SubscribeThe Zone Diet Revisited
It's been a while since we've seen or heard much about Barry Sears' Zone Diet. Once it was a popular news item when various celebrities (including Jennifer Aniston) endorsed the diet.
The Zone has often been derided as just another fad diet. I think this is unfair. Some of the fittest, strongest, and healthiest people I know of follow the Zone principles.
Dr Barry Sears has completely redesigned Zone website (Zoneliving.com) for 2007. The emphasis is not just weight loss - but women's, men's and children's health - and even athletic performance. Unfortunately much of the site is off-limits to those who are not paid-up subscribers.
Certainly there are some gimmicky aspects about the diet - such as the Zone snack bars, and the hard-sell on Omega-3 supplementation. Also the rigid style of eating puts many people off.
Start every meal or snack with low-fat protein. Next add low glycemic-load carbohydrates (i.e. vegetables and fruits) and good fats (i.e. olive oil). Remember, a typical serving of low-fat protein fits in your palm of your hand and is no thicker than your hand (about 3 ounces for most females and 4 ounces for most males)
Those super-fit folks over at CrossFit swear by the Zone - and quite frankly their low-levels of body fat, phenomenal stamina, and overall strength is evidence enough for me.
What do you think - just another fad or is the Zone style of eating something that works for you?
It's too expensive to be practical for me. It'd be nice to have the right foods delivered to my house every day, but that just isn't realistic for us average people.
ReplyWhen I tried The Zone diet I was hungry all the time. Now I know that the carb % was too high for me and there wasn't enough fat. It did make me rethink my low-fat diet ideas and let me to eventually find Atkins which turned out to be the right macronutrient ratio for me and helped me lose 95 pounds.
If you look closely at the Crossfit site you'll notice that many of the Zone followers add extra fat blocks (oops, it's not 40-30-30 anymore!) or do something they call paleo-zone. Very few seem to be following strict Zone as outlined by Barry Sears.
ReplyMy parents tried it back when I was a kid. They've always been in great shape and they still follow it to some extent.
ReplyI remember them talking about ratios over dinner and I started crying and complained that I would never be able to eat anymore without worrying. I wasn't much more than 7 or so!
The Zone is definately one of the better thought out diets. I refer to it a lot on my site and was quite shocked when I looked at the traffic stats for drsears.com. Interest has severly waned (peaked '03-'04).
I'm not saying the Zone is perfect but is worthy of more study unlike a lot of 'fad' diets out there. The Zone it seems has become of victim of the fickle nature of the diet industry but I will still make reference to it.
It's one of the few diets using evolutionary theory as it's main argument. I agree with you Jim. The Zone is worthy of more consideration than to be put in the 'fad' camp.
Replyp.s. Are you sure Zoneliving.com is an official site? I thought drsears.com was the official one. Any info on this would be appreciated.
ReplyThe Zone uses regular food... fruits veg, leans meats, fish. Nothing needs to be delivered :)
ReplyAnd if you read even more closely you will notice that they will add those fat blocks after they have reached bf% level they want't, ie. single digits.
Haven't read Sears' book, but I assume that this is the way to go also according to 'official zone rules'.
And paleo component is there only to guide food choices, so only stuff that hunter gatherers ate.
ReplyI'm sorry, but that's just really really sad.
ReplyYeah strange how it actually came true.
ReplySeems like a good enough diet though...I wonder if my parents still have that book. I find ratios a little tricky however.
That doesn't even really make sense. A woman with body fat in the single digits is in danger of death, actually. The lowest essential body fat percentage for an adult woman is 10%. The lowest for adult men is about 4%. That's the lowest you can have and not die, basically. I'm confused.
ReplyWHOIS search result:
ReplyDomain Name: ZONELIVING.COM
Registrar: GO DADDY SOFTWARE, INC.
Whois Server: whois.godaddy.com
Referral URL: http://registrar.godaddy.com
Name Server: NS1.DRSEARSPORTAL.COM
Name Server: NS2.DRSEARSPORTAL.COM
Status: ok
Updated Date: 18-nov-2006
Creation Date: 13-jan-2004
Expiration Date: 13-jan-2008
I agree with the Zone principles, but like Sweet Tart, the macronutrient ratios don't work for me - 40/40/20 is just too high in carbs. IMO there's no "one size fits all" when it comes to the optimum ratios of carbs, protein and fat. For a less rigid diet that follows the Zone principles, I recommend the South Beach Diet.
ReplyI think once again it's a case of correlation, not causation. I think the post author said:
"Those super-fit folks over at CrossFit swear by the Zone - and quite frankly their low-levels of body fat, phenomenal stamina, and overall strength is evidence enough for me."
is more of a function of disciplined people coming to the Zone Diet, rather then a bunch of fat lazy slobs suddenly getting on the Zone Diet and becoming super lean. Correlation!
ReplyIt appears these Zone Lab folks are preparing to launch snacks, dessert mixes, etc. I hate it when that happens.
Speaking of your own experience or what?ReplyJim:
Uh no, I've never tried the Zone Diet. Neither have I been a fat, lazy slob. I'm just trying to make a point. I don't think everyone who's on the Zone Diet in those pictures doing Crossfit necessarily started out as horrible shape.
ReplyPersonally, the rigidity factor doesn't work for me. I prefer to eat in a manner that allows for some flexibility and treats here and there. Overadherence to ratio based eating makes me crazy.
Replywe think this diet is a hit! it works pretty good i tell ya! aha
ReplyThe Zone wants $39.95 a day for a month!!! That's about $1200 for the whole month. Yikes! Quite pricey and unaffordable for most people who are not celebrity's and just make an average salary. They need to adjust to a more realist pricing scale if they want more customers.
ReplyNow there are over a dozen different ZONE diet companies. As a Zone consultant we were taught diabetics (both types) should IMMEDIATELY expect a 50% decrease in insulin the very first 40/30/30 diet meal they eat. Now the largest zone diet company is owned by a pharmaceutical giant who's sales rely on diabtetes rates to keep their stocks going.
I blame Dr. Sears for some of this. He should have never signed the original contract with zone perfect. Both of them claim to be the "Officical Zone Diet company".
You can't hide the message. The pharmaceutical companies will soon get what the music industry got when free on-line music sharing came out.
I love taking people off their medication. Last week my client maria's doctor told her she doesn't need her cholesterol medicine anymore because her cholesterol levels were now fine after 3 easy months on a 40/30/30 diet. That moment I just took $50 per bottle of lipitor times many months of usage away from the pharmacetical company. More to come.
ReplyI don't know that there is anything "magical" about 40/30/30. I don't think it is practical for people to try and break down macronutrients to such a stringent degree. In the end, you are consuming less calories - perhaps this is a function of the higher protein content, but you could eat a 33/33/33 or a 50/25/25 or a 50/30/20 or a 50/20/30 and not see the slightest variation in your progress.
We eat food - not macronutrients. As long as people are eating good carbs, good fats and adequate protein, get plenty of exercise (resistance training and a combo of low/high intensity cardio) and manage their sleep/stress levels adequately - they will do just fine. The zone is nothing special.
ReplyI am not trying to sell anything, it does not matter to me if you get in shape or not.
Read mastering the zone, forgot everything else you have heard about the diet, read the book and try it for 1 week. You can get it at your local library or on eBay for
I have been following the Zone guidelines for 2 years with outstanding results, you do not have to follow a rigid regiment to get the real results with this diet. The Zone blocks are easy to follow once you do it by the book for a few weeks. Try it a week and find out. It boils down to slight calorie restriction, small portions, frequent eating, healthly foods and exercise. That's right, put down the fork, throw out the potato chips, eat right, eat less and exercise. The concepts of the Zone diet with the Zone blocks are very easy to follow and I never really feel hungry and if I do, I just eat a very small "Zone type" snack (2 zone blocks). The food block format is particularly easy to apply to every day life. Once you get the hang of it, the diet becomes super easy and you feel amazing.
You do not have to kill yourself to follow the diet. I eat anything I want and still do it. If I am at somebodys house and they order a pizza I have 1 slice not the whole friggin pizza. I do not go out of my way to eay pizza but I will eat if in a absolute pickle.
You do not need to buy the online program to follow the Zone diet, it is a sham. Also do not believe any of the crazy crap that the Sears character says about eiconisoids or insulin diseases or the medical proof. The science he uses to prove his theories are anecdotal and pure B.S. However he created an excellent program for guiding you to eat well portioned meals and losing weight. He is just trying to sell you merchandise. There are no definative medical studies (at this time) that prove the Zone diet works. It flies in the face of conventional diets and wisdom. I was working with a trainer/nutritionist before I decided to go off on my own try the Zone and change my workout regimen. I recently had a pull-up contest with my trainer (a natural bodybuilding champ) he did 37 pullups I did 56.
I am 34 I went from 255 lbs @ 25% body fat to 200 lbs with 8% bodyfat on the Zone Diet in 8 months. I know this is not supposed to be possible according to what conventional nutritionists and trainers say but it happened to me.
I do Crossfit, Lift weights and follow the Zone diet. I was a collegiate athlete (Football) I can tell you that now at 34 I am in the absolute best shape of my life. The stamina and strength I have are just unbelievable. Just weightlifting and cardio is a total waste of time.
Combine weightlifting, Crossfit (cross training), Parkour and the Zone diet and see what happens. With Crossfit you will never get bored. Period.
Oh yeah and by the way, both me and my wife work, I did this while in Grad school, I have 3 small children at home and work 8-10 hours a day with a 1 hour commute to work. If I have time to do it, you have time to do it. Put down the fork and pick up some weights or do some pullups.
ReplyI want to add something else to my previous rant. I was in absolute horrible shape @ 255 lbs before trying to get into shape by following the Zone and doing some different exercises. I was working with a trainer for a few months and not making too much progress and getting very frustrated, I lost like 6 pounds.
When I started Crossfit I could only do 3 pullups!! Yes you read that right I went from 3 pulls as a PR to 62 pullups as my PR (the 56 pullups from previous post was not a PR).
Follow the Zone and do Crossfit. See what happens. This is not rocket science.
Replyhttp://www.crossfit.com/journal/2007/10/zone_meal_plans_crossfit_journ.html
Rob: Your results are outstanding. As someone who has also spend some time using CrossFit - I will also advise being careful of injury.
Thanks to the tremendous amount of pull-ups that CrossFit use, I ended up developing tendonitis. I can now not do a single pull-up without pain. That is despite laying off for over 8 months.
62 pullups is nothing short of astonishing. Well done.
ReplyJim,
Thanks for the advice. Thanks to playing college football and 3 surgeries on my right knee I am extremely careful about warming up and vigilant (practically paranoid) about joint health and overuse injuries. That being said I take Glucosamine\Chondritin daily and if I do have overuse injuries (I have a little bit of plantar facsitis right now) I am careful about nursing the injury in a wise manor.
I am not sure what you have done to help your injuries but this is my advice. Also if your tendonitis has lasted that long it is certainly possible there is something else going on like a tear or you may not be taking the proper measures to combat it.
If you have not already you should talk to your Dr. about using Glucosamine\Chondritin and getting some physical therapy.
I suggest for you in investigating the use of Glucosamine Chondritin. The NIH GAIT study proves it is helpful with joint pain. Essentially the study concludes
Participants with moderate-to-severe joint pain, Glucosamine\Chondritin is about as effective as a prescription medication:
...about 70 percent of those taking celecoxib had a 20 percent or greater reduction in pain versus about 60 percent for placebo.
...about 79 percent of those taking glucosamine combined with chondroitin sulfate had a 20 percent or greater reduction in pain versus about 54 percent for placebo.
This is significant and promising.
http://nccam.nih.gov/research/results/gait/qa.htm
Also having worked with trainers and physical therapist I suggest you seek the advice of a good therapist through your doctor to help strengthen your shoulder or elbow or whatever joint is giving you problems. Also make sure you get a good therapist. I worked with bad ones and good ones. If you do not like the one you are working with; find a different one there are excellent trainers out there who can help you.
Well rounded strength and conditioning will help your joints. This is why I mix in other types of Weight training with Crossfit. I feel that some times Crossfit focuses too much on one movement, like pullups.
Best of luck...
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