Archives for carbohydrates

Keeping Up With ProZone – June 2021

16 June 2021

Carol’s Corner The Zone vs. Alternative Diets   There is a lot of interest in alternative diets such as paleo & keto (which used to be called the Atkins diet). The other one that many people are intrigued by is intermittent fasting, either the 5/2 diet or variations on that such as the one below that Kevin tried. Kevin and I first started eating in the Zone about 24 years ago. The science behind eating this way, as developed by Dr. Barry Sears, made a lot of sense to us and we both ended up with very positive benefits. Kevin
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Categories: Other, Products, and Recipes.
Tags: balanced, Balanced Bars, blood sugar, carbohydrates, Fish Oil, good health, health, healthy food, Krill Oil, nutrition, omega 3, recipes, Supplements, weight control, and Zone.

Merry Christmas and How to Survive The Festive Season

9 December 2016

Merry Christmas! From all of us here at ProZone we’d like to wish you a very Merry Christmas! Christmas can make it hard to stay in the Zone, so we’ve included some tips below to help you survive the holidays. Healthy Holiday Tips  Holidays bring family and friends together to celebrate traditions and spread festive cheer. They also bring lots of opportunities for socialising, eating and drinking. For some people the festive season can provide a temporary challenge to their Zone nutrition lifestyle. To help you survive the parties without going off the Zone we wanted to share a few
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Categories: Other.
Tags: balanced, carbohydrates, Christmas, energy, nutrition, protein, and Zone.

A Question of Couscous

8 November 2016

A frequently asked question is what about couscous? Couscous is a grain and is counted as a carbohydrate and not a particularly favourable carb at that. In 1 cup (157 g) of cooked couscous there is Protein 6 g (less than 1 block) Carbohydrate 36 g (more than 5 blocks) Fat 0 Rather than using couscous, use cauliflower rice with lots of favourable vegetables like spinach, broccoli, some carrot and add fresh nuts, avocado or a good kiwi olive oil for fat.    
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Categories: Client questions answered and Comments.
Tags: avocado, carbohydrates, cauliflower rice, couscous, fat, favourable, olive oil, and protein.

Sugar Dense Food to Avoid

1 June 2016

Whenever you restrict dense refined carbohydrates you are doing your health, weight and wellbeing a favour. The following are equivalent amounts of sugar in teaspoons in typical servings: pasta 180g serving = 8 tsp rice 150 g serving = 10 tsp potatoes 150 g = 6 tsp kumara 150 g = 6 tsp refined breakfast cereals 30 g = 7 tsp fruit juice 1 glass = 6 tsp banana = 6 tsp parsnip = 4 tsp sultanas 60 g = 8 tsp Instead of pasta, make zoodles with zucchini and a spiraliser. Make cauliflower rice instead of rice. Use new potatoes
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Categories: Comments.
Tags: balanced, carbohydrates, health, sugar, weight control, and wellbeing.

Sugar Tax

21 April 2016

Could a Tax on Sugar Save Lives? Last month the UK introduced a sugar tax on soft drinks to come into effect in 2018. Our government has stood by its stance not to introduce the tax, despite a compelling open letter signed by 74 professors from universities around NZ urging NZ to follow the UK’s lead. There is suggestions the government should listen to the experts and start treating sugar-related diseases like smoking-related cancers. Osborne, a UK politician said: “I’m not prepared to look back at my time here in this Parliament doing this job and say to my children’s generation, ‘I’m
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Categories: Comments and Other.
Tags: blood sugar, carbohydrates, fizzy drinks, sugar, and sugar tax.

PureFit Bars

29 January 2016

ProZone is very happy to announce it is now the New Zealand distributor of PureFit® bars.  Our first shipment has landed and is flying out the door. We have seven delicious flavours including the new Peanut Butter Toffee Crunch and I am happy to supply boxes mixed with all flavours or just your favourites if you specify them when you place your order. Go to our shop and order online now or, if you are in Wellington, pop into the office to collect them.  Please text or phone first to make sure that I am in the office. The bars are
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Categories: Announcements and Products.
Tags: balanced, Balanced Bars, carbohydrates, fat, gluten-free, non-dairy, protein, PureFit Bars, vegan, and Zone.

Zone Balanced Lunch

29 January 2016

Just had a lovely Zone balanced lunch at Avida in Featherston street. They do tasty tapas so I had Albondigas (beef & red wine meatballs with pureed chickpeas), seasonal greens (beans today) with olive oil and slivered almonds, all washed down with a delicious glass of Wooing Tree rose.  Highly recommended.  Being in the Zone is easy to manage when eating out if you are careful what you choose from the menu.  Avoid bread, pasta, rice, potatoes.  I would rather enjoy a nice glass of wine as part of my carbs along with fresh vegetables.
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Categories: Comments.
Tags: balanced, carbohydrates, meals, and Zone.

The Continuing Obesity Debate

3 November 2014

Wallace Chapman’s Sunday Morning programme of 2/11/14 also included an interview with Dr Peter Gluckman who is scientific adviser to the NZ Government generally but with particular emphasis on the growing obesity problem. Dr Gluckman who continually referred to himself as “fat” quoted the latest science on obesity but unfortunately did not come up with any useful practical information for the listeners except his support for banning fizzy drinks in schools. Dr Gluckman emphasized that we are genetically programmed for obesity starting with the dietary behaviour of our mothers and fathers prior to our conception and particularly while our mother
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Categories: Comments and Science.
Tags: blood sugar, carbohydrates, diabetes, gestational diabetes, obesity, and protein.

Some Alternative Ideas for Cheese and Potatoes

10 July 2014

Some convenient products to consider for easy and interesting Zoning   Say “Cheese” and smile Most people love cheese and it is a versatile and convenient food that is high in protein with virtually no carbohydrate, unfortunately hard cheese is also high in unhealthy saturated fat and this is why we recommend limiting consumption. When buying cheese we have recommended choosing Edam cheese for its lower total, and therefore saturated, fat content compared to other varieties. Unfortunately Edam tends to be a bit bland and uninteresting. The good news is that Mainland have produced a tasty cheddar cheese they call
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Categories: Comments and Recipes.
Tags: carbohydrates, celeriac, cheese, fat, low glycaemic, minerals, potato, protein, vitamins, and Zone.

Guilt Free Chocolate Drink and Flavouring

10 July 2014

              Contributed by Kevin Bateman   The last time you read something like that heading it was probably a low fat but very high carbohydrate product.  Not so a new New Zealand made product that is very low in fat and carbohydrate yet is deliciously rich and chocolaty.  Avalanche Sugar Free Cocoa Chocolate Drinking Mix is supposed to be a kids’ product but it is way too good to be reserved for children only. It contains no artificial sweeteners and appears to be flavoured cocoa that is sweetened with the natural sweeteners erythritol and stevia. These sweeteners have negligible
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Categories: Comments and Recipes.
Tags: blood sugar, carbohydrates, chocolate, cocoa, fat, protein, stevia, sweeteners, and Zone.

Gestational Diabetes

30 June 2014

I recently had a visit from a friend who was 33 weeks pregnant with her first baby.  She was told that she had gestational diabetes and because of that she was going to need to be on medication, was probably going to have a large baby that would need to be delivered by caesarian section and that she was at a high risk for developing diabetes later in life.  She was horrified that the diabetic clinic had not even asked her to keep a food diary.  Fortunately she knew about my services and came to see me.  Fortunately too she had
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Categories: Comments.
Tags: balanced, blood sugar, carbohydrates, diabetes, fat, gestational diabetes, pregnancy, and protein.

The Right amount of Protein is Important

28 March 2014

Zone nutrition is usually mislabeled as a “high protein” diet. It is in fact “protein adequate” in that we work out how much protein you need to eat each day to maintain your muscle mass.  Once you reach 30 you start to lose muscle and eating in the Zone protects your muscle mass so while you may lose weight you do not lose muscle. We had one client who went from a size 16 to a 10 but only lost one kilo on the scales.  Her body shape changed completely but she lost fat but not muscle. The other important factor
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Categories: Comments.
Tags: balanced, carbohydrates, fat, inflammation, insulin, muscle, nutrition, protein, Sleep, weight control, and Zone.

New Heart Foundation Recommendations

7 November 2013

The NZ Heart Foundation’s new revised healthy food choice advice has been released and published in the 7th November edition of the The Dominion Post. They have distanced themselves from their old failed model by scrapping the well known Pyramid completely and have replaced it with a stylized heart. The new advice recommends consuming food groups in what appears to be approximately the following proportions: 40% vegetables and fruit – eat most 25% breads, cereals, grains, starchy vegetables – eat some 15% fish, meat, chicken, legumes, eggs 12% milk, yoghurt, cheese 5% oils, nuts – use some 3% cut back on
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Categories: Announcements, Comments, and Science.
Tags: carbohydrates, fat, healthy food, Heart Foundation, pyramid, sugar, and trans fats.

Tomato Sauce

25 October 2013

Tomatoes in all their natural forms are favourable and healthy carbohydrate with the obvious exception of commercial tomato sauce that is often about one third sugar. The ProZone book has a lot of tomato based recipes. When making sauce and cooking with tomatoes I strongly recommend using imported tomato pulp instead of New Zealand grown canned tomatoes for ease of use, taste and results. My reasons for this are that NZ canned tomatoes are sometimes very watery and they are not completely sun ripened before canning.  This has a significant effect on taste and ease of use. The products I recommend are in
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Categories: Comments.
Tags: carbohydrates and tomatoes.

Fennel Bulbs

25 October 2013

Barry Sears has written a book called The 100 Top Zone Foods that has a lot of useful information about these foods in it. Of course there are way more than 100 really good Zone favourable foods. One of these is worth mentioning as it is in season now. Fennel bulbs have a fresh crisp aniseed flavour. If you are not familiar with this vegetable that is under rated and under utilised in New Zealand it could be worth trying it. It adds flavour when sliced raw into salads and can be stir fried, boiled or roasted. Another way to
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Categories: Comments and Recipes.
Tags: carbohydrates, flavour, low glycaemic, minerals, and vitamins.

“Healthy Drinks”

9 September 2013

There was an article in the DomPost on Saturday about so-called healthy drinks.  It opens with “Fruit juices and smoothies represent a new risk to our health because of the amount of sugar the apparently healthy drinks contain”. While there is very little dispute over the amount of sugar and dangers in soft drinks it is enlightening that so called “healthy drinks” are finally being recognized for what they are.  A glass of freshly squeezed orange juice may contain up to 6 oranges or 12 blocks of carbohydrate.  I have had people come to see me who say “I have
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Categories: Products, Recipes, and Science.
Tags: balanced, carbohydrates, nutrition, protein, and Zone.

Quinoa

26 July 2013

We are frequently asked about this grain that is promoted as high in protein. It is high in protein for a grain but 50g quinoa contains 1 block of protein and almost 4 blocks of carbohydrate so it should really be treated as a carbohydrate rather than protein. The other limitation of grains as protein is that because they are high in fibre you don’t tend to absorb a lot of the protein from them.  The only vegetable that is truly high is protein is soy. Quinoa is low glycaemic so small amounts could be used to supplement lots of favourable
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Categories: Client questions answered.
Tags: carbohydrates, low glycaemic, protein, and quinoa.
Formats: Image.

I’m Angry at McDonalds

18 July 2013

Contributed by Kevin Bateman One of the perks of the Gold Card is free coffee at McDonalds® and an occasional coffee won’t do me any harm, especially a free one. With this incentive I checked out Mackers for a quick cheap lunch option and I discovered a reasonable choice that would be OK now and then to have with my now and then coffee. The McD Chicken Caesar Wrap. The cover on the seared (grilled) version showed per serving, protein 30.8g (4 blocks), fat 14.7g (5 blocks) and carbohydrate 29.3 (3.25 blocks). I discarded some of the wrap and enjoyed
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Categories: Comments.
Tags: balanced, carbohydrates, fat, meals, and protein.

Why Do We Tend To Overeat?

18 July 2013

Contributed by Kevin Bateman  The only processed breakfast cereal that I eat is small amounts of Kelloggs® All Bran that I add to my home-made muesli mix. There is a recipe in the ProZone book. All Bran has 45.4g carbohydrate per 100g, which is very moderate for a refined cereal, and it  has 29.5g fibre per 100g. This high fibre content helps slow sugar absorption into the bloodstream. So we can use a little All Bran and still maintain healthy blood sugar levels. I am referring to All Bran Original, the squiggly stuff, as there are several other varieties of Kelloggs®
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Categories: Science.
Tags: blood sugar, carbohydrates, diabetes, fat, hormonal balance, obesity, protein, and Zone.

Childhood Obesity

13 June 2013

There was an article in the DomPost (June 5) about childhood obesity that made disturbing reading.  It quoted Otago University Associate Professor Rachael Taylor who stated that “30 precent of Kiwi children are already overweight or obese at 2 to 4 years of age and that 80% of parents of preschoolers do not recognise that there child is overweight because of the normalisation of the bigger person”.  She also said that “if you are obese as a teenager you are far more likely to be obese as an adult”. Zone nutrition is suitable for all ages.  We have children doing it
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Categories: Comments and Science.
Tags: blood sugar, carbohydrates, health, nutrition, and Zone.