[color=darkred:f719892d1e][/color:f719892d1e] I'm a 20 year old college student who has decided to follow The Zone diet. My goal is to lose about 20lbs. As you might imagine, it's much harder to follow the regime when you have someone else cooking for you (i.e. dining hall food). I welcome any advice anyone has for me. Thanks! :D

As I remember from my dormitory days, the salad bar will be your best friend. There should be self-serve oil and vinegar on it, plus veggies. There are certain ones to stay away from (very limited amounts of peas, carrots, corn, etc.) but many you can eat a lot of (broccoli, mushrooms, tomatoes, lettuce) and can boost your good carbs with chickpeas/garbanzos. Our college had bread and cold cuts for when you didn't like the daily choice, so I used to get turkey every day--this would be a good protein. Cottage cheese also. Breakfast would be a time to stick with eggs, lean meats (if there are any) and fruit--avoid pancakes, toast, french toast, etc. Also, find a close grocery, or a friend with a car to take you to one, and put a few supplies in your room. Balance, Zone Perfect bars (and some others) need no refrigeration. String cheese, cottage cheese, fruits and veggies can be kept in a little fridge. Apples need no chilling, and they make little cups of applesauce that are exactly 1/2 cup (1C). I also love buying my broccoli already cut into florets, a brand we have here is Broccoli Wokly, and is more expensive, but you are not paying for lots of stalks. Sears also has tips for pizza times (although this is not great, it can be zoned occasionally) in A week in the Zone. (I think it was order pizza with lots of veggie toppings, and don't eat the crust of every other piece, but don't quote me.) And drink lots of water! Good luck! Ronica

Hi, I'm a college student as well. I've been zoning before college as well, and while it has been harder to zone while living in the door, it can be done. It just takes a bit of planning. I agree on the salad bar tip from Ronica. It's the best bet for lunch and dinner (if your college had salads for dinner which mine unfortunately doesn't) I found breakfast to be the hardest to eat in hall. The best thing is usually low fat milk and unflavoured yogurt, but boiled eggs (discarding to yolk) and an apple or piece of toast (less zone friendly) are also breakfast ideas that I found workable. As for doingt some cooking on your own, oatmeal can be prepared in large batches and then reheated as you need it. As for inexpensive protein sources, you might want to check for special deals on protein powder; while an entire tub of pp might seem expensive, you'll be able to get a lot of blocks out of it. As Ronica wrote zoned bars are a great quick meal, especially when you're out all day or faced with vending machines. As for sports as part of the zone, that's probably one of the few areas where we college students get lucky as there is usually a lot of equipment availabe at the college gym. Might be worth looking into if you're not already working out. Also joining a sports team is a good way of getting some more exercise into a sedentary college lifestyle. Adding to the the tip about pizza, on the zone website there are also tips for eating out at fast food places, which while not a good choice probably happens quite often for most of us ;) Good luck in the zone!