Day 14 - The Zone & a Renewed Focus

In place of a workout today, I took the time to do some well-needed reading and education on a nutritional topic. I read Barry Sears' Enter the Zone and Mastering the Zone. I really appreciate what he is trying to do and it is easy to see why so many athletes and "normal" people have reaped the benefits of his trials and work. I thought it would be important to summarize some of the findings and items that were of significant interest to me. From this point in the journey forward, I will be making more of a concerted effort to not only limit refined sugars and "bad" carbohydrates, but to also employ the ratio method of protein: carbs: fat that he suggests for the maximum health benefits.

The most interesting fact about the Zone is that it is not meant to be a "diet" or "weight-loss" book or program. The weight-loss that accompanies it is merely a byproduct of the true benefits (health, mental focus, emotional stability) that occur when your body chemistry is aligned and positioned to help you succeed in the best way possible.

Some things to note from this reading that I found most interesting:

Diabetic subjects following the Zone methodology compared to the recommended ADA diet showed the following results after an 8-week study:

1. Higher percentage of weight loss for Zone subjects
2. HgbA1c, typically thought of as the most accurate measurement of diabetic blood sugar control was down 3% for ADA users, compared to 12% (!!!!!) for Zone users
3. Triglycerides, a measurement included in heart disease and vascular disease risk, were down 25% in Zone users, but were actually UP 20% in ADA diet
4. Both diastolic & systolic blood pressure readings dropped for Zone users, but only the systolic dropped for ADA users - their diastolic reading was actually increased.

To keep the interest going, they studied the Zone users for another 8 weeks and they found that H1C levels dropped another 9% to just over 20% from original levels, triglycerides were down over 35% from original levels, diastolic/systolic bp readings had dropped over 10% from original levels, and total cholesterol levels were down approximately 10%.

I am not a type II diabetic, nor do I want to become one....I find it intriguing that a combination of food - or as Dr. Sears likes to note, treating food like a drug - where you need a certain dosage at certain times throughout the day can show these results.

Beyond health benefits, the books discuss the following - in that, if you keep yourself in the Zone, you will:

• think better, because in the Zone you are maintaining stable blood sugar levels
• perform better, because being in the Zone allows you to increase oxygen transfer to your muscle cells
• look better, because in the Zone you are shedding excess body fat at the fastest possible rate

I find it interesting (particularly for myself who has read a number of diet books, methodologies, etc) that for 220 pages, he discusses the science, evolution, and health studies behind this type of a plan. He doesn't do the usual diet mumbo-jumbo about helping the reader create a diet plan and put together shopping lists and recipes and then talk about a healthy exercise plan...and of course, the requisite chapter on mental health and reduction of stress.

I highly recommend both books - Enter the Zone is more for nerds like me who love to understand the science and biochemistry behind it all and Mastering the Zone is more of a condensed version to help people get started right away without most of the science.

I will be adding more interesting links and Zone-friendly recipes as I find them.