Zone Food Blocks: The Quick and Easy, Mix-and-Match Counter for Staying in the Zone Review

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(More customer reviews)This book should get the prize for completely BAD representation of information. I am a total zone convert, it has changed my life, but if I had this book to start with, it would have hindered, NOT helped me in my path. Most of the measurements are not helpful, they are not consistent. Some are in cups, some are in ozs, some in slices, all in decimal amounts (where is my .1 cup measure?). They are in block amounts rather than serving amounts. (Is it useful to know that .8 of a 3/4 oz slice is 1 block? or is it useful to know how much 1 slice is???). Some items are in the wrong group. Ice Cream is a *protien* rather than a carb as it belongs. The foods have a decidedly east coast bent as many of the foods listed are either not available on the west coast, or common west coast brands are missing.
I was really looking forward to this book to help out friends and family members that want to start the zone. I was very disappointed. Mastering the Zone still represents the best effort by Dr. Sears, though I would hope that before he is allowed to write again, that he gets an qualified editor that can help in the presentation of ideas.

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Over two million people worldwide are already experiencing the health and performance benefits of the Zone diet. Based on the hormonal consequences of food rather than caloric content, the Zone treats food like a powerful drug. Properly administered, this drug allows you to maintain peak mental alertness throughout the day, increase your energy, and reduce the likelihood of chronic disease栬l while losing body fat. Now, in this essential new Zone reference guide, Barry Sears, provides you with the Zone resources and Food Block information you need to make every meal you eat a Zone meal, including: How to use and adjust Zone Food to fit your own biochemistry Zone Food Blocks for every ingredient, including vegetarian and nondairy sources of protein Zone Food Blocks for fast food and prepackaged supermarket meals Rules for modifying prepared foods to make them Zone–perfect The Ten Zone Commandments for staying in the Zone Think better, perform better, look better, and live better榥t into the Zone.

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The Zone: A Dietary Road Map to Lose Weight Permanently : Reset Your Genetic Code : Prevent Disease : Achieve Maximum Physical Performance Review

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(More customer reviews)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.

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A Week in the Zone: A Quick Course in the Healthiest Diet for You Review

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(More customer reviews)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.
6) 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?

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