Block Party -- Lunching In The Zone With Author Barry Sears

ACCORDING TO THE PUBLISHER, Barry Sears' book "The Zone" has sold more than 1 million copies. By Sears' own estimation, for every 100 people who bought the book, 50 read it, only 10 tried the diet it describes, and just one or two thought it was easy to do and worked great.

"That means 98 percent didn't get it," says Sears. He's tried to remedy that situation with "Mastering The Zone" ($25, ReganBooks). It cuts back on scientific explanations and includes 200 pages of meal plans and recipes, all geared toward providing 30 percent of calories from protein, 40 from carbohydrates and 30 from fat.

Sears says those proportions help even out the body's release of hormones, such as insulin, helping us think better, perform better, look better - and never be hungry between meals. Many people are sold on the diet, though I had mixed results when trying it last summer, and nutrition and medical professionals are hardly lining up to endorse it.

When Sears passed through town promoting his new book, I saw the chance to not only hear the re-tooled message straight from the horse's mouth, but also to see what goes into that mouth.

Our downtown lunch at ObaChine started auspiciously enough, from a Zone point of view: no bread on the table. If it had been there, we wouldn't have touched it. By choosing low-density carbohydrates (most vegetables and fruits) instead of high-density ones (grains, starchy vegetables), Sears says, we can eat three

times as much.

What could we eat? "Anything you want," Sears said. "When it comes to the table, then we have to make some decisions."

For an appetizer to share, I ordered the ObaChine Cured Salmon Sushi Roll ($7.95), hoping the rice would test that ideal protein-to-carbo ratio. But each of the seven pieces came wrapped with a thin slice of smoked salmon, and Sears figured one piece equaled one meal "block" (7 grams of protein, 9 grams of carbohydrate, 3 grams of fat).

From previous calculations of lean body mass, he knew he should have a four-block lunch, and I was aiming for three. "So," Sears said, looking over the sushi plate. "We've got a problem." By Zone rules, if he ate four pieces and I ate the other three, that would be it for our lunch. Two entrees were already on their way.

"Doggie bag?" I ventured.

"Exactly," Sears said. I downed one piece and he two, leaving four "hormonal touch-ups" for snacks later.

His entree, ObaChine Cured Salmon Salad ($11.50), ringed watercress with more strips of salmon. Sears thought he needed a little more volume, though, so he ate another piece of sushi as well.

My Baby Scallop Salad ($9.95), served atop Thai glass noodles in three radicchio bowls, were Zone-favorable if I avoided the noodles. But the quantity was too much to stay below the Zone ceiling of 500 calories per meal. So Sears said I should eat just one, sans noodles. That left me with two more snacks to take home.

With his new book Sears seems to be addressing those who became rigid about proportions and blocks: "People shouldn't be obsessive about how they construct their meal, but pay attention to how they feel afterward."

Other changes I find encouraging: Sears has cut his ties with the energy bars sold through marketing associates whose energetic recommendations were, I felt, tainted by the possibility of a conflict of interest. His new Web page (http://www.Eicotech.com/) includes Zone-related news, research, questions and answers, testimonials, an interactive Zone nutritional calculator and (my favorite part) critic's corner, where Sears responds to articles that question his conclusions. It could be even better - and a sign of Sears' confidence in those conclusions - if it also included the original critical articles. (Information also is available by calling 800-346-2703.)

But as Sears dashed off from ObaChine to a TV interview, and I waited for my hormonal touch-ups to be packed, I faced an obstacle common, for me, when trying The Zone diet: Not quite reaching that comfortable feeling of fullness. Maybe it was those dense rice carbohydrates; perhaps Sears might have said I needed more fat; but I easily could have finished the rest of the sushi and scallop bowls.

That might have been the shortest-lived doggie bag in history.

Molly Martin is assistant editor of Pacific Magazine. ----------------------------------------------------------------- NOTEBOOK

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Stair machine tips

You can make your stair-machine workouts more effective simply by not leaning as much on the handrails (they're for balance and safety, not support). In Fitness magazine exercise physiologist Richard Cotton estimated that if you lean on the handrails, you're burning 20 percent fewer calories than the electronic readout indicates; if you lean and lock your elbows, you're burning up to 70 percent less calories. Try a session taking large steps without using the handrails at all (assuming you can keep your balance); you might be surprised how much more difficult the workout can be.

The puller of suggestion

"Just a thought" from Allen Welsch of Shoreline, who thought my column about the WaterRower rowing machine begged the question: "Do you have to go to the bathroom after rowing for several minutes?"

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