May 2004
ISSUE TWENTY-ONE
May 2004
Unfortunately,  the  full  benefit  of 
the Zone diet is largely limited to 
those  who  have  at  least  at  first 
weighed and measured their food. 
For  a  decade  we’ve 
experimented  with  sizing  and 
portioning  strategies  that  avoid 
scales,  and  measuring  cups  and 
spoons  only  to  conclude  that 
natural  variances  in  caloric  intake 
and  macronutrient  composition 
without measurement  are greater 
than  the  resolution  required  to 
turn  good  performance  to  great. 
Life  would be  much  easier for  us 
were this not so! 
The  “meal  plans”  and  “block 
chart”  below  have  been  our 
most  expedient  approach  for 
eliciting the Zone’s best offering in 
athletes. 
Void  of  theoretical  or  technical 
content  this  portal  to  sound 
nutrition  still  requires  some  basic 
arithmetic  and  weighing  and 
measuring  portions  for  the  first 
week. 
Too  many  athletes  after 
supposedly  reading  “Enter  the 
Zone”  still  ask,  “So what  do I  eat 
for  dinner?”  They  get  meal  plans 
and  block  charts.  We  can  make 
the  Zone  more  complicated  or 
simpler but not more effective.
We  encourage  everyone  to 
weigh  and  measure  portions  for 
one week because it is supremely 
worth the effort, not because it is 
fun. If you choose to “guestimate” 
Our  recommendation  to  “eat  meat  and  vegetables,  nuts  and  seeds,  some  fruit, 
little  starch,  and  no  sugar”  is  adequate  to  the  task  of  preventing  the  scourges  of 
diet-induced  disease,  but  more  accurate  and  precise  prescription  is  necessary  to 
optimize physical performance. 
Finely  tuned,  a  good  diet  will  increase  energy,  sense  of  well  being  and  acumen, 
while simultaneously flensing fat and packing on muscle. When properly composed 
the right diet can nudge every important quantifiable marker for health in the right 
direction. 
Diet is critical to optimizing human function and our clinical experience leads us to 
believe that Barry Sears’ “Zone Diet” closely models optimal nutrition. 
CrossFit’s best performers are Zone eaters. When our second tier athletes commit 
to  “strict”  adherence  to  the  Zone  parameters  they  generally  become  top  tier 
performers quickly. It seems that the Zone diet accelerates and amplifies the effects 
of the CrossFit regimen. 
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Meal Plans
1