Zone Question

Wendy wrote:

Well, I'd maintain that the difference between 40-45% carb and 25-30% fat
is within the daily variations of most people's diet. I prefer slightly
less fat and slightly bigger salads than most people.

only 1/4th of those 40% can be naughty carbs, so you have 30% of cals
coming from stuff like salad and other veggies. That means many gallons
of vegestables. I doubt your salad is that big.

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Michael Nielsen
M.Sc.EE

Music: http://mp3.com/archon2
Website: http://www.archonia.dk

In alt.support.diet Archon wrote:
Wendy wrote:

Well, I'd maintain that the difference between 40-45% carb and 25-30% fat
is within the daily variations of most people's diet. I prefer slightly
less fat and slightly bigger salads than most people.

only 1/4th of those 40% can be naughty carbs, so you have 30% of cals
coming from stuff like salad and other veggies. That means many gallons
of vegestables. I doubt your salad is that big.

"Naughty" carbs? I haven't read the book in the past year, but my memory
doesn't say I must only eat romaine lettuce.

I get carbs in my skim milk, in my slow-cook oatmeal, in peanut butter, in
an occasional half of a whole grain bagel or wasa crisp bread, I get carbs
from 1/2 cup of brown basmati rice, from skim-milk cottage cheese &
yogurt, from occasional cheeses (I like feta on my salads) and of course
from fruits and veggies. Even chicken breast has some carbs.

The way I do it is I come up with a calorie budget then I'll try to fill
out my protein requirements first, and that necessarily uses up some
of the carb & fat calories just because I eat actual foods. I then see
how much fat calories I have left if I'm aiming for 25% calories from fat,
then I can fill out the remaining calories with carbs.

In my experience carbs always appear magically when I'm hungry: there's an
apple or yogurt or crisp bread sitting there. But lean proteins and
healthy fats need to be planned in advance. And since it's so easy to get
carbs and they're often so calorie dense, there's a constant need to be on
guard against getting too many. So the effect is that even a diet with
most of the calories coming from carbs seems "low-carb" to casual
observers.

By the way, I've lost 50 pounds in the past year while following my
interpretation of the Zone diet. On 45% carbs I'm never hungry, I don't
feel like I'm dieting and I'm still losing fat. (I'm also exercising
quite a lot.) I think you're right that the 45% carbs have to be
carefully chosen: I could fill 45% of my calorie budget with a few
twinkies (or pancakes & syrup) and I'd be starving all day. So I choose
carbs that are high in fiber and nutrient dense.

After a year of this I've come to realize that this is exactly what my
grandmother told me: to eat a balanced diet of small portions. I think
this "Zone" diet is pretty much identical to the South Beach Diet and the
Glycemic Index Diet and the Body for Life Diet. IMHO it's also the
Atkins diet as corrected to distinguish between healthy carbs and bad
carbs and healthy fats and bad fats after the schtick about ketosis is
past.

In the end I don't feel like I'm "dieting", I feel like I figured out the
care and maintenance of a human body. I'm not following a guru, I'm
following my body's requirements to feel sated and have energy on
appropriate amounts of calories.

-- Wendy

Wendy wrote:

"Naughty" carbs? I haven't read the book in the past year, but my memory
doesn't say I must only eat romaine lettuce.

Naughty = not on the favourable list on the site: http://www.zoneperfect.com


--
-------------------------------------------------------------------
Michael Nielsen
M.Sc.EE

Music: http://mp3.com/archon2
Website: http://www.archonia.dk