Addressing the Athlete's Zone

I think it is fairly safe to say that all of us at one point or another have questioned our current diet routine and had hoped we were following a more efficient regime in regards to improving our performance. From my experience I can tell you the most effective "diet" to follow would be the zone diet where you eat paleo foods. But the real question is "how much?" I think the answer to this question lies in what they call the ATHLETE'S ZONE, in which one eats X amount of blocks but 5X the amount of fat.

Initially the effectiveness of this diet seems almost counter intuitive. Initially one might hypothesize that a relatively high fat diet would make one lethargic and slow because fat is generally considered bad. This is quite on the contrary. By following the ATHLETE'S ZONE, your body will become adapted to burning fat instead of utilizing the quick glucose from the carbohydrates you ingest (Trust me this is a good thing, and I will explain the science of this very physiological condition in further detail in a subsequent post).

So now that we are using fat as our primary fuel, and our bodies have reached a very steady state of homeostasis, what else is going to happen on this diet? Well for one your performance will go through the ceiling. Carbohydrate metabolism is associated with the formation of blood lactate, which will all know gives us that muscle burning feeling after doing may reps of the same motion. On the ATHLETE'S ZONE this will be minimized and your so-called exercise threshold will be enhanced. Also, you will become leaner. As your body become efficient at utilizing dietary fact, that metabolic pathway will be continually followed as you body will be begin to burn up body fat (adipose tissue).

It's a win win situation, and here's how it looks. For men I would start at 16 blocks, and for women maybe 10. Assuming you are familiar with the zone diet and its blocking system, you would eat you regular amount of carbs and protein but eat 5X the fat blocks in each meal. For example if I was having a 2 blocks snack it would look like this:

1 apple (2 CHO blocks)
2 oz. chicken breast (2 PRO blocks)
30 peanuts (10 FAT blocks, 2 x 5)

If there are any individual questions or comment you can reach me here on this blog. More intimate questioning can be sent to zlhildenbrand@miners.utep.edu or 915-694-7132.

Cheers,

Zac