Getting Ready To Make Zone Meals

Ironically, the Zone is based on two terms your grandmother told you: balance and moderation. You balance your plate at every meal, and never eat too many calories at a meal. The only tools you need are the palm of your hand and your eye.

Start With Protein

Every Zone meal starts with making sure that you have an adequate serving of low-fat protein. There are several reasons for this. The first is that your body needs a constant supply of dietary protein to replace the protein that is constantly lost from your body on a daily basis. Without adequate incoming protein, your muscles weaken and your immune system becomes far less effective. Second, protein stimulates the release of glucagons. Glucagon is a mobilization hormone that tells the body to release stored carbohydrates from the liver to maintain adequate blood sugar levels for the brain. Without adequate protein in a meal, hunger (due to the inability to maintain blood sugar levels) will result in two to three hours after a meal. Finally, glucagon acts as a brake on excess insulin secretion. If glucagon levels increase, then insulin levels decrease. By stimulating the release of enough glucagon with adequate levels of protein, you now have an ideal control mechanism to prevent too much insulin from being released.

Finally, you always want to use low-fat protein. Why? Because you will always be adding a dash of monounsaturated fat to a Zone meal, and using low-fat protein means you can control the composition of your fat instead of overconsuming saturated fat.

A very common misconception about the Zone is that you have to eat animal protein. That’s simply not true. You do have to consume adequate protein, but for a vegetarian that is very easy to achieve eating egg whites, low-fat dairy products, tofu, or soy meat substitutes. Using soy products as your primary protein source may actually be the healthiest version of the Zone for a longer life.

Balance With Carbohydrates

Now that you have your protein portion for your Zone meal, you must balance the protein with carbohydrates. Unfortunately, most Americans have no idea what carbohydrates actually are. Many people think of them as only pasta and sweets, whereas in reality they also include fruits and vegetables. The fact that a fruit or vegetable is also a carbohydrate is a major revelation to most Americans. However, not all carbohydrates are equal in their ability to stimulate insulin. Some are “favorable” carbohydrates that have a low capacity to stimulate insulin, and others are “unfavorable” carbohydrates that have a high capacity to stimulate insulin. Since the name of the game is insulin control, you want to make sure that most of your carbohydrate choices come from favorable carbohydrates (primarily fruits and vegetables), and treat unfavorable carbohydrates (such as grains and starches) like condiments.

This definition of favorable and unfavorable is based on the concept of the glycemic load. That is calculated from the combination of both the density of the carbohydrate in a given volume, and the rate at which it will enter the bloodstream. More details about glycemic load are found Dr. Sears’ book The Zone, but for now all you need to know is that the higher the glycemic load of a given volume of carbohydrate, the greater its ability to stimulate insulin.

Vegetables (except for corn and carrots) always have a low glycemic load, whereas fruits (except for bananas and raisins) will usually have an intermediate glycemic load. Starches and grains (except for oatmeal and barley, which are very rich in soluble fiber) have very high glycemic loads. Therefore, as you balance the protein on your plate, do so with a lot of vegetables, some fruits, and just a small amount of grains and starches. Here are some of the favorable and unfavorable carbohydrates.

Add Fat

Once you have balanced your plate with low-fat protein and favorable carbohydrates, there is one more thing to add before it’s truly a Zone meal – fat. Remember, it takes fat to burn fat. But like carbohydrates, all fats are not equal.

There are two types of fats that fall into the category of “good fats”. These are monounsaturated fats and long-chain omega-3 fats. You get monounsaturated fats from olive oil, selected nuts, and avodados. Long-chain omega-3 fats come from fish and fish oils (like the cod liver oil your grandmother told you to take). These are exceptionally powerful allies in your quest for a longer life.

However, there are some fats you want to restrict in your diet. These are saturated fats, trans fats, and arachidonic acid. I consider these to be really “bad” fats. You find saturated fats in fatty cuts of red meat and high-fat dairy products. Another type of fat to avoid is trans fats. These artificial fats were created by the food industry. Any time you see the words “partially hydrogenated vegetable oil,” you know that food contains trans fats. These alien fats make processed food more stable. Furthermore, Harvard Medical School has shown that the more trans fats you eat, the more at risk you are for heart disease. Finally there is arachidonic acid, which is found primarily in fatty red meats, egg yolks, and organ meats.

Lets Get Started

Now that you have an idea of what types of protein, carbohydrate, and fat you will be using to make Zone meals, here is how easy it really is.

First, take your plate and divide it into three sections. On one-third of the plate put some low-fat protein that is no bigger or thicker than the palm of your hand. Then fill the other two-thirds of the plate until it is overflowing with fruits and vegetables. Then a dash (that’s a small amount) of monounsaturated fat, like olive oil, slivered almonds, or even guacamole. There you have it: a Zone meal.

You can see that putting together a Zone meal isn’t rocket science. But the key is consistency, since the hormonal benefits of each meal will only last four to six hours. You have to eat, so you might as well get the best hormonal bang for the buck out of each meal.

This means always balancing protein and carbohydrate at every meal and snack. For example, you can’t have all of your protein in one meal and all of your carbohydrate in the next meal, because your insulin levels will swing all over the place. Consider your food like a medication. You have to take the right dose at the right time. Would you take a week’s worth of drugs on Saturday afternoon? Of course not. And if you are taking your drug every day, would you take 5 mg in the morning, 500mg at noon, and 28mg in the evening? Of course not. You would try the best you could to take the same amount of the drug each time. Why? You want to keep the drug within a Zone; not too high (where it’s toxic), nor too low (where it doesn’t work). Treat food the same way. Your goal is to maintain insulin in a similar Zone by balancing protein and carbohydrate and using only your eye and the palm of your hand to do it.