The Zone : Revolutionary Life Plan to Put Your Body in Total Balance for Permanent Weight Loss

Rating:
Summary: Ignore the naysayers. This diet is amazing.
Review: I initially tried this diet for 1 week at the request of my girlfriend, who bought the book. Rather than read it, I just did it. The results were AMAZING. Within the week, modest weight loss was achieved. This is not amazing, as most any deficient or dangerous diet can do that. HOWEVER, what was truly amazing were the immediate results in two areas. First, and most obvious, my energy level tripled. I have noticed a very low energy level and have tried several things including exercise, various diets, more sleep, etc and NONE of them worked. This diet gave me more energy than I knew what to do with within a few days of starting. Second, I awoke every morning feeling fully rested, even on nights where I got only 3 to 4 hours of sleep. I went off the diet after a few weeks and returned back to all of the negative symptoms I have decribed above rather quickly. Periodically, I started and stopped this diet to see how it influenced me. Every time, without fail, my energy was better, my sleep more restful, and my mood and outlook improved when I was on the diet for 2-3 days in a row. Every time I went off it, the negative symptoms returned. I originally made the deal to try the diet with my girlfriend based on her willingness to do all the cooking. "I don't have time for this" was my attitude. I'm dating someone else now. I have now purchased both books, and my attitude is "I can't afford not to be on this diet". I concur that some of the research and evidence is not well substantiated IN THE BOOK. Then again, this is written as a best-seller, not a research dissertation. For the average reader, it provides enough description to help understand why it works. And there is no doubt that it works. I know several other people who have stayed on this diet for 3-4 months now. They ALL noticed similar and immediate positive changes. They also all lost 20-30 lbs. The diet may be low calorie at times, but the food is good and there is almost more than you can eat at times. To the naysayers who I have seen criticizing this book and its underlying concepts, I say this. First of all, perhaps you should try it for a week or two and see for yourself. Second, many who are writing as "medical experts" fail to recognize an obvious truth. Medical science has not provided very good solutions for people who struggle with weight loss. The proof is in the pudding. Where's yours? Third, regardless of weight loss, the more exciting benefits of this diet are the remarkable energy increase and enhancement of sleep. I haven't seen any practical solutions from medical science on that either. Fourth, this diet is very flexible. You can eat pretty much what you want, you just have to adjust the proportions of the fat, protein, and carbohydrate content of the meal. There is software out there to pick any combination of various food and have the software balance the meal for you. People who are calling this diet dangerous are obviously not in tune with the concept of a balanced diet. Basically, thats all this is. A balanced diet which debunks the myths about how great rice cakes and pasta are for you. Bottom line- this works, the benefits are far more reaching than just weight loss, and this diet is clearly more healthy than what a lot of people are eating today, which is fast food, and hollow calories. Some of these naysayer scientists would be wise to reconsider the most important question in all science - WHAT ARE THE RESULTS? Buy it, try it, and see for yourself

Rating:
Summary: Food quackery at its worst
Review: The diet proposed by this book is founded on a totally unscientific assumption that a low-carbohydrate and high protien diet is healthful. He demonizes insulin, which is essential to cell nourishment and life itself. Weight loss using this diet is accomplished, as can be expected, by very low caloric intake. One should definitely take multivitamins in this diet to avoid malnourishment

Rating:
Summary: Slick and bogus!
Review: P.T. Barnum may have anticipated this book with his "sucker born every minute" remark. Indeed, [e-mail], 08/06/96, [rating=1: Nutritional Misinformation and Pseudo-Science] anticipated my review. Alas, Amazon only has 1 as its lowest rating. One anecdote from the Zone book is characteristic. Supporting "evidence" is gleaned from some no-nonsense coach who "supervises" a SMALL group (less than 10) doing a Zone "experiment." There is NO control group! Compliance with the Zone protocol is based on this coach not taking any nonsense from his subjects. He takes what they report at face value; and that's the "scientific" data. Outrageous does not begin to describe this book. If only I still worked for the U.S. Food and Drug Administration to find out how much damage this book has done. The best can be hoped for is that people will ONLY waste their money on it.

Rating:
Summary: I highly recomend this book to my patients and colleagues.
Review: This book is an excellent review of the newest technology in eating. Dr. Sears explains how to eat and why. His explaination of how food affects your body is an explanation of human physiology than anyone can understand. I recomend it to my friends, patients and colleagues almost daily. Jason N. Cox M.D

Rating:
Summary: This book was the best diet news I ever read.
Review: I purchased Dr. Sears book in April of 1996. I am a diabetic and was on medication that didn't agree with me very well. The Zone Diet sounded too good to be true. But it works. I don't look at it as a diet to lose weight, but a new way of life. I believe that is what Dr. Sears had in mind, not a weight loss diet, but a change in the way we eat permanently. I've been on his diet for eight months. I've lost 40 pounds and have been on maintenance since September 1996. I haven't taken diabetes medicine since the second day of the diet and my blood sugar typically runs around 97 to 106 as opposed to the 207 it used to run. Every time I see a Type II Diabetic I want to run up to them and say, "Read Dr. Sears' book and feel better." I don't know anything about the claims he makes, but I do know that I feel better, have more energy, and have my diabetes under control. That makes the book cheap. Incidentally, I purchased two of the books for my daughters. One of them is also on the diet and has lost around 40 pounds, feels better, and I feel better knowing that maybe she will not develop diabetes. Maybe this isn't a review, but it is a testimonial.

Rating:
Summary: Revolutionary. Will change the world ?
Review: I am thoroughly and overwhemingly impressed by the book. For a recent few years I had a latent desire to find a book such as this one, which is scientific in its approach. Bingo. I find it and I am overhelmed by it. What a book ! I am on the road to implement its suggestions. Must read for each and everyone and more than that, a must do for everyone

Rating:
Summary: Sure to cause heartburn with the status quo...
Review: It's hard for horses to turn around in mid-stream. So too, I suspect, diet faddists and the medical establishment will find this book hard to swallow. Aside from the compulsive crowd, however, I suspect that most readers will sense the validity of the "foods as drugs" premise, especially in light of the dearth of proven, workable alternatives. That is not to say the book is without it's problems: Sears can't seem to curb overstatement, and is occasionally loose with statistics. On the other hand, the reader will not sense snake oil here. Something is very right, and Sears seems to have tapped a resonance here with systems as diverse as human dietary evolution, endocrinology, and lipid biochemistry. How "right" is Sears? This is probably less important than the attention he's raised in, and the breath of fresh air he's generated with, The Zone

Rating:
Summary: Nutritional Misinformation and Pseudo-Science
Review: This book is full of unsubstantiated claims, undocumented "research" (which involves "experiments" without control groups), and is tied together with dramatic statements, testimonials, and personal opinion. Despite the inconsistent descriptions Sears provides for recommended food intake, for many people being "In the Zone" means a diet of 800-1200 calories a day. While such a caloric deficit is guaranteed to result in weight loss, it is quite likely to include some loss of lean body mass and carry a risk of nutritional deficiencies as a result. Particularly laughable are Sears' side-by-side pie charts of a "typical" (extreme) high-carbohydrate diet and the Zone diet, asking readers to select the diet that is more nutritionally balanced based on the visual representation of the macronutrients in the pie charts. The sensible dieter is still advised to consult the Food Guide Pyramid, which can provide a plan for healthful lifelong eating, both in of maintaining proper weight and ensuring adequate nutrition. --Larry DeLuca, CSCS

Rating:
Summary: Carbohydrates are just "bad carba"
Review: I have been on this new way of eating (it's not a diet) for 3 months and have lost 10 lbs and 5% bodyfat. I feel better, more energy and no stomach distress. It is truly incredible what "bad" carbohydrates can do to your body. Not to worry, you get used to the "good" carbs, honest

Rating:
Summary: This book was the best diet news I ever read.
Review: I purchased Dr. Sears book in April of 1996. I am a diabeticand was on medication that didn't agree with me very well. The Zone Diet sounded too good to be true. But it works. I don't look at it as a diet to lose weight, but a new way of life. I believe that is what Dr. Sears had in mind, not a weight loss diet, but a change in the way we eat permanently. I've been on his diet for eight months. I've lost 40 pounds and have been on maintenance since September 1996. I haven't taken diabetes medicine since the second day of the diet and my blood sugar typically runs around 97 to 106 as opposed to the 207 it used to run. Every time I see a Type II Diabetic I want to run up to them and say, "Read Dr. Sears' book and feel better." I don't know anything about the claims he makes, but I do know that I feel better, have more energy, and have my diabetes under control. That makes the book cheap. Incidentally, I purchased two of the books for my daughters. One of them is also on the diet and has lost around 40 pounds, feels better, and I feel better knowing that maybe she will not develop diabetes. Maybe this isn't a review, but it is a testimonial.