Hello. Im a freshman to Zone-diet. Just read one book, wich was "Finding your zone" by Barry Sears. I want to show u how I eat and live in "my new life". Please tell me if im doing any big mistakes.
(Male, Age 24, very active person, 18blocks a-day.

08.00 Breakfast 4 blocks:
Cottage Cheese 200grams = almost 4P
Mixed with: 60grams of a oat"mixture" (long coocked) =4Carbblocks
and some nuts or a little spoon of Peanutbutter.

09.30 **Workout**

11.30 Lunsj 5 blocks:
1 Egg, 4 eggwhites, 30grams of cheese ("ordinary" cheese).= 4Proteinbars. (coocket together and warmed like a omelett)
1 Onion or 2 tomatoes. 2 Vollkornbread-slices. 1 orange. = 4Carbobars
2dl Milk. 1 of each block.

14.00 Snack, 2 Blocks
Protein yoghurt. 2 1/2 = proteinblock and 1/2 carbblock.
Fruit. = 2 Carbblocks

15.00 **Workout**
(very hungry)

18.00/18.30 Dinner. 5blocks
Chicken or tuna (sometimes other stuff that equals 5Proteinbars)
5blocks is like 150g chicken. wich is a rally small amount? anybody else feels it that way?
Salad made of: 1/4 of a icebergsalad, 1tomato, 1/4 onion = 1carbbar (!!!???)
(Its a big bowl of salad for one person)
Fruits = 4carblocks.
Fat = a olivenbased dressing.
I feel that im hungry very fast afther this meal. maybe just 2-hour later im really hungry again. Something wrong with the meal?

Snack: 2 Blocks. Somewher between 20.00 and bedtime.
Keeping this meal down to 2blocks is really hard. since i really wanna eat alot more. Before the diet i could eat 4-7 pieces of bread at this time.

So, what do u think?
Please comment my day, and routines.
I've lost some weight since starting on the diet, wich feels good in my sport.
I feel good!
but, i really miss bread! Is vollkornbrot(bread) good to eat in the diet? and afther 2nd workout im a bit "too hungry".

Sorry my wrting and typing errors, im not from the US!

Nice job for a "freshman"!

I am having a little problem with the language conversion, but otherwise I think that your bread is an unfavorable carbohydrate (it usually is). That might be part of the problem with your hunger issues. Otherwise, the other thing is that I don't see any fat in your snack before your second workout, and that might also be contributing to the hunger issue. Then, for dinner, it might be that you just need to have more veggies instead of all of the fruit. You could keep some fruit in there, and perhaps decrease the lettuce in the salad and add something else in there for a vegetable. Even a ladle of beans/legumes on top of your salad could help.

Make sure you are getting enough fat for each meal.

Overall, though-I think you have the right idea, and you are losing weight and feeling great!

Ok. Thanks alot Cranberrycat! What beans would you say is the best to use?
And are the anything i can add to my tea to add a sweeter taste?
Vollkornbrot... i think maybe you call it "whole rye bread?"
http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/I/51TSk0IlCXL._SL500_AA280_PIbundle-12,TopRight,0,0_AA280_SH20_.jpg almost like this.

The ONLY sweetner I would use is Stevia! It is non-caloric and natural.
I purchase liquid standardized in 2 oz bottles, and only use about 2 or 3 drops in my herbal teas (like Tulsi tea, White Tea, and Rooibos tea). And do not use any commercially marketed hybrids of stevia.
In USA "Truvia" is a commercial hybrid, and not true pure Stevia.
Most other alternative sweeteners are just chemicals.
And studies are starting to appear regarding manufactured Fructose (other than the naturally occurring Fructose in fruits).

Hi Daniel,

No worries about typos! English is my first language and my postings are filled with typos (when I forget to run a spell check). :-)



You're on the right track and some fine tuning should help with your hunger. Here are some suggestions.

1. Have more of your carbohydrates from veggies, less from fruit.

2. Try to eliminate the bread, or at least keep it to no more then 1 block in your 4 or 5 block meals.

3. Watch your fat balance to be sure to eat a minimum of 3 grams of fat for every 7 grams of protein you eat.

4. Eat a 1 block Zone balanced snack prior to each workout, and eat another 1 block balanced snack after each workout. Count these as part of your 18 blocks daily.

Have fun with the Zone, and please keep us updated! :-)

Ok. Thx alot, Sue and John.
Got any good "one-block-afther-training-snack" tips for me, Sue?

You're welcome Daniel. Snacks, the possibilities are endless. Assuming you want something that's easy to take along with you, and noting on your menu you like cottage cheese, you might like cottage cheese, veggies (red of green peppers, celery, etc) or berries, and a handful of almonds. Another good one would be hard boiled egg whites (no yolks) filled with hummus. No need to add more fat to that one because there's fat in the hummus. A favorite snack of mine is sardines and berries. It also makes a good meal (if you like sardines)!

For a dry snack you could grab some unsalted "Soy Nuts" (edamame),
add some dry steel cut oats, and a few (almond) nuts.
(Read label of edamame to determine qty of steel cut oats and nuts.)
In a small plastic container, would keep for quite a while, and no need to worry about refrigeration.

Never heard of Stavia, can i buy it in regular stores?

OK, I've made some changes now. I now have a "1block snack" right after both workout, because the time from my workout untill the lunch and dinner is done is abit too long. so Lunch and dinner are now both 4blocks. (sounds OK?) Ive also added
some more fat to the meals, mostly peanut butter or almonds. Didnt feel quite so hungry yesterday (first day with it) good thing.

I really like salad, specially with icebergsalad. But i gotta eat a ton to get 4 blocks of carbs. (1 icebergsalad-head is only 1block, and i feel like 1/4 really is enough of it) Can any of u give me a tip about a healthy salad or some healthy carbs I could add to it? or eat on the side? I dont wanna add Beans, because i really want to have my proteins from the chicken or fish.
So carbs for dinner tips, please. Please something cheap and easy, since I'm a Student. hehe

Stevia is not generally available in grocery stores in USA.
However, it is available as an Herb from online stores, here.
FDA does not allow it to be called, labeled, and marketed as a "sweetener".
Too much money from the manufacturing companies of artificial (chemical) sweeteners.
Stevia is relatively inexpensive.

Daniel, good job! Your adjustments sound like they're working well. Stevia can be found in any health food store in the US; not sure about where you live.

"Can any of u give me a tip about a healthy salad or some healthy carbs I could add to it? or eat on the side? I don’t wanna add Beans, because i really want to have my proteins from the chicken or fish.
So carbs for dinner tips, please. Please something cheap and easy, since I'm a Student. hehe"

Beans would actually be an excellent choice and would still allow you to add the full amount of protein to the salad. The reason why beans are considered carbohydrate for Zone purposes, and not protein, (the exception is soy beans) is some of the protein in plant foods is trapped inside intricate structures of insoluble fiber. Since insoluble fiber does not break down in the human digestive system, the trapped protein doesn't become available for absorption. Feel free to add some beans. Black beans, chick peas (aka garbanzo beans), kidney beans, and lentils are all very good choices.

You can put just about any veggie you can think of into a salad. Since you have budget concerns, the easiest thing to do would be look at what's on sale in the market, and from those items, choose the ones that are the most Zone favorable. Another way to boost the carb content of a meal sized salad is to eat an apple or other favorable fruit for dessert. A medium apple alone adds half the carbohydrate you'd typically use in a 4 block meal. A glass of milk or 1/2 cup of yogurt on the side are also an option for adding carbohydrate. They also contain a block of protein to each block of carbohydrate, so, if you use them, cut back a little on the protein you add to the salad.

Keep up the good work!

Daniel, when I make salads, I like adding beans (see Sue's reply) and I also add salsa. I can never get enough tomatoes, so even with the salsa, I would even add more sliced tomatoes, and maybe some green pepper. You can use as much or as little of the lettuce as you want, so if you add lots of veggies, maybe you won't want to add as much lettuce.

Oh, you are really helpfull to me! thank you so much for helping!
Gonna try your tips next week, sounds great! didnt know about the fiber/proteins stuff!

Went to the health-food store and asked for Stevia today. but they said they didnt sell it any more. It was a new thing called Sukrin on the market (A Norwegian name i think, dont know what the english name is). A little dash of it in my tea wouldnt count as any bar, would it? It says "no carbs" on the pack.

Correct.
No counting towards carbohydrates.
I use two drops only with my tea.
4 drops and it tastes too sweet.

Ok. I've added som more veggies, leaving som fruit! and that works. doesnt feeal quite som hungry anymore! Thaks! still a bit. but ive always been.
I wonder, how many almonds is for 1block meals?

Daniel,

"I've added som more veggies, leaving som fruit! and that works."

Very good!



"doesnt feeal quite som hungry anymore! Thaks!"

You're welcome.



"still a bit. but ive always been."

Give it some time, and keep experimenting to find which carbohydrates work best for you to prevent hunger. Using a food diary is helpful for this. You should be able to become hunger-free.



"I wonder, how many almonds is for 1block meals?"

3 almonds. When your protein is fat free, double that to 6 almonds.


Keep up the good job!

Thanks again, Sue!

Each almond is .5 (1/2) gram of fat.
3 almonds are 1.5 g
6 almonds are 3.0 g
This way, if you know the amount of Fat in your protein source,
you can use this as a guide as to how many additional almonds to add to get to 3g of fat per one block of Protein.

Happy to help! :-)

John, I love how that works out with almonds! I think that is one of the neat things about almonds, is how they add up in a zone meal. So easy to count, and such a nice little fat to use!

New day, new questions!
First, what is best? reading labels or using "Dr.Sears Zone Blocks Guide?"
I wonder this because i found a webpage with indexes of vegetables and fruits, and i see that on some things, like 1tomato contains 2.5grams of carbs. 1normal sized tomatos weight is 100grams. According to my math, that makes somewhere between 3-4 tomatoes 1 carbblock. But the Zone Block Guide says 2tomatoes=1block. Is it that the tomatoes in US bigger? hehe. The page i found (www.næringsinnhold.no) seems very polite. Am i missing something?

Hope you can help me here.

You actually have a mixed Q; Let me try and clarify.
Food Labels are definately preferred.
However, you site a web page which is NOT a food label.
If you actually weigh a non-labled food, then the Nutrition Guide from the web is probably closer.
As you say, just listing "2 tomatoes" is to vague as to size; however,
the actual ration of Carb Blocks (9g) to Protein Blocks (7g) ranges from .6 Carb Blocks to 1.0 Carb blocks.
Everyone is different, and it does not have to be exactly 9g Carbs for every 7g protein, just close.
.
By-the-way: here's a good site for Food calculations, it even gives them in terms of Zone Blocks:
.
http://www.formulazone.com/Help.asp...D=MDSearch

Excellent advice, John.

And, I am glad you posted that site. I was under the impression that one could not access that without a subscription, but I am wrong. Been awhile since I have been there, and I like that tool! Lots of information available there.

Ok. As an athlet, I've leared some things. Learn from the best is maybe the most important thing. So now i got a "challange" for Sue and John. Can u plz (if u like) put "a random zone day" in your life her? how u solve things like when u make the food, what u make, and give us/me beginners some tips and ideas?

And I would also love if u posted a nice recepie for a fresh smoothie here!

Daniel, I've posted a lot of random days of my meal here, as well as tons of tips. Also, you can view the photos of may of my meals by clikcing on the meal photo in my signature(it's a link to my Zone meal photo album).

You can find some of my meal info in these threads:





my Zone recipes and tips:

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




my ZoneFast journal:

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