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| History of the Zone Diet Plan |
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Barry Sears is the author of the books on the Zone Diet, which he promotes more as a “way of eating” than a weight loss diet.
Based on his own theories and hypotheses regarding the functionality of the human body, Sears has created and explained the Zone Diet plan in many books, expanding his knowledge globally to include information in European countries. |
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The History of the Zone Diet PlanThe Zone Diet plan began with a book called The Zone in 1995, detailing how to use your dietary intake to control the production and use, and resistance to insulin in the human body. “The Zone” was the coined phrase Sears used to define the proper hormone balance. After success with the first book, he followed up with Mastering the Zone in 1997, urging people to better their health by replacing refined sugars and other carbs in their diets with raw vegetables. After further studies into Zone Diet recipe options, Sears determined that you could also use your diet in combination with exercise and other physical methods to reduce the effects of aging. With this in 1999 he published The Anti-Aging Zone.
The Soy Zone became the next major project for Sears in which he revised his original Zone Diet to include more soy products. This recommendation was based on the idea that the world’s longest living people in Okinawa consume more soy protein than almost any other group as a whole.
Finally, in 2002 the Zone Diet plan was revised again, with the publication of The Omega-RX Zone, which promoted the use of expensive pharmaceutical grade omega-3 oil supplements for reduction of inflammation. In fact, Sears at this point caused huge controversy by turning the food pyramid upside down and recommending good omega and fish oils (fats) as the base of the entire pyramid, with carbohydrates rating a much lower consumption level.
As the Zone Diet plan has evolved, many have latched onto the idea as a way of life, simply because it is not a matter of “dieting” as most people think of the word. There is no calorie counting involved and no actual portion control per se. Instead, it is a way of life, simply balancing out the quantities of different food sources to reach “The Zone,” or the proper hormonal balance. In the original publication, Sears stated his belief that protein and carbohydrates should be consumed in a ratio of 30:40 (respective percentage) to achieve that “zone”.
Aside from the controversy of basing an entire diet on fatty acids, the low carbohydrate craze that was sparked at about the same time has caused some skepticism of the plan. Because a lack of sufficient carbohydrate intake can actually slow down the metabolism, some have come to believe that low carb diets actually put you in danger of gaining weight. However, the Zone Diet is an example of a diet rich in carbs that are low on the glycemic index rather than a complete lack of carbohydrates, making it less likely that the body will begin to slow down as with some other diets.
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