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THE ZONE DIET

The Zone is that point where all your body processes are working at their optimum level, so that you feel at your best physically, mentally & emotionally and everything flows. You are strong, bursting with energy and your fat reserves are being used as fuel, so you don't need as much food. Sounds great, doesn't it?

According to Dr Barry Sears, we can get into this state any time we want to, simply by getting our balance of macronutrients right. Our body needs protein (amino acids, when broken down to it's simplest form), carbohydrate (glucose) and fats (fatty acids) for all it's chemical & hormonal processes, and when given the right balance will purr along sweetly.

Dr Sears' book "The Zone" details these processes and how they work. He explains why a high carbohydrate, low protein, low fat diet doesn't work for most people and also covers the importance of eating carbohydrates with a low glycaemic index. The carbs page explains this concept and has a small list of common foods, while on the links page, there is a site with a much bigger list.

This is how you implement the Zone diet. First determine your body fat % using the method given in the book. This enables you to find your lean body mass, eg. if you are 75kg with 23% body fat, your body fat will be about 17kg, so your lean body mass is 58kg. Convert this to lbs ie. x by 2.2 to get 128lbs. Then multiply by the factor for your level of activity, from the table at the bottom of the page. If you ride for 3 hours every day, 128 x 0.9 = 115. This figure is your protein requirement in grams.

This figure is then broken down into blocks of 7gms each (in this example 17) and spread out over the day - you must eat exactly this amount of protein every day. Then for each block of protein you eat, you eat one block of carbohydrate (approx 9gms) and one block of fat (approx 1 1/2 gms). When you take the amount of fat in the protein into consideration, this comes to protein = 30% of calories, carbs = 40%, fat = 30%. There is a little bit of leeway in the ratios, but this is ideal. Your blocks are then chosen from a list of low fat proteins, low GI factor carbs & monounsaturated fats. So your meals for the day would look like this :

"The Zone" has a lot of useful information about how the body works. The chapter on fats is particularly good and easy to understand. Most of the food choices given are sensible, avoiding foods that are highly processed or high in sugar or bad fats. It cites many examples of sportspeople who have dramatically improved their performance using the Zone diet. People who have tried PR bars, which are made in this ratio, have found them better than other sports bars for eating before a ride.

On the other hand, the reported increases in performance were made when switching from a high carb diet, so it may be that changing to a diet moderate in all the macronutrients is enough of a change. It might not be necessary to follow the exact ratios given. In a couple of places in the book, Dr Sears mentions that about 25% of the population can handle a high carbohydrate diet, but 75% can't . This dietary regime sounds good for the 75%, but what about the 25%? Maybe if they can handle a high carb diet, they actually need a high carb diet. In other words, I think the principle that a balance between the macronutrients is needed is sound. Sticking at this exact ratio could work well for some people, but I am concerned that it doesn't take people's differences into account.

Another concern to me is that he doesn't take into account the fact that different people need different proteins. He uses a lot of dairy & soy in his recipes, for example. Dairy is a common allergen, in it's moder, processed forms. Soy, has many drawbacks, and should only be eaten in fermneted form, and in small quantities.. You need to take into account which proteins suit you. See the protein page for more info.

Although he describes his system as easy to comply with, I suspect most people reading this would think it was too much trouble. And I can't say I would blame them. But if the rewards of this regime are as amazing as he claims, it would be worth any amount of  hassle. Ian & I have been experimenting with eating roughly to Zone ratios. We have both found that a Zone ratio breakfast keeps us going for much longer than our old higher carb breakfasts. (But we suit different foods, so only the ratio is the same!)

So if your performance could do with a lift, this is worth a try. But if you don't get a marked improvement within a couple of weeks, this is not the diet for you.

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