Welcome to the Offices of
Dr. David Brown DC

In Chiropractic Practice since 1985

3633 Camino del Rio South, Suite 102
San Diego, CA  92108
619-260-8086


About The Zone Diet...

40:30:30 
Dietary Approach

Based on Dr. Barry Sears, ENTER THE ZONE
Drs. Eades, PROTEIN POWER 
and 40-30-30 NUTRITION

Why Change the Way YouI Eat?

By a recent national survey, up to 60% of all Americans today are OVERWEIGHT and 30% are OBESE!!
Heart disease and diabetes continue to rise.
This is a national tragedy that threatens to overwhelm our health system as the "baby boomers" grow older.
 It is ironic that for the past 10 years we have been conducting a huge dietary experiment;
our fat consumption has gone down yet our fat bellys have gone up.
So what is going wrong? We should be getting slimmer by eating less fat in our diet.
The answer lies in HUNGER.
The Standard Diet proposed by most dietitians and heart and diabetic specialists is based on the idea that we should get 65-70% of our daily calories from carbohydrates. The rest of the diet should be equally from protein and Fat. Some even get that fat percentage down to 10%. Indeed, some people have become
FAT PHOBIC!!
(I bet you know a few)
The reason low fat diets fail is because the body shifts into carbohydrate burning mode
so it needs less and less fat for energy requirements.
 The standard diet would be fine if people could follow it. What happens is that carbohydrates
DO NOT CONTROL THE HUNGER.
You know the drill, you gorge out on a spaghetti dinner and 2 hours later, you're hungry again.
The fact is, carbos do not "stick to your ribs" so you are forced to either "ignore" your gnawing hunger or EAT MORE!!
America would be fine on a high carbohydrate diet if it could only
STOP EATING!!!
But it can't.
 The reason lies in the BIG CULPRIT,

INSULIN.

Why it Works

Most lower carbohydrate diets work because they control the production of insulin. The digestive system treats all carbohydrates (pasta, rice, breads, cereals) the same ... as if they were glucose sugar.
Glucose, you may have heard, causes the pancreas to pump out insulin into the blood. Insulin tells the muscles, liver and fat cells to store away as much glucose as they can, burn the remaining carb and save the dietary fat for later.

In the presence of a lot of carbohydrates, insulin teaches the cells to reduce fat burning and burn the carbs instead.  This used to be a very good survival method back in the cave-people days but hey ... we have refrigerators now.

Here is another problem: Insulin has a long half-life in our bloodstream. Longer than it takes to store away the glucose. This causes us to run out of blood sugar and get tired in a few hours. Our head then goes into brain-fog and sends down a request for more glucose.

The fat cells say, "I'd like to oblige, Mr. Brain, but insulin is still floating around and so I'm still in STORAGE MODE. Sorry ".  The Brain says, "I don't care where you get it, just GET SOMETHING SWEET TO EAT!!" Well, that guy is the boss so you know what happens next. Grab that cookie!

 If you eat too many carbohydrates, you don't need to burn fat because you have carbs to burn instead.

 Your body stores dietary fat if it doesn't need to burn it. (read "get fat")

 Simple, huh?

 

 

Extra Health Benefits

Years and years of excessive insulin stimulation eventually burns out the cell's insulin receptors so that it now takes more insulin than ever to react normally. This is "insulin resistance" and can lead to hyperinsulinemia and Adult Onset Diabetes.

 Excessive insulin has been directly linked to many health problems. Insulin stimulates the growth of the muscle lining in arteries causing them to stiffen. This coupled with the fact that insulin signals the kidneys to retain salt increases hypertension. Insulin also stimulates cholesterol synthesis completing the path to heart disease.

 If the two major killers (heart disease and diabetes) could be reduced, think of the impact on our health system, not to mention your own health!
 
Combining protein with a moderate amount of carbohydrates, controls the insulin response and allows the body to convert stored fat into energy (read: "lose your fat").

The muscles and the brain continue to function at peak efficiency even after the meal has left the small intestine. This food combining also causes digestion to be slowed a little, further helping to control appetite.
The result is the ability to go longer periods on less food and never running out of energy.

Isn't that what you have always wanted? Isn't that what you never experienced while eating all that high carbohydrate food?

 References

 

Introduction to the Basic Concepts

The basic eating plan is based on a simple concept:
Every time you put food in your mouth it must be in the correct ratio of
Protein to Carbohydrate to Fats.
Period.
That ratio is simply:
Almost equal calories of each.
(Slightly more from Carbohydrates than from Protein and Fat)
The maximum control of insulin occurs
when the gram ratio of Carbohydrates to Protein to Fat are 9:7:3.
Therefore, the size of the portions will reflect this fact.
Carbohydrates will make up the largest portion of your meal,
protein next and fat last.
Period.
For simplicity sake, we refer to this quantity as
a BLOCK OF FOOD.

9:7:3

 

 

The Mechanics

    1. Calculate your fat percentage. (Use ONLY the fat percentage calculation on this page)
    2. Multiply fat percentage times your present weight. This is the amount of fat on your body.
    3. Subtract the fat weight from your total weight to find out how much LEAN BODY MASS you must support.
    4. Rate your activity level on a scale of .5 (couch potato) to 1.0 (tri-athlete)
    5. Multiply your activity rate times your LEAN BODY MASS to find the amount of daily protein you need to maintain your lean body mass. Some say these protein levels are too high. I contend that the RDA for protein is based on averages taken from our sedentary, ill population and should be closer to these levels for peak performance and optimum health.
    6. Decide how you want to spread your protein grams throughout your day. You MUST spread your food out over at least 5 meals: Breakfast, lunch, dinner, afternoon snack and bedtime snack.  (NOTE: The latest thinking is that the lowest limit is 11 total food blocks or 77 grams of Protein, 99 carbs, 33 fat)

Helpful Hints

    1. Think of carbohydrates and protein and fat like three different powerful drugs that must be combined in just the right dosages to avoid side effects from each other. This is exactly what is happening with the insulin reaction.
    2. NEVER go more than 4 or 5 hours without eating. Don't eat more than 5 blocks of food at any meal. (NOTE:  The latest thinking on blocks is that the LOWER LIMIT is 11 blocks per day, no less!)
    3. This is a NON-DEPRIVATIONAL eating plan. If you get hungry, eat. Then figure out what you ate too much of or too little of at your last meal to cause you to be hungry too soon. (Hunger with fatigue = too much carb. Hunger without fatigue = too much protein)
    4. It is based on a balance of foods, never a gluttony. There are no "reward meals" of excessive carbohydrates. You strive at all times to "be in the zone" of the physiological effects gained from balanced protein - carbohydrate levels.

    5. In a few days, you will begin to feel full for at least 4 hours and find that the quantity of food needed at each meal is less and less. This is because you are burning the fewer calories you are consuming more efficiently.

    6. Recalculate your Lean Body Mass once a month to verify that you are losing FAT and not Muscle.

    7. Increase your exercise level. As you become less heavy and feel more energy, you will naturally want to be more active.

    8. Each meal should be at least 1 food block in size and eaten within an hour.

    9. Drink lots of water.

    10. Perfectly Zone balanced meal replacement bars can be eaten when you are unable to find "real food". Several brand names are available on the market.

    11. Read the book.