The Zone Diet: A Brief Overview

Let me start by saying that I THINK I may have heard of this a year or so ago. But I have recently started talking about it with some chicks at my box before I decided to look into it more. Like the Paleo lifestyle, it advocates "real food" - lean protein, veggies, fruits and nuts. But unlike the Paleo Diet, it has a better definition of how much of everything you should be eating.

While I've had great results over the past year or so with the Paleo Diet, I feel like I need a little more guidance. The Zone Diet has a set way of breaking down exactly how much of what types of food you should be eating.- 40% carbs, 30% protein and 30% fat. If you take nothing else away from this way of eating, take that piece of information. While being on the Paleo Diet, my carbs were not at 40% of my daily intake. And by carbs, it means mostly fruits and veggies. Trying to add in more carbs while still keeping my calories up has been the hardest part for me over the past week.

The Zone Diet breaks each of your meals down by "blocks." For example, the average male will eat 4 blocks at breakfast, lunch and dinner and 2 blocks for their two snacks each day. A 4 block breakfast would look like this-

• 4 blocks protein
• 2 large eggs
• 4 eggs whites
• 4 blocks carbs
• 2/3 cup oatmeal
• 1 orange
• 4 blocks fat
• 2 tbsp. avocado
• about 6 almonds

While doing research, I came across these great sites that helped me break down what the Zone Diet was and how I wanted to implement it into my life.

• http://www.webmd.com/diet/zone-what-it-is
• This shows a basic overview of what the Zone Diet consists of.
• http://crossfitimpulse.com/the-zone-diet-explained-edited
• Check out this site for how to pair the Zone Diet with the Paleo Diet and CrossFit.
• http://library.crossfit.com/free/pdf/cfjissue21_May04.pdf
• Here, you can find great meal plans and a breakdown of what types of food are equal to how many blocks.

Right now I am still eating 80% Paleo, but I am also trying to implement the Zone Diet's basics of adding in more carbs. I am not really 'counting calories' but I do like to monitor mine every now and then to see exactly how many calories I'm taking in on an average day and making sure that they're close to where I need to be (1,800 cal/day). 

Do you think the Zone Diet could work for you? Or have you tried it and had good results? Share your insight!