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Diabetic Diet Program – The Zone Diet
The Zone Diet is a diabetic diet program, which is more of a lifestyle adjustment, than a short term plan to lose weight.
The premise behind the diet is to stabilize an individual’s insulin hormone to help them become, energetic, lean and healthy. Individuals start with an average sized dinner plate, one third should be filled with lean protein, the rest of the plate should be filled with carbohydrates mostly fruits and vegetables.
Then top the plate with a monounsaturated fat, like avocados, nuts, or olive oil. Individuals get to eat three meals and two snacks. Individuals should also drink at least eight glasses of water throughout the day.
This diabetic diet program was developed by Dr. Barry Sears in 1990 while doing research on heart disease. Using food as a remedy, won him the Nobel Peace Prize in 1982, for the research health and hormones being influenced by food.
The premise behind this diabetic diet program is that carbohydrates enter the bloodstream slower with the presence of fat. The foods in this plan concentrate on lean proteins, fruits, vegetables, and monounsaturated fats in every meal or snack.
Individuals can access recipes and grocery lists to assist them with meal preparation. Individuals are encouraged to avoid foods such as breads, grains, noodles, rice, bananas, all fruit juices, mangos, dry breakfast cereal, and other starches.
These carbohydrates have little to not fat, which spikes the insulin, and if all the insulin does not get used it will store fat into the individual’s body system.
The plan for this diabetic diet program is to eat throughout the day, starting one hour after waking up. Individuals should eat every four to five hours to keep their insulin at stable and in the optimum zone.
Individuals should eat at least five times a day, and on a set schedule for best results.
Exercise is not a component of this diabetic diet program. Although exercise is a great way to stay healthy, those individuals that follow this nutritional diet program do not need to exercise in order to lose weight. Individuals can expect to lose one to one and a half pounds of fat per week.
Individuals should not be bound by the results listed on the scale because if lean muscle is replacing fat in the body the scale will not show these changes.
But as long as individuals follow this diabetic diet program for a lifetime results will continue to happen. Individuals should also experience lower risk for heart disease, high blood pressure, and diabetes.