Comments on: What’s Wrong With The Zone Diet?

By: Julianne

Julianne — Thu, 20 Aug 2009 01:17:45 +0000

When I found the Zone diet in 1996 it was the most amazing diet I ever did. The portion control and balance worked really well for me. It was great to at last find a programme that got rid of PMS, low evergy levels, and excess body fat.
Over the years I have followed it guesswork – without stressing over it. It was great to be able to eat anything and know if I kept to the portion and balance I wouldn’t put weight back on.
However I suffer auto immune joint inflammation and my PMS would come and go. It wasn’t until I read The paleo diet (as a result of starting crossfit) and trying out a no grain and legume diet, and getting all my carbs from fruit and veggies that I finally found the key to my joint pain and PMS. It was cutting out the grains (even the small amount I was eating) that was the answer. (Loren Cordain has done a useful paper on the relationship of grains legumes and nightshades and auto immune disease)
I still do the zone ratio although it is a range and each person finds their own sweet point. Mine is 30% protein 30% carbs and 40% fat roughly. I need the portion control, I easily put on weight eating pure paleo and eating too much. I’m not hungry though, for me it’s a meal structure that works and keeps me on track. Now its very automatic, so no weighing or measuring required.
So for me the paleo / zone balance and portion control is key to health.
Personally I don’t like or feel good if I eat a lot of saturated fat, or too much fat. I stick to a smaller amount of nuts and oil, although not as rigid at the small zone amounts.

By: | Mark's Daily Apple

| Mark's Daily Apple — Fri, 22 May 2009 00:40:16 +0000

[...] What’s Wrong with the Zone Diet? – August 7 [...]

By: Oprah Hits 200 Pounds. Again. | Mark's Daily Apple

Oprah Hits 200 Pounds. Again. | Mark's Daily Apple — Mon, 18 May 2009 22:04:07 +0000

[...] What’s Wrong with the Zone Diet? [...]

By: Harry

Harry — Fri, 08 May 2009 22:19:59 +0000

I actually began my journey down the path to good health with the zone. The diet allowed me to master the basics as far as what was good to eat and what was bad (all the tasty stuff). I just dove right in. Then I started reading, beginning with “Good Calories, Bad Calories” by Gary Taub. This is when I switched from the Zone to a Paleo Atkin’s diet. BAM! 20 lbs in 2 months, decreased B/P, increased strength and endurance, etc… The Zone is an okay maintenance diet and actually closely resembles the 4th stage of Atkins. It’s not much good as a weight loss diet though without intense exercise, and therefore can be seen as a little high on the carb scale. I don’t think our Paleo ancestors were much for eating their body weight in veggies every meal though and therefor neither are we. So, the Zone is a good first step which allows us to better understand the diet’s role in good health, but is not the optimal diet to that end. That’s all I have to say about that.

By: Dave, RN

Dave, RN — Wed, 10 Dec 2008 18:42:23 +0000

Structure is a matter of personality. Some folks do well with structure. Others abhor it. I personally can do without structure when it comes to eating (at work I’m different). I just eat lots of protein, fat and veggies with a good mix of fruit thrown in, and I’m good. Glucose Tolerance test went from 198 to 100, BP down 25 points…I don’t measure or worry about it If getting too much of a % of a certain item. That would drive me nuts and make me hate my me eating style. In my mind, when I have to start measuring, it becomes a “diet” and not “just a way of eating” that becomes permanent.

By: Jeff Chalfant

Jeff Chalfant — Mon, 01 Dec 2008 09:13:36 +0000

I have in the past been a big pusher of the zone, but I found myself really obsessed with eating due to the math involved in eating anything.

I had a thought this balance thing though. Barry Sears calls certain hormones “good” and others “bad”, and I know he is just using those words so his book is easier to read. But I can’t help but notice that our bodies can and do survive in imbalanced hormonal states, and that it seems reasonable that we evolved to frequently handle wild shifts in food sources from season to season, from one foraging area to another, etc.

What if constant balance isn’t actually the best way to be healthy? But rather a rhythm which mimics, or follows the wide variations in food choices most of our ancestors would have regularly dealt with as omnivore hunter-gatherers.

Am I making sense?

By: Weekend Link Love | Mark's Daily Apple

Weekend Link Love | Mark's Daily Apple — Sat, 15 Nov 2008 16:04:06 +0000

[...] is a cancer. And it’s not your fault. At least that’s what Barry Sears (author of the Zone Diet) has to say. Watch his interview posted on At Darwin’s [...]

By: Athletes Special Diets Links - Solid Information About Diet

Athletes Special Diets Links - Solid Information About Diet — Fri, 17 Oct 2008 08:00:22 +0000

[...] Most athletes on the Zone eat at least double fat. Although I have clients who are trying to instead of running (I agree with both). Mark s Mystery* Meat: the Zone Diet read continue [...]

By: Free the Animal

Free the Animal — Tue, 30 Sep 2008 02:59:15 +0000

The “Groan” Diet…

Mark Sisson dissects “The Zone,” and precisely so. I respect Barry Sears, and certainly, his prescriptions are far better than, say, those of the attention grabbing low-fat fat-face Ornish (I emphasize: huge understatement).I tried that diet (Zone) f…

By: Warming up, etc. « No Magic Pill

Warming up, etc. « No Magic Pill — Sun, 17 Aug 2008 13:03:44 +0000

[...] Factory and walking instead of running (I agree with both). —Mark’s Mystery* Meat: the Zone Diet, eggs, hot fat (not a fetish site link), exercises to avoid at all costs, prescription drugs, [...]