carbohydrate hell and propel you into the Zone. For now, here's the bottom line: Eat small meals with the correct ratio of protein to carbohydrate. If you remember only that statement, you'll be positioning yourself for entry into the Zone.

proof. In the 1950s, Kekwick and Pawan at the University of London in England published a landmark study. They put patients on a diet that was low in calories (1,000 calories) but high in fat. In fact, fat supplied 90 percent of the total calories. What happened? Those patients lost significant amounts of weight. When the same patients were put on

That's right: no magic potions, pills, herbs, or mantras. The truth is that every time you open your mouth to eat, you're applying for a passport to the Zone. To get that passport, though, you must treat food as if it were a drug. You must eat food in a controlled fashion and in the proper proportions—as if it were an intravenous drip. Reaching the

What is that rule? Maintain a beneficial ratio of protein to carbohydrate every time you eat. This one simple rule is the foundation for constructing a Zone-favorable diet. And what is that beneficial ratio of protein to carbohydrate? The ideal is about 0.75—that's three grams of protein to every four grams of carbohydrate.

So how do you maximize growth-hormone release during sleep? Eat a Zone-favorable snack before you retire. That snack will set in motion the hormonal foundation to allow maximum secretion of growth hormone. On the other hand, if you eat a carbohydrate-rich snack before you go to bed, you've done everything in your power to inhibit growth hormone

Eating fat does not make you fat. It's your body's response to excess carbohydrates in your diet that makes you fat. Your body has a limited capacity to store excess carbohydrates, but it can easily convert those excess carbohydrates into excess body fat. It's hard to lose weight by simply restricting calories. Eating less and losing excess body

So the critical hormonal balance of insulin and glucagon depends on two things. One is the size of the meal you eat—excess calories stimulate secretion of insulin. The other is the ratio of protein to carbohydrate in each meal.

You fatten cattle by feeding them lots and lots of low-fat grain. How do you fatten humans? Same way: you feed them lots and lots of low-fat grain. So if you've been eating more pasta and bread (both made from grain) than ever before, and you're still gaining weight, think about those grain-fed cattle the next time you sit down to a big plate of

Diets based on choice restriction and calorie limits usually fail. People on restrictive diets get tired of feeling hungry and deprived. They go off their diets, put the weight back on (primarily as increased body fat), and then feel bad about themselves for not having enough will power, discipline, or motivation. Weight loss has little to do with