I just had 4 oz of tempeh. From the label grams it had 3 blocks of protein, 2 blocks of carb and 3 blocks of fat. All I had to do was add 1 block of vegetables to make up the missing carb block. I've seen Dr Sears write that soy has a very low GL. I'm looking for low volume ways to add low GL carbs because eating a lot vegetables doesn't agree with me. Any thoughts about whether this tempeh meal is ideal to keep me in the zone?

I'm not trying to lose weight but I want all the metabolic advantages of staying in the Zone.

Thanks...

Larry,

Based on the breakdown of the 3 basic nutrients, you need 7g protein/9g carb/3 gfat to make up a food block in the Zone.

Using your example, you are adding a vegetable to make up the missing carb, but you are still short on protein. So, what I would recommend is to add 1/2 block of protein along with the carb that you have already added.

You could double the serving of tempeh, but then your fat count goes up, and you still would have to add some carb.

And, keep in mind, this is just 1 block, which is fine for a snack, but if you are using it for a meal, you still have 2-3 more blocks to add.

So, if you are looking for low-volume ways to add low GL carbs, maybe we should focus on that problem, as well. Fruits definitely make it easier to get your favorable carbs in. If you focus on using berries, they are amongst the lowest GL fruits around. Some other low GL veggies with lower volumes are: cooked artichoke hearts (1 cup), carrots (1 cup), onions (1.5 cups raw, less when cooked). In fact, most veggies shrink down considerably after cooking. It is difficult to eat raw spinach (10 cups) but after cooking it down, the result is less than 1/2 of its raw volume. Also, tomato sauce, puree, and salsa are good options. Beans are low-volume ways to get the carbs in, but of course they are a bit higher GL-but still appropriate in the Zone.

Hope this is helpful!

thanks, Cranberrycat. Just to clarify, the 4 oz of tempeh had 3 mini blocks of protein (21g), almost 3 mini blocks of fat (8g), and about 2 mini blocks of carbs (19g).

thanks for the other suggestions. I plan to also eat more non-fat milk and yogurt and add a little oil to them. Plain Soy milk, too, with added berries to make up the carb deficit. I like these "all in one foods" where I just have to add a little of the missing ingredient to make them zone perfect.

Just to clarify
I am not sure where you got "mini" blocks.
1 block of Protein is 7 grams of Protein.
1 block of Carbs is 9 grams of net Carbs (after subtracting fiber).
1 total block of fat is 3 grams of Fat.
And the number of blocks per day is based on your Protein requirements.

Thanks, Larry for the clarification, Now I know where you are coming from. I think I misinterpreted your previous message, thinking you posted grams instead of blocks. Now I get it!

John, I think that I have read Dr. Sears refer to the individual blocks as "mini blocks" because a block of protein is only a portion of a complete zone block. Maybe that is where Larry is getting the mini-blocks from? Been awhile since I read Mastering the Zone, but I think I remember him debating himself in the book about that!

Larry, the meal was just fine. You can also try it without the added block of veggies next time. It will still be in the acceprable p/c range (.6 to1) and will be fine as long as you don't feel hungry 4 hours later.

Larry, I forgot to add this to my last post. If the amount of fat in the tempeh serving was about 4-5 crams, then you'll need to add 3 fat blocks to it. Each balanced block of P,C and F contains 3 grams fat; 1.5 grams fatons assumed to be occurring in the low fat protein source and the other 1.5 grams is added in the form of the fat block.

thank you, Sue. I haven't heard of the .6 to 1 acceptable P/C ratio before. That's such good information!!! Thanks. It makes things a lot easier. I often feel like I'm OD'ing on carbs. So I could eat one block fewer carbs in a meal and be fine. Super!

For everyone else, that means that 1 block of net Carbs is 9 grams, and
a .6 block of net Carbs is about 5.5 grams.

I think that the 0.6-1 ratio covers per block:
0.6 = 11-12g carb (for those who add more carb to their meals for focused hunger adjustment)
0.77 = 9g carb (right in the middle of the Zone)
1.0 = about 6-7g carb ((for those who subtract carb from their meals for unfocused hunger adjustment)

it actually makes more sense when you put this in terms of a meal, because most of us don't make hunger adjustments on 1 block snacks.

So, for a 3 block meal, the 0.6-1.0 ratio covers:
0.6 = 36g carb (4 blocks of carb)
0.77 = 27g carb (3 blocks of carb)
1.0 = 21g carb (just slightly over 2 blocks of carb-if you adjusted it to 2 blocks, then the ratio is actually 1.16)

(had to put on my thinking cap to put this together LOL)

Thanks Cran - I wasn't sure, myself!

;-)

Well, I read the label more carefully. I thought tempeh had 3 blocks of protein and 2 blocks of carbs but almost all the carbs are fiber so it's really more like eating tofu (protein source only), and I like the taste of tofu more because I eat it with almond butter..

[quote]
Posted By larry on 28 Mar 2012 10:42 AM
thank you, Sue. I haven't heard of the .6 to 1 acceptable P/C ratio before. That's such good information!!! Thanks. It makes things a lot easier. I often feel like I'm OD'ing on carbs. So I could eat one block fewer carbs in a meal and be fine. Super!
[/quote]

Larry, I thought I'd replied to this a couple weeks ago, but I guess I'd forgotten. I was on vacation back then. That ration range is from the very first Zone book, "The Zone" (aka "Enter the Zone"). There's no need to do a lot of matho along with it. Basically, the typically balanced Zoen meal P/C ratio is about .75, whether you count blocks or use Zone-At-a-Glance. Those who with unfocused hunger in four hours, who drop some carbohydrate, end up with a P/C around 1, and those who have focused hunger and add some carbohydrate end up around 0.6. The amount of carbohydrate you choose should be based on you responses as well as based on the Zone guidelines.

Hi Sue - focused and unfocused hunger... I did a search and found where you explained them. If I get hungry within 4 hours it is always focused (i.e. just hungry with no other symptoms). I did drop one carb block from each of my three meals so maybe that was'n't a good idea (I saw where you wrote that focused hunger means to eat more carb). I'll have to watch it and think about it because I'm usually not hungry. I also doubled my fat blocks to keep from losing weight.

I changed my diet in March after losing too much weight eating raw vegan. I gained it back by eating a lot of fatty steaks for about two weeks and then started the Zone. My body may still be in catch-up mode after being underweight. I also do these isometric exercises that are very brief but very intense three times a week. Either of these things could explain the occasional hunger. Fortunately, I'm not hungry that often.

Thanks for the great insight, again.

Yeah, you might be one of the "lucky ones" that can tolerate a larger variety of carbs, and more of them.

Good that you're not hungry very often. Then you wouldn't need to adjust. You might notice that certain foods in meals will cause the early hunger. Those would be the meals you'd adjust.