Last summer and into December, I followed the Zone with negative results. In April, I stumbled upon the 40/30/30 way of eating and have had positive results. What is the difference. They seem very similar. I have seen the science behind both, but am confused as to why I had bad results with one, and not the other.

whats this 40/30/30 you talk about?

40/30/30 is just basically the balance of carbs, protein and fat in any given day. Your daily caloric intake should be 40% carb, 40% protein and 30% fat.

The Zone starts with that balance, but it is important to balance every meal and snack, rather than just coming out at 40-30-30 at the end of the day. My guess regarding your results is that perhaps you needed further adjustment, either more or less carbs than what you were eating on the Zone. Just a guess, though. Would need much more information on what your "negative" result was.

Thanks for clearing that up Cranberrycat... So the zone is a 40/30/30 diet in which ALL meals are balanced rather than the total amount of food consumed per day...

In a matter of speaking, I would say yes. But, a few more things to consider: 40-30-30 does not take the "types" of foods into consideration, whereas there is a defined food list in the Zone, where some foods are preferred over others (although nothing is actually "banned"). Also, the 40-30-30 balance is really just the beginning, there are those who must tweak things to really get into the Zone.

Cranberrycat,
Gotcha, I was just curious... I most def a zone fan!

Hi Em,

Dr Sears has written that he regrets originally having referred to the Zone as 40/30/30, because it has mostly only served to confuse a lot of people. Those percentages merely represent the middle of the Zone range. As was already mentioned in this thread, a soon as one adjusts to meet their specific needs, they are no longer eating a 40/30/30 balance.

Sue,
thats what i figured... I was just curious about this whole 40/30/30 thing i never heard it before until i told a friend i was doing the zone and she said that it was the 40/30/30 diet... i was confussed for a second but you guys already cleared it up...
i dont thin ki could ever switch the zone for any other life style!

Oh... I didn't know that! I thought a 40,30,30 diet was for every meal just as in the Zone. Learned something new.

Hi Linda,

It's my understanding that when spoken of in general terms 40/30/30 does usually mean at evey meal.

My understanding of the 40-30-30 diet is that the total distributed in the correct ratio at the end of the day, and that an individual meal didn't have to be balanced.

40-30-30 was a diet that was created back around 1997 or so. It was created by a couple of people that used to work for Dr. Sears and then tried to "simply" the Zone calculations by using percentages instead of the "blocks" that the Zone uses. In other words, make sure 40% of your calories come from carbs, 30% from protein and 30% from fats. And of course when you select the good carbs, proteins and fats, you maintain the proper balance of insulin to glucagon and you are hormonally optimum. If you are overweight, it means you will lose any needed weight rather effortlessly. The basic principles of the two diets are the same.

There was a book on it published (40-30-30 Fat Burning Nutrition) and it appears to be out-of-print because you cannot buy it direct from Amazon, though there are ample used copies available through Amazon resellers.

Personally, I would rather support the creator of the diet (Dr. Sears) rather than others that are profiting from his success. The hard work was in creating the diet, not re-packaging it.

And in my opinion, Dr. Sears simplifies applying the zone quite easily with rules of thumb that are very simple to apply. He describes it in one of the videos concerning Manuel Uribe (see http://www.zonediet.com/OurFaithful...ult.aspx).

Essentially, divide your plate into thirds. Take a good protein source the size of the palm of your hand (no larger and no thicker). That goes in the first third. Then fill, actually "overflow" the volume of the other two thirds with
good carbs (good fruits & veggies ) and then add a small amount of heart-healthy, mono-unsaturated fat.

OK, I'm a little confused here. I use Diet Pro to track my food, so it is actually easier for me to work with percentage ranges than it is to work with "blocks". What are the numbers we are really aiming for? Within the carbs, how much should sugar and how much complex carbs should we try for?

Hi Roxann,

Your best bet will be to stick mostly with the favorable carbs on the Zone Food Block list. As for using Diet Pro, the actual numbers you aim for will depend upon your personal balance. One balanced block contains 7 grams Protein, 9 grams insulin stimulating carb (insulinstimulating carb = total carb minus total fiber) and 3 grams fat. Keep in mind the numbers won't tell the whole story. Most important will be how you feel 4 hours after you eat the meal. A meal can look perfect on paper, yet not keep a person in the Zone due to how their personal biochemistry is effected by the specific foods in the meal (especially the carbs).

i thought they were both the same thing.........do you happen to know the name of that company that wanted to do their own thing because i think i am with them??? i thought they were together.........the name of the shake i drink as a meal replacement is called 40/30/30, but they do teach about the blocks too.

I thought that I read in "Enter the Zone" than 1 fat block was 1.5g vs the 3g I am reading about here. Did I miss something?

Many thanks!

<div class='NTForums_Quote'>Posted By David on 11/09/2008 3:34 PM

I thought that I read in "Enter the Zone" than 1 fat block was 1.5g vs the 3g I am reading about here. Did I miss something?

Many thanks!
</div>

Hi David!

3g Fat is the TOTAL Fat required per block (7g) of Protein.
However, most all Low-Fat protein inherently has about 1.5g Fat.
So you must add an additional 1.5g of healthy Fat to get to the 3g Fat required (per block).

Also note that if you do not consume a low-fat (favorable) protein, you must consider the additional fat in that Protein.

I'm a newbie, and trying to make sense of this 40/30/30 thing, without much success.
As I understand it from the original Zone book, a block of protein = 7g, a block of carbohydrates = 9g, and a block of fat = 1.5g. If I convert these to calories, protein has 4cals/g, so a block = 28cals; carbs have 4cals/g, so a block = 36cals; and fat has 9cals/g, so a block = 13.5cals. To derive the % of each in a 1:1:1 relationship, I add them up to 77.5, and divide that into each component's calories. Protein = 28/77.5 = 36%; carbs = 36/77.5 = 46%; and fat = 13.5/77.5 = 17%. As a crosscheck, 36+46+17 = 99%, pretty close. So, based on this I would call this a 35/45/20 diet. Help!

Part of the problem is that the fat isn't calculating correctly. As a 40/30/30 diet, the fat is actually 3 grams per block. In the Zone, it is assumed that the protein block will also have some fat, and so we would add another 1.5 g of fat to equal the 3 g of fat. If you try that figure in your formula, it should work out more closely.