I just spent a week in the Zone, eating as many low-glycemic carbohydrates as feasibly possible and balancing those carbs with slightly less lean protein and a dash of heart-healthy fats. As I shared Zone specifics last week, I'm no stranger to the diet -- I was at my lowest adult weight ever and in stellar cardio shape while following the Zone years ago.

Here's a rundown on how my body felt across the last seven days:

• Last Monday and Tuesday were really rough cravings-wise. I pined for bread, crackers, fast-acting carbs. For some reason, I was incredibly thirsty and understandably cranky. I immediately lost a few pounds, and my stomach is flatter.
• Wednesday was Zone-solid, but Thursday I had a little bread due to a dinner invitation. I wasn't up for bringing my own food. Living in the Zone is difficult when food selection is limited. Noticing less cravings, more energy.
• Again, a surprise Friday dinner invitation added some Zone-UNfriendly pizza crust and caffeine to my diet, but I felt good about bringing along a grilled chicken breast to up the protein content.
• Saturday and Sunday were spent out-of-town, so some high-glycemic carbs snuck in, but not many. I'm feeling good, the lean protein means less snacks and a smaller appetite.
  

All in all, I'm extending this experimental week in the Zone indefinitely. My energy-level is soaring and my weight is dropping. For me, it's easy to Zone breakfast, lunch and snacks, but cooking Zone dinners my family will enjoy is a real challenge. I'll give it a go. Are you ready to spend a week or longer in the Zone? If so, check out Dr. Sears Zone for supportive recipes and information, as well as inspiration from these Olympians in the Zone! Pic from Amazon.

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My first day in the Zone went smoothly. As I shared yesterday, I'm spending a week eating mostly low-glycemic carbohydrates, lean proteins and heart-healthy fats to head into the Zone, and hopefully, down a path toward more energy, less brain fog, maybe even skinnier jeans.

I've been flipping through my old Zone cookbooks and re-educated myself on the ratios of proteins/carbs/fats in a Zone-favorable meal. If you'd like to Zone in, here's the ratio broken down into blocks (e.g., units):

• 1 block of Zone protein equals 7 grams of protein
  
• 1 block of Zone carbohydrate equals 9 grams of carbohydrates
• 1 block of Zone fat equals 1.5 grams of fat
  

From experience, you have to choose low-glycemic carbohydrates (typically vegetables and fruits) to stay in the Zone. Fill your plate with one-third protein (no bigger than the palm of your hand), two-thirds low-glycemic carbohydrates and a dash of heart-healthy fats. Eat too much high-glycemic bread/pasta and good luck hitting the Zone. One of my all-time favorite Zone meals is Mexicali Turkey Chili. This super-quick recipe yields six cups for a perfect ratio chili pot filled with 12 blocks of protein, 12 blocks of carbohydrate and 12 blocks of fat. I'm making this tomorrow to keep my metabolism humming at peak efficiency. If you'd like a bowl, here's the recipe:

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Years ago, carbs were an essential part of a well-balanced, if athletic, diet. Olympic gold medal runners would eat massive pasta dinners the night before a big road race, swimmers would carbo-load before meets, and everyday people went as far as taking carb-rich nutritional supplements to get them through a workout or two. BUT, then along came diets with strange names like Zone and Atkins, all claiming that carbs will cause you to gain weight. Soon, people were avoiding carbs like the plague and instead opting for extra sides of bacon. The madness ensued for quite some time, until the masses finally came around to the concept of "good" carbs and "bad" carbs.

But, there's some new evidence to suggest that "good" carbs (i.e. carbs that are not high on the glycemic index) are not only easier on blood sugar, but they may also lead to weight loss. The prevailing thought behind this assertion is actually quite simple: It takes longer to digest low GI foods, which therefore causes you to feel more full for a longer period of time, and also requires the burning of more calories to complete the digestion process.

In a related study, published in the Archives of Internal Medicine, 129 overweight and obese people followed one of four reduced-calorie diets for 12 weeks. Two of the diets were high in carbs and two were high in protein, and of each of these two groups, one followed a low GI carb diet. The results? All groups lost weight (chalked up to the reduced-calorie diet itself), but the low GI diets lost nearly two times as much body fat.

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I was plugging along on my treadmill today when I decided to focus on the training zones that light up on my machine as I exert myself. My zones are: Warm Up/Cool Down, Fat Burn, Endurance, and Performance. I'm a definite Fat Burn girl and today, I consistently lit up this entire area. When I ran, I hit Endurance and when I transitioned into an incline workout, I moved with force into Performance mode. This is a hard one to maintain so I made only a brief appearance here.

So these training modes got me thinking about my overall exercise routine. I started considering just how hard I push myself when it comes to physical fitness. Obviously, the more rigorous the activity, the better it is for my heart, my muscles, my whole body. Am I rigorous about my workouts? Am I strenuously putting forth effort? Or am I mostly warming up and cooling down?

After giving some thought to my questions, I've determined that what I saw on the treadmill today pretty accurately portrays my daily exercise output. I do more than warm up and cool down. And while I occasionally endure and perform, I typically stay quite firm in the fat burn mode. I'm sure this is fine. But I like a challenge every now and then. So tomorrow, I'm shooting for better. I'm going to light up that Endurance bar, and I'm going to keep it shining bright for as long as I can stand it. I'm going to endure. Yes, I am. And maybe one day, when this becomes old hat, I'll start performing. That's my goal.

What's your training zone?

FitSpirit explores the mind-body connection and the intangible benefits we gain from our efforts to stay physically fit.

Sometimes I worry a bit much. Apparently, I'm not alone. Almost 40 percent of us worry every day, a habit that compromises our minds, our bodies, our spirits. Worrying is simply bad for our health. And we really need to cut it out. HealthyUpdates.com lists four steps we can take to minimize worry.

Step One: Make Worrying Matter

If we must worry, we should worry about productive matters only. Forget the weather. We have no control over that. But we do have control over matters involving a vacation, for example. Productive worry is asking yourself, "Do have a map?" or "Do I have a car reserved?" It's productive because you can take action on these items. Since it's relaxing to make progress on something tangible, this is the type of worry you want.

Step Two: Embrace Novelty

We worriers tend to avoid trying new things because it makes us uncomfortable. But a little discomfort is just what we need. Challenging our comfort zones will eventually help us rely less on worry as a coping strategy.

Step Three: Reframe

Try to reframe situations until you see them as positive opportunities. If you're stressed about moving, think about what you'll gain from the experience, not what you might lose.

Step Four: Wait it Out

Remember: Most emotions are temporary. Tell yourself your worries will not overwhelm you or last a really long time. Because realistically, they won't.

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High protein diets are generally regarded as a good way to keep up your energy and lose weight. But is it right for you? Consider this information from WebMD:

• Pros: high protein diets usually leave dieters feeling full for longer periods of time. They also help dieters lose weight fairly quickly
• Cons: The quick weight-loss that most dieters experience is usually just water weight that comes off. Moreover, on protein-only diets, the body relies on stored fat reserves -- a process called ketosis -- and ketosis often causes irritability, headaches, overworked kidneys and even heart problems. Furthermore, high-protein diets are usually high in saturates fats (bad for the heart) and low in critical nutrients (for the overall body.)

Based on this, the evidence is mostly against high protein diets. But don't be discouraged -- weight loss is possible without hurting your health. Some plans, like the Zone, integrate moderate amounts of healthy carbs for an overall healthy approach to dieting.

Do you agree with this information, or are you sticking by your ketosis?

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Going on a diet plan that includes having food delivered right to your door is becoming very popular these days, which means it's also becoming big business. And with big business comes all kinds of people trying to get in on their corner of the market. So with so many companies offering diet food delivery services, how can you tell which one is for you? Well Epicurious.com was curious too, so they recently tested 5 of the most prominent weight loss food delivery plans looking for who had the best taste and nutrition overall, as well as a few other factors. So who came out on top? eDiets! Congrats to them for getting "3 out of 4 forks" on the Epicurious rating system. The total ranking of 5 looks like this:
1. eDiets
2. Zone Chefs
3. Pure Foods Low Carb
4. Jenny Craig
5. Nutrisystem

Did your favorite make the list?

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The Zone is one of the hottest diets out there ... that is, if you think having a long list of celebrity endorsements makes something 'hot'. So it's not surprising that another celebrity has jumped on the bandwagon that helped maintain the petite figures of Renee Zellweger and Jennifer Aniston by signing up for the plan. Natasha Bedingfield, the artist behind the song 'Unwritten' has made a typical 'popstar' move by going on the Zone and in a world where a few pounds can mean the difference between success and failure, I can't say I blame her for submitting to the 'fad'. In addition, she claims to have bags of pre-made, pre-measured food delivered to her, making it awfully easy for her to follow the diet.

What do you think of the Zone? Fad or fab?

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Ah, the infamous "zone." Somebody's always "in the zone," "feelin' the zone," "trying to find the zone" -- but who knew the elusive "zone" is actually a pretty concrete idea: the actual physical measurement of your body's most effective level of exercise. If you're going to bother working out, you might as well try to make it as effective as possible, right? Don't want to waste a perfectly good effort!

I'm sure by now you've at least heard the phrase "level of perceived exertion," and this article takes that idea and combines it with measuring your heart rate to figure your optimal level of exercising to get the best results. While none of this is drastically new information, what I really like about this article is that it gives a thorough break-down of all 10 levels on the "perceived exertion" scale, and puts them in an everyday context that makes the rating system and numbers really easy to remember.

So next time somebody brags about being in the zone, you can say "yeah, me too."

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If you're wary of fad diets, as I am, it's sometimes a struggle to find something that works well, but is easy to do. Granted, many would say eating plenty of veggies, lowering fats and eating less in general would take care of things, but sometimes you want a system. The simplest "system" I've found so far? The No S Diet.

What is it? Simplicity itself: no Snacks, no Sweets and no Seconds. Sounds pretty harsh, huh? Well the savior is: except (sometimes) on days that begin with an 'S.' That includes the weekend, and Special days like holidays. As someone who fought the 'blocks' in the Zone for way too long, I can appreciate the utterly simplistic approach.

And if dieting doesn't get you in the shape you like, there's always the Shovel Glove (another creation by the author).

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I'm training for the the Hood-to-Coast relay along with a group of my best mama friends. The Hood-to-Coast is an epic race: the very most elite of road relays, run from near the top of Mt. Hood to the beach, 197 miles in all. The top runners in the world will be there, along with, well, us. Even amongst our team, we have different approaches: I come from a very competitive running background. In high school and college, I was a jumper/sprinter, and I'm the sort of person who tries to catch other runners when she's out on the streets. It's terrible and silly and probably bad for my karma but when I see someone else running more slowly than me? It only makes me go faster.

That said, I'm a lot slower than some of the other women on our team. We all ran a half-marathon together back in October and I struggled in at just over 10-minute miles. When I started training in earnest for the Hood-to-Coast, I decided my goal was to get back to my post-college speed of 8-minute miles, partially so I could run in the same league as some of my fearsome running mama buddies, and partially so I could regain that feeling I used to have when I was 23 and in awesome shape, when I used to get to the four-mile mark of a 10K and feel great.

I'm very into the mental aspect of running; I've had some "Psych-K" training and more than your average dose of quantum physics "create your day" philosophy, and lots of yoga, soaking into my brain. So last night when I ran I stepped it up a few hundred percent. I ran uphill on the way out and downhill on the way back, negative splits, you know. I crushed my previous time heading into a three-block uphill that's usually the end of my run. And I visualized myself running fast, high knees, clear lungs, energy energy energy and I laid it out. I was as fast as one can be at the end of a 4.5-mile run. I was thoroughly in the zone.

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