Rating: 
Summary: nice idea...
Review: After writing too many variations of the same Zone book and enthusiastically convincing everyone of the benefits, he's now changing his mind and telling us to drown ourselves in Soy. Is he experimenting with my health? How long before he changes his mind again? He might mean well but this seems stupid at best. Look at the daily recipes and tell me they make sense... what a waste of money...
Rating:
Summary: an ignorant and misleading diet
Review: As a vegan, I don't take issue with Sear's idea that people can benefit from eating less animal protein and more protein from other sources. What I do disagree with, however, is his assertion that this change can cause weight loss. Sears ignores the fact that his diet contains only 1200 calories a day (for women). A diet of 1200 calories (even if it involves eating only chocolate cake) is bound to cause weight loss. Sears recommended protein intakes are amazingly high, and he brushes off the established fact that too much protein consumption inhibits calcium absorption and thus can lead to osteoporosis. Furthermore, Sears makes ignorant generalizations about vegetarian diets "vegetarians don't get enough fruits and vegetables? " with no support. The recipes are ok, but often contain meat and are not as good as those that can be found in other cookbooks.
Rating: 
Summary: Can Soy Really Improve Your Health ?
Review: Author Barry Sears makes it known that he believes that soy can improve your health and reduce your weight, so much so that he modified his famous and very popular "Zone Diet" to include a significant amount of SOY. "The Soy Zone" is a brand new book and is already getting a lot of press and attention. I am interested in getting as much information about the value of soy, not so much from a weight loss standpoint, but for overall improvement in health and for disease prevention. The author makes some good points regarding soy's value that appear to be valid. Much of the current literature (professional and lay) point out soy's benefits for better health. Mr. Sears provides many interesting recipes (in color) from top chefs around the world that look tempting, and are worth trying. He promises readers that those who follow his diet will think better, feel more energized, look better, experience fewer sugar cravings and lose weight after a few short weeks on his diet. Only time will tell how valid this is. This book's worth reading, at least to learn the values of soy in your diet.
Rating:
Summary: Can Soy Really Improve Your Health ?
Review: Author Barry Sears makes it known that he believes that soy can improve your health and reduce your weight, so much so that he modified his famous and very popular "Zone Diet" to include a significant amount of SOY. "The Soy Zone" is a brand new book and is already getting a lot of press and attention. I am interested in getting as much information about the value of soy, not so much from a weight loss standpoint, but for overall improvement in health and for disease prevention. The author makes some good points regarding soy's value that appear to be valid. Much of the current literature (professional and lay) point out soy's benefits for better health. Mr. Sears provides many interesting recipes (in color) from top chefs around the world that look tempting, and are worth trying. He promises readers that those who follow his diet will think better, feel more energized, look better, experience fewer sugar cravings and lose weight after a few short weeks on his diet. Only time will tell how valid this is. This book's worth reading, at least to learn the values of soy in your diet.
Rating: 
Summary: Good for transitioning out of meat-based diets . . . maybe
Review: Diet is a first and foremost matter of individual choice. Our food choices really do affect the health of the planet and the entire ecosystem in which we live, move, and have our being. Sears provides a useful service, by introducing the versitility of soy as a protein replacement for flesh-foods in a full-scale format.
My problem is, the book is not careful enough with the details, and one can't be too careful about diet! Diet is a very relative and individual matter. For example, the book does not even go as far as to consider the gender distinction and the recommended diet is a high protein-oriented, 'male' diet. Most of us can actually do quite well with far less protein than Sears recommends.
A more dangerous omission is the lack of a detailed discussion of the GMO soy crisis. Soy production is one of the largest arenas for genetically-modified seed. We don't really know what the effects of this type of biotech gene-altering, tampering with the food supply will create. The problem is not adequately addressed in the book. My advice is to stick with organic soy products and make sure they are labelled non-GMO (required by FDA regulations), unless you want to be a "guinea-pig" for this type of experimentation which, to reiterate, is currently rampant in commercial soy agriculture which is basically controlled by a few giant agro-corporations and not heavily regulated.
Rating:
Summary: Good for transitioning out of meat-based diets . . . maybe
Review: Diet is a first and foremost matter of individual choice. Our food choices really do affect the health of the planet and the entire ecosystem in which we live, move, and have our being. Sears provides a useful service, by introducing the versitility of soy as a protein replacement for flesh-foods in a full-scale format.
My problem is, the book is not careful enough with the details, and one can't be too careful about diet! Diet is a very relative and individual matter. For example, the book does not even go as far as to consider the gender distinction and the recommended diet is a high protein-oriented, 'male' diet. Most of us can actually do quite well with far less protein than Sears recommends.
A more dangerous omission is the lack of a detailed discussion of the GMO soy crisis. Soy production is one of the largest arenas for genetically-modified seed. We don't really know what the effects of this type of biotech gene-altering, tampering with the food supply will create. The problem is not adequately addressed in the book. My advice is to stick with organic soy products and make sure they are labelled non-GMO (required by FDA regulations), unless you want to be a "guinea-pig" for this type of experimentation which, to reiterate, is currently rampant in commercial soy agriculture which is basically controlled by a few giant agro-corporations and not heavily regulated.
Rating:
Summary: Don't *buy* it!
Review: How can you trust a "nutrition" author who owns major stock in a biotech firm? Isn't that a conflict of interests? I am a strict vegetarian, and I eat soy almost daily, but Mr. Sears is a crock! Don't buy into the "Zone" diet -- soy or meat. You need a diet that is 1) whole, unadulterated food, 2) well-balanced. It's that simple, and natural.
Rating:
Summary: Difficult Recipes??? Not for me...
Review: I am absolutely baffled by testimonies on this site claiming that recipes from this book are difficult. Maybe they are new vegetarians, or are new to things like protein powder and stevia...but GET OVER IT. Everything is explained in an excellent glossary and I have never been to a health food or grocery store that would not be more than happy to help with finding an ingredient that is new to you. Part of eating a more healthful diet is getting over your fears of not knowing everything and asking someone for help. I have found every recipe in this book to be easy to make and AMAZINGLY good tasting considering the SHORT lists of ingredients (at least compared to vegetarian staple cookbooks by Mollie Katzen and the Greens). The need for women to convert amounts of ingredients, however, is VERY LAME...I am fairly used to making mathematical conversions but this seems unnecessary and fairly ridiculous. It doesn't seem that much more difficult to put amounts of ingredients for 3 block meals in parentheses behind the amounts for 4 block meals. But, once you make a meal...write the conversions in the book and then you'll eventually have all of the recipes converted.
Rating:
Summary: amazing concept that actually works
Review: I bought this book about a year or more ago. I have read it about 3 times, which is amazing in itself because I am not a big reader. While I can't say I follow all the "soy zone" rules, I do keep them in mind when preparing meals. I still haven't gotten the hang of figuring out blocks and all that stuff. So I do a lot of guesswork, and basically have cut out a lot of the "bad" carbs I used to depend so heavily on as a vegetarian. The recipes in this book are NOT useful at all. There are a couple that I can manage, and I usually change stuff around a lot. I wish the author would invest in a really good chef to put together recipes that I can actually use on a daily basis. Maybe they will re-write this book in the future....I would hope so! Since my half-hearted attempt at aiming my diet towards the "soy zone" - I have lost 7 pounds without even trying hard. Also, I usually get sick 3-4 times per year, and I haven't been sick at all since practicing bits and pieces of the soy zone. I wish I could get more into counting blocks and using the recipes. But it may just have to wait for a future version of this book. In the meantime, I plan on sticking to the guesswork, which seems to be working for me.
Rating:
Summary: amazing concept that actually works
Review: I bought this book about a year or more ago. I have read it about 3 times, which is amazing in itself because I am not a big reader. While I can't say I follow all the "soy zone" rules, I do keep them in mind when preparing meals. I still haven't gotten the hang of figuring out blocks and all that stuff. So I do a lot of guesswork, and basically have cut out a lot of the "bad" carbs I used to depend so heavily on as a vegetarian. The recipes in this book are NOT useful at all. There are a couple that I can manage, and I usually change stuff around a lot. I wish the author would invest in a really good chef to put together recipes that I can actually use on a daily basis. Maybe they will re-write this book in the future....I would hope so! Since my half-hearted attempt at aiming my diet towards the "soy zone" - I have lost 7 pounds without even trying hard. Also, I usually get sick 3-4 times per year, and I haven't been sick at all since practicing bits and pieces of the soy zone. I wish I could get more into counting blocks and using the recipes. But it may just have to wait for a future version of this book. In the meantime, I plan on sticking to the guesswork, which seems to be working for me.
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