Hi everyone, my zone book says a block of cherries is 100 g or 7 cherries. When i went to weigh them, 7 cherries was in fact only about 40 g (small cherries?). So I went with 100 g makes a block...does that sound right? And while I'm at it, I have always wondered...in the zone, do they mean the weight before or after you have peeled, pitted etc a fruit or vegetable?

Thanks for your help and hope that made sense!

dimi

Hi dimi,

Cherries are an excellent choice for the Zone. Try not to over think it on the amount. Just use your best estimation for the variety of cherries you have available (or fruit, whether peeled, unpeeled, pitted, etc.). If you're hungry 4 hours or less after the meal, then next time adjust the amount of cherries according to the type of hunger (focused hunger add more cherries; unfocused hunger eat fewer cherries).

A tip, it's not necessary to be exact to the gram. In fact it's not even necessary to weigh food at all to be successful with the Zone. The plate method works very well.

Thanks for the reply, Sue. I just gave birth 5 weeks ago and this week I finally re-started the Zone and I wanted to be really exact about the blocks (my book has all amounts in grams, am living in Italy). You're right about taking it easy and doing it by eye though, that's the method I was using way back. It's less stressful!

dimi

dimi, congratulations on the birth of your baby. You're right, with all the things new mom has to do each day you really don't need to be weighing what you eat. It’s not going to make any real difference either, because to be in the Zone all it takes is a balance of P, C and F within the appropriate range for you. Your body is not going to know whether you ate 100 grams or 117 grams of a certain fruit or veggie. It's really not worth the bother to weigh everything. And, if you're hungry at 4 ours (or less) after a meal, you’re going to add or take away a little carbohydrate, so the amounts will be of varied weights at that point anyway.

Enjoy your baby and please keep us updated about how you're doing in the Zone. Remember, if you're breastfeeding you should eat 3 more fully balanced blocks of P, C and F each day and drink lots of water.