The Steaks Are High

Sample Menu for Intermittent Fasting

I've had a few people ask me what exactly I eat while intermittent fasting. (For the basics on fasting, read this post: Intermittent Fasting.)

First of all, I usually do a 23/1 or 22/2 schedule fast (that is, I fast for 23 hours and eat for 1, or fast for 22 hours and eat for two). That means I need to get my calories in during an hour or two, and in order to do this I up the fat content of my meals. If you have a longer eating window - say three to six hours - you can have a couple of snacks or a protein shake and then a less caloric meal.

I checked over some of my food logs to find some sample days:

Day 1
Drinks: Coffee (black), black tea, green tea, peppermint tea, Diet Coke, water
Meal: Pork souvlaki skewers (6) with tzatziki dip
Dessert: Peanut Butter Batter (1/2 egg, 1/2 tsp baking powder, 2 tbsp erythritol, 6 drops Sweetzfree, 1/2 cup unsweetened smooth peanut butter - can also be baked into crumbly cookies)
Numbers: 1900 calories, 123g fat, 19g net carbs, 189g protein

Day 2
Drinks: Coffee (black), black tea, green tea, peppermint tea, Diet Coke, water
Meal: Chicken strips sauteed with jalapeno peppers, dipped in mayo
Dessert: Atkins Bake Mix pancakes with Walden Farms pancake syrup
Numbers: 1451 calories, 97g fat, 5g net carbs, 130g protein

Day 3
Drinks: Coffee (black), black tea, green tea, peppermint tea, Diet Coke, water
Meal: Ground pork and veggie burger with mayo and Walden Farms barbecue sauce; 1 1/2 grilled chicken breasts with mayo. Just The Cheese Crunchy Baked Snack (jalapeno flavour).
Dessert: Heilmann's 85% dark chocolate (40g)
Numbers: 1644 calories, 117g fat, 13g net carbs, 135g protein

Day 4
Drinks: Coffee (black), black tea, green tea, peppermint tea, Diet Coke, water
Meal: Rib steak with melted butter, Tofu Shirataki angel hair with cheese
Dessert: Sugarless Chocolate Frosting (2 tbsp melted butter, 2 tbsp good quality unsweetened cocoa, 2 tbsp erythritol, 4 drops Sweetzfree, 2 tbsp heavy cream)
Numbers: 1584 calories, 131g fat, 12g net carbs, 88g protein

As you can see, for these days I didn't have much in the way of vegetables, since I was doing a rough Meat&Egg approach also. I really don't think this is necessary if you're doing intermittent fasting, so feel free to add in low-carb friendly veggies and salads. I've also noticed that keeping protein around 100g is the magic number for me so I don't get hungry between meals.

You'll have to play around with your own numbers and find out what works for you in terms of food variety and satiation. You might also notice I have some sort of dessert every day, which gives me a lot of psychological satisfaction from a meal. I also never feel deprived doing low carb this way, but you may not need or want dessert items.

Good luck, and enjoy watching the pounds fall off!

Critical Mass

I have to admit, I thought getting back to low-carbing after a honeymoon off-plan would be a breeze. After all, I reasoned, I LIKE eating low carb more than eating carbs. Meat, steak especially, has always been the "best bit" of the meal for me, so discarding the surrounding crap never felt like much of a sacrifice. And after discovering low-carb alternatives for my favorite sweets, like the sugar-free chocolate cakes or deliciously creamy low carb cheesecake, I thought I had it made.

So what's going on? I am baffled by how difficult I'm finding it to get back on and, most importantly, stay back on plan. Judith Beck, in The Beck Diet Solution, has some insight to deviations from diet when she writes about the brain as a muscle. Every time you cheat, or, in her terminology, "give in" to a craving to eat (whether it be eating more, or eating unhealthy food) you're strengthening the "giving-in muscle" of your brain. You're more likely to give in the next time, and the time after that. The flip side of this, of course, is that by resisting the temptation to eat unhealthy foods or unhealthy amounts, you strengthen your resisting muscle. Next time, you're going to have a much easier time resisting. It's a way of thinking about the brain as getting into a groove.

Here's how I picture it: imagine scoring a line in a block of wood with a blade - not too much difference, right? The next time you run the blade down the line you've made, it's pretty easy to skid off course. However, the more lines you score right on top of that one, the deeper the groove you make in the wood, and the harder it is to run off course. Eventually, you've carved a deep enough path in the wood that it's extremely difficult, if not impossible, to get out of your groove.

It's helpful for me to think of dieting this way, as a choice between carving out a healthy path, or entrenched myself in a valley of unhealthy choices. Here is my disclaimer: I am pretty much an all-or-nothing type of girl, flinging myself into projects wholeheartedly or abandoning them as useless. I know there are dieters out there who follow programs like the Carbohydrate Addicts Diet (CAD), which allows a carbier dinner, and even sugary desserts, and people who practice re-feeding (a day of higher carb eating) on the weekends. I can't hack it. Tasting sugar makes me want more, and, hedonist that I am, I forgo my long-term goals of health and happiness for the short-term sheer pleasure of food enjoyment.

One thing I've found interesting is that when I've been eating carbs, I've avoided the low-carb community, the forums, the blogs, the journals, the newsletters, everything. How's this for twisted logic: I think I know, deep down, if I'm reading the wisdom of low-carbers, I won't cheat. If I want to cheat, I don't read it. It's as though I'm covering my ears and shaking my head, drowning out any voices that may pull me from my syrupy pool.

Such is the power of addiction. Having observed it countless times in others, it's still harder to turn that critical gaze upon oneself. I woke up this morning feeling like crap, again, and not wanting to step on the scales, again. I think, and still purely in line with my hedonist leanings, that critical mass has been reached in more ways than one. The pleasure of enjoying foods I've restricted for two years has turned into something not so pleasurable at all, with the costs far outweighing any crunchy benefits.

I know part of the extension of this carby phase is deeply connected to that very restriction. I know once I get back on plan these foods will no longer be available to me. It seems pretty logical on the part of the body to say "Hey, we're not going to eat this stuff again in ages - what's the harm in one more day?"

Clearly, the harm in one more day is that it's not just one more day. It's filling your body with sugar that leaves it craving more sugar, scoring a deeper and deeper tendency to give in to tempting off-plan foods, and ultimately setting yourself up for another day and another day.

Today, I get into a new groove.

Wedded, Breaded Bliss!

Apologies for not posting ahead of time about my long absence. I was off getting married and then honeymooning in London, Ireland and Amsterdam.

The wedding was absolutely perfect. I was prepared for things to go wrong or to have some mishaps, but we kept everything so simple that the whole day went smoothly. The ceremony was beautiful - our friend Sameer did an incredible job, explaining to everyone why there was no priest or rabbi standing before them, and making everyone cry as he spoke about how honoured he was to perform the service and talked about Simon and me.

The reception was, above all, fun! The food and bar were great, and everyone enjoyed eating, drinking and dancing. I was overwhelmed by the sheer force of happiness throughout the day: every single person at the wedding seemed genuinely happy for us and genuinely happy to be there. We were surrounded by warmth and love.

Then, Simon gave the speech to end all speeches. He was charming and funny and loving. He managed to quote a Middle English text about love from the Chaucer tale I'm using for my Master's thesis (this was pure coincidence, since he didn't know I was studying that tale!), and then read an astonishing Shakespearean sonnet he'd written himself. It was so good everyone thought he was quoting Shakespeare and just reading something to me. He had tables of people in tears by the end of it.

We danced the night away under the stars, and then were surprised by a room at the Ritz by two of our good friends. The honeymoon was fantastic too: London, Dublin, southwest Ireland, and Amsterdam. Above all, I feel so, so lucky to have married such a brilliant partner.

As for the breaded part of all this bliss, I did indulge in carbs on my honeymoon. Lots of carbs: Guinness throughout our Ireland trip (starting off at the brewery), and traditional Irish meals that included three kinds of potato - roast, boiled and mashed - and then onto the glory of fries covered in mayonnaise in Amsterdam.

More thoughts on "cheating" or off-plan eating to come, but for now I have some serious poundage to remove! Returning home to the scales was a bit of crashing return to earth, but I'm sure I can shed the extra by getting right back to low-carbing.

Kimkins Controversy

Anyone surfing around the low carb blogs and forums these days can't miss the controversy exploding over the latest low carb plan to hit the newstands: Kimkins.

The very short, very condensed version of this story is that a poster by the handle Kimmer over at Low Carb Friends creating quite a following by proposing that calories actually were important in low-carbing, and too many people were forgetting this. My very first post of this blog described Kimkins like this:

"Kimkins is a stricter version of Atkins Induction, developed by a low carber named Kimmer. The basics of this approach to weight loss are:

- < 20 carbs (no fiber subtraction)

- 70-90 g protein

- just enough fat to make your menus work

- absolutely no low carb treats and very limited cheese

Being this strict ensures a state of real ketosis, symptoms of which include strong appetite suppression and very rapid weight loss. This is a chance to see what it's like.

Warning - not everyone likes the feeling, even if you're losing weight very rapidly."

The way I saw Kimkins back then was as I see the Atkins fat fast, the meat and egg fast, and the protein sparing modified fast I'm currently doing. It's a way to lose weight FAST, but realistically not a permanent way of eating. You have to transition from pure meat & egg at some point, same with the shake deal, same with Kimkins.

So what's all the fuss about?

Unilateral Nutritionism
Jimmy Moore used this phrase this week while defending Kimkins to describe the phenomenon of other low carbers turning against a new or stricter way of eating. I can personally testify to this happening to the Meat & Eggers thread at the Active Low-Carber forums (the first post of which was a description of the Kimmer Experiment!), and also to The Bear's "zero carb" thread. That's why there now exist two spin-off forums: Meat & Eggers For Life, and Active No-Carber Forums, for people who felt their chosen plans were constantly under attack. No doubt there is part of this spirit occurring with the Kimkins bashing. Whether people feel that a stricter plan is an implicit criticism of their own, or a bastardization of Atkins, are jealous of Kimmer's incredible success or genuinely believe this way of eating is unhealthy is hard to say, and I suspect there are folks in each of these camps and more.

Problems with the plan
For the people who want to debate the merits of watching fat as well as carbs, of counting calories and avoiding frankenfoods for clean eating...bring it on! I actually don't have a problem with the Kimkins plan as written - in fact, the shake plan I'm doing now is probably pretty close to one of the Kimkins options, which states you can replace meals with protein shakes. I LOVE losing weight quickly! I understand why people are so motivated by this, and I don't think it's harmful unless you get into a binge and lose cycle, or fail to recognize the need to learn healthy eating habits for maintenance.

The plan behind the plan
Here's where things get a bit sticky, for me. While Kimkins plan as written seems fine and doable and above board, a lot of posters over at Low Carb Friends have described her "plan behind the plan" - Kimmer's advice on her infamous "Ask Kimmer" threads there, which seemed to include some very dubious statements. The following transcript was quoted:

Poster: "Kimmer, I don't know what's happening. I haven't cheated at all and I didn't loose a pound today.?? I ate maybe 4 bites of lean chicken,my coffee and two diet cokes. What causes a stall? Is this normal or is my coffee finally catching up with me? Or could it be bathroon issues? HELP ME KIMMER???"

Kimmer: "*name deleted* what's in your coffee? What about constipation? What kind of chicken? What have you eaten the last 3 days?"

Poster: Coffee:SF carmel 2g carbs,30 cals,2.5 g fat, per tbsp (I use 2 carefully measured) sweet n low (1 packet) 1 cup day. 2 days ago I had 2 cups.
Friday Hardly nothing to eat,c 2 cups coffee,2 diet drinks,water
Saturday,1/4 chicken breast cooked in George Forman w/ salt,coffee my way,Snow cone w/ SF syrup2oz (did not measure) 5 cals,o carbs o fat,2 diet cokes,
Today Roast beef broiled in oven about the size if a tennis ball 1 diet coke,1 cup of coffee.

Kimmer: "...Have you considered taking a mild laxative each night you're doing "protein only"? Or, hate to even suggest it, make up a batch of the horrible Epsom salt solution and take a couple tablespoons each night?..."

Okay...bear in mind, I did NOT witness this conversation as it happened, and this is someone else entirely reporting the conversation. However, from the sheer number of people agreeing that this is exactly the sort of advice she gave, and other similarly disturbing examples of encouraging people to go lower and lower and lower on calories, I'm inclined to believe that this sort of thing was going on.

This advice is patently ridiculous. Anyone who tells you they're eating four bites of chicken and a coffee in a whole day needs, in this order, a big hug and a healthy meal. Many posters describe such a way of thinking as pro-ana (pro-anorexic) and it does set off all sorts of eating disorder warning bells.

HOWEVER...I also think it's possible to separate the pearls from the swine here. She doesn't seem to be giving this kind of advice through any official Kimkins channels, so I think people could follow Kimkins in a healthy way. This is little comfort to the people who had bad experiences with Kimmer over at Low Carb Friends, but taking a step back is necessary to evaluate the plan as it now exists.

Kimmer's identity
Here's where people get all conspiracy-theorist...
Kimmer refused to post pictures other than tiny, blurry avatars for some years, and when she finally did release before/after shots, people questioned whether it was the same person. Here, check out the pictures for yourself and see what you think:

Or check out the shots from the Kimkins site:

Personally, I haven't measured or scrutinized to this degree, but detractors are claiming that specific ratios of the facial features change between pictures, as does arm length.

Others are suspicious of her beautiful skin tone and shapely arms in the red dress picture, which looks more like a 20 year old than a 47 year old.

Here's another picture, Kimmer's avatar picture on Yahoo Answers:

To this I can say a few things: airbrushing works wonders, low carb does great things for the skin, but if I had to put my hand on my heart and swear, I don't think I could say the various pictures Kimmer has posted are all of the same person.

There is also a lot of suspicion over the fact that she has consistently refused in-person interviews and face-to-face meetings, even with some of her most successful followers. Jimmy Moore offered to fly out and meet with her in person, but no dice.

So, who cares? Jimmy Moore in particular seems to be saying that all of this is just a big ruckus about nothing - if the plan works, work it! And don't waste time looking up Kimmer's real name and address and trying to find the real person behind the name.

Critics claim that since she is not a doctor, the real authority behind this plan IS Kimmer, and her testimony about her plan should be backed up by more evidence than just words typed onto internet forums. Her claim that she lost 198lbs in 11 months is what drew people in to begin with, and that should be verified. Personally, I'm curious about why she wouldn't just put all this drama to rest by doing a few interviews in person. I don't think it's the kiss of death to her plan that she's a mysterious, missing person, but it does seem pretty shady.

Affiliate marketing
The Kimkins plan is marketed very successfully through affiliate marketing. This is when bloggers or other internet folks post links to the Kimkins site. When someone clicks on that link and joins the site, the blogger who posted the link gets paid! Woo! Currently, Kimkins affiliates make 25% of the $59.95 membership fee, which is $14.99 per joining member sent by the affiliate. Affiliates who signed up earlier could make up to 30-40% of the join fee.

Okay, this is nothing new in internet marketing. Check out the links to the Amazon books at the side of this site - if you click on and buy those books, I get some money. (I have made approximately 75 cents off this since my blog began, but hey, can't blame a girl for trying!)

The complaint is that various bloggers, including Jimmy Moore, are not being straightforward and open and honest by saying "I make X amount from promoting Kimkins!" There are many Kimkins support sites and blogs cluttered with links, some of which are probably genuine Kimkins-followers who want to share this plan and make a little money while they do so (no problem with that) and others who see this as a chance to make some quick cash and throw up fake sites with fake pictures and fake stories (not very ethical).

I think it's unfair to attack Jimmy in particular for having links and banners up to the site. He has banners and links to all sorts of low carb programs and products all over his blog. This is a guy who spends a huge amount of time each day blogging and reading and researching and responding to people who are curious about low carb life. Why shouldn't he be compensated for his hard work in building a massive readership and huge amounts of traffic to his blog by throwing links and banners up there?

I like Jimmy a lot. Do I think it would be more completely squeaky-clean for him to disclose to his readers that he's making quite a bit of money promoting Kimkins? Sure. Do I think that would fit with his straight-shooting, laying-it-all-on-the-table blogging style? Definitely. But is that holding him to very rigid standards of accountability that aren't necessarily expected elsewhere on the web? Yep, absolutely!

If you tweak it, it isn't Kimkins
Alright, last but certainly not least is the following information to consider from the Kimkins site:

"The original Kimkins Diet:

As much lean protein as desired from the Kimkins Food List

0-20 total carbs per day (no fiber or sugar alcohol subtraction)
0-3 cups List 1 veggies per day  OR
0-2 cups List 1 veggies + 0-1 cup List 2 veggies per day
Use minimal fat to make your menu work (careful, calories count!)
No alcohol or low carb products (sugar free candy, energy bars, ice cream, frozen meals)
Your appetite will reduce naturally after 3-5 days
Take a complete multivitamin each day plus other desired supplements." [My emphasis added.]

Kimmer also clearly states in the instructional section:
"Question: Can I modify the Kimkins Food Lists?

Please don't. If it's not the list [sic], don't eat or drink it!  Remember that Kimkins is a lean low carb plan. The #1 reason for slow weight loss is 'modifying'."

And a quote from Kimmer on Low Carb Friends:
"I hope you won't think I'm a total snot for saying this, but please don't "modify" Kimkins. Just call your plan Atkins instead."

This has people running around yelling that Jimmy Moore isn't in fact doing Kimkins, since he HAS modified it to include some foods he enjoys like Chocoperfection chocolate bars and some low carb wraps. How dare he claim he's losing all this weight from Kimkins, give Kimkins all this credit, when in fact he isn't actually doing Kimkins?

My thoughts on this are first, congratulations to Jimmy for being honest about what he's eating. How much easier would it be to just pretend he's sticking to pure Kimkins, and not have to face any of these detractors?

Secondly, who the heck doesn't modify their eating plans?? Every single person I know on the Meat & Eggers Forum has personalized their plan, some including Cool Whip (why, I have no idea, but hey) and others adding veggies back in, still others carb-cycling.

The important thing here is that Jimmy Moore and countless others have taken the general guiding principle of Kimkins - watch the fat along with the carbs, and calories will limit themselves - incorporated that principle into their diets, and seen amazing results.

I'm not sitting here thinking, "Oh, well, he's not really doing Kimkins, so all this is crap," - I'm thinking "Damn! He's eating all those frankenfoods and STILL losing all that weight? Kimkins is scary fast!"

Scary is right, and that's where I'll finish this gargantuan post. People are scared by fast weight loss for a whole host of reasons, some sound and valid criticisms, others not so worthy of attention. People are rightfully scared by doubts and shadiness about Kimmer's identity, and rightfully worried about the previous disturbing eating disorder-esque advice.

I think it'd be relatively easy to clear up a lot of this fear and doubt and infighting by Kimmer coming clean about her identity and putting the picture doubts to rest once and for all. I wish she'd do that.

I also think that, parsing through all of the fighting and anger and genuine hurt, there's some sound dietary advice to be had from the Kimkins plan as written. Too many low carbers return to Atkins Induction with bad habits from previous low carbing stints - eating frankenfoods, being used to massively fatty portions and overeating, skyrocketing their calorie counts and wondering why the weight isn't dropping off. Kimkins manages to cut out a lot of these problems by stripping Atkins down to the bare essentials (she admits her plan is simply a tweak of the original Atkins from 1972) and limiting fat to what's needed for cooking.

As I wrote last year, I believe this is a very useful tool for dropping you in deep ketosis and stripping your diet down to the bare essentials. You can then add in different foods and experiment with what works for you personally.

And hopefully, hopefully, all of us can sit down over some Kimkins-friendly, Atkins-friendly, Zone-friendly, Stillman's-friendly, Bear-friendly chicken and be friends again.

At The Butcher's

A couple of guys walk into a butcher's and see two joints of meat hanging up. One of them says to the other:

"I bet you $200 you can't roundhouse kick both of those down."

His friend replies:

"Nah, I can't do that man - the steaks are too high!"

Going Against The Grain

So, cognitively the best thing to do with any diet plan is to focus on the positives and what you love about your chosen plan. I try to do that a lot here, meat pusher that I am, never forgetting the advantages of low carb in terms of fast weight loss, overall health, curbing hunger, delicious foods.

But, today, I'm doing the opposite, and answering the question: what's the worst part about doing low carb?

For me, it's that low carbing can be an essentially anti-social diet. As a culture, we choose to celebrate by sharing food. Now, some people will counter this by saying the focus on food as a necessity for celebration is not healthy, and we should just opt out of it altogether. I think that's a bit extreme, and as someone who gets a lot of pleasure out of cooking and sharing a meal with friends and family, I'm not about to throw out the very delicious baby with the carby bathwater.

The problem with low carb is the one I brought up during the low carb conference call back in February: this is not a widely socially accepted diet. People counting calories can always just eat less, or stick to the salad and fruit which is generally always available. People on low carb have to be wary of sugary salad dressings and shredded carrots, ask about sauces and marinades, and skip many courses altogether.

While we may have only started incorporating carbs into our diet fairly recently in evolutionary terms, socially, carb eating seems to be well ingrained.

Restaurants that cater to low carbers are few and getting fewer as marketing departments dismiss this way of eating as a long-gone "fad". (Single tear here for the loss of the incredible low carb cheesecake at Ruby Tuesday's. Full disclosure: I used to waitress for Ruby Tuesday's, and I had a whole one of those cheesecakes for my birthday cake two years ago. Yum!)

I get annoyed going out to eat and paying double to eat half as much. For a twenty-something in the big city, the lack of low carb drink mixers available in bars and clubs is also a social concern. Gin or vodka and diet coke can only last for so long before you realize wait, this tastes revolting, and sugar gives people worse hangovers anyway so why not offer some lower carb options?

While we're on the low carb options kick, I find the plethora of ready made carb options in the grocery store ridiculously disproportionate to the rotisserie chickens or lunchmeats available for us. Add in the "heart healthy" or "sensible solution" stickers all over products crammed with high fructose corn syrup and a bunch of chemicals, and I'm positively growling by the time I get to the steak section.

I also find being invited to a restaurant or event has a little extra layer of stress: will there be something I can eat? I'm not about to call my host and demand they lay on the protein for me (I've read too much Miss Manners for that), but it is a small worry.

So, what's a low carb girl to do?

1) Change the culture
Watch this space. In all seriousness though, one of the reasons I try to blog about low carb whenever I can is to spread the word. Slowly, slowly, people are starting to pay more attention to the way sugar affects them, and a variety of low carb plans are getting more positive media attention.

2) Make like a Boy Scout
Being prepared for little to no low carb options at certain gatherings helps me stick to plan. It's way easier for me to do this if I have a protein bar stashed away, or if I down a protein shake beforehand to tide me over. Also, checking the restaurant menus ahead of time can ease your mind.

3) Realize other people's comments are about themselves
This is a powerful tool when combating negative energy about low carbing. I learned this from a wise poster over at the Meat & Eggers For Life Forum, who advised anyone worrying about what others would think that diet-bashing comments usually just came from a place of insecurity or hurt in the commenter. This may not always be the case, but it is ALWAYS the case that their comments are more about themselves than about you.

When people come at me with the usual Atkins myths, I just grin and tell them how much I love it, and how I've been doing it for years and never felt healthier. If they actually want to engage in discussion, I enjoy telling them about the studies and research backing up low carb. If it's just a drive-by bash (you know the ones I mean!) then I just grin and get back to my meat. Remember, though, you don't have to defend the way to eat to anyone.

I bring up these points not to be negative about low carbing, but because I believe in painting an accurate picture of this way of life. I know I can deal with problems much better by writing about them and analyzing them, and I think it's important to be very honest about all aspects of a plan.

So, what about you? Do you find it harder to low carb in a carby culture? Any tips for survival?

Shake, Shake, Update!

Check out my dinner today! Yum. I actually overdid the beef a bit (I like it pinker and juicier), and I settled for dijon mustard with horseradish instead of straight horseradish, which is my fave with beef. But you know what...I valiantly made it through the meal!!

So my second official week on the Protein Sparing Fast is over. (Just to clarify, Protein Sparing refers to saving the muscles in your body, not reducing or limiting your protein intake.)

In addition to the almost immediate eight pound drop, I have lost another three pounds this week! My "skinny" jeans are fitting again, which is very comforting after my bounce upwards into scaryland.

My basic thought right now is "if it ain't broke, don't fix it". I am contemplating just sticking with this until I hit goal, which, if this loss continues, shouldn't be very long at all! arc for one says he's using this as his weight loss phase, kind of like Atkins Induction expect he's staying on it until he reaches his goal weight, and then switching to Meat&Eggs just to get chewing more than once a day, and then upping his carb levels a bit for maintenance.

Right now I know I have some "off" days coming up, although I find it funny that I'm now categorizing what are actually very low carb days as "off" plan. That means I'll probably be on the protein fast for much of the week, and just low carbing it on weekends when we have events or other social eating to do.

I would like to add to my list of advantages to this plan that I am really, really enjoying my meals. I know this is because I'm experiencing more genuine hunger than usual, and food always tastes better when you're hungry.

I've also felt like I've had more energy for workouts than I generally do on very low carb (to me, VLC means less than 10g a day, without subtracting fiber and no sugar alcohols). I don't know if this is just because I'm definitely getting my protein count in for the day, because I'm getting daily salads, or because I'm definitely getting enough fluids in.

On the boredom front, I did switch up shake flavors. I got the same brand, Ultimate Nutrition Bioactive Whey Protein Whey Sensation 81, but this time in Iced Vanilla Cream. Why they didn't just call it Vanilla Ice Cream, I have no idea, but it does taste like cold, melted vanilla ice cream. To a carnivore, anyway!

My biggest fear remains that I'm just kidding myself about being fine with this and soon Famine Brain will rear its ugly head and I'll break out of all this strictness like a wild woman. I mean, we've all been there, on weird cabbage soup diets or subsisting on lettuce and insisting we're "sooo full" and "feeling great" just to see the scale budge down another lb or two.

However, I honestly don't feel like that. Even though, objectively, it's a decently strict plan, I don't feel like I'm hemmed in with strictness. Martha Beck talks about "white-knuckling it" in The Four Day Win, a perfect phrase to describe that holding-on-at-all-costs feeling you have when forcing your body to stick to a plan. I have learned from past experience to keep a careful eye on the mental side of dieting, to look out for overly restrictive or unhealthy food behaviors. The beauty of this "fast" is that you're getting the benefits of a fast without starving yourself: you're getting a steady stream of almost pure protein delivered to your body throughout the day, and an amazingly delicious meal at night. Or, if you like, eat in the middle of the day and arrange your shakes accordingly. I can therefore happily report healthy, relaxed, pink knuckles and a generally chilled out feeling about the whole plan.

At the risk of sounding like a broken record, I'm going to give this another week! I'm guessing my losses will slow as I'm circling closer and closer to goal, but I was surprised to lose this much this week.

Onwards and downwards!

Low Carb Slump

Alright, so I've been in a bit of a low carb slump lately. I've been bouncing around the same weight (10lbs above goal), seemingly unable to lose more, but maintaining fairly well.

I'm honestly not too fussed about making a specific number goal on the scale, but I do have some important body shape and food-approach goals. For body shape, I've been doing a great weights workout and some cardio when I'm in the mood. For the food-approach, I'm collecting information from a variety of sources: Martha Beck's The Four Day Win and Marc David's Nourishing Wisdom: A Mind-Body Approach to Nutrition and Well-Being have been invaluable in this quest.

Looking at my progress over the last month, I'm not impressed. I've been eating very low carb, going to the gym, and have not made any downward progress. I see a slight reshaping muscle-wise, but nothing to write home about.

Then...the Mother's Day Diet Massacre hit. I enjoyed a couple of fantastic hamburgers on the grill, and was all prepared with an 85% dark chocolate bar to enjoy instead of the ice cream cake. With dessert, we also had some incredible coffee, whipped up in the blender with powdered milk and no sugar. Or so I thought...

Turns out powdered milk has 13g of carbs for a 4 tablespoon serving! Considering my carbs have generally been under 10g for the whole day, this PLUS the 8g from the chocolate was quite the sugar blast.

When I looked up the carb content, it explained to me my inexplicable decision to dip low-carb pork satays in sugary plum sauce. And my consequent carb-fest the following day - eating toast with margarine (which I don't even like) and vanilla ice cream (my least favorite flavor). I was eating things I'd wondered about for months and been tempted by...just to taste them.

Lessons learned? I find sugar intensely addictive. A sugar surge through my system leads me to crave and most likely give in to those cravings.

The food tastes like crap. Seriously! I thought toast would be so crunchy and yummy - nope. Bland and yucky.

Well hey, I knew that already. This weekend was a humbling experience. I feel like I've come a long way in my relationship to food and sugar specifically, but I clearly still have a long way to go.

I do think it's worth examining what happens or leads up to a fall off-plan like this. Definitely, part of it was the sugar surge from the Mother's Day meal. I'm also pretty sure part of it was brain deprivation from not eating anything remotely carby since January.

Jimmy Moore has an interesting approach to ward off this kind of brain deprivation: planned diet vacations. In his post, Who Says You Can't Splurge On Low Carb, Jimmy explains his "planned splurge":

"I have a date circled on my calendar that I have predetermined is my time to eat and enjoy whatever I want to eat for one meal. Just ONE meal is all this is good for! Whether it is pizza, Mexican, Italian or whatever floats your boat, you can eat all you want of whatever you are craving the most until you get your craving fulfilled."

He's clear that this splurge knocks you way out of ketosis, causes you to gain weight, and may not be the best idea for everyone. But, he concludes:

"...please be careful not to rationalize this method when you see a box of doughnuts at work and tell yourself that THIS will be your "splurge" meal. It doesn't work that way. Plan it well in advance, look forward to it to avoid temptation, do it enjoying every single bite and then get back on the plan as soon as possible."

I know a few low carbers swear by the occasional carb-up, claiming it kicks their metabolism into gear. I've always been pretty skeptical about dipping my tongue in the satanic sweat that is sugar.

But I've been doing some reading around, and I think from a psychological point of view, these cheaters are onto something! I'm not planning to eat carbs every 6-8 weeks, but I do think a forseeable future of purely strict, clean eating can send you a little bit loopy.

Thus, very occasional "diet vacations" are beginning to make sense to me. My hat is off to Jimmy Moore for being able to do this in the weight loss phase of his plan - I don't think that would work for me. But for the maintenance stage, this seems like a sensible enough strategy, and lets you have a rare day off for a special occasion.

So, what do you do after a carb-up, whether it's planned or not-so-planned? Dr. Micheal Eades' book Thin So Fast recommends a version of a Protein Sparing Modified Fast (PSMF), which seems to get your insulin levels back to normality, and gets rid of the water weight gain FAST.

That last part was all I needed to hear to give it a try. Check out my next post for full details on how to do this fast, and my massively speedy weight loss after just two days!

Apologies & Announcement

I'd like to apologize to my regular readers for the lack of posts recently. My fiancé and I set a date for our wedding – this August – so I have been dress shopping, venue scouting and otherwise brimming with all things bridal. But now the dress is bought, the reception mostly organized and the pace considerably less frenetic. Posting shall resume as normal, and apologies for my absence!

Creamy Avocado Dip

I've made this low carb dip so many times now I could do it in my sleep. If you add the water to it, it's smooth enough to use for a thick dressing on a salad with grilled chicken or tuna. Without, it's a great dip for shrimp or served with salmon, or spicy chicken strips.

Ingredients:
2 medium, ripe avocados
1 very small onion (preferably a sweet one, but I use whatever I have)
2 cloves of garlic (can be adjusted to taste)
Juice of one lime
4 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil
Splash of water (optional)

I usually just wait until the avocados at my local store are ripe before making this. Ripe avocados should have darker, almost black skin, and should give just a little if you push with your thumb. Too-ripe and they feel soft and mushy to the touch.

If you need to ripen them at home, don't store them in the refrigerator or they'll stay like little rocks. Instead, put them in a brown paper bag and leave out on the counter and they should be ready in a few days.

The easiest way to prepare is to slice the pear lengthways, and then twist the two sides against each other until they come loose:

Then you can peel off the skin (if the avocado is ripe enough, it should come off very easily), and dig out the stone. Don't throw the stone away though!

Now, for the dip, peel the onion and garlic cloves, slice them in half and throw into the blender. Squeeze the lime juice on top, and blend until everything is chopped. (As you can see, I like mine a bit more garlicky - three cloves in this one!)

Add the avocado halves to the onion mixture, and some freshly ground black pepper.

Then blend! As soon as the mixture starts getting smooth, add the olive oil slowly. (I do this spoon by spoon through the top of the blender.) After this step, you should have a creamy, smooth consistency:

Stop here if you're using as a dip, but if you want a more dressing-like consistency, add some water (less than 1/4 cup total) until you get your desired thickness.
I stuck with the dip, and added some more pepper on top:

A friend of mine swears that leaving the stone in any avocado mix (she makes amazing guacamole) prevents it from turning brown.

I try and leave this in the fridge to sit for at least an hour before serving, so the flavors have more time to meld. Then serve with your protein of choice!

Counts for this recipe:
1065 calories
107g fat
34g carbohydrate - 25g fiber = 9g usable carbs
8g protein