I am so confused! I had thought that as long as you eat within the zone ratio and choose foods from the favorable food block list posted on this site, and follow the zone rules on timing of meals, everything is fine to eat. Is it true that fruit should actually be limited? Does the same go for using steel-cut oats, barley, lentils, beans or yogurt as carbs? How many blocks of my 11 block day is it OK to comprise of fruit or oats/barley/lentils/beans or yogurt?

[quote:1c7109e222="KDP"]I am so confused! I had thought that as long as you eat within the zone ratio and choose foods from the favorable food block list posted on this site, and follow the zone rules on timing of meals, everything is fine to eat. Is it true that fruit should actually be limited? Does the same go for using steel-cut oats, barley, lentils, beans or yogurt as carbs? How many blocks of my 11 block day is it OK to comprise of fruit or oats/barley/lentils/beans or yogurt?[/quote:1c7109e222] My opinion on this is--balance it out, round it out. You can't get all the nutrients that you need from one food source, so it is important to get a variety. There are certain vitamins/minerals that come from each type of veggie, fruit, etc. You could probably exist ok without including grains, but you really should have a good variety of veggies and fruits, with a variety of colors (colors of the food vary as the nutrients vary, so it is important to get some yellows, some greens, some reds, etc. in order to get the most nutrients. Now, in the Zone, people tolerate carbs on a very individual basis. That is, one may be more tolerable of higher amounts of fruits, and others may be less tolerable. I, for one, am less tolerant of fruits. This can only be determined via trial and error, and using the hormonal chart to rate the effects of a meal. http://www.drsears.com/hormonalchart.page I am not sure if this is printed anywhere, but I would start by limiting your fruit intake to the same guideline as for unfavorable carbs--25-30% of your total intake of carbs. That would be about a block per meal.

[quote:e4bc9420c9="KDP"]I am so confused! I had thought that as long as you eat within the zone ratio and choose foods from the favorable food block list posted on this site, and follow the zone rules on timing of meals, everything is fine to eat. Is it true that fruit should actually be limited? Does the same go for using steel-cut oats, barley, lentils, beans or yogurt as carbs? How many blocks of my 11 block day is it OK to comprise of fruit or oats/barley/lentils/beans or yogurt?[/quote:e4bc9420c9] [color=darkred:e4bc9420c9]Hi, As Cranberrycat already posted, carb tolerance differs between individuals. This is why the Zone has built in adjustments (see "Fine Tuning Your Hormonal Carburetor" explanations in the Zone books). Some people might be able to keep insulin within the levels of the Zone while eating fruit and oats for most all of their carb, while others can only keep insulin levels in the Zone when eating low density veggies. Your view of the Zone as stated in your post quoted above is somewhat oversimplified. Eating the way you described will keep some people in the Zone but not others. It is precisely for that reason the Dr. Sears recommends in his books to use a food diary and tinker with the balance of your meals until keep you in the Zone. Take your hunger experience, for instance. You're becoming hungry after almost every meal and snack. From your description of your hunger it is the unfocused type, which tells us you are eating too much carb to allow your insulin levels to lower into the Zone. If you take a look at your meals, and snacks, you'll notice that almost each one contains a block or more of fruit. Fruit stimulates the blood sugar more than low density veggies, resulting in a higher insulin level when eating fruit as opposed to veggies. It follows that if you cut down on the amount of fruit in the meal there will be less insulin stimulation resulting for that meal, allowing you to lower insulin to the Zone levels. We can't tell you how many blocks of fruit you can eat in a day and still keep your insulin levels in the Zone. You'll have to determine that by trial and error. The best way would be to eat only low low density veggies for all your carbs until you are solidly in the Zone (Dr. Sears usual advice to those having trouble getting or staying in the Zone). Then you can slowly add fruit, grain, beans, etc. to see how much you can handle.[/color:e4bc9420c9]