Hello,

I'm new to the Zone Living/Zone Diet forums. My personal goal is weight loss and diabetes prevention. I'm about 80 pounds over my ideal weight and I believe the Zone diet will finally be the program that helps me get and stay where I need to be!!! I've followed other weight loss programs over the last 10 years and gained it back every time. :(

I have 7 kids ages 12, 11, 9, 7, 6, 4 & 2. In order to be the best example, I want my family to learn to eat in the Zone as well. My husband and I understand the basis of the Zone diet, but I'm wondering if there are resources in printed form for living in the Zone as a family? I don't have a lot of time to spend online and I seem to have a difficult time retaining information from online resources. I do much better with printed form where I can constantly refer back and make notes in the margin.

Thanks in advace, and my apologies if this is a redundant question. :rolleyes:

Dana

Dana,

That's quite a nest you have there! I recommend you get on the Zone so you have the excess energy available and the optimal mood to deal with the insanity that has to come from 7 children. My one child drives me nuts (love him to death, though)!

The easiest way is to make the protein as a dish. You can cook a turkey, get roasted chickens or low fat hams at the grocery store, get low fat cottage cheese (P), get low fat string cheese, get some splenda based chocolate protein powder, etc.

Everyone gets their proper size of protein (you are probably 3 P, your husband is probably 4 P and the kids, well, you'll have to ask others for advice there. You could start with 1-3 blocks for the younger kids and 3-4 blocks for the older kids (depending on lean body mass).

You may be able to search for child block size in this forum.

my kid loves 1.5% fat cottage cheese and will eat string cheese - which is a life saver when a kid can be finicky over meat proteins.

once the P is taken care of, you have to add the appropriate amount of fruits and veggies and, given you have 7 kids, some light bread as a condiment or your grocery bill may skyrocket with all the fruits and veggies.

good luck.

A Zone familiy! Great!!

Hi Jeffrey,

Sorry it has taken me this long to respond ... we moved on 8/29 and we're just finally getting settled. The good news for me is ALL of my kids will eat the light string cheese!!! My toddler has them for her protein at breakfast already each and every morning ... she has for nearly the last year. Half of my kids love cottage cheese, the other half ... not-so-much but we're working on it. And veggies, well ... I have some that inhale them and some that would rather not partake but we're working on that, too.

My DH loves to grill, so we eat a fair amount of boneless/skinless chicken on the grill. We're also looking for a good source of soy burgers that won't break the bank and taste decent. I personally have yet to try any that impress me. We also already utilize soy and whey protein isolate powders in this household ... my DH is into sports nutrition so the foundation for us to get into the Zone are there. I've been reading books over the week and much of the information is not new to me ... it's just been reinforced in a language and plan I can understand and I *think* easily implement (at least for myself). :cool: Getting kids in the Zone at school, well ... that may prove to be a battle. :blink:

I'll try to get in here to let you know how it's going ... thanks for the hints and tips!

Regards,
Dana

Dana, since you guys use the grill a lot, just wanted to let you know veggies are easy and great on the grill. Skewers were big with my kids when they were younger. Might be a way to get the non veggie eaters to eat a few.

Our favorite veggies on the grill are zucchini, yellow squash, peppers (any kind, any color) and mushrooms. A real easy one is to load skewers full of baby bella mushrooms. Sometimes we also season them with a little Bragg's (Bragg's Liquid Aminos, kind of like soy sauce, but has milder taste, lower sodium, and isnot fermanted). We also grill a lot of low fat chicken sausage, and burgers (mostly turkey, ostrich, and buffalo).

Let us know how you're doing.

My slightly built 6 year old is on the zone. I make up a zone proportioned meal, and give her as much food as she wants to eat. I figure that at her age she doesn't have any body shape derived eating disorders or anything, so she'll eat more when she's on a growth spurt and less when she's not.

I work very hard to break the conditioning my parents instilled in me, and don't force her to finish her plate at every meal. I think that in many ways has contributed to my weight gain as an adult.

So for the most part, she gets a 2 block breakfast, simply because she rarely eats more and sometimes doesn't even finish that. For evening meal she gets roughly a 3 block meal, and if she finishes it, great, she can have more. If not, that's fine too.