Hi Lucia,

I hope I'm not too late to reply to this.

I tried the zone a few years ago - I wasn't fanatical about
maintaining the
40-30-30 balance, but because I started eating 'balance' nutritional
bars it
actually set me back (I was dealing with a yeast imbalance at the time
and
those 'nutrition' bars made me constipated and worsened the yeast
overgrowth).

Some of Sears information may be valid, and probably most people eat
too
many carbs for their particular biochemistry, but there is nothing
magical
about hitting the 40-30-30 ratio like Sears seems to claim. I think
the
quality and variety of foods, and including substantial raw foods and
fats,
are much more important than the exact protein-carb-fat ratio, and I
think
Sears, like Atkins, really overlooks those factors (probably in both
cases
so their books will appeal and sell to a wider audience).

What type of meat was your husband eating? I've found that for me
certain
animal foods like fish (even raw) and cooked chicken breast are
definitely
majorly constipating in large amounts, while undercooked lamb or
tender
dark-meat chicken (cooked) are much less so. (I haven't tried raw
chicken
and don't intend to). I've found eggs also somewhat constipating but
the
effects from eating perhaps a couple of thousand Country Hen eggs over
the
past couple of years (usually raw) have been so good as far as
improving my
endocrine function that I can't give those up. Eating lots of raw
green
veggies and taking some healthy oils have balanced out the
constipating
effects of these foods.

Paul