Author: Julianne Taylor – 24 July 2009
Perhaps the thought of going on a ‘diet’ and fitting it in with family meals seems a daunting prospect.
Many people with partners or families are concerned that if they take on the Zone eating plan they will need to make separate meals for themselves and other family members.
As a mother myself I can understand this concern, the last thing I want to do is extra cooking, and I also don’t want to have to buy and cook special foods for myself. I want my meals to fit in with family life, and I want them to be simple and quick to prepare.
I have personally eaten Zone balanced meals for 12 years now, 8 of those with a husband and children. Here’s how I make family dinners easy and workable.
Firstly, a Zone meal is a balanced meal, it contains lean protein (meat, poultry, fish, seafood or tofu), it contains vegetables, ideally colourful above ground vegetables, like salads or stir-fries. It contains healthy fats like olive oil or nuts, and maybe fresh fruit. In fact it contains high nutrient foods that make our kids and family members healthy.
There are many classic meals that can easily be adapted to fit zone eating principles. Take a roast meal for example. Choose the leanest cut of meat or free range poultry to roast, add some starchy vegetables, like pumpkin and kumara, not too much though. I also add a lot of non starchy vegetables, like courgettes, capsicum, eggplant, small red onions. Lightly coat them with oil and roast them for about an hour. When it comes to dishing out my meal, I limit the starch portion, or forgo it altogether and opt for a small glass of wine (yes, wine will fit into the plan!) I then add lots of non starch vegetables and a large mixed salad. The kids eat just the same way, usually a bit more starch, and fewer vegetables. (I’d love to force more down but they object!).
What if your kids don’t like vegetables? Vegetables are a food that we have to learn to like. It takes up to 20 presentations of new food before a child will start to like it. In my family the teaspoon rule applies, the children must eat just one teaspoon full of a new or disliked food. It is surprising how many foods they have come to like through this method; beans and broccoli for example. If there are any non starch vegetables your kids love, let them eat plenty. Mine love carrot, celery, capsicum and cucumber sticks and tomatoes, so I always have a big plateful on the dinner table.
What about meals like pasta or rice based dishes? Those easy fill up foods unfortunately are not all that good for anyone. Just one cup of cooked rice gets converted into 10 teaspoons of glucose when digested. Excess glucose leads to high blood sugar levels and contributes to hunger and overeating, type 2 diabetes and heart disease. White rice and pasta also contain few vitamins and minerals, in fact 95% of nutrients are missing in white processed grains compared to whole grains.
Here’s what I suggest. Cook a little whole grain rice or pasta, limit the amount that each person gets to about half cup cooked. Have lots of vegetables, like lightly sautéed strips of courgettes, or steamed, mixed vegetables. You can also add veggies by grating carrots and courgettes into the spaghetti bolognaise sauce for example. Put the sauce over the vegetables as well as the smaller portion of pasta. Not only will everyone get more veggies but they won’t get all that excess glucose from the meal.
What about desserts?
A small bowl of fresh fruit salad is always the healthiest option. You can dollop it with a little Greek yogurt. In the summer, frozen fruit can be blended to make fruit ices.
Keep the ice-cream and other high sugar desserts for an occasional treat.
The great thing about Zone meals is that as long as food choices are healthy and you get the protein and carb ratio about right, there are unlimited options. You can adapt almost any typical dinner into a Zone meal.
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