"I could spend hours in Trader Joes!"

Me too Mari! :-)

I've discovered I still need to look at the labels very closely, to make sure it contains Zone friendly fats. Gotta avoid those omega 6 vegetabel oils. :-) This has prevented me from buying many of their pasta sauces (lots are made with added soybean oil).

I made my weekly trip to Trader Joe's today and stocked up on lots of goodies. I love the various types of hummus that they have, especially the 3 layer hummus. I bought a new one today that is made with olives, so we will see how that one tastes! I recently discovered a frozen seafood blend that includes shrimp, bay scallops and calamari that I have been using in recipes to put over spaghetti squash. Another wonderful line of products is their salsas and I enjoy their pineapple salsa. As a treat with my turkey chili, I will also have a few of TJ Flaxseed Vegetable Tortilla chips. They are to die for! Last but not least, I have started buying their 0% Greek Yogurt...SO much more reasonable than the Fage and Chobani that I used to buy! I <3 Trader Joes!!

Emily, I like their hummus too. My favorite is the original. I like the Salsa Autentica.

I've discovered I still need to look at the labels very closely, to make sure it contains Zone friendly fats. Gotta avoid those omega 6 vegetabel oils. :-) This has prevented me from buying many of their pasta sauces (lots are made with added soybean oil).

The marsala wine sauce is not a pasta sauce. It is a brown marsala sauce for marsala chicken. I am not sure, they were out of it last time, but I don't think it even contains oil. As far as the pasta sauces, the one that I have is Rustico, and it says it has imported olive oil, and canola. Ultimately, I make my own most of the time, but sometimes convenience wins.

Emily, I also like their Greek yogurt, but it is a 45 minute drive for me, so I can't stock up too much on it. I also have bought the seafood blend and made lo-mein with it with lots of veggies - but I do the stir fry on my gas grill outdoors since I am a messy cook, and don't care if I make a mess outdoors.

Thanks, I know it's not pasta sauce. :-)

Sue-Sorry for the delay (i really need to check the forums more often lol) Many thanks for bringing the steel-cut oatmeal ingredients to my attention. I guess in my excitement over the convenience of the product I overlooked the rolled oats and syrup. Any thoughts/advice about cooking up legitimate steel-cut oats and freezing them? And I'm with you on the original hummus and Salsa autentica, soooo good!

Hey Ryan, how are you doing? No worries!

Steel cut oats, the easiest ways to cook them are the Crockpot or Thermos methods from Zone books. Crock pot: 1 part oats to 1 parts water, cook on low overnight. Thermos, same proportions but use boiling (or very hot) water, put into a thermos and cap it overnight. I use a 1 to 1.5 quart Crockpot oiled with a little light olive oil (you don't want to heat extra virgin oil, and the light has a neutral flavor), 1 cup oats and 4 cups water. The next morning I transfer the removable crock to the fridge. Later in the day, when it's become solid, I pop the whole thing out of the crock, cut it into a dozen pieces (about 1 block each) and freeze them.

Ever tried the "Blister Peanuts " at Trader Joe's? (look for the blue package) They're great!

ON MY LAST TRIP TO TRADER'S I BOUGHT EVERY SPICE GRINDER THEY OWN. WE LOVE THEM. I TOO LOVE THEIR FROZEN CHIICKEN BREASTS AND BAKE THEM WITH SOME BALSAMIC VINEGAR AND A DASH OF EVOO AND A GRIND OF THEIR "EVERYDAY SPICES".. BUT NOW I WOULD LIKE TO TRY THAT MARSALA IDEA. SOUNDED DELICIOUS. THE FROZEN VEGGIES ARE THE BEST I HAVE EVER HAD AND THEIR ASPARAGUS ARE SUPERB.

SUE THANKS FOR THE NEW LIST. I POSTED HERE YESTERDAY BUT IT GOT LOST IN CYBER SPACE.. I EVEN BOUGHT A NEW INK JET SO I CAN KEEP PRINTING YOUR "COOKBOOK" OUT!! ONE DAY I WILL BIND IT AND CALL IT "LET SUE HELP YOU COOK YOUR WAY TO GOOD HEALTH"!!!

Aw Mel...you're giving me too much credit here. :-)

Glad you like my recipes. You'll see how easy it is to come up with ideas for the new Zone foods when your shipment arrives. Have fun with it!

The ZoneFast recipes they've posted on this site can be taken in so many different directions. For dinner tonight I had the gazpacho recipe with my own twist... I left out the shrimp and added garlic powder, lots of fresh thyme and oregano, a little more vinegar, more cucumber fresh ground pepper and some sea salt. Very yummy. I added 1/2 package of plain Zone croutons and had a slice of toasted Zone cinnamon swirl loaf on the side. Dessert was 1/2 a Zone brownie. I'm loving eating this way. It's great to be able to eat like this and be lowering your inflammation even more than you can with a traditional Zone meal (there's virtually no omega 6 in these foods!). It's good to be true, but it's true! :-)

Well, as long as you are able to tolerate the higher GI of the foods, that is great for you, Sue! I am finding that the GI is probably too high, and that traditional zone meals are much healthier. With traditional zone foods, one can still get a handle on the good fat/bad fat thing (we humans have been surviving for a good many years that way).

ZoneFast products and recipes will probably work out great for those who have a hard time giving up bread and pasta, because it is the high GI of the traditional breads/pasta that keeps people out of the Zone. But, the lower GI is a huge improvement for those who would otherwise not consider the Zone at all.

As for me, after 5-6 years in the Zone, I think I have conquered that problem.

Hi Zoners,

The new Zone foods are an excellent choice for lowering inflammation because they are virtually free of omega 6 fats. This is one of the reasons I switched to the ZoneFast 1-2-3 plan. I have a strong family history of Alzheimer’ Disease, my dad, his mom and all of his siblings, and I want to do all I can to keep my inflammation level as low as possible. Kudos to Barry Sears for making these excellent foods available to us! :-)

Don’t be fooled into thinking the new Zone baked foods and pastas are simply replacement foods for people who don’t want to give up eating bread and sweets. It’s not so. They are much more. They are the best choice for lowering inflammation.

This is an excerpt from Toxic Fat: "If you are following the Zone diet precisely, you are getting about 10 to fifteen servings of fruits and vegetables per day. That amount of vegetables and fruits means you are also getting a lot of anti-inflammatory polyphenols. By eating a broad spectrum of colorful vegetables and fruits, you are also getting a broad range of polyphenols to effecively inhibit silent inflammation." It also goes on about following the Zone Wellness Pyramid - it has not been updated to include the Superzone products, from what I can see. It is a little hard to get all of these servings with the products. And then one would have to add a bottle of polyphenols to replace the fruits and veggies that you would be lacking?

Also, why is this breaking information not being made more public? Usually if there is any type of major nutritional breakthroughs, you can find them outside of a website. The benefits of fresh foods are plastered everywhere for all to read, but I have not seen much outside of this website on Superzone foods. Are there any upcoming news events scheduled for these products?

Mari, my sentiments exactly!

(by the way, sorry for hijacking the thread, but I think we have hit a "nerve")

Sue,

There is no substitute for real food. Truly. I wish I could find the quote from Zone Labs that would state this point clearly. I will go looking for it and come back.

From a perspective of "anti-inflammation diets", one of the main points about eating to decrease inflammation is to eat whole foods, and avoid processed foods and artificial ingredients at all costs. The Zone Fast foods do not meet this standard. Wheat is not a good food for anti-inflammation. Sucralose is not a good food for anti-inflammation. I also see butter listed on the label, and I don't see any other fats listed, so I have a hard time believing that butter would be good for anti-inflammation.

I also find it curious that this "breakthrough" is not widely known. I would have expected to find some scientific citations on "molecular baking", but this term is not recognized anywhere except within the realms of the Zone and Medwell 123. That actually concerns me to a degree, because I wonder how much this processing as been tested, and who did the tests.

Again, sorry for hijacking!

Here is the post that I was looking for:

http://www.zonediet.com/Community/F...fault.aspx

11/10/2009 9:43 AM
Dr. Sears continually stresses that if you correctly follow his dietary guidelines, then you would never need to purchase any products from this Web site. The products that are offered on this Web site are to be used a dietary aids to make your long-term compliance with the Zone Diet easier. The most rigorous version of the Zone Diet would be to never consume anything that wasn’t available 10,000 years ago. This would mean never consuming grains, milk products, vegetable oils, caffeine, and alcohol while maintaining the appropriate ratio of protein to carbohydrate at every meal and snack. Obviously, that is difficult for many people to comply with. This is why he developed food products (including nutrition bars, EPA/DHA concentrates and polyphenols along with the newest generation of SuperZone products) as an aid for people who don’t have the dietary discipline to maintain a strict Zone Diet. If these new SuperZone products enable you to maintain better hormonal control, then you should consider integrating them into your existing Zone Diet. The same is true for any other nutritional product sold on this Web site.
Zone Technical Support

I apologize in advance for "triple-posting", but I wanted to keep the quoted post separate from my comments, so there is no mistake in what Zone Support said and what I commented on.

Those words come directly from the Zone, and from Barry Sears. Sounds to me that the post is saying that the foods are for those who have a difficult time adhering to zone guidelines.

Hey Zoners!

Lots of speculation flying around here. For the newer readrers, it's well known here that for the past 10 years Barry Sears has been personally counseling me on how get the best possible results from the Zone. My postings in these forums reflect the advice he's given me. And, who would know better about all the intricacies of the Zone than Barry Sears? I'll be sticking with his advice. My results have shown me he knows what he's doing.

Though the naysayers among us will inevitably criticize and spin isolated quotes to fit their many scenarios, try not to allow this to deter you from reaping the benefits of all the Zone has to offer you.

Enjoy your day everyone! :-)

You are too funny, Sue!

You said:
"Though the naysayers among us will inevitably criticize and spin isolated quotes to fit their many scenarios, try not to allow this to deter you from reaping the benefits of all the Zone has to offer you. "

I would recommend that you follow the link directly to the post. That quote was not an isolated quote. That was a direct copy/paste from an entire post. I have no intention on "spinning" anyone's quotes to fit a scenario.

I agree, though, about reaping the benefits that the Zone has to offer. I just don't happen to agree that we can reach our highest potential while eating manufactured foods.

Hi Zoners!


If you're a Trader Joe's fan like me, you can keep up with the latest by subscribing to their emails. They're lots of fun to read. Today's is all about Valentine's Day. Here's part of it.



"Do Something Blushingly Romantic

• Pink Salt
• Piquillo Peppers

• Fresh Mozzarella

• Rosy Outlook Bouquet


Total Cost: $11




At First Blush: Prepare to sprinkle Pink Salt. Place Roasted Piquillo Peppers on a platter. Slice Fresh Mozzarella into medallions and arrange slices alongside Piquillos (pattern after Rosy Outlook Bouquet). Adorn with savory pink crystals, and put bouquet on display... is the color rising to the cheeks? Ah, how "blushingly romantic."



Sounds like a very Zoney Valentine platter to me. :-) And lucky me, I've got all those foods in my house already! And a certain someone usually gives me Valentine flowers (my husband). OK, so they probably won't match the food in appearance, like Trader Joe's bouquet would, but who cares? :-)

Too funny, Sue!

Glad to see this thread back on track.

I LOST ANOTHER POST(CRY) HOPE I REMEMBER WHAT I SAID!

SUE...THANKS FOR THE TJ VALENTINE'S IDEA. PASSED IT ON TO MY DD FOR HER BF. LOL I JUST FOUND THE EMAIL IN MY BOX TOO. I READ THE COMMENT YOU LEFT ME OTHER THREAD AND YES I HAVE GREAT SELF CONTROL....BUT WAITING TILL SUNDAY IS GOING TO TAKE EVERY OUNCE I HAVE! LOL

I JUST WANTED TO SAY ONE THING...NOTHING WILL DETER ME FROM TRYING NEW THINGS, EVER. SCIENCE CHANGES VERY RAPIDLY AND I AM ALWAYS OPEN TO NEW IDEAS. FOR EX: ONE DAY EGGS ARE NO GOOD FOR YOU AND THE NEXT THEY ARE FINE, SOMETIME'S LIFE IS LIKE A CRAP SHOOT. DEPENDS ON WHICH SIDE THE DICE STOP ROLLING ON. SO WITH THE LIFE "AGING" INFLAMMATORY DISORDER THAT I HAVE, I HAVE NOTHING TO LOSE AND EVERYTHING TO GAIN WITH BARRY SEARS' WISDOM.
AS THEY SAY...NOTHING VENTURED NOTHING GAINED. EXCEPT THIS TIME I HOPE TO LOSE...WEIGHT THAT IS!! ROFL (MY YOUNGER BROTHER'S NAME WAS BARRY...LOL....I FIND THAT AN OMEN!!) HAPPY TUESDAY!

Good Mel. Keep that resolve and you'll go far. Ah, so you feel right at home here (your brother's name). I have some Zone coincidences, too. One is that Barry S. and I have the same birthday. Yep, really. :-)

I LOVE THAT! SHARED BIRTHDAYS. WHEN MY FRIEND TOLD ME SHE HEARD ABOUT THE ZONE DIET...I GOOGLED AND CAME HERE...FIRST THING I SAW WAS THE NAME BARRY!! I KNEW IN MY HEART THIS MUST BE THE RIGHT PLACE FOR ME. LOL
I JUST WANTED YOU TO KNOW I HAVE BEEN IN THE FRIDGE LOOKING AT ALL MY NEW "STUFF" SO MANY TIMES THAT THE DOOR WILL PROBABLY FALL OFF! ROFLMAO MY DAUGHTER TOLD ME TO GO TO BED EARLY AND BE A GOOD GIRL!!

Mel, you could just start eating it. Your body doesn't know whether today's Sunday or Tuesday. :-)

Mel, I know what you mean about starting something new in the middle of the week. I like starting things on a Sunday or Monday, or the 1st of the month, or whatever is a good date to work with. I think most of us are like that, it helps us to stay organized. While you wait for Sunday to come, you can be looking at the material and the menu planners to work out some meal ideas.

Good luck! It really didn't go well for me, it still varies. I have been eating traditional zone food now and just eating 1 zone product, but sometimes that product works ok, and sometimes it makes me feel even more hungry. Really varies.

Here’s another list of favorites that I haven’t posted here yet. I’ve compiled it from the receipts from a couple of my recent shopping trips to Trader Joe’s. These items listed are ones I usually keep stocked in my kitchen. Since I’m taking the names from a receipt, they might not quite be the exact names as shown on the products, but they will be close enough for you to figure out if you should look for them in a Trader Joe's store. Also, I highly recommend the Trader Joe’s $1.99 insulated shopping bag (the red and cream colored one with the Velcro closure strip across the entire top of the bag). It does a very good job of keeping things frozen, it’s roomy and it stands up to just about anything you subject it to. Other brands I’ve tried tear apart at the seams after a couple of months of use





Veggie Asian Blend, frozen veggies; the one in the dark blue package; I discard the flavoring packet (not the most Zone friendly ingredients in the flavor packet)

TJ’s Smoked Sockeye Salmon (wild salmon)

White balsamic vinegar

Chili pepper sauce

TJ’s pitted Kalamata olives

Peanut Satay Sauce (glass jar)

TJ’s bruschetta (glass jar); it makes a fantastic Zone pizza!

Sliced sun dried tomatoes (glass jar)

Dijon Mustard (one of the spiciest and sharpest tasting one I’ve found!)

Traditional tapenade (glass jar)