Mat Lalonde - Words to Live By:

Here's a quick breakdown of the genius that is Mat Lalonde:
Mark, Seriously, don't get me started on the Zone.
A few things to recommend. 1) If you want to lean out, minimize fructose and linoleic acid consumption by following the nutrition prescription I give in the seminar: eat meat, vegetables, tubers, roots, bulbs, avocado, coconut, olives, as well as animal fats and oils.
Avoid: grains and grain-like... See More substances, cereals and pseudo cereals, legumes (including green peas, green beans, soy, peanuts and beans of all varieties), and dairy.
I'd get rid of nuts, seeds and fruit as well with the exception of lemon, lime, coconut, avocado, olive.
I'd recommend going low-carb (<10% of calories from carbohydrate for 2-4 weeks), then reintroducing the carbs in the form of starchy vegetables, roots, tubers, and bulbs. The induction period (2-4weeks low-carb) is to override any hysteresis of sugar burning genes. Yes, it will suck but it will make sure you are preferentially burning fat for fuel.
I would then move to a cyclic low-carb plan where you remina on a ketogenic diet all the time with the exception of one meal where you ingest anywhere between 100-200g of carbohydrate in the form of starchy vegetables, roots, tubers, and bulbs. Do this for a while and see how you look feel and perform. If you initially lean out and eventually plateau, increase the frequency of the carb refeeds until you are in a scenario such as the one Robb describes (carb-rich meal post metabolic conditioning that contains about 50% of the day's carbohydrate calories).
The percentage of calories in the diet should be in line with the level of high intensity exercise in which you partake. I typically recommend that Oly- and powerlifters stick with a low-carb ketogenic diet (<10% of calories from carbohydrate). The extra fat in the diet allows these athletes to assimilate more protein and gain more muscle mass.
As intensity of exercise increases, percent of calories from carbohydrate can increase to levels that fuel performance but maintain low body fat percentages. Everyone is different here but I simply don't see why any CFer would require anything above zone levels of 40%. It all depends on body fat percentages, type of activity, level of intensity and volume of training, tolerance to carbohydrate, etc... This is why I think the one-size-fits-all prescription of the zone is ridiculous.
Lastly, nutrition is not the end all be all here. You need to minimize stress, get plenty of sleep (at least 8 hours per night) and train smart. by smart I mean a periodized strength program that is in line with your goals coupled to short (<10 min) mixed modal metabolic conditioning sessions (also depends on your goals). Unless you are training for the games, there is no need to go into the >10 min range for met cons. Trust me, less is more here.