Hello all. Just recently I started the zone diet, and found these forums. After reading a few it looks like there are a lot of very knowledgeable people on here. I have so many questions I'm not sure where to start actually.

It's been less than a week I've been on the zone diet. Very odd feeling. First 2 to 3 days I'd make most of the day fine, but by 5 I could eat a buffett by myself. Now it's gone away, and I'm actually thinking of cutting back my blocks a bit. I started out having 6 morning, noon, and night with a 2 block snack twice a day. I'm pretty active. On M-W-F I do cross fit, and at least once a week ride my dirt bike. I think I'm doing good with the diet, but the fat sometimes is my hardest part to control. Some morning I'll have a gluten free pancake, with 4 eggs, butter as my fat, and maybe a little fruit. The pancake is measure so it gives 27g of carbs which is 3 blocks. The rest of my carbs is either fruit or agave nectar.

The dirt bike leads me to my main question. I'm confused how I should fuel my body for races. If it's a cross country race I'll be racing for about 1.5 hours and probably burn 2000 calories. But this fall I have enduros coming up which are much longer. Might be out there pounding on myself for 4 hours burning 4000 calories plus. Does anyone have any suggestions. Coming from the marthon world dirt bike racers in long events are starting to talk about not eating anything before a race. Or at least 3 hours before. Some talk about carb loading the night before. I know everyone's body is different or course. Just curious if anyone had any suggestions or ideas?

What about supplements? I've taken advocares rehyrate and spark. The rehydrate maybe the best product I've ever used, but am starting to hear a lot about a company called Hammer Nutrition. Does anyone out there have any experiences with any of these? The gu gels I seen mentioned in another forum post have been used quite a bit also. I take them, but it was before I started restricting my diet so much. Thank you for anyone who can help me. I"m just really confused how to fuel my body and how the zone diet will fit into all this.

I would start out by recommending more veggies for your carbs, as opposed to the gluten free pancakes and all of the fruit.

That said, when I do longer rides (I do a lot of bike riding), I generally take zone snacks along with me. I take along the amount that I would need to have a snack about every 1-2 hours. I don't change my blocks beforehand, I don't carb-load, and I DO eat something prior to my ride, but not heavily. Generally, I will have a smoothie to start out (my own recipe). I also do not do any of those supplements. I try to keep things real, so my foods are generally whole foods, not gels or power bars, or those kinds of manufactured products.

Jamy, here are a couple of links to get you headed in more of a Zone direction of thinking about training and performance.

http://www.zonediet.com/0/zonediet/...e-the-rest

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eHH_0Zz3ihs

thank you for responding. I've got a lot to learn, and every little bit helps.

I've been taking a fish oil, but it doesn't have near as much to it as Dr. Sears. What's the recomendation? 3 or 4 per meal?

Barry Sear's recommendation to take an ultra-refined fish oil concentrate with EPA/DHA of 2/1. You can find out more about this on the the "Omega-3 Fish Oil" page of this site http://www.zonediet.com/omega-3-fish-oil

I don't know if I missing it or what. But i have looked and looked all over that site, and have yet to see any clear recommendations for how many fish oil pills to take. Maybe the zone book will tell me. But very frustrating.

The amount you require is based on your level of wellness. You'll find the details in the book "Toxic Fat" by Barry Sears. Here are Dr. Sears' fish oil dosage recommendations from that book (the grams refer to the total amount of EPA and DHA combined):


To maintain wellness, 2.5 g/day (4 caps; 1 teaspoon liquid).

For obesity, type 2 diabetes, or before starting a diet, 5 g/day (8 caps; 2 teaspoons liquid).

For chronic pain, 7.5 g/day (12 caps; 3 teaspoons liquid).

For existing neurological conditions 10 g/day (16 caps; 4 teaspoons liquid).