Product Review: ZonePerfect Peach Apricot Parfait Bar

4 out of 5 stars

This was the first time that I'd tried ZonePerfect's Peach Apricot Parfait Bar and I was pleasantly surprised.

All ZonePerfect Bars are similarly constructed. They are a solid "log" of crunchy soy protein nuggets (it tastes like crisped rice), with flavorings and a chocolately or yogurty coating. I'm more of a fan of the chocolately ones, because yogurt coatings usually leave me with (literally) a bad taste in my mouth. Plus, the yogurt coated bars (regardless of the manufacturer) are more frequently paired with fruit-flavored bars. Since the fruit is often just artificial flavorings, I steer clear of these. But, apricots are one of my favorite flavors, so I decided to give these a try. And I'm glad I did. The peach flavor serves as a good background (I smelled it before I tasted it), and there are actual chunks of dried apricot in these bars. The yogurt isn't overpowering.

I'd buy these again.

Recipe: Easiest Iced Tea Ever

Iced Green Tea

4-6 cups of water
2 bags of Bigelow Decaffeinated Organic Green Tea

Place bags of green tea in teapot or other heatproof container

Heat 6 cups of water. Immediately before it boils (or about 30 seconds after it's come to a boil and you've removed it from the heat), pour over tea bags.

Let steep for 6 minutes, 30 seconds, then remove tea bags.

Chill and serve.

Serving options:
1. Add one wedge of lemon to each glass before serving.
2. Crush several fresh mint leaves in glass, then add ice tea.
3. Use frozen strawberries, peach slices, blueberries or rasberries in place of ice cubes.

Nutritional information:
Unsweetened ice tea has no calories. But decaf green tea has antioxident properties. It may help boost metabolism, and may help prevent breast cancer and prostate cancer. It may also lower the risks associated with cardiovascular disease.

September 2, 2007 Diet Diary

Weight: 136 pounds

Breakfast: Oatmeal with cottage cheese (cook 1/3 cups of oatmeal with 2/3 cups of water, when finished add 1/3 cup 2% cottage cheese, 1/2 teaspoon fructose, 2 teaspoons almonds, 1 tablespoon milk)

Morning Snack: Half of a ZonePerfect Bar

Lunch: Leftover Basil Shrimp with Feta and Orzo

Afternoon Snack: Fiber One Clusters, Cedar's Hummos with celery

Dinner: One cup of Trader Joe's Turkey Chili with Beans, 1 ounce of cheddar cheese, 1 dollop of Trader Joe's 2% Greek Yogurt. (This was the first time I'd tried TJ's canned chili. I love to make chili, but was feeling lazy since I'm sick, and tried this in a pinch. It tasted like it could have been homemade, and I hardly missed the tortillas/tortilla chips that I usually eat with chili.)

Evening Snack: Almond-mocha ice blended latte

Exercise: I was sick! So just a 1 mile walk (total) to the drug store.

My Most Recent Shopping List

I live in Chicago, where our selection of grocery store is adequate, but could be better. Depending on the volume of groceries I need, I'll hit some combination of the following stores:

Target: Has inexpensive staples, such as milk, plus the cheapest price on Fiber One that I've found.
Trader Joe's: An inexpensive alternative for gourmet and organic items that I'd otherwise buy at Whole Foods. This is my go-to place for nuts, in particular, and also Greek Yogurt. (Trader Joe's sells a delicious private-label version of Fage Greek Yogurt.)
Whole Foods: Love the store, sometimes hate the prices. I think Whole Foods sells some of the freshest seafood.
Jewel/Dominick's/Treasure Island: These are all Chicago-area chains. They have a large, reliable choice of products, and the prices are lower than Whole Foods, but more than Target or Trader Joe's.

My shopping list this week included:

Meat, Poultry and Seafood:
Canned white/albacore tuna, packed in water
Frozen shrimp (look for a brand that's not from China, where the shrimp are individually quick frozen, so you can use as many or as few as you like)
Deli-sliced turkey
Precooked, sliced chicken breast chunks

Vegetables:
Celery
Green Onions
Del Monte Canned Diced Tomatoes (if you can't get high-quality ripe tomatoes, these are a great substitute
Bagged greens mix with butter lettuce and romaine

Fruits:
Green, seedless grapes
Apples
Oranges
Lemons
Frozen blueberries

Dairy:
Eggs
Breakstone's 2% Milkfat Cottage Cheese
Reduced fat, presliced Swiss cheese
Reduced fat string cheese
Feta cheese
1% milk
2% or fat-free Greek yogurt (it has a rich, sour-cream-like consistency)

Grains, Cereals:
General Mill's Fiber One Cereal or Trader Joe's High Fiber Cereal
Steel cut oats
Orzo pasta

Nuts:
Walnuts
Sliced almonds
Almond butter
Reduced fat peanut butter

Other:
Whole Foods 365 Whey Protein Powder, vanilla flavor
Cedar's Original Hummos
ZonePerfect and Balance Bars
Granulated fructose (Whole Foods sells this in bulk for a great price)
Nescafe Decaf French Roast instant coffee

Recipe: Fiber One Clusters

It seems that everyone who diets (except those Atkins folks) is in love with Fiber One. What's not to love? It's low in calories and sugar, high in fiber, and doesn't dissolve when it hits the milk. Apparently, there's a hot Weight Watchers recipe making the rounds that calls for half a box of Fiber One and a bag of chocolate chips. I decided to modify it for 40-30-30 purposes. These make a crunchy, chocolately snack that's actually tasty and higher in protein than your average chocolate cookie or candy. If you like Nestle Crunch bars, you'll probably like these.

Jen's Fiber One Clusters

3.5 cups Fiber One Cereal (or Trader Joe's High Fiber Cereal, and half the price, with less fiber)
1 cup chocolate chips (milk or semisweet, depending on your tastes)
1 oz reduced fat peanut butter
5 scoops protein powder

Line a baking sheet with waxed paper, plus cut one additional piece of waxed paper that's the same size.

In microwave-safe bowl, combine chocolate chips, peanut butter and protein powder. Microwave on high heat for 1 minute, then stir. Continue to microwave for 30 second increments until relatively smooth.

Mix Fiber One cereal into chocolate mixture. Pour onto wax-paper covered baking sheet, and use second sheet of waxed paper to press down until even and about 1/2" thick.

Refrigerate until firm, break into bite-sized pieces. Store in air-proof container.

Nutritional info per 1-ounce serving:
88 calories
17 grams of carbs
6 grams of protein
3 grams of fat
7 grams of fiber
(44% carbs, 25% protein, 31% fat)

Recipe Review: Basil Shrimp With Feta and Orzo

My Mom's been making this Cooking Light recipe for years, and I've recently become hooked on it, too. As an added bonus, it's almost a perfect 40-30-30 recipe (42% carbs, 31% protein, 26% fat...doesn't total 100% due to rounding).

This is a flavorful, foolproof recipe. If you can boil water (to make the orzo pasta), then you can cook this.

Things I like about this recipe:
1. If you (or your family) believes you can't eat pasta on a carb-controlled diet, think again.
2. Start to finish, this should take no more than 45 minutes to make (including 25 minutes cooking time).
3. The recipe claims to make 2 servings, but I think it's easily 3-4 servings. (I'm a moderate eater, and it fixed 3 normal-sized portions and 1 smaller portion.)
4. It can be made ahead and then cooked later, or reheated.

September 1, 2007 Diet Diary

Weight: 138 pounds

Breakfast: Oatmeal with cottage cheese (cook 1/3 cups of oatmeal with 2/3 cups of water, when finished add 1/3 cup 2% cottage cheese, 1/2 teaspoon fructose, 2 teaspoons almonds, 1 tablespoon milk)

Morning Snack: Half of a Balance Bar

Lunch: Lettuce, apple, orange, tuna and walnut salad with Asian dressing from "The Formula"

Afternoon Snack: Half of a Balance Bar

Dinner: Cooking Light's Basil Shrimp with Feta and Orzo

Evening Snack: Blueberry smoothie with protein powder and almonds

Exercise: I was sick! So just a 1.7 mile walk (total) to the grocery store

Why Me? Why Diet?

I went on my first diet when I was 13 or 14 years old. And in the 25 or so years since then, it feels as if I've always been on a diet, some more serious (and successful) than others.

About 10 years ago, I put my nose to the grindstone, started working out and watching what I ate, and lost more than 20 pounds. Sure, that doesn't sound like much, but this was weight I'd been carrying for 6 or 8 years (since I was in college), and I'm a petite girl (only 5'4" with a small frame), so weighing 145 or 155 is a lot.

For years after that, I was able to keep my weight in the 123-128 pound range. It was perfect for me. But a couple years ago, the weight started creeping on. I had a slow thyroid, some sports-related injuries caused me to cut back on my workouts, and I gained a few pounds. In my 20s, I found that a couple days of diligent dieting would help me easily take off the pounds, but that wasn't the case in my 30s.

My doctor recommended that I read the book "The Formula: A Personalized 40-30-30 Fat-Burning Nutrition Program," by Gene and Joyce Daoust. 40-30-30 dieting is similar to the The Zone Diet. By consuming a combination of 40% of your calories from carbohydrates, 30% from protein, and 30% from fat, you keep your body's blood sugar and insulin at a steady level. If your insulin levels are too high (because you've had too many carbs), your body will burn glucose instead of stored body fat. If your insulin levels are too low, the body starts to burn lean mass (like muscles), as well as stored body fat. At a steady level, you're burning the fat!

As my doctor explained it, when we get older, we lose our ability to efficiently burn carbohydrates. This is why The Formula, Zone and 40-30-30 diets work well for those of us in our 30s and older.

Using 40-30-30 knowledge, I'd managed to get my weight back into the mid-120s. But in the last 6 months, I've once again put on the pounds. Yesterday, I weighed 138, which is about as heavy as I've bene in the last 10 years. This blog will detail my attempts to lose the pounds, and keep them off. Along the way, I'll share tips, diet diaries, recipes and product reviews.

Thanks for reading!