Joel Fuhrman - Eat To Live

Eat to Live 105

Like all extreme calorie-restricted diets, how long could an active

six-foot-five male eat this way? Clearly, Sears could not have fol-

lowed his own diet for long; he admits to losing only thirty-five

pounds over the past four years.

If Sears consumed only 1,330 calories daily and was six-five, and

his caloric needs, even with no exercise, were about 2,400 calories

daily, he would be over 1,000 calories short every day. One pound of

fat amounts to 3,500 calories, so Sears would have been losing two

pounds a week on his diet. Since he says he has been on his diet for

over four years, he should have lost over four hundred pounds! In a

debate with Sears, McDougall asked him: Did you start your diet at

over six hundred pounds? Do you defy the laws of nature? Or is it

that you cannot and do not follow your own diet?

Since he did not lose more than nine pounds per year, he must

have consumed at least 2,300 calories daily. If he is following his own

rules — that to be in the Zone, you must adhere to a 30:30:40 ratio —

he must be eating 173 grams of protein and 77 grams of fat. Therefore,

he must be in the extremely high-protein, high-fat zone. Sears denies

eating more than 44 grams of fat a day; if he is telling the truth, then

he is on only 100 grams of protein and 44 grams of fat — so he must

consume 1,500 calories a day from carbohydrates. That would place

him out of his Zone, with 17 percent protein, 17 percent fat, and 66

percent carbohydrate. Sears most likely eats a high-carbohydrate diet

himself, closer to the one recommended in this book than to his own

diet. Sears couldn't answer these questions and changed the subject.

Many of the Zone followers have become disenchanted, gained

all their weight back, and given up hope.

Unfortunately, any person entering his Zone with a daily consumption of

twelve ounces of animal products is entering the high cancer zone as well!

There is a clear, linear relationship between animal-food con-

sumption and both heart disease and cancer. Sears's goal of about 60

percent of total caloric intake from fat and protein a day places his

devotees at the highest worldwide consumption of animal products.

Accordingly, they should expect to experience a similarly high inci-

dence of the killer diseases that afflict Americans.

In contrast, I repeat my recommendation regarding animal foods,

to make sure my message is absolutely clear: excess consumption of