Comments on Cranky Fitness: Sears' Toxic Fat: The Man, the Diet, the Controver...

I am following the ideas of the Zone and KISS (kee...

2009-08-13T14:26:54.711-04:00

I am following the ideas of the Zone and KISS (keeping it simple stupid), using the plate method of a palm sized piece of protein (tofu, beans etc. are encouraged along with lean meats so not all meat), then double veggies and fruit and a small amount of fat, usually in the way of olives or nuts) I don't weigh a thing. I refuse to be anal about it as that is what got me fat in the first place.

The diet can be as easy or complicated as you want. It all depends on how you approach it.

I have found it really helps in the ways of my knees and asthma which I suspect is linked to wheat and inflammation. I can even eat his bars which are very yummy and not have an asthma flare up like I would with anything other sort of bar, treat or bread product.

So far so good. I have been doing it for almost a month and find it not difficult.

The Zone plan might not be for everyone, but there...

2009-04-20T16:41:00.000-04:00

The Zone plan might not be for everyone, but there is one diet essential that Barry Sears underscores as being beneficial to everyone: fish oil. He gives lots of info to back up the fact that it's effective at preventing and reducing inflammation. That alone seems worthy of our attention!

oh i love your blog. you know i think Sears has bi...

2009-03-28T17:55:00.000-04:00

oh i love your blog. you know i think Sears has bit of a point. i was/am a veggi but not a good one. i loved junk food eating out a lot (where most of the oil restaurants use is soy bean oil or cheap veggi oil... and soy beans have been linked to suppressing thyroid function). got fat. put on a lot of belly fat, and never cooked a meal nor made too many salads. courted inflammation in ignorance. after a long journey through auto-immune, i am coming back to a sane life as a raw veggie (80/20). and i stick to only olive oil, coconut oil, palm oil (and refrigerated flax oil in raw dishes)... a world of difference. hope he says something about liver cleansing. it is the other key in preventing degenerative diseases. (you know how many people like me who mostly eat out and eat junk and are not veggies have had their gallbladder removed? nearly half of the people i work with. wow!) he might not have the story, exactly right, but their is a definite oil and degenerative disease link. thanks for the post and a most informative blog!

Whether it's Atkins, Protein Power, South Beach, o...

2008-12-06T17:13:00.000-05:00

Whether it's Atkins, Protein Power, South Beach, or the Zone, the fundamental key result is maintaining the lowest optimum level of insulin and glucose. Both are inflammatory and are key players in the metabolic syndrome. If you wish to gain some insight into the effect of diet on disease read the "Lap-Band diet" It is the diet to be followed after the bands are placed around the stomach. In about 75% percent of the Lap-Band patients need for diabetic or cholesterol meds is suppposedly eliminated. You can be sure it's not the bands, its the diet they are now are forced to follow. Compare the Lap-Band diet to those mentioned above. Any one of them is a "piece of cake" (sorry about that) compared to the Lap-Band or any other post bariatric surgery diet.

Do some research and see how the Joslin Diabetes Clinic (Harvard) modified it's diet for obese diabetics in 2005. One might suspect that someone at Joslin had a copy of the Zone (or Proten Power, South Beach, or Atkins), read it and used what they liked.

Enough of the pickey stuff. Follow the diet that will reduce your insulin and glucose (of course you know what that will be), take enough fish oil to get at least 1500 mg/day of combined EPA and DHA, and take enough vitamin D-3 to get your blood level of 25(OH)D up to at least 100 nmol/L (periodic blood tests necessary-if you live up north you may be taking 2000-4000 IU per day).

Warning: following this advice will harm your doctor's income.

PWF

Anon, I wish you'd included your name so I could t...

2008-11-28T10:50:00.000-05:00

Anon, I wish you'd included your name so I could thank you personally for the great comment.
If I had to choose between reading a book by Sears or /anything/ written by Michael Pollan, I'd choose Pollan. No competition.

I haven't read anything by Barry Sears nor do I pl...

2008-11-28T00:05:00.000-05:00

I haven't read anything by Barry Sears nor do I plan to. I have read quite a bit about Omega 3 fatty acids though and the new Sears book is based on some old news. Because many of us eat produced food or grain fed animals we tend to have diets that have far too much Omega 6 fatty acid (also essential) in our systems. It is the ratio of omega 6's to omega 3's that matters. This ratio imbalance throws our cell walls out of whack (yes, the highly scientific explanation) and ties into some of the chronic inflammation problems people have (heart disease is one example). Anyway the shortened diagram has some truth tied to it. And there is real research to back it. Just look around and read something other than a trendy diet book that makes all kinds of promises.

I liked Michael Pollan's last book _In Defense of Food_. He doesn't outline peer reviewed research but discusses the implications of industrial food. It's a good general resource to get you thinking about some of the things that are set in motion by our food system. Don't waste your time on a diet book...instead find out where your food is coming from and what it is doing to your body. It will blow you away.

Great book review, thank you. I personally can't g...

2008-11-24T15:59:00.000-05:00

Great book review, thank you. I personally can't get past the first few chapters of any weight loss book!

Ages ago, I tried the Zone diet for part of a week...

2008-11-21T03:24:00.000-05:00

Ages ago, I tried the Zone diet for part of a week. It really was too much calculating-intensive for me to keep it up.

With all the woes attached to meat consumption... ...

2008-11-20T19:22:00.000-05:00

With all the woes attached to meat consumption... one would think eating veggies and fruits would be the panacea. Personally, aside from my love affair with chocolate and some candy bars (I know I know...) I think the best is to stick to foods that are as close to their natural state as possible. Go for organic meat whenever possible.

For me, even the Zone diet is too carb heavy for m...

2008-11-20T15:55:00.000-05:00

For me, even the Zone diet is too carb heavy for me. My intake of carbs have to be as low as possible. I do eat as much carbs from veggies and some fruits in though. I do know others that this diet has worked for.

Merry, The Twilight Zone Diet sounds perfect. I th...

2008-11-20T12:51:00.000-05:00

Merry,

The Twilight Zone Diet sounds perfect. I think that's the diet I've been on for the past 50 years - since birth or soon there after.

When will you post the review part of cancer and inflammation and obesity? I won't take it personally.
:-)

First, I have to say that I actually DID lose weig...

2008-11-20T12:49:00.000-05:00

First, I have to say that I actually DID lose weight on the Zone diet, and I felt pretty damn good, too. Because you eat so. many. freakin'. vegetables. at every meal, I was never hungry, either, even on 1200 calories a day, which was a first for me.

Second, I agree with JC about the difference between "conventionally" produced meat and grass-fed, free-range, hormone- and antibiotic-free meat. The former is bad for me. The second? Not at all. (IMO, and YMMV.)

The BIG downside to the Zone? The numbers. The counting, oh GOD, the counting. There is actually an easier way to do it, based on portion sizes on your plate: 1/3 for meat, 2/3 for veggies - something like that. I counted, because I was WAY to obssessive to just guess based on portion sizes, but if I'd done the sizes, I might have stuck with it a lot longer. (I'm actually thinking about going back to it using the portion sizes instead of the counting.)

For whatever all that's worth. :)

Ooh, you made charts! Trying to show me up, eh? :)...

2008-11-20T12:23:00.001-05:00

Ooh, you made charts! Trying to show me up, eh? :)

WOW. What a good post. We do book reviews, but I'm...

2008-11-20T12:23:00.000-05:00

WOW. What a good post. We do book reviews, but I'm not touching that one with a 10-foot pole. Please, I think you summarized it quite perfectly. :)

I find that I have a tough time following a diet w...

2008-11-20T12:14:00.000-05:00

I find that I have a tough time following a diet with lots of rules. Also, I get a little confused when one diet book comes out and contradicts another I just read...help! I agree with POD, just want a diet book for normal people!!

Um... thanks?

2008-11-20T12:12:00.000-05:00

Um... thanks?

My father was on a loose zone diet for a while. A...

2008-11-20T11:57:00.000-05:00

My father was on a loose zone diet for a while. Actually, he did Atkins, but I remember he ate Zone bars. He has gained some of the weight back, but I'm not really sure how strict he is on the diet.

Great review, Crabby, thanks!

PODI threw out a large section of the review deali...

2008-11-20T11:49:00.000-05:00

POD
I threw out a large section of the review dealing with obesity, inflammation, and cancer, but I agree there might be a connection.

Hey! If you combine the book 'Twilight' with the b...

2008-11-20T11:47:00.000-05:00

Hey! If you combine the book 'Twilight' with the book 'The Zone Diet', you get 'The Twilight Zone Diet'!

hee hee hee

Yes... I am easily amused...

Lately I've been feeling that the more I pay atten...

2008-11-20T11:03:00.000-05:00

Lately I've been feeling that the more I pay attention to all the dieting and foods and stuff that when I eat it causes me to have the reaction of feeling guilty because I ate it, is making me fatter than if I just ate like a normal person.

Is there a diet book for normal people?

Inflammation supposedly causes cancer too but that might be why they say that obesity is a huge (no pun intended) risk factor for cancers.

Wow - another diet book, another buzz word used to...

2008-11-20T10:59:00.000-05:00

Wow - another diet book, another buzz word used to promote another... "diet" book! But I want to thank you for the frank reading and for your well-researched (and explained)review. I have gone on the Zone diet a couple of times with little success and no lasting success at all. But I'm very open these days to listening to discussions about controlling "inflammation" overall - whether applicable to fat, heart disease (arteries or other organs) or the thumb I knifed chopping veggies a week ago. Thank you tons for bringing this book to my attention!

Interesting review of it! Diets just make me wary ...

2008-11-20T10:57:00.000-05:00

Interesting review of it! Diets just make me wary all around.

I pretty much agree with your thoughts on these things... there's no one size fits all and also that kind of math would drive me nuts. Math is the devil.

What a torrid title for a diet book. And the subti...

2008-11-20T10:45:00.000-05:00

What a torrid title for a diet book. And the subtitle is even worse (better?): "When good fat turns bad."

I'd almost half-expect this to be some kind of pulp fiction involving a naive librarian being lured to "the dark side."

I've followed The Zone very loosely for a while no...

2008-11-20T10:00:00.000-05:00

I've followed The Zone very loosely for a while now. I just switched over to following the Paleo Diet, but thats another story.

I actually do agree with Sears' theory of meat based proteins. But there is a huge carve out in that he doesn't really talk about the effects of industrial agriculture on the ArA in meat now. Grass-fed beef is totally different nutritionally than corn-fed beef. Tho I haven't read Toxic Fat yet, he may not be making that claim very well. Michael Pollan's "Omnivore's Dilemma" does a far better job of establishing that.

Great post, Merry.

Wow!Just poking my head back into blogland after a...

2008-11-20T09:53:00.000-05:00

Wow!

Just poking my head back into blogland after a long stretch of no web, and what a helpful review! I love the awesome graphic summary--you just saved me hours and hours of time and the cost of the book.

Had I made my way through the book (and not been away loafing on a road trip), I think I would have come to the exact same conclusions--"yes" on the statement of the problems, but "no" on the particular dietary solution proposed.

Thank you for your excellent review! And for sparing me all those polysyllabic fats.

(And I'll just throw in a massive apology to all whom I owe emails to--will be back early next week and rarin' to go!)