Looking for some diet advice/tips

I just finished trying the apple slices drizzled in caramel with some fresh cheese, and I have to say, it was lovely—plus, I’m a huge fan of olive oil.
Still, I’m feeling a bit conflicted about certain ingredients featured in the Zone recipes, like calamari, almonds, sausage, bacon, or even feta...
I would honestly love to eat all of those if they were prepared according to their methods, especially since people claim this diet is great for lowering cholesterol and body fat, but looking at the chart in the link above, everything I actually want seems to be off-limits.
I have a checkup coming up before Christmas, so I was thinking about giving the Zone a shot, though perhaps incorporating those specific foods every once in a while.
What do you all think? Is that a viable approach, or should I just stick to my own "freestyle" way of eating and risk an uneven intake of nutrients?
I doubt I'll get any real guidance from my doctor, and as far as I know, there isn't really a specialized nutrition clinic I can turn to for advice.

Nancy Cook4 said:It would probably be a good idea to actually track your calories—both what you're eating and what you're burning—because if you're trying to lose fat, your output really does need to exceed your intake.

Now that I'm being more careful about it, I assume my burn is higher than my intake, and once I'm deep into the Zone, it'll definitely stay that way. I'm just using some budget-friendly heart rate monitor, so I suppose I'll take whatever it tells me at about 80% accuracy, I guess.
we'll see...

Sean Parker49 said:Like you can see, it doesn't list how many SATURATED fatty acids are in there... which I guess should tell you something. Plus, having 25 percent dairy fat in any diet is probably a bit much.

It says 25% within 50% dry matter, so that's actually 12.5%
You're probably right, that is way too high...😬

Jutar, Aunt Maza

Goldie said:it claims 25% in 50% dry matter, which makes it 12.5%
You're right—that seems excessive...😬

It feels like too much to me👎 ... not to mention how suspicious a "low-fat" hard cheese sounds if it isn't hydrogenated. Then again, everyone decides for themselves what they believe and what they eat—personally, I'm fine with fresh low-fat cottage cheese or some tofu.👍