Spring break is next week, and many students are rushing to diet off the extra pounds. Some fad diets offer a quick solution to weight problems, and others, such as the Zone diet, offer a lifestyle change that leads to weight loss.

Zone diet creator Barry Sears published Enter the Zone in 1995. Dieters follow a strict ratio of 40-to-30-to-30 for three meals and two snacks each day.

According to the Zone, 40 percent of calories in each meal should come from carbohydrates, 30 percent from protein and 30 percent from fat. This ratio, Sears said, allows the body to work within its peak performance weight loss zone. Sears also advocates the Zone diet as a way to curb allergies and colds.

A Zone dieter should eat four hours after each meal and two hours after each snack.

Keeping every meal at this ratio does not allow for an overeating of carbohydrates, which in the theory of this diet causes the body to work out of the zone. Carbohydrates spur the production of excess insulin, which leads to weight gain. The carbohydrates recommended by the Zone diet are fruits and vegetables, rather than bread and pasta, although both can be eaten.

The Zone does not allow for just any type of fat to be eaten; it instead advocates dietary fats, which slow the absorption of a meal, curbing overeating. The Zone also advocates monounsaturated fats, found in olive oils, almonds and avocados, as the best types to be eaten.

Exercise is also part of the Zone; each day Zone dieters exercise for a total of about 40 minutes: 30 minutes of aerobic and 10 of strength training. Strength training on the Zone diet can be a series of resistance training using one's own body weight; push-ups are an example.

Though each Zone meal contains more carbohydrates than proteins, the diet is still considered high protein. Critics of the Zone argue that the long-term effects of a high-protein diet are unknown and may lead to an increased risk of heart disease due to increased dangerous cholesterol.

According to the November 2003 edition of Fitness, the Zone is hard to follow since it is difficult and impractical to break down every meal and snack into the specific ratio of 40-to-30-to-30. The article recommends carrying a calculator and a nutritional breakdown book containing various types of food information if planning to try the Zone diet.

According to ZonePerfect.com, dieters can use the "eyeball method" for those who do not want or are not able to calculate ratios at every meal. Using one's hand as a guide, dieters can calculate portions. Portions of protein should be the size and thickness of your palm; ideal amounts of carbohydrates should be the size of two fists. However, if choosing to eat complex carbohydrates such as pasta, only one fist is necessary. Fat portions are added to meals in the form of olive oil or a couple of nuts.

Dieters not willing to do math at all can order entire meals, as well as two snacks, delivered to their doors daily through Zone-sponsored Web sites.

In State College, few places offer the Zone product line. Michelle Briggs, the owner of Nature's Pantry, 620 W. Cherry Lane, does not keep Zone products in stock, but can place orders upon request.

"We get very few orders; the diet just doesn't seem to be popular around here," Briggs said.

Zoneperfect.com, the official site of the zone diet, lists zone diet products as being available at CVS/Pharmacy, Wal-Mart, Eckerd, General Nutrition Centers and Target, as well as Nature's Pantry.