Everyone wants to lose just a little weight in order to look better and to feel better about themselves. But finding a program that is healthy as well as effective can be tricky.
Too often, we are surrounded by numerous advertisements for the latest fad diet. And while these can work, they aren’t necessarily effective when you want to lose the weight for good.
To make sure you become slim and stay that way, you need to try something different – like the Zone Diet. Not only is this a healthy approach to the way you eat, but it can also help you slim down and feel great.
What The Zone Diet Tells You
One of the first things a seasoned dieter might notice about the Zone Diet is that it’s not a diet that tries to be restrictive. Though you will need to eat less than you might be eating now, you are still able to eat the foods you want. You aren’t going to be told you can’t eat a certain group of foods, and this is a good thing. When you’re too restrictive with a diet, you can have troubles controlling your cravings, which can lead to slip-ups.
The Zone Diet consists of following certain percentages for your meals and your daily meal plan.
Percentage Breakdown of Meals On The Zone Diet:
- 40% of your daily calories as carbohydrates
- 30% as fat
- 30% as proteins
This will provide your body with all the nutrition it needs while also helping you have plenty of variety in your menu and in your pantry.
The Goals of the Zone Diet
The rationale behind this diet is that your body needs to have energy in order to live. You can’t simply stop eating or stop eating entire groups of foods and expect to be healthy or to feel good as you do.
Within each food group are vitamins and minerals your body needs to stay fit. When you deprive yourself, you will reduce the calories you are eating – and this does lead to weight loss – but you can also lose muscle mass which can then slow your metabolism.
The Zone Diet also works with the understanding that your body’s insulin levels need to be regulated. When you let your body’s insulin levels get too high or too low, you can have troubles controlling your appetite.
For example, when you eat too much sugar, you might have too much insulin produced in your body, which can start a nasty cycle of eating more in order to use up the insulin, etc. But when you don’t eat, that’s just as bad. Your body’s blood sugar levels will plummet, making you hungrier than ever.
Other Health Benefits of the Zone Diet
But while weight loss may be your main goal when starting this diet, you will be happy to know that using the Zone can also help your body in other ways. When you begin to regulate your blood sugar in a more reasonable manner, you will begin to reduce your chances of diabetes. This chronic and untreatable disorder has become a bit of a modern day health crisis, and it’s no surprise that it’s been linked to weight gain as well as to eating too much sugar.
Using this diet will also help the dieter avoid troubles with heart disease as you are choosing lower fat items in your diet plan. At the same time, heart friendly fats (like those in avocados) are encouraged as they help to protect your heart.
A Healthier New Life Following the Zone Diet
If you choose to follow the Zone plan, you will want to incorporate plenty of leafy green vegetables into your daily diet. This will help you get the vitamins and nutrients you need, while also helping to lower your overall calorie count each day. You will also want to lower your consumption of sugary foods, including white breads and pastas. These can raise your blood sugar too much, and begin the cycle of an out of control appetite.
A Highly Effective Diet
Ideally, it will help to use the fist method when you are portioning out your meals. Eat only one palm’s size worth of protein at every meal as well as two loose fistfuls of healthy carbohydrates (less if the carbs are white), and then a portion of fat or oil that is no more than one thumb in size. It’s a highly effective diet that you can carry with you wherever you go.
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