Diet Deception: The Zone Diet

The Premise: 

A high protein, low carbohydrate diet which limits your caloric intake and follows the ratio of 40/30/30 for carbohydrates, protein, and fat respectively. Created by Barry Sears, author of Enter the Zone, this diet makes ‘zonies’ experience rapid weight loss mostly attributed to three factors: 

1. Protein has a higher satiating effect than carbohydrates, so you feel less hungry in a high protein diet.
2. High protein suppresses the following day’s protein intake more than carbohydrates.
3. Digesting protein requires more energy than digesting carbs which increases your caloric expenditure.

High protein diets are simply those that require the person to have an intake of more than 30 percent in protein. The diet relies on the fact that insulin secretion is stimulated by carbohydrate consumption. Low carbs keep insulin in a range that allows the body to burn excess fat.

The Provisions:

Lean meats like chicken, turkey, lean steaks and just sidings of vegetables and fruits.

The Promise: 

Rapid weight loss, improved athletic performance (this is a new one!) and a lower risk of developing heart disease and cancer.

The Proof:

Randy, 30, a computer programmer said “I tried it and I lost 15 pounds, but had serious problems with my skin and bowel movement so I went off it. Regarding athletic performance, I swim a lot but I don’t think it really improved it.”

The Prognosis:

Rapid weight loss is inevitable in a low carbohydrate, high protein diet. While it contends that excessive complex carbohydrates causes obesity by increasing insulin output and fat storage, you’ll find that none of the references quoted in the book to back up these claims have ever been published.

The author vehemently advises against a vegetarian diet, completely ignoring that fact that vegetarians are far less likely to develop heart disease and cancer and are leaner than meat-eaters. Clinical studies alone in the last half century clearly show how a high protein, high fat diet can lead to higher risks for heart disease, stroke, adult onset diabetes, several types of cancer and stroke.

With regards to the 40/30/30 ratio, studies show that the average diet in most Western countries, is already an approximation of this ratio. The U.S. in particular has 60 percent of its population falling under the obese category, not to mention a steady increase over the last couple of years of incidence of heart disease and cancer. These fatal numbers are but a reflection of the same diet ratio the book encourages everyone to follow.

Like most low carb diets, the weight loss is mainly attributed to dehydration. By limiting carbohydrates (where 3 grams of water are stored in every gram of carbohydrate), zonies think that they’re actually losing a pound of fat a day. It’s also below the healthy recommended caloric intake for adults (2,200 to 2,500 calories a day) at only 1,700 calories. This causes unhealthy depletion of body mass with minimal fat loss. The weight loss is quickly regained once the body can no longer sustain the diet.

As for improvement in athletic performance, athletes would be well advised to stay away from the Zone. The recommendations for both carbohydrates and caloric intakes are insufficient to meet the energy requirements of everyday training.

The Pros’ Position:

“There are a lot of false statements made in the book. The fact that carbohydrates cause heart disease and cancer has no basis at all. Furthermore, there are so many health problems proven to be directly linked to the consumption of high levels of protein- heart conditions, stroke, cancer and even calcium loss and osteoporosis. The short term benefit of rapid weight loss isn’t worth the inevitable long term health risks.” says Ana Cruz, an L.A. nutritionist and dietician who once worked for the Duke University Medical Center.

Dr. Sanirose Orbeta, a nutrinionist adds, “Like the other new diets in the market, the nutrient ratio in The Zone diet doesn’t follow the healthy eating index, which should have 55 to 60 percent carbohydrates, 15 to 20 percent protein and 20 to 25 percent fat.”

Diet Deception: The Cabbage Soup Diet

The Premise: 

The more soup you eat, the more weight you lose. Cabbage is the one super vegetable with little calories and high fat burning capabilities.

The Provisions: 

The basic ingredients of the soup include three large onions, green bell pepper, a head of celery, dark green cabbage, chopped tomatoes, onion soup mix and three cubes of vegetable stock.

The Promise: 

Weight loss of 10 to 15 pounds in seven days by following the seven-day cabbage soup diet.

The Proof: 

Rachel, 28, marketing assistant said “I tried it and lost 4 pounds. It’s really hard to just eat the darned soup day in and day out over and over! Plus, I actually gained it all back in less than a week so I don’t think this diet works unless you intend to stay on cabbage soup forever which is a fate worse than death, if you ask me”.

The Prognosis: 

First of all, there’s no such thing as “the one food” that will melt all your fat away. Whether its cabbage or grapefruit, eating only one type of food is just nutritionally unsound. Furthermore, it’s only a matter of time before your body starts craving for other types of food which will probably not be the healthiest of choices. In fact, according to an article in the Journal of Nutrition (2001), the only thing you lose in this diet is water, which you will quickly gain back by downing even just a few glasses of water.

The Pros’ Position:

“Anything that shuts out other food groups is already a warning signal for you not to try it. There are no miracle foods out there that you can gorge solely on and expect miracle results. Water is the easiest thing to lose when you want the scales to reflect a lower number pronto. But being water deficient can cause dry skin and make you look old quickly, especially if you keep dehydrating yourself often enough,” says Ana Cruz, an L.A. nutritionist and dietician who once worked for the Duke University Medical Center.

Dr. Sanirose Orbeta, a nutrinionist adds, “People who take this soup will automatically lose weight because it’s very low in total calories. One cup of pure vegetable soup doesn’t even amount to 50 calories, the equivalent of one medium-sized banana or one medium-sized apple. It’s not sustainable for the needs of the body. It’s nutritionally unsound and unsafe.

Diet Deception: The After Six Diet

The Premise: 

Not eating after 6 p.m. so that by the time you sleep, most of the body’s intake would have already been converted to energy and used up, efficiently eliminating the chances of stocking up excess calories that might turn into fat.

The Promise: Weight Loss

The Proof: 

Kathy, 26, a former national athlete said “As an athlete, I’ve never had to diet extensively. But when I got married and gave birth, it was much harder. I did the After-six diet for two months and was amazed to find that I fit in my old clothes again. You just have to have the discipline to do it.”

The Prognosis: 

The After-six diet is more of a health tip than a diet. Its two main goals are to create an eating cut-off so you take in fewer calories for the lesser amount of activities ahead of you which is sleeping; and to promote the habit of eating breakfast. We continuously burn calories every second of our lives. Logically, you burn more calories running than sleeping, although you still burn calories even when you snooze. Also, the digestive ability of the body is more efficient when you’re awake. Before your food turns into energy, the body has to transform it to useable forms of energy. By eating way before bedtime, you ensure that the food has been digested and can efficiently be used by the body during slumber.

The theory is almost sound until you figure out what exactly your bedtime is. It takes approximately four hours before the body reacts to the lack of nutrients and you start feeling hunger pangs. After two hours of digesting, your body is efficiently burning calories and by the end of the fourth hour, your stomach produces enzymes for digestion for the food, which it is supposedly scheduled to admit. But what if you sleep at midnight? Two hours would have gone by then and the enzymes in your stomach would have reacted to your stomach lining resulting to ulcers and acid build-up.

The Pros’ Position:

“If you’re not an early sleeper, don’t do it. You can develop ulcers and hyperacidity by not eating way past four hours consistently. The concept of an eating cut-off time can work only if you take into consideration your normal sleeping patterns. If you sleep at midnight, make your cut-off 8p.m. or even 9p.m. instead of 6p.m. remember, hunger is just the body’s way of conveying that it needs nourishment. Deprivation is not the key to good health. Just make sure you eat two to three hours before you sleep. That should be sufficient. Never sleep straight away after eating”, says Ana Cruz, an L.A. nutritionist and dietician who once worked for the Duke University Medical Center.

On the other hand, some nutritionists believe that this is another fad formula which they discourage because of its erroneous and unscientific reasoning. This is because the body’s basal metabolism works 24 hours and does its different functions regardless of the time you feed it. 

The bottom line is: The key to healthy and scientific weight loss and weight maintenance program has no easy formula. Healthy lifestyle changes, good food choices, sustained and regular physical activity, attitudinal and behavioral modification will give us a healthier body.