Theory
The diet centers on a "40:30:30" ratio of calories obtained daily from carbohydrates, proteins, and fats, respectively.
"The Zone" is Sears' term for proper hormone balance. When insulin levels are neither too high nor too low and glucagon levels are not too high, then specific anti-inflammatory chemicals (types of eicosanoids) are released, which have similar effects to aspirin, but without downsides such as gastric bleeding. Sears claims that a 30:40 ratio of protein to carbohydrates triggers this effect, and this is called 'The Zone.' Sears claims that these natural anti-inflammatories are heart- and health-friendly.
Additionally, the human body in calorie balance does not have to store excess calories as fat. The human body cannot store fat and burn fat at the same time and Sears believes it takes time (significant time if insulin levels were high because of unbalanced eating) to switch from the former to the latter.
Another key feature of the Zone diet, introduced in his later books, is an intake of a particular ratio of Omega-3 to Omega-6 fatty acids. Dr. Sears is believed to have popularized the taking of pharmaceutical-grade Omega 3 fish oils.
Read more about this topic: Zone Diet
Famous quotes containing the word theory:
“It makes no sense to say what the objects of a theory are,
beyond saying how to interpret or reinterpret that theory in another.”
—Willard Van Orman Quine (b. 1908)
“Hygiene is the corruption of medicine by morality. It is impossible to find a hygienest who does not debase his theory of the healthful with a theory of the virtuous.... The true aim of medicine is not to make men virtuous; it is to safeguard and rescue them from the consequences of their vices.”
—H.L. (Henry Lewis)
“The theory [before the twentieth century] ... was that all the jobs in the world belonged by right to men, and that only men were by nature entitled to wages. If a woman earned money, outside domestic service, it was because some misfortune had deprived her of masculine protection.”
—Rheta Childe Dorr (1866–1948)