i've been in the zone for 2 years (off and on) and love it when i need to trim down but my husband and children are not on board they want ice cream and carbs, i'm especially concerned about my daughter, she is i'll years old and is gaining quite a bit of weight especially in her tummy, i know it is because of all the carbs she eat, i try to keep tabs on her but when she goes to friends house i know she is eating junk, but i get so sick of being the "food police" for everyone else, any advice??

I have the same problem with my daughter. Any Advice?

Yup, I am sure that is a hard one. I think the best you can do is make sure that your daughter is getting proper nutrition at home, and along with that--family exercise. I think that is totally necessary for a parent to take an active part in making sure that children have proper exercise, which means getting on bikes, taking hikes and walks daily, Running and playing tag etc. Hopefully this will counteract any bad nutrition they are partaking of elsewhere.

I am brand new to Zone (day 2) and one of the reasons I decided to try this is because my 10 year old daughter loves carbs. I found that my eating and shopping patterns were leaning way to the side of carbs (I have kept within 10 pounds of my goal weight for 14 years with Weight Watchers) and my daughter is falling into that pattern without using any portion control. She is on the heavy side for her age, but still within an appropriate weight. I want to teach her good eating habits without making her obsess over measuring. Any suggestions for putting meals/snack ideas together for her so she makes better choices?

Hi Christina!

My 3 kids ranged in age from about 9 to 18 when we began eating in the Zone (15 years ago). We didn't have them measure specific amounts, but showed them how to mix and match protein and carb in appropriate quantities by sight, and to always add fat like a small handful of nuts or a small spoonful of oil to a meal, less to a snack. My son was the youngest (a yr or so younger than your daughter is now, so I'll focus on him) and even he picked up on it easily. To help them to make better choices at first, I did not resupply the foods that weren't Zone favorable, as we ran out of them. Instead, I replaced them with their favorite foods from the best choices on the Zone Food Blocks list. My son loved coming home from school and eating snacks like chicken with salsa and a few corn chips, leftover Zoned chili, leftover stir-fry, or a salad (he became a huge fan of salads of all kinds, and still is). I'd pack him a lunch of Zone friendly foods, usually giving him some input as to choices (my two older kids packed their own). If the school lunch was something he really wanted, I'd let him get it now and then. Eventually he didn't want it anymore. Kids can tell the difference, just like we adults can. When you eat only good fresh food all the time, the typical school lunch becomes quite unappetizing after a while. We didn't get rigid about it, none of the "You have to do this” kind of attitude. We simply kept the "bad” stuff out of the house. With mostly Zone favorable foods they liked being the only choices in the kitchen, they got creative (we all did) and discovered all kinds of favorite combinations. We didn't rely on the standard Zone string cheese and fruit snack, or the cottage cheese and fruit snacks either, though they would also be good choices. A tip, take care not to make cheese a habit multiple times a day. It doesn't contain the best fat. Also, we didn’t have any rules about eating out or at friend's houses. Everything was fair game. But, just as with the school lunches, he gravitated to the more Zone friendly combinations. With 10 yr olds, bottom line is, if you don't buy it, they're not going to have the choice to eat it at home. Other kids definitely noticed how he was eating a bit differently. They'd ask him why he didn't eat certain things, and he'd tell it was because they weren’t good for people to eat.

Wow, I’ve been running on here, but you get the idea. Good luck! :-)

Thank you Sue!

The gradual approach sounds great! My kids started school today (year round) so I am anxious for everyone to get back to a schedule and back to healthy eating. My daughter and I have been talking about Zone and the changes we are going to make. We made a chart last night for her snacks after school...it had a list of protein choices, a list of carb choices and a list of fat choices for her to pick from each day this week. Then we went to a church event and they were serving pizza and soda. I wasn't sure what to do there and it brought on this fear that I would become the food police. I didn't say a word and she ate pizza and soda. Thank you for your post...I know she will enjoy these changes and over time the pizza and soda won't be as much of a pull. We still have a lot of Zone unfriendly things in the house and I like the idea of just not replacing them. Right now it is just the two of us making the change...but my goal is for the whole family to get involved.

You're welcome Christina!

Eventually it becomes more of a family thing when the unfriendly foods all run out and are replaced with other things. My husband was fine with it because he liked the family Zone meals I made, even though he didn't pay attention to Zone balanced meals otherwise. He would buy things like OJ and granola once in a while, saying he though the kids would like to have some. Funny thing, the OJ would sit in the fridge until it went bad and he'd end up finishing off the granola because no one ate it. It wasn't until about 6 years later that he actually began Zone balancing his meals, at home and away, and when he did, he lost 67 pounds, down to his ideal body fat % and his high school weight. He became runner and even ran is first marathon 1 1/2 years ago at age 58!