Should You Be on "The Zone" Diet? by Ann Louise Gittlemaen, M.S., C.N.S.

The 40/30/30 Diet is so called because it is a balanced diet composed of 40 percent fiber-rich, mostly low-glycemic (slow-acting) complex carbohydrates, 30 percent lean, complete protein, and 30 percent quality fats. To enable you to decide for yourself whether the 40/30/30 Diet is right for you, I have put together these ten questions and answers.

1. Have you failed to lose weight -- even gained some-while sticking to a low-fat, high-carbohydrate diet?
According to some experts, in three out of four Americans, an excess of processed carbohydrates and simple sugars in the diet causes an over-secretion of insulin into the bloodstream. This hormone helps in the buildup of fatty tissue.

2. Do you have mid-morning or mid-afternoon drops in energy level?
If you have energy "lows" a few hours after meals, you can be reasonably certain that you are eating too many processed carbohydrates or simple sugars. They give you an energy boost as the blood sugar derived from them is quickly used up -- and then leave you sagging with a low blood-sugar level.

3. Do you have sugar cravings?
These cravings occur when your blood sugar level falls too low. Eating something sweet brings the level back up -- and reinforces your sugar habit. A combination of high-calorie, high-sugar snacks and fluctuating blood sugar levels is enough to sabotage most old-style weightloss plans.

4. Do you often experience bloating or water retention?
Too much insulin secretion is frequently responsible for these symptoms and encourages the laying down of body fat. Cutting back on processed carbohydrates and simple sugars, and welcoming back unsaturated fats and protein, can reduce weight due to both water retention and adipose tissue.

5. Do you have cravings for high-fat meat and dairy products?
If you do, you may burn carbohydrate calories more quickly than other people. People with a high metabolism need dietary fats to slow down the consumption of calories and maintain a more balanced blood-sugar level.

6. Do you exercise and still not lose weight?
When your body needs energy, it bums up all available carbohydrates first. So if you eat a high-carb diet, your body never needs to resort to stored fats for its energy needs. Nonsaturated fats in your diet actually encourage the burning-up of stored fat in your body They do this by helping in the production of eicosanoids, hormonelike substances. This is why, ironically, a very-low-fat diet may have the exact opposite effect of that desired.

7. Does exercise wipe you out?
If you seem to take longer than others to recover from exercise, you may be eating too little protein and fat to support weight loss. Protein helps repair and rebuild muscle tissue after exercise. If you have muscle soreness for quite a while after exercising, it's very likely that you are eating too little protein to produce the hormone glucagon in sufficient amounts to combat insulin. Glucagon helps your body consume stored fat. If you lose weight while eating too little protein, you may be using up muscle tissue instead of fat tissue. When you eat too few fats, you may not produce eicosanoids in sufficient quantity to use up body fat.

8. Do you hunger for carbs the more you eat of them?
The more carbs carbohydrate addicts get, the more they want. Cravings for carbs result from problems involving insulin and blood sugar levels boosted by carbohydrates. Carb eating binges are likely to follow, and this is one sure way to pile on body fat.

9. Do you have high cholesterol, high triglycerides, high blood pressure or adult-onset diabetes?
The presence of one or more of these risk factors for cardiovascular disease may indicate an underlying condition of insulin resistance. When the body becomes increasingly unresponsive to insulin, both blood sugar and insulin levels become high, with consequent weight gain and risk to health.

10. Are you an apple, not a pear?
People who put on weight around their abdomen (apples) tend to develop even more weight and health problems than people who put on weight on their hips and thighs (pears). If you carry excess abdominal fat, you should do well on the 40/30/30 Diet.

How Did You Score?

Even if you answered "yes" to only one of these ten questions, the 40/30/30 Diet may be just what you are looking for. In fact, most 40/30/30 advocates report dramatic weight management and weight loss (without hunger or feeling deprived) as well as level blood sugar values, no more cravings and long-term energy.

But do keep in mind that our individual bodies vary greatly in nutrient requirements. Not everybody, as I've said before, may need as much protein and fat as this eating program requires. Due to a variety of factors, it just isn't possible to tailor a single dietary plan to fit every body to a tee.

There is one suggestion, however, that I think applies to everyone who has had trouble losing weight on the low-fat, high-carbohydrate regimen ... and that is to try out the basic 40/30/30 for size and let the results speak for themselves.

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