Weight Loss Tips Backed With Science
Chances are you know someone whose following keto, doing intermittent fasting, or onto cabbage soup and grapefruit to shed some pounds. While a quick fix might seem like the best option to reach your weight loss goals, the reality is these diets can be hard to follow over the long-term and some can do more harm than good. The secret to weight loss is finding something you can stick with while keeping the weight off for good. Here are 8 science based tips you can start now that will help you reach your goals without landing you back where you started. Eat Protein: Crash diets that don’t contain adequate protein won't work even if they might produce some initial changes on the scale. Not only will they make you hungry and fatigued, but you end up losing muscle mass which makes it harder lose weight in the future. If you want to cut back on calories, don’t do it at the expense of protein. Make sure that every meal and snack has adequate protein about 25 grams for meals and 7 grams for snacks. This will keep hunger in check while ensuring you don’t lose your muscle mass at the same time. One more fun fact is that studies have shown that starting your meal with your protein choice first dramatically reduces hunger levels. Calories Do Count: Our overestimation of how much we are eating can make all the difference when it comes time to weigh in. Calorie restriction has been shown to activate AMPK, an enzyme important in energy metabolism. Higher levels of AMPK have been associated with numerous health outcomes, one of which is reduced abdominal fat. Curb Hunger with Fermentable Fiber: You can still cut back on calories without having to feel deprived. Processed carbohydrates (breads, pastries, cereals, starchy snacks and sweets) are easy to over consume and quickly add up. Instead, replace these foods with those rich in fermentable fiber like vegetables and fruit. Fermentable fiber improves the release of hormones in the gut tied to satiety. This hormones send signals to our brain that we're full. Just remember as your bump up your fiber intake to increase your water consumption too. This will ensure better digestion and keep everything moving as it should. Keep Insulin in Check: We often blame carbs as the reason for our weight gain, but in actuality it is constantly elevated insulin levels that makes us gain weight, and keep the weight on. Inflammation is at the root of high insulin levels, also known as insulin resistance. The best way to keep insulin levels in check is to lower inflammation by ensuring you have the right balance of protein, carbohydrate, and fat at every meal and snack. Stay Hydrated: Having a broth based soup as an appetizer or 16 ounces of water may help to curb how much food you consume during your meal. Try and keep a water bottle on your desk, in your bag, or when dining out finish your glass before your appetizer or entrée arrives. Keep Healthy Foods on Hand and in Sight: Having a supply of healthy snacks on hand allows us to make better decisions throughout the day. Small frequent meals every 3-4 hours that are balanced in protein, carbohydrate and fat help maintain stable blood sugars throughout the day making us less inclined to indulge should the opportunity come our way. Log it: There are so many apps for tracking what you eat and some of the features from scanning barcodes, syncing with your Fitbit, to online communities for support are great for accountability. That said it doesn’t matter whether you use a pen or paper or an app of your choosing. The data is clear that if you log it you’re less likely to overeat and that’s a good thing. Try the Zone Food Journal. Rev Up Your Workouts: High intensity interval training (HIIT) helps to burn more body fat as its been shown to increase AMPK activity. HIIT is based on doing intense bursts of exercise followed by an active recovery to keep your heart rate up and burn fat quicker. Not in your wheelhouse? It doesn’t take cutting edge fitness trends to make it work for you. Find an activity you enjoy doing and stick with it. Consider incorporating both strength training and cardio so you can maintain and build muscle while you torch calories too. Making simple changes based in science is the most successful way to lose weight and keep it off. Just make sure your changes are simple, sustainable and fun. That’s the formula for success. {{cta('f794fdb4-e128-4289-b30c-cba36c1ddb7d')}}
Mexican Food Survival Guide
Nachos, Margaritas, and Chips Oh My! Going out for Mexican food doesn't have to be a dieting nightmare. In fact, authentic Mexican cuisine is very in line with the Zone guidelines; lean protein, lots of vegetables, salsas and sauces. Here we'll give you some tips for dining out so you can feel like you've indulged without the guilt. Starters and Sides Chips are often flowing and frequently refilled in many establishments. One serving can add up to about 450 calories and that doesn't include the guacamole for dipping. Instead of blowing your entire days calories at the start, here's our guide to which starters and sides to choose and which ones to skip. Soups and Salad Mexican soups and stews pack a ton of flavor with the combination of spices and slow cooked meats. Look for soups that use tomato, bean or even use guacamole as a base and avoid the ones where cream or cheese are the primary ingredient. Salads are great as either an appetizer or main entrée. When using as an entrée ask for protein to be served on top such as chicken or fish and skip the taco shell if your salad comes served in one. Soups Asado de Bodas- A traditional Mexican soup with pork and chiles Black Bean Soup Lime Soup Chilled Avocado Soup Salads Fajita Salad with Chicken/Fish Taco salad with Chicken/Fish- no shell Entrees Mexican dishes go beyond burritos, quesadillas, and fajitas to include stewed meats and fish served over a bed of vegetables with various sauces. When ordering entrees aim for ones with lean meats and veggies, avoid the rice and ask for beans instead. Fajitas: You can still enjoy fajitas, just eat the filling and ask for beans as a side Seafood: Aim for grilled seafood served with light sauces or salsas on top. Grilled Meats: Aim for chicken or leaner cuts of meat served with grilled veggies and salsas. Tacos: Ask your server if you can replace your corn tortillas with lettuce instead. While it may not be offered everywhere, this is one way to enjoy all the flavors of fish or chicken tacos without the extra carbs from the tortillas. Sauces Mexican Sauces pack a ton of flavor. Entrees using the following sauces tend to be Zone favorable but always read the ingredients or ask your server just to be sure. Mole: Mole encompasses a variety of different sauces used in Mexican dishes many of which have numerous ingredients and cover a spectrum of flavors. Most mole sauces are brown and include a blend of various spices often accompanied by chocolate. Chimichurri: A traditional chimichurri includes parsley, vinegar, garlic, oregano, crushed red pepper and olive oil. It makes for a great addition on top of meat. Red/Green Chile Enchilada sauce: A sauce that uses tomatoes or tomatillos as base and a blend of various spices. Alcohol Alcohol is treated like a carbohydrate in the Zone and the more alcohol you drink the more restrictive you need to be with your other carbohydrate choices. This is why we recommend avoiding it all together. Where with traditional carbohydrates (fruits, veggies, legumes, starches) for every one gram you consume, it supplies 4 calories, with alcohol for every 1 gram you consume it supplies 7 calories. Ideally it’s best to avoid alcohol, but should you want to indulge have it in place of dessert, try and keep it to simple drinks like wine or beer and couple it with protein. Margaritas are popular drinks at many Mexican restaurants, but the issue is they are packed with sugar. Frozen margaritas can range anywhere from 350-450 calories. You might be able to find drinks that use agave syrup, stevia, or other sugar free alternatives but that shouldn’t be an excuse to consume more. Your best bet if you want one is to lighten them up like the recipe below and aim for a classic margarita with just tequila, triple sec or Cointreau and lime juice. This would give you about 185 calories in 4 ounces. Instructions:1. Fill a glass with ice. Add the liquids, a dash of stevia and salt.2. Shake, shake and shake. Nutritional facts per serving (daily value): Calories 187; Carbs 7 Recipes Want to bring the spice of Mexican cuisine home, try out these Zone recipes. Instructions: Heat the olive oil in a large pot over medium heat, stir in the onion and garlic. Cook until the onion is soft and turned translucent, about 5 minutes. Stir in the chicken broth, green chiles, diced tomatoes and tomatillo salsa. Season with oregano and clove. Bring to a boil over high heat add Zone PastaRx Orzo, reduce heat to medium-low, cover, and simmer 16-20 minutes. Stir in the Perdue Short Cuts to warm up 2-3 minutes. Nutritional facts per serving (daily value): Calories 371; Protein 25g ; Total Fat 12g; Total Carb 40g; Fiber 7g Instructions: Heat the beans on medium heat, with coconut oil and lime juice and season with salt and pepper. Garnish with the scallions. Nutritional facts per serving (daily value): Calories 136; Protein 7g; Total Fat 3g; Total Carb 21g; Fiber 7.5g Instructions: Prepare Zone PastaRx Orzo according to package directions. Drain and rinse in cold water to stop cooking set aside. Using an imersion blender mix half the avocado, garlic, lime juice, water, salt and chili powder to make a dressing, set aside. In a medium sized bowl mix the beans, peppers, and onions. Add the dressing and toss to coat evenly. Gently fold in the tomatoes, remaining 1/2 diced avocado, cilantro and serve over Zone PastaRx Orzo. Nutritional facts per serving (daily value): Calories 360; Protein 21g; Total Fat 11g ; Total Carb: 46g; Fiber 10g As always, we want to help you stay in the Zone everyday and through all challenging special occasions and holidays. Please contact our customer service department at 800-404-8171 or customersupport@zoneliving.com to answer any additional questions you may have. Zone Foods make it easy to stay in the Zone! {{cta('3b25a14c-3033-40fc-8a7d-7ffb01474490')}}
Pesticides - Organic vs Conventional
More and more Americans are incorporating organic foods into their regular purchasing habits. Organic foods make up almost 6% of food sales in retail channels across the U.S.(1) and overall sales of organic items hit a new record of $49.4 billion in 2017, up 6.4% from the prior year. Consumer interest in ingredient profiles, how products are grown, how far they’ve traveled and sustainability has led to an increased demand for these products. While organic foods are lower in pesticide residues, the question often arises as to whether they are nutritionally better than foods grown using conventional methods. Here we’ll tell you what you need to know. What Does Organic Mean? According to the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA), organic food is produced without the use of most conventional pesticides and no synthetic ingredients, sewage sludge, bioengineering, or radiation. For meat, poultry, eggs, and dairy products this means that the animals are given no antibiotics or growth hormones. These foods follow strict production and labeling requirements and must comply with the National List of Allowed and Prohibited Substances (National List) and be overseen by a USDA National Organic Program authorized certifying agent (2). One thing to note is that just because something is labeled organic, doesn’t mean it’s pesticide-free. It just means the pesticides used are natural not synthetic. Even organically grown oats recently were shown to contain small yet safe amounts of glyphosate, the chemical used in the weed killer RoundUp. While the foods themselves were produced organically, drifting from near by farms or cross contamination in a processing facility that handles non-organic foods can still impact the final product (3). What to Know When Looking at Labels When shopping and looking at labels there are several uses of the word organic you might see. Here’s what’s required in order to use the organic seal or the word “organic” on packaging and labels (2, 4). 100% Organic: A product using this claim must have all the ingredients certified organic and all the processing aids must be organic too. The product labels must list the certifying agent on the information panel What the Label Can State USDA organic seal and state 100% organic claim No Genetically Modified Organisms (GMOs) Must identify certified organic ingredients Must list certified agent Organic: When using this claim all agricultural ingredients must be certified organic, except where specified on the National List. Non-organic ingredients allowed from the National List cannot exceed a combined total of 5% (excluding salt and water). The product labels must also list the certifying agent on the information panel What the Label Can State USDA organic seal and/or organic claim No GMOs Must identify organic ingredients (non-organic ingredients must comply with National List) Must list certified agent Made with Organic: When using this claim at least 70% of the product must include certified organic ingredients (excluding salt and water). The rest of the agricultural ingredients don’t have to be organic, but need to follow organic regulations (without conventional pesticides, synthetic ingredients, sewage sludge, bioengineering, or radiation). The non-agricultural products must be on National list and the product labels must list the certifying agent on the information panel What the Label Can State “Made with Organic” (organic seal not allowed) No GMOs Must identify organic ingredients (non-organic ingredients must comply with National List) Must list certified agent Specific Organic Ingredients: Products with less than 70% of their ingredients being certified organic (excluding salt and water) don’t need to be certified. These products are unable to include the USDA seal or the word “organic” on the front of their packaging or principal display panel. They can only list those ingredients that are certified organic on their ingredient list. The other ingredients don’t need to follow USDA organic regulations. What the Label Can State Ingredient list can state which ingredients are certified organic (USDA organic seal and word “organic” not allow on principal display panel) Nutrition: How Organic Compares to Conventional Health is one of the main reasons consumers purchase organic foods as they are perceived to have greater nutritional value and fewer toxic chemicals compared to those conventionally grown (5). Other reasons that factor into purchasing habits are for environmental reasons, animal welfare, taste, and the health of farmers and their workers. Conducting studies on the nutrition profiles of organic versus conventional foods isn’t an easy feat. Season, region, differences in ground cover, maturity of the organic operation and variation from farm to farm plays a role (5). Some studies have found no significant difference in nutrition profiles between organic and conventional foods (6). Other studies have shown organic foods may be 4x lower in pesticide residues, lower in antibiotic-resistant bacteria and nitrites along with having higher levels of antioxidants, vitamin C, iron, magnesium, phosphorus and lower concentrations of Cadmium (5-7). More studies have emerged that are food specific showing organic tomatoes to be higher in polyphenols, strawberries to be richer in anthocyanins and antioxidants, and organic dairy to have higher amounts of protein and omega-3 fatty acids (8-11). So you may be asking yourself, is it time to make the switch? The answer is it’s a personal choice. The reality is Americans are already falling short on their intake of fruits and vegetables with only 1 in 10 meeting the recommended intake (12). Creating more barriers to consumption only hurts us more in the long run. Eating fruits and vegetables whether organic or conventional far outweighs the risks of the pesticides they may contain. Even for conventional produce the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and the USDA set limits for the amount of pesticides that can be used on farms to be safe. From a nutritional standpoint there is literature to support some nutritional gains with regards to antioxidant and polyphenol levels in organic produce. That said, if your produce is just going to sit in your fridge the whole week or used as target practice by your kids or grandkids, it’s probably not worth the expense. The longer food sits in the fridge the more nutrients it loses over time. If you know you want to start incorporating more organic foods into your diet the list below may be a good place to start. This way you minimize those fruits and vegetables that have soft skins or are more porous and may absorb more of the pesticides used on them compared to those that have peels and are more durable. Pesticides in Fruits and Vegetables The Environmental Working Group is an organization that has created a ranking system of fruits and vegetables based on their likelihood of being contaminated with the highest levels of pesticides. The ranking is established after the fruits and vegetables have been washed or peeled. The top offenders include those that have soft skins because they are more likely to absorb pesticides, which they term the “Dirty Dozen” (13).This year’s "Dirty Dozen" includes: strawberries spinach kale nectarines apples grapes peaches cherries pears tomatoes celery potatoes The good news is that there are a good number of non-organic fruits and vegetables without high levels of pesticides. Since many fruits and vegetables have peels, they offer a higher level of protection, which have been dubbed the “Clean 15” since they have little to no pesticides (13). This year's "Clean 15" include: avocados sweet corn pineapples frozen sweet peas onions papayas eggplant asparagus kiwi cabbage cauliflower cantaloupe broccoli mushrooms honey dew {{cta('4c4471b5-0fad-4653-9f1e-e152674c1971')}} Ways to Reduce the Pesticide Levels in Your Fruits and Vegetables If you don’t have the luxury of buying organic, there are things you can do to lessen the amounts of pesticides you take in. Here are some tips from the National Pesticide Information Center (14). Eat a variety of fruits and vegetables to minimize the potential of increased exposure to a single pesticide. Thoroughly wash all produce whether it’s labeled organic or has a peel. Wash your produce under running water instead or soaking or dunking it. Dry produce with a clean cloth towel or paper towel when possible. Scrub firm fruits and vegetables, like melons and root vegetables. Discard the outer layer of leafy vegetables, such as lettuce or cabbage. Peel fruits and vegetables when possible. Trim fat and skin from meat, poultry, and fish to minimize pesticide residue that may accumulate in the fat. Minimize Cost and Maximizing Nutrition Buying fruits and vegetables in season whether organic or conventional can help save on costs. Buying local produce and using fruits and vegetables soon after purchase is a way to maximize their nutritional benefits. In addition you may find your local farmers market is cheaper than some grocery stores for organic items. Farmers markets are also a great want to talk to representatives from local farms about their pest management whether it's integrated pest management (no spraying unless tests show pest infestation), following organic practices or certified organic so you can be the most informed. References: Organic Industry Survey. Available at: https://ota.com/resources/organic-industry-survey. Accessed: 8/3/2018. Labeling Organic Products. Available at: https://www.ams.usda.gov/sites/default/files/media/Labeling%20Organic%20Products%20Fact%20Sheet.pdf. Accessed: August 6, 2018. Roundup for Breakfast? Weed Killer in Landmark Cancer Verdict Found in Kids’ Cereals, Other Oat-Based Foods. Available at: https://www.ewg.org/release/roundup-breakfast-weed-killer-landmark-cancer-verdict-found-kids-cereals-other-oat-based#.W3wq4M5KjIU. Accessed: August 21, 2018. Organic Labels Explained. Available at: https://www.ams.usda.gov/sites/default/files/media/OrganicLabelsExplained.png. Accessed: August 6, 2018. Crinnion WJ. Organic foods contain higher levels of certain nutrients, lower levels of pesticides, and may provide health benefits for the consumer. Altern Med Rev. 2010 Apr;15(1):4-12. Review. Smith-Spangler C, Brandeau ML, Hunter GE, Bavinger JC, Pearson M, Eschbach PJ, Sundaram V, Liu H, Schirmer P, Stave C, Olkin I, Bravata DM. Are organic foods safer or healthier than conventional alternatives?: a systematic review. Ann Intern Med. 2012 Sep 4;157(5):348-66. Barański M, Srednicka-Tober D, Volakakis N, Seal C, Sanderson R, Stewart GB, Benbrook C, Biavati B, Markellou E, Giotis C, Gromadzka-Ostrowska J, Rembiałkowska E, Skwarło-Sońta K, Tahvonen R, Janovská D, Niggli U, Nicot P, Leifert C. Higher antioxidant and lower cadmium concentrations and lower incidence of pesticide residues in organically grown crops: a systematic literature review and meta-analyses. Br J Nutr. 2014 Sep 14;112(5):794-811 Vallverdú-Queralt A, Jáuregui O, Medina-Remón A, Lamuela-Raventós RM. Evaluation of a method to characterize the phenolic profile of organic and conventional tomatoes. J Agric Food Chem. 2012 Apr 4;60(13):3373-80. Fernandes VC1, Domingues VF, de Freitas V, Delerue-Matos C, Mateus N. Strawberries from integrated pest management and organic farming: phenolic composition and antioxidant properties. Food Chem. 2012 Oct 15;134(4):1926-31. doi: 10.1016/j.foodchem.2012.03.130. Epub 2012 Apr 9 Kristl J1, Krajnc AU, Kramberger B, Mlakar SG. Strawberries from integrated and organic production: mineral contents and antioxidant activity. Acta Chim Slov. 2013;60(1):19-25. Palupi E1, Jayanegara A, Ploeger A, Kahl J. Comparison of nutritional quality between conventional and organic dairy products: a meta-analysis. J Sci Food Agric. 2012 Nov;92(14):2774-81. Disparities in State-Specific Adult Fruit and Vegetable Consumption — United States, 2015. Available at: https://www.cdc.gov/mmwr/volumes/66/wr/mm6645a1.htm?s_cid=mm6645a1_w. Accessed: August 8, 2018. Shoppers Guide to Pesticides and Produce. https://www.ewg.org/foodnews/full-list.php. Accessed: March 25, 2019. Minimizing Pesticide Residues in Food. Available at: http://npic.orst.edu/health/foodprac.html. Accessed: August 7, 2018
Dr. Sears' Polyphenol Q & A
Dr. Sears answers some of the top questions we receive about polyphenols and what makes MaquiRx unique. What are Polyphenols? Polyphenols are complex phytochemicals produced by plants to offer them protection against the sun's radiation and to help defend against injuries induced by microbes or bacteria. Just like polyphenols protect plants, they protect us in a similar way by acting as antioxidants to help combat inflammation and aid in supporting immunity through their activation of key genes. They also play a key role in gut health by helping to defend against bad bacteria while increasing the production of good bacteria. What are the health benefits of consuming polyphenols? Polyphenols should be considered essential nutrients since we know they function as activators of key gene transcription factors such as AMP-Kinase and support the following benefits: What is responsible for all the benefits of polyphenols? Polyphenols, at adequate nutritional intakes, support the activation of AMP-Kinase. Think of AMP-kinase like a genetic master switch for your metabolism. The greater its activity the longer your health span. Which foods contain polyphenols? The more colorful the plant, generally the higher the polyphenol content. This is why fruits, especially berries, and vegetables are good sources of polyphenols. Nonetheless, the levels of polyphenols occurring in fruits and vegetables is only between 0.1 and 0.2 percent by weight. Polyphenols are also found in cocoa, legumes, spices, and plant derived beverages such as tea, coffee and wine. How much should people consume? The answer depends on your personal goals. There are reported benefits that come with consuming anywhere between 500mg to 1,500mg of polyphenols per day. I recommend aiming for a minimum of 1,000mg per day for general wellness. To give a sense of what 1,000mg of polyphenols per day looks like, it could be approximately 5 ½ cups of broccoli, 1 ½ cups of blueberries, 2 ¼ cups of strawberries, or a combination of various fruits and vegetables. A good rule of thumb is that consuming 10 servings of vegetables and fruits per day will provide about 1,000mg of polyphenols per day. Can you get enough polyphenols through your diet? Only 1 out of every 10 adults in the U.S. meets the recommended intake of fruits and vegetables (5 servings per day) let alone the 10 servings per day that I recommend. Unfortunately, the fruits and vegetables that are usually consumed tend to be high in carbohydrates and low in polyphenols. Examples would include bananas and potatoes that can rapidly increase blood sugar levels leading to increased insulin levels. This is why supplementing with purified polyphenol extracts will have the least adverse effect on blood sugar levels. Are some polyphenols better than others? Yes. There are about 8,000 known polyphenols from a wide variety of sources. I consider the best dietary sources are from the blueberry family. The polyphenols in the blueberry family include: American blueberries, Russian blueberries (bilberries), and the Patagonia blueberry (maqui berries). Maqui berries have the highest concentration of a subclass of polyphenols called delphinidins which are water-soluble, meaning they are more likely to get into the blood and have been shown to help support improved blood sugar levels and reduced oxidative stress in clinical studies. What is Maqui? Maqui Berry is the richest antioxidant source in the world, having three times more antioxidants than blackberries, blueberries, strawberries and raspberries. Furthermore, maqui berries are the richest known source of delphinidins. Why extracts over powder or juice? Polyphenol extracts significantly increase the levels of polyphenols and reduce their carbohydrate content. Extracts are more concentrated and purified than simply a juice or a dry powder made from a juice. With extracts, the dry powder of the fruits is further extracted to increase the polyphenol content. For the most purified extracts (such as MaquiRx), the final concentration step involves a complex purification process that produces a refined extract that has about a 40% concentration of polyphenols by dry weight. Such extracts from maqui berry have 14 times more delphinidins compared to common blueberries. Maqui berry extracts have been shown to help activate AMP-Kinase which plays a key role in energy balance and metabolism. Activation of AMP-Kinase is the genetic master switch that controls appetite, blood sugar, lipid levels, reduction of inflammation, and repair of damaged tissue. Research has shown that delphinidins in purified maqui extracts can enter the blood more easily than other polyphenols, thus supporting activation of AMP kinase. Is there a blood test to measure how many polyphenols I need? There is no specific test to measure polyphenols in the blood since their lifetime in the body is short. That said, there is a standard test you can take to gauge whether you are taking enough. This is called hemoglobin A1c (HbA1c). HbA1c is a measure of the circulating levels of blood glucose over a 3-month period of time. If you can maintain a HbA1c level between 4.9-5.1% you are probably doing a good job getting enough polyphenols through diet and supplementation. If your HbA1c levels are higher, you probably need to add more polyphenols to your diet. Dr. Sears recommends consuming 1000mg of polyphenols a day. Each maqui capsule supplies 120mg of polyphenols. Does that mean you need 8 capsules per day? No. Ideally your polyphenol intake should come from a combination of both food and supplementation. It really depends on how much you think you can consume in your diet. The more fruits and vegetables you consume following the Zone Diet, the less polyphenol extracts you need. When will people start seeing the benefits after they begin to supplement? Generally within 30 days of using MaquiRx you’ll begin to notice benefits in the improvement of your metabolism. Are there any side effects to supplementing with polyphenols? No, as long as the polyphenols are highly purified such as MaquiRx and you can keep your HbA1c in the desired range of 4.9-5.1% there will not be any issues. At lower levels of HbA1c there is the possibility that the body may increase the secretion of cortisol to increase blood sugar levels. This is common for individuals following ketogenic diets. How long do you have to take it? Polyphenols should be considered essential nutrients that must be supplied by the diet for a lifetime.{{cta('b55efb49-3acd-41bc-ac18-721609a63a24')}}
Beyond Cholesterol: The Real Link Between Diet and Heart Disease
One of the best ways to live longer is to reduce your likelihood of dying from a heart attack since it continues to be the #1 killer in America. If we could prevent heart disease tomorrow, it is estimated that the average life expectancy of every American would increase by ten years. We are led to believe by extensive drug marketing that elevated cholesterol is the cause of heart disease. Unfortunately, about 50 percent of the people who are hospitalized with heart attacks have normal cholesterol levels. What’s more, 25 percent of people who develop premature heart attacks have no traditional cardiovascular risk factors at all. So what if cholesterol was only a minor, secondary player in developing heart disease? The Cholesterol Hype Cholesterol does have a role in heart disease, but it is a secondary factor that plays a far lesser role in fatal heart attacks than the marketing of drug companies leads you to believe. It has been known since 2001 that oxidized LDL is a far better predictor for the development of atherosclerotic lesions than the traditional measurement of LDL (1). But it was also at this time that the first statin studies began to appear. This gave the pharmaceutical industry a patented drug to “prevent” heart disease but unfortunately statins could not specifically lower oxidized LDL. Furthermore, the LDL story was such an easy story to tell because it could be summarized “if your cholesterol levels are high, you are going to die”. That marketing statement ignored the fact that the most common drug (i.e. aspirin) to prevent heart attacks had no effect on reducing cholesterol. Today lowering LDL cholesterol (but not necessarily lowering oxidized LDL) is the number-one priority of every cardiologist in America. Various epidemiological studies have found that increased serum cholesterol levels occur more often in heart disease patients. But that increase is only 5 to 10 percent higher in those who develop heart disease than those who don’t. This doesn’t help explain why about half the people who die from heart disease don’t have elevated LDL cholesterol levels (less than 130 mg/dl). It also means that high LDL cholesterol is not a very good predictor of heart disease. On the other hand, a very different picture emerges if you look at the levels of oxidized LDL levels. You can see a very striking relationship in the prediction of heart disease with increasing levels of oxidized LDL levels (1). Even so the best way to lower oxidized LDL is not a statin, but high-dose polyphenol extracts (2), since they have anti-oxidant properties to help combat oxidation. Unresolved Cellular Inflammation: The Reason Heart Disease Kills A heart attack is simply the death of the muscle cells in the heart due to lack of oxygen caused by a constriction in blood flow. If this lack of oxygen is prolonged, and enough heart muscle cells die, your heart attack becomes a fatal one. What causes that constriction in blood flow is the rupture of soft vulnerable plaques that line the artery. Although you can’t see them, when they rupture they release a mass of cellular debris that accelerates the clotting process to stop blood flow and therefore stop oxygen from being delivered to the heart. The reason heart disease remains the primary killer of Americans is not due to cholesterol, but unresolved chronic inflammation in the arteries that causes these soft vulnerable plaques to rupture. You may be asking yourself, “What on earth is unresolved cellular inflammation?” This is simply inflammation that falls below the threshold of perceived pain. That’s what makes it so dangerous. You have no indication it is present and therefore you make no effort to reduce it. This inflammation results from an increased production of inflammatory mediators such as eicosanoids. Statins have no effect on reducing eicosanoid levels in the body. Eicosanoids, Resolvins, and Heart Disease Eicosanoids are the hormones that intensify inflammation. You need some to activate the immune system, but in excess they promote cellular inflammation. These hormones are generated by the combination of high levels of insulin and omega-6 fatty acids in your blood. On the other hand, resolvins are the hormones that resolve inflammation. These hormones are generated by the levels of omega-3 fatty acids in your blood. You need to have both eicosanoids and resolvins in the proper balance in order to be in a state of wellness because you have to turn on inflammation as well as turn it off. Unfortunately, most of us produce too many eicosanoids, which leads to increasing levels of unresolved cellular inflammation and eventually to chronic diseases like heart disease. Managing Unresolved Cellular Inflammation The Zone Diet was developed primarily to reduce the overproduction of eicosanoids. Adequate levels of omega-3 fatty acids in the diet (usually requiring supplementation) will ensure adequate levels to promote the formation of resolvins. A variety of factors forge the linkage between unresolved cellular inflammation and fatal heart attacks. First of all, eicosanoids make soft vulnerable plaque more likely to rupture. Eicosanoids act as powerful constrictors of your arteries and can lead to a vasospasm, a potentially fatal cramp or “charley horse” that prevents blood flow to the heart. Vasospasm is the second cause of fatal heart attacks. In addition, lack of sufficient levels of omega-3 fatty acids in the heart muscle can also lead to a fatal heart attack caused by chaotic electric rhythms in the heart. This condition, called sudden death, accounts for more than 50 percent of all fatal heart attacks. How can you tell if you have the right balance of eicosanoids to resolvins for heart health? That knowledge comes from the AA/EPA ratio in the blood. Arachidonic acid (AA) is the building block of eicosanoids and eicosapentaenoic acid (EPA) is the building block of resolvins. You want to maintain that AA/EPA ratio close to 1.5, and ideally have about 4 percent of your total fatty acids in the blood consisting of EPA (3-5) How The Zone Can Help Promote A Healthy Heart For optimal heart health you need the appropriate balance of eicosanoids to resolvins. This is why I recommend a multi-factorial dietary approach. This entails the Zone Diet, omega-3 fatty acids, and polyphenol extracts. The Zone Diet can help reduce the overproduction of eicosanoids. Consuming adequate levels of omega-3 fatty acids can help increase the production of resolvins and the use of maqui polyphenol extracts can help minimize oxidized LDL (2). This three-part dietary system or what I call the Zone Pro-Resolution Nutrition system will all be described in greater detail in my upcoming book, The Resolution Zone.{{cta('14dee37e-1816-403a-a6e8-a67c8b9cf45b')}} References Holvoet P, Mertens A, Verhamme P, Bogaerts K, Beyens G, Verhaeghe R, Collen D, Muls E, and Van de Werf F. “Circulating oxidized LDL is a useful marker for identifying patients with coronary artery disease.” Arterioscler Thromb Vasc Biol 21:844-848 (2001) Davinelli S, Bertoglio JC, Zarrelli A, Pina R, and Scapagnini G. “A Randomized Clinical Trial Evaluating the Efficacy of an Anthocyanin-Maqui Berry Extract on Oxidative Stress Biomarkers.” J Am Coll Nutr 34 Suppl 1:28-33 (2015) Sears B. “Omega-3 fatty acids and cardiovascular disease: Do placebo doses give placebo results?” CellR4 5:e2302 (2017) Sears B. “Omega-3 fatty acids and cardiovascular disease: Dose and AA/EPA ratio determine the therapeutic outcome.” CellR4 6:e2531 (2018) Sears B. “Appropriate doses of omega-3 fatty acids for therapeutic results.” CellR4 6: e2578 (2018)
Three Hormones That Could Be Impacting Your Weight
Many of the problems that prevent us from reaching our weight loss goals are due to hormonal imbalance. If you are careful about your food choices, exercise regularly and still aren't seeing the scale budge, your hormones may be to blame. When trying to reach the Zone, you’ll often hear us talk about the importance of hormonal control. When our hormones are unbalanced it can accelerate the aging process, decrease our overall wellness, and hinder our ability to perform or maintain our weight. Here we’ll focus specifically on hormones that might be impacting your weight and what you can do to manage them. What are hormones? For many of us, our first introduction to the word hormones was somewhere in our early teens. While it may be a word that is familiar to us, defining it could prove more challenging. Hormones are chemical messengers that travel in our blood, tissues and organs helping with communication throughout our body. While they do impact growth, development and the aging process they also play a critical role in how our body gets energy from the foods we eat, known as metabolism. Hormones are powerful in that small amounts produce big changes within our bodies (1). This is why the foundation for reaching the Zone is based upon using the foods we eat and supplements we take to control our hormones. Hormones and Weight Dr. Sears has written about this extensively, but the real reason we gain weight is not due to insulin per se, but increased insulin resistance. Insulin resistance is caused by increased inflammation in our insulin-sensitive cells. This makes it difficult for insulin to communicate its message to its target cells in the liver, muscles, and adipose tissues. Increased insulin resistance forces the pancreas to produce even more insulin to try to get that message to the target cell in an effort to respond. As a result, insulin levels rise in the blood and stay constantly elevated. In the case of the fat cells in the adipose tissue, these constantly elevated insulin levels drive circulating fat into your existing fat cells and block the release of stored fat. This makes it difficult to lose weight. The Solution: To optimize your insulin levels for fat loss requires following an anti-inflammatory eating plan like the Zone Diet which is based upon controlling insulin levels at every meal and snack. This is achieved by balancing the protein-to carbohydrate ratio at each meal coupled with the use of small amounts of monounsaturated fats know to be anti-inflammatory. Since diet is one of the main reasons we develop insulin resistance, it’s also one of the easiest changes we can make to help reverse it. Adiponectin is a protein hormone that plays a role in insulin resistance. Individuals who are overweight, obese or have high levels of insulin resistance have been shown to have low levels of adiponectin. The leaner you are, the more circulating adiponectin you have which is strongly correlated with decreased insulin resistance in the fat cells. It is thought that adiponectin works by increasing fatty acid oxidation leading to improvements in insulin sensitivity (2). The Solution: In addition to an anti-inflammatory diet to help reduce insulin resistance and keep adiponectin levels high, supplementation with omega-3 fatty acids has been shown to increase circulating levels of adiponectin (3) as well as exercise (4). Cortisol is a hormone that the body produces under stress and can hinder our ability to lose weight. You need some cortisol, but where you run into issues is when the body is producing excessive amounts. In addition to stressful conditions we might be under in our day to day lives, excessive exercise, fasting, inflammation, and excess insulin can increase cortisol production. Cortisol is produced during fasting conditions when energy stores are depleted. During this time blood glucose and insulin levels begin to drop and as a result cortisol is released. Cortisol levels naturally rise in the morning, but its release signals the body to begin breaking down muscle for energy. This is why it’s critical to eat an appropriate breakfast coming off an overnight fast to restore blood sugar levels and replenish glycogen and to avoid skipping meals. In addition, when we have too much insulin circulating in our bodies it can drive down blood glucose levels resulting in the increased cortisol levels and making it difficult for it our bodies to release stored fat. The Solution: There a number of ways to reduce cortisol. One is to follow the Zone Diet to reduce diet-induced inflammation. The second is to resolve inflammation using high-dose omega-3 fatty acids. The third is to use polyphenols which help repair tissue damage caused by inflammation. The three of these together form the basis for the Zone Pro-Resolution Nutrition Program. Finally, there is the traditional way using stress reduction. Stress reduction can include meditation, relaxation, or moderate exercise (too intense can actually increase cortisol) to help reduce excess cortisol levels by reducing the activation of the sympathetic nervous system. Many of the problems that prevent us from reaching our goals are due to hormonal imbalance. The Zone Pro-Resolution Nutrition program consisting of the reduction, resolution, and repair of diet-induced inflammation is your best pathway to get to the Zone and make your goals a reality. {{cta('61bf66d9-5561-4209-b869-f696d6532948')}} References Available at: https://medlineplus.gov/hormones.html. Accessed: September 6, 2018. Lihn AS1, Pedersen SB, Richelsen B. Adiponectin: action, regulation and association to insulin sensitivity. Obes Rev. 2005 Feb;6(1):13-21. Wu JH, Cahill LE, Mozaffarian D. Effect of fish oil on circulating adiponectin: a systematic review and meta-analysis of randomized controlled trials. J Clin Endocrinol Metab. 2013 Jun;98(6):2451-9. Markofski MM, Carrillo AE, Timmerman KL, Jennings K, Coen PM, Pence BD, Flynn MG. Exercise training modifies ghrelin and adiponectin concentrations and is related to inflammation in older adults. J Gerontol A Biol Sci Med Sci. 2014 Jun;69(6):675-81.
Intermittent Fasting vs The Zone Diet
Abstaining from food and beverage, other than water, for a period of time (a.k.a fasting) has been used since the beginning of time out of necessity for survival, spiritual reasons, and health promotion. Intermittent Fasting (IF) is an eating pattern that goes between days of fasting or partial fasting and eating. IF has become increasing popular in the health and fitness arena for its perceived role in weight loss and improved health. Here we’ll tell you more about it and give you Dr. Sears’ take on this old concept but new trend. What is Intermittent Fasting? Calorie restriction is the reduction of calorie intake without compromising nutrition. Calorie restriction has been shown to be the most effective way to help slow down the aging process. A recent study showed that restricting calories over a two year period of time slowed metabolism and reduced oxidative stress, two key pieces for reducing the rate of aging and protecting against age-related disease (1). Intermittent fasting (IF) tries to replicate the benefits of calorie restriction, without having to continuously restrict calories. The idea being that not restricting calories daily makes compliance easier to follow. IF involves restricting calories 1-3 days per week and then eating as you normally would on your non-restricted days. There are several approaches to Intermittent Fasting but the premise is you eat normally a few days a week and drastically cut back on calories the other days. This form involves a day in which food and beverages (other than water) are completely restricted followed by a day where foods and beverages can be consumed normally. There are variations within alternate day fasting as well. A more scientifically investigated form involves eating 25 percent of your needed calories on one day and then 125 percent of your needed calories on the next day. The total calorie intake would be 75 percent of needed calories (2). Some calories can be consumed on fast days but it’s severely restricted to 20-25% of your energy needs (approximately 500-600 calories). This is the basis for the 5:2 diet where you restrict energy two non-consecutive days and then eat normally the other 5 days. This involves daily fasting intervals ranging from 12-20 hours. Religious fasts often use time-restricted feeding (i.e. Ramadan). The Science The science on calorie restriction (CR) itself is strong, but what about using the IF approach to calorie restriction? Many of the benefits of intermittent fasting such as improved metabolic profiles, decreased weight and reduced risk for chronic disease have been widely studied in animals. Despite the success of those studies, the same benefits are mixed when it comes to human trials (3), which may be related to compliance. In studies comparing similar caloric intake using both IF and CR there are no differences between the two groups in either weight loss, improvements in blood markers (glucose, insulin, lipids, inflammation) and chronic disease risk (4). Both may be equally effective for weight loss and cardio-protection. In one series of carefully controlled long-term trials (the CALERIE studies), the goal was to have individuals reduce calorie intake by 25 percent on a continuous basis. Even though individuals could only reduce their intake by 15% these calorie restricted (CR) experiments demonstrated significant clinical benefits (1). The data is clear that if you can restrict calories there are benefits to be gained. Intermittent Fasting vs. The Zone Diet Intermittent fasting is based on the idea that continuous calorie restriction is too hard to follow for the lifetime. So maybe you can do it for a couple of days with fasting or mini-fasts, knowing you can eat normally or overeat the next day or every other day. Regardless of the approach used, the answer appears to be that there is no benefit of intermittent fasting compared to consuming the same number of restricted calories day in and day out according to recent studies. Furthermore, there is no difference in weight loss between a continuous calorie–restricted diet and an intermittent fasting diet because the weekly intake of calories consumed is about the same. However, subjects in these studies using intermittent fasting tend to be less compliant as they are hungrier on their fasting days. The key to the Zone Diet is not simply the restriction of calories, but the constant maintenance of hormonal balance that results in stable blood glucose levels so that you are not hungry between meals. After all, who wants to be hungry no matter what the potential health benefits may be. In addition, if you use Ramadan as an example in which observant Muslims who fast all day and then only eat after the sun goes down, you see that they do lose weight, but the lost weight is all regained shortly after the fasting period is over. This isn’t ideal for long-term health benefits. In addition 16 hour fasts may place stress on your bodies hormonal systems as one may run the risk of upsetting the hormonal levels like insulin, glucagon, and cortisol. The Zone Diet is built upon the concept of calorie restriction coupled with hormonal balance, so that you are never hungry or fatigued and can easily follow it for a lifetime. Following a calorie restricted Zone Diet will yield many of the clinical positive benefits often attributed to various forms of fasting but with greater long-term compliance.{{cta('a8225404-c675-40b7-8eaa-4836beb805da')}} References: 1. Leanne M. Redman, Steven R. Smith, Jeffrey H. Burton, Corby K. Martin, Dora Il'yasova, Eric Ravussin. Metabolic Slowing and Reduced Oxidative Damage with Sustained Caloric Restriction Support the Rate of Living and Oxidative Damage Theories of Aging. Cell Metabolism, 2018.2. Trepanowski JF, Kroeger CM, Barnosky A, Klempel MC, Bhutani S, Hoddy KK, Gabel K, Freels S, Rigdon J, Rood J, Ravussin E, Varady KA. Effect of Alternate-Day Fasting on Weight Loss, Weight Maintenance, and Cardioprotection Among Metabolically Healthy Obese Adults: A Randomized Clinical Trial. JAMA Intern Med. 2017 Jul 1;177(7):930-938. 3. Horne BD, Muhlestein JB, Anderson JL. Health effects of intermittent fasting: hormesis or harm? A systematic review.Am J Clin Nutr. 2015 Aug;102(2):464-70. 4. Patterson RE, Laughlin GA, LaCroix AZ, Hartman SJ, Natarajan L, Senger CM, Martínez ME, Villaseñor A, Sears DD, Marinac CR, Gallo LC.Intermittent Fasting and Human Metabolic Health. J Acad Nutr Diet. 2015 Aug;115(8):1203-12
The Importance of Breakfast
We’ve heard it time and time again that breakfast is the most important meal of the day, but is that true? One of the biggest benefits to consuming breakfast is to replenish energy stores and to stabilize hormones. After a full night’s sleep our blood sugar level is low and by early morning our liver glycogen stores have been depleted in an effort to maintain blood glucose throughout the night. Once energy stores are exhausted, blood glucose and insulin levels begin to drop and as a result the stress hormone cortisol is released. Cortisol levels naturally rise in the morning, but it's release signals the body to begin breaking down muscle for energy. This is why it’s critical to eat an appropriate breakfast to restore blood sugar levels and replenish glycogen. By skipping breakfast cortisol levels stay elevated until the next meal resulting in the increased breakdown of muscle for energy. Why a Zone BreakfastThe Zone is based on keeping your insulin levels in a zone that is not too high and not too low. This will stabilize blood sugar and prevent the continued breakdown of muscle for energy. Eating a Zone breakfast can help keep your insulin levels stable, provide the necessary protein to prevent hunger and replenish the levels of liver glycogen. It is important that the breaking down (catabolism) that happens overnight is balanced with the building up in the morning (anabolism). It is this balance that makes breakfast important for starting your day out right hormonally and sets the stage for the other benefits that come with eating breakfast such as improved alertness and productivity, increased cognition and memory, satiety, and weight control.Zone Breakfast vs. Traditional BreakfastThose who eat breakfast regularly have been shown to have higher intakes of vitamins and minerals and a more well-rounded diet. We always recommend eating a Zone breakfast within one hour of waking and having one with the right balance of lean protein, low-glycemic carbohydrates and a dash of monounsaturated fat. By keeping insulin levels balanced, Zone meals are the easiest way to keep your sugar cravings under control during the day. Doing so minimizes the need to constantly look for quick fixes when your energy levels start to plummet. Breakfast SwapsWhen looking for a Zone breakfast aim for one that is under 400 calories, with less than 12 grams of fat, 25 grams of protein and about 35 grams of net carbs (total carbohydrates minus fiber). Need an easy breakfast idea? Swap out your current breakfast for a ZoneRx Shake instead. Where most grab and go breakfasts fall short on protein, are high in carbs and added sugar, and can be high in fat, ZoneRx shakes have the precise balance you need to replenish your body coming off an overnight fast and to power you through to lunch. See how it compares. {{cta('a51aeeb3-c8ab-4c9a-9217-1fe34bd6a84f')}}
Our Top Supermarket Picks
Not many of us have the luxury of spending hours in the grocery store going aisle to aisle. Here we’ve highlighted some of our top grocery finds from each area of the supermarket that can easily be incorporated into tasty weekdays/weeknight meals and get you in and out in a zip. Dairy: 2% Lactose Free Milk Why we Like It: It has the right balance of protein, carbohydrate and fat making it Zone approved. Plus it’s a good source of high-quality protein to promote satiety while being rich in calcium, vitamin D, phosphorus and other essential nutrients. Why Lactose-free? Regular cow’s milk contains lactose, which many can be difficult to digest. In lactose-free milk, the lactose has been totally removed to consist of only glucose and galactose. Want an easy meal no matter the time of day? Add 10oz of Lactose free milk to a scoop of ZoneRx Shake mix to keep you going until your next meal. Seafood: Wild Salmon Why we Like it: It’s a great source of protein, low in saturated fat and rich in omega-3 fatty acids, known for their brain boosting and anti-inflammatory properties. Opting for wild salmon over farm-raised brings the omega-3 content up even further and has been shown to be 8 times lower in PCBs compared to farm-raised. How does it’s omega-3 content compare to OmegaRx 2? A 3oz serving of raw wild salmon contains about 1700mg of total omega3 fatty acids, whereas one serving of OmegaRx 2 (4 capsules or 1 tsp.) contains nearly twice as much with 3000mg of the omega-3s EPA and DHA. Meat: Grass-Fed Beef Why We Like It: Compared to regular beef, grass-fed beef can contain almost 2x the amount of omega-3s compared to regular beef. While we know red meat should be consumed in moderation, when you do choose to consume it, opting for grass-fed is a good way to go. Using it ground makes for great tasting burgers, a taco night hit, or a delicious filling for stuffed peppers. Fruit: Berries (Blueberries, Strawberries, Raspberries, Blackberries)Why We Like It: They have one of the lowest glycemic responses compared to most fruits out there. Why we really like them is that they are rich in polyphenols, the chemicals in plants responsible for the color and wide range of nutritional benefits. Although summer is the peak season for berries, you can find different varieties (e.g blackberries) all year long that are fairly priced too. Berries make for a perfect sweet to end a meal, a great addition to steel cut oats, or nicely coupled with low-fat cheese for a mid-afternoon snack. Veggies: Cruciferous Vegetables (Broccoli, Brussels sprouts, Cauliflower and Kale)Why We Like Them: They’re nutritional powerhouses based on their levels of fermentable fiber, polyphenols, vitamins, minerals and are known for their cancer-preventive properties too. Plus they have lowest amounts of carbohydrate making them less likely to stimulate insulin. Roast or sauté in a little olive oil and use as a side dish to any protein choice. They’re also a great base for any salad when you swap in baby Kale, shaved Brussel Sprouts or Broccoli slaw in place of romaine or iceberg.Frozen: Green VegetablesWhy We Like Them: Produce that sits in the refrigerator for days or has traveled long distances to reach us, loses its nutrients with time. Frozen vegetables are a great option in this case as they are typically flash frozen at low temperatures to stop aging and retain their nutritional value. Spinach, broccoli, or asparagus make for great weeknight stir-fry’s. If you haven’t tried frozen riced vegetables yet (available in broccoli and cauliflower (although not green), these can be added to soups in a cinch or a great replacement for rice in any dish. Plus the ones in the microwavable steamer bags can be made in minutes for those nights you really run short on time.Inside Aisles: Almonds Why We Like Them: They are rich in heart healthy monounsaturated fats, along with numerous vitamins, and minerals. Almonds are easy to have on hand or for a snack on the go, plus they add a nice crunch when topped on oatmeal, yogurt, or slivered on vegetables. Since they are about 79% fat, just be careful to limit your intake and be mindful of portions as the calories can really stack up and they are easy to over-consume. Steelcut OatsWhy We Like Them: They contain GLA (gamma linolenic acid), an essential fatty acids known to help boost the production of the good eicosanoids (PGE-1). Consuming 2 to 3 times per week can help build up your GLA levels. Plus they are a great alternative to breakfast cereal since they have a lower glycemic response, and are high in fiber, B-vitamins and calcium. Canned BeansWhy We Like Them: Beans are a great source of fermentable fiber and their versatility lends themselves to most dishes you create. While lectins, a protein within them, might be giving them a bad rap lately, don’t stress, because cooking sprouting or fermenting them degrades lectin. It’s only individuals who have a compromised gut barrier, like “leaky gut” whole need to limit their consumption.SpicesWhy We Like Them: Spices like basil, oregano and rosemary are incredibly rich in polyphenols (good for the gut), plus they are a great way to add flavor to any dish. Elevate any of your dishes by adding them to omelets, meat, salad dresses or vegetables. Extra Virgin Olive OilWhy We Like It: It’s primarily a monounsaturated fat, known for their heart healthy benefits, and rich in the polyphenol known as hydroxytyrosol. A good rule of thumb is to buy a cheaper olive oil for cooking, since polyphenols degrade upon heating, and then use a high quality one like Zone Extra Virgin olive oil for use in salad dressings or on top of cooked dishes to reap all their health promoting properties.{{cta('daffa570-1055-4766-af51-e09d66a17e47')}}
Peak Performance: An Athletes Guide to Meal Timing
Fueling for performance requires knowing what foods to choose and when to have them. Dr. Sears has worked with elite athletes his entire professional career and his recommendations are based on years of seeing what has led to the greatest improvements in becoming faster, stronger, and leaner. You don’t have to be an elite athlete to use this guide. No matter your fitness level, use these recommendations to reap the most from your workout and enhance how quickly you can get to your next one. Hormonal Timing and Performance: A More In-Depth Look Performance can be considered to fall within 4 phases:Hormonal Warm-up –ensuring your body has the right fuels to performThe Demand Phase - when you are working out and putting stress on the bodyThe Recovery Phase - Immediately following your work outThe Repair Phase - The remainder of the time when you are not working out and repairing damaged muscle tissue Hormonal Warm-up:When: 30-45 Minutes Before and During Exercise.What To Do: Eat a Zone snack 30-45 minutes prior to exercise. Half of a ZoneRx bar is an ideal choice. Why: Consuming protein helps to minimize muscle damage and stimulate glucagon synthesis to elevate blood glucose levels that will fall during exercise. Carbohydrate consumption helps spare muscle glycogen that will be depleted and maintain blood glucose levels that will be lowered during exercise. Demand Phase-When: The workout or activity that is putting stress on the bodyWhat is Happening Hormonally Pro-inflammatory eicosanoids increase Pro-inflammatory cytokines increase Insulin decreases Cortisol increases What is Happening Metabolically ATP is depleted Protein degradation increases Muscle glycogen is partially depleted Muscle damage increases Fluid loss increases Recovery Phase When: Peaks 30 Minutes After Exercise and lasts a maximum of 120 minutes (Recovery Phase Is Short)What To Do: Eat a Zone snack immediately following exercise. Half a ZoneRx bar would be an ideal choice.Why: The combination of protein and carbohydrate helps to replenish muscle glycogen and initiate muscle repair. Growth hormone is released once exercise stops to initiate repair and this can be inhibited by high levels of insulin. Where carbohydrates alone could impede the release of growth hormone, the combination of both protein and carbohydrate helps to ensure this release happens quicker. Repair Phase When: The 20-24 hours following workout completionWhat To Do: Consume a Zone meal or snack every 4 to 5 hours. Ensure each meal contains at least 25-30 grams of high quality protein. Aim for lean protein choices that contain leucine, an amino acid found in foods such as chicken, lean beef, pork, fish, seafood, and cheese. Consuming about 2.5 grams of leucine helps activate mTor, a gene transcription factor required for new protein synthesis. Balance your protein with non-starchy vegetables at each meal. This will help to control insulin levels between meals and when balanced with the right amount of protein will help stabilize blood sugar levels. Supplement with omega-3 fatty acids and polyphenols.Why: The combination of the Zone Diet, omega-3 fatty acids and polyphenols helps maximize the anti-inflammatory response that results in tissue repair post-work. Calculating Your Protein Needs Depending on your sport you might be trying to gain weight, primarily through lean body mass, or to lose body fat while maintaining lean body mass. Either way it’s important to know how much protein you should be consuming each day. To find your personalized requirements based on your gender, size and weight, try our Protein Requirement/Body Fat calculator. This will also tell you how many Zone Food Blocks of carbohydrate and fat you should consume each day to go along your protein requirements. The following menus are based on Dr. Sears' work with Olympic athletes. No matter your fitness level, used this as a guide and simply adjust the amounts based on what you've determined your protein requirements to be. Get started here with our meal planners for both males and females. {{cta('a9e96fff-3523-4d72-b761-29f9ef2a1279')}}
Evolution of the Zone: Making Diet Work for a Lifetime
The word diet often has negative connotations. It is often thought of as a period of constant hunger and fatigue to get into a swimsuit. People often also regain all the lost weight and more after stopping the diet. A recent article reinforces this idea in Obesity that demonstrates the contestants in the Biggest Loser television series had virtually regained all their lost weight in a six-year period. This was followed by an article in the New York Times entitled, “Why You Can’t Lose Weight on a Diet.” What Does the Word Diet Really Mean? The word diet comes from the Greek root, which means “way of life.” This means that a diet should be followed for your lifetime, depending on your goal. The American Heart Association diet, the American Cancer Association diet, and the American Diabetes Association diet were all designed to prevent or treat a particular condition and should be followed for life. The Mediterranean diet is to be followed for a healthy life. And of course, the Zone Diet is to be followed for a lifetime to maintain inflammation in a manageable range consistent with optimal wellness. The Secret to Making Your Diet Work The secret to maintaining any diet, whatever the goal, is that you can’t be hungry or fatigued. But hunger and fatigue don’t just mysteriously appear; they are symptoms that indicate that your diet is not working. Hunger and fatigue are the consequence of increased inflammation in your gut, your organs, and your brain. There are many causes of inflammation that you will never see on social media or in academic journals because it is overwhelming. Here are just a few: Excess dietary omega-6 fatty acids increases the production of pro-inflammatory eicosanoids. Excess dietary palmitic acid increases inflammation in the hypothalamus, causing hunger. Increased gut permeability caused by lack of dietary fermentable fiber that leads to increased bacterial fragments entering the blood, causing metabolic endotoxemia (the release of toxins into the blood from gut bacteria). Excess dietary fat that increases the transport of bacterial fragments into the blood cause even more metabolic endotoxemia. Excess consumption of dietary calories causing inflammation in the hypothalamus, increasing hunger. Lack of adequate levels of dietary polyphenols to control the microbial composition of the gut and reduce oxidative stress in the body. Lack of adequate levels of dietary omega-3 fatty acids to reduce inflammation and increase resolution in the gut, blood, and the brain. You can see the word dietary appearing over and over in these various causes of inflammation. This indicates that most of our woes in our health care system are a consequence of the diet. Unless you address each of these diet-induced causes of inflammation, you are going to have hard time maintaining optimal wellness. This is the challenge I took on when developing the Zone Diet. The Zone Diet is Even Easier Now First and foremost, the Zone Diet is based on calorie restriction, but without hunger and fatigue. The first generation of the Zone Diet required a person to constantly pay attention to balancing protein, carbohydrate, and fat at every meal. In addition, I took out the three things (pasta, pizza, and pastries) in the diet people really like to eat. I guess my tough love was a little too much for busy people who needed easy short fixes resulting in long-term solutions. I could just say, “too bad,” or I could try to solve the problem with the evolution of the Zone Diet. I choose the latter approach. This choice led to the development a new series of protein-based foods that could take the place of non-sustainable animal protein. Furthermore, these new foods were in a format that would be more convenient and more desirable than the foods people were already eating. After all, that is the only way to encourage people to make dietary changes. The resulting diet would have to create far greater appetite suppression with even greater energy compared to the first generation of the Zone ̶ a formidable challenge to undertake, but not an impossible one to achieve. What made it possible was the patented technology to create Zone PastaRx®. Zone PastaRx looks and tastes like the foods that in the past always made you put on body fat, but now they make you leaner. Why? Because PastaRx is able to suppress appetite and stabilize blood sugar levels with improved hormonal control. This evolution of the Zone Diet changes the hormones in three areas of the body (gut, blood, and the brain), whereas the original Zone Diet could only change the hormones in the blood. In effect, this evolution of the Zone has three times the hormonal benefits using the foods you like to eat as a novel protein source. What if you ate a diet consisting of Zone PastaRx with some non-starchy vegetables (for the fermentable fiber) for lifetime with the result of never being hungry or fatigued? Furthermore, what if dozens of recipes were already tested and posted online so you don’t have to even think about variety? I am taking a wild guess that most people could follow such a diet for a lifetime. By following this next generation of the Zone Diet, you will reduce diet-induced inflammation that is the underlying cause of the development of chronic disease, as well as the acceleration of the aging process. If you add high-doses of purified omega-3 fatty acids (OmegaRx®) and purified polyphenol extracts, you simply take those inflammation control benefits from the next generation of the Zone Diet to new higher level. Studies Have Shown that PastaRx Reduces Insulin Resistance The motto of Zone Labs is Evidence-based Wellness®. This simply means, “show me the data.” In two clinical experiments using Zone PastaRx, we observed dramatic reductions in the level of insulin resistance in obese subjects using meals consisting of Zone PastaRx when compared to control groups using gluten-free pasta. Inflammation is what causes insulin resistance. In fact, the reduction in insulin resistance in the subjects consuming Zone PastaRx was equal to that of giving insulin injections for newly diagnosed type 2 diabetic patients according to a study. I think you can see why I believe the future for the evolution of the Zone Diet is extremely bright; because Zone Pasta makes diets work.{{cta('cd305230-6e34-42f6-9e2c-c2beda556f50')}} References: Fothergill E et al. “Persistent metabolic adaption 6 years after ‘The Biggest Loser’ competition.” Obesity 24: doi: 10.1002/oby.21538 (2016). Aamodt S. “Why you can’t lose weight on a diet”. New York Times. May 6, 2016. Sears B and Perry M. “The role of fatty acids in insulin resistance.” Lipids Health Dis 14:121 (2015). Wang D et al. “Effects of intensive insulin therapy upon pancreatic β cell function in patients newly diagnosed with type II diabetes”. Int J Clin Exp Med 8:1391–1395 (2015).
Olive Oil: The Good, the Bad & the Ugly
Olive oil can be considered the first nutrition supplement since its first use more than 6,000 years ago. We now know the reason: the polyphenols. The Good – Olives Contain Unique Anti-Inflammatory Properties Olives are a fruit, not a seed. As a result, it contains unique types of polyphenols not found in other fruits and vegetables. Tyrosol, hydroxytryrosol, oleocanthal and oleuropein each provide unique anti-inflammatory properties. This is why olive oil was so prized in the ancient world and remains an integral component of the Mediterranean diet. That’s the good. The Bad – The Impact of Pesticides Polyphenols are the reason that olive oil has health benefits for humans, but they have even greater health benefits to the olive fruit itself. It is polyphenols that protect plants from microbial attack. Once you start using pesticides to increase production, the plants generally decrease the product of polyphenols since it requires a lot of energy to produce them. This effect is more profound in fruits than vegetables. However, not all conventionally grown fruits and vegetables have high levels of chemical residues. It really depends on how they are farmed. The following table outlines these varying levels of chemical residues in conventional fruits and vegetables. Most Commonly Contaminated Moderate Commonly Contamination Least Commonly Contaminated Apples Celery Strawberries Peaches Spinach Nectarines Grapes-Foreign Sweet Bell Peppers Potatoes Blueberries Lettuce Kale/Collard Greens Green Beans Summer Squash Peppers Cucumbers Raspberries Grapes - Domestic Plums Oranges Cauliflower Tangerines Bananas Winter Squash Cranberries Onions Sweet Corn Pineapples Avocado Asparagus Sweet Peas Eggplant Cantaloupe Kiwi Cabbage Sweet Potato Grapefruit Mushrooms What about olives? Although many olive growers don’t use herbicides or pesticides, you never really know those who do. Finding certified organic extra-virgin olive oil is always your best bet for maximum polyphenol content. More importantly, the taste of organic olive oil is always significantly better than conventional olive oils. The Really Ugly – Your Olive Oil May Be Faking It Since olive oil is valuable, it is likely to be adulterated by adding other inferior substances. This was a problem in even ancient Roman times where containers were stamped with official seals to make it difficult to adulterate the oil. Today, the problem is far more widespread with nearly 70% of extra-virgin oil olive being sold in the U.S. having been adulterated. Harvesting Perfect Olives What's a consumer to do in a world of pesticides and adulterated olive oil? It has to taste great (which it does) and be rich in polyphenols (that we analyze in every lot, because like Fox Mulder of the X-Files says: “we trust no one”). I searched out the few organic cooperatives in Italy making high quality extra-virgin olive oil. Then, we harvested in late fall, followed by processing over the winter. Then the various processed lots were tested for polyphenol content. Those lots that met our polyphenol requirements were bottled and brought to the U.S. under the Zone brand. We purchased the entire year’s production that met our quality standards. It wasn’t much, but those olives made about 190 cases worth of Dr. Sears’ Zone Extra Virgin Olive Oil. And we have it all. Branding is crucial. With my Zone Extra-Virgin Olive Oil, you can have the ideal anti-inflammatory condiment for every meal – at least while it lasts. As of today, we have less than 100 cases of Dr. Sears’ Zone Extra Virgin Olive Oil remaining in stock. Order yours today.{{cta('daffa570-1055-4766-af51-e09d66a17e47')}} References: Faller ALK and Fialho E. “Polyphenol content and anti-oxidant capacity in organic and conventional plant foods.” J Food Composition and Analysis 23: 561-568 (2010). Muller T. Extra Virginity: The Sublime and Scandalous World of Olive Oil. W.W. Norton. New York, NY (2013). Blechman N. “Extra virgin suicide: The adulteration of Italian Olive Oil.”
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