After writing about the Zone for more than 20 years, I am still constantly asked, “What is the Zone?” The concept of the Zone is understanding the primary cause of many chronic problems comes from diet-induced inflammation. This is why the Zone can be defined as the constant balancing of diet-induced inflammation and then repairing the damage caused by it.
We think of inflammation as something to be avoided. In fact, inflammation is how we protect our body from microbial invasion or physical injuries. However, inflammation has to be constantly balanced by its resolution and repair. This process is entirely controlled by hormones and genes that are influenced by your diet. Now we have a new source of inflammation that our bodies were not designed for. This is diet-induced inflammation which is below the perception of pain and has been caused by radical changes in our diet in the past 50 years. This diet-induced inflammation is the underlying cause of weight gain, decreased wellness, and the acceleration of the aging process.
This is why some of the benefits of being in the Zone include improved weight management, improved physical performance, and increased wellness for a longer period of time. Who doesn’t want those benefits? Unfortunately, to obtain them you need a defined dietary system to reduce, resolve, and repair damage coming from diet-induced inflammation. That system is the Zone Pro-Resolution Nutrition program.
The Zone Pro-Resolution Nutrition program consists of three distinct dietary components that are characterized by the three R’s of reducing, resolving, and repairing diet-induced inflammation.
The Zone Diet reduces the production of pro-inflammatory hormones, improves gut health by stopping a leaky gut, and reduces insulin resistance. The result of these actions is the reduction of the activity of the master genetic switch that turns on inflammation. This is analogous to reducing the intensity of a fire in your house so you can get close to putting out the actual cause of a fire.
Omega-3 fatty acids in adequate amounts generate the pro-resolution hormones that are necessary to resolve the remaining inflammation so that tissue damage caused by prior inflammation can be repaired. This is analogous to putting out the actual source of the fire in your house completely.
Polyphenols in adequate levels activate the genetic master switch that controls your metabolism so you have the energy to repair damaged tissue. This is analogous to rebuilding your house after the fire has been completely put out.
Your first indication of being in the Zone is lack of hunger or fatigue that occurs within days, followed by increased physical performance shortly thereafter, then the decrease in insulin resistance within a week, and finally by positive changes in your blood chemistry within 30 days. Bold statements, yet all have been confirmed for the past 20 years in more than 30 clinical studies.
No single dietary intervention is sufficient to get you into the Zone, but the integrated use of the Zone Pro-Resolution Nutrition system will. What makes the Zone Pro-Resolution Nutrition System unique is its ability to change the levels of your hormones and the expression of your genes to get you to the Zone and keep you there. Consider the Zone Pro-Resolution Nutrition program to be dietary hormonal and gene therapy. The science behind those changes is complex, but your ability to incorporate them into your daily life becomes easy, especially with our newest generation of products.