Healthy Weight Loss Recipes & Meal Plans

How Can Zone Diet Recipes Help Me Lose Weight?

The Zone Diet was invented by Dr. Barry Sears. He created the diet to help people lose weight and avoid disease. The diet follows a specific plan: the 40/30/30 strategy. This means that adherents of the diet are required to consume 40% carbs, 30% fats, and 30% protein.

The Zone diet talks about insulin production as a factor in weight loss. Eating foods that will raise the blood sugar and stimulate the production of insulin are not good for the body. Excess insulin will be stored as fat. The body is not encouraged to burn stored fat for energy with so much insulin in the bloodstream. Such increases in insulin are believed to aid in increased incidence of heart disease and diabetes in people.

The Zone diet is specific about the types of foods that help keep insulin in check. Carbohydrates like those found in fruits and vegetables are better than those found in anything made from white flour. Processed foods are a no-no since they contain plenty of empty calories that turn to fat in the body.

The traditional eating plan of three meals a day and two snacks are eaten on the Zone diet plan. The snacks are added to keep participants from experiencing hunger and overeating at the next meal. The snacks shouldn’t be high in sugar or they will defeat the purpose of maintaining steady blood sugar levels. For the meals, a regular dinner size plate is divided into 40/30/30. The largest portion is carbohydrates and they are simple carbs like green vegetables, corn, cauliflower, and peppers. The size of the meat portion is about the size of the palm of the hand for a four ounce piece of chicken or steak. Excess fat needs to be trimmed before cooking.

Eating enough fat is very important because good fats slow digestion and provide steady energy. Slower digestion means that your body will work on digesting and you won’t immediately feel hungry. The Zone Diet suggests good fats like olive and canola oil and recommends eating nuts as they contain good fats as well.

Foods that spike insulin must be avoided at all costs. Candy, cakes, pies, and other snacks clearly cause insulin spikes and must be avoided. However, other foods can be just as bad. For example breads, pasta noodles, and heavy starches can have the same effect as candy and cake. So try not to eat too much of these foods either especially because these foods are so addictive.

The Zone diet provides affordable pre-packed foods to help you get started and stick to the diet. Also, we can provide you with dozens of sources of zone diet recipes. With just a few changes to your weekly grocery list you’ll be Zone Diet Compliant! In fact, your family probably won’t even notice the change to their menu once you do the switch.

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