Dr Barry Sears is famous for introducing the world to the “Zone Diet”. I first heard about this diet more than ten years ago when I was involved with a weight loss business which home delivers calorie controlled meals. I liked it then and I still like it now.
Lewis-LoRizzo-And-Dr-Barry-Sears-1999
Having read a lot of diet and nutritional books previously, I found Sears’ book, “The Zone”, refreshingly different. This was the first book I had come across which had all the elements of a coherent and honest theory that made sense and didn’t contradict itself. This was a theory that did not put calorie counting at the heart of your desired eating plan. Instead he said that the goal was to achieve stable blood sugar levels and hormonal balance, and through this you could could achieve greater health and as a side benefit you would lose weight.
I read all his early books including “Zone Perfect Meals in Minutes”, “The Anti-Aging Zone” and “Omega Rx Zone” and immediately set forth to get “in the Zone”. As he predicted, from the very first week, I got immediate results. Firstly, there was never any hunger pains… none. Quite frankly I have never been hungry to this day and you would have to describe my physique as slim. I pretty much eat as much as I like, and as long as you stay within his preferred range of 40/30/30 (40% low-density carbohydrates, 30% dietary fat and 30% protein) you seem to be OK.
Dr Barry Sears original intention with this way of eating was to increase health and reduce and eliminate the chronic diseases such as cardiovascular disease which particularly affected his family and would affect him if he did not find a solution.
Here is my over simplification of getting in the Zone:
- Three meals per day with each meal balanced 40/30/30 as discussed above. He recommends having two more snacks per day between meals but I am just too busy.
- Three capsules of fish oil per day. I think he recommends more but I also take two table spoons of coconut oil and and a couple of tea spoons of cod liver oil so I don’t want to be Mr oily.
- Meditation every day to tune up the mind so to speak.
I have added a tweak, or maybe it is being a bit more strict, by not including grains, dairy or soy. This means that my carbs come from fruits and vegetables only so that my diet becomes even more alkaline. I figure this might be akin to asking people to just eating leaves from their front garden for most people. In any case the good news is that Barry says that being in the Zone only some of the day will bring results. I have had people say that they simply changed one meal a day (breakfast for example) and have found themselves feeling better and losing weight without trying anything else. This may have meant something as simple as swapping a breakfast of cornflakes and toast with a couple of poached eggs and some fruit. Not really a super difficult way to start eh.
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