{"id":226,"date":"2008-09-22T20:06:14","date_gmt":"2008-09-22T20:06:14","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.colinmcnulty.com\/blog\/?p=226"},"modified":"2010-03-17T21:15:03","modified_gmt":"2010-03-17T21:15:03","slug":"how-to-start-the-zone-diet-eating-plan","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.colinmcnulty.com\/blog\/2008\/09\/22\/how-to-start-the-zone-diet-eating-plan\/","title":{"rendered":"How to start the Zone Diet Eating Plan"},"content":{"rendered":"

Someone has asked me to help them get started on the Zone diet eating plan<\/a>, as they are finding it hard to get their head round the books. I originally sent them the example meal plans you can get off the main zonediet.com site, but the feedback was that they were too expensive for someone on a tight budget.<\/p>\n

I agreed then to summarise the zone diet and to put together some example cheap recipes<\/strong>, starting initially with breakfast to get the ball rolling. If you are struggling to get started on the zone, or just find it all too confusing and want zone help, hopefully this post will assist you. It\u2019s not meant to be an exhaustive regurgitation of the Zone and it\u2019s not ideal either due to the budgetary restriction, but this is what I came up with, what do you think?<\/p>\n

Key Principals of the Zone Diet to Remember<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

1)\tAt each meal, balance Protein, Carbohydrates (carbs) and a small amount of Fat. It\u2019s this balance that helps you not feel hungry.
\n2)\tExamples of Protein<\/strong>: meat, fish, most cheese.
\n3)\tExamples of Fat<\/strong>: olive or vegetable oil, nuts, seeds, butter, cream cheese, mayonnaise, salad cream.
\n4)\tExamples of Carbs<\/strong>: vegetables, fruit, bread, pasta, cereal, rice, juice (if not diet), most sauces.
\n5)\tFor carbs, try to eat mostly vegetables and some fruit. Eat bread, pasta, cereals, rice and potatoes very sparingly only.
\n6)\tSemi Skimmed milk is a great combination food, it is Protein, Carbs and Fat in perfect balance.
\n7)\tIn most cases, you can count cheese as a source of protein AND fat.<\/p>\n

Eating Plan<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

1)\tEat 3 meals and 2 snacks per day.
\n2)\tOne snack should be last thing as night, this is very important as it puts your body in the right state for when it does all its healing whilst you\u2019re asleep.
\n3)\tDon\u2019t go more than 4-5 hours without eating.
\n4)\tDon\u2019t wait till you\u2019re hungry before you eat, if you do you are more likely to over eat.<\/p>\n

Example Breakfasts<\/strong><\/span> as cheap as I can make them<\/p>\n

1)\t2 oz sliced ham (protein), 1 large apple (carbs), a teaspoon of mayonnaise (fat), 1\/3 pint of semi skimmed milk (protein, carbs and fat).
\n2)\t2 eggs (protein), 1 slice of toast (carbs), 2\/3 teaspoon of butter (fat), 1\/3 pint of milk.
\n3)\t3 oz of any meat, ham, chicken, turkey, beef etc (protein), 3 small fruits, e.g. satsuma, kiwi, and peach, 3 macadamia nuts (fat).
\n4)\tCheese on toast or cheese sandwich: 3 oz cheddar cheese (protein and fat), 1 slice of toast\/bread (carbs), 1 small fruit, e.g. apricot (carbs).
\n5)\t3 oz low fat cottage cheese (protein), 1 large apple and a Satsuma (carbs), 9 almonds (fat). Drop the almonds if you get full fat cottage cheese.
\n6)\tBacon and egg butty: 3 rashers of bacon and 1 egg (protein), 1 slice of bread and a good squirt of brown sauce (carbs), 1 teaspoon of butter (fat).
\n7)\tCan you come up with a 7th breakfast <\/strong>that balances protein, carbs and fat?\u00a0 Post one in the comments below.<\/p>\n

Note the above assumes you are using real meat<\/strong> you\u2019ve prepared yourself. If you get the pre-sliced packs of reformed sandwich meat from the supermarkets (which is not recommended), increase the weight by a half again, e.g. 3 oz instead of 2 oz.<\/p>\n

Examples of a Snack<\/strong><\/span> (remember to eat one no more than an hour before bed):<\/p>\n

1)\tA really simple one is just a cup (1\/3 pint) of semi skimmed milk.
\n2)\t1 oz of cheddar cheese and a small fruit, e.g. peach.
\n3)\t1 oz of any meat, a small fruit and 3 cashew nuts.
\n4)\t1 oz of cheddar cheese and a small glass of wine!<\/p>\n

I know I said these were breakfast ideas, but once you get out of the habit of breakfast only being cereal or toast, then breakfast becomes just another meal in the day. Which means the above examples work just as well for lunch too<\/strong>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Someone has asked me to help them get started on the Zone diet eating plan, as they are finding it hard to get their head round the books. I originally sent them the example meal plans you can get off the main zonediet.com site, but the feedback was that they were too expensive for someone […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":161,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1,7],"tags":[81,106,127],"class_list":{"0":"post-226","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","6":"category-uncategorized","7":"category-the-zone-diet","8":"tag-diet","9":"tag-recipes","10":"tag-zone-diet"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.colinmcnulty.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/226","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.colinmcnulty.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.colinmcnulty.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.colinmcnulty.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/161"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.colinmcnulty.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=226"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.colinmcnulty.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/226\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.colinmcnulty.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=226"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.colinmcnulty.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=226"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.colinmcnulty.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=226"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}