Well written, well researched, but not what it purports to be, nor what many consumers think they are buying. This book is simply an endoresement of Barry Sears "The Zone" diet, which the auther himself wholeheartedly supports. He even confirms that The Zone is how he lost and maintains his weight. If you want a book that does no more than describe why The Zone works, buy this one. But if you want a plan to meet your goals, look elsewhere.

For those lucky people who eat as much and whatever they want and gain no weight - Starch Madness is not for them. However for those us who cannot seem to lose weight no matter how little we eat or how much we diet - READ THIS BOOK.

An easy to read book that quickly summarizes the theory and past leadership theories of nutrition and benefits of healthy eating. Has backup data and simple conceps to follow for a healthy diet. The diet is relatively easy to follow, compared to other diets and uses many concepts of leading diets

I've been a vegan for years and I was excited that there was finally a vegan version of the protein-diet. This plan got me eating soy several times a day, at least twice the amount of my usual habit. A couple of months into this diet, I developed a very bad eczema-type skin condition, coupled with a very bad depression. Unfortunately, it didn't occur to me that my problems could be the result of a soy allergy until later in the year (since I've had a history with bad skin and depression), so I endured almost 8 months of abject misery. Another symptom of this plan seemed to be that I actually gained weight.

So, I just want people who undertake this plan to be aware that if you experience weight gain, bad skin and depression, you may have an allergy. And, no, I haven't found a more suitable vegan weight-loss plan yet.

I've tried the very low-fat Ornish diet and very low-carb Protein Power diet, and this diet definitely makes me feel the best, and it does work for losing weight at a safe rate. I mostly just throw together a meal with my favorite soy and veggie foods, as the recipes given can get a little complex (10+ ingredients usually). This book also finally got me to give up being a junk-food vegetarian, and got me to appreciate fresh vegetables. I highly recommend this book to any vegetarian who wants to lose weight and/or gain energy. Good Luck!

I recently had my baby and since I'm breastfeeding, my hormones are still out of control. I was a bit depressed and feeling exhausted all the time. I was seaching the internet for information on hormonal imbalance and how to help in a natural way. I found out that soy is among the best source for women in menopause, to help balance their hormonal imbalance. I said to myself, I'm not menopausal (I'm 26), but I'll try to include soy in my diet, and hope it will help balance my hormonal changes. Besides, vegetarian diets are supposed to be healthy. But the problem with vegetarian diets is that if you are a vegetarian, especially if you are a vegan, you might not be getting enough protein on a standard high-carb diet, and this way of eating has left me with lots of cravings, mood swings, and I was not losing those pregnancy pounds that easy. So I decided to take the Soy Zone approach, for a low carb way of eating. The great thing about the soy zone, is that it goes beyond any fad diet of high protein consumption. It goes for a balance, not too cold, not too hot, but in a perfect balance. And this is great for those hormones going out of control. It works. There has been only a week that I have tried it, and my mood changed dramatically, and best of all, I have more energy. I'm also excercising and doing yoga (whatever my daughter allows me to do if she is not hungry or crying). But the Soy Zone system has helped me feel a lot better. To me, this way of eating is by far the best for energy, hormonal balance, cravings (I have very few compared to before), creativeness (I get more creative in cooking discovering many spontaneous dishes I can do with veggies and tofu), and overall wellbeing. Don't see this as a diet, but take its principles, and add them to your lifestyle. It's the healthiest thing you can do for yourself.

_The Low-Carb Cookbook_ and _Living Low Carb_ are two of the most consulted works on my cookbook shelf, but _The Good Fat Cookbook_ is comparatively thin in content, and conspicuously packed with plugs for specialty health food supplements. (Yes, you could pay $70 a gallon for "virgin" coconut oil - or maybe pick it up from a warehouse club, Asian market or restaurant supply house?) The book also strays considerably from Low Carb dietary principles - which may cause some confusion for some LC'ers who have come to equate the author's nutritional works with a Low Carb philosophy. From a strictly subjective viewpoint, it's disheartening to see the author "move on" or tweak her nutritional philosophy in this direction - hight carb plus high fat reads an awful lot like "have your cake and eat it, too." Gone or nearly gone from the author's latest here is beef, pork, and an elegant array of menus with an emphasis on a variety of popular flavors - "in" are canned, salted and smoked fishes galore (despite the mercury-in-fish issue, Omega-3 rich seafood dominates the non-vegan entrees), breakfasts that would use up a month of atkins allowances and, I'd argue, a fair number of dishes that just seem like quirky, minimalist experiments in fusion cusine. Watermelon sandwitches with goat cheese? Brocolli in Peanut Butter (sans Asian spices, even)?

Also, the Usenet acronym "post proof or retract" (PPOR) was my gut response to some of the authors' health claims, especially those about irradiation. McCullough claims that since embarking on a massive national food irradiation program, that 10% of its population (yes, 10%!) now dies of liver cancer. These kind of claims demand painstaking citation, especially in the context of a book that prominently advocates a plethora of commercial health food products. (I'm just as skeptical of big health food/Peta/vegan/whatever claims as big agricorp claims, and you should be, too!)

The ever shortening half-life of dietary fads and taboos make for strange bedfellows - pp 155-156 warns ominously of the potential ill effects of most soy products, and yet this book is forwraded by the same Dr. Barry Sears who made a big hit with his book _The Soy Zone_ not two years ago.

In short this book veers into faddishness and product touting to a degree that just wasn't the case with the author's previous works, which I believe *remain* some of the very best nutrition-minded cookbooks out there, for those who have "failed on low fat".

For years I have been trying to learn about nutrition. I've always thought that there was more to it than just eating "low-fat." A nutritionist at my college's health center simply handed me a copy of the old food pyramid. I was frusterated that I'd never learn the real details for myself. But I finally FOUND IT! THANK YOU Fran McCullough for knowing that not all of us are just mindless cattle!! Thank you for realizing that some of us are interested in more than just being told to "eat your veggies" or given a bunch of low-fat recipes! After reading this book, I feel EMPOWERED to make healthy food decisions for myself, with or without a recipe! I UNDERSTAND now what I should be putting into my body, specifically. There aren't a LOT of recipes in this book, but there are just enough to get me started. Now I have the knowledge to create my own recipes as well as the ability to decide whether the recipes in other cookbooks are really good for me or not!! There are a lot of diet cookbooks out there that have recipes that aren't really good for you, but just prey on people who want to lose weight and just want to be told what to do. Now I won't be duped ever again. This book is a MUST for every human being on earth. It's not just about being thin...it's about being HEALTHY!

As much diet discussion guide as cookbook, McCullough's ("The Low-Carb Cookbook") newest presents the latest scientific thinking on fats - processed hydrogenated, versus natural animal and vegetable, saturated and unsaturated, trans fats and butter and lard and vegetable oils. And not only does she make it comprehensible, she's even witty. She talks about why Americans are fatter than ever, why it's good for us to eat things we like (as long as they're not "reduced-fat anything," frozen dinners and processed foods). There's advice on supplements, discussions of pollution contaminants, like mercury in fish, reviews of ingredients from canned fish to dairy products and oils from avocado to safflower.

Recipes - the second part of the book - offer 100 dishes, breakfast through dessert, from Coconut Waffles to Moroccan Red Pepper Soup, Smoked Trout Salad with Grapefruit and Avocado, Smoothies, Tuna Burgers and Buffalo Chili. A clear, concise, accessible and in-depth introduction to low-carb, good-fat nutrition thinking.

I was very much looking forward to a restricted-carb diet for vegetarians, but found this plan difficult to figure out. Unless you are familiar with Zone theory from Sears' previous books, don't buy this the night before you hope to start the diet. There is no "shortcut" chapter that boils everything down for you, so it will take a few hours to puzzle out the plan. You may also need to make a trip to a health food store for some of the more bizarre items ("stevia extract," I'm looking at you).

A big problem with the book, however, is that virtually all of the recipes are designed to create one "4-block" portion-the standard portion for men. If you are a woman on this diet, you will need to convert all recipes to a standard "3-block" portion. Get out your calculators, ladies, because you'll need to figure out things like what 75% of 2-2/3 teaspoons of olive oil is.

On the plus side, the diet seems much more balanced than other restricted-carb plans (no unlimited fatty foods or other common-sense-defying meals) and there are lots of fruits, vegetables, and calcium sources.

I bought this book about a year or more ago. I have read it about 3 times, which is amazing in itself because I am not a big reader.

While I can't say I follow all the "soy zone" rules, I do keep them in mind when preparing meals. I still haven't gotten the hang of figuring out blocks and all that stuff. So I do a lot of guesswork, and basically have cut out a lot of the "bad" carbs I used to depend so heavily on as a vegetarian.

The recipes in this book are NOT useful at all. There are a couple that I can manage, and I usually change stuff around a lot. I wish the author would invest in a really good chef to put together recipes that I can actually use on a daily basis. Maybe they will re-write this book in the future....I would hope so!

Since my half-hearted attempt at aiming my diet towards the "soy zone" - I have lost 7 pounds without even trying hard. Also, I usually get sick 3-4 times per year, and I haven't been sick at all since practicing bits and pieces of the soy zone.

I wish I could get more into counting blocks and using the recipes. But it may just have to wait for a future version of this book. In the meantime, I plan on sticking to the guesswork, which seems to be working for me.

I've been on the Zone diet for four or five years now, have lost 135 lbs. (!), and have never felt better in my life. I've recently begun incorporating more soy protein in my diet as a result of reading this book, and I love it.

I've learned how to prepare Zone meals that are quick, easy, and delicious (I never follow the recipes in the books, as they are too complicated). For breakfast, I have a Zone drink.... Nothing could be easier. They come in chocolate or vanilla, are delicious, and satisfy me for four or five hours. You could also make an omelet with Egg Beaters, soy cheese (delicious!), and vegetables. For snacks, try soy nuts (toasted soy beans) with raisins and almonds, or an ounce of soy cheese with unsweetened apple sauce and almonds. For lunch and/or dinner, I've found that stir-frying is the way to go; say, tofu with black beans and your favorite vegetables (I'm partial to onions, broccoli, and cabbage). Or bake some cod (pour a little lemon juice, soy sauce and ginger over it), then stir-fry some vegetables. Or just open a can of tuna, add olive oil, maybe some balsamic vinegar, and garbanzos (chickpeas).

I suggest you look through the list of "favorable" foods in the Zone books, pick out your favorites, memorize how much of these foods equals one block (not as hard as it sounds), buy some spices (soy sauce is a lifesaver for me, as are ginger, oregano, basil, and garlic powder), and just have fun experimenting with combinations. You'll be making up your own quick and easy recipes in no time. If I can be of further help, feel free to email me.

This is a horrible book; the other Zone books are much more useful. The recipes are best avoided; the "Did you know?" section about each food is irritatingly trite; the information content of the book is low. The only interesting thing to mention is that the quantities of various foods required to make up a "Zone block" have altered considerably since Sears published "Enter the Zone" in 1995. The pattern seems to be that (1) the recommendations for fat are doubled to 3 grams (but the number of peanuts that is said to fulfill that recommendation remains at 6), and (2) the amounts of high-fiber vegetables have increased enormously, for example "artichoke, 1 medium" becomes "artichoke, 4 large", "broccoli, 1 cup" becomes "broccoli, 3 cups", "spinach, 4 cups" becomes "spinach, 20 cups". The curious statement that 1/2 nectarine is equivalent to 1 peach remains, however (a puzzle to botanists everywhere).

i am a zone follower and i think that the zone is a great lifestyle to follow but i was defintetly disappointed in this book. all of dr. sears other books about the zone have been great but i found this book to be a repeat of the other books.. i wish i had of saved my money....i would suggest everyone buy a week in the zone..it is a great book...much better buy than this book!

Understanding "The Zone" is one thing. Developing menues, based on "The Zone", is another thing. Thank you, Dr. Sears, for providing so many alternatives for those of us who have neither the imagination nor the time to develop such recipes on our own.

The amount of research necessary to create such a variety of recipes is more than I could possibly do on my own, and greatly enhances the pleasure of being in the zone.

The book,"The Zone", provides a thorough explanation of the concept. This book, which, along with the recipes, contains brief explanations of the "zone" concept along with tables and charts, is an excellent complement to "The Zone", and I recommend it highly.

This is the paperback edition of the book that appeared earlier in hardcover as "The Anti-aging Zone" (in my opinion, a better title). I suggest that it is better to read "Enter the Zone" instead of or before reading this one. I have reservations about recommending this book because there are some obvious mis-statements that should have been caught by an editor, a great deal of boring repetition, and some very stretched analogies (e.g. pages 32 and 50). The persistent reader might reach a point where they are rewarded by more details of biochemical mechanisms than are given in the earlier books. The tables of food amounts are different from those in the other books and appear to be intermediate between the earlier version of "Enter the Zone" and the later amounts of "The top 100 zone foods".

Yep. I eat lots of potatoes and cabbage because it works from the inside to help with that youthful appearance, and "The Age-Free Zone" is crammed-packed with meals for home, fast food, and the mind. The author has provided a real service for people who are willing to pay the small price for the personal attention and time it takes to feel good and look youthful. This reviewer believes that positive, spiritual food for the mind is the most important model for slowing the aging process. Personal observation seems to indicate that people infected with tunnel vision, negativity, and those usually very serious about everything constitute the front lines of aging. Our physical existence resides in a world of polarity, decay, and re-birth. We may not be able to reverse aging, but this work sure will help with retarding this enemy of youth.

Type Fish oil/Omega 3 on your favorite search engine-and look what comes up.

This guy is trying to sell his Fish oil supplement like mad.
How much faith can you place in a book like this when it's clear this man has a tremendous vested financial interest?

The book does summarize interseting research on omega 3 fatty acids. However, it can at times be one sided.

For example, he lauds the value of omega 3 fatty acids in psychiatric disease, but newer studies (by the National Institutes of health) have FAILED to show any positive effect.

I'm a firm believer in the Zone way of eating but the recipes in this book are truly ridiculous. The book starts out with a good and basic explanation of the Zone principles however that's where its practicality ends. The recipes are all built on the same principle--veggies for carbs, lean meat or poultry for the protein, then throw in some nuts or oil for the fat. The only variety are the types of veggies and maybe the method of cooking. The "dessert" recipes, for example, are just different kinds of fruit on cottage cheese. Same with the breakfast recipes--I really don't need twenty different recipes for omlets spelled out for me. Simply reading the Zone explanation would give anyone enough knowledge to put together the kind of meals that are presented in this book. This book would only be valuable as a bare-bones introduction into the Zone and even for that purpose "40-30-30 Fat Burning Nutrition" by Gene & Joyce Daoust would be a much better choice.

First of all - don't get me wrong: I am a big fan of the Zone diet, and a large part of the reason for that is it's relatively easy to understand and to integrate into my lifestyle without any really onerous sacrifices. I have even been able to concoct Zone-friendly foods that are acceptable to my 12-year old son, who is a somewhat finicky eater. So all kudos to Dr. Barry Sears, the creator of the Zone principles.

Furthermore, there is an obvious need for a Zone cookbook - As Barry Sears says in the introductory chapter, "The biggest complaint about the Zone Diet is that it takes too much time. No longer. If you follow a few simple rules and use the recipes provided in this book, it will now take you only minutes to enter the Zone."

Just one problem: the guy whom Sears hired to put together this recipe book, "Scott C. Lane, an exceptionally talented culinary expert who is also trained in the most advanced food technology," has apparently done all his cooking in a laboratory, and never prepared a thing in a home kitchen.

First off, because most of the recipes rely exclusively on the low-density carbs (vegetables & fruits), the resulting proportions are absolutely laughable. Ten of the 12 omelette recipes in the first 20 pages suggest making omelettes with 1/2 c. of egg white (I estimate you get a pan diameter of about 5 inches with that) and filling it with 6-8 cups of cooked vegetables - "spoon vegetables onto half of omelette; fold over and cook 2-3 additional minutes." Has Scott ever tried this? I'm thinkin' this "omelette" looks like a mountain of vegetables with a little white lace doily on top. One recipe (p. 35) calls for 1/2 c. egg whites, and (I kid you not), 2 oz chicken, 1.5 c. onions, 3 c. bean sprouts, 4 c. mushrooms and 10 c. spinach - a total of 19 cups of omelette fill. Yes, I know spinach reduces a lot in volume when you cook it, but come ON! Even without ANY of the spinach there are 9 cups of contents for the 1/2 c. of omelette wrap.

And that's just for one single portion!! I'm cooking for three every night. I guess Scott has access to an industrial kitchen with restaurant-size pots, but I don't have the storage space for vats big enough to make these recipes for my family! If I followed the recipe on p. 35 literally, I would need room to cook 3 x 19 c. = 57 c. of vegetables. Lord help me if we were the typical family of four - we'd be talking about 76 cups! A little impractical, don't you think?

The ridiculous thing is, these recipes didn't have to be so stupid. All you have to do is convert some of the low-density carbs into a small quantity of high-density carbs, like 1/4 c. of kidney beans or potato; and in fact, 2 of the 10 omelette recipes do just that. When I make one of the stir-fry recipes, I convert part of the pile of low-density carbs into 1/2 c. of brown rice or barley in the bottom of the bowl. Simple, obvious - inexplicably overlooked in this book.

Second, Scott obviously has good help in his kitchen. Many of his recipes require sauteing 1/2 the recipe in one pan, mixing the other half of the ingredients in a bowl, sauteing them in a second pan, then combining the two halves of the recipe. Scott, honey - get a clue from Kraft and Betty Crocker: people prefer to minimize the number of dishes they do after dinner. We don't all have kitchen assistants to clean up after us like you do.

Third, lots of his recipes have way too many ingredients (e.g., p. 83 - 18 ingredients) and far too much chopping, mincing and slicing thinly to be made speedily. And since that is supposedly the reason for this cookbook (remember the "Meals in Minutes" title)... one has to wonder what they're doing in here.

Finally, some of his seasoning is a bit "precious." For example, on p. 48 - 1/8 teaspoon of red wine. I don't think I've ever SEEN a 1/8 teaspoon measure, let alone would I bother to own one. And since that red wine, combined with 1/8 teaspoon of Worcestershire sauce, is supposed to flavor a full 10 cups of food, I'm skeptical it's even worth the trouble. On p.70, along with the hearty enhancements of garlic, Worcestershire sauce and celery salt, he "spices" the meal with 1 tblspn of "lemon- or lime-flavored spring water." Come on, Scott, it's a taco salad - let's go wild and make it full-strength lemon zest or juice! Granted, this is more of a minor annoyance than a major complaint, but it just reinforces the point that the recipe author is way out of touch with his readership here.

On the other hand, the recipes are marginally useful in getting a feel for how to work with the "block" balancing system. And ironically, the non-recipe chapters of the book are very useful - basically an abridged version of the detailed teachings from the original books. So for those two reasons, I'd give the book 2 stars overall - not useless, but certainly not nearly as good as it could have - and should have - been. I hope Dr. Sears will try again - perhaps this time in collaboration with someone like Good Housekeeping, where they know how to create recipes that actually work for today's busy lifestyles.

I think this book is an excellent complement to Mastering the Zone. There are a great variety of delicious zone meals. I have begun using frozen vegetables to speed up cooking time and mixing up the sauces for increased dish variety. The snack ideas have also come in quite handy.

This book should get the prize for completely BAD representation of information. I am a total zone convert, it has changed my life, but if I had this book to start with, it would have hindered, NOT helped me in my path. Most of the measurements are not helpful, they are not consistent. Some are in cups, some are in ozs, some in slices, all in decimal amounts (where is my .1 cup measure?). They are in block amounts rather than serving amounts. (Is it useful to know that .8 of a 3/4 oz slice is 1 block? or is it useful to know how much 1 slice is???). Some items are in the wrong group. Ice Cream is a *protien* rather than a carb as it belongs. The foods have a decidedly east coast bent as many of the foods listed are either not available on the west coast, or common west coast brands are missing.

I was really looking forward to this book to help out friends and family members that want to start the zone. I was very disappointed. Mastering the Zone still represents the best effort by Dr. Sears, though I would hope that before he is allowed to write again, that he gets an qualified editor that can help in the presentation of ideas.

After reading Dr. Sears' other two books, I was glad to come across this reference guide for staying in The Zone. I admit some of the portion sizes are a bit goofy, but why not invest in a ... digital kitchen scale if you're serious about conquering The Zone? I like being precise with my food blocks and enjoy going thru this book, looking for specific foods and adding them to my self-created food block quick list that I keep up on my refrigerator. It's a little bit of obsessive work, but the end results are far worth it.
My only complaint is the size--I wish this book was published in a size compact enough to fit in a purse or briefcase.
Other than that, if you're serious about The Zone and have read Dr. Sears' other books, it's easy enough to figure out what are favorable and non-favorable carbs as so many people mentioned in other reviews. And when in doubt--stick with (most) fruits and veggies and you'll be fine.

The Zone Food Blocks book is very organized. Easy to use. However, it's not the most updated source - I would utilize the Dr. Sears website for the most part. I do believe that this book comes in handy when you can't find the food item on the website. I keep it with my cookbooks!