Frequently Asked Questions...
...here in Karen's Kitchen

The reality is, people come to my kitchen for answers about menus and being a Vegetarian Zoner, which is why I enjoy this Kitchen so much. If you have questions about the biochemistry of this manner of menu planning, Dr. Barry Sears has a website at www.eicotech.com. I am not big on the biochemistry of Zoning--I believe it works and say let's get on to the FOOD...I want you to be in the Kitchen to talk about FOOD and how good it makes you feel and how happy you are with the changes you have made in the way you eat and live now.

But when these biochemistry questions come up, I don't want you to go away frustrated, so here are the simple answers to the simple puzzlers that are most often asked. Answers given here are quite often my opinion, and should be taken as such unless I am quoting a higher authority, in which case it is THEIR opinion, and should be taken as such!

• "You are advertising yourself as a vegetarian site, so why the meat?"
• "What is your best advice for beginning Zoners?"
• "What about Kosher Zoners?"
• "What about Allergies or just plain picky eaters?"
• "Are diet drinks really healthy?"
• "I just can't figure this out!!!"
• "Blocking? Gramming? Measuring??? "
• "I have plateaued and stopped losing weight. What am I doing wrong???"
• "Why do you say 9:7:3 is the ratio of carbs to protein to fat when I've read a fat block is only 1.5 grams?" .
• "How about a cookibook from Karen?"
• "How does soy sauce affect the nutritional value of food? "
• "What about Unfavorable Foods?" or "Where's my PASTA???"
• "What is EPA?"
• "What is GLA?"
• "What about FIBER???"
• "What about FIBER as in REGULARITY?"
• So...any more questions?

"You are advertising yourself as a vegetarian site, so why the meat?"

First off, Karen's Kitchen is not a strictly vegetarian site. Never said it, never meant it to be. I am a vegetarian, but I feel meat eaters have just as much right to learn to eat healthfully as vegetarians, and when they are not looking, I give them enough Vegetarian recipes that when they realize they LIKE eating less meat, it is less of a shock for them to realize that they too could be a Vegetarian..

It IS possible to live a Zoneful Life as a vegetarian! I opened my site to help lacto-ovo vegetarians, but meat eaters want to follow a protein adequate, low carbohydrate and low fat balanced eating plan as well. Therefore I felt I had to reach out to the largest possible group to give help, vegetarians OR meat eaters. I think that one of the hardest parts of being vegetarian is finding tasty protein sources. Even for meat eaters, there are just so many ways that you can prepare chicken, turkey or seafood before you say YUCK! ENOUGH! I think Karen's Kitchen is a transitional site. It is great for transitioning into this new way of eating, it is great for transitioning into a non-animal source of nutrition. I worry about the added hormones coursing through us when we use animal protein sources, I worry about the heavy metals one finds in sea foods, and I also worry that without some serious planning, vegetarians are not getting enough protein in their diets. It can be done, but even the meat eaters need to plan ahead as to how they are going to do it! That is why Karen's Kitchen exists: to help you plan a healthy way of eating and living.

"What is your best advice for beginning Zoners?"

Buy my poster. Honest. This is not a sales pitch, this is something that I STILL use myself every single day. It is 11"x17" and in full color. It is laminated. The front side has all the most commonly used simple foods in their "block" portions: 9 grams of carbohydrates, 7 grams of protein and 1.5 grams of fat (that is a macro nutrient block, remember! A REAL fat block is 3 grams of fat, but the poster explains that.). It has the foods broken down by best, fair and poor choices, so you can make intelligent decisions about ALL foods. And the carbohydrate servings are based on the total carbs in the food LESS the dietary fiber, that undigestible part of the food.

What does the poster do for you? It keeps you from standing with your head inside your refrigerator trying to decide what to eat. It helps you to think in "blocks" when you plan your meals. It jogs your thinking about meals as you make up your shopping list. It allows even the pickiest eaters to look at it and decide what they want to eat. It reminds you of foods you might not have thought about otherwise, giving you many options for meals and stimulating your creativity. On the back side it talks about macro nutrient blocks vs. gram counting, when and why you should do one of the other. It has the 8 most popular recipes in the Kitchen. All for only $8. I'd buy this before I sat down to make my first menu or shopping list--because that is WHY I made it, to begin menu planning myself!

"What about Kosher Zoners?"

Not an impossibility, but like all menus, requires some planning. If you are kosher , please write to me and I will put you in touch with others of the same mind. I have a growing file on information that might interest you, and would appreciate anything you can send me as well.

"I have so many allergies..." or "I am so picky..." or "My physician say I shouldn't include..."

Once again, I suggest my Block Foods Poster. I think one look at that will help you decide if you can follow this eating plan. My friend Juli is very picky, so she took a poster and X'ed out every food she wouldn't eat, and I still managed to give her a really NICE selection of meals for an entire week, with no duplicates. You too can call me, and for only $35 an hour we can sit down together and figure out some menus for you. All it takes is a little time, and I would especially encourage folks with allergies to try out this out. I have seen remarkable things done in individual lives, and while I am not making any claims, I think you will be surprised at what this balanced approach to eating can do for your general health and well-being.

"Are diet drinks really healthy?"

The research is not all in on the diet drinks. My own doctor says the tests showing they are cancer creating are skewed, and that seems to be the conventional thinking. In about 2001 I stopped drinking diet drink and any drinks with caffeine becauswe I found out that our bodies treat caffeine as a TOXIN, and rquire even more water than a normal 64 ounces a day average to help it flush the toxins out of your system. Up to that point I personally allowed myself a few a week, based on my theory of moderation in all things. Since 2002 I have eliminated the artificial sweetners that are man made and if I want a sweet drink I will use Stevia, but my tastes have changed so drastically over the years, even if I do buy a soda, I only drink a few sips and end up throwing it away. I have found myself enjoying plain water or water with a twist of lemon or lime much more than sodas, and I am passionate about Herbal Teas and beverages now (try my favoirtes by buying my SAMPLER PACK with some outstanding snacks included as well) and know iit has to do with other changes in my way of eating.

If you are worried about artificial sweetners, leave them out of your diet, or at least use them moderately. Other reasons not to drink them or ANY soda? The carbonation leaches calcium from your bones and teeth. The safest and healthiest? Give them up. The reality? You may still want them for awhile, so limit them and expand your horizons. Drink fresh water. Invest in a really good water purification system! And that ice maker that delivers ice in cubes or crushed? I have friends whose kids come to visit and all they want to drink is the filtered ice water because of the neat way it dispenses from the door. "They NEVER drink water at home!" their parents cry out in amazement. It is all in the packaging, my dear, all in the packaging...

"I just can't figure this out!!!"

I will grant you that the biochemistry of all this is a bit overwhelming, but the reality is, if you accept that the biochemistry that Dr. Sears lays out in his book "Enter the Zone" or "Mastering the Zone" is true, then what you need to concentrate on is how to implement the best menus into your everyday life to allow that biochemistry to work. If you want to understand it better, I suggest you invest in his tape that accompanies "Mastering the Zone," because he is a very intelligent, well spoken man who does an excellent job, in his own words, of explaining to you WHY this is the way you want to eat.

But when it comes to the practical aspects of menu planning, that is where I can help you. You can call me with simple questions. If you are really stuck, call and I will help you figure out how many blocks of food you need each day and for each meal. I love to help , but if it takes over 5 minutes, I charge $35 an hour for a consultation. During that time we will figure out a day or two worth of menus, and I will teach you just how to plan you own menus. If you just can't figure it out on your own, you might find that this is the next best thing to coming to a support group.

The BEST resources are my poster and my discussion group. I have had people accuse me of blatant materialism because they think all I want to do is "sell that postser!!!" They are right, I DO want to sell you a poster, because it is a tool for meal planning that even I use every day! But if I was blatantly materialistic foilks, do you think I would have this site that teaches you so much, that GIVES YOU SO MUCH for free, that I would answer your personal emails for free, that I would personally moderate my own discussion list daily for free, that I would supply all these recipes for free??? Don't be silly. Buy the poster and see that at $8, the value you will get out of it far exceeds what you have paid for it. And then write and ask me for my menu planner than I email you as an MSWord Document. Oh...and IT'S FREE TOO.

"What about measuring?"

There are three ways to do this, and my opinion on each one:

Eyeballing, which is estimating what you need to eat without the use of measuring cups. Crude, and if you are good at it, effective. However, after 6 months I took to eyeballing, and when my weight loss stopped about 20 pounds above my goal, I decided to check my "eyeball measurements. That "3 oz." piece of chicken was really five ounces. Okay...SIX ounces. I was tricking myself into believing I was doing the right measurement, but my eyes were bigger than my stomach and my stomach was still bigger than my jeans...

Macro nutrient Blocking, which is really effective if you are eating simple, plain foods that let you measure them with cups and measuring spoons and scoops. I strongly urge that you take the time to use measuring cups, and if the tedium of measuring is too much, try a set of my stainless steel scoops, found in the Kitchen Shop. Puts all sorts of fun into measuring, and lots of accuracy too.

"Gramming" which requires more work and more complex computations, but is ideal when you are dealing with involved one dish recipes or pre-made meals, and quite essential when you are a vegetarian. I use this when I am planning out vegetarian recipes because it is so tough being a vegetarian and trying to get enough adequate protein, that this has given me more options for food.

The caution here is that some folks believe that only 60%-70% of the protein in vegetables is bioavailable, so when you do it this way, you may wish to take the time to do a little extra calculating to make sure you are still getting adequate protein from vegetarian sources.

So when it comes to measuring, do it whenever you can. I caution folks about "eyeballing" an amount because most folks trick themselves into thinking they are being accurate, and until you are really good at it, you can be off by one or two blocks of food, especially when it comes to measuring carbohydrates like pasta! I use a disher to measure with because it is easy, really quick and really accurate. When I go out where I can't measure, I then have a much more accurate perception of how much pasta is really in 1/4 cup. Since most of us are on this diet for the weight loss benefits, it only makes sense to me that you be more concerned with extra food, because extra food means extra calories means extra weight. While there is flexibility in this diet with the balance of proteins and carbohydrates, the extra calories from "big eyeballs" is only going to translate into slower weight loss. Better to err on the side of measuring, I'd say. For more information, visit the Weights and Measures page.

"I have plateaued and stopped losing weight. What am I doing wrong???"

When you start this program, measure your legs, arms, and you chest. After a short while, you may see the inches disappear even though you don't see the scale going down.

Remember: Muscle mass weighs more than fat, so if you are doing this with exercise, you may be replacing hideous fat with heavy muscle mass. You are losing inches, but you may not lose weight. You are replacing fluffy fat with dense, lean muscle, but only a tape measurer will tell you for sure.

Are you "eyeballing" and tricking yourself into believing "But I am only eating three blocks..." when in reality it is 6?

Weight loss plateaus are not uncommon. Keep at it, you may find that it is a temporary condition. Adding exercises is a great way to restart your metabolism.

Are you being sure to eat no more than 25% of your carbs from unfavorable selections?

Are you drinking enough water?

Are you getting an adequate amount of monounsaturated fat? If you are aiming for 1.5 grams of fat per block, but you are eating fat free proteins, then you need to DOUBLE your fat intake. You need the fat to lose the bad fat on your body (see next question).

"Why do you say 9:7:3 is the ratio of carbs to protein to fat when I've read a fat block is only 1.5 grams?"

There are two ways of looking at this. The macro nutrient way says to take a look at your food and ask what the primary ingredient is. Peanuts? A protein source, right? Well, there are 6 grams of carbohydrates in 2 tablespoons of peanut butter, 6.6 grams of protein (wow! a block!), but there are 13 grams of FAT in this little helping. It is pretty obvious that the protein nutritional benefits of peanuts are far outweighed by the FAT nutrition benefits, and by the time you trim this down to a one block serving of fat, you'd be lucky to sort out the little protein molecules at all!. Furthermore, there is a good amount of research that says that the bioavailability of peanut protein is only about 60% of what the charts say peanuts actually have in protein content.

Therefore, it is easier to call peanuts a fat than to remember the scant portions of carbohydrates and protein you find in it.

When you use chicken, it is a protein, right? Right! But chicken has fat in it as well. Rather than trying to remember how much fat is in chicken, we call it a protein. Bread is a carbohydrate, but we ignore the lesser amounts of protein and fat found in that. When you add them all together in a peanut butter and chicken sandwich (not that any of us WOULD, but I am trying to make a point with my unpalatable illustration), we come up with a protein, a carbohydrate and a fat. The protein in the bread and peanut butter is ignored, as is the fat in the chicken and the carbohydrates in the peanut butter.

HOWEVER, FAT is fat is fat, and if you made a conscious effort to get 3 grams of fat each day, you would way overshoot the mark using the macro nutrient method. Fat is so dense calorie-wise that it doesn't "trade out" nicely like proteins and carbohydrates do from one food to another, so it is better to aim lower for the 1.5 grams per block, and you will inadvertently come out at about 3 grams of fa per block, or 40% of your calories from carbohydrates, 30% from protein and 30% from fat.

When I do a recipe, I use the gram method, counting every nutrient in every food item I place in the recipe, then I give you the totals at the end of the recipe. I don't stop with a recipe though, unless I have made a one dish meal, which I don't like to do. Instead, I give you a MENU which then says "here is how many blocks this dish will give you, now add to and enhance your meal with these blocks of food", and I go back to the macro nutrient method.

Why? Because, as much as I enjoy the euphoric feeling I get being in the zone, I also enjoy loosing weight, and if I were to make a casserole using the macro nutrient block method, I would be way over on my calories and also risk missing being in the zone. If YOU followed one of my recipes and it did that to YOU, you might not LIKE my recipes anymore, eh?

So that is the difference. We are going for the 9:7:3 either way. It is done casually when using macro nutrients and consciously stopping at 1.5 grams of fat, then hitting about 3 inadvertently. It is CONSCIOUSLY done when gramming. Either way is correct, it just depends on what you are doing as to which you should be using. Macro is easiest when you are grabbing food. Gramming is best when you are doing lots of food combining.

"How about a cookbook from you?"

I have one. It's called "A Year in Karen's Kitchen" and you can buy it in my Kitchen Shop. It took a little while, and thos who know me are now asking for a SECOND cookbook! So I did one of those too--a Vegetarian one, no less! Yes, there is a third one called "A Month of Menus From Karen's Kitchen" which has been waiting for the site revamp to be complete. And even a little Muffin Book, complete with little muffin pans! Check out the Kitchen Shop.

"How does soy sauce affect the nutritional value of food? "

It doesn't add a measurable amount of proteins, carbohydrates or fats, BUT be careful if you are sensitive to sodium. That is the main ingredient of soy sauce, and I suggest you try a Lite Soy Sauce to help cut back on salt intake, or find another way to season your foods if you have water retention problems. ALSO, there is a small amount of naturally occuring MSG in soy sauce, but if you are sensitive to it, perhaps you already knew that.

"What about Unfavorable Foods?"
or "Where's my PASTA???"

The reality is this: there are so many tiny variables which you can take care of in balancing your hormones that it really behooves you to follow the rule of not having more than 25% of your carbohydrates from an unfavorable source, limiting your protein to those with lower fat content and using only monounsaturated fats. It simply messes with your insulin response and can cause you to be hungry long before you are supposed to.

The OTHER reality is that you are going to want some of those unfavorable foods some days, and if it is a matter of "TO ZONE or NOT TO ZONE" or "TO ZONE WITH ONLY FAVORABLE OR SOME UNFAVORABLE," I'd opt for the latter. You are going to feel SO MUCH BETTER when you do this, you shouldn't toss out the whole concept just because you want to eat pasta a couple of nights a week. What WILL happen is that once you have been making choices based on your favorite foods, eventually, when you are feeling terrific and you have lost some weight, THEN you will start making the better choices for all food groups. Until that time, MY OPINION is that it is better to plan even the unfavorable carbs so you are getting them in block portions. I now look FORWARD to a glass of ice water with a twist of lime as much as I used to for a soda.

Also, look for new foods to include in your repertoire. Just the other day I was talking to someone to whom I confessed a weakness for mashed potatoes. Mashed potatoes are 1/3 cup per carb block. "Try this..." he said, then told me to steam cauliflower then mix it in a blender or food processor with a little butter and milk, just like you would mashed potatoes, and they will taste like mashed potatoes. Yeah, right, I thought to myself.

Then I tried it. WOW!!! They were FABULOUS! Even my KIDS loved them!!! All from a little substituting foods. I call it "Horizon Expansion", if you will, and try to teach it to my kids.

"What is EPA?"

Eicosapentaenoic acid (EPA) is one of the omega 3 essential fatty acids, and don't ever ask me another biochemistry question!!! You can read about its wonderful effects and essential addition to your diet in Dr. Sears' book Enter the Zone on pp. 127-131. I totally agree that the best way to get it is by eating foods in which it occurs naturally (salmon is the best source), but vegetarians don't like to do this, so you can get it by supplementing with fish-oil capsules which have been molecularly distilled (PCB's removed) and cholestero l free. You can find it in health food stores.

"What is GLA?"

It is the reason we eat oatmeal and Colossal Cookies (see above "don't"). 3 to 5 bowls a week is what I hear is desirable, but don't ask me how large the bowl is. You need 1-2 mg. GLA per day I hear, and the recommended ratio is 1 mg. GLA to 50-100 mg. of EPA per day. Remember, these are only suggestions I have heard. If you want a really scientific discussion and explanation, see the above reference. I get really fidgety and hostile when I am asked about these things, not because I don't believe or understand them, but because I simply cannot remember them!!! Tell me to eat oatmeal each morning, no problem. Tell me to get my GLA and EPA for the day and I'll say "HUH??? Oh yeah, oatmeal and salmon!" I can talk food and recipes all day and night, but I guess I had a really bad experience in high school that left me shell shocked about chemistry. Maybe it was that explosion in the lab...

Here is another of my opinions: There are so many conflicting opinions and reports to confirm or disprove these things and the efficacy of various vitamins and minerals and acids, yadda-yadda, that people get caught up in trying to find a pill for everything and will become downright OBNOXIOUS trying to sell you this or that, when the reality is, the most pleasurable way of finding ALL these things is by eating real food in real proportions (9:7:3) in a moderate balance. Yes, it is good to understand the need for certain vitamins and minerals, but stop looking for a magic pill or bullet or instant bar and enjoy the food God and Mother Earth and the farmers and the great cooks of this world has given you and try a little of EVERYTHING out there and enjoy life and give back to everyone who has given to you!!!

"What about FIBER???"

This question is great, because I got someone else to write about it for me! Meet Professor Arvid J. Bloom, a frequent visitor and recipe contributor to Karen's Kitchen. See what he has to say about it:

"Dietary Fiber and Eating in the Zone"

by Arvid J. Bloom

Overview

Dietary fiber is that part of a plant food that is indigestible. Fiber consists mainly of cellulose, commonly found in the skins of fruits and vegetables and in the coverings of cereal grains, such as wheat bran. Since it is not absorbed by the body, dietary fiber is not considered a nutrient and has little caloric value.

Nevertheless, dietary fiber is classified as a carbohydrate because of its polysaccharide molecular structure--consisting of carbon, hydrogen, and oxygen in a 1:2:1 ratio. Essentially, we have carbon coupled with water molecules.

There are two basic kinds of dietary fiber: soluble and insoluble. Insoluble fibers, such as cellulose, hemicellulose and lignin, are not soluble in water. Some examples of sources are wheat bran, whole grain products, and vegetables. Insoluble fibers help with stool bulk and regulation of bowel movements. Soluble fibers, such as gums, pectins, and mucilages, become gummy when water is added. By slowing the rate at which food passes through the digestive system, these fibers affect the absorption rate of nutrients. Some sources of soluble fiber include dried beans, oats, barley, and some fruits and vegetables.

Accounting for Fiber in Creating Zone-Balanced Meals

While dietary fiber may be helpful to digestion and to slowing down the rate of nutrient absorption, the issue of how to account for it when creating zone-balanced meals frequently arises. This becomes a concern mainly for people who prefer to count grams of macro-nutrients in creating meals rather than rely on the appendices to Sears' book. It also becomes a concern for people who wish to rely upon nutritional information listings for foods or ingredients that are not mentioned in Enter the Zone. In a transcript of a Q&A session with Dr. Barry Sears dated 6/26/96, Sears states that "...what's important is the amount of insulin-sensitive carbohydrates in a food. Fiber has no effect on insulin, since it is not absorbed. Therefore, subtracting out the fiber content of any carbohydrate used in the calculation will give the sensitive carbohydrate remaining, which is used in the calculation of carbohydrate blocks."

Does Subtracting Out the Fiber from the Total Carbohydrates Have Any Practical Significance?

If you don't subtract out the fiber from the total carbohydrate count --and you assume that each gram of total carbohydrate (including the fiber) contributes 4 calories, you could be overestimating your actual daily caloric intake. After all, the fiber isn't really being used as caloric energy. On a 10 block per day intake, with most carbohydrates coming from fruits and vegetables, you could be taking in about two blocks per day fewer "sensitive" carbohydrates than you think. In this example, it is assumed that about 20% of the total carbohydrates in the mix of fruits and vegetables is fiber. Obviously, this amount depends upon the specific foods used. Here are some examples of the percentages of total carbohydrates that are contributed by indigestible fiber (the figures may vary somewhat, depending on the reference source used): broccoli 50%, strawberries 35%, snow peas 50%, pear 16%, lettuce or spinach 50%, tomatoes 28%, soya powder 50%, lentils 20%. Of particular importance for zone dieting, not subtracting out the fiber can bump up your P/C ratio to significantly above the 0.75 that Sears states as an ideal target. Even if you aim for a different P/C ratio, ignoring the fiber can still throw off your calculations and/or your consistency in reaching the center of the zone.

As an example, suppose that you are creating a snack using strawberries as the sole carbohydrate source. Furthermore, suppose that you measure out the strawberries without subtracting out the fiber from the total carbohydrate calculation to achieve what you think is a "balanced" P/C of 0.75. Now, if you did subtract out the fiber amount--as Sears recommends--without changing the ingredient amounts, you would end up with a P/C of about 1.15 instead. Needless to say, this puts you outside the zone. For something less fibrous, like a pear, creating a P/C of 0.75 without subtracting out the fiber would in reality produce a P/C of about 0.89 when the fiber is properly subtracted out. While this isn't out of the zone, it's a good ways from the center of the zone.

While these illustrations have purposely been done with foods for which Sears has already calculated block sizes, there are always likely to be fibrous foods that are not listed in his current or future books. For these foods, subtracting out the fiber becomes a matter of reading nutritional labels carefully.

Summary and Some Possible Implications

IF you do your own carbohydrate block calculations by using references and nutritional labels, not subtracting out the fiber in the calculations MAY:

• add uncertainty to efforts to enter and stay in the zone by producing a higher P/C than intended. This uncertainty increases with the amount of fiber in the ingredients.
• make you think you're taking in more total carbohydrates per day than you really are.
• promote fatigue or lack of energy in some circumstances. Before adding carbohydrate blocks or adjusting your personal "carburetor" (Sears' term, not mine; "fuel injectors" might be a more timely term), it makes sense to be sure you are getting as many "sensitive" carbohydrates per block or meal as you think you are.
• If you are using computer software and/or databases for meal planning, it is worthwhile making sure that the carbohydrate values that you actually use in recipes reflect the subtraction of dietary fiber.
  

"But what about fiber, as in REGULARITY???"

Oh dear, so sorry, one of those questions. My grandmother used to say "Before 40 all you talk about is your sex life, but after 40 all you talk about is your bowel movements."

When you first start this eating program, you will probably be cutting back on the volume of foods you used to consume. Less food, less work for your bowels, things might slow down a bit. The FIRST thing you need to do is drink one 8 oz. glass of water before each meal. Next, you really should start this diet with the favorable carbs mostly, because they are the ones that are full of fiber, so they will have more bulk, give your tummy a feeling of fullness and your bowels a sense of purpose.

Then too, don't forget that bowl of oatmeal a few mornings a week! Then finally, if you can't do without them, remember it is two prunes per carbohydrate block, and that is usually all it takes to keep things moving along.

So...any more questions?