I haven’t made up my mind yet. But given I read it a few months ago and haven't tried it I think it is safe to say NO.

I knew I was in trouble when author Dr. Barry Sears (Ph.D.) wrote that as long as I could do simple math, I could do this diet. One of the reasons I’m a social worker is because I’m math phobic.

Seriously, I’ve heard about this diet (and I will call it a diet, not a way of eating or anything else) for a long time. Barry Sears made the idea that some carbohydrates are bad famous. He started this revolution and I don’t think it is a bad one. I’m not criticizing low carbing or Sears' approach which isn’t low carbing in the Atkins' sense, but rather using protein/carbohydrate ratios, always eating a carbohydrate when you eat a protein.

Dr. Sears is not a medical doctor. I’m not criticizing his credentials either. 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.”

If you read my review of Dr. Atkins* you’ll know I believe you lose weight when you take in fewer calories than you expend. How you go about that matters less, in my opinion, than what goes in your mouth.

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?

If you aren't happy you do the same but 3500 calories = 1 pound of fat so you need to eliminate 500 calories per day to lose pound in a week or up your activity level to burn off 500 calories a day. If you do both, you'll safely lose 2 pounds per week.

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. If you want to do the ZONE, you might be better to get online (AOL has ZONE message boards) and learn what you can from other people so you have a basic understanding before you spend $25.00 on the hard-cover version of this book.

I bought it for .25 at a yard sale – for .25 it’s not a bad read.


You may also want to read:


You may also want to read:

Weight Watchers Magazine

Body for Life by Bill Phillips- the book

The Atkins Diet

Weight Watchers

Get With The Program" (Bob Greene - Oprah's mentor)
Dr. Atkins New Diet Revolution- the book

Recommended: No