The Zone Diet wasn’t created overnight. We took baby steps as we began to walk to the center of the Zone. Remember that the first thing we did was to eliminate starch from our meals. We noticed an immediate improvement. We were no longer hungry at bedtime, and if we were, we would eat a piece of cheese (protein and fat) and some fruit (carbohydrate). This chapter will allow you to enter the Zone at several different levels as well. Many of you reading this book have already read other Zone books, and are reading this one for new tips and recipes. Others may be Zone experts. Still others may be learning about the Zone for the first time. Jump in where you feel comfortable.
LEVEL ONE: As you read this book and begin to understand its principles, we hope you will immediately begin to substitute vegetables and fruits for much of the bread, pasta, rice, and potatoes that you eat. Not all fruits and vegetables are created equal because some raise insulin levels more than others do. Vegetables to avoid or use in moderation include carrots, corn, and beets. Fruits to avoid or use in moderation include raisins, most tropical fruits, cranberries, and bananas. Berries are the most Zone-favorable fruit. A complete Zone Food Block Guide, listing favorable and unfavorable protein, carbohydrate, and fat choices is found on page 365.
Use what we call the hand-eye method. Divide your plate into thirds. On one-third, place low-fat protein, such as chicken, fish, egg whites, cottage cheese, or soy products. The portion should be the size and depth of the palm of your hand. Fill the other two-thirds with vegetables and fruit. After your plate is full, add a dash of fat, such as olive oil, avocado, or nuts.
You should eat three meals and two snacks every day. For meals use a dinner plate, and for snacks use a dessert plate. Use this little ditty to help you understand which foods are protein and which are carbohydrates: “Carbohydrates grow in the ground, and protein (with the exception of soy) moves around.” Make sure you drink lots of water and avoid caffeine and soda as much as possible.
Now, learn the Zoning by-laws. Timing is important. Make sure to eat breakfast within one hour of waking. Don’t ever let more than four to five hours go by before eating lunch. Have a snack either mid-morning or mid-afternoon. The timing of this snack depends upon the length of time between either breakfast and lunch or lunch and dinner. For example, you might eat breakfast at 8 A.M. and lunch at noon. Dinner might not come until 7 P.M., which means you’ll need a small snack at 4 or 5 P.M. On the other hand, you may eat breakfast at 6 A.M. and not have time for lunch until 1 P.M. In that case have your snack in the mid-morning. Remember, you don’t want to let more than five hours go by before your next meal or snack. Use the same hand-eye approach that you use to construct your Zone meals, except use a dessert-size plate to construct your snack. (Check out a list of snack ideas in chapter 6.)
The wonderful thing about the Zone dietary program is that you will never be hungry because your blood sugar is stable. If the brain isn’t hungry, then you won’t feel hungry. You will never go more than four or five hours without eating, except when you go to bed. And before you go to bed, make sure you end your day with a Zone snack. Remember, even if you are asleep, your brain is still working. A favorite bedtime snack is 1 ounce of cheese and a glass of wine. (Treat alcohol as a carbohydrate.)
To help with the planning, here are a few examples for your first day in the center of the Zone. You’ll read many other suggestions in the chapters on breakfasts, lunches, and dinners. This first breakfast suggestion shows how substantial a meal can be on the Zone diet.
BREAKFAST FOR WOMEN (should be eaten within one hour of waking):
Omelet made with ½ cup egg substitute, 1 ounce low-fat cheese (feta is great), a couple of sun-dried tomatoes, chopped, and a bit of chopped basil
2/3 cup slow-cooking oatmeal sprinkled with cinnamon and 3 macadamia nuts, crushed
1 cup raspberries (fresh or frozen)
BREAKFAST FOR MEN (should be eaten within one hour of waking):
Omelet made with ¾ cup egg substitute, 1 ounce low-fat cheese, a couple of sun-dried tomatoes, chopped, and a bit of chopped basil
1 cup slow-cooking oatmeal sprinkled with cinnamon and 4 macadamia nuts, crushed
1 cup raspberries (fresh or frozen)
For people who begin their day with a trip to the gym, here’s a simple breakfast to eat before you go.
FOR WOMEN:
Blend the following in a blender. Add ice, if desired.
21 grams protein powder
1½ cups frozen blueberries, defrosted
3 teaspoons slivered almonds
FOR MEN:
28 grams protein powder
2 cups frozen blueberries, defrosted
4 teaspoons slivered almonds
Still too hard? Try this.
FOR WOMEN:
1 ounce low-fat cheese
1 Wasa cracker
½ cup low-fat cottage cheese
6 cashews
2/3 cup unsweetened applesauce
Melt the low-fat cheese on the cracker. Mix the cottage cheese, cashews, and applesauce together or eat them however you like.
FOR MEN:
1 ounce low-fat cheese
1 Wasa cracker
¾ cup low-fat cottage cheese
8 cashews
1 cup unsweetened applesauce
Melt the low-fat cheese on the cracker. Mix the cottage cheese, cashews, and applesauce together or eat however you like.
If you don’t like any of these choices, go directly to chapter 3 and pick out a winning breakfast combination for your first day in the Zone, or try some of Rachel’s breakfast recipes, also in chapter 3.
LUNCH FOR WOMEN:
3 ounces cooked skinless chicken breast strips on lettuce leaves
Olive oil and vinegar dressing (1 teaspoon olive oil plus vinegar, salt, and pepper to taste)
1 apple
1 small breadstick
LUNCH FOR MEN:
4 ounces cooked skinless chicken breast on lettuce leaves
Olive oil and vinegar dressing (11/3 teaspoons olive oil plus vinegar, salt, and pepper to taste)
1 apple
½ cup grapes
1 small breadstick
FOR WOMEN:
Mix together
¾ cup low-fat cottage cheese
½ cup chickpeas
¼ cup kidney beans
3 macadamia nuts, crushed
FOR MEN:
Mix together
FOR WOMEN:
Chili made from
3 ounces ground turkey
½ cup salsa
¼ cup black beans
1 ounce grated low-fat cheese sprinkled on top
½ orange for dessert
FOR MEN:
Chili made from
4½ ounces ground turkey
½ cup salsa
½ cup black beans
1 ounce grated low-fat cheese sprinkled on top
½ orange for dessert
You may want to check out the suggested combinations in chapter 4 for other simple Zone lunches. Or try Rachel’s lunch recipes in chapter 4 and Diane’s recipes in chapter 8.
DINNER FOR WOMEN:
3 ounces cooked skinless chicken breast
1 small salad containing 1 cup canned artichoke hearts, drained, with a dressing of 1 teaspoon olive oil plus vinegar to taste
2 cups cooked zucchini
½ cup seedless grapes
DINNER FOR MEN:
4 ounces cooked skinless chicken breast
1 small salad containing 1 cup canned artichoke hearts with a dressing of 11/3 teaspoons olive oil plus vinegar to taste
2 cups cooked zucchini
1 cup seedless grapes
FOR WOMEN:
4½ ounces grilled salmon
1½ cups green beans mixed with
3 macadamia nuts, crushed
1 apple for dessert
FOR MEN:
6 ounces grilled salmon
1½ cups green beans mixed with
4 macadamia nuts, crushed
Fruit salad of
1/3 cup Mandarin oranges packed in water
and 1 sliced apple
FOR WOMEN:
Mix the beans with a vinaigrette of 1 teaspoon olive oil plus vinegar to taste.
FOR MEN:
1 soy burger
2 ounces low-fat cheese
½ cup chickpeas
¼ cup kidney beans
¼ cup black beans
1 peach
Mix the beans with a vinaigrette of 11/3 teaspoons olive oil plus vinegar to taste.
Chapter 5 contains a number of other simple dinner combinations or check out Rachel’s dinner recipes, also in chapter 5, and her slow-cooking recipes in chapter 9. Diane’s quick dinner recipes are in chapter 8.
Remember, never let more than four or five hours go by without eating a Zone meal or snack. Eat even if you’re not hungry. It’s also very important to keep a food diary to record winning meals and note other meals that don’t go the distance.
LEVEL TWO: Now follow the recipes or different food combinations offered in chapters 3 through 5 to see what it feels like to be in the center of the Zone. It’s a good idea to take this step on a weekend, giving you time to get organized, fully stock your kitchen (see chapter 2), and plan your menus. After a week or so, cooking in the Zone will be second nature. Just remember to eat the foods you enjoy. Choose from soups, stir-fries, and stews that you can eat for dinner and have leftovers for lunch the next day. If you prefer to make your dinner in the morning or the night before, this book will tempt you through an entire chapter of slow-cooker recipes. There’s even a Can-Do Zone chapter that shows you how to open a can of this and a frozen package of that to put together a quick Zone meal. Read the charts in chapters 3 through 5 to help you put together recipes with simple ingredients.
Most of Rachel’s recipes serve about four people, and most of Diane’s recipes serve two people. At this point, don’t be obsessive about figuring out exactly how much to eat. Just remember the hand-eye method of Zoning, described on page 10.
LEVEL THREE: Once you get comfortable using the recipes and tips in this book, you may want to go on to learn the Zone Food Block method to help you create Zone meals and snacks using all your favorite foods. (A Food Block list begins on page 365.) We list all the good proteins, carbohydrates, and fats that keep you in the Zone due to their low glycemic load. In other words, they don’t cause an insulin spike that leaves you light-headed, hungry, lethargic, and in carbo hell. The glycemic load is an excellent guide to how much insulin you will generate in a given meal. Consider 1 cup of brown rice, 1 medium apple, and 1 cup of cooked broccoli. All three choices seem pretty healthy, but don’t be fooled. The impact on insulin from each is dramatically different. The glycemic load is shown in the chart on the following page. Note that the 1 cup cooked brown rice will have the same effect on insulin as six sugar cubes.
If you want to be more precise, you need to know how much of a certain macronutrient (protein, carbohydrate, or fat) is needed for a typical woman and a typical man. Most women use the formula of 3–3–3. That means three protein blocks, three carbohydrate blocks, and three monounsaturated fat blocks in every Zone meal. If the use of the word block confuses you, think of selections instead. Each selection in the Food Block Guide is one block. For example, one ounce of chicken equals one block, which means that a woman would serve herself three ounces of chicken. That’s three protein blocks. Then she would choose three blocks of carbohydrates and three blocks of heart-healthy monounsaturated fat, which include olive oil, almonds, and avocado. Snacks contain one block each of protein, carbohydrate, and fat.
| CARBOHYDRATE | GLYCEMIC LOAD | SUGAR CUBE UNITS |
| 1 cup broccoli | 1.5 | 0.6 |
| 1 sugar cube | 2.4 | 1 |
| 1 medium apple | 9.7 | 4 |
| 1 cup cooked pasta | 30 | 12.5 |
| 1 medium potato | 50 | 21 |
| 1 cup whole grain rice |
56 | 23 |
| 1 large bagel | 70 | 29 |
For men, the formula is usually 4–4–4. That means the typical man will eat four blocks (selections) of protein, four blocks of carbohydrates, and four blocks of fat at every meal, and one block of each for snacks.
It helps at this point to explain how much fat you’ll eat each day. You won’t be consuming vats of fat. One block of olive oil, for example, is only 1/3 teaspoon, and six peanuts equal one block.
To find out exactly how many blocks you need, log onto our website www.drsears.com to make sure you are, indeed, a “typical” man or woman. You’ll find a body fat calculator under the Zone Tools category. You may also use the conversion charts on page 380.
No adult should consume fewer than three blocks of protein, carbohydrate, and fat per meal. The chapters on breakfasts, lunches, and dinners give charts that tell you how to put together a Zone meal using the block method. Once you’ve started to use Zone Food Blocks, you can take more care when filling out your food diary after every meal. If you feel hungry and loopy two or three hours after your last meal, you ate too many carbohydrates. Remove one block of carbohydrate, but keep the protein and fat content the same the next time you eat that exact same meal. If, on the other hand, you feel hungry but alert, you ate too few carbohydrates at your last meal. Add a block of carbohydrate the next time you have that exact same meal. Believe me, keeping a diary is worth the effort. In a matter of weeks you will have an impressive list of meals that you enjoy and that keep you in the Zone.
LEVEL FOUR: Gram it. When you take this final Zone step, new food horizons will open before your eyes. You’ll be able to take a can of soup, add some turkey meatballs or soy sausages, and know how much fruit you’ll need to add for a quick lunch. You’ll be able to find out which breads have the lowest carbohydrate count. Remember, the Zone dietary program doesn’t ban bread altogether. You should just eat it in moderation. By using the gram method, you’ll be able to get the most cluck for the buck (or slice for the glycemic price). In the Zone Food Block list on page 365, we’ve done all the gramming for you. By knowing the gram method yourself, you can look at the label on any package or can and know exactly how close that product is to getting you into the Zone.
Here’s how to calculate grams in the Zone. One block of protein equals 7 grams, which means a typical woman will eat 21 grams of protein per meal (7 grams × 3 blocks), and a typical man will need 28 grams (7 grams × 4 blocks). One block of carbohydrate equals 9 grams, which means that a woman requires 27 grams per meal (9 × 3), and the typical man needs 36 (9 × 4). When calculating the carbohydrate content, subtract the amount of fiber in the product. For example, the back of a can will give a total carbohydrate count of, say, 42, and a dietary fiber count of say, 8. For Zoning purposes the amount of carbohydrate to be counted is 34.
One fat block equals 3 grams, which means women need 9 grams of fat per meal, and men need 12. Calculating the number of grams in a fat block has always been confusing for Zoners. When using the Zone Food Block Guide, note that fat is given a value of 1.5 grams. That is to give some wiggle room when there is hidden fat in the low-fat protein selection. When using strictly the gram method give fat the value of 3 grams per block.
So here’s how to put it all together.
Start with a 19-ounce can of soup, such as Progresso Beef Barley. Now look at the label: 20 grams protein, 20 grams carbohydrate (26 grams total carbohydrate minus 6 grams dietary fiber), and 8 grams fat. Remember, for each meal, a typical woman should eat 21 grams of protein, 27 grams of carbohydrate, and 9 grams of fat. That means the can of soup has about the right amount of protein (round the number up or down) and fat blocks, but one block of carbohydrates is needed. Eat ½ cup of grapes, and it’s a Zone meal. Men (28 grams protein, 36 carbs, and 12 fat), however, will have to add more to the meal. Suggestions could include 1 piece of string cheese, 1 cup of grapes, and maybe 6 peanuts. That would bring the meal into the Zone for men. It also shows you how substantial a Zone meal is.
Throughout this book, our gramming lesson will continue, allowing you to grab just what you need before you head out the door for work. Go slow. Make sure you understand the various steps you’ve taken, and you’ll quickly bring your knowledge of the Zone to a higher level.
More than 4 million Zone books have been sold since The Zone was published in 1995. So how many people are in the Zone? It’s hard to tell, even though it’s ranked the number-one diet in Hollywood. We hope that the several different degrees of Zoning offered in this book will help many, many more people to become Zoners. Which is the best method? It’s up to you. We began the Zone in 1988 by simply eliminating or vastly reducing starch from our meals. We then used the Zone Food Block Guide and realized that the protein we should eat should fill about one-third of our plate, and vegetables and fruit should fill the other two-thirds. We quickly became attuned to the hand-eye method and have been using that for years now. We use the gram method when considering a packaged food or a new food not on the Zone Food Block list. Whatever step you choose to take, you’re making a good decision. The more complicated Zone calculations just give you more accurate Zone meals (and thus greater benefits) and more freedom to create Zone meals from a greater variety of foods.
Now it’s time to stock your pantry and also stalk your pantry, throwing away foods that are naughty, not nice. Chapter 2 allows you to choose the foods you like to eat. Chapters 3 through 5 give simple calculations for breakfasts, lunches, and dinners in the Zone. You might even want to take a peek at chapter 8, “The Can-Do Zone,” for the simplest Zone meals ever.