Barry Sears looks at why Americans still have dietary problems in spite of following the advice of experts. Challenging the current recommendations for a high carbohydrate diet, Sears looks into man's history as well as the diets athletes succeed best on, to build a new dietary picture. Anyone looking for better health through an improved relationship to what they eat should put this book on their list. From Publishers Weekly Ciao pasta, good-bye bread, rice and other "bad carbohydrates," which can include carrots, cranberries and corn. It's time to truck in the proteins. Sears, a biochemist, crowns years' worth of research into the effects of food on hormone production and metabolic activity with a program that will lead to "optimal health," peak performance (the zone of the title) and, not incidentally, weight control. Citing the importance of eicosanoids, a class of hormones that figures critically in metabolism, Sears has worked out an approach to eating that reduces one's daily production of insulin and, at the same time, draws on stored body fat for energy. A formula for calculating an individual's Lean Body Mass is tied to an estimated Physical-Activity Factor and used to establish one's daily protein requirement, which can easily be as much as 70 grams for a moderately active, middle-aged woman with 25-35% body fat. Recommending a diet that tightly balances the intake of protein, good (low-glycemic) carbohydrates and a moderate amount of monounsaturated fats, Sears is among those current weight-control specialists (e.g., Drs. Rachael and Richard Heller and Stephen Gullo [see Notes below]) who observe that there are many "insulin-resistant" Americans for whom the new food pyramid recommendations, heavily weighted with "high-density, high-glycemic carbohydrates," can be unhealthy. "Zone-favorable" recipes and food-count tables are included. BOMC and QPC alternates; author tour. Copyright 1995 Reed Business Information, Inc. ""Enter the Zone" will surely draw interest - and controversy - among elite and recreational athletes as well as the general public. ... "Enter the Zone" forces you to question basic beliefs you have about the foods you eat and their effects on health and performance."-- "Muscle & Fitness""It's powerful 'how-to' information based on very complex science, approaching the subject of food in a way that has not been done before. ... After reading this, you will have gone a long way to getting your own prescription for food."-- "Muscle Media 2000""Why is the nation that follows the popular dietary rules continuing to get fatter? Dr. Barry Sears believes he has the answer, and his recent best-seller, "Enter the Zone," gives a detailed and convincing explanation. ... The exciting truth of the controversial diet is that it really just calls for balance and a lot of common sense ... the information and scientific approach just may convince you."-- "Brntwd""I've never had the progress with my clients that I've had since they've started doing the Zone. They're less hungry, less fatigued, and more productive. I've seen it work."-- Teresa Olson, celebrity trainer, in "People""I am convinced that his program was the difference in helping us take our performance to a higher level."-- Richard Quick, Stanford swim coach, in "Swim Magazine""In this scientific and revolutionary book, based on Nobel Prize-winning research, medical visionary and former MIT researcher Dr. Barry Sears makes permanent fat loss and peak physical and mental performance simple for you to understand and achieve."-- "The Light Connection""You can lose up to five pounds a week on the Zone Diet."-- Gary Morgan, celebrity trainer, in"Globe""I noticed a difference in two weeks. My weight and muscle mass didn't change, but I was dropping fat. My clothes were looser and I could see the change in my shape."-- Bill Potter, professional cyclist, in "Health & Fitness""Sears' advice flies in the face of conventional wisdom, but recent studies support his radical theories, and his credentials are solid. ... It simply takes us back to the good old days, before carbo-mania swept the land."-- "Playboy""In this book Dr. Sears provides you with a vast new array of tools, techniques, and tricks that will help you achieve superhealth. ... In following the guidelines you will look trimmer and feel more alert, and your health will be better than ever before -- and you will do it effortlessly."--" Donalsonville, GA News""Dr. Sears, a former MIT researcher, followed some Nobel prize-winning research and developed a dietary roadmap that causes permanent weight loss, is anti-aging and healthful ... These books are well worth reading, and no surprise they have sold over three million copies and just stay on the bestseller lists.""The Ellenville Press" For years experts have been telling Americans what to eat and what not to eat. Fat, they told us, was the enemy. Then it was salt, then sugar, then cholesterol... and on it goes. Americans listened and they lost -- but not their excess fat. What they lost was their health and waistlines. Americans are the fattest people on earth... and why? Mainly because of the food they eat. In this scientific and revolutionary book, based on Nobel Prize-winning research, medical visionary and former Massachusetts Institute of Technology researcher Dr. Barry Sears makes peak physical and mental performance, as well as permanent fat loss, simple for you to understand and achieve. With lists of good and bad carbohydrates, easy-to-follow food blocks and delicious recipes, The Zone provides all you need to begin your journey toward permanent fat loss, great health and all-round peak performance. In balance, your body will not only burn fat, but you'll fight heart disease, diabetes, PMS, chronic fatigue, depression and cancer, as well as alleviate the painful symptoms of diseases such as multiple sclerosis and HIV. This Zone state of exceptional health is well-known to champion athletes. Your own journey toward it can begin with your next meal. You will no longer think of food as merely an item of pleasure or a means to appease hunger. Food is your medicine and your ticket to that state of ultimate body balance, strength and great health: the Zone. Dr. Barry Sears is recognized as one of the world's leading medical researchers on the hormonal effects of food. He is the author of the number one New York Times bestseller The Zone as well as Mastering the Zone , Zone-Perfect Meals in Minutes , Zone Food Blocks , A Week in the Zone , The Age-Free Zone , The Top 100 Zone Foods , The Soy Zone , The Omega Rx Zone , Zone Meals in Seconds , and What to Eat in the Zone . His books have sold more than five million copies and have been translated into twenty-two languages in forty countries. He continues his research on the inflammatory process as the president of the nonprofit Inflammation Research Foundation in Marblehead, Massachusetts. The father of two grown daughters, he lives in Swampscott, Massachusetts, with his wife, Lynn. Read more
Features & Highlights
In this scientific and revolutionary book, based on Nobel Prize-winning research, medical visionary and former Massachusetts Institute of Technology researcher Dr. Barry Sears makes peak physical and mental performance, as well as permanent fat loss, simple for you to understand
and
achieve.
With lists of good and bad carbohydrates, easy-to-follow food blocks and delicious recipes,
The Zone
provides all you need to begin your journey toward permanent fat loss, great health and all-round peak performance. In balance, your body will not only burn fat, but you'll fight heart disease, diabetes, PMS, chronic fatigue, depression and cancer, as well as alleviate the painful symptoms of diseases such as multiple sclerosis and HIV.
This
Zone
state of exceptional health is well-known to champion athletes. Your own journey toward it can begin with your next meal. You will no longer think of food as merely an item of pleasure or a means to appease hunger. Food is your medicine and your ticket to that state of ultimate body balance, strength and great health: the Zone.
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Most Helpful Reviews
★★★★★
4.0
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Great diet - don't start with this book though
After a lot of encouragement from my mother, who has been following the Zone for two years, I decided to try this diet. I've been on it for 3 months and I've lost 28 pounds and 2 clothing sizes without really changing my modest exercise habits. I eat half as many calories as I used to, but I'm not hungry. I used to have terrible insomnia, often getting no more than 4 hours of sleep a night - that has vanished along with my nearly-constant heartburn. After two months, my blood cholesterol dropped from 200 to 180. I have energy to burn. I take a Cheat Day on Sundays when I eat all the evil things I've been craving that week - croissants, Nutella, McD's sausage biscuits, creamy desserts - and by the end of the day I feel so draggy, dehydrated, sinus-y, that it's a relief to wake up Monday morning and go back onto the plan.
So, why don't I recommend this book? It was the first book Barry Sears (co-)wrote about the Zone, and it reads like an infomercial. The writing style is... loud. It is also poorly organized, jumping around from biochemical jargon to little tidbits of practical advice to anecdotal evidence to health claims for different conditions. And finally, this book doesn't provide any information beyond the very basics about how to actually follow the plan. If you are already convinced (perhaps by all these glowing reviews) of the benefits of the Zone and want to jump right in, the more comprehensive Mastering the Zone with its tons of practical tips is a much better place to start. If after beginning the diet you want more background information about how it works, then pick up this book. The one good thing about the early book is the more gourmet recipes (like the lamb with herbed cheese on zucchini-and-squash "pasta" - mmmm!). There are more recipes in Mastering the Zone, but for my taste they stick too strictly to the glycemic-index guide and also try too hard for one-pot meals; I've never used them.
An issue to look out for: I found that the body fat tables in the back way overestimated my fat weight, which meant an artificially low food intake level. After a couple of weeks hovering on the edge of hunger, I got my body fat percentage measured on a machine at the employee wellness office at work and got a result of ten percentage points less! I raised my food intake and continued losing weight at a healthy clip, with no more hunger pangs. I suspect that the bodyfat-table problem may be why a few reviewers here felt hungry on the Zone. The tables probably underestimated their lean weight, resulting in recommended food intakes that were too low.
The bottom line: even if all the health claims aren't sound, this is a balanced low-calorie diet that's easy to follow indefinitely without hunger, and what can be wrong with that - unless you are Nabisco Foods or something? Just try to start with Mastering the Zone instead.
610 people found this helpful
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2.0
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Try Heller's Carbohydrate Addict instead
The Zone is really a low-calorie diet in a high-protein disguise. The reason you lose weight is because there's really only 1500 - 2000 calories per day, although Sears doesn't focus on that.
I tried it and found it too complex. I agreed with much of the concept - I'm hypoglycemic and know what the impact of high-glycemic foods has on me. But aspects of it didn't make much sense to me - and some of the science seemed a bit far fetched. I lost a little weight, but couldn't stay with it and never got past my carb cravings and hunger.
What worked for me was Richard and Rachael Heller's book on Carbohydrate Addicts. The approach is similar: balancing insulin & restricting high-glycemic carbs. But it's far easier to manage. My weight loss was slow and steady, but recognizable and encouraging. And most important, I seem to have gotten over the carb cravings and constant hunger.
If you find the Zone too difficult to manage (and many do) check out the Carbohydrate Addict series. Go with the most recent, they've refined their approach.
126 people found this helpful
★★★★★
3.0
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Not as valuable as a book as you may think!
Dr. Sears has done exceptional research on his "Zone Diet" however, the unfortunate things is that you do not need this book. The book is attempt to sell you on the zone diet and really you do not need to buy the book to be sold on it. Just read the first chapter in the book and you will be sold on it, however the information you need to be successfull on the diet is his other books. This is book is nothing but a sales book. Though it is full of information on what the Zone diet has done for different people, the only information that you need from it is that you need to adjust your diet to 40% protein, 30% fat, and 30% carbohydrates. There you go--that's it! In the back of the book is a little list of things that are favorable to eat, but that is limited (not worth buying it for that). If you are interested in eating like this (and changing your paradigm on food health) then you need to purchase his other books which gives you the vital information you need to be successful on this diet. As for me, I am very enthusiastic of this diet. I am not overweight, and in fact only weighed 140 at the start of the diet. I rode my bicycle on a 14 mile commute to and from work, but never quite felt truly healthy. Using this diet I actually gained body mass (I now weigh 165 now with less than 10% fat)), sleep less, and ride faster than I ever have before at the age of 29. The diet (if you stick to it) is successful, and remember that it changes base on your activity. The information in the books will lead you to control insulin and eicosanoids for healthy living. Do get his other books--not this one.
93 people found this helpful
★★★★★
4.0
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One Diet Does Not Fit All--Although Great Portion Control!
Sears' premise is a relatively easy one to understand: eating protein with every meal helps to regulate your insulin output and hence helps the body avoid a constant craving for fattening carbohydrate intake.
I purchased this book when it first came out in 1995, used it on and off with adequate results, and was dismayed when various news magazines and dieticians panned the premise. I thought, how could regulating hormones NOT be involved in the dieting puzzle?
Recently I was reaquainted with Sears' ideas after seeing an alternative physician in my quest for better health. The doctor recommended using Sears hormone-regulating formula and portion guidelines with Peter D'Adamo's ER4YT Blood Type Diet. So far, I have had fairly good overall health-benefit results--and this with no intention of losing weight--although this has occurred.
Although Sears comes off as being a little too commercial for my taste--just check out the Zoneperfect website and you will be bombarded with all sorts of prepackaged goodies--- his premise of eating a certain amount and a certain combination of the three basic nutritional elements seems to be quite wise. In a nutshell, one's hand is utilized to decide just how much one needs to put away during one meal. The protein should be the size of one's palm--thickness taken into account. The fat is represented by the size of the fleshy part of the thumb--about a tablespoon. Carbohydrates are monitored in this way: if eating a grain, a closed fist-sized amount should be consumed. If eating a green vegetable, two handfuls are advised.
As much as I find this advice feasible, I have some criticism with regard to Sears' premise and format. Firstly most of the recipes in the book seemed to be geared for bachelors who have little time for food preparation. Anyone wanting to make a Zone meal for a family would be pretty much out of luck if using the book as a guideline. The good news here is that the website provides many many recipes to help balance out those fats, proteins and carbs and there is an Excel based tool offered online at no-cost which actually calculates a meal's components down to the gram---if you want to get that specific. Secondly, Sears reports that one could lose weight with any combination, although he suggests for example that red meat and butter are poor choices when compared to other protein and fat choices. I believe that since this book has been written,Sears has come out with other "breakthrough" diets--one revolving around soy and one around Omega-3 fats. I can only charitably think that as his theories evolve more books will ensue. But, what he doesn't seem to cover is the fact that some people simply do not do well when eating certain foods. His one-size fits all diet, does not work for everyone. There is a dieting stall reached after awhile and the optimum results that he proports one will achieve are not achieved. Case in point, when I started the Zone vigorously, 3 years ago, I found that I had to incorporate more protein with every meal. I turned to dairy as I did not feel inclined to cook a chicken breast each and every time I wanted a snack. Unfortunately, no matter what Sears says, I do not metabolize dairy well and I found that no matter how many glasses of water I drank, no matter how many fish oil capsules I consummed, or how simple and abundant my carbohydrates were, I was still constipated. After adding a fiber supplement, I found I no longer lost weight--but stayed at a plateau for so long a period of time, I eventually tried another dieting plan. After all, no one feels well if their digestive system is no working correctly. Sears speaks of the digetive hormones, but he neglects to mention the changing hormonal interplay of estrogen and progesterone in women, especially as they get older. Nevertheless, I believe that Sears book can be the cornerstone for many who do not understand that food must be balanced to achieve a hormonally balanced body. In the same sense, in order to be a certain size, you must eat a certain amount. My advise is to use this as your springboard, then decide which combinations work best for you, perhaps, as my physician advised,try the D'Adamo blood type diet as a guideline for foods one should and shouldn't eat. I have found that since doing this, I no longer need my fiber supplement, I have lost weight, I do feel better. (Oddly enough, for my type A blood, I am to gorge myself on soy products and Omega-3 rich fish! Sounds like Dr. Sears may be a blood type A himself as his latest books plug both as highly beneficial.) Bottom line: if I feel better, I must be on the right track.
81 people found this helpful
★★★★★
2.0
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Low Calorie Diet In Disguise
Dr. Sears's theories on different types of food and how they are processed by the body are interesting, but misguided. Actually, people lose weight on this diet because they end up cutting calories like crazy, even past what can be considered a sane amount. Also, there are a lot of psychological factors at play here, especially Dr. Sears's marketing skills, which are excellent. This is one big infomercial. I would be concerned about the long term effects of so much protein and the strain placed upon the kidneys in dealing with it. IMHO, mindset is everything. If you believe you will feel better, exercise more and lose weight, you will because you believe that you will. It is not for nothing that bread is known as "The staff of life", and a mainstay of the human race from time immemorial. I wonder how Dr. Sears would explain my weight loss of 15 pounds in less then 4 weeks when we were very poor and subsisting mainly on pasta and canned sauce because it was a lot of food for little money. Ditto rice. Throughout all this, I exercised religiously and the weight dropped off. BTW, his insinuation about the Chinese (and Japanese) having high rates of heart attacks due to high rice consumption is ridiculous. These two people had extremely low heart disease, body fat and breast cancer etc. for centuries subsisting on a LOT of rice, fish and vegetables. They now have the same or higher rates of heart disease as Americans because unfortunately they have adopted the American high fat diet. This has been proven by following Orientals who move to the US and give up their traditional diets. Their rates of heart disease, breast cancer and diabetes soared. Dr. Sears needs to refine his research a bit. Another fad diet that promises the world.
45 people found this helpful
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Dr. Sears obviously didn't get his PhD in mathematics
You would think a scientist would be a little better at simple arithmetic. It would appear that he is counting on his audience's adversion to math. However, I suspect that his math is much better when it comes to counting all the money he's raking in as a result of "sharing" his "ground breaking" "research" on the effects that food have on human hormone balances. Since he was unsuccessful on cornering the market on the world's Borage seeds in 1983 (for immense personal gain - why else would you corner the market?), he appears to have found his niche scamming people out of their money selling yet another fad diet. You should be wondering why his earth-shattering, revolutionary concepts are not published in any accredited scientific or medical journals. Or why he is not backed by his peers (except those that have a personal financial stake in it). Where is the Nobel Prize for his "research"? After all, this should entirely be changing the ways we approach disease and nutrition.
But back to the arithmetic. The last time I checked, the food energy in the three main macronutrients are:
Protein 4 cal/g
Carbs 4 cal/g
Fat 9 cal/g
Dr. Sears conveniently breaks down the different macronutrients into neat little "blocks" where:
Protein has 7 g/block
Carbs have 9 g/block
Fat has 1.5 g/block
He also states that a "Zone-Favorable" diet has 40% Carbs, 30% Protein, 30% Fat, although his caveat is that you shouldn't get wrapped around the axle with the calories so much as the amounts (grams) of each micronutrient. The important thing, he says, is that you should always try to eat 3 g of Protein for every 4 g of Carbs (0.75 ratio - he got that calcuation right). He also states that the Zone-Favorable diet (just like all the other diets out there) has a 1:1 Protein to Fat ratio. He goes on to say that you should always have the exact same number of blocks for each meal or snack.
Let's break out the calculator (if you're not mathematically inclined, you may want to turn away). I'm going to have a snack with 1 block each of Protein, Carbs, and Fat. It would look something like this:
1 block Protein = 7 g = 28 cal (4 cal/g x 7 g)
1 block Carbs = 9 g - 36 cal (4 cal/g x 9 g)
1 block Fat = 1.5 g - 14 cal (9 cal/g x 1.5 g)
Total calories = 78
That certainly sounds like a hardy snack! But the best thing is that this is the ideal mix of Protein, Carbs and Fat. This will put you right smack in the center of "The Zone" My body will be like a finely tuned engine, in perfect hormonal balance. Why? Because I nailed that 0.75 ratio of Protein to Carbs and I hit the 40:30:30 C:P:F ratio, right?
Actually, I didn't. Not even close. Let's break out the calculator again.
The Protein to Carb ratio = 28 cal/36 cal = 0.78 (that's an error of 4%) - not too bad
The macronutrient (C:P:F) ratio = 46:36:18 (Carbs over by 15%, Protein over by 20%, Fat under by 40%) - not even close to his 40:30:30 narvana
The Protein to Fat ratio = 2:1 (100% error) - this is where he lost me, 100% off are you kidding me?!
Maybe there has been some fundamental changes in nature that I'm unaware of, maybe Fat now has 18 cal/g. That would make Dr. Sears claims hold up, at least to mathematical scrutiny. If his fat "blocks" had 3 g each instead of 1.5 g, at least his macronutrient ratios would not be all out of wack.
Here's another lapse of simple arithmetic. Turn to page 89, Table 8-6, Zone-Favorable Snacks. Here it lists three delicious "snacks" (each of which made my mouth water). He states in the paragraph right above it: "Each of these snacks contain approximately one block each of protein, carbohydrate, and fat." Got it, each of these are Zone-Favorable snacks with the ideal 0.75 Protein to Carb ratio. I think I'll have my favorate; "4 oz plain low-fat yogurt WITHOUT any added fruit or other carbohydrate" (Yum!) Let's see, the label says:
Total calories = 77
Protein = 6.5 g = 26 cal
Carbs = 8.6 g = 34 cal
Fat = 1.9 g = 17 cal
The Protein to Carb ratio = 26 cal/34 cal = 0.77 hey, not too bad!
The macronutrient (C:P:F) ratio = 44:34:22 (Carbs over by 9%, Protein over by 13%, Fat under by 27%) - better, but still not even close to 40:30:30
The Protein to Fat ratio = 1.5:1 (50% error) - 50% error, not good by scientific standards
But where this diet really falls flat is what it recommends for daily caloric intake. In my case (44 year old male), I weigh 166 lbs with a 22% bady fat (using his very crute measuring technique - measure it with a micrometer, mark it with a crayon, cut it with an ax). That means I have 129.4 lbs of lean body mass. That times 0.8 (for moderate activity) is 104 g of Protein (or about 15 blocks) each day. According to Dr. Sears, I would then add 135 g Carbs and only 23 g Fat (I know, that's nowhere close to equal portions of Protein and Fat like Dr. Sears claims) and, of course always consuming these blocks in equal portions throughout the day. The total calorie count comes to:
Protein = 104 x 4 = 416
Carbs = 135 x 4 = 540
Fat = 23 x 9 = 207
Total calories = 1,163
Now, I don't know about you, but there's no way in h@ll I'm going to get by on 1,163 calories and still stay moderately active. I've tried 1,800 calories and that didn't come close to being adequate, I don't care what the macronutrient ratio is. If I were to be sedentary (never workout), I would need 2,100 just to maintain my 166 lbs (not lose weight). By remaining moderately active (working out regularly), I could consume 2,400 calories and still lose 11 lbs (get back to my optimal body weight). Dr. Sear's ridiculous claim that I can consume 1,163 calories a day for the rest of my life and still remain moderately active defies all laws of health, nutrition, and science. I can consume 52% fewer calories simply because I'm sticking to the 0.75 Protein to Carb ratio? Are you kidding me? Give me a break.
There's simply no magic ratio of Protein to Carbs (that has somehow elluded us all these years) that is going to put your bodies eicosanoids in balance. It's not that easy. A lot of real scientists have done a lot of real research on this stuff, but none make such outrageous claims.
Dr. Sears is trying to sell books.
40 people found this helpful
★★★★★
5.0
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This diet works!
I recently got this book and have now read through it. As I read, it was very familiar to me! This is the diet that Bill Phillips recommends in his wildly popular Body for Life program which I followed several years ago with great results.
The Zone was created before Bill Phillips wrote his book, so Bill "borrowed" his recommendations from Dr. Sears!
My experience with The Zone is based on what I learned from Bill Phillips. However, The Zone has a much more thorough explanation and better guidelines for following the program. I would recommend using both Body for Life and The Zone to get the best results.
Here are some observations based on my experience with this program:
1) As with any diet, it only works if you follow it.
2) It can be followed with good results by using the palm of you hand to gauge portions as explained by Dr. Sears (and by Bill Phillips). Or you can follow it exactly with food scales and exact food selection for the best results.
3) If you are following it properly and consuming the right amounts of food, you will not get hungry. If you get hungry, you either had too much carbohydrate at the last meal or your protein portion sizes are not large enough.
4) You will get excellent results if this is combined with weight and cardio training as prescribed by Bill Phillips. Be sure to increase the protein amounts according to your increased activity level.
5) In addition to weight loss, you will gain massive amounts of energy and a solid feeling of well-being.
An excellent program!
35 people found this helpful
★★★★★
5.0
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Absolutely Amazing!
The Zone is an amazing diet plan. Imagine this: you are no longer hungry, you need less sleep, you have absolutely no cravings for pasta, bread, potatoes, etc., you have almost endless energy, and find working out effortless. Well, it's all possible if you enter the Zone. Some people may tell you that it is too hard to keep up with, or doesn't work. My sister is one of them. The Zone has changed my life. I was recovering from a fractured ankle, and got really out of shape. Now, I follow the Zone diet, which is simple, and find that I can work out as much as I need to without any discomfort. For example, breakfast in the Zone might be: 2 slices of canadian bacon, 2 eggwhites (or 1 egg), a slice of cheese, an apple, 1 cup cantaulope, and 5 almonds. Tons of food, tons of micronutrients (protein, carbs, fats), hardly any calories. The Zone is not about calories. In fact, you can run on very few calories, and never be hungry. For it is about the micronutrient balances in your diet that help you live, not the amount of calories you take in. As long as you get what your body needs, you're okay. This diet could not be easier to follow, or have better results. However, if you do not have will power, or are not willing to forever change your life, I recommend you don't waste your time reading this book. Otherwise, your life literally depends on the Zone. I mean it.
32 people found this helpful
★★★★★
2.0
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Can You Say Confusing?
Dr. Sears is not a medical doctor. I'm not criticizing his credentials. He seems to have paid his dues with his research in biotechnology. If I'm criticizing anything, it's the usual approach of "If you do this you will lose weight."
Of course healthwise what goes in your mouth matters a great deal and I do believe carbohydrates that are high-glycemic (turn to sugar faster than others) are not as good for you as low-glycemic carbohydrates. An example of this, according to Sears, would be: broccoli is better than carrots; apples are better than bananas; stay away from grains, breads sauces and some fat (peanuts are better than sour cream).
Dr. Sears has written an extremely comprehensive book (270 pages) complete with topics such as "The Hormonal Effects of Food"; "Exercise in the Zone" (He is a proponent of exercise on his diet); "Vitamins, Minerals and the Zone" recipes, body fat percentages and 8 appendices.
In order to figure out how much protein, carbohydrate and fat blocks you should be eating you must do a calculation. Here's my problem with this: the calculation is based on lean body mass done with a tape measure. I'm a personal trainer. I have had my body fat done with an electronic device and calipers, never with a tape measure. A tape measure IS one way of determining body fat, but it is the most inaccurate way of all.
Perhaps not having an accurate body fat number doesn't matter all that much. All I know is you take the number you come up with (and he describes how to use the tape measure to determine body fat) and that number is then looked up in the back of the book and you have your lean body mass. From there you multiply your activity factor and he gives you guidelines (8, for example would be exercising 5 times per week for one hour) and that equals your daily protein requirement.
If it sounds complicated, it is. He also refers you back and forth to one of the Appendices and to tables. You aren't done, of course. That might be too easy. You now have to convert this number into how many blocks of each food you can eat a day. I can eat 12 protein blocks a day so I would schedule them as such: 3 in the morning; 2 as a snack; 3 for lunch; 1 as a snack; and 3 for dinner. You can take blocks from one meal and use them toward another BUT you must do the same for the carbohydrates.
Isn't it much simpler to just know how many calories per day you should be eating? If you are happy with your weight, then count up your calories one day, divide them by 5 and you have how many calories you should eat in 5 small meals each day?
I understand Dr. Sears' point, though. He isn't interested as much in calories it seems. But in reality, the calories come into these boxes big time because every block is a portion - 1 piece of fruit equals 2 blocks of carbohydrates, so if I had a nectarine for my first snack, I would have to borrow a protein from lunch since you must have protein and carbohydrates together.
Unless you are prepared to be even more confused than I am probably making you, stay away from this book.
29 people found this helpful
★★★★★
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Eye Opener
This book was an eye opener to me. I was recommended this book by a couple who I hadn't seen in at least 6 months who both dropped a significant amount of weight. I was skeptical when they brought the book to my attention because I don't believe in fad diets and thought this book may just be one of the many "diet" books out there. I went ahead, however, and bought the book.
I was totally impressed with this book. The book did provide some information that I already knew about for eating healthy (thereby, confirming that it knew what it was talking about), but it mostly provided information that totally opened my eyes, like how our body reacts to the types of foods we eat. I was also surprised on what was considered good vs bad foods (carbs-, fat-, protein-based) for our body. I was also impressed by the approach that Dr. Barry Sears took with eating, and treating food like medication. All in all, the book made sense! The book not only provided information that taught a different approach to eating healthy, but it also acted as a motivational tool. It provided positive reinforcement for following the Zone philosophies and for staying "in the zone".
Now at the time prior to purchasing the book, I wasn't very obese. I was, however, overweight and normally felt sluggish. I started practicing Dr. Sears' approach by following his philosophies (such as the number of times to eat, eating more of the recommended fats, proteins, carbs, not letting more than 5 hours pass between meals, etc.) moreso than his highly structured regiment of breaking down all foods into its appropriate zone blocks. I knew that block counting would probably get me into the zone alot quicker, but because I'm a busy person I figured I can take a slower approach so as long as I eventually see results. Just by taking this approach and exercising as Dr. Sears recommended, I shed about 5 lbs the first month, 10 lbs the second month, and 5 lbs the third month -- 20 lbs total in three months! This brought me closer to my ideal body weight. I'm guessing I lost about 25 lbs in body fat and gained 5 lbs in muscle during that time. Just as important, I don't feel sluggish at all anymore, and don't have the cravings for alot of the bad food I used to have. Now the important thing I can tell anyone is that I don't totally deny my favorite "bad" foods. The book doesn't say "don't"; it just recommends that you minimize eating the bad foods. What I do is that I eat my favorite bad foods on occasion, but always remember to get back on the zone thereafters. Based on my results, I'm truly convinced that this book lived up to its hype.
Whenever I tell people of my results, they're totally astounded. I always let friends and colleagues who are interested borrow my book and I recommend to them that they read chapters 2 & 3 before deciding if this book is for them. Almost always, they agree with the book, read the rest of the chapters, and buy the book for themselves.
