Zone Diet

So if I split my meal into exactly these portions, I’ll lose weight?
No, not exactly (there's always a catch). Some carbohydrates are good carbs, and others are bad. The ones to eat with caution are potatoes, bread and pasta. Focusing on lean protein and carbohydrates, in the form of vegetables and grains, you're also advised to eat five meals a day (yay) — but smaller ones (boo).

What else do I have to do?
It shouldn't come as a real surprise that Dr Sears' diet advocates regular exercise as a method of losing weight. Slightly less conventionally but not much more so is his recommended use of monounsaturated fats (as opposed to saturated animal fats) and, definitely unusually, the recommendation to take omega-3 fish oil supplements.

How can I tell if I'm eating the right sort of portions?
The Zone Diet recommends that you use your hand as a rough guide to portion size — a steak the thickness and size of your palm is the ideal size for your protein fix. If you're eating "good" carbs, you can have up to two big handfuls; bad carbs and you stick to one small handful. Add to this a small selection of unsalted nuts or a few olives (or perhaps some olive oil on a salad), and that's the sort of thing you will be eating on the Zone Diet.

Sounds okay. Anything else I have to do?
No caffeine, sorry. No coffee, tea or cola-type drinks. And remember to do that exercise, at least three times a week.

Does it work?
People have said that the diet works — Jennifer Aniston used to be a follower. Any regimented eating plan is likely to work, however, because you are watching what you eat and not allowing yourself "luxury" foods such as ice cream. Although the principles of the Zone Diet are not completely nutritionally unsound (like, say, the grapefruit-only diet), most people would find it hard to stick to with the constant measuring and working out of quantities, and with the level of regimentation required.