How Do I Count Protein & Carbs In The Zone?

The Zone diet has helped many people lose weight and keep it off. The diet is considered a low-carbohydrate, high-protein diet because the diet's designer, Dr. Barry Sears, recommends eating foods at every meal and snack in the following ratio: 40 percent protein, 30 percent fat and 30 percent carbohydrates. The diet further recommends eating fruits, vegetables and complex carbohydrates as your primary sources of carbohydrate intake.

Identification

All food contains three types of macronutrients: fat, carbohydrates and protein. Carbohydrate foods contain one or more sugars, and are further broken down into complex carbohydrates, simple carbohydrates and fiber. The body doesn't absorb fiber, so it has little impact on caloric intake or blood glucose. Simple carbohydrates have one or two sugars, which result in a quick and marked impact on blood glucose levels. Sugar, dairy products, candy, fruit and baked goods are all simple carbohydrates. Complex carbohydrates are made up of three or more sugars and have a lesser impact on blood glucose; however, they still do cause blood glucose to rise. Whole grains and vegetables are complex carbohydrates. Both simple and complex carbohydrates have four calories per gram. Protein foods are made up of amino acids. Complete proteins contain all nine essential amino acids. Animal proteins, dairy products and soy all contain complete proteins. Protein also has four calories per gram.

Background

Dr. Barry Sears developed the Zone diet in 1995 when he published the book, "Enter the Zone." In the book, Dr. Sears explains that eating according to the 40:30:30 ratio creates a beneficial hormone balance between insulin, glucagon and eicosanoids. He asserts that high-carbohydrate meals trigger insulin release, which causes your body to store food as fat. When you control insulin, your body burns fat as fuel.

Method

Dr. Sears recommends eating favorable carbohydrates such as oatmeal, whole grains, fruits and vegetables and avoiding unfavorable carbohydrates such as pasta, sugar and white bread. He also recommends eating favorable proteins, such as fish, egg whites and poultry as opposed to unfavorable proteins such as red meat. Favorable fats include unsaturated fats such as olive oil, light mayonnaise and avocado. The 40:30:30 ration of protein:fat:carbs is calculated as a percentage of calories. To determine what percentage of calories you are getting from protein, multiply the grams of protein in what you are eating by four -- which is the number of calories per gram that protein has. Next, divide that number by the total number of calories and multiply the result by 100. This is the percentage of calories from protein in your meal. Carbohydrates use the same calculation, substituting the carbohydrate grams and multiplying that by four, which is the number of calories per gram of a carbohydrate.

Support

Gary Taubes, author of "Good Calories, Bad Calories" agrees with the insulin hypothesis put forth in "Enter the Zone." Insulin, Taubes suggests, is a storage hormone. When you eat carbohydrates, your blood glucose levels rise, causing your pancreas to release insulin. When insulin is present in your bloodstream, your body can't burn stored fat as fuel, and it stores the food you are eating as fat. When insulin is absent, your body uses stored fat as its primary source of fuel.

Considerations

MayoClinic.com cautions that high-protein, low-carb diets may lead to certain health problems such as increased risk of kidney disease and intestinal issues such as constipation due to the high protein and low fiber content of the diets. Dr. Sears cautions that the Zone is a lifestyle, not a temporary diet, and returning to previous eating habits may result in weight regain.