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Bad Things About the Zone Diet

Whether your weight loss goal is to lose 5 pounds or 100 pounds, knowing which diet to follow is an important first step in any weight loss process. If you are considering the Zone diet there are some concerns that should be addressed before you step out on your diet journey. The Zone diet has discrepancies that followers of this eating plan should know.

  1. Exercise

    • Turn your Zone diet book over and read the bullet points on the back cover. There you will find a bullet point with the startling claim that, "You can burn more fat watching TV than by exercising." Does this sound suspicious to you? The first "bad thing" is on the cover of the book! If that does not satiate the need to put this book down, than let me elaborate further.
      Dr. Sears claims there are studies to prove his perspective in the Zone; however the subjects used were only 5 to 10 pounds overweight, not the typical weight loss candidate. His study subjects were in some cases competitive athletes put on the calorie restrictive Zone diet. A competitive athlete expends significantly more energy, therefore dramatically decreasing their calories will undoubtedly cause weight loss. Now do you think these athletes burned more fat for this study watching TV or by playing competitive sports? According to the Mayo Clinic, exercise combined with healthy nutrition is the only way to lose weight and maintain health without the use of surgery or prescription medicine.

    Diet

    • Dr. Sears puts emphasis on the Zone diet as being a low-fat and low-calorie eating plan with daily caloric limitations set between 1,000 to 1,600 calories a day. According to the American Heart Association calories needed per day by an adult can vary from 1,600 calories to 3,000 calories depending on age and activity level. Calorie restriction on the scale mentioned in Dr. Sears' book is well below these minimum levels.

    Scientific Study

    • The tone of Dr Sears' book implies that all risk factors and diseases are a result of not maintaining the diet guidelines within this diet book. According to the American College of Nutrition there is little scientific support for the Zone diet links made between diet, endocrinology and eicosanoid metabolism. According to this same study, scientific contradictions exist in the hypothesis of the Zone diet.

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