THE DIET: The Zone and Mastering the Zone by Barry Sears, Ph.D.
THE BIG IDEA: Most people suffer from an insulin imbalance that causes them to gain excess weight. Sears claims that by eating protein, carbohydrates and fat in the proportions he prescribes, you can correct the imbalance and lose weight.
READING THE MENU BETWEEN THE LINES: If you love meat and fatty foods, you can eat more of them and still lose weight without feeling hungry, according to Sears. However, a closer look reveals that it's not the fantasy diet it's hyped up to be. For example, you're encouraged to stick to healthful protein sources, including tofu and nuts, and mostly monounsaturated fat, such as olive oil.
WEIRD SCIENCE: Eating too many carbohydrates promotes an overproduction of insulin, which destroys hormones known as eicosanoids. According to Sears, these are "the most powerful hormones in your body. They control every cell, every organ, every system." However, there is little to no evidence to back up his theory that one biochemical system controls every reaction in the human body.
Susan Kleiner, Ph.D., R.D., a regular columnist for Physician and Sportsmedicine, and the author of several books, notes, "We have systems upon systems controlling our body. To think that only one system is responsible for everything is very naive."
WHAT TO TELL FRIENDS WHO CLAIM IT WORKS: It's the calories, stupid. The book admits that "in fact, the Zone Diet is a low-calorie diet ranging from 1,000 to 1,600 calories a day." Christina Stark, M.S., R.D., a nutrition specialist at Cornell University's Division of Nutritional Sciences, points out that "most people will lose weight on even 1,700 calories a day, especially if they're used to eating more. It doesn't matter what those calories are made of."
This article was obtained from: http://www.phys.com/b_nutrition/02solutions/diet_debunker/zone.html
