First off I'd like to thank everyone who has helped me so far. My question is in regards to the adjusting the blocks.

My daily Block Intake is 20. Divide that by 5 meals and I get 4 blocks per meal. I am used to eating 6 meals a day.

Can I adjust the blocks so that I can still get the 20 Blocks a day in 6 meals?

Again, Thanks Much!!

Dave

Hi!

You can arrange you blocks any way you like as long as your follow the basic Zone rules (find them in QUICK START GUIDE on this site).

Here are a few suggestions for a 20 block day:

3 5-block meals, and 5 1-block snacks

3 5-block meals, 2 1-block snacks, and 1 1-block snack

4 4-block meals, and 4 1-block snacks

You coud even "graze" and eat 2 block snacks all day long.

You're welcome!

...You coud even "graze" and eat 2 block snacks all day long..

If I remember correctly according to the good Dr.Sears "ideally" one would have a "drip" going in their arm all day and the exact nutrients of a "balanced" meal be fed at a constant pace for the utmost in "insulin control".

I have actually done this at times [ NOT THE DRIP ! ] - made up a bunch of 1 block snacks and ate one at the first sign of hunger.

Interestingly I found that I would often go for 3 or more hours without hunger and at the end of the day have consumed significantly less than normal - that is - had I been "eating normally" according to The Zone - and without beinG hungry at all.

Certainly a "pain in the butt" way to eat if you were moving around at all from place to place but if you were at home all day it's not as hard as it would seem.

I wonder if "consuming less" is an expected effect of this way of eating ?

And lately when I've read of people having some sort of difficulty with their "block" management _ the thought has crossed my mind to suggest this - or maybe Sue's idea of a series of 2 block "snack/meals" would be an idea ?

Have to admit - it might just take the "confusion" right out of it : No wondering about the varying number of blocks and when to use them - "Make up 6 [ 2] block "meals" and eat one whenever hungry"

e.Wally

ewally@verizon.net

Hi,

To stay in the Zone, you'd want to eat before you got hungry. By the time you feel hungry, you're no longer in the Zone.

That was what I meant but didn't state too clearly -

Having figured out I was going typically 3 hours after a "snack" before being hungry then you would start consuming your "snacks" at 3 hour intervals - which is what I did more or less.

E.Wally

ewally@verizon.net

I tried this a while back, eating 2-block meal/snacks throughout the day. It didn't really work all that well for me. I could not take the time from work to break away for each little meal, and I found myself running longer than I should have to eat, and I felt as if I was playing "catch-up" all day long.

However, at home, I think it could work much better. I tend to get bored and "graze" if I am home all day. This would definitely be a solution to that problem (but it doesn't really happen all that often!)

Hi Cranberrycat,

I work from home so it is quite easy for me to do. The reason I mentioned it was because I found that by eating - believe it or not - just "snacks" [ 1 block ] and remembering to eat by 3 hours - I was consuming considerably less than if I did it the "normal" block way !

That made me remember -or "think" I remembered Dr.Sears saying somewhere that [ and I am paraphrasing ] "ideally to maintain your insulin in the appropriate "zone" - you would want to be more or less consuming your nutrients on a constant basis throughout the day... so you would be using your food like a drug is often administered."

When I "played around" with this it was BF [ before forums ] so I had no one to "bounce the idea" off of but I've often wondered if this "variation" of the eating plan had the same effect on others.

I have never been a "sit down big planned meal" person so you can suspect this method really appeals to me and I often end up "grazing" like you do - never really having a "meal".

I love peaches and when "in season" [ NOW ] I have had days - are you ready for this - where I have simply eaten peaches throughout the day and for protein, usually, 1 block of salmon.

I'll cook a couple of salmon fillets the night before - slice them in 1 block segments - and consume 1 segment at a time with a peach - once in a while two peaches and two blocks of salmon simply because I can't stop and eat JUST ONE, peach !

So much for a "little fun with Dick and Jane - and playing around with The Zone eating formula"

E.Wally

ewally@verizon.net

Yes, I definitely can see how it would work much better if you are at home. Like I said, the difficulty for me was because of my work schedule. I didn't mention the planning and the packing of all of those mini-meals. Oh, and I found that fruit was easier to use in those mini-meals, and I ended up eating too much fruit.

Anyway, it should work well, as long as you have good control of your schedule, and a refrigerator waiting for you!