Hi Michelle,
Thanks for posting your meals. I see a few things that you can change. I'll make suggestions and comments on it the end of this post. But first, ditto what Tech said. Place particular focus on the part about the veggies and having only 1 serving of berries a day. The reasoning behind this is to provide an overall more stable blood sugar level throughout the day. This allows insulin levels to quickly lower. Going with veggies for all of you carbohydrate for your carbohydrate is even better. The carbohydrates in my diet come from Zone foods and non-starchy vegetables. I eat very little fruit, and can't even tell you the last time I had some, maybe a few weeks ago, a few strawberries. This together with avoiding omega 6 fats (another principle of the Zone diet) provides a powerful way to alter your hormonal responses in a very short amount of time. Testing has shown it takes only 4 days of eating a Zone diet 24/7 to lose the markers of metabolic syndrome (elevated insulin is one of these markers). I find shortcuts for making quick and tasty veggie dishes to keep meals interesting. Some of my favorites are broiled garlic marinated portobello mushrooms with a spoonful or two of pasta sauce on top , steamed spinach with a little cider vinegar and sea salt, seamed bok choy with seasonings, and a pureed asparagus soup (delicious for breakfast).
Diet is only one part of the picture. Reducing cellular inflammation is also important for health and weight loss. Excess fat is one factor which increases inflammation. The Zone diet and Omega 3's from fish oil go hand in hand to control inflammation levels. The Zone diet helps reduce production of inflammation and the EPA in Omega Rx dilutes the excess inflammation in your system. You can read more about omega 3's and fish oil here:
http://www.zonediet.com/omega-3-fish-oil Polyphenols are another key to achieving results and keeping energy levels high, whether you get them from prolific vegetable servings daily or in supplement form. The maqui supplement ("Polyphenols XT"), which contains delphinidins, is awesome. It's made a very positive impact in my case. You can read more here:
http://www.zonediet.com/polyphenols The menu you posted is an 11 block day.
"2 eggs
1 tsp. oil
3 strips turkey bacon
1 pc toast
1 T. all-fruit spread"
Good that you've decided to drop the bread. The fruit spread is also probably not helping because it's a concentrated source of processed fruit which gets into the blood stream pretty quickly. Switch the 2 whole eggs to egg whites (the whites of 4 eggs = 2 whole eggs). Egg yolk contains a lot of arachidonic acid (AA), the fatty acid which is referred to as "toxic fat", the actual direct source inflammation and the form in which inflammation occurs in the body. You could also increase the olive oil to 1.5 or 2 teaspoons to provide the minimum fat needed for Zone balance because egg white is fat free, unlike most low fat Zone protein choices. Replace the toast and fruit with non-starchy vegetables.
"3 oz. chicken
3 c. broccoli/cauliflower/carrot mix
1/2 orange
9 pistachios"
Switch the carrots and orange for non-starchy veggies.
"1 oz. chicken
1/2 apple
3 pistachios"
Switch the apple for veggies; salsa is a nice choice. Sliced tomato would be a more portable alternative.
"4 oz. lean hamburger
1/2 bun
3 c. broccoli
6 cashews"
Unless the hamburger is made with grass beef, switch to a different lean protein. Beef contains more AA than other lean protein choices. Replace the bun with non-starchy vegetables. If you replace the hamburger with a different lean protein, you need a little bit more fat in this meal.
"1 oz. chicken
1/2 apple
3 pistachios"
And again, replace the apple with non-starchy vegetables.