hi. i'm new, i bought 'a week in the zone' a few days ago and I am trying to find some balance with some of the foods I have at home now, i am on a budget so I can’t throw out everything I have in my cabinets, I figured I would slowly move the good food in. For instance, today for breakfast I had quaker oats ‘real medleys apple walnut oatmeal’ I thought this would be a good choice but when I read the nutritional info I am concerned this is not a good choice. I was hoping someone can put this into blocks for me so I can have a better understanding how it works.
Calories are 290.
Total fat 8g, saturated fat 1g, Polyunsaturated Fat 4.5g, Monounsaturated Fat 1.5g.
Total Carbohydrate 53g, Dietary Fiber 5g, Sugars 22g
Protein 6g


Thanks
Jean

Hi Jean,
That meal contains 1 scant block of protein, 5 blocks carbohydrate and not quite 3 blocks of fat. Besides the lack of balance, another one if the drawbacks are that all the carbohydrate is unfavorable (the kind that will spike your blood sugar and prevent Zone results). Your second thought is correct. It's not the greatest Zone choice. Some good budget-conscious choices for the Zone are boneless skinless chicken breasts on sale, egg whites, frozen green beans, chic peas (aka garbanzo beans) and refined olive oil (usually labeled as "light" or "light tasting".

Working things in slowly is a good plan. Some people are good about jumping in, while others do better if they make small changes.

Your oatmeal is too high in carb for a meal. It has about 5 blocks of carb in it. Protein is probably negligible due to it being plant protein. About 3 blocks of fat.

I am not sure that it would be realistic to try to work this one in... even splitting up the servings in half will probably leave you with a small bowl full, and I bet that a bunch of that carb is coming from sugar, too. Probably not going to satisfy. But, you could try it and see.

Thank you Sue and Cranberrycat... I'm going out today to get what i need for this week.


Jean