I'm new to the zone but I lost 5 lbs already in 3 days. My goal is to lower my cholesterol, I tried myself and lost 30 lbs but my cholesterol only went done a little bit. I have a number of products that I hate to throw out- they are fat free, like salad dressing and mayo, but your recipes call for 'lite' things. Should I go ahead and buy new or can I substitute fat free salad dressing for the oil/vinegar, fat free mayo for lite, fat free cheese for the lite? I guess the question is how specific do you have to be?

I would not throw them away. No need. You will need to add extra GOOD fat to your meals/snacks to replace the missing fat from the plan. Almonds and Extra Virgin Olive Oil (EVOO) are two good sources of good healthy mono-saturated fat.

Linsday, if you decide to continue to use the fat free items and add more monounsaturated fat, take a close look at their carbohydrate content first. Many fat free packaged products and dressings have higher carbohydrate content than the full fat or reduced fat versions (they're added for better taste when all the fat is removed). If your cheese, dressing, mayo, etc. has significant amounts of carbohydrate I would advise not to eat it because it (it's usually unfavorable carbohydrate that will throw off your P/C balance).

Thanks John and Sue. I looked at my fat free Raspberry Vinegarette Dressing and it has 8 g of carbs so I guess I better not use it. I dont know the diet well enough yet to substitute what I need to on it and I dont want to mess up what I'm doing.

Hi Lindsay,

You're welcome. I'm glad to know my info has helped you. You've made a good choice to avoid it. That's 1 block of unfavorable carbohydrate, and it will usually make it tougher for you to stay in Zone. It's much better to eat your carbohydrates in the form of fruits and vegetables