The Zone Diet: Useless Jargon or Solid Weight Loss Plan?

Flipping through Dr. Sears' book, I was alarmed to see that the book was full of 'success stories' while not containing an ounce of independent research I could evaluate. WebMD's latest article on the Zone Diet seconds my concern about the validation of this diet’s success.

If you toss all the pricey meal plan books and glossy guides aside, The Zone Diet offers a relatively simple diet plan for you to follow - eat a balance of proteins, carbohydrates and whole grains, but in a rather strict and unwieldy 40-30-30 ratio[1]. Call me crazy, but I don't want to force my clients to work out their meal ratio to this absolute percentage. Nor did I agree with Sears' evaluation of 'brown rice' as a bad carbohydrate source, and his recommendation that we eat ice cream as it was a 'good fat', as ice cream is an undisputed source of saturated fat.

Some research online also revealed the story of Manuel Uribe, the most famous Zone Diet devotee who lost 400 lbs from his original weight of half a ton [2]. Read on, and you'll discover that the bed-ridden Uribe had a dedicated team of doctors planning his six carefully crafted meals. Is this an option for the average person? Not likely.

In addition, the American Heart Association does not recommend the Zone Diet as Americans already eat much more protein than their bodies need, clogging their arteries and putting them at risk for a heart attack [4].

[1] Zone Diet on Wikipedia

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Zone_diet

[2] Manuel Uribe on Wikipedia

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Manuel_Uribe

[3] WebMD: What is the Zone Diet?

http://www.webmd.com/diet/zone-what-it-is?page=3

[4] American Heart Association on High Protein Diets

http://www.americanheart.org/presenter.jhtml?identifier=11234