I am soooo confused. Trying to start the zone and there appears to be a conflict between two things its states. 1) You should do 40/30/30 calorie breakdown, 2) As an average female, you should get 11 blocks, with 1 protein block is 7g, carb 9, and fat 1.5g. Each one is fine, but they contradict each other. Take for instance what this site has as a sample breakfast in the menu planner (for females): 3 turkey bacon strips ½ cup fresh blueberries, rinsed and drained 1 tablespoon slivered almonds 1 cup plain low-fat yogurt (#1) Converted to blocks from the Food Block Guide, this is: 3 turkey bacon strips (1 block protein) ½ cup fresh blueberries, rinsed and drained (1 block carb) 1 tablespoon slivered almonds (3 blocks fat) 1 cup plain low-fat yogurt (2 blocks protein, 2 blocks carb) --- balanced in terms of blocks from the list, 3 each ---- (#2) In grams from the packages (where available), converted to blocks, these changes would be made: 3 turkey bacon strips (3 blocks protein @ 6g protein per slice, 3 blocks fat @ 1.5g per slice) 1 cup plain low-fat yogurt (1.5 blocks protein @ 10g, 3 blocks carb @ 28g, 4 blocks fat @ 6g) --- which would total 4 blocks carb, 4.5 blocks protein, 8.5g fat ---- Calories would break down in percentage more like the second list (calculate form grams), which is something more like 24/26/50%, not 40/30/30% So, which is it? Is it blocks from the list (#1)? Is it breakdown by gram percentages (#2, which is out of whack atm), which? To me, it doesn't look like you can do 40/30/30 AND blocks at the same time... they're 2 different diets. Thanks for any feedback, and sorry if I'm not understanding something obvious...

Hi a,

You would adjust the amounts of each specific food you eat if the nutrition lable on your product happens not to coincide with the Zone food block amounts listed in the books and on this web site. For instance, since your turkey bacon contains 6 grams protein in each strip, then consider 1 strip to be 1 P block insead of the 3 strips it typically takes to make 1 P block. Each 3 block meal should contain approximately 10 grams of fat, 20 grams of protein and 30 grams of carbohydrate (referred to as 1-2-3). If like being more precise (which is not critical for success in the Zone) that would be 21 grams protein, 27 grams insulin stimulating carbohydrate (that's total carbohydrate minus total fiber) and 9 grams fat.