The Zone Diet

Is the Zone Diet or Primal Blueprint Better?

The Zone Diet as outlined by Dr. Barry Sears in the mid-90s book Enter the Zone and many bestselling Zone books since then (Toxic Fat is the most recent Zone book) was the first introduction to many of us of eating a moderate carbohydrate diet.

Dr. Atkins was advocating not eating carbohydrates at all. This does make you lose weight, but it's not a healthy or sustainable diet for the long run. Once you're on it your whole body develops cravings for carbohydrates.

You do need carbohydrates, Dr. Sears told us -- but the best carbohydrates are most vegetables and fruits, NOT the whole grains-based foods we'd been told were so healthy. Your body turns starches and excess carbohydrates into sugar, he informed us, for the first time. Eating a plate of spaghetti was the nutritional equivalent of more candy bars than we could stomach eating at one time.

Not only that, we did need protein and fat.

Dr. Sears agreed with the low-fat proponents to some degree -- he wants us to moderate intake of saturated fat. But he introduced us to "good" (what a concept!) fats -- monosaturated fats.

I Owe Dr. Sears a Lot for Creating the Zone Diet

At some point he also attacked polyunsaturated fats. He advocates eating olive oil, nuts (especially macadamias but not peanuts), olives and avocados for the monosaturated fat.

Eat adequate protein, he advises. And low glycemic vegetables and fruit in large quantities. And throw in some monosaturated fat.

The ideal ratio is to get 40% of our calories from carbohydrates, 30% of our calories from protein, and 30% of our calories from fat.

We should eat that way with every meal and snack.

He came up with several systems to help people organize this. I generally have used the "block" method. You need to eat so many blocks per day - the same number of carb, protein and fat blocks.

Barry Sears Tries to Keep the Zone Diet Accessible to Average People

A typical plan for a sedentary man is to eat sixteen blocks per days. That's three meals of four blocks each, with an afternoon and a late night snack of two blocks.

His books contain lengthy lists of how many blocks various foods contain. For example, an apple is one block of carbohydrates. One ounce of string cheese is one block of protein. One macadamia nut is one block of fat. An easy lunch would be four apples, four ounces of string cheese and four macadamia nuts. (Three of each for most women.)

Recently, Mark Sisson published his book The Primal Blueprint. To me, this takes the Zone to a new level, though of course there are differences.

Sisson goes into the differences between PB and other popular diets, including the Zone on his website marksdailyapple.com, but I don't think he does a thorough job, so I'll try.

First, I believe that Dr. Sears broke a lot of ground, and people who come after him are standing on his shoulders. I can't say for sure how I would have reacted had I read his book before the Zone, but it's safe to say I was a lot more sympathetic and open to it, because I know the Zone.

Part of what made me believe in the Zone was his contention that his 40/30/30 ratio was derived from -- and conforms to -- dietary patterns of our pre-agricultural ancestors. He used data partly from studies of what cave men ate, and partly from the documented diets of the few hunting gathering societies that remain on Earth.

It makes good sense to me that our bodies are most adapted to the way we ate for two million years before discovering we could grow wheat, corn, rice etc and raise cattle, pigs and chickens.

Both the Zone Diet and the Primal Blueprint are Based on How People Ate in the Paleolithic Era

Funny thing is, Mark Sisson makes much the same argument. Much of his book describes the lifestyle of a fictional cave man named Grok.

I have to admit, much of what he says makes sense in these terms.

Dr. Sears says the macronutrient component is most important. Therefore, balancing carbs, protein and fat is most important. If you want to get your carb calories from spaghetti, so be it. You can do that. It's not as good as vegetables, and not as filling because you can eat only a little bit, but as long as you keep it to the amount of blocks to match the protein and fat blocks, your body's hormones will stay in the Zone. And he allows non-instant oatmeal as a Zone favorable grain, because it has a low glycemic index.

Sisson (and the inventor of the Paleo diet before him) says -- don't eat grains. Period. That includes all wheat, rice, corn, soy, millet - and oatmeal.

It's unfair to say that Dr. Sears isn't concerned with the quality of food - he certainly advocates high quality carbs, proteins and nuts. But it's true that you can eat low quality foods and remain in the hormonal Zone as long as the ratio is held at 40/30/30. But you wouldn't be getting optimal nutrition and Dr. Sears doesn't advise you make a habit of it. On the hand, it's better than overeating high glycemic carbs.

In his books he stresses macronutrition, not the vitamins and minerals that most of us are used to thinking about, but he does explain that if we eat all our carbohydrate blocks as vegetables and fruits we should get plenty of vitamins, minerals and phytochemicals. And he sells a polyphenol food supplement.

It's also true that Dr. Sears has found a way to make foods that would normally be high glycemic conform to Zone guidelines, and so is selling bagels, bread and other baked goods that, in their usual form, would not be Zone favorable.

The Zone Diet Ratio is for Every Meal and Snack

Dr. Sears, having found the ideal ratio, advises us to eat within it with every meal and snack. When asked about eating a meal of just protein without carbohydrates, all he ever does is parrot-like repeat the mantra that if you eat only protein your body goes into the unnatural state of ketosis.

I was never comfortable with this. It takes more than one meal of protein to send you into ketosis -- more like a day or two, as I recall from my memory of trying the Atkins Diet. Plus, he never explains what would be wrong with it, at least in the short run.

Sisson is more relaxed here. Did our hungry primitive ancestors refrain from eating a strip of meat just because they didn't have a bunch of leaves and nuts to go with it? Highly doubtful. And if they didn't have any meat no doubt they scarfed down the leaves alone.

He advocates keeping carbohydrates low on a daily basis. Because you're not eating any grains or sugar (or low amounts of fruit sugar), your insulin shouldn't go up too high.

Dr. Sears says to eat a meal soon after getting up, and don't let too many hours go by without a Zone meal or snack. Don't go hungry.

Sisson is a fan of Intermittent Fasting, where you sometimes skip meals or entire days. This helps to keep total carbohydrates and calories low. According to some, it helps give the body a rest from digestion, giving it a chance to "clean house" by eliminating toxins and to repair damaged cells.

Sisson seems to get upset at the way Sears suggests a timetable for Zone meals and Zone snacks, as though being told what to do. I think Dr. Sears was just trying to be helpful, to show normal people how they could fit the Zone into their lives, so they'd be more likely to try and stay on it.

I couldn't use Barry's suggestions very well. I worked two jobs at that time, and often didn't get to bed until 1 AM, and certainly didn't have the luxury of eating on a schedule. Breakfast was eaten on the way to my day job. Lunch was when I could get off from my day job. Dinner was while driving from day job to night job. And I had more than a simple snack before bedtime, because I got very hungry over those seven hours. I just did the best I could, and would expect everyone else to also.

Our Paleolithic Ancestors No Doubt Practiced Intermittent Fasting, but Not Voluntarily

I don't know whether Intermittent Fasting is healthier or not, but it makes sense to me that our ancestors probably sometimes went long periods without eating.

Dr. Sears says saturated fat is bad for you just like the medical establishment says, and to minimize your intake. Primitive people ate lean meat from wild game animals.

Sisson is among those who say saturated fat has been unfairly maligned, and we need some.

Medically, I can't say. I've eat rabbit and squirrel, so I understand wild meat is lean. But it also makes sense that cave people probably eat the organ meats of animals as well, and those contain a lot of saturated fat.

Plus, Sears dismisses coconut oil, which is high in saturated fat, but it's been found to be healthy in many ways, and there's no evidence that ancient Polynesians or other people living in the tropics were harmed by drinking coconut juice or eating the white gelatin-like stuff lining the insides.

Dr. Sears came up with the block and another system for organizing meals and snacks so you stay in the Zone. It can get somewhat complicated, and you have to look up the blocks in the tables in the back of the Zone books or online.

Sisson simply refers to grams of carbohydrates per day, calling one hundred to one hundred fifty of them per day the sweet spot. This is less than the Zone, but one-hundred fifty grams of carbohydrates is only about seven blocks.

If You Know Your Zone Blocks . . . Remember One Carbohydrate Block is Eleven Grams

Plus, there's no easy way to add up these grams. Well, there're probably tables online, but not conveniently in the book or Mark's blog.

Yet, all these carbohydrates are nutricious, because none come from grain.

Dr. Sears says not to eat egg yolks and to minimize beef consumption, to avoid arachadonic acid.

Sisson says to eat egg yolks, and doesn't mention limiting beef. He does encourage eating grass fed beef rather than ordinary American beef.

I'd been wondering about this issue. Dr. Al Sears (no relation to Barry) advocates eating grass fed beef because their meat is high in Omega 3. Supermarkets now carry eggs that are high in Omega 3.

So are organic eggs and grass fed beef an exception to the Zone rule against yolks and lots of beef?

Barry doesn't address the question. He seems to assume that the only options we now have are to eat chicken-factory eggs and feed-lot beef.

On his website (not in the book), Sisson addresses this question directly. Thank you, Mark. I couldn't find it anywhere else.

Grass fed beef is healthy because it is high in Omega 3 and conjugated linoleic acid (CLA), which supposedly has anticancer properties, not arachadonic acid. Same with egg yolks from organic eggs. Eat grass fed beef and organic eggs, and keep the rest of your diet primal, and your hormonal balance should remain favorable.

The Primal Blueprint Include Exercise as Well as Diet

Dr. Sears certainly advocates exercise, but it's not part of the Zone. He's a medical researcher about food, not an exercise expert.

Sisson calls his Primal program a "blueprint," not a diet, perhaps because he does say exercise is an intrinsic part of it. But that can't be directly compared to the Zone.

Dr. Sears advocates eating just as much protein as your body needs, and then eating the equivalent amount of carbs and fats with that. And it's fairly structured because you have to eat that Zone balance with every meal and snack. He advocates not going hungry, but some people get hungry after they've finished their alloted blocks. I know I did. It may be because we didn't enough vegetables. But there's no room to eat a piece of cheese or an apple for a snack.

Sisson says to eat what you need, so long as it's healthy. If you eat plenty of beef or chicken, along with lots of vegetables, maybe some organic butter, then you won't want to eat as much, because the protein and saturated fat is filling. But if you do get hungry, it's okay to eat a slice of chicken breast, an orange, or a handful of almonds.

He also says that once your body become accustomed to eating this way, it will start to burn stored fat for energy, and then you won't be as hungry. I'm not that far along yet. According to Mark, it takes an average of three weeks, give or take a week depending on how insulin sensitive you are when you begin eating according to the PB.

Both the Zone Diet and Primal Blueprint are Superior to the Typical American Diet - They Differ on Some Details

They both agree that what Sisson called the Standard American Diet (SAD) is very unhealthy. They agree on the need to maintain a healthy level of hormones, and this calls for not eating too many carbohydrates, so insulin is kept at healthy levels. They agree on the benefits of eating vegetables and fruit, on the need for adequate protein and healthy fats, though disagree on whether unsaturated fat is healthy or not. They agree we should avoid sugar, trans fats and polyunsaturated fats. And should eat a lot more Omega 3.

To my mind, because I'm already familiar with the Zone, I see Primal Blueprint as one version of it, though that might piss them both off.

Reading PB made me think about how irrationally emotionally attached I was to getting croutons in my salads. Not really much bread, but it must have been enough to keep me yearning for them. So I've cut them out.

Soy is an issue. Dr. Sears wrote a book extolling soy for good health, The Soy Zone. However, subsequent books don't mention it, which seems strange, but he hasn't disavowed it either. Other alternative health experts say soy is not healthy. Sisson includes soy as a grain to be eliminated.

I find this tricky because I do eat Balance bars (Original line one) as cheap and convenient snacks, and they contain soy protein isolate. So do the Sears bars sold on his site.

Yet other experts believe that soy contains some healthy stuff. Would the Japanese and Okinawans eat so much of it if it's unhealthy?

Like saturated fat, I don't know for sure.

The Zone Diet is Less Radical but More Structured Than the Primal Blueprint

And it's ironic that, after all the criticism the Zone diet has taken for being too low in carbohydrates, too high in protein and fat, and that it's the caveman diet, that it's more moderate and more modern than the Primal Blueprint. I just read a blog entry on Mark Sisson's site where he said he'd just eaten nearly 60% of his calories for one day as fat. He didn't given percentages for carbs and proteins, but he ate more grams of protein than carbs, so the percentage for carbs must have been far lower than the 40% Dr. Sears advocates.

So that's about it. With Primal Blueprint over the Zone, you give up all grains even croutons, but don't have to eat so many vegetables.

You give up soy, but get to eat steak and eggs from the right sources.

You give up a strict schedule, in return for the freedom (?) to skip meals and even whole days if you choose.

And you get more freedom to eat piecemeal, as long as you don't eat too many carbohydrates in any one day. You don't have to think about how many blocks of this and that every time you sit down to have a bite to eat. As long as you stay away from grains and gorging yourself on fruit, and include protein and fats daily, you're in good shape. That makes it simpler.

Based on his pictures, Barry Sears looks like a middle-aged nerd, sort of frumpy. It's not that he looks bad. He doesn't appear to be overweight, and has a lot more hair than I do, so I can't be critical. But he doesn't like look a health inspiration either.

According to the picture in his books and the ones on his website, Mark Sisson is taut and muscular. His wife has the figure of a twenty-five year old, yet both are in their fifties. If you didn't look at their faces, you'd think they were in the twenties.

And their faces aren't bad. They aren't lined or fat or fallen. You can just tell they've been exposed to a lot more outdoor weather, so they've lost the baby face look of real twenty year olds.

When he was that young, he was a world class marathon runner putting in over one hundred miles a week. When that got too much for him, he switched to triathalons and has finished high in the Hawaiian Ironman contest.

He doesn't do that now (I'm not trying to cover the Primal Blueprint exercise recommendations, but it's not doing a lot of typical aerobics, but he's obviously in good, general athletic shape.

However, there are no such thing as "Primal Blueprint" bars or shakes (yet). If you're getting the Zone Diet meals delivered to you, you can no doubt specify that you don't want any grain foods whatsoever. Those services are very flexible.

The Zone Diet Delivery -- get Zone diet meals delivered.