Freakchylde's

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1. http://www.drsears.com/drsearspages/

   The ticket to losing weight through reduced carbohydrate intake is fairly simple— to simultaneously burn excess body fat and avoid attacking muscle tissue for energy, you have to balance your intake of protein, carbohydrates and fat.

   Your protein sources should avoid red meats (which are heavy in polysaturated fats and Omega-6 acids, which are neccessary in limited amounts, but in excess create a “bad” eicosanoid balance), and rely more along the lines of chicken, turkey (white meat), and fish (salmon is good).

   Your carbohydrate sources should come from fruits and vegetables, but the trick here is to avoid those that have high glycemic indexes (which metabolize into the bloodstream faster from the stomach and jack up your insulin levels), such as corn, potatoes, pasta and any kind of grains.

   Your fat sources should (ideally) be monosaturated fats, such as almonds, avacados, cashews, macadamia nuts, peanuts, olives and olive oil.

   When you can keep these in balance (the exact amounts are dependant upon your level of body fat, which can be calculated), your insulin levels become balanced, which, in turn, prevent excess carbs from being converted into body fat, cause your body to use the potential energy you have stored away in your body fat, and avoid eating away on your lean muscle mass for energy. In fact balanced insulin levels is the whole key to this diet.

   This is the very, very summed up thesis on the Barry Sear’s Zone Diet. And fortunately, his writing is so user-friendly and explained in lay-man’s terms, it’s ridiculously easy to understand and follow, even if you’re as undisciplined as I am.

   The Zone has been out since 96, and you should be able to buy it in paperback, and can probably find it fairly easy at a used book store. I also have The Zone Collection which has three of his follow up supplements contained in one book. He has a whole line of books which feature glycemic indexes of food, good food sources, good recipies, every piece of information you need— but you should at least pick up The Zone and read what he has to say. The man is a genius, and if America was reading him, and wasn’t so caught up in Atkin’s dietary martyrdom, we’d all be a lot healthier.

   I’ve been doing his diet, and I feel worlds better.

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   1. No offense, and thanks for the suggestions….I’ll probably check it out for various suggestions, but I’m not into the different diet trends. My problem, was that my protein intake was more than my carbs, which resulted in my body metabolizing protein as its source of energy. The problem with that was my body consistantly dealing with low sugars, which resulted in more protein being used. The result was that I was losing lean muscle mass and gaining adipose tissue to replace it (this whole thing resulted from having my body mass indexed).

      My diet change, is just a slight change in what I’m eating, not anything really specific outside of upping my carb intake to prevent the instances of low sugar (I had previously decreased this intake when I started working out). Besides, you know me, I’m a health freak. My protein intake doesn’t involve red meat (unless it’s buffalo) and my carb intake isn’t an overload.

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      1. I’ll probably check it out for various suggestions

         Yeah, seriously. You’ll find more there than you know what to do with. If nothing else, reference the glycemic indexes of foods (particularly the carbs). That will help tons in keeping your insulin/blood sugar levels under control.

         For the most part, it sounds like you’re already doing something akin to what he suggests. (But for goodness’ sake. Take your Fish oil vitamins. Believe me on this one. ::grins:: )

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