In the Zone

Today marks day 1 of something I never, EVER thought I'd do... the ZONE diet! If you know me at all, you know that I. Love. Food. LOVE IT. So "diet" isn't really a word that exists in my vocabulary. However, I'm a pretty healthy eater, have been 70% paleo for the past 6-ish months, and only indulge in the occasional cupcake, or brownie batter, or mini Snickers, or package of dried pineapple... With it being summer and sister's wedding being only 25 days away, I decided to kick it up a notch and take Jen up on her offer to be my Zone partner for the next few weeks.

I should say that I knew NOTHING about Zone this morning, except that Jennifer Aniston does it and looks amazing, you measure your food and count out your portions in "blocks." But Jen (my Jen, not Aniston) is super knowledgeable when it comes to food and nutrition, so she immediately started imparting that knowledge on me when I walked in the door this morning. The math goes like this:

7 grams of protein = 1 protein block
9 grams of carbohydrates = 1 carb block
1.5 grams of fat = 1 fat block

Being a small/medium female who exercises a ton, I get to have 14 protein blocks, 12 carb blocks and 28 fat blocks every day. (Side note: that 28 sounds like a ton of deliciousness, til you hear that a measly THREE almonds equal one fat block.) There are a couple key things to remember as you eat throughout the day:

1. After exercising, eat a balance of protein and carbs with very little to no fat. After all, your body absorbs everything you eat right after you work out, and you don't want it absorbing that fat, do you? Fat is for other times during the day, when your body can use it as energy (not recover off it).
2. Measurements of food are not equal. They are assigned their block value based on the effect they have on your insulin levels. Por ejemplo, 1/3 of a banana equals 1 block while 1 cup of strawberries also equals 1 block. That's because the banana will raise your insulin levels much more than a strawberry will, so you are allowed less of it. I'd rather have that cup of strawberries because it's more food!
3. Meals should be comprised of equal protein and carbs, and 3x the protein in fat.
4. This website has tons of good Zone information, block assignments and meal plans, which sound quite delicious!

There's a lot of thinking (math too), but I like to think of it as this fun little game so that it doesn't seem as "diety" to me. And truth is, you get to eat a lot! My snacks/meals filled me up so quickly today! Here's what I ate (B = Blocks):

8:00am (post workout):
- Chocolate Muscle Milk Light Smoothie: 3B Protein, 1B Carbs
- Apple: 2B Carbs

10:50am:
- Spinach/Strawberry/Blueberry Smoothie (sounds/looks SICK but is SO GOOD!): 2.5B Carbs
- 2 Eggs, 1 Egg White: 2.5B Protein
- 1/2 Avocado: 4B Fat

1:50pm (post sprints):
- Chocolate Protein Shake/Whole Milk/Protein Powder/Strawberry Smoothie: 3B Protein, 1.5B Carbs, .5B Fat
- Strawberries: .5B Carbs

6:15pm:
- 5 oz. Tuna with 2/3 tsp. Light Olive Oil Mayo: 5B Protein, 2B Fat
- 1 Avocado: 8B Fat
- 24 Almonds: 8B Fat
- 1 Nectarine: 1B Carbs

Total blocks for the day:
Protein: 13.5B
Carbs: 8.5B
Fat: 22.5B

Here is my lovely dinner... looks like a lot of food right? It filled me up quickly... I actually ate it over the course of about 30 minutes.


I'm about 2 hours from going to bed (those sprints WORE ME OUT!), and I'm feeling pretty good. Don't get me wrong, I was famished by dinnertime. But supposedly, you and your stomach get used to the portions. And, keeping Jennifer Aniston in mind helps. She eats like this, so surely I'll have her skin/body/a** in a month or two, right??