Daily Menu January 6, 2009
Breakfast:
Monterey Jack omelet with chunky salsa
Lunch:
Pork loin chop
Dinner:
Pork loin chop
Snacks:
Sugar-free dark chocolate
Sugar-free Reese's cup
Pork rinds
Pecans
Beverages:
Tea
Sparkling water
Cider-Ade (apple cider vinegar sweetened with stevia/FOS blend, in water)
Dry red wine
Totals: 1350 Calories; 67g Fat ; 88g Protein; 18g Carbohydrate; 4g Dietary Fiber
The first thing that jumps out at me here is the calorie count -- just 1350 calories! Clearly the appetite suppression effect of very low carb diets is setting in. That said, I was hungry when I got up this morning. I usually wait about an hour after I get up to eat breakfast; today I boiled three eggs to eat along with my tea as I read the paper.
This is a great illustration of a fascinating and wonderful effect of low carbing: The appetite balances itself. Eat a lot of protein and fat calories (with almost no carbs), and you're not hungry for hours and hours. Eat less, and you do, indeed, get hungry. My guess is that by the end of the day I'll have eaten at least a few hundred more calories than I did yesterday; my body will be compensating.
I'm still just barely turning the ketostix pink, when I do at all; clearly I've become resistant to ketosis. My guess is that this is because after thirteen and a half years of low carbing my body is very good at creating what glucose it actually does need from protein and fat. That, and I drink a lot of liquids, which means that my urine is always dilute; this affects ketostick readings, too.
However, it doesn't seem to matter; I'm visibly smaller and my clothes are looser. (I do not currently have a scale in the house, but the clothes don't lie.) I feel absolutely fine; plenty of energy, plenty of mental focus, good mood.
However, I'm getting a little tired of simple roasted and broiled meats. For the first few days it was great, just want I wanted after a few months of recipe development, and in particular of eating more low carb baked goods (but nowhere near as low carb as meat!) than I usually do. Now I'm looking for something a little more interesting. I'm flipping through a Mexican cookbook, looking for a recipe that can have the carbs slashed to the bone and still taste great. I'll keep you posted!
