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(More customer reviews)In brief: the Zone diet works. Please note:
1) This is *not* a crash diet.
2) This is *not* a starvation diet.
3) You get to eat *normal* food. On the down side, you *do* have to give up certain dishes (pasta, rice, and breads, for example)... but on the other hand you get to eat plenty of chicken, beef, turkey, cheese, eggs, bacon, tuna, salmon, cod, as well as plenty of vegetables and fruits. (And for you veggies out there, you can do the Zone diet, too. Just substitute soy protein for the meats and fishes, and take your vitamins, and you're in the club!)
4) The Zone diet is easy to follow. Sears' book is filled with sample recipes for meals, but really, you don't need to follow them. Just flip to the end of the book where he lists all the recommended Zone foods and combine them to make up your own recipes.
Here's how the diet works. There are three categories of foods that you need to eat at every meal: proteins, carbohydrates, and fats (all listed in the back of the book). If you're a man, pick 4 choices (called "blocks") from each category. If you're a woman, pick 3 choices (or "blocks") from each category. Then combine them anyway you choose.
Example: guys, for breakfast, three strips of turkey bacon equals 1 protein block. One egg also equals 1 protein block. So have two eggs for breakfast with three strips of turkey bacon and that's 3 blocks right there. Now add one ounce of low fat cheese (1 protein block) and you've met your protein requirement for that meal.
Now add an apple (2 carbo blocks) and an orange (2 carbo blocks) to your bacon and eggs breakfast and you've met your carbo requirement for that meal.
For fats, just add a 1 1/3 teaspoon of sesame oil to your eggs while you're cooking them, and now you've got 4 fat blocks.
And that's it. You're in the Zone!
You can prepare all your meals that way. Don't feel you have to follow Sears' recipes to the letter and end up scouring your supermarket for obscure items like cilantro, dried tarragon, and shallots (say what?). So long as you only eat what's in the food lists and don't eat the *bad* foods, you'll do fine.
5) Be sure to drink plenty of water. This is crucial for the diet to succeed. If you need a break from tap water (or Evian, for that matter), you can have decaf. Just don't add more than a teaspoon of sugar to your decaf, or better yet use a substitute. Sugars are the one of the *bad* carbo blocks that you need to keep to a minimum.
Also, though it doesn't say so in the book, you are allowed to *occasionally* have a diet drink like Coke or Pepsi so long as it's sugar *and* caffeine free. (I got this last part from Sears' web site, in case you're wondering.)
So while decaf and the occasional diet drink are OK, you should still make sure that most of your liquid intake comes from water. And lots of it.
6) Once you're on the diet, there *will* be a few times each day where you're feeling a little hungry. But a little hungry is one thing and famished is something else... and I've said, on the Zone diet, you don't walk around feeling like you're starving.
For me, the rumble-in-my-tummy feeling usually kicks in about an hour before each meal. If lunch is at 12:00 P.M., my stomach will start grumbling around 11:00 A.M. Late afternoon, my stomach will start grumbling again, but the Zone diet allows me one late afternoon snack each day, so that tides me over till dinnertime. Then, before bedtime, my stomach grumbles one last time, but since the diet also allows me one light bedtime snack (say, a small piece of fruit and a slice of cheese), that tides me over until the next morning.
But for the most part, I don't walk around feeling hungry. In fact, after my first few days on the diet I already lost my cravings for fatty foods like potato chips and pretzels. So since I don't miss what I can't eat, that's what keeps me "in the Zone".
Bottom line: the Zone diet is highly recommended to anyone interested in losing a few pounds without going stark-raving nuts. At the same time, it's balanced enough that you can remain on it painlessly even after you've reached your "ideal weight". How many other diets can claim that? I plan to stay on it until I've lost at least another ten pounds. After that, who knows?
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A Week in the Zone: A Quick Course in the Healthiest Diet for You
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