Well, we’ve been trying to follow the Zone “diet”. I say “diet” because it is really more of a way of eating rather than a way of not eating. I’ve summarized it in this way: it is more about the ratio of food types to each other, and to a daily total. So, yes it is calorie restricted, not that you count calories. Rather, the heart of things is that your body uses 3 types of macro nutrients, protein, fat, and carbohydrates and these need to be in balance with each other 30%, 30%, and 40%. At the outset the whole thing seems incredibly OCD. Measuring and counting but I agree that that is important to becoming self-conscious about types of food and amounts. The eating plan is built around, first, the relationship of lean and fat body mass. Once that is determined, food is organized into “blocks”. “Blocks” are a really interesting notion because they force you to break out of the silly food pyramid that we’ve all been bamboozled with. For, example, we instinctively think of green bell pepper as a vegetable and so really cool and not something we can eat enough of. But, our body looks at it and says “carbohydrate”. Now the amount of pepper in a carb block is a cup and a half, which, when you sit down to eat it is a whole lot of pepper. Likewise, 6 cups of romaine lettuce counts as a carb block — I’d still be eating dinner if I had that much lettuce. On the other hand fat is a whole lot more deceptive — gobbling a handful of almonds or olives for example is probably a days worth of fat — which is eye opening. Three almonds counts as a fat block as does six peanuts, so, certainly the OCD quality is most apparent with relation to fats, and low quality carbs. Tortilla chips, for example, are a “bad” carb, 1 oz of them is a carb block. Translated to the real world that equals 7 chips. Chip #1 yummm, Chip #2 mmmm, Chip #3 crunchy, Chip #4 yummy, Chip #5 good, Chip #6 wow, Chip #7 couldn’t eat another bite

A real emphasis of this plan is to balance hormone cycles, in particular insulin. So it came as a huge surprise yesterday when my blood sugar crashed during my workout. A real important aspect of the plan is to not let yourself go longer than 4-5 hours without food, except when sleeping. With working out on the noon hour I’ve found that eating at 10 keeps my calories up without leaving me on a full stomach during the workout. According to the books calculations I should be on a 16 block plan, 4 breakfast, 4 lunch, 2 snack, 4 dinner, and 2 bed time snack. Some of the crash might be a result of the type of breakfast, some of it might be my body not really being ready to burn body fat, instead of dietary fat. Up to now I’ve kinda been going along with”P” but, now I’ve started to own this and make a plan for myself. I tried a 5 block breakfast this morning 1egg, 2 egg whites scrambled, 1/2 cup of kidney beans, 1/2 cup of onions, 1.5 cups of bell peppers, 2 corn tortillas made into quasadilla’s the rest of the 2 ounces of cheese in with the eggs and vegetable scramble. 2/3 a tablespoon of oil for cooking eggs and vege’s, and a bunch of olives, 9 I think to make up the remaining fat blocks. That made a huge plate of food. We’ll see how well it sticks and how today’s workout goes. I can honestly say that when I eat I don’t feel short changed. Certainly as hour 4-5 roles around I’m hungry. But, this doesn’t have the constant gnawing that dieting gives. As with any diet it is important to build a cheat day in, so, I think on the Saturday, I’ll still eat zone, but, I permit myself bigger block meals. At the start of any new eating plan one usually sheds fluid, and I’ve done that, but, it will be interesting to see how rapid the real weight loss is, 1 or 2 pounds a week is a healthy rate.