes, kohlrabi, and cooked lentils.
If you were to make a homemade avocado dip, you can match the rest of your meal to that.
Cook and chop a lean steak, which can then be added to a tortilla.
Since this is a 'bad' carbohydrate, you can only have one, but you can dress it up with healthy carbs such as lettuce and beans.
For dessert, you can have a mixed fresh fruit bowl with blueberries, apple, and strawberries.
Milk products are one area of the Zone Diet that Sears doesn't particularly discuss.
Things such as milk releases glucose very quickly, so you will want to keep that in mind.
With milk and milk products, always choose no fat or low fat if you have to in order to minimize the effects they have on your hormonal balance.
Products such as egg white substitutes are also a good thing to avoid.
Instead, opt for egg whites alone.
For dessert, you can still have some of your favorite treats.
These include ice cream, and baked treats.
However, the meal plan limits you to no more than a half-cup.
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