The zone diet is one of the new diet plans available nowadays that was first developed in the late 90s through the famous booķ “the zone” written by the American biochemist Dr. Barry Sears who believes that food is like a drug that should be consumed in the right dose and at the right time to get its full beneficial potential and avoid its harmful effects.
The zone diet encourages people to restrict their food intake into certain ratios mainly 40% carbs, 30% protein, and 30% fat to lower the carbohydrate intake that is to blame for a lot of chronic diseases that we suffer from nowadays, it also gives you the extra benefit of reducing the overall amount of inflammation in our bodies through its healthy food items with plenty of antioxidants and vitamins and the one-third ratio of protein is for the purpose of reducing the insulin to glucagon ratio that results in a cascade of events leading to more reduction of chronic diseases risk with immunity enhancement and better mental and physical performances and overall increased longevity and weight loss.
The Way To Follow The Zone Diet
This diet encourages you to have 3 main meals and 2 little snacks in between so you should eat five times a day but you should choose food items with lower carb content, low glycemic index, low-fat protein, and monounsaturated fats that are preferable to any other types of food.
In the hand-eye method, the hand is used as a mnemonic tool, your five fingers mean you should eat five times a day and you shouldn’t spend more than five hours between your meals, you also shouldn’t delay breakfast for more than one hour after waking up and the size and thickness of the palm of your hand is the amount of protein you should be having equal to almost one-third of your plate while two big fists are the amount of healthy carbohydrates content you should add and one fist is equal to the unhealthy carbohydrate content and a little dash of healthy fats.
There are other ways to stick to the correct measurements like creating food blocks and adding the types of food you could have in each one, each food block would have a protein block, a fat block, and a carbs block and you can calculate the number of blocks you get to eat every day according to your measurements and daily caloric intake this is one of the cons of this diet as you’re gonna have to think carefully and measure the amounts of food you put on your plate for every meal throughout the day which isn’t very convenient and can be hard to stick to.
This diet has shown great benefits in helping people lose weight and have better diabetes control and is considered to be one of the heart-healthy diets especially if paired with some exercise every day to make its health effects shine faster and maintain your progress for longer.
Foods you Should Avoid
- Refined carbohydrates: pasta, bread, white flour, etc.
- Starchy vegetables: peas, corn, potatoes, etc.
- Sugary fruits: bananas, dried fruits like raisins, dates, etc.
- Added sugar: sweet pastries, candy, cakes, etc.
- Soft drinks.
- Processed meat: bacon, ham, sausage, etc.
» Now, Let’s Discover The delicious foods you can enjoy on the Zone Diet
