"Are you ill?"; "Are you a diabetic?"

Some may ask these questions after seeing this picture. My answers: 'no, I feel wonderful' to the first question and 'no, and hope to stay that way' to the second. By investing in relatively inexpensive personal medical tools (i.e., blood pressure meter and glucometer) one has the power to monitor the progress of his/her CRON diet as well as their supplement and exercise regimen...on a day to day basis. I don't do these tests every day but if/when I make modifications to diet, supplement, or exercise routines, these tools come in handy to gauge these changes.

Other CRON tools not shown include: a Tanita body fat and weight monitor, an electronic thermometer, an electronic food scale and, of course, Dr. Walford's Interactive Diet Planner (DWIDP) software.

"You eat that much food?! How do you stay so skinny?"

I get asked that question all the time from people at work. The basis of a CRON diet, in terms of volume, is vegetables...most of which are very low-density in terms of calories. Look at that plate! It can hardly contain all the portions on it (recently, I switched to using a large bowl as the plate kept spilling over!). Keep in mind: this is only one of the three calorically similar meals I have during the day, not including two snacks.

Components of this Zoned meal:

Carbohydrates: Veggies: tomatoes, cauliflower, broccoli, cabbage, nori (the green stuff on top of the "mound" and in the bowl); (roughly 170 kcal for all)

Fats: Fruit: avocado (87g; 146 kcal)

Protein and some more Carbs: Fat-free, plain organic yogurt (1 cup; 110 kcal); whey protein powder (20g; 74 kcal)

Condiments: basalmic vinegar (2 Tbsp; 20 kcal); 60g organic, low-sodium tomato sauce (20 kcal); dried basil, oregano, parsley, black pepper and maybe some cumin powder and tumeric

Supplements: around 50 kcal; only taken with two meals per day.

Total calories, this meal: ~445 (about as much as one medium-size serving of french fries at McDonalds!)

A better look at the meal above...yum!

"Your fridge is full of what?!"

• Well, if you must ask...some of the the non-traditional items put in the freezer (top) consist of the following:

- Unrefined, organic plant-based oils: Flax, Walnut, OmegaNutrition's Balance 1:1, Udo's Choice;

- cod liver oil

- Raw, organic: nut butters; nuts and seeds (in Ziploc bags)... including: sunflower, pumpkin, and flax seeds; pine nuts, almonds, hazelnuts (filberts), macadamia, walnuts and pecans

- steel cut oats, rice bran, brewers yeast, wheat germ

- plus whatever else I can fit in there along with regular stuff like meat. No more room for ice cream and fudge bars ;-)

• The lower fridge (non-traditional stuff):

- olive oil (kept here since it does not freeze well!)

- vitamins and supplements

WHY all the fuss?

Oils (lipids) oxidize, peroxidize and are subject to photon decay: Not good! Keep them as cold as possible and out of light -- they last a lot longer. One should follow the same guidelines for certain supplements (such as oil-based vitamin E caps). Cold preserves edibles. Keep the freezer temp as cold as possible. For the fridge, lower the temp to just above the point where liquids start to solidify -- but no warmer. Your body will thank you, as will your electric company!

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