Fit Mom's Blog

Happy Friday, everyone!

Lately, I’ve been asked to share my ZONE diet and the foods I eat in a typical day.

The following is an example of a weekday- “I’m in a rush” what to eat kind of day. My workouts end at 7AM. Immediately following this, I rush home and feed the family, shower and pack lunches for everybody- out the door at 8:15AM. Smoothies for breakfast are the easiest and fastest way I can consume calories in a rush.


Milk + 1 1/2 cups of mixed frozen fruit + 1 scoop of protein powder + 3-6 Macademia nuts (on the side). Blend and drink during 1st phys ed class of the day.


Mid morning treat: Iced Americano with 1 tablespoon of cream

My classes are taught back to back from 10-2pm which leaves little time to consume food! And since my job is so physically demanding (I model yoga to my students for 3 hours), I’m lucky if I can get anything down my throat between these times…so, today, I was thrilled to get a Zone bar in while I waited for a group.


During the transition from yoga classes to P.E. classes, I ate my favorite meal of the day. 1 cup of greek yogurt mixed with frozen berries, a dash of agave nectar and a small handful of macademia nuts.

After school, my children and I head straight for gymnastics and I grabbed from the grocery store, cooked chicken, carrots and pistachio nuts.


At dinner, I served grilled chicken (olive oil, basil and garlic), broccoli and sweet potatoes. Sorry, no photo! My chicken looked beautiful and tasted as good.

So that’s it. I base my days on 12 blocks per day with maybe a bit extra thrown in at night or an extra nut or chocolate at night. I have plenty of energy to do my workouts and teach yoga and PE all day long. Remember that this is a day of RUSH. If time were not option, there would be gigantic omelets and salads being consumed instead.

One valuable MUST HAVE item for the Zone diet is the food scale. I was lucky enough to receive the Eat Smart Digital Food Scale and have found it to be invaluable to my zone diet- mainly in the areas of measuring meats! Available on Amazon for $25.

You can read more about the Zone diet here.
Any questions?!

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Lately, my zone diet has slightly derailed…particularly for my weekend “off diet” food choices.  At Costco recently, I got *suckered* into buying Strawberry bread “that would be great as french toast” or a “mom’s time out” and ” it goes great with coffee”, said the sample lady.

My kid tried it and loved it, and so there it goes, I buy it.  $5 for one loaf of bread.  Yikes!  The plan was for only my kid to eat it….and yet, Sunday morning I make myself some fabulous Zone eggs and think, “I’ll just get my carbs from bread today.”  One slice of this strawberry bread with butter on it is of course delicious. Did this mom look at the label before she bought it? Nope.  Did she look at it when she served it to her kids? Nope.  She only looked at it AFTER consuming her slice!  Anybody want to take a guess on how many carbs are in one slice of bread?  33 grams!!! Holy smokes.  That is more carbs than I get in one meal in one slice of bread!!

Calmly, now, I can rationalize that it was Mother’s Day and I deserved this “treat” at breakfast…blah blah blah…How many treats will I allow myself in one day?  That’s the thing with dieting, you think you’re doing good, but then, you slip with one slice of bread or one packet of sugar in your coffee or extra nuts before dinner…It all adds up.  Whether you want to lose body fat or weight, carbs count.  At dinner, I pull everything I’m going to eat off the grill- chicken + green veggies + dark chocolate and/or wine depending on the night…Wine, chocolate, bread all count towards your carbs!  Too many carbs = no results.    All that hard work in the gym won’t amount to much if you eat more than you burn.

Life Lesson Number #1599999999…..

New goal: Maintain Zone Diet for one week with a splurge meal on Saturday Night….

What have you all learning form dieting?

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12 Days from now I will be competing in my first EVER Cross Fit Invitational as an intermediate female. Thankfully, with the help of my trainers, I am feeling strong in the areas of lifting- not all that confident in the Olympic lifts such as the Hang Clean or Snatch- but I at least have the strength to be competing as an intermediate female.

However, food is the problem. Yes, I am on the ZONE diet. But, coming off a huge weekend of “special events” has lead me to believe that my diet needs to be CLEANED up massively before I can feel strong, confident and prepared.

I have pink post – it notes all over my house with the words “50 Double Unders” {A jump rope skill that requires two turns of the rope for every one jump}. But, now I need to add one note to the other one…”Make every meal REAL”. Must come from real sources, have an ingredient of one- protein, veggies, fruits and or nuts. That’s it. 12 Days and Counting down to more REAL food in my diet- less chocolate, less dairy (can I give up dairy???), no alcohol and eat strictly real food…

Encouraging words are welcomed.

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Health food and me have not always gotten along.  I’ve tended to steer clear of anything that did not resemble real food.  However, recently, I’ve tried LOTS of new things- whether it’s really heavy weight or new foods that I normally would NEVER try.  And, I have been pleasantly surprised!

CHIA GOODNESS

Apparently, chia seeds have more Omega-3 than salmon or flax seeds!  I have been sampling this Chia Goodness cereal for a week now.  I love it!  Only 2 tablespoons mixed with hot water yields 10 grams of carbohydrates, 6 grams of fat, and 5 grams of protein.  The fact that it’s only two tablespoons is really a small amount, but, when I combine it with other proteins at breakfast, I am satisfied.

One bag costs $7.50 and can be obtained at your local health food store or online.

Fake Chicken patties?! Gardein Protein Products.

Remember this post about Tal Ronnen’s Conscious Cookbook?  At the time, I thought the cookbook was very complicated for me, but, I was intrigued by those Gardein products.  I’ve since found them at my local health food store and thanks to a very nice PR rep, have been able to sample all the flavors of the Gardein products!

These are low in fat, high in protein and very low in carbohydrates.  They are fairly tasty- when sauteed in olive oil or baked and are incredibly convenient!  This is one of the main reasons why I like it.  If I’m in a rush, I can grab one “chicken” patty and 2 cooked egg whites and my protein in ready to go!  Protein on the go is sometimes hard to have ready, so, this I am very happy with these products.  Also, the price is reasonable for 3-4 servings – $5 or less (I think).

Finally, I have Coromega Omega-3 supplements.

2.5 grams of Omega-3 in one packet.  Tasty, quick and fairly inexpensive for an Omega-3 supplement.  My children and I have been very happy with all of the Omega-3 samples we received.  They especially liked the Coromega for Kids orange and lime flavors as well as the Healthy Heart COQ-10/Omega 3 packets.

What products do you love from the health food store?

PS.  I received all of the above products as samples for purposes of review and I have since repurchased all of them.  I am not a nutritionist, but, so I don’t know how to evaluate the quality of the Omega-3 products, but this seems like a good one!

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First off, you need to be introduced to the Peanut Butter.  Thankfully, this peanut butter is only sold in select markets- Sprouts, Henry’s and maybe Whole Foods (not sure).  For me, that is a minimum of one hour drive time to obtain this peanut butter.  Dark Chocolate Dreams is THE BEST EVER.  Holy smokes.  13 grams of fat in 2 tablespoons! Yikes.  That is out of my “zone budget” for one meal by like 10 grams!! Truthfully, I haven’t had much PB since starting the Zone diet because of the high fat content, boo.  But, man, oh, man, is it delicious.

Second part of this coolness is that Peanut Butter & Company has sponsored a cycling team.  Even better is that it’s a women’s cycling team!  To top that, these amazing women will be competing in the Redlands Bicycle Classic this week.  Stay tuned for more information on this event.  It’s always exciting for me to be a volunteer/spectator/parent during the Redlands Classic.  Last year, I had the privilege of meeting Amber Neben and I am always excited to support women’s racing in my town.

More about the PB & Co women’s team on Cycling News.  And, you can read more about the PB and the women on PB & Co’s site. I am dreaming now, but, wouldn’t it be great if they were actually selling the peanut butter during the Redlands Classic at a booth?

Stay tuned for more information on the Redlands Classic.  Even if you’re not a cyclist, be excited with me, ok?  This is a BIG DEAL for my town.

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In a recent article in Instyle Magazine, Heidi Klum and David Kirsch are featured with that lovely article title: “How to lose your muffin top in three weeks”.  With Heidi being the beautiful Victoria’s Secret’s model and David being the coach, they seem to have an effective program.  He offers a huge list of No No’s and a list of cardiovascular/body weight workouts and BAM- you could look as beautiful as her.

David’s list of No- No’s includes no alcohol, soda or coffee, no breads or starchy carbs, no dairy unless it’s skim milk or non-fat greek yogurt, no extra sweets and no excessive fats or fruits.

Phew! That’s a long list of don’t's in my opinion!

Here’s my take on the whole weight loss/fat loss thing:

It’s taken me a LONG time to finally lose most of my body fat- and I’m not there yet.  And, a LOT  of hard work.  I do not do any “endurance cardio” ever!  Our workouts are massively structured and always have a anaerobic capacity to them- but almost never will I be doing “long, slow distance” as my coach from high school called it.   Weight loss does not happen over night.  It doesn’t happen in three weeks.  Although, I’ve heard it happening- most people want to make small changes over a long period of time, right?  Yes, you could lose tons of weight on the David Kirsch method, but, would you be able to stick to it over the long haul?   Me, I don’t think so.  I like cheese.  And, from reading it,the diet seems unreasonably restrictive and lacking in carbs and fats- even good fats like avocado’s and olive oil.

Remember, I am not a nutritionist, just a girl on a journey, really.  The things I’ve learned and have applied are very little breads/cereals/ white flour foods {And, seriously, my tummy gets ANGRY when I eat that stuff!!}.  I splurge on good dark chocolate.  I eat egg whites with hummus or an apple + 3 macademia nuts for a snack.  I eat fruit- like in my greek yogurt or cottage cheese.  I am following the ZONE diet but I cheat.  Losing unwanted body fat takes time.  It’s taken me years to develop these habits, I’m not going to dump them all over night.  One of these days, I might.  However, in the meantime, I am still going to enjoy iced americano’s with cream (no sugar), chocolate and sometimes wine.

Who’s with me on this?  Anyone believe that you can achieve what the magazines say you can?  Why are the diets and/or articles always based on speed?  This type of writing – is just plain lying, isn’t it?  We are not going to get “great abs in three moves” or 15 minutes a day, etc…it’s going to take dedication to a fairly clean diet and sweat!

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There has been several times in the last few days that I have been caught starving and without food.  Number one this means that the meal I’d eaten prior to starvation must not have been a complete zone meal.  And, number two, it means that I’d better be prepared at all times to fuel my body appropriately so that I don’t have to dive in to Starbucks and eat the nearest carb loaded snack in the snack case.   Being on the zone diet does have it’s challenges and I am rising to them.  By writing about it here, it gives me the extra oomph to stick to it, however, I will admit to cheating more often than I’d like- that big handful of nuts I just ate or those fries I ate off my kids’ plate earlier are all signs that I am not as strict or as rigid as I need to be to get results.

Anyway, tomorrow is a new day, and I’m always highly motivated at the beginning of the week!  In an effort to be better prepared, I’m including a list of the best possible high protein choices you can pack in case hunger strikes- nuts and carbs are easy to have on hand or can always be purchased with an iced tea or coffee.

Hammer Nutrition’s Vanilla or Chocolate Whey.  I could easily carry one scoop in a plastic baggie and mix with water.  That’s equivalent to 18 grams of protein, plus one apple and 2 cashews for a 2 block meal.

Already cooked and peeled egg whites.  Who’s got the cooking of their eggs dialed in perfectly??? Would love to know the secret to get them to peel properly all the time.

Chicken on a stick.  Cook extra chicken on weekends and portion it out to be one or two block serving sizes (already did this, knock on wood!!).

Tuna packets in 1 ounce servings.

Beef/Turkey jerky.  I don’t do this one as of yet, do you? I have a hard time chewing it.  Got a brand that offers a softer version of jerky?

Included in my emergency kit should always be a small packet of nuts and an apple, or cherry tomatoes, or a pear…the list is endless, just a matter of being prepared.

Please share any thoughts/comments or suggestions!

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Along with all the cross training I am doing, I am also working hard at following the Zone diet.  Based on my age and body size and amount of training I do daily, I theoretically should be eating 12 blocks a day.  That means that I should be eating a 3 block breakfast, lunch, a second lunch and then dinner (basically 4-3 block meals is what’s working for me now).    So for example, for breakfast, I could eat 3 slices of turkey bacon (1 protein), 4 egg whites (2 proteins), 1/2 Avocado (3 fat blocks), and 1 cup of grapes and 1/3 mandarin oranges (3 carbs).  I usually eat about 1 cup of cooked vegetables in my egg omelet.    That’s a lot of food to choke down in a hurry!  My second meal is usually a greek yogurt with mixed frozen fruit and nuts.  And, the third meal is my hardest to plan– that’s the one between lunch and dinner.  Anyhoo….I’m still learning all the in’s and outs of the zone diet, but, I’m here now to share about the high protein products that you can buy on the Dr. Sears Zone diet website.

Protein Powder

At 7 grams of protein per scoop, it makes it easy to add to smoothies and yogurt.  I think this is one of the best high protein products of the zone diet.  Make your usual smoothie and add 3 scoops of protein powder for a perfect 3 block meal.

High Protein Pasta offered by the Zone diet. One small bag of pasta offers 30 grams of protein and 42 grams of carbohydrates!  Simply mix in with your favorite vegetables and you have a meal.  I used two bags for one meal for a family of four and everybody loved it!  Note: it does have a slightly gummy flavor but if your a pasta lover looking for a high protein pasta, this one is a good one.

Multigrain Pizza Crust with a higher protein content.   Pizza lovers get ready for this one.  It’s fabulous.  One entire pizza crust yields 30 grams of protein and 42 grams of carbohydrates.  We made 2 small pizzas for our family and I just piled on the veggies and ate two small pieces and was completely satisfied.

Bagels for breakfast! One entire bagel yields 14 grams of protein and 21 grams of carbohydrates.  I saved these for my children and husband who all loved them!

For those of you who are interested in dropping body fat and following the Zone diet, these products will make it incredibly easy to stay in the zone.  Although, I’d still prefer to stay away from bread products, I was happy to try these products and save for a weekly treat.  My favorite of course is the protein powder and the pizza crust!

P.S. Thank you, Zone Diet friends for providing me with these samples!

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