The Zone -- Everyone's Talking About A Diet That Uses Food As A Drug

I GOT TO NASAI TERIYAKI near University Village just before the lunch-hour rush, so only one other customer was there, a woman sitting down after ordering.

Keeping in mind a new approach to eating I'd been hearing about, I stepped up to the counter: "One chicken teriyaki, please - sauce on the side, no rice, extra salad."

The other customer popped up out of her seat. "Oh, that's right, I forgot. No rice with mine, either!"

I thought for a second, then asked her, "Are you trying that new protein diet, too?"

"You mean The Zone?" she said. "Yes, it's great!"

That's the way it's been going. My niece calls from D.C.: "What do you know about that protein diet?" A co-worker reads that the Stanford swim team is in The Zone. A personal trainer in Bellevue calls to talk about it.

The buzz sounds even louder than when Dr. Dean Ornish hit the masses a few years back with his book, "Eat More, Weigh Less." Ornish's research into treating heart disease with a combination of exercise, stress reduction and an ultra-low-fat diet helped popularize low-fat eating.

Yet many people still aren't losing weight. Now Ornish's approach - and others that emphasize a diet high in carbohydrates - is being challenged in a bestselling book, "The Zone: A Dietary Road Map," by Barry Sears ($23, HarperCollins).

A Boston biotechnologist specializing in drug-delivery systems for cancer and heart patients, Sears agrees that Americans need to lose excess body fat to ward off disease and foster overall health. The problem, he contends, is not dietary fat. It's hormones. Specifically, insulin.

Sears claims that most people eat too many carbohydrates in one sitting, releasing too much insulin into the bloodstream, resulting in those excess carbohydrates being stored as fat. He says that although one-fourth of us can eat all the pasta we want and never gain weight, the rest are - metabolically speaking - meat, fruit and vegetable eaters like our ancestors 10,000 years ago. His simple test: Eat a big plate of pasta at noon and see how you feel at 3. If you're sleepy, you're probably carbohydrate sensitive.

Some ultra-low-fat proponents might recommend a diet that gets 15 percent of its calories from protein, 75 percent from carbohydrate and 10 percent from fat. More moderate governmental groups might advocate a 15-55-30 breakdown.

Sears proposes 30 percent protein, 40 percent carbohydrates and 30 percent fat. He calls it a "protein-adequate, carbohydrate-moderate, low-fat diet."

One's daily total amount of protein, in grams, is determined by lean body mass (based on a formula in the book). Then the relative amount of carbohydrates and fats falls into place. A few rules make it simpler:

1. Never eat more protein at one meal than fits in the palm of your hand. If your carbohydrates are dense, like bread or pasta, the portion can be about the same size as the protein. If they're "favorable" carbos - most fruits and vegetables - the portion can be twice the size of the protein.

2. Eat three meals and two snacks a day.

3. Never let more than five hours go by without eating.

4. Never eat more than 500 calories at one meal and 100 at a snack.

That last one adds up to 1,700 a day, which already would help many people lose weight. Calories, however, are not Sears' focus. He says that by using food like a drug to control insulin and other hormones called eicosanoids, we can reach The Zone, a metabolic state in which the body works at peak efficiency. In it, for four to five hours after a meal, we experience no hunger, unlimited energy and peak mental sharpness.

Big claims. Many skeptics. Some recall, mistakenly I think, old high-protein fads, which can be hard on the kidneys. Others question the conclusions linking diet, the hormonal system and weight loss. Ornish points out that Sears is not a physician (he has a Ph.D.) and hasn't published research on his program in peer-reviewed journals.

I don't pretend to be able to debate the value of eicosanoids, but I am game. I'll try this approach for the same amount of time I gave Ornish's diet a few years ago (three months) and report back.

At which time, I suppose, I should be either zoned in or zoned out.

Molly Martin is assistant editor of Pacific Magazine. ----------------------------------------------------------------- NOTEBOOK Fitness as you can use

Cravings update

If you're wondering whatever happened with my last trial run based on a diet-related book, "Why Women Need Chocolate" by Debra Waterhouse: My chocolate cravings have lessened some since I've kept Fran's Gold Bites on hand. And I'm eating less chocolate, especially of the kind that I don't especially enjoy but is available at the moment. But weight and body fat? No change.

They expected otherwise?

A study published in the American Journal of Public Health found that men who watched 41 or more hours of TV (or videos) a week were four times more likely to be overweight than those who watched no more than one hour per week.

Tip off

Summer approaches, which for many kids means lots of solo practice at a basketball hoop. Parents who would like to offer advice but feel they don't know how to coach well might find help in "You Be The Coach." The video was produced by Bob MacDonald, who's coached Bellevue Boys and Girls club teams for six years, and is endorsed by Bob Bender (Husky men's coach) and Chris Gobrecht (former Husky women's coach). It demonstrates 15 drills on shooting, 14 on passing, six on ball-handling and 18 on dribbling. $29.95, including a 48-page companion booklet; (800) 879-2889.

But how do I know it's working?

Toward our ever-diligent quest to multi-task, now there's "Subliminal Power" ($19.95), software that flashes barely noticeable messages on the computer screen, supposedly working on the subconscious mind - to lose weight, for example - while you're busy writing a letter, editing a spreadsheet or playing solitaire. Moss Bay Software in Bellevue (821-0852) offers six versions: weight loss, stop smoking, memory, relationships, business, self-confidence. You can also program your own affirmations. Already I've noticed a strange urge to drink Coke and eat popcorn.

Send comments to On Fitness, Pacific Magazine, Seattle Times, P.O. Box 70, Seattle, WA 98111, e-mail mmar-new@seatimes.com or call 464-8243. ----------------------------------------------------------------- Seeking `The Zone'

"Before" and "after" examples from Molly's diet show some of the differences when switching from a conventional low-fat, high-carbohydrate diet to Barry Sears' higher-protein approach: .

Before The Zone.

Breakfast.

1 bagel with low-fat cream cheese.

1/2 cup grapefruit juice.

black tea with milk. .

Snack.

2 oz. pretzels. .

Lunch.

5 ounces chicken teriyaki with sauce.

2 cups steamed rice.

1 cup salad with dressing.

1 1/2 cups iced tea. .

Snack.

3 oz. cheese.

6 crackers. .

Dinner.

1 cup mixed salad with fat-free dressing.

2 rolls with olive oil for dipping.

8 oz. salmon.

3/4 cup mashed potatoes.

8 oz. wine. . . .

In The Zone.

Breakfast.

3/4 cup lowfat cottage cheese.

1/2 cup crushed pineapple.

1/2 cup grapes.

2 cups herbal tea or water. .

Snack.

1 oz. lowfat mozzarella.

1/2 apple . .

Lunch.

3 oz. chicken teriyaki, no sauce.

3 cups salad with dressing.

2 cups herbal tea or water. .

Snack.

2 hard-boiled egg whites.

1 cup strawberries. .

Dinner.

2 cups mixed salad greens with low-fat dressing.

5 oz. salmon.

12 asparagus spears.

4 oz. wine.

2 cups herbal tea or water.