Contributed by Kevin Bateman
Bevan Eyles is a fitness professional who writes a weekly feature health wellbeing and diet in the Dominion Post. I have found his articles to be basic sound advice and his comments about the Paleo diet Dom Post Thursday 21 May are no exception.
Mr. Eyles writes about the experience of an acquaintance with the Paleo diet who lost 5 kilos in his first month of following its rules which included giving up alcohol and junk food. Eyles quite rightly commented why most diets appear to work i.e. they are a set of rules and any set of rules, Paleo or not, that required giving up junk food and alcohol are likely to result in increased wellbeing and significant weight loss.
Eyles then hit the nail on the head when he suggested that the real issue was being able to permanently follow a diet’s rules and that his friend was already “looking forward to drinking alcohol again”. Indeed no eating lifestyle is going to work long term if it is not sustainable. Eyles suggested that we should adopt a DYI diet with a set of rules that we could follow long term which took into consideration good nutrition, portion size, emotional eating and alcohol. He went on to doubt that we will be hearing about the Paleo diet in 50 years.
This may or not be the case though agreeing with everything Eyles wrote let’s look at the facts. Sears published his first best-selling book Enter the Zone in 1995 and, following several successful other books, published his latest on this year. The Zone continues to be a long term successful healthy lifestyle for many people around the world including Carol and I who have been enjoying eating “in the Zone” since March 1997. I guess this would fit with Eyles requirement for a set of rules that can be sustained long term. If we relook at his requirements for a successful long term way of eating, the Zone certainly ticks all the boxes, i.e. it is based on good, scientifically established nutrition, it provides accurate personalized portion sizes and shows how we can enjoy alcohol in moderation. Furthermore ProZone even covers the difficult issue of emotional eating with its associated hypnotherapy service.
P.S. The Paleo diet can be followed perfectly in the Zone. However Eyles point about sustainability is valid, so hey way better to eat healthily, easily and sustainably with lots of healthy choices in the uncomplicated Zone. And yes you can have a drink without blowing it. I’ll drink to that, just as I have for the last 18 years, skol.
