Week 43 ~ Lazy Zone Diet

Last week was rough with the mini-family emergency and it has thrown off my diet planning for this week....SInce I am due to a FAD DIET - I found this one on the internet and thought "Why Not"......

The zone diet follows a formula. 40% of your calories should come from carbs, 30% from protein, and 30% from fats at EVERY MEAL. The thing about the zone diet is that it really isn't that different from what dieticians have been telling us all along. Trying to limit your fat intake to 30% of calories is tough, so you could almost consider this a low-fat diet.

Also, the zone limits the amount of food you can eat by counting the number of "blocks" of carbs, proteins, and fat. This is similar to methods used at weight watchers. For this reason I don't really consider "The Zone" to be a fad diet, more like a healthy way of eating. 

 

This plan is geared to meet the needs of everyone. Some meals are bought at McDonalds, many use simple ingredients, and you even get to go to a real restaurant on the last night.

The Lazy Zone Diet Meal Plan for a Week:

Day 1:
Breakfast:
1 Meal replacement bar (pick your favorite, the Zone bar would seem appropriate but others (slim fast, power-bar, balance bar, Cliff Bar, Bag of M&M's (just kidding about the M&Ms))
2. Coffee, diet pop, whatever else but no sugar or creamer.

Lunch:
1. Lean Cuisine Meal
2. 1 slice of cheese

Dinner:
1. Quarter Pounder or Grilled Chicken Sandwich - neither with mayonnaise (from McDonalds)
2. Side Salad
3. Fat Free Dressing

Day Two:
Breakfast:
1. Fruit Salad
2. 1 cup unsweetened yogurt (not-non-fat)
3. 1 oz. Nuts (almonds, peanuts, cashews, macadamias, etc.)

Lunch:
1. Deli Turkey or Roast Beef Sandwich with Lettuce, tomato, cheese, and barbecue sauce on Whole Grain Bread.
2. Diet pop or bottled water.

Dinner:
1. Large Bowl of Chicken Noodle Soup (choose your brand)

Day Three:
Breakfast:
1. McDonalds Fruit and Yogurt Parfait w/Granola

 

Lunch:
1. Fast Food Salad (no fried chicken pieces allowed only grilled chicken)
2. Low-fat Dressing
3. Small hamburger (no mayo)

Dinner:
1. Lean Cuisine Dinner
2. 1 oz. nuts or one tablespoon of peanut butter

Day Four:
Breakfast:
1. Small omelet made with egg whites
2. 1 slice of wheat toast (unbuttered)

Lunch:
1. The Biggest Peanut Butter and Banana Sandwich you can possibly make on Whole Grain healthy Bread
2. Tall Glass of Milk.

Dinner:
1. Stir-fried Chicken and Vegetables
2. 1/4 of a container of White Rice
If you get this from a Chinese take-out you only get 1/2 of it. The other 1/2 is tomorrow's lunch.

Day Five:
Breakfast
1. Meal replacement bar

Lunch:
1. Leftover stir-fried Chinese food from last night.
2. 1/4 of the container of white rice. Throw the remaining 1/2 container away before you start eating.

Dinner:
Healthy Choice Dinner

Day Six:
Breakfast:
1. McDonalds Fruit and Yogurt Parfait

Lunch:
2 BLT sandwiches - no Mayo.

Dinner:
1 baked chicken breast
2 cups frozen broccoli
2 pieces of toast

Day Seven:
Breakfast:
1. 1 cup Whole wheat cereal
2. 1 Spoonful of peanut butter
3. Milk

Lunch:
1. Sandwich made with leftover baked chicken, Healthy Bread, Cheese, lettuce, tomato, barbecue sauce.
2. Small bag of pretzels, or baked chips.

Dinner (going out):
1. Grilled Shrimp salad from a restaurant.
2. Low fat dressing
3. Un buttered dinner roll, baked potato or rice pilaf.

 

As you can see this follows the basic guidelines of the Zone Diet - but gives you real life choices (or for those of us that like the convenience of running through McDonald's to get that junk food in...Not sure how I will fend during this diet - but at least it's different!!

 

***DO NOT DO ANY DIET WITHOUT FIRST TALKING WITH YOUR DOCTOR***