In the zone

No, I did not drop off the face of the earth. And, truth be told, I have so much to write about but almost NO time to write!!

Among the many changes in our lives right now, The Husband thought a new diet would be a great idea. He has been interested in the Zone diet for some time now. His interest peaked a bit when he began Crossfit. That was a few years ago. Now, he's headed off to a genuine Crossfit certification course. I don't know how it is going to play out, but somehow I foresee a great amount of physical pain in my future. Just giving a heads-up is all!

So, in order for one to be "Forging Elite Fitness," one must eat a certain way. Enter the Zone diet...or any paleo diet for that matter. Now I'm not big on exercise or any of that silliness, but The Husband is. I know "paleo" means ancient, though, and I have no interest in eating ancient food! Still, the result of this diet is that body fat will simply melt away...

Apparently, the cavemen and all weren't able to pop on down to Panera for some nice, hearty, crusty bread. Truth be known, they didn't eat bread. I'm thinking it is why they are no longer...survival of the fittest and all. I'm thinking the ones who thought up bread are the ones who are still here because bread? That's good stuff! But I digress...

So, the Zone diet is made up of these blocks. You have to eat a certain number of blocks every day. I'm supposed to eat 11 blocks/day. The Husband is supposed to eat 25! This is not like weight watchers' points, though. This is a TON of food. A complete block is made up of one block of fat (1.5 g), one block of carbs (9 g), and one block of protein (7 g). The Husband is supposed to eat 5 complete blocks at each meal. OK - sounds simple enough.

The first night, all went well. We had an amazing grilled chicken salad. The Husband had 5 oz chicken, I had 3, and the kids each had 2. The grilled chicken was on a bed of 2 c lettuce, 1/4 cucumber, 1/4 bell pepper, and, for The Husband, 1/2 c black beans (1/4 c for me). We added avocado to the salad for the fat. (To be honest, I'm not 100% that was exactly what the measurements were, but they were VERY close to that.)

Breakfast was an ordeal. We decided on eggs, but in order to be sure everyone got the right amount of eggs, they had to be cooked separately. No more sleeping in till 6:15!! Up bright and early to cook breakfast. THEN, I can get showered, dressed, and leave for work. It took some cooperation, but we pulled it off. (The Husband cooked breakfast the second morning...oatmeal!)

Dinner the second night was, in a word, HYSTERICAL. We decided to have grilled chicken again. We were trying our hand at inventing our own meal. We had broccoli, so we decided to make it. Do you know how much broccoli is in ONE block of carbs? Do ya? Go ahead and guess. I'll wait.
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Three. Yep. Three cups of cooked broccoli is ONE block of carbs. Remember how many blocks we're eating? There is not enough broccoli in this state for us to eat only broccoli as our carb; we added green beans as well. (We could eat "unfavorable carbs," such as pasta, potatoes, etc, but The Husband won't have it.) I filled The Husband's plate. He had to eat 3 cups cooked broccoli, 3 cups green beans, 5 oz chicken breast, 1 cup of pineapple, and 60 peanuts. I nearly died laughing when I saw the three cups of broccoli on his plate...till I realized we were all supposed to eat that much! I had cooked a full bag and a half of broccoli (it measured 12 c frozen) and it was not NEARLY enough! I think we ended up eating 2 cups each. Still - it was a TON of broccoli! I should have taken pictures but I didn't think of it till just now.

I don't think we'll be eating broccoli for the rest of the month.

Tonight we are trying another menu of our own, but there is no broccoli on it. We're going with turkey burgers, a large salad, and some fruit. Today, we're having some bread, too! I found these amazing little sandwich thins...they're from Arnold, which, to date, is the only bread we've found that does NOT contain High Fructose Corn Syrup!! Woohoo! These thins are only 100 cal each and have the same nutritional value as a whole slice of bread.

So if you notice I've been offline for a bit, smile knowing I'm wading through a sea of veggies - most likely broccoli - and I'll be back when I can find the computer!