The Irresponsible-diet October

Not the full month, just through the first weekend.

Yesterday's lunch was the first real meal off-diet. I went to Joe's, a great, local steam-tray pay by the pound style deli. I used to eat a Joe's all the time pre-diet; their stuff is good and seems like its prepared well, without a bunch of crap like HFCS and trans-fat oils.

It was weird. I laid down the ceasar salad base that I usually get--the vinegar in this would be my first highly acidic food. They were out of the salmon so I went with the sesame chicken for protein. I'm pretty sure there's some kind of sugar in the sesame glaze they put on this stuff, so that would be my first sugar.

Looking around I had a hard time finding other stuff to throw in; usually I'm piling on chicken salad and tuna. My eyes found the steamed broccoli and carrots and I literally got excited. This has never happened before. It was like finding something familiar that I knew I'd like, almost like comfort food. The same thing happened with the raw peppers, onions and strawberries. The real food just looked so good and appealing. I knew the other stuff was good--I've had it all before--but the fruits and vegetables just had that appeal.

Although Joe's has the best cottage cheese I've ever had, I decided to re-introduce these food groups slowly so I could see if they produced any interesting effects on my body.

Now I usually go for zone-like portions from Joe's, and I realized when I got back to my desk that this lunch was definitely not too close on the zone front. Way more than five ounces of chicken, and besides the sesame glaze, probably light on carbs. I don't know how much fat was in the dressing, but probably not enough.

I had a few surprises while eating; for one the croûtons were weird. Its hard to describe, they didn't really taste any different than I remembered and they were good, but they felt really foreign.

Also, despite getting close to a pound and a half of food, I felt hungry as I finished the meal. I think this was the insulin response (from the sesame glaze) that I've read about didn't fully understand until then. My stomach wasn't empty and definitely should not have been sending "feed me" signals to the brain. Maybe I just got really used to eating something north of six cups of raw vegetables and expected to be more full. What I think happened though was that my body kicked out insulin to deal with the sugar, which is known to make you feel hungry, even if you've just eaten. I'm not doing a great job of explaining this, but that reaction to the first meal has changed the way I think about dieting and insulin's role in it. I'll probably reread some parts of Mastering the Zone to expand my understanding, but I can really see how insulin can play such a major role in the metabolism.

Steak and Fried Apples

Last night was kind of hard mentally. I was really wanting a beer and something easy for dinner, but managed to drag myself to Whole Foods to pick up some good whole foods for the last two dinners.

8 oz steak (8 blocks protein)/.5 onion caramelized (? blocks), 2 Gala apples, 'fried' in coconut oil with nutmeg and cinnamon (4 blocks)/olive oil, fish oil?

Slightly excessive in zone calories and too many fruits at the expense of vegetables.

Breakfast today:

2 slices bacon, 2 slices canadian bacon, 1 egg/~4 cups red chard (2 blocks), .5 onion, both sauteed in bacon fat/3 almonds, fish oil

Probably a block short of carbs, but I think right on for protein and fat.

Last Weekend

Zone adherence degraded over the course of the weekend, but I managed to hold onto strict paleo.

Friday night: ~10 oz steak/1 apple, 1 peach, .5 onion, half a bunch of asparagus/plenty of olive oil

Saturday morning: no breakfast, but FGB workout at the gym (score of 305)

Saturday post workout was the first time this month that I've eaten out. I realized sometime last week that I've cooked or prepared every single thing I've eaten this month, with the occasional exception of lunchtime salmon. I had half a mind to keep that streak going so I could say that I once went a month without dining out. This may not be much of an accomplishment in some locations, with some lifestyles, but for a busy person in New York, it doesn't typically happen.

After FGB everyone from the gym went to Maria's, a Mexican restaurant across the street for lunch. I checked out there menu and was able to find a few things that fit strict paleo. The place is actually great for paleo; they make almost everything they serve themselves using real foods. I decided to end my streak and eat there to round out the month and see what its like to eat strict paleo and attempted zone at a restaurant.

I ended up having a salmon fillet with a mango and jicama salad and orange sauce. I was pretty hesitant about the orange sauce, which I could just imagine being some kind of orange duck-sauce-like goo loaded with high fructose corn syrup. The waiter told me that they make it in-house with oranges and spices, so I went for it. The dish was pretty good, though not as good as the food I've been making myself this month.

For better or worse, the rest of the weekend also helped round out the experiment. Occasionally over a weekend, or a couple of week nights, I'll be extremely lazy; too lazy to go out and buy food or cook anything. I usually end up eating whatever I can find in the house after about twelve or so hours of this behavior, but this weekend I had nothing left that could form a paleo, zone meal. My other answer to this behavior is to order food from somewhere, which was clearly out of consideration.

So the rest of the weekend breaks down like this. I did go out to pick up some food later on Saturday.

Saturday dinner: .71 pounds skirt steak/half an onion, two apples (fried in coconut oil with nutmeg and cinnamon)/maybe some other fats, don't remember

With only two meals and no snacks, intake on Saturday probably didn't break 10 square blocks.

Then on Sunday, post-workout lunch: 3 slices bacon, 2 slices canadian bacon, 1 eggs/2 cups broccoli, 1 carton strawberries, half an onion/fish oil?

Not bad, but then that's all I ate Sunday. Not ideal after a FGB and heavy deadlifts. I did end up eating a handful of almonds after midnight--the only paleo thing I could find.

This morning I felt like crap: weak and tired with an empty fridge. I ran to the store and cooked the usual breakfast, plus one egg, minus broccoli and forgetting my APA, fish oil and almonds. I'm not sure if its the slightly short night of sleep or the insufficient recovery calories over the weekend, but I was definitely feeling it this morning. I wonder if that's what I have in store for the morning of October 2nd.

The diet reboot this morning did help though and energy is almost back to normal. Mental energy has been good throughout the weekend, but physically I haven't been feeling it. I remember the ride back from the deadlift workout being particularly difficult on my legs.

Today's lunch was the usual, with red onions and a peach to round out carbs and a flax oil and lemon juice dressing.

Salmon, Bacon, Pepper Salad

Last night:

.71 lbs salmon (too much) = >5 blocks protein
2 cups broccoli/.5 onion sauteed/~2 small bananas smashed and chilled with almond extract = at least 5 blocks carbs
kind of forgot the fat, maybe I grabbed a few almonds. I was going to make guacamole, but my avocado had gone bad.

This morning:

2 slices bacon/2 slices canadian bacon/1 egg = 5 protein, 3 fat
2 cups broccoli/.5 onion sauteed in bacon grease/maybe .5 cup blueberries = 3 or 4 blocks carbs. I need to figure out what these onions really are, I've been guessing for a while.
almonds and fish oil to round out fat.

I'm getting kind of sloppy with the blocks here...

For lunch today, I ran out of salad ingredients, so I improvised (by which I mean, I just threw in everything I had).

5.1 ounces chicken = 5 blocks protein -- couldn't find the pieces that would give me exactly 5.0 oz
2 cups red pepper (1.5 blocks)/2 cups spinach (.5 blocks)/1 cucumber (1 block) = 3 blocks carbs
1 macadamia/~9 almonds/'Russian' salad dressing = at least 5 blocks fat

I ran out of salsa so I had to go with the paleo-Russian dressing alone today. I don't like it much, the tomatoes make it too acidic. It reminded me of the tomatillas a bit (puke-flavored) and made my teeth feel sticky.

So, a bit light on the carbs today. It probably won't get any better with my typical Friday night steak-fest either.

Salsa Chicken Salad, Strawberries

The usual salad, almost forgot the almonds though, ate 16 for 5 blocks. The salsa has almost gotten better with age; that's probably because I threw in the rest of the anaheim pepper yesterday.

1 cup strawberries to round out carbs. Also, I went to a specialty/hippie food store that's closer than Whole Foods to refill on peppers and cucumbers--never again. $3.99/pound organic cucumbers are ridiculous; my two cost over $6.

Bacon-fried Kale with two kinds of Bacon

I didn't feel like going to the store last night, so I had to make due with my remaining kale this morning, instead of my usual broccoli.

Protein: 2 slices bacon/2 slices canadian bacon/1 egg = 5 blocks + ~3 extra fat blocks

Carbohydrates: half onion/at least 4 cups raw kale, both sauteed in bacon fat/1 pear = 4 or 5 blocks, I need to get more precise here

Fat: excess bacon fat/3 almonds/fish oil = 5 or 6 blocks

Zone-like precision and improvisation don't mix that well. I've definitely been eating zone-like meals, but there's usually a block or two margin of error for the fat and carbs.

A day of nothing exciting, followed by Sauteed Kale and Seared Salmon

Yesterday was the same old: bacon, canadian bacon, egg, peach, something else, something else for breakfast. Exact same salad as Monday with chicken for lunch. A not-so-great (aging) flank steak, peach and watermelon for dinner.

Today was a bit better. Two slices bacon creates a lot of liquid fat on the skillet; this is great for cooking the canadian bacon AND frying up a half onion. I might have mentioned this before, but I've learned this month that the key to sauteing an onion in a pan is to get all the pieces covered in fat. Its the hot oil that cooks the onion, not so much the onions contact with the pan. And the onions don't have to be swimming in fat, just a little bit all the way around each piece will go a long way. I've watched a chopped onion sit in a pan for half an hour and get no where near brown in previous years; now I know the secret.

So, since most things are better when cooked in bacon fat, I gave the onion a try. Couldn't really tell a difference, but it does use up that excess fat and makes cooking breakfast that much easier, so I'll continue this way.

Ended up a little light on carbs, I think I ate a peach on the way out, so probably 3 blocks or so. I was fine with that since I definitely needed to be alert this morning, and forcing 5 blocks of fruit in the mornings can cause problems for me.

Lunch was unremarkable, the exact same as yesterday. Still liking the salsa salad better. Need to pick up deli turkey for 5pm snack. I got some macadamia nuts the other week to try as snack fat; they're ok, but one macadamia definitely isn't as filling as three almonds.

Dinner tonight was great, a perfectly seared salmon fillet (~8 oz =~ 5 blocks), 1 red onion and 4 cups kale sauteed = ~2 blocks + ? blocks (I thought kale was 4 cups raw = 1 block, but now I can only find 1.25 cooked = 1 block). So if I call that three the small banana can bring me up to five. PLENTY of oil used to cook all of this, plus fish oil and 2 almonds = at least 5 blocks.

Then I tried to puree my remaining bananas in my smaller food processor, unfrozen this time. Still didn't work at all, it liquified a bit of the banana (which wasn't that appetizing) and didn't touch the rest of it. So I mashed them up pretty well in a bowl, mixed in some almond extract and threw it all in the freezer. There's a good chance its rock hard tomorrow (although I think something about the high sugar content might actually mean it doesn't freeze hard...), but I'm giving it another try.

Also, beef jerky was a huge hit with everyone who had it; I'll have to make it again soon. That reminds me, I have some steak odds and ends that have been marinating since Sunday night. I wonder if those are still edible...m

Salad, Salsa, Chicken

The usual salad, but with just salsa as a dressing, no fake russian dressing or flax oil/lemon juice.

4 blocks carbs = 4 cups spinach/1.25 cups green pepper/1 cucumber/~.5 cups salsa

I did squirt some flax oil on the salad to see what that was like, but couldn't detect it at all later. This salsa salad was definitely a nice change of pace from the usual flax oil/lemon juice dressing. One thing I'll definitely be jumping on post-paleo is vinegars. I'll probably start making my own salad dressing with a simple oil/vinegar pair.

I rounded out the carbs with ~1 cup strawberries.

5 oz chicken = 5 blocks protein. Cooked last night as usual; salt, pepper, olive oil and some garlic thrown in. I could definitely try to punch up this recipe a bit, but its fine for now. When you're working your way through what seems like half a cubic foot of greens (and isn't far off), each little morsel of protein is like candy.

I had to make up some fat because the salsa is carbs only, so I threw on a good 3-4 dozen pine nuts and a 2-3 blocks of almonds.

Then I ate a dozen or two pistachios because they were there and I couldn't help it, which easily puts me over any fat requirement.

Overall, the salsa is a great change of pace from the boring dressing before. Still a ton of greens to eat though. The jerky went over well at the office; I'll probably have to make this again soon. Meanwhile, some browsing on Mark's Daily Apple now has me curious about home brewing (beer). This do-it-yourself approach to food is addicting once you get started.

Pureed Frozen Bananas with Almond Extract, Real Bacon!

I aimed for zone this morning, but I have to do the math now to find out how close I was.

2 slices REAL bacon @ 4g protein, 5g fat each = 1 block protein, ~3 blocks fat
2 slices canadian bacon @ 11g protein, 1.5g fat each = 3 blocks protein, ~1 block fat
1 egg = 1 block protein

Now, in the zone, each block of protein is assumed to have 1.5g (or 1 block) of fat. You don't count this fat against your fat blocks though.

So 4 blocks of protein should be 28g protein and 6g fat. My meat this morning totals 30g protein and 13 g fat. So that's about 4 square blocks of protein and 4 extra blocks fat. Not too bad, going forward I can just add some fish oil to that and be at a good fat level.

For today though, I added 9 almonds (unnecessary) and fish oil, plenty of extra fat.

~2 cups broccoli = 1 block carb
1 peach = 1 block carb
3 small frozen bananas, 'pureed' and mixed with a dash of almond extract = technically, 9 blocks carbs. Bananas are listed as 1 block = 1/3 of a 3" banana, and on the less favorable source of carbs list. These bananas were small, but that's likely still excessive for carbs.

I heard from a friend at the gym that frozen, pureed bananas taste like ice cream, so I thought I'd give it a try. Unfortunately, my blender wasn't able to handle these bananas the way it needs to to get that texture. They ended up like lumpy chopped bananas, not smooth at all. I realized that the very powerful, very expensive food processor my friend has probably makes a big difference here.

Although frozen mangled bananas are good enough to eat straight, I tasted them with a few different flavors. I overdid the vanilla and they ended up tasting bitter. Nutmeg and cinnamon were ok, but almond extract kicked ass.

For the rest of this bunch I'll try the recipe recommended by the paleo book: blend the bananas and vanilla (or almond extract) first, then freeze a bit. Carb heavy, but still pretty good while being technically paleo.

Salmon and an Apple

Simple dinner:

~8 oz salmon fillet seared with olive oil, salt pepper = 5 blocks protein
1 cup watermelon = 2 blocks carbs
1 apple = 2 blocks carbs
1/2 onion sauteed = 2 blocks carbs?
9 almonds = 3 blocks fat
fish oil = 2 blocks fat
olive oil = more blocks of fat

I thought I might be under on the carbs, but that looks like plenty.

Also managed to cook my chicken for the rest of the week. Now to bed in hopes of making the early workout.

Chili Scallops, Paleo Guacamole, Fried Apples

Big change of pace tonight. I tossed a half pound of greenmarket scallops with some olive oil, chili pepper and black pepper, then sauteed with half an onion. I'd never cooked scallops before, but they ended up pretty well. I think I could do better, maybe something with garlic next time.

Half pound = 8 oz =~ 5 blocks protein

My avocado was finally ripe today after buying last Sunday, so it was time for guac! I started with my boss's recipe as best I could remember. I muddled two cloves of diced garlic, a good bit of chopped cilantro (i love cilantro), some non-jalapeno pepper (that farmer lied, it wasn't spicy at all) and pepper. Then I mixed that in with 1 mashed avocado and half a diced heirloom tomato.

At this point the guacamole was OK. I only started to like guacamole in the last twelve months, and I don't have it very often, so I'm no connoisseur, not at all. Fortunately my roommate was LA bred, she immediately recommended lime juice and much more salt. Big difference. In the end I think it was pretty decent guac. Next time, maybe onion and a real pepper.

Most of an avocado = at least 5 blocks, but probably pretty close, at 1 tbsp per block.

Finally, I decided to attempt part of a zone book recipe. I picked up some gala apples from the green market, so I cut very thin slices and 'fried', or slowly cooked them in plenty of olive oil with nutmeg and cinnamon. I ended up making four or five batches, playing with the method. Some of them I tossed with oil and cinnamon, some of them I just threw in an oiled pan and sprinkled with cinnamon. A longer cooking time at lower heat works well, it breaks the apples down and makes them soft, which takes longer than I had anticipated.

Completely paleo, but probably a bit high in fat and carbs. Hopefully close to 5 blocks in the end. Those apples would kill on vanilla ice cream by the way. Take them straight off the pan and throw them on a ball of ice cream and eat immediately. Hot + cold, cinammon apples + ice cream. Excellent.

Oh, and you really can't taste the olive oil at all. There's probably a better oil to cook them in though, but I didn't have anything else on hand. Coconut oil maybe.

Canadian Bacon and Watermelon

A little one-block breakfast 30 minutes before workout of ~1 oz turkey breast/.5 cup watermelon/3 almonds

Felt weak at workout today, perhaps because of recent effots, perhaps because of the quite un-zone-like meal last night.

Real 'breakfast' (at 2:30 pm) of 2 slices canadian bacon, 1 slice turkey bacon, 2 eggs (6 blocks)/3 cups watermelon (6 blocks)/12 almonds, 1 tsp fish oil (6 blocks).

A bit excessive in calories. I couldn't stop eating watermelon, so I just tried to balance it out with protein and fat.

Meanwhile I scored big at the Grand Army Plaza Green Market. Paleo guacamole and salsa coming up, as well as something involving scallops, and something else involving lots of apples.

23 oz Grass-fed Porterhouse, Sauteed Onion and Asparaus, White Peaches

Although quite paleo, this meal probably wasn't close at all to zone. If I ever let loose a bit, its usually Friday night, so I let this one slide.

I didn't eat the whole steak, and a good bit of it was bone and fat, but it was quite a bit more than the five ounces of steak I'm suppsed to eat in one meal. I'd say at least twelve, maybe a pound (I shared some with a friend).

I pan fried it with a light rub of olive oil and a good amount of sea salt and pepper, nothing more. Oven for a few minutes to finish. I've not had a porterhouse in my modern steak-eating career, but I learned today that it contains by tenderloin and strip meat. This was helpful to know going in, the tenderloin was the tenderest piece of steak that I've ever cooked. The strip was very flavorful.

As for the grass-fed aspect, it definitely tasted different from the typical steak I get at the store. Its a very deeply rooted difference in the taste; I have to admit that it feels like you can taste the difference in the cows diet. I'd quite easily be able to distinguish grass-fed and grain-fed in a taste test.

That said, I'm definitely used to grain-fed beef. Probably all of my great stead experiences have been on grain-fed and its what I've come to expect from steaks. This steak was great, but that flavor was a little something I didn't expect. Nevertheless, I love the idea of grass-fed for lots of reasons beyond just taste; I'll definitely be buying more from Grazin' Angus. I'd wager that after three or four more steaks, I'll more fully appreciate the extraordinary qualities everyone else loves about this beef.

The rest of the meal was 1.5 large onions and a bunch of asparagus, sauteed to near liquid-stage in more than enough olive oil. Followed by the last two great white peaches from the green market. After that I got drowsy watching the Bourne Ultimatum. First paleo-induced food coma?

Chicken/Turkey and Salad + Greenmarket Peaches

Same lunch as yesterday, and used exactly all of my remaining vegetables and chicken at the office. I couldn't have planned that better.

2.6 oz chicken, 2.4 oz turkey breast/4 cups spinach, 1.25 cups green pepper, .75 cups snow peas, 1 cucumber/flax oil, 6 almonds, handful pine nuts/lemon juice, pepper

I managed to ride into work today, which besides being a lot of fun, meant I was able to ride up to the Union Square green market and get a steak from the highly recommended Grazin Angus farm. He was out of my usual choices, flank and skirt steaks, so I decided to change things up and spring for a porterhouse. It wasn't cheap, but its 100% grass fed and finished, local, and supposedly excellent. At over 20 ounces, its more than a day's worth of protein, so I'm not sure how I'll tackle this. I'll save that decision for later tonight.

I also picked up some white peaches, presumably quite local. Way better than the ones I had yesterday, but also much more ripe. Smaller too, which I've read gives mature fruits and vegetables a denser flavor.

At about 8 minutes on the bike each way from Tribeca to Union Square, I might have to make my way up to this green market more often.

Porkchop and watermelon

Same as last night, 5 square blocks.

5 oz pork chop/2 cups broccoli, 1.5 cups watermelon, .5 onions/2 tsp olive oil, 1 tsp fish oil, 6 almonds, APA.

Falling into a rut, but its a pretty delicious rut. Although not strictly paleo according to the book, a little bit of kosher salt goes a LONG way towards making a great caramelized outer on the chop.

I may try to get a grassfed steak at the Union Square market tomorrow, work permitting. Despite completely agreeing with the principles of grassfed beef, I haven't done much to go for it.

The Usual Lunch, Liquid Smoke

5 oz chicken/1.75 cups peppers, 4 cups spinach, .75 cups snow peas, ~1 cucumber/1 peach/6 almonds, handful pine nuts, flax oil/lemon juice, pepper

I also picked up about 2.7 lbs of very lean top round steak and some liquid smoke. I'm thinking marinate over night, then dry for jerky saturday or sunday.

Also, although I've been eating in good block proportions, and even getting five blocks a meal, I haven't been paying much attention to when I eat, or snacks. Without the snacks I'm shorting myself two blocks a day. Since I'd rather gain strength than lose weight, this is counter productive. Going forward I'm going to be more consistent on the snacks and timing, starting with a nice one-blocker coming up soon.

Pork Chop and Watermelon, Canadian Bacon and Broccoli

Dinner last night was a solid 5 blocks:

slightly more than 5 ounces pork chop = 5 blocks protein
half an onion sauteed in 2 teaspoons olive oil = 1 block carb, 6 blocks fat
2 cups brocolli = 1 block carb
1.5 cups watermelon = 3 blocks carb

The zone book is fond of counting all your fat in the olive oil you cook with. However, when cleaning a pan used to cook with olive oil, its obvious that you're not actually consuming all of that fat. I'd say at best, it looks like half to three-quarters makes it to my mouth. With that in mind, I don't count 2 teaspoons of olive oil as 6 blocks of fat, but close to three. So I finished with 9 almonds for another three blocks, which should definitely put me over my 5 blocks of fat for the meal.

Breakfast today:

2 slices canadian bacon = 3 blocks protein - at 11g protein and 1.5g fat per slice, candadian bacon is very lean. The typical zone assumption is that 7g protein contains about 1.5g fat, then you add additional 1.5g fat blocks on top of that. So 2 slices candadian bacon = 22g protein or almost exactly 3 blocks, and 3 grams fat.

1 slice turkey bacon = 1 block protein
1 egg = 1 block protein
a lean 2 cups watermelon = 4 blocks carb
2 cups broccoli = 1 block carb

1 teaspoon fish oil = 4g fat or about 2.6 blocks fat. I called this
9 almonds = 3 blocks fat

So that should be about 5.6 blocks fat, but I still have a slight deficit from the canadian bacon. Probably should have had a few more almonds, oh well.

I'm thinking of investing some time and effort into home-making some beef jerky, maybe this weekend.

Pepper Chicken, Salad, Peach

Yesterday's lunch, but with precision. I picked up a small food scale at J&R for $25 so I can weigh my protein, finally. It was about what I usually eat, maybe a little less. Good to know that I've been close with my eyeball protein (salmon may be a different story though).

Exactly 5 ounces chicken, cooked in olive oil, pepper, little salt = exactly 5 blocks protein

4 block carb salad: 4 cups baby spinach, 1.75 cups green and yellow bell peper, .75 cups snow peas, ~9" cucumber

2 blocks fat?: eyeball teaspoon sized pull of flax oil. 1 tbsp of flax oil = 11g fat or about 7 blocks fat. I aim for a teaspoon when I pour, which is about 2.5 blocks fat.
3 blocks fat: about 8 almonds and an amount of pine nuts

1 block carb: 1 under-ripe peach from a street vender. He insisted on throwing in a pluot so he didn't have to make change of a dollar for me. I won't be eating that because the last one knocked me out.

Pretty good deal, I'll have to check the glycemic index on peaches, but those are a great finish to a meal.

Porkchop, Broccoli, Watermelon, Turkey, Raspberries

Almost exactly the same as last night. About 5 ounces pork chop, a bit less than 2 cups broccoli, probably close to 2 cups watermelon, 1/2 an onion sauteed, 2 teaspoons olive oil, 1 pull of fish oil.

Also had a snack around 5 pm of an eyeball ounce of sliced turkey, about 1/3 cup raspberries and 4 almonds.

Then around 8, at least another ounce of turkey and some almonds. Not exactly zone balanced, but I was hungry.

Salmon, Salad, Watermelon

5 blocks as precise as I was able.

a very eyeballed 7.5 ounces salmon = 5 blocks protein

yesterday's salad of:
4 packed cups baby spinach (i hope that's accurate, no zone block guides include baby spinach, only chopped spinnach) = 1 block carb
1.25 cups green pepper = 1 block carb
~1 x 9" cucumber (or 80% of one huge cucumber) = 1 block carb
.75 cups snow peas (if you cut them in half, they measure much easier) = 1 block carb
eyeball .5 cups watermelon (i think this block was fairly accurate actually) = 1 block carb

eyeball 1. tsp flaxseed oil = 1 block fat (no idea, i should check that)
about 5 almonds and at least 15 pine nuts = more fats, hopefully about 4 blocks?

also included lemon juice, pepper, and a little red onion

I always feel like I'm adding plenty, if not too much, fat when I'm making these meals, but it always seems to come up short when I log them. I definitely need to get precise about fat.

Meanwhile, its become apparent to me that I can finish the month without difficulty. If you're not making 'zone meals', but rather eating a zone amount of protein with a zone amount of carbs and fats, the zone takes much less planning and effort. However, it is tricky to find enough delicious healthy things. I've got to find a way to make green things better at dinner time.

One other unexpected benefit I've noticed is that my teeth always feel clean, no matter what. Normally if I have clean-ish teeth, then drink a soda or something, my teeth feel sticky and definitely not too healthy. Most of the time, my teeth feel somewhere in between those two extremes. But lately, no doubt a result of completely eliminating sugars and high glycemic carbs, my teeth feel squeaky clean all day long. I have continued brushing them, though.

Also, carrots have a high glycemic index, the zone book told me yesterday. Who knew>