How do you manage to stay on top of your zone meals and keep everything in check when you're exhausted? If you are/were a stress eater - how did you break the habit? I'm a full time chiropractic student, mom and wife with a part-time job. Exhaustion and stress are part of my life. I've been zoning for 4 days now and I'm already noticing big improvements in energy levels being on the zone, which is probably how I managed to put together a decent meal tonight, but it's not just physical exhaustion for me - a lot of my exhaustion is mental - which makes making good choices for dinner even harder. I know I'm not the only person exhausted and/or stressed at the end of the day...so please tell me, how do you do it?????

"so please tell me, how do you do it?????"

When you have of those days, try taking a deep breath and for dinner, eating a bowl of plain lowfat yogurt with peanut butter mixed into it (and a little vanilla extract if you want).

Congrats on your progress Vicki!

Hi Vicki,
Welcome, and I have been in your shoes! I was a full time student with 3 young kids (2 in sports) and a full-time midnight shift job. God Bless my husband! He did it all for me, and I spent many a day crying and wondering how I would get through it all. Now, my kids are grown, happy, healthy adults and I am left wondering where did it all go? Enjoy life and the Zone will help you! If you have any days off at all, try to plan your week of meals, or at least a few days. Anything you can do to prepare ahead of time such as chop veggies, (BTY, chopping is a great stress reliever), do so! Chili is simple, Superzone foods are convenient if you can afford them, and look for pre-packaged frozen items if possible. Use your CrockPot or grill, if you have a gas one for less mess during the week. Trader Joes can be a great help if you are near one. Keep Zoned snacks on hand such as cheese and nuts, if possible. And, if you have any time, do some sort of exercise for your stress levels even if it is doing a walk or short run, incorporating the kids if you can to spend more time with them. I'm sure someone with more Zone experience will chime in here for tips, but this diet really will help you. Good Luck!

Sometimes I wonder that, myself!

There have been times that I have come home from work, tired mentally and physically, and just didn't have the willpower to think about it. Those are "breakfast for supper" nights. My kids love omelets, and they are easy to make, so I throw them together. Or, if it is beyond even that, I might just have oatmeal for dinner! And, if it is even beyond that, I might just make a big batch of smoothies, and call that supper!

Chili, slow-cooker, frozen veggies, pre-cut veggies, those are all things that help me to stay on top of preparing zone meals. Planning things ahead of time, so that when you shop, you have good idea of what you will be having for meals.

Sue - the yogurt with PB sounds really good - thanks for the suggestion!

Mari - thank you for all the great suggestions, sometimes just hearing that someone else went through this and survived is all I need - I will keep you in mind when I am tired/frustrated/exhausted! Luckily my second job is as a Jazzercise instructor, so I am able to keep up with exercise at least. It really is great for stress relief. I just taught a class tonight and I feel so much more focused, energetic, and positive than when I made this post!

Cranberrycat - thank you for the quick dinner suggestions - I was hoping someone would just give me a default list - just what I needed - I think I will post it on my fridge now, so when I am exhausted I can just look at it - no thinking involved :-)

One more question - how are the superzone foods - I normally try to avoid processed foods - what do the ingredient lists look like? Specifically the cookies - they look so yummy - are they as good as they look? How do they work on the blocks program?

THANK YOU!

Vicki, glad I could help out!

I am sorting out the superzone foods, myself, and have some questions about how to use them. You can look at the superzone topic and find discussions there.

I try to avoid processed foods, too. But, because I have been so publicly "critical" of these foods, I decided to test them out for myself. I also have started a thread to record my "trial". Personally, I don't really care too much for the cookies. First, they are really small, so they don't look like much when you first take them out of the package. However, they do seem to be more fulfilling than their small appearance may suggest. I have tried them today and find them too sweet, too rich. I don't think I would order them again.

So you are a jazzercise instructor? I used to take a class, but no longer have instructors around here. I really enjoyed it, though! Excellent workout!

You're welcome Vicki!

The SuperZone foods are great! They'd totally solve your convenience under stress problems with the diet, and they offer the best insulin control and results of all the methods of doing the Zone. In a nutshell, happens because the baking process Dr. Sears uses makes it so the carbs don't begin to breakdown until they reach the beginning of you small intestine, meaning no blood sugar surges take place and no excess insulin is produced. It’s brilliant! There's no counting or balancing involved on your part because the food is already perfectly Zone balanced. It's also better than the original Zone from the omega 6 standpoint, so you are also receiving excellent inflammation control. It's like having the best of all worlds, and it's absolutely delicious. I've been using the SuperZone plan for several months and I'm feeling even better than I did while following original Zone for the past 15 years. After maintaining my 100 pound weight loss, staying between 23 to 26 % body fat for many years, I was very surprised to begin dropping more body fat when I started the SuperZone plan. I'm now about to break into the 22% range that has been out of my reach for a long time, plus I've gained about to 2 pounds additional LBM.

You can find the ingredients in the SHOP tab above.

"Specifically the cookies - they look so yummy - are they as good as they look?"

Yes, they are! I like all of them, and if I had to pick a favorite it would be the Milk Chocolate Chunk. All the cookies keep me in the Zone and feeling great for hours. This is amazing, because, in case you didn't know being new here), I am super sensitive to the carbohydrate I eat and have to keep a very tight balance. Even most of the Zone favorable fruits take me out of the Zone. For instance, I can't even eat a snack of a piece of cheese and some grapes and nuts, or cheese, apple or orange, and nuts and remain in the Zone. About an hour after eating that type of snack I start to become spacey, shaky and faint. I'll say it again. The SuperZone foods and plan are absolutely brilliant! They’ve taken my Zone to a whole new level.

You can find the ingredients in the SHOP tab above.

Vicki, from what I understand, if you choose the superzone foods, you would still add 8 servings of veggies, a serving of legume, and a few servings of fruit. Besides that, a dairy serving is optional. The veggie servings are not as big as the serving size of the traditional food block list, so 8 servings are not too hard to swallow.

Sue and I are in disagreement on that point, and I have an email out to Dave Shreck, he answered back today and said he was going to review the questions with Barry Sears and get back to me, probably next week.

I think that it could be a way to make life easier, but it is definitely expensive, and I don't know how one would feed a family on it--I know that it isn't possible for me to afford at the family level. But, in another respect, you are definitely saving on the meat bill, since most of the protein is included in the product.

I am deciding on whether to make the breads 2 blocks of a 3 block meal and just add one block of protein/carb/fat, or if I will eat them as 2 block meal/snacks without adding to them. Will depend on how my questions are answered.

Semantics, IMO. So, if Sue feels that my statement was an erroneous interpretation, then I guess the opposite must be true, she DOES agree with that point (point being that one should be adding 8 veggie servings to their superzone meals).

If anyone is confused about it, you can read the thread that Sue is talking about. She also states in another post that she was not interested in clarifying the point any further.

Thanks everyone for your help and for patiently answering my questions about superzone. There doesn't seem to be much definitive information on the website yet, so I found it a bit confusing! Cranberrycat and Sue, you must answer the same questions a lot from newbies. I'm getting better at finding the info I need here, but really appreciate your help!

Cranberrycat - yep, I've been teaching Jazzercise for just over 3 years now - it's the only workout I've ever stuck with! I love to dance and the strength training is great. You know, you can always be an instructor :-)

I'll have to think about the superzone foods, convenience is a plus, but money is also tight with me being in school full time...maybe I'll try a few products and take it from there!

Have a great weekend!

You're welcome Vicki! I'm happy to help. :-)