My Fourth Finding…

My eating habits have never been too bad – maybe a few too many sugars and carbs but I would start changing that too.

When I started taking the hormone supplements, I made one change at that time as well, it took 6 months but I have learned how to have coffee and tea without sugar, and to be honest not as bad as I originally thought. I did take it slow and just took a little less sugar each week.

I then started lessening my carb intake slowly, as I love anything bread related and grew up on meat and potatoes.

I still want to live life and enjoy food, I have just taken a few things into consideration, which leads me into my fourth finding – food and I will give you a brief idea of what I eat and why…

I was fortunate early on in life to be introduced to a Nutritionist when I lived in Mexico during my late twenties for almost a year. She had me on the Zone Diet. https://zonediet.com/the-zone-diet/

It had kept me fairly healthy and in shape for many years, but now it just didn’t seem to be working as well as it had previously. I didn’t consider it a diet, it had been more of a lifestyle change for me – it was something I easily incorporated into my life and enjoyed.

During the week day I had:

Snacks: yogurt or a protein bar

Breakfast: smoothies & a coffee – I was never good with having a big breakfast early in the morning, so this suited me just fine.

Lunch: either 2 eggs and toast, a meat or egg salad sandwich, or a salad with meat on it

Dinner: meat and veggies with a salad (different meat – chicken, fish, pork, beef, lamb, or wild meat, and any veggies)

A cup of tea. (black tea)

I primarily drink water. I have always been a person who drinks a lot of water, that has never been an issue with me.

On weekends, I allowed for one cheat day:

On this day I could have this for brunch:

French toast

Pancakes

Eggs, bacon or sausage & toast

Suppers were usually the same as my weekday – meat and veggies with or without a salad and a beer

This night I would have a dessert – piece of pie, cookies, cheesecake, ice cream – whatever…

The other day I would have:

Breakfast: oatmeal & toast

Lunch & Supper were the same as throughout the week.

Some people would say that it was a pretty predictable eating pattern and may want more variety, but it had worked for me for years.

What I had learned about the Zone Diet was that it was about being balanced:

Some Carbs

Some Protein

Some Fat

If I got bored of the above, I had a Zone meal in seconds book I could refer to and make something different.

For twenty years this way of eating had worked well for me and now it wasn’t…

What was different this time?

I had changed my smoothie from Skim milk to Unsweetened Coconut milk or Unsweetened Almond & Coconut milk and from white bread to rye bread. Those were the only differences that I had made – so look at these first two food charts or labels:

Quick Comparison
	Skim Milk	Coconut Milk	Coconut & Almond Milk
Calories	90	45	35
Fat	0	4.5	3
Carbs	13	1	1
Protein	9	0.4	1

The Zone Diet is based on blocks: https://zonediet.com/resources/food-blocks/

What Does One Block Look Like?

Protein= 7 grams

Carbohydrate= 9 grams (total carbohydrate minus fiber)

Fat= 1.5 grams (if you use animal protein at a meal)
or 3 grams of fat (if your protein source is vegetarian)

As said previously, it is based on being balanced – carbs, protein and fats for every meal or snack.

Even though the Coconut milk is what I needed to keep my Candida at bay, and I quite enjoyed the taste, I really needed to look into different options for my smoothie.

My smoothie was made up of:

1 cup of milk

½ cup of berries (mixture of strawberries & blueberries)

Protein powder

With using the Skim milk it was a more balanced meal based on the Zone blocks, but very out of balance using the Coconut or Coconut Almond blend.

So, now what…

I decided for now, I would go to

½ cup Skim milk and ½ cup of water

In the first few weeks, I lost ten pounds…I thought I’d figured it out!

And then nothing…I plateaued – I wasn’t gaining weight but I sure wasn’t losing it either…

I was still working out, taking my hormone supplements and staying close to the Candida diet.

Now, I must admit, I was frustrated, I was still 30 pounds from my goal (I had lost just over 20 pounds in over 8 months) and everything I was doing I had done before and lost weight no problem and in less time…in fact this time, I was more dedicated, more disciplined and had less results.

What was different this time…