It's been years since I bought Zone bars (back during my first stint in the Zone about a decade or so ago...long story). So, with a photo trip coming up that would likely have me up before the crack of dawn most days, I figured I better stock up on some for those early mornings out in the field before I could get back for breakfast...let alone the chances that I could find a Zone-friendly breakfast in the area). Wanting some variety, I ordered several of the sampler pack. I just looked over the nutritional listings on the bars, and must admit, I'm a bit confused. Here are the values I got, in terms of grams and Zone blocks:

Sweet & Salty Nut Crunch - 24C 17P (2.7 C blocks, 2.4 P blocks)
Chocolate Fudge - 25C 15P (2.8 C blocks, 2.1 P blocks)
Cocoa Crisp - 24C 16P (2.7 C blocks, 2.3 P blocks)
Iced Oatmeal Raisin - 26C 15P (2.9 C blocks, 2.1 P blocks)
Roasted Peanut - 23C 15P (2.6 C blocks, 2.1 P blocks)

On the face of it, some seem to be better-balanced than others. I would point out, in particular, that the Iced Oatmeal Raisin seems to have nearly 3 C blocks, but barely 2 P blocks.

But, wait...I recall reading in the early Zone books that you had to subtract the fiber grams from the carbohydrate grams to get a true C count. On the other hand, those books also mentioned that around 25% of protein grams from non-animal sources would not be absorbed by the body, so one would have to correct for that as well. Doing both of these, I came up with these revised figures:

Sweet & Salty Nut Crunch - 18C 13P (2.0 C blocks, 1.9 P blocks)
Chocolate Fudge - 22C 12P (2.4 C blocks, 1.7 P blocks)
Cocoa Crisp - 19C 12P (2.1 C blocks, 1.7 P blocks)
Iced Oatmeal Raisin - 22C 12P (2.4 C blocks, 1.7 P blocks)
Roasted Peanut - 21C 12P (2.3 C blocks, 1.7 P blocks)

Once again, there's quite a disparity. The Sweet & Salty Nut Crunch seems almost perfectly balanced. The Cocoa Crisp comes close, but still has almost half-a-block more carbohydrate than protein. The others seem even further out-of-whack, with nearly three-quarters of a block more carbohydrate than protein.

Based on this analysis, it would appear to me that only the Nut Crunch would be a good bet for staying in the zone without having to add more protein, which would be difficult to do out in the field. Is my analysis correct, or is there something I'm missing? Thanks in advance.

James, all the varieties of Zone bars have been designed to provide very good insulin control and are good choices for staying in the Zone. There's more to it than simply making the numbers work out to precise amounts. In fact, the Zone encompasses a range of P/C's from 0.6 to 1 (for more info on that refer to Dr. Sears' first Zone book, "Enter the Zone"). The bars contain high qualitiy protein and other carefully chosen ingredients in proportions that provide excellent hunger control, within Zone parameters, for several hours.

For an even better experience, try the Zone cookies, the more recent generation of Zone foods. They're virtually free of AA. They are baked with the molecular baking process which results in even better appetite control. The newest generation of Zone cookie and chocolate shake, set to be released this is fall, provide superior satiety to the existing Zone shakes, bars and cookies.

Interestingly, the first thing I wrote in this thread ("it's been years since I bought Zone bars") turns out to be incorrect; upon coming across a stack of "ZonePerfect" bars in the health-food section of my local grocery, I realized that they are what I'd been using back then, assuming that they were part of the Zone diet! I see from searches here that they used to be associated with the Zone program, but haven't been for some time. (An examination of the nutritional information on some of the labels indicates that a few of their bars have a P/C ratio that would put one in the Zone, but others don't even come all that close.) Oh, well, live and learn...

As Sue said, its not jst about the numbers! The ZonePerfect brs have been reformultated so many times since Dr. Sears left that company.
And they are not advertised nor claim to balance/control hormonal release as do the Zone bars offered by Dr. Sears.
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And yes initially, you forgot to subtract the Fiber from the Total Carbs to get the net Carbs.
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But, the Protein in the Dr. Sears bars are also fully countable.
While most plant proteins are bound up and not bio-available, you do fully count Protein from Soy as well as the Protein from the whey.
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So if you re-calculate you will see that they are balanced by the numbers, although, as Sue stated, there is more to it than just the numbers.
They are also designed to control the hormonal response/insulin release/blood sugar levels.
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P.S. Try the new cookies that Sue mentioned first, before ordering a large amount.
Some of us find them WAY TOO SWEET tasting.