Chronic Conditions And Diet - In The Zone

1. Our ancestors were often hungry; they didn't eat a lot of food.  There were times of glut and times of famine, but on average they did not enjoy the abundance we take for granted today.

2. They ate whatever was in season.  The term "in season" is usually applied to fruits and vegetables, but it also applies to animals, thanks to their migration patterns and life cycles.  When the salmon are running you eat salmon; when they aren't, you don't.  They did not eat the same food every day, year after year.

3. They ate more protein and fewer carbohydrates.  Fruit was a luxury, and wild cereal grains were sparse and unreliable.

4. They ate no refined carbohydrates.  The grains they found were eaten "whole", and nuts and seeds were eaten raw.  Consequently, they ate more fiber than we eat today.

5. The carbs that they did eat contained more fructose and less glucose.  As diabetics know, rice is much worse than table sugar, because it contains more glucose.  Fructose, also known as fruit sugar, takes longer to process and does not induce an insulin spike.  Today's glucose-rich diet is much harder on the pancreas.

6. They didn't eat any artificial colors, flavors, or preservatives.

7. They didn't add spices to their foods.  Most food was quite bland by today's standards.  Spices became an important aspect of long-term food storage when people formed agricultural settlements, but again, this is a relatively recent phenomenon.  We are still ill-equipped to handle hot/spicy foods on a regular basis.

8. They didn't ingest grams of salt each day.  In fact, they were lucky to get enough of this precious mineral.  Today it is in everything from canned vegetables to breads to frozen dinners, and especially restaurant meals.

Although some of us are affected by 20th century additives, Dr. Sears, author of Enter The Zone, believes the biggest problem with modern eating habits is the unprecedented increase in carbohydrates, leading to obesity, diabetes, and other endemic health problems.  In his book he urges a balanced approach to carbohydrates and proteins, rejecting both the high carbohydrate diet of the typical American and the low carbohydrate diet that promotes rapid, and often temporary weight loss.  After much research, Dr. Sears believes the optimal diet includes 9 grams of carbohydrates for every 7 grams of protein.  In addition, carbohydrates should come from fruits, rather than cereal grains, and meals should be regularly spaced.  A meal that obeys this formula is a "Zone meal", and people who follow this relatively simple regimen are "in the Zone".  Note that many convenience foods, and even some fast foods, meet this criterion.  Wendy's Chili, for instance, is convenient, delicious, and Zone-balanced.  McDonalds, Burger King, and Taco Bell all have Zone selections.  Nobody is promoting a steady stream of fast foods, least of all Dr. Sears, but if an occasional trip to Wendy's will help you stay on the Zone diet, there's nothing wrong with that.

Some people experience a dramatic remission of a serious illness when they switch to the Zone diet, but I don't know anybody like that.  Most people simply enjoy a gradual and steady improvement in health.

My wife is above her ideal weight, and she hasn't lost an ounce on the Zone diet.  Every diet works for somebody, and no diet works for everybody.  Yet she continues to balance her proteins and carbohydrates, because it makes her feel better.  It may be helping her regulate her blood sugar, which has a dramatic impact on energy and emotions.  If this is the case she may yet avoid the insulin-dependent diabetes that plagues her mother, aunt, and grandfather.  All three have developed diabetic neuropathy, a horrible condition marked by chronic pain.  Thus I am more concerned about her blood sugar than her weight, and I'll do everything I can to help her stay "in the Zone", even if the results are not visible on the scale.

This is the first diet in my series that concentrates on macro-nutrients (proteins and carbohydrates), rather than individual foods or food additives.  If my wife tried to "figure out" which foods were affecting her blood sugar, and hence her moods and energy levels, she'd never solved the mystery.  No particular food or food additive is at fault.  The answer lies in the chemical composition of the diet as a whole.  These are the hardest regimens to deduce.  If you don't read about it in a book, you'll never figure it out on your own.

There are many other ways that food composition, or a naturally occurring food chemical, can adversely affect the human organism.  In my next article I'll discuss how fiber management saved my wife's life.  In the meantime, let me present one more example of a food sensitivity that is nearly impossible to figure out, if you haven't read about it in a book.

Many people are sensitive to MSG in high concentrations.  They avoid Chinese food, or ask the cook to "hold the MSG", and they're all right.  But some people are sensitive to MSG in lesser amounts.  These people are often unaware that MSG is present in many processed foods.  Modified food starch, soy protein, and gelatin are just three examples of "simple" foods that are actually high in MSG.  If you think free glutamates are a problem, you need to eliminate all the hidden sources of MSG, and there are lots of them.

Other examples of food-chemical sensitivities include salicylates, phenols, amines, lectins, and tannens.  These appear in some foods and not in others, seemingly at random.  We'll talk more about these in subsequent articles.  For now, let's return to the Zone.

Dr. Sears estimates 25% of us are very fortunate; we can eat carbohydrates all day long with no ill effects.  The rest of us, the other 75%, should eat what our ancestors ate, a balanced blend of protein and fructose carbohydrates.  This regimen won't do any harm, and it just might prevent a cascade of ill-health in later life.

References

Read other books by this author, including cookbooks and audio cassettes.