Zone Living Articles
Reaching the Zone Using Metabolic Engineering
People often ask, “What exactly is the Zone, and what are the benefits of being there?” The short answer is that the Zone can be defined as the absence of insulin resistance, and the benefit of being in the Zone is living a longer and better life. “How do I get in the Zone?” The process of getting “in the Zone” is a little more complex because it involves understanding Metabolic Engineering™. You have probably heard that genetic engineering is the future of medicine. However, I believe that Metabolic Engineering™ will have a far more significant impact. The reason is that controlling your metabolism is far more complex and vastly more impactful than any breakthrough envisioned by the biotechnology industry using genetic engineering. Your metabolism converts food into energy, controls your immune system, regulates the expression of your genes, controls tissue regeneration, and finally controls your aging rate. It’s an impressive list. But to get those benefits, you must continually manage the metabolism in each of the 37 trillion cells in your body. Although this may seem like Mission Impossible, Metabolic Engineering™ makes it possible. Understanding Metabolic Engineering™ I started the field of Metabolic Engineering™ nearly 30 years ago with the publication of my first book, The Zone, in 1995. The patent for the Zone diet as a drug to reduce insulin resistance was issued in 2000. However, just as the understanding of the complexity of metabolism has been expanding, so has the evolution of my original dietary concepts of controlling metabolism on a lifetime basis. Metabolic Engineering™ is a comprehensive dietary system to activate the master regulator of your metabolism (AMPK) in every one of your 37 trillion cells. By doing so, you can reduce, if not eliminate, insulin resistance in a short period (clinical studies indicate as little as four days). Unfortunately, it can reappear just as quickly. Therefore, controlling your metabolism is a lifetime effort if you want a longer and better life. Why? Because the longer you have insulin resistance, the more likely you are to develop obesity, type 2 diabetes, heart disease, liver and kidney disease, and neurological diseases such as Parkinson’s and Alzheimer’s. Think of Metabolic Engineering™ as a three-legged stool. Sitting on a one-legged stool is impossible, and a two-legged stool is just as precarious. But if you have three legs of equal length, that stool becomes incredibly stable. The three legs of Metabolic Engineering™ are the Zone diet, omega-3 fatty acids, and a particular class of polyphenols known as delphinidins. Each is useful individually, but when combined into a consistent dietary system, they become a powerful force to reduce insulin resistance by reprogramming each of your 37 trillion cells. How to uncover if you have insulin resistance? Your blood will tell you if you currently have insulin resistance. There is a simple blood known as HOMA-IR. If your HOMA-IR level is less than one, you have no insulin resistance, and your health future is bright. About one percent of Americans are in this group. On the other hand, your HOMA-IR is greater than two, you have insulin resistance, and your health future is bleak. The average American has a HOMA-IR of 2.7. This level of insulin resistance in Americans explains our rapidly increasing cost of health care. However, that future can be changed by following Metabolic Engineering™. Rather than focusing on treating chronic disease, my vision is that the future of medicine will be refocused on maintaining chronic wellness. That means living in the Zone for a lifetime.
Injectable Weight Loss Drugs: The Truth About Ozempic and Wegovy
Injectable Weight Loss Drugs: Promises and Pitfalls Injectable weight loss drugs are the hottest topic on social media and the board rooms of pharmaceutical companies looking to make billions of dollars in future sales. But beneath this glamour is some significant caution. GLP-1 Receptor Agonists: Semaglutide and Its Weight Loss Potential Injectable weight loss drugs are known as GLP-1 receptor agonists. The scientific name for the most well-known one is semaglutide, which is marketed under the tradenames Ozempic and Wegovy. In simple terms, these injectable drugs activate the release of the hormone GLP-1 from the gut that goes directly to the brain to tell you to stop eating. These drugs were initially developed to treat type 2 diabetes, but the clinical studies in overweight and obese individuals demonstrated significant weight loss at higher levels (1). The Difference Between Weight Loss and Fat LossUnfortunately, there is a big difference between weight loss and fat loss. Weight loss is the combined loss of stored body fat and lean body mass (i.e., muscle). You want to lose fat but not muscle. Although the weight loss using weekly semaglutide injections was impressive (about 34 pounds) after 68 weeks, you had to go deep into the bowels of the supplementary feature section (Supplementary Index Section 5b) of the article to find that about 40 percent of that weight loss was due to loss of lean body mass. That is not a good sign. It suggests that the injections reduce hunger to the extent that the person has little desire to eat enough protein to maintain muscle mass. In essence, the drug increases the patients' sarcopenia (muscle loss). One of the consequences of sarcopenia is increased frailty. The Downsides of Stopping Injectable Drugs Once you stop injecting weight loss drugs, the weight immediately begins to return (2). Not surprisingly, any metabolic benefits initially seen while taking the drug were lost with the weight regain. I suspect that much of the returning weight is primarily as fat since it takes minimal effort to regain lost body fat compared to far greater effort to rebuild lost muscle mass. That data was not studied in the second study and unsurprisingly, both studies were sponsored by the drug company that makes semaglutide. I can understand why they didn’t include the body composition data as it would be bad for marketing. Zone Diet: The Key to Achieving Lasting Results Injectable weight loss drugs don't sound too promising if it means you must inject this “wonder” drug for the rest of your life. But is there another way to achieve the same results? I believe the answer is yes if you are following the Zone Diet. Drugs like semaglutide cause the release of GLP-1 and so does intake of dietary protein. So how much protein do you need? The answer is about 30 grams of protein at every meal. Not less, but not more, as excess protein can cause transient insulin resistance. Next, you must balance that protein with the correct amount of low-glycemic carbohydrates to prevent excess insulin secretion, which causes low blood sugar and increases hunger. This concept is the foundation of the Zone diet. That is also why the Zone diet was granted a patent to reduce insulin resistance (3). Zone Diet: Scientifically Proven ResultsThe Zone diet has been shown to reduce insulin resistance within days (4). It is insulin resistance that causes you to gain weight. The Zone diet has been shown to help with remission of pre-diabetes (i.e., metabolic syndrome) caused by higher levels of insulin resistance (5). This same eating plan is used by the Joslin Diabetes Center at Harvard Medical School to treat type 2 diabetes caused by severe insulin resistance (6-9). So, what’s the problem with following the Zone diet for life? People seem to believe it is too much effort to balance protein and carbohydrates at each meal. Zone Foods: A Breakthrough Solution To address compliance, I applied for another patented technology. This technology enhances the activation of GLP-1 release in the gut to increase satiety dramatically. It does so by slowing the protein absorption rate in the upper region of the small intestine so that more protein reaches the lower part of the small intestine, where specific cells (L-cells) that sense protein and release GLP-1 are concentrated. The result is greater appetite suppression. Furthermore, if you could combine the right balance of protein and carbohydrates into a single food product, no thinking is involved. This breakthrough was the foundation for producing Zone Foods. Clinical Trials: Zone Foods vs. Injectable Weight Loss Drugs So, does it work? To answer that question, you must do clinical trials. We published the results in 2017 (10). In subjects consuming Zone Foods for six weeks the total weight loss was virtually the same as the study referenced above using weekly injections of semaglutide. However, the body composition was dramatically different between the two approaches. Those consuming Zone Foods were gaining muscle mass and losing more fat. Although weight change in the control group was about the same as those in the Zone Foods group, it consisted primarily of near equal portions of fat loss and muscle loss, just like the subjects getting their weekly injections of semaglutide. Bottom line, using Zone Foods not only induced greater loss of fat than taking semaglutide injections but also increased muscle mass. Not surprisingly, the use of Zone Foods reduced insulin resistance by 140 percent compared to the control group (10). Now that’s what I call a “wonder drug.” References1. Wilding JPH et al. Once weekly semaglutide in adults with overweight or obesity. N Engl J Med 384:989-1002 (2021) doi: 10.1056/NEJMoa20321832. Wilding JPH et al. Weight regain and cardiometabolic effects after withdrawal of semaglutide: The STEP 1 trial extension. Diabetes Obesity and Metabolism 24: 1553-1564 (2022) doi: 10.1111/dom.14725. 3. Sears, B. “Method of and nutritional and pharmaceutical compositions for reduction of hyperinsulinemia.” U.S. Patent No. 6,140,304 (2000)4. Markovic TP et al. “The determinants of glycemic responses to diet restriction and weight loss in obesity and NIDDM.” Diabetes Care 21:687-694 (1998) doi: 10.2337/diacare.21.5.687.5. Stentz FB et al. “High protein diet leads to pre-diabetes remission and positive changes in incretins and cardiovascular risk factors.” Nutr Metab Cardiovasc Dis 31:1227-1237 (2021) doi: 10.1016/j.numecd.2020.11.027.6 Giusti J and Rizzott J. “Interpreting the Joslin Diabetes Center and Joslin Clinic clinical guideline for overweight and obese adults with type 2 diabetes.” Curr Diab Report 6:405-408 (2006) doi: 10.1007/s11892-006-0014-y.7. Hamdy O. “Diabetes weight management in clinical practice—the Why Wait model,” U.S. Endocrinology 4:49–54 (2008) doi: http://doi.org/10.17925/USE.2008.04.2.498. Hamdy O and Carver C. “The Why WAIT program: improving clinical outcomes through weight management in type 2 diabetes.” Curr Diab Rep 8:413-420 (2008) doi: 10.1007/s11892-008-0071-5.9. Hamdy O et al. “Long-term effect of intensive lifestyle intervention on cardiovascular risk factors in patients with diabetes in real-world clinical practice: a 5-year longitudinal study.” BMJ Open Diabetes Res Care 5:e000259 (2017) doi: 10.1136/bmjdrc-2016-000259.10. Johnson CS et al. Use of novel high-protein functional food products as part of a calorie-restricted diet to reduce insulin resistance and increase lean body mass in adults: A randomized controlled trial. Nutrients 9:1182 (2017) doi: 10.3390/nu9111182.
Sugar, Sugar Substitutes, and Reality
Sugar has many things going for it. It is sweet, it is cheap, and it is addictive. Along with fat and salt, it is one of the mainstays of the industrialized food industry to make their otherwise bland products both edible and desirable. But unfortunately, it is also a cause of insulin resistance, the underlying cause of various chronic diseases. No wonder the food industry is constantly seeking sugar substitutes, but only if they are cheaper than sugar and nearly as sweet. One such candidate has been sugar alcohols and, in particular, erythritol. And it is safe, or at least we thought so until a recent study (1). This study found that a quarter of individuals who consumed the most erythritol had a doubling of their risk of a heart attack. To put this in perspective, this is about the same increase in cardiovascular risk level as having type 2 diabetes. OK, that was only an association. To confirm their initial finding, they gave healthy volunteers a dose of 30 grams of erythritol to see what would happen. This level of erythritol is similar to what many people consuming keto-friendly products typically consume daily. However, this level of erythritol caused significant amounts of excess clot formation in their blood. The study's lead author stated that they weren’t even looking for this connection. And if this is true for erythritol, it is likely to occur with other typical sugar alcohols like sorbitol, xylitol, maltitol, mannitol, and others. However, unlike erythritol, these other sugar alcohols have more significant laxative effects. Does this mean everyone should return to dumping good old sugar into their foods to make them more palatable? That’s probably not a good idea unless you want to increase insulin resistance which makes you gain weight, have lower mental and physical performance levels, and accelerate aging. I forgot to mention that insulin resistance is also strongly associated with the development of diabetes, heart disease, and Alzheimer’s. Fortunately, there is a way out of this dilemma, and it is a different type of sugar known as allulose. First, a little information on sugar. Sugar is a disaccharide with one glucose molecule linked to one fructose molecule. The link between these two sugars is rapidly broken down in the stomach, so the sugar you initially put in your mouth enters the small intestine as pure glucose and pure fructose. Both are quickly absorbed. The glucose goes directly into the blood to cause insulin secretion. Still, the fructose goes directly to the liver to induce the synthesis of palmitic acid (it’s called de novo lipogenesis). Excess levels of either glucose or fructose can cause insulin resistance. Allulose is different. It is also quickly absorbed, but your kidneys just as quickly excrete it into your urine. However, allulose has another critical benefit: it stimulates AMPK production (2). Why is that important? AMPK is the master regulator of your metabolism, and it reduces insulin resistance (3). This background is why we reformulated our ZoneRx® shakes and bars and our future products will contain allulose to help reduce insulin resistance, resulting in greater metabolic efficacy while lowering the likelihood of developing chronic diseases associated with insulin resistance. Losing weight and living longer is what food technology should be about. References Witkowski et al. The artificial sweetener erythritol and cardiovascular event risk. Nature Med. 2023 Feb 27. doi: 10.1038/s41591-023-02223-9. Lee et al. D-allulose ameliorates adiposity through the AMPK-SIRT1-PGC-1α pathway in HFD-induced SD rats .Food Nutr 2021 Dec 21;65. doi: 10.29219/fnr.v65.7803. Sears and Saha. Dietary Control of Inflammation and Resolution. Front Nutr. 2021 Aug 10;8:709435. doi: 10.3389/fnut.2021.709435
Your Guide to Simple Zone Meals
The secret to the Zone diet is reducing insulin resistance to achieve a better hormonal balance from your diet. This starts with having adequate protein at each meal. Protein is critical for success; you need a certain amount at each meal to induce satiety. That amount is approximately 30 grams of low-fat protein per meal. However, that amount of protein must still be balanced by the appropriate amount of carbohydrates to reduce insulin resistance. Then you add a dash of high-quality fat for flavor. The Ideal Balance of a Zone Meal A Zone meal should contain approximately 400 calories to help stabilize blood sugar. Those 400 calories should contain at least 30 grams of protein, less than 12 grams of fat, and about 40 grams of net carbohydrates (total carbohydrates minus fiber) primarily from low-glycemic choices. Carbohydrates choices should ideally be rich in fiber and high in polyphenols to achieve better hormonal balance in the blood. If you can go 4-5 hours without hunger after a meal, you know that meal had the optimal Zone balance. Your Guide to Making Zone Meals Here we will take you through simple ways to make Zone meals. Every Zone meal starts with adequate protein for superior appetite control. The better the quality of your choices, the faster you will reduce insulin resistance. Here are some general tips for a Zone meal. Start with Protein (approximately 30 grams per meal) Your goal is to get about 30 grams of high-quality protein at each meal. Add Carbohydrates If you are making classic Zone meals, you want to add sufficient low-glycemic carbohydrates (such as non-starchy vegetables) to balance the protein at a meal. Low glycemic means the carbohydrates from these sources enter the blood as glucose at a slower rate. Protein is more uniform in its density, whereas carbohydrates are not. Non-starchy vegetables have a low carbohydrate density, meaning you must consume many more of these carbohydrates to get the same amount of glucose entering the blood as in a much smaller portion of starchy vegetables or grains. Here is an estimate of the portion size of each type of carbohydrate to get about 40 grams of net carbohydrates per meal. Best carbohydrate choices for a Zone meal These carbohydrates enter the blood as glucose slowly and are the best to reduce insulin resistance. If you are using Zone PastaRx as your protein choice, you will only need to add 1 ½ to 2 cups of cooked vegetables to provide approximately 40 grams of carbohydrates at a meal to balance your protein intake. The best choices for non-starchy vegetables would be the ABCs (asparagus, artichokes, broccoli, cauliflower, and spinach), as they have a better protein-to-carbohydrate ratio than other vegetables. Less desirable carbohydrate choices These carbohydrates are less desirable as they enter the bloodstream as glucose at a faster rate and will not be as effective in reducing insulin resistance. However, if you want to use these carbohydrates to replace one quarter of the preferred carbohydrate choices for a Zone meal, here are the levels you can use (choose only one). You can also see that trying to balance your protein portion at a Zone meal using more than these fractions of fruits, whole grains or starchy vegetables will have a decreased effect on reducing insulin resistance because they rush into the blood as glucose at a much faster rate than preferred non-starchy vegetables. Poor carbohydrate choices include white carbohydrates (bread, pasta, rice, and potatoes) as they contain no polyphenols (that’s why they are white) and enter the blood quickly as pure glucose, thus increasing insulin resistance. Therefore, these carbohydrates should not be part of the diet for anyone with a higher level of insulin resistance. On the other hand, the use of Zone PastaRx as a rice or pasta replacement has been shown in clinical trials to reduce insulin resistance. Add Fat The last thing you add to your meal is fat. However, just enough for improved taste because too much fat provides excess calories that will slow down your rate of reducing insulin resistance. You only need one portion of fat per meal providing about 12 grams. Putting It Together A typical Zone meal should supply about 30 grams of protein, approximately 40 grams of carbohydrates, and about 12 grams of fat. This gives you a protein-adequate meal with moderate levels of low-glycemic carbohydrates and low amounts of healthy monounsaturated fat providing approximately 400 calories per meal. The result of that balance is a lack of hunger or mental fatigue for the next five hours because of better hormonal control of satiety and improved blood sugar levels. When To Eat Your Zone Meals Here is the basic science behind meal timing: Eat your first Zone meal within an hour after waking up. Consume three Zone meals of equal calories to control hunger throughout the day. Each Zone meal should contain about 30 grams of protein. Eat your protein first at every meal to maximize hunger suppression. Eat your last Zone meal before sunset or at least four hours before bed. Your metabolism is controlled by circadian rhythms determined by sunlight, meaning you want to spread your calorie intake evenly throughout the daylight hours. Your goal is to work with your metabolism to reduce insulin resistance, not against it.