A Week in the Zone

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A Week in the Zone

by: Barry Sears

Topics include: hormonal carburetor, unfavorable carbohydrates, turkey bacon strips, soy sausage links, large pot fitted, vegetable protein crumbles, palm method, density carbohydrates, following package instructions, cup canned chickpeas, cup yellow onions, heat over medium flame, practical meditation, large nonstick pan, your insulin levels, increase insulin levels, steaming basket, glycemic load, excess insulin, cup egg substitute, ounces firm tofu

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New York Times "With clearly distilled science and a detailed eating plan for peak performance, The Zone could do for insulin awareness what the Pritikin diet did for low-fat eating."

Woman's World "The hottest diet in Hollywood."

Fitness consultant Teresa Olsen, in People magazine "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."About the Author
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.

Reviews:

Lost 11 pounds in a month on the Zone without starving! In brief: the Zone diet works. Please note: 1) This is *not* a crash diet. 2) This is *not* a starvation diet. 3) You get to eat *normal* food. On the down side, you *do* have to give up certain dishes (pasta, rice, and breads, for example)... but on the other hand you get to eat plenty of chicken, beef, turkey, cheese, eggs, bacon, tuna, salmon, cod, as well as plenty of vegetables and fruits. (And for you veggies out there, you can do the Zone diet, too. Just substitute soy protein for the meats and fishes, and take your vitamins, and you're in the club!) 4) The Zone diet is easy to follow. Sears' book is filled with sample recipes for meals, but really, you don't need to follow them. Just flip to the end of the book where he lists all the recommended Zone foods and combine them to make up your own recipes. Here's how the diet works. There are three categories of foods that you need to eat at every meal: proteins, carbohydrates, and fats (all listed in the back of the book). If you're a man, pick 4 choices (called "blocks") from each category. If you're a woman, pick 3 choices (or "blocks") from each category. Then combine them anyway you choose. Example: guys, for breakfast, three strips of turkey bacon equals 1 protein block. One egg also equals 1 protein block. So have two eggs for breakfast with three strips of turkey bacon and that's 3 blocks right there. Now add one ounce of low fat cheese (1 protein block) and you've met your protein requirement for that meal. Now add an apple (2 carbo blocks) and an orange (2 carbo blocks) to your bacon and eggs breakfast and you've met your carbo requirement for that meal. For fats, just add a 1 1/3 teaspoon of sesame oil to your eggs while you're cooking them, and now you've got 4 fat blocks. And that's it. You're in the Zone! You can prepare all your meals that way. Don't feel you have to follow Sears' recipes to the letter and end up scouring your supermarket for obscure items like cilantro, dried tarragon, and shallots (say what?). So long as you only eat what's in the food lists and don't eat the *bad* foods, you'll do fine. 5) Be sure to drink plenty of water. This is crucial for the diet to succeed. If you need a break from tap water (or Evian, for that matter), you can have decaf. Just don't add more than a teaspoon of sugar to your decaf, or better yet use a substitute. Sugars are the one of the *bad* carbo blocks that you need to keep to a minimum. Also, though it doesn't say so in the book, you are allowed to *occasionally* have a diet drink like Coke or Pepsi so long as it's sugar *and* caffeine free. (I got this last part from Sears' web site, in case you're wondering.) So while decaf and the occasional diet drink are OK, you should still make sure that most of your liquid intake comes from water. And lots of it. 5) Once you're on the diet, there *will* be a few times each day where you're feeling a little hungry. But a little hungry is one thing and famished is something else... and I've said, on the Zone diet, you don't walk around feeling like you're starving. For me, the rumble-in-my-tummy feeling usually kicks in about an hour before each meal. If lunch is at 12:00 P.M., my stomach will start grumbling around 11:00 A.M. Late afternoon, my stomach will start grumbling again, but the Zone diet allows me one late afternoon snack each day, so that tides me over till dinnertime. Then, before bedtime, my stomach grumbles one last time, but since the diet also allows me one light bedtime snack (say, a small piece of fruit and a slice of cheese), that tides me over until the next morning. But for the most part, I don't walk around feeling hungry. In fact, after my first few days on the diet I already lost my cravings for fatty foods like potato chips and pretzels. So since I don't miss what I can't eat, that's what keeps me "in the Zone". Bottom line: the Zone diet is highly recommended to anyone interested in losing a few pounds without going stark-raving nuts. At the same time, it's balanced enough that you can remain on it painlessly even after you've reached your "ideal weight". How many other diets can claim that? I plan to stay on it until I've lost at least another ten pounds. After that, who knows?

The first how-to Zone book for everyoneFinally, Barry Sears has gotten around to writing a "how-to" book on the Zone Diet. All of the previous books were somewhat technical, and aimed at medical professionals or personal trainers. This book, his first paperback, is written in a clear, concise and easy to understand style. By the end of the first 20 pages, you will have a good idea of what the Zone Diet is about, its benefits and how it works. Then, the rest of the book gives Sears' simplest yet version of the diet (for example, instead of "40-30-30" the new restatement uses "1-2-3"). The Zone Diet, by the way, is primarily a health diet, although it is also effective for weight loss. The idea is to keep your blood sugar and hormone levels as even as possible, by balancing what you eat in each meal. The result is a number of health benefits, especially in the areas of diabetes (demonstrated by a clinical study) and heart disease (Sears started the research due to the high mortality in his own family tree), but also in other areas like allergies, joint pain, headaches, stomach acid, and many others, all of which are aggravated by our modern unnatural eating habits. Unlike almost all other eating plans, this diet is based on an investigation of how food affects our bodies' mechanisms, and the result is simply better functioning.

This book is great and easy to understand. I lost 10lbs on this plan, that's pretty much all I wanted to lose, any more than this, I would look anorexic. I've been following this plan for 3 months now and I noticed how good I feel. I look at food in a different way. This whole theory of balancing your blood sugar makes sense. Hormone -- Insulin (from carbs) raises blood sugar, Hormone --Glucagon (from protien) keeps blood sugar levels from dropping, and when this is in balance it will help prevent the storage of fat into the cells. In other words, they will be used to provide the body and brain what it needs quicker than storing the extra insulin for later use, which turns into fat if not used. Dietary fat (which has no effect on insulin) in our diets help monitor these two hormones. Dietary fat (eg: monosaturated -- olive oil, almonds, avocado) helps the body say "i'm full" and helps slow down the speed in which insulin (carbs) enters the bloodstream. When eating dietary fat in the zone, we should be satisfied with our meals and not be hungry until 3 1/2 to 5 hours later. The "Zone" takes you into a place where you feel less tired and more focused. (A little to much protein than carbs may make you feel sleepy, or too many carbs and less protein can make you feel more hungry or possibly make your moods swing a bit.) So being in the zone will help our bodies metabolize fat more efficiently and store less fat in our cells and that is when we are able to lose fat in our bodies. How's that for information? My example eating plan for a female is: 2 egg substitues (2 Protein blocks)
1 cup skim milk (1 protein block; 1 carb block)
1 peach (1 carb block)
1/2 apple (1 carb block)
9 almonds (3 fat blocks) So a female needs 3 blocks of Protein, Carbs, and fat) Lunch: 3 oz of tuna (3 protein blocks)
2 slices low carb whole wheat bread (1.4 carb blocks)
1 apple (2 carb blocks)
1 tsp olive oil (3 fat blocks -- I mix with tuna) Dinner 3-4 oz salom or chicken or port etc.(use palm size and thickness if unsure of ounces) (3 protein blocks)
3 cups of cooked broccoli (1 carb block)-- (use size of two loose fists for veggies -- for others -- rice/pasta -- use one tight fist)
1/2 cup of chick peas (2 carb blocks)
1 tsp of olive oil (3 fat blocks)-- i use for my broccoli Hope this helps. This book has the block info at the end of the book which helps figure it out. On snacks -- 2 per day -- we only use 1 block of each protien, carb and fat, which will hold you for about 2 hours if you have it before dinner. Now how difficult is that. Hope this helps. The book has more info that I left out. But it is worth the education for the health of our bodies.