The Zone's Special Men's Menu

The Zone Diet, formulated by Barry Sears, PhD, uses sound methods that incorporate a healthy diet and common-sense exercises to help people live better lives.

Many diets seem to be geared toward women - The Zone offers a specific plan that can help men reach their own unique goals of dropping excess fat and optimizing muscle conversion.

How the Zone Diet Works
The Zone is basically very easy to use. Food is broken down into three specific categories, and each category should ideally comprise a certain percentage of the overall daily calorie intake:

1. Protein - Protein should make up 30% of your overall daily intake. Be sure that you ingest high quality, lean protein.
2. Fat - High quality fat from non-animal sources should make up another 30% of your daily diet. The best fats are extra virgin olive oil and other high quality oils. Fatty fish can be an important part of your diet - Salmon is one example of a good fatty fish to eat.
3. Carbohydrates - Carbohydrates ought to make up the last 40% of your diet. Be sure that you are eating quality carbohydrates - fruits, vegetables, and whole grains. Avoid processed food like potato chips and sugary cereal. Avoid drinking excessive alcohol, and stay away from things like white bread and candy.

When you are in the Zone, you should be eating a little protein each time you eat. You should also be consuming a favorable amount of the right kind of carbohydrates and a little fat. This is to keep you from becoming too hungry, and it helps to prevent overeating.

Basically, you can take a piece of lean protein, the size of your palm and fill up the rest of your plate with fruits and vegetables. This is easy advice to follow and it eliminates a lot of the guesswork from the dieting process.

By following the recommendations for diet and committing to a daily exercise regiment, men can easily lose weight and keep it off.

There is room for goodies and snacks on the Zone diet - in fact, Barry Sears recommends that if you are going to eat dessert, have some real, high fat ice cream. The fat in the ice cream helps to block the carbohydrates that it contains, and it is a great treat that comes in many flavors which can be enjoyed year round.

Positive and Negative Aspects Of The Zone Diet For Men
One of the best things about the Zone diet is that its' creator has made portion control easy. He recommends equating portions to commonly sized items - for instance, you should eat a piece of protein that is the same size as the palm of your hand. This is helpful for people of varying sizes, because standard diets are usually measured by one-size fits all portions. If you are a big guy, you are not going to be satisfied with three ounces of chicken breast; your muscles might start to shrink and you will go away hungry and lose your will to stick to an eating program.

Some of the Zone's detractors say that the Zone is a little hard to follow because it does not give super specific instructions as to exactly what to eat and when to eat it. It does not tell you which specific foods offer magical weight loss combinations. On the other hand, people who like a lot of flexibility built into their diets really enjoy being in the Zone because they can make choices and there are plenty of available options to choose from.

One of the best things about the Zone diet is that it offers some pre-made meal replacement and snack options. Zone bars are popular and tasty, and they leave you feeling a lot more satisfied than some other energy bars do. Supplements are also available, so you can be assured you are getting proper nutrition.

How to Get Started On the Zone
The first thing you should do is invest in Dr. Sears' Zone Diet books and go to the official Zone website. You will learn all there is to know about how to get into the Zone and stay there.

The Zone's official website offers customized meal plans, and offers many testimonials from professional athletes, who enjoy life in the Zone. This is a great plan for men; it can help you to reach the fitness goals you desire.

Official Website

http://www.zonediet.com

Other Resources

http://www.weightlossresources.co.uk/diet/zone.htm

http://www.answers.com/topic/the-zone-diet

http://www.drsears.com/

http://www.formulazone.com/

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