Synopses & Reviews
Chapter OneThe Continuing Evolution of the ZoneThe distinguishing feature that makes us human is our constant search to understand the world around us. In that search, there are two types of questions you can ask. One is how things work the way they do, and the other is why things occur in the first place. The "how" questions are the backbone of science, whereas the "why" questions are usually the foundation of philosophy. In medicine, the "why" questions are rarely asked because there are no obvious answers, and the chances for success are very low. Furthermore, even if you do successfully answer a "why" question, your answer is likely to generate a violent reaction in the medical community if it in any way suggests a significant deviation from the status quo.In my own case, I have pondered a very basic "why" question for the past twenty years: Why do we develop chronic disease? Although the medical establishment has developed a massive infrastructure to treat the symptoms of chronic disease, we have made very little progress in understanding its underlying cause.I reasoned many years ago that the best chance I had for success at answering this fundamental "why" question was to understand the world of hormones. Until recently, most people used the word "hormones only to describe puberty or an overactive sex drive. Now hormones are the subject of many a cocktail party conversation because they appear to be the magical elixir that will keep you young and vital: hormone replacement therapy for females and testosterone and replacement for males. Hormones are so important because they orchestrate an incredibly complex flow of biological information in the body. I truly believed thathormones were the overriding factor that determined whether we would be chronically sick or well. Controlling these hormones, I theorized, would be the key to preventing chronic disease. I also speculated that hormonal control could be achieved primarily through our diet.All my Zone books are based on the premise that you have the power to control your hormones through your diet. Hormones are the key to your future, and in particular to longevity, optimal health, and ultimately remaining human. In fact, improved hormonal control is like a philosophers' stone that allows you to enjoy better health, better performance, better relationships, and a longer life.Once you learn to control your hormones, you have a magical "drug" that can: Prevent heart diseaseReverse cancerReduce pain and inflammationTreat neurological diseaseBut if you can treat those diseases with this "drug," then the same "drug" can also: Reverse the aging processMake you smarterMake you thinnerImprove your physical performanceImprove your relationships with othersIf controlling your hormones is the way to a longer and better life, is there any drug out there that allows you to do this consistently and with no side effects? Fortunately a "drug" exists that takes you off the path to disease and puts you on the path to wellness. It's not a pill or injection or even a gene transplant; it's the food you eat. But for this "drug" to work you have to take it at the right time and at the right dosage for the rest of your life.HOW IS THE OMEGA RX ZONE DIFFERENT FROM THE ZONE?I first introduced the Zone seven years ago. The Zone is not some mystical place; it is a physiological state of your body in which the hormones that can becontrolled by the diet are balanced for optimal health. Furthermore, the Zone is defined by very precise clinical parameters in the blood. These blood tests are based on the dynamic balance of two key hormonal systems (insulin and eicosanoids) that can be controlled by my dietary program. My earlier recommendations still remain the best way to control insulin, but only the new emphasis on high-dose fish oil can truly allow you to achieve the full potential of the Omega Rx Zone. This is because the Omega Rx Zone is ultimately about improved eicosanoid control. In essence, you should think of the Omega Rx Zone as a top of a mountain, and my dietary recommendations as the best pathway to it.As I mentioned in the introduction, there are three components to my dietary plan: 1. Balancing protein and carbohydrate at every meal
"This controls insulin levels.2. Calorie restriction without hunger or deprivation
"This is the only proven way to increase longevity.3. Supplementation with high-dose fish oil
"This alters eicosanoids.The first two components follow my original dietary recommendations to move a person toward the Zone. The third component is completely new and boosts the health benefits obtainable in the Omega Rx Zone to new heights.People in the medical community may raise their eyebrows when they hear how much fish oil I'm suggesting to reach the full potential of the Omega Rx Zone. My recommendations, however, are backed up by sound science. Equally important, I have had the opportunity to use high-dose fish oil in a number of seemingly hopeless situations, and each time I have been amazed at the results. There are patients with dementia who returned from the living dead.There are cancer patients who can now look forward to a much longer life than they ever expected. There are young children with severe attention deficient disorder who had a complete reversal of behavior within three weeks. There is a patient who was scheduled to have both feet amputated because of nonhealing diabetic ulcers -- yet after four months of using high-dose fish oil, the wounds healed completely and the amputations were never done. There was a housebound woman with chronic pain who was on oxygen twenty-four hours a day because of obstructive pulmonary disease; within four weeks of starting to take high-dose fish oil, she was off oxygen, walking, and pain-free. There was a woman who had such severe fibromyalgia that she rarely got out...
This book is not intended to replace medical advice or to be a substitute for a physician. If you are sick or suspect you are sick, you should see a physician. If you are taking prescription medication, you should never change your diet (for better or worse) without consulting your physician, because any dietary change will affect the metabolism of that prescription drug.
Prevention will always be the best medicine. However, prevention can be undertaken only by the individual, and that includes eating correctly. This is the foundation of a healthy lifestyle. You have to eat, so you may as well eat wisely.
Although this book is about food, the author and the publisher expressly disclaim responsibility for any adverse effects arising from following the advice given in this book without appropriate medical supervision.
Synopsis
Dr. Barry Sears revolutionized nutritional thinking with his blockbuster Zone books. Now, Sears presents his amazing new scientific discoveries that take the Zone to a whole new level. With years of research to back him up, he maintains that consuming high-quality, pharmaceutical-grade fish oils in combination with the Zone diet will offer unprecedented health benefits.
Research shows that Dr. Sears's new plan can help to treat such diseases and conditions as cancer, heart disease, Type 2 diabetes, obesity, infertility, multiple sclerosis, attention deficit disorder, chronic pain, depression, Alzheimer's, and more.
Synopsis
Introducing the next generation of the Zone--A revolutionary new plan that enhances brainpower, improves physical performance, and builds amazing disease-fighting power
Dr. Barry Sears revolutionized nutritional thinking with his blockbuster Zone books. Now, for the first time Sears presents his amazing new scientific discoveries that take the Zone to a whole new level. With years of research to back him up, he maintains that consuming carefully calibrated amounts of high-quality, pharmaceutical-grade fish oils in combination with the Zone diet will offer unprecedented health benefits.
Research shows that Dr. Sears' new plan can help to treat such diseases and conditions as cancer, heart disease, Type 2 diabetes, obesity, infertility, multiple sclerosis, attention deficit disorder, chronic pain, depression, Alzheimer's, and more. Dr. Sears' Omega Zone offers a plan to help readers fine-tune their health to reach an entirely new level of the Zone.
Synopsis
The Next Generation of the Zone!
Dr. Barry Sears is one of the world's most trusted voices on health, diet, and nutrition. Over the past decade, millions of people worldwide have followed his prescriptions for healthy living through his bestselling books. He introduced the world to the Zone, a state of improved hormonal control that has helped a generation of people lose excess body fat, reverse the aging process, and fight heart disease and diabetes.
In The Omega Rx Zone, Dr. Sears reveals a revolutionary new technological advance that helps treat chronic disease, improves athletic performance, and more. Never before available to the public, pharmaceutical-grade fish oil has the potential to make you a more emotionally stable, healthier person by allowing your brain to work at peak efficiency and controlling the hormonal responses that ultimately govern your body and mind. Drawing upon his own research as well as recently published studies, Dr. Sears shares new understanding of heart disease, cancer, depression, Alzheimer's, attention deficit disorder, chronic pain, Type 2 diabetes, infertility, and multiple sclerosis. Used in conjunction with the Zone program, these findings can help you to:
- Increase brain vitality and longevity
- Maximize physical performance
- Lose weight—and keep it off
- Reverse chronic disease
Synopsis
Includes bibliographical references (p. [287]-374) and index.
About the Author
Dr. Barry Sears is recognized as one of the world's leading medical researchers on the hormonal effects of food. He is the author of the number one New York Times bestseller The Zone as well as Mastering the Zone, Zone-Perfect Meals in Minutes, Zone Food Blocks, A Week in the Zone, The Age-Free Zone, The Top 100 Zone Foods, The Soy Zone, The Omega Rx Zone, Zone Meals in Seconds, and What to Eat in the Zone. His books have sold more than five million copies and have been translated into twenty-two languages in forty countries. He continues his research on the inflammatory process as the president of the nonprofit Inflammation Research Foundation in Marblehead, Massachusetts. The father of two grown daughters, he lives in Swampscott, Massachusetts, with his wife, Lynn.