Last month we took a very detailed look at the Zone, starting with a caloric restricted 40-30-30 plan that lies at the heart of Barry Sears’s nutritional masterpiece. We then ex¬plored a progression of increased fat intake that culminated in a ramped up 60% fat Athletes Zone. The Zone offers a prescrip¬tion of unparalleled precision. One knows exactly how much to eat and when to eat it. So, what more can we ask for? For some the Zone is far too structured, making long-term adherence all but impossible. Exact weigh¬ing and measuring of all meals can be a bit of a chore, and even once one has mastered the eyeball method and can set up a 4 block meal while blindfolded and wearing oven mitts, it is still a laborious process for many. Is there an alternative that works well and is perhaps a bit easier to implement? There are actually a number of options, and we will look at all of them eventually, but one of the best respected and most popular is the Met¬abolic Diet by Dr. Mauro Di Pasquale.

Dr. Di Pasquale has quite an impressive background that includes participation in collegiate gymnastics and wrestling, mul¬tiple world championships in power lifting and a thriving practice as a physician. In the early 1990’s he released a book that created quite a controversy in the athletic world, the Anabolic Diet. The AD is a cyclic low carb diet, or as Dr. Di Pasquale prefers to call it, phase shift diet. Many athletes and body builders have credited this diet as being key in improving their athleticism. Penn State University Track and Field is one of the notables who credit the AD as part of their success. In 2000 Dr. Di Pasquale released an updated phase shift program called the Metabolic Diet. The MD is actually toned down a bit with regard to chasing elite ath¬leticism, and is geared more towards general health and fat loss. It is a wealth of informa¬tion and contains all the pertinent material found in the AD. Let’s take a look at the Met¬abolic Diet. Perhaps it will be the perfect fit for you; it certainly offers principles that improve any nutritional approach.

The main premise of the MD is hormonal control, or perhaps more accurately stated, hormonal optimization. This theme should be familiar to those following the Zone. However, the MD approaches this task from a different perspective. I do not want to give away the end of the story here, but as you shall see, the MD in the end is very similar to the Athlete’s Zone. The MD achieves hor¬monal optimization by limiting the amount of carbohydrates in most meals while em¬phasizing adequate protein for growth and maintenance and elevating dietary fat to the status of THE preferred fuel source.

One can approach the MD one of two ways. The first is a very low carb diet for 1-2 weeks. During this time daily total active carb in¬take is kept to less than 30g/day. Ideally 5-6 small meals comprised of protein, fat and low carb vegetable sources are consumed. During this period one will reverse insulin resistance while simultaneously up-regulat¬ing enzyme pathways for lipid utilization as a fuel source. There can be quite a lot of water weight loss at this time depending upon one’s situation. The lower insulin lev¬els ameliorate the action of aldosterone, and we see electrolyte and fluid balance return to a non-pathological level. Bloat and high blood pressure should disappear. This can be quite a rough transition for the seriously carb addicted and it is not uncommon to suf¬fer headaches and begin making deals with available here. It is important to remember that a Paleolithic perspective provides clues firstly on what to eat and secondly how much to eat. There is no one Paleo diet. Seasonal¬ity and locality would have altered macro¬nutrient ratios for us in the past, but now with a little information we can construct effective nutritional approaches to optimize health, performance and longevity.

The Metabolic Diet is just one of several vi¬able nutritional approaches geared towards enhancing athletic performance. It is similar to the Zone in many regards, not the least of which is a sound scientific basis and many examples of successful clinical implemen¬tation. It offers hormonal control, including improved insulin status, while supplying sufficient vital nutrients for growth and re¬pair. The MD as described above is also quite flexible and may be easier to implement for those who like to draw outside the lines. We highly recommend Dr. Di Pasquale’s excel¬lent books and informative website: www.metabolicdiet.com. Check them out and let us know what you think.