Hi, My name is Denise van der Linden-Morris and I started "Zoning" only a few months ago, so I'm still learning and searching for zone-favourable food available in the Netherlands... Any ideas/tips? :?: A zone-favourable food that I found is French quark (kwark) from the AH brand which contains P 11g, C 3 g, F 0g. I usually take this for breakfast adding an apple, 1 tablespoon of dry oatmeal and some nuts for the needed fat. Really tasty because of the "whipcream-like" texture of the quark and certainly a lot better tasting than cooked oatmeal (yack)! If you have difficulties posting in the English language we can also start a discussion on a website I created to promote the Zone where Dutch is the native language http://www.blijfinjezone.tk (Please note though that I've just started it and haven't had the time to update it recently - so stay tuned for more info). Cheers! Denise :?: :?: :?:

Sorry, I am not Dutch, but I have some input! Re: oatmeal---I hated it, too, until I tried the steel cut oats instead of the rolled or instant. The texture is much nicer. You may want to try it--I add a little yogurt for creaminess, peanut butter for fat, and Splenda maple syrup for sweetness. Then I eat 3P of lean ham or low-fat cottage cheese. It holds me for 5+ hours. Re: Zone-approved foods. The German traditional rye breads (the ones that are dense, brown breads made of whole rye, like Feldkamp brand) work for me very well as a carb. 1/2 piece of this bread is 1C, and it really keeps me in the zone (you'd have to check your nutritional information to make sure it's the same amount). We can get it (imported from Germany) at one of our large groceries. I like it with some lean ham, cheese and olives--maybe a piece of fruit. Makes a nice cold lunch. Plus it's handy when you don't want to cook or chop boatloads of veggies!!! :) Best of luck zoning! Ronica

Hi Denise, I'm not dutch, either :wink: , but from Europe anyway. I just wanted to ask you if macadamia nuts are available in Holland? I have not found them in Finland... My brother lives in London, and he might bring me some if those nuts are widely available in European countries. It would have been extremely expensive to order them from USA (120$ for 5 lb... :x ) . These sweeteners Splenda and Stevia are another problem, whereas fructose is easier to find here. I hope you find dutch zoners! Best regards, Satu

Hi Denise, I am also dutch, living in Utrecht. I am trying to be a zoner, however not being to succesfull at the moment. I have bought the book Mastering in the zone. About the kwark, yes, i love that too. Havermout is actually quite nice I find, however I do not use water but Soya milk, and thus add no extra sweetner. I hope i stay in the zone with soy milk instead of water. I do not have a weighing scale, so I do my meisuring with my eyes. I do think Holland has a very limited choice of koolhydraat=arm brood. Terrible. I think other countries have more options. In holland there are also no real low fat cheeses. As for another question on the branch: Yes , macadamia nuts can easily be bought in holland. One place that has them for sure is Albert Heijn, they are packaged in little plastic buckets. And denise, I also find it difficult to not have bread at lunch. I am at university, and people would start pulling really weird faces if I came in with some komkommer and chicken!!! I like the idea of your site, and visited it a few weeks ago. However as long as it has no working forum, it will not pick up many visitors. I also wish there was a zone diet book in dutch, especially for the weights, and other terms. Well that is all from me for now, greetings, Kate Napier

Sorry, Denise, I posted on this site, before going to your NEW site. Wow, you sure have updated it since last time. I think it is terrific, and I hope you are being payed by Dr sears for promoting his diet. I also love the easy calculater. Great going, I hope you live close by me!! greetings, Kate

Thanks Ronica for the tips. I already tried mixing my quark (I like quark more than cottage cheese) with peanutbutter (for the fat) and orange (for the sweetness) and it was really tasty... and Kate I live in Utrecht as well, so that's really close by...! I occassionally still add 1 piece of bread (vitaalfit from Albert Heijn contains lots of fibre which you'can subtract from your total carb content) topped with canned sardines and olives and put under the grill for ten minutes. It tastes as if I'm on holiday at the Mediteranean... :) Besides the cottage cheese (huttenkase, which I don't consider to be a "real" cheese) I haven't found a really low-fat cheese in Holland either. I tried some 30+ cheeses though as fat doesn't really take you out of the zone. I like the Milner and Leerdammer and I hate the Leidse (tastes like plastic).