WOD, Thursday, 7/16/08

“Honey, I can’t cook. The stove is broken.”

Nice try.

In the early ‘90s I volunteered at the renowned Hippocrates Heath Institute in Boston’s Back Bay. At that time I was managing a well-known steak house in Boston. Yes, I led a double life in search of enhancing my health. The Institute served living foods — nothing was cooked. In fact they didn’t have a stove, toaster oven, not even a hot plate! That experience proved that you could eat healthfully while preparing no-cook meals.

While we won’t be getting our protein from nut loaves, we’ll be using a variety of prepared and packaged proteins.

Here are a few suggestions to create balanced Zone meals that utilize many of the convenience items that are in the supermarkets today.

Proteins

Canned albacore tuna, salmon, smoked trout, brisling sardines, mackerel fillets, low-fat mozzarella cheese sticks, lean sliced deli meats, packaged cooked chicken and beef tips, fully cooked low-fat turkey or chicken sausages, 2 percent cottage cheese, 2 percent plain yogurt, Bumble Bee Brand salmon with lemon and cracked pepper or mesquite grilled in foil packets. Even Spam offers a new line of acceptable proteins, like oven roasted white turkey, a welcome addition to its infamous ham and pork loaf that your father ate.

Carbohydrates

Oranges, grapefruit, pears, apples, apricots, berries, peaches, V-8 juice, cucumbers, tomatoes, bagged salads, canned lentils, Wasa crackers, low-carb flatbread.

Fats

Olive oil, almond oil, peanuts, almonds, avocado, guacamole, olives

For a more detailed list see: zonediet.com – eating – quick start guide or click here.

To create a Zone meal, ask yourself, what is my lean protein choice? Next select your non-starchy veggies, have a piece of favorable fruit and add in a little monounsaturated fat. You’re on your way to the Zone.

Be flexible and creative and realize that being within a range by avoiding or limiting starchy foods (breads, potatoes, rice, cereals, pasta, etc.) and always consuming a little lean protein with the favorable carbs will get you the benefits you’re looking for.

Another suggestion to help you benefit from your diet, supplement with a high quality omega-3. To learn why see:
http://www.zonediet.com/OMEGA3/tabid/64/Default.aspx

For delicious non-cook recipes see Lynn Sears’ book, “Zone Meals in Seconds,” Here’s a recipe from page 231. “Indian Curried Chicken and Yogurt Salad with Lentils.”

Indian Curried Chicken and Yogurt Salad with Lentils

8 blocks (2 – 4 block servings)

Ingedients:
1 cup Dannon non-fat plain yogurt
2 tablespoons curry powder
1/2 teaspoon kosher or sea salt
6 ounces Perdue Short Cuts chicken strips
2 cups cooked lentils
2 cups cherry tomatoes, cut in half
1/3 cup Delmonte light apricots, drained and cut in half
2-3 scallions, chopped
Lettuce leaves
24 crushed cashews

Instructions:
In a large mixing bowl, add yogurt, curry powder and kosher or sea salt. Mix well. Add chicken, lentils, cherry tomatoes, apricots and scallions. Toss and serve on lettuce leaves. Garnish with crushed cashews.