How to Plan Your Day

Think of a complete block of food looking like this:

One block of food

This tidy little unit of food gives you 93 calories, but forget about that. We are not counting calories, we are counting BLOCKS. I was stunned when Dr. Dave told me how few calories I was eating. "I have been on diets eating 1,800 calories a day and been hungry!" I exclaimed, still in a state of disbelief. "Hey," said Molly, his sister, "I have been on diets with FEWER calories than what you are eating, and still haven't lost weight!

You will just love this diet, the energy you have, the alertness you feel, the healthiness that exudes from you, and the subsequent painless way it takes off the pounds.

How I plan a day's worth of food

I make a chart that is 6 columns wide by 16 rows tall for the people I consult with.

The first row is the header row, like below, to write what meal it is. The left column tells the person what they will be filling in across the table. Draw one out and label it just like I did.

Meal Planning Chart for One Day, ___ Blocks per Day

I just did one for Lola today. She gets 11 blocks of food each day. That means 11 proteins, 11 carbohydrates and 11 fats, because a complete block is one protein block (7 grams), one carbohydrate block (9 grams) and one fat block (3 grams.)

Next, I told Lola that she had to decide how she wanted to spread out her eating during the day. If she was big on dinner, she could have had up to 5 blocks of food at dinner time and just one block for each meal and snack for the rest of the day! I personally like to spread the pleasure over the entire day fairly evenly, and Lola thought that was a good idea as well.

I get 11 blocks each day, so I recommended that she try it the way I do: 3 blocks for breakfast at 7:30 a.m., 3 blocks for lunch at 11:30, a 1 block snack at 2:30, 3 blocks for dinner at 6:30 and my last 1 block snack just before I go to bed at 10:00. You could even do it 2-2-2-3-2, but if my snack is more than one block, it is too much like work and I skip it. I put an X in every cell we will not be using.

Here is a typical day we started out with for Lola:

One Day's Menu Plan for 11 Blocks a Day

This is a familiar menu with familiar, simple foods. Lola gets 11 blocks each day, so we X'ed out the blocks she wouldn't be using. If you get more, you will have to decide which to leave un-X'ed . If you get less, X out a few more.

Notes about Lola's choices

If you look up these foods, you will find that many of the choices she made are in the "Unfavorable" category. I pointed this out to Lola, and she felt comfortable changing many to "favorable" choices. But for a beginner, I feel this is okay to start out with. I think you need to get into the habit of thinking of your food in block portions. Giving up familiar or comfortable foods may be too much at first.

This is a big step for people, having to measure and limit how much they are getting at each meal. I think that this step is a big enough one to take when you first start out, and it will put you into the Zone right away. I lost my first ten pounds eating a LOT of food out of the "unfavorable" categories!

Now I have lost another 10 pounds. I got comfortable with thinking in "blocks". With this second 10 pounds I have tried to use fewer "unfavorable" choices, and more and more choices from the "favorable" categories.

About 2 weeks ago I noticed that I have slowed down on my weight loss, and I still have another 20 pounds to go. I have two choices: I understand that you have better weight loss when your fat choices are better, so I have decided to make all my choices from the "Favorable Fats" category. I am planning on working my way further into the "Favorable"-only categories as I get more and more comfortable with this way of eating. Even so, I don't think I will ever be completely there each and every meal, each and every day. But that is my choice. You make your choice as well.

15 blocks a day is the most food you should eat in one day, and believe me, you will feel like you ate a horse if you try it and aren't burning it up in some intensive workouts.

Remember:

• There are 9 grams in one carbo block.
• There are 7 grams in 1 protein block.
• There are 3 grams in one fat block.
• It takes one carbo block+one protein block+one fat block to make a complete food block, and you eat them at the same time, no more than 30 minutes apart.
• You eat at least once every 5 hours (except while sleeping at night)
• You don't eat more than 5 blocks in one sitting.

Now look at the Food Block Choices beginning on page 229 in Dr. Sears book, and forget about grams for awhile.

How to Fill out Your Own Chart

The first 4 rows (that is the horizontal cells of the table) are where you write your protein or X's, depending on how many blocks you get at any given meal. I usually start with protein because meals tend to revolve around a protein dish.

The next 4 rows are where you list your carbohydrates or X's. If I have one dish that is a combined nutrient, like the carbohydrate and fat combined in the Zone Cookies (see the snack column), I write it in the carbohydrate spot and then again in parenthesis in the fat slot to tell me that the carbohydrate and fat blocks are coming from the ONE cookie, not that I get two cookies.

The last four rows are for fat. Put an X through each block of food you won't be eating.

How I decide What I am Going to Eat

Breakfast

The first column is breakfast. While you should watch your egg and butter intake, don't go cold turkey if you haven't up to this point. I found later that I could make scrambled eggs from 1 whole egg plus two egg whites. 2 egg whites equal 1 protein, no cholesterol. If you scramble enough veggies into the egg whites, you won't even miss the yolks! Add turmeric or saffron if you want more color. But for today, use the whole eggs. We also later found that Vogel Bread has only 6 carbohydrates per slice, so I could have TWO slices of bread instead of one. Most whole wheat breads normally have about 18 carbs per slice, or two carbo blocks per slice (9 grams carbohydrate = 1 block carbo). I like saving my carbo blocks for things like fresh fruit and vegetables which are served up in generous hunks, but I like two slices of bread for a sandwich, so Vogel Bread is really nice. See "Sources" on where to find it.

Lunch

Column two is lunch. This was a meat and cheese sandwich on bread with mayo. I made a salad (see page 234 in Dr. Sears book) and added part of it to the sandwich. Vegetarians can substitute another 1 oz. of cheese for the meat. I put the olive oil dressing along with balsamic vinegar and Cavender's Greek Seasoning on the salad and drank a diet drink. Later I told Lola about tuna that comes in a 3 oz. can, which makes 3 protein blocks. It has a pull-top ring , comes with light mayo, relish, crackers and a spoon and plastic cup so you can make a fresh tuna salad right out of your briefcase!

Snack

There are lots of people out there trying to make up Zone Bars, these candy bar-like concoctions which are perfectly balanced. I tried a few of the recipes, and that is when I finally decided that I did not like protein powders! There are so many wonderful REAL foods out there, and all I can say is, if you have to eat a snack, which would you rather have: a cookie fortified with protein powder or a cookie and a glass of milk??? Now the catch is you have to have a recipe which isn't going to blow your carbohydrate allotment, and that is where I came up with the "Colossal Zone Cookie". One of these guys and a glass of milk, and you have a one block snack. Don't like milk? Eat a 1 oz. piece of cheese or a turkey "Gobble Stick". Protein powders often make things taste like diet food, and WE ARE NOT ON A DIET!!! But if you like them, they are a no-brainer source of protein!

Dinner

I think Dr. Sears did harm to his diet in turning someone loose on the cover of his book to proclaim that pasta and rice is forbidden. It is not forbidden, you could have either one once a week with no adverse affects. If I don't get my weekly pasta fix, I feel deprived, and this is not a diet of deprivation, so plan your treats and favorites to work into the meals.

I also found that many of my cravings for starches and sweets just disappeared. It used to be a gnawing hunger, and now it is gone. I still enjoy pasta when I get it, but I get more and more of my carbohydrates from veggies and fruits than from grain. Their portions are much larger.

5 Examples of Carbohydrate Blocks

Consider the above servings of carbohydrates. Each square represents one block of carbohydrate. Suppose I get three blocks in a meal. Hm-m-m-m...that is a LOT of broccoli! Humpfh--that is a piddly amount of pasta... Okay, what shall I do? I know, how about 1 cup of cooked broccoli, plus 1/2 cup of pasta with 1 tsp. olive oil (3 fat blocks) and seasonings (seasonings are freebies), then add my 3 blocks of protein (3 oz. rosemary grilled chicken?), and I have a full 3 block meal!

Even though the blocks of each (1/4 cup pasta or 1/5 rice) doesn't sound like much, when you have 2 or 3 blocks of it and add your sauce or veggie and protein blocks to it, you have a lot of good, filling food and plenty of pasta--honest!!!

Snack

These are the most fun of the diet. You have GOT to read labels to enjoy this diet. You have to check out the ice cream aisle! Lauren and I found that light ice cream is the best, but read what Dr. Sears has to say on this before you make up your mind. The rich ones had too many carbohydrates and way too much fat, the fat free ones had too many carbohydrates and the sugar free ones also had carbohydrates from other sources.

We get about 1/3 cup of ice cream with the light ice cream , and then add fat free cream cheese for protein and 4 almonds for fat. This feels like decadence, and believe me, it tastes like it , too.

We found ice cream sandwiches which we could eat 1/2 of for a zone snack. I repeat: This is not a diet of deprivation, and if you ever feel it is, you have the power to change it by planning your treats into it, increasing your activity level to give you more food to eat or blowing it for one meal and getting back in the Zone the next meal.

Block Ingredient Combining

Don't be afraid to make up a block of carbohydrates with several carbo choices, say like tomatoes, zucchini, onions, carrots (you can even eat those in moderation), and nacho chilies plus salt and oregano to make a bowl of Fresh Salsa which serves in 1 cup servings, 1 block of carbohydrates per cup. Remember, your seasonings like herbs, spices and salt and pepper don't count toward your nutritive values, but watch out for high salt foods, an issue I deal with in my cookbook. (150 mg. of salt per serving or less is considered low sodium).

Does this feel comfortable for you? In my cookbook I have included some charts which are really easy to paste onto the front of the refrigerator for quick reference on how much food is in a block of each nutrient. You can get an idea of how it looks in the Food Blocks area. Now, can I show you to a cozy little table? Take your choice...