There are various types of diets that have become popular for several years now. One of which is the zone diet. In fact, zone diet has already been popular for several decades now. This type of diet actually encourages people to eat a certain amount of fat, carbs, and protein in every meal for them to reduce any inflammation in the body. This particular diet plan has an amazing effect on the overall health and weight loss. However, zone diet for weight loss has some health claims. If you want to know more about this information, feel free to read this article.
What is the Zone Diet?
This is a popular health trend of the past decade. Particularly, it is popular into those who do some Crossfit or some other intense type of workout or lifestyle programs. Unlike some other diet trends, the zone diet actually consists of three lists: the Fat lists, Carbohydrate lists, and Protein lists. The meal in the zone diet is actually based on the specific amounts and the balanced consumption of these types of food spread all throughout the course of the day in order to keep certain hormones well-balanced.
More explicitly, three of the most targeted hormones in the zone diet are the eicosanoids, glucagon, and insulin. Furthermore, these are accountable for the fat storage in the body, control of the body inflammation, and stabilizing the blood sugar levels, correspondingly. If you’re able to keep all of these important hormones at optimal levels, then you will not only store less fat, physically and mentally fit, and use energy more proficiently. However, you may even increase the burning of fat while sleeping. Zone diet is ideal for those who complement it with exercise regimens. Furthermore, the improvement in the lifestyle it may bring is relatively impressive.
Furthermore, the zone diet orders its followers to stick to eating a certain ratio of 30% of fat, 30% of protein, and 40% or carbs. The proponents of the zone diet claim that when the inflammation gets reduced, you may lose fat at the fastest possible rate, reduce the risk of chronic disease, slow down aging, and improve the performance.
Rules of the Zone Diet
The zone diet actually involves some basic guidelines:
- The individual must drink about 8-ounce of glasses of water a day.
- A certain meal must be eaten between 2 to 2.5 hours after a certain snack, whether the person is hungry or not.
- The interval between every meal must be 4 to 6 hours.
- A snack or meal must be eaten in no later than 1 hour after waking up in the morning.
The snack or meal must start with a protein that is low in protein. Furthermore, the person may also add some good amounts of carbohydrates that are also in the low glycemic index, just like fruits and vegetables, and good fats, like avocado, or olive oil. The typical protein meal must be about 3 ounces for women and 4 ounces for men.
What can’t you eat on the Zone Diet?
Actually, there is nothing that is strictly banned on the Zone diet. However, there are specific food choices that are considered unfavorable because they may promote inflammation. These include the following:
- Coffee and tea: it is a must to keep this in minimum consumption. This is since water is the most suggested drink.
- Soft drinks: it is not advisable for those who use the zone diet for weight loss to consume soft drinks.
- Foods with added sugar: avoid eating cookies, cakes, candies, and any food that is so sweet.
- Processed foods: avoid muffins and breakfast cereals.
- High-sugar fruits: mangoes, bananas, dried fruits, raisins, etc. are not recommended.
Zone Diet for Weight Loss
An ideal zone diet for weight loss must be comprised of the following:
- Weight loss booster: combining zone diet with a moderate exercise daily may help in improving the fat-burning capacity of the body. Furthermore, the energy levels will also remain high and there will be an increase in the metabolism.
- Hormone shifts: being able to rebalance the hormonal levels may help in increasing the insulin sensitivity. Thus reducing the silent inflammation and help prevent the development of various conditions, as well as the storage of fat.
- Optimal sizes: this allows a person to give punch on the personal statistics and have an optimal diet that is perfect for them. They have the freedom on how will they do their zone diet for weight loss. However, they must still stick to their dedicated program.
- Food blocks: by means of limiting the number of food blocks to just a set every day, a person may generally keep their daily intake the same.
- Dietary focus: zone diet is not that strict and not in the sense that it is limiting you to your food options.
You must be careful when you choose this as your diet plan. Consulting your doctor about it beforehand is necessary. This is to not put yourself in any serious situations.
