The Zone
Revolutionary Life Plan to Put Your Body
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3.6 • 67 Ratings
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- $10.99
Publisher Description
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.
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 ) 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.
Customer Reviews
The Zone
Excellent information!!
Somewhat Outdated.
I waffled between a 2 or 3 star rating as this book was released in 1995 according to my searches. I bought it based on the 2009 publish date but once I started it I realized it was much older. There is solid info in here and if some one is looking to change the way they eat it's not a bad place to start. Because of its age it doesn't have any info (So far, I'm still reading) on the benefits of fasting and using the various fasting cycles. I just did a search and it doesn't have info on leptin either, a master hormone that controls thyroid hormones. Looking at their food lists they look quite similar to a Slimgenics or Metabolic Research Center Food plan. I know some serious weightlifters and body builders who use the zone method but I also know that they've tweaked it here and there to work for them. If you're planning on doing a lot of training I would avoid this book and look for something more current.