hi guys,
I was wondering...
1) I would like to cook some oats in advance (like on a Sunday) and then have a portion every morning. I know 14g of dry oats is 1 block of carbs. But about how much would that be when it is cooked? Or how much cooked oats is 1 block?
2) How do you manage with fruits? Lets say I want a snack - I can have half an apple or a third of a banana right? but what do you do with the rest? I either have to always find someone to share with (I normally ask my husband - and I get a bit mad if he doesn't feel like a banana or apple at the very minute I do... seems a bit unfair to him though...) or I have to refrigerate them which I don't really like doing. It's semi ok if I end up eating it in the same day but that requires even more calculations. but I don't want to have a banana as my carbs for a whole meal :o( Any ideas?

It all seems so complicated at the moment. There is so much planing to do and so very much cooking (considering I cannot have canned or any ready made stuff that has sugar/sweeteners/bad E-numbers/anything else which is not really good for you).
Does anyone has tips for me of how to make things a bit easier?

Many thanks!!!

Hi L,

Once you have been eating in the Zone for a little while, it usually becomes a lot easier. One tip to make it very easy is to try the ZoneFast 1-2-3 plan with the Zone baked foods. It's simple to do with no blocks or counting involved, and it works great. You can click on the WEIGHT LOSS tab above to read more about it.

Your questions...

1. 1/3 cup cooked steel cut oats are 1 carbohydrate block.

2. You've basically given yourself no way out there. Eating berries would solve the sharing and leftover concerns. Another plus, berries are the best fruits for the Zone.

Keep in touch with us and let us know how it's going. Good luck!

I have a question similar to L...Although it involves an Avocado rather than Apple or Banana - ha ha

I've been using Avocados as my "butter" on some things, Dr. Sears mentioned he really likes Avocados somewhere either in a Podcast, or one of the books...So I decided to try them. I like it really well, however, I don't know how to keep the rest from going brown. Should I just put a little lime/lemon juice on it, would that help...How do you preserve your Avocados? Ha ha

Jennifer, the lemon juice will go a long way to save you avo, also, pc. of wax paper on the cut edge.
Oh, and L., same for the apple and banana, lemon jc. and/or pc. of wax paper on cut. Yes, wax paper! It's great stuff!

Excellent I will try this tomorrow!

Yhe lemon definitely works for Avocados (I love them!! I usually use glad wrap rather then was paper though). I never thought of using it on other fruits - not sure why. Will do now!
Sue, unfortunately I cannot have any of the packed food from the zone as my endo diet means I don't eat any wheat, dairy (besides some natural yogurt), soy, sugar, butter, sweeteners, preservatives and other food aditives etc. I also try to avoid yeast. Also - I live in Germany at the moment and I think these products are not available here.
But the berries sound good! I like berries a lot! especially blue berries and strawberries. So I'll combine that with the lemon as preservative and it might work...
Thanks for you're support.
Liat.

Janet thank you for the lemon idea!!! :oD

Jennifer, I do something similar to janet's suggestion. Sometimes I'll cut the rest rest of the avocado into slices, squeeze lemon juice over them (taking care to thoroughly coat them) and then individually freeze them so I can use a slice or two when I like.

L, In the winter I make steel cut oats ahead of time(enough for the week), when they cool I add Protein Powder and store in the fridge for daily use. In the am I heat a bowl up in the microwave and add blueberries & sliced almonds w/ a splash of milk. If you need to add sweetner a little stevia goes a long way. Yummy