Getting in the Zone!

If you know me or have had a nutrition consult with me you are familiar with the fact that I typically recommend eating 5 smaller meals throughout the day with each meal consisting of a protein, fat and carbohydrate.  90% of the time, that is how I eat.  This way of eating helps stabilize blood sugar levels and helps you from 'crashing' which can lead to overeating.  

This way of eating is very similar to the Zone but a little less complicated.  The Zone diet uses blocks where you are allowed so many blocks during the day which should be spread out among 5 different meals.

1 carbohydrate block = 9g

1 protein block = 7g

1 fat block =1.5 g

You can probably see that planning your meals can be pretty tedious following this method and I will attest to the fact that it is.  For two weeks I have committed to following this giving myself 13 blocks for the day.  I started this on Monday and it did take me close to 30 minutes to plan out all of my meals.  Once that was done however, Monday was a breeze!  I never felt hungry and overall felt great!  Tuesday went well to with the eating but I did feel a bit more hungry this day.  I think that I waited too long between my 2 and 3rd meal and it set me up for a bit of a problem later in the day because the food that I had planned for that meal simply wasn't enough.  I held my own though and didn't give into temptation!  Hooray for me!

It is my intention to blog about my experience with the Zone in an effort to help guide my clients to use this.  By blogging it will also keep me accountable.  I am fortunate enough to have a buddy during these two weeks and I would love for you to support her in her efforts as well.  Check out her progress at Feng's blog !  

If anybody cares to join me, let me know!