A quick, easy, family-friendly cookbook for the millions of Zone households around the world . Millions of people worldwide have discovered the incredible weight-loss and health benefits of living in the Zone. For almost 10 years, Lynn and Barry Sears have maintained a completely Zone-friendly kitchen. With two daughters - one a finicky first-grader and one a vegetarian teenager - Lynn has had to use all of her creative and culinary skills to keep her family healthy and happy. Zone Meals in Seconds combines Lynn's hard-won wisdom and valuable experience with Barry's Zone expertise and medical knowledge in the first-ever family-friendly Zone book. From quick and easy family dinner recipes and snack tips, to advice on packing school lunches and surviving backyard barbecues, this book is a must-have for people who want to experience the incredible benefits of the Zone but need help answering the all-important question, 'What do I eat?'Written with the help of an experienced chef and recipe developer, Zone Meals in Seconds offers more than 200 fast and family-tested recipes for Zone-approved breakfasts, lunches, and dinners.
So I picked this book up because I've read in two different sources lately that the 40/30/30 diet is best so support health, strength and a good mood. I wanted some more suggestions for quick ways to hit those ratios. This book is FULL of weird ingredients. Not just things I can't buy at my local grocery store, but things that aren't even technically food. So many recipes called for a full cup of whey protein, the whole thing just turned me off. I want to eat good food, not some food with a ton of supplements mixed into it. Not to mention, I don't want to feed that stuff to my kids. This was my first, and sure to be my last, foray into the "zone" lifestyle.
Although this book has good information about exactly what a serving of protein or carbs consist of, the meal suggestions are a bit ridiculous. At some point, The Zone diet (I've read other books, so don't know exactly where this comes in) likes to preach that our distant ancestors didn't eat grains, so we shouldn't either. That may be true, but 2/3 of the recipes in this book call for adding whey (or egg) protein powder - I'm pretty sure our ancestors also did not have protein powder or blenders, so their "no grains" argument falls a bit flat for me.
Again, all stars are because I can actually eat things out of this cookbook, which is damn near gluten-free and very much geared toward tons of vegetables and fruits. My primary complaint is that there is a nauseating section called "The Can-Do Zone". If the name wasn't enough, the recipes are a terrifying amalgam of processed food, including lots of yummy canned vegetables, which, really, is just gross. Think cafeteria food.
This is a good introductory primer to going on the Zone Diet. While I do not use most of the recipes in this publication, the basic information revolving around "Zone" principals are laid out very clearly and easily. It served as a good precursor to reading the more scientific Enter the Zone.