Zone Diet Pros and Cons

While those who have tried The Zone Diet are fulsome with their praise, physicians complain about its lack of theoretical backing and nutritionists tell us to pay attention to vitamin and mineral deficiencies. As a general rule, it is wise to obtain professional advice before embarking on the zone diet.

The Zone Diet promotes the idea of food as a drug. Dr. Barry Sears says that we have to think about food in terms of hormones, not calories. On the one hand, he is very restrictive when it comes to what foods we can eat, in what amounts and at what time. The key to losing weight, to a healthier body and mind, he claims, is eating a correct ratio of 40% carbohydrate, 30% protein and 30% fat. On the other hand, the eyeball method encourages us to be a little more relaxed about measuring and counting, as our body is clever enough to tell us what it needs.

Zone diet Pros

Why is the Zone diet so controversial? HarperCollins Publishers asked Dr. Barry Sears in an interview. Beats me! Dr. Sears answered. He offered several reasons in favor of the zone diet:

  • It prescribes an eating scheme that is very close to popular wisdom and to what our grandmothers taught us
  • It encourages neat eating (small amounts of food, five times a day.)
  • It reminds us about the importance of eating vegetables and raw fruit
  • It limits saturated fats and encourages mono and polyunsaturated fats that are known to be richer in HDL — “good” cholesterol.
  • It insists on the importance of fresh water (eight glasses every day are recommended.
  • It promotes consumption of lean meat, which is less dangerous for the heart (fish and poultry instead of beef or pork).
  • It encourages moderate exercise.
  • The zone, as described by Dr. Sears, is about moderation.
  • It advertises beneficial foods: seafood, pure fish oil, soy products, unsaturated fats, vegetables and fruit.
  • The zone is very restrictive about over-processed high-glycemic foods such as grains and sugars.
  • Thus far, if the zone diet is followed correctly, no side effects have been reported.

Who subscribes to these arguments? Holistic on line (by Dr. Jacob Mathew, PhD.), Go Ask Alice (an educational program by Columbia University), Susan Roberts, PhD, head of the Weight Regulation Program at Tufts University (she also awards the zone three stars out of five). The Center for Science in the Public Interest approves the zone diet as “acceptable”.

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Zone Diet Success Stories

The Zone Diet became very popular among overweight people who failed to lose pounds or maintain other diets. There are many testimonials that see the zone dietary program as a revolutionary breakthrough. They say that the zone diet does not leave them feeling hungry. Losing weight makes them feel better about themselves. They experience increased energy and mental clarity. The web abounds with pro zone testimonials. Jennifer Aniston, Demi Moore, Sandra Bullock and Sarah Jessica Parker are said to have followed it successfully.

Cons of the Zone diet

  • No zone diet research has been conducted in a serious, academic manner. If it has, no results have not been published.
  • It limits the consumption of foods rich in essential minerals and vitamins: calcium, iron, vitamins A, D, E, folic acid.
  • It limits the consumption of fiber from whole grains and starches.
  • The zone is considered a low-carb and a low calorie diet. It stimulates loss of glycogen storage (which is 75% water). It deprives the body of its favorite source of energy (glucose) and supplies high amounts of protein. In the burning processes the protein releases nitrogen that can harm the kidneys.
  • It promotes food as a drug, an idea that has nothing to do with aesthetics, cuisine and taste therapy. The idea of eating can become slightly boring or in extremist, traumatizing.
  • Following the recommended ratio of macro nutrients can be difficult, and easy to step out of.
  • A zone eating scheme places stress on activities such as like dining out, snacking and traveling.

Objections to Dr. Barry Sears' Theory

  • The tests that Dr. Sears has made on subjects following the zone diet are irrelevant because he did not include control groups. (See "Go Ask Alice").
  • Sears overstates the impact of carbohydrates over hormones as insulin and eicosanoids. Physicians and nutritionists say they are unaware of research which proves his theory. The connection between nutrition and endocrinology is over-emphasized.
  • Pat Kendall, Ph.D., R.D., Food Science and Human Nutrition Specialist of Colorado State University says in a zone diet review: The Zone diet is based on half-truths, mixed messages and theories not yet grounded in peer-reviewed research. Furthermore, the long-term effects of the proposed diet have not been examined.

Zone diet stereotypes

Zone S-Tips Known facts
It is impossible for fat alone to make you fat.
Dr. Barry Sears		 Fat alone does not make you fat. Too much fat does.
When eating carbohydrates, we are sending the body a message, via insulin: Store more fat!
Dr. Barry Sears		 Over-consumption of calories, whether they come from fat, protein or carbohydrate, stimulates insulin secretion. Insulin, however, not only assists fat storage. It also feeds tissues.
You need to maintain a zone of insulin: not too high, not too low.
Dr. Barry Sears		 This statement is very ambiguous.
It is high insulin levels that make you fat.
Dr. Barry Sears		 Excess calories lead to a higher insulin level, no matter what their origin. If you eat more calories than you burn, every day of your life, the excess calories are stored as fat.

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