Fast(ing) Food - I'm Sorry, Body Salad

Day 94, Fast Day #40

A successful fast day! I am getting back on track this week, I swear.

My body has gone through a lot of self-inflicted abuse over the last two weeks. So I decided to say I'm sorry to my organs by eating a nutritious salad. Eating a salad while dieting is obviously not some genius, original idea of mine. It is common sense if you are looking to consume a variety of vitamins, minerals, fiber, and other nutrients without a lot of calories. However, not every salad is low-calorie or nutritious. If you are trying to eat healthy by ordering a salad at a restaurant, you can end up with a plate containing over 1000 calories, a lot of sodium, or a bunch of saturated fat like in these 20 salads worse than a Whopper. This past week I ate a salad at a restaurant that ended up being over 700 calories when I looked up the nutrition facts later.

This salad I threw together is not worthy of an unhealthy salad list:

Those are flax seeds, not ants. In case you got nervous about eating insects.

I'm Sorry, Body Salad (Yields 1 large serving) ~133 kcal/serving

Takes 5-10 minutes

Feel better with 240% of the vitamin A, 128% of the vitamin C, 19% of the calcium, and 13% of the iron that is recommended daily in one big bowl. Plus some omega-3s, potassium, and fiber.

• 1/4 of a small onion, sliced (I used a yellow onion) ~7 kcal
• 3 big leaves of lettuce, chopped (I used romaine) ~14 kcal
• 1/2 medium apple, sliced (I used a Braeburn apple) ~36 kcal
• 1 small carrot, sliced (I used a purple one) ~20 kcal
• 1/2 large bell pepper (I used a green one) ~12 kcal
• 5 grape tomatoes ~10 kcal
• 1 tbsp fresh mint leaves, chopped ~3 kcal
• 1 tsp flax seeds ~17 kcal
• 1 tsp unsalted, shelled sunflower seeds ~14 kcal

Chop up all your fruit and veggies, mix in a bowl, sprinkle on seeds. You can add a dressing of your choice to toss in with the salad.

Why did I use a purple carrot? Purple carrots and other darker, smaller variants of fruits and vegetables that are more like their wild relatives, are more nutritious than common agricultural crops. Check out this lovely chart from the New York Times about nutrition in wild versus supermarket produce.

I like to make my own salad dressing when I have the time to whip one up. Here is the honey mustard vinaigrette I threw together for this salad:

Honey Mustard Vinaigrette Dressing (optional) ~264 kcal/serving

• 2 tbsp olive oil ~250 kcal
• 1 tbsp vinegar (I used red wine vinegar)
• 1/2 tsp honey ~10 kcal
• 1/4 tsp minced garlic
• 1/4 tsp Italian seasoning (or mix of marjoram, thyme, oregano, and basil)
• 1/4 tsp ground mustard powder ~3 kcal
• pepper, to taste ~1 kcal
• kosher salt to taste

Salad dressing is a very personal thing. I recommend experimenting with varying amounts and types of honey, vinegar, mustard, and spices depending on your tastes. Plus experimenting is fun.

Sure, salad does not require much by way of culinary skill and is quick. Sorry if this recipe didn't blow your mind. This is real food I prepare and eat on fast days. I need to spend less time cooking and more time wedding planning, so I see more salads in my future.

Week 6 Summary

Day 45, Feast Day #24

I finished off Week 6 of fasting. I have dropped one more pound for a total of 14 lbs lost over the last 45 days. Finally the freaking scale moved after 18 days of a plateau. I think it helped I didn't go out to eat with friends during the week, and therefore I drank a lot less calories in the forms of wine and beer. Here are the numbers:

Calories
Week 1: 1,437 kcal or 76% of baseline calories
Week 2: 1,938 kcal or 102% of baseline calories
Week 3: 1,680 kcal or 89% of baseline calories
Week 4: 2,196 kcal or 116% of baseline calories
Week 5: 1,829 kcal or 96% of baseline calories
Week 6: 1,531 kcal or 81% of baseline calories

While ADFing: 1768 kcal or 93% of baseline calories
Baseline Days: 1,896 kcal

All Feast Days: 2,942 kcal or 155% of baseline calories
All Fast Days*: 477 kcal or 25% of baseline calories

For reference
Week 1: 4 fast days, 3 feast days
Week 2: 3 fast days, 4 feast days
Week 3: 3 fast days*, 4 feast days
Week 4: 3 fast days, 4 feast days
Week 5: 3 fast days, 4 feast days
Week 6: 4 fast days, 3 feast days
*Includes faux-fast day that was my mama's birthday dinner.

I feel like I am back on track with this diet now that most of the birthday festivities have passed. It was good to finally see the fourth fast day in my week to be honest. I have become very accustomed to alternating between the up days and down days and just don't get as hungry nowadays. On yesterday's fast day I ended up not eating all of my allowed calories because I had so many chores and other tasks to catch up on. I finally ate around 5 p.m. when Zach was cooking some of the Amylu chicken sausages for his dinner and I finally took a break from laundry, emails, finances, organizing my life calendar, etc. to make a salad for myself.

I am still not happy with the amount of sugar I have been eating (I am my own worst critic). Although I consumed 30% less sugar this past week than my baseline, it is still not what I was aiming for. We had bought a huge amount of strawberries at Costco, so a lot of the sugars were from fruit at least.

Also, this week was my highest so far in average potassium consumed. I think I seriously need to plan my entire eating schedule around potassium if I am ever going to average the recommended amount. This past week I only averaged about 44% of the DRV, which is up from where it was. Once our avocados ripen, that should help boost those potassium numbers. 

I ended up getting a Charley horse in the early hours on Saturday morning despite my increased consumption of potassium. I haven't had a leg cramp like that in years, so I looked back at my food diary and my potassium or calcium weren't low that day, I actually met my calcium needs. It might have just been hormonal or some other fluke. Maybe it was the result of the wedding day nightmares I have been having. I think I need to keep a bottle of tonic water in the house. The quinine in tonic water is shown to lower the incidence of muscle cramps. I luckily like tonic water, although it is better with the gin and lime.

Zach and I also discussed working on cutting more of the wheat and sugar from our diet and eating more "Paleo" or "primal." We are going to work on using up the grains and processed foods we already have, since we don't want to waste money or food, and then just try not to buy more. I have to do some more research in to how primal we want to eat, since like ADF, everyone seems to have a different Paleo rules they follow. I also frankly want to do a bunch more research on the "caveman" diet itself. I am curious about this diet since I have read a lot of people having success with not only losing weight on it, but fixing their own gastrointestinal problems.

Meanwhile, I am working on compiling a list of the science papers I have been citing on a new tab for this blog. I haven't had as much spare time as I had anticipated, but hopefully I will get that done soon.

Fast(ing) Food - Idiot-Proof Brussels Sprouts

Day 41, Feast Day #22

Brussels sprouts have been demonized in popular culture as the vegetable arch nemesis of children. Yes, Brussels sprouts may be frightening to some because they are slightly bitter, green vegetables. My mother won't even get near a Brussels sprout due to her preconceived notion that Brussels sprouts are yucky. This is why I never tried them until I was halfway through college. Like their larger cabbage cousin, Brussels sprouts can also become stinky, soggy, and pretty gross if boiled and overcooked. I have learned that Brussels sprouts can taste awesome, are easy to cook, and like cabbage, are low in calories.

I also did some research and Brussels sprouts are really good for you. Not only do they have a lot of vitamin A, C, K, and potassium, they also are in a family of plants that is linked to lowering your risk of cancer (along with broccoli, cauliflower, and cabbage) by protecting your DNA. Uh, I would love to skip cancer, so bring on the the Brassica veggies!

Basic recipe, plus I added in some dried cranberries.

Idiot-Proof Brussels Sprouts (Yield 4 servings) ~205 kcal/serving

• 2 lbs of Brussels sprouts ~420 kcal
• 3 tbsp of extra virgin olive oil  ~360 kcal
• 2 tbsp balsamic vinegar  ~40 kcal
• 1 tsp kosher salt
• pepper to taste

Heat oven to 375 degrees. Cut ends of Brussels sprouts and prune off any gross leaves. Cut sprouts in half.

Put sprout halves on a baking sheet. drizzle olive oil and balsamic vinegar over sprouts. Mix up sprouts with hands until evenly coated. Sprinkle on salt and pepper.

Bake Brussels sprouts for 25-30 minutes, until lightly browned.

I added in a 1/4 cup of dried cranberries (~98 kcal) to the batch I ate today and yesterday. These sprouts also taste good when baked with eggplant (~20 kcal/cup) or sun-dried tomatoes too (~70 kcal/half cup).

Week 5 Summary

Day 37, Feast Day #20

Getting calories down on feast days has proved difficult with trips to bars, breweries, and birthday parties with friends. Here are the numbers:

Calories
Week 1: 1,437 kcal or 76% of baseline calories
Week 2: 1,938 kcal or 102% of baseline calories
Week 3: 1,680 kcal or 89% of baseline calories
Week 4: 2,196 kcal or 116% of baseline calories
Week 5: 1,829 kcal or 96% of baseline calories

While ADFing: 1,776 kcal or 94%of baseline calories
Baseline Days: 1,896 kcal

All Feast Days: 2,942 kcal or 155% of baseline calories
All Fast Days*: 473 kcal or 25% of baseline calories

For reference
Week 1: 4 fast days, 3 feast days
Week 2: 3 fast days, 4 feast days
Week 3: 3 fast days*, 4 feast days
Week 4: 3 fast days, 4 feast days
Week 5: 3 fast days, 4 feast days
*Includes faux-fast day that was my mama's birthday dinner.

Obviously, our feast days are still too feasty. As usual, this is due to overindulging when eating out, particularly when it comes to a calorie-packed cocktail or beer. I also discovered this weekend while at a friend's 30th birthday bash that not only is mead (honey wine) incredibly delicious, but it is over 220 calories for a 5 oz. glass. It is a good thing I don't have easy access to mead regularly. Luckily his week's social calendar is looking less hedonistic, so hopefully I can make some progress on the following goals:

• Reduce the sugar I am eating. I was eating 57 grams/day this week. This is below both my original sugar consumption and below the 5-week average of 63 grams. I still would like to cut this down even further since I have a family history of diabetes.

• Reduce overall carbohydrates eaten. My carb gluttony has me at 196 grams of carbs/day this past week. This is still below what I have been averaging, but again the USDA DRV is 130 grams. That is over a 50% reduction I am aiming for, so this could be tough.

• Eat more potassium-rich foods. I am still struggling to get even close to the DRV of potassium. Last week I only ate about 1807 mg/day on average, which is lower than the previous 5 weeks. The daily recommendation is 4700 mg/day, to put things in perspective. We bought some mushrooms this week and are still working on using up a bunch of tomatoes. More of our meals need to revolve around potassium. I think eating more legumes might tackle the potassium deficit plus providing iron, which I have also been running low on (55% of DRV).

Week 3 Summary

Day 23, Fast Day #11

I lost another 2 lbs for a total of 12 lbs. Today was harder to stay motivated just because neither Zach or I got enough sleep since we stayed out late last night and had to get up early (for us on a Sunday) to volunteer at our church today. Also, I might have had a chocolate hangover from two different desserts for my birthday happy hour/eating & drinking fest with friends. It was a good birthday week. Next weekend may be a repeat of bad eating behavior since we have some friends from out of town staying over next weekend.

I skipped a summary last week due to being out of town. So I spent some time last night looking at the numbers from all three weeks since I started alternate day fasting:

Calories
Week 1: 1,437 kcal or 76% of baseline calories
Week 2: 1,938 kcal or 102% of baseline calories
Week 3: 1,680 kcal or 89% of baseline calories

While ADFing: 1,685 kcal or 89% of baseline calories
Baseline Days: 1,896 kcal

All Feast Days: 2,756 kcal or 145% of baseline calories
All Fast Days*: 507 kcal or 26% of baseline calories

For reference
Week 1: 4 fast days, 3 feast days
Week 2: 3 fast days, 4 feast days
Week 3: 3 fast days*, 4 feast days


*Includes faux-fast day that was my mama's birthday dinner.

Alternate day fasting has reduced my average calorie intake overall, despite me being very bad about sticking to it this past week due to birthday festivities. It is clear to me that one of the things I need to work on is not using my feast day as an excuse to eat everything. More importantly, not as an excuse to drink whatever I want. It is amazing how many empty calories from sugar one can consume in the form of cocktails. I feel like my food decisions have improved over the last couple of weeks because I am more aware of the calorie and nutrient value of foods. I am basically retraining my mind and body on how to eat.

Some other things I need to watch and lower for a healthier diet is my sugar, fat, cholesterol, and sodium intake. I finally managed to meet the DRV of potassium on one day this week by eating a large volume of tomato soup. However, this also had a lot of sodium in it too, so I am sure a lot of that was neutralized.

I also expect the rise and fall of average calories every other week (so far) to be due to the number of fast versus feast days I have on a given week.

I also ordered and received a copy of Dr, Michael Mosley's The FastDiet, so that should be useful and hopefully motivating. I am already liking the calorie guide in the back.

Week 1 Summary

Day 8, Feast Day #4

One week of intermittent fasting is complete and I am feeling much more optimistic about ADF being a lifestyle that I can sustain. I mentally handle the idea of being hungry much better now than I was at first. I also am able to get most of the nutrients I need on a low amount of calories from eating mostly vegetables on fast days. I am taking vitamin/mineral supplements now for the rest, and frankly, the amount of vitamins and minerals I have been getting on my feast days compared to my fast days is much lower. 

Eating a standard American diet of pancakes, beer, hamburgers, and fried food is giving me a huge amount of calories, sugar, and fat on feast days. But there is only a little vitamin A, iron, calcium, and potassium getting in my body these days. I will admit getting enough calcium is something I usually have to supplement because I am lactose-intolerant (very much so) and it seems like I would have plan my entire diet around potassium in order to get the 4,700 mg that is now recommended. I couldn't even find a supplement for potassium that had more than 3% of the DRV at the health store. I just have to be more conscious about including potassium rich food in my diet (root veggies, tropical fruit, potatoes, avocado, etc), especially since I know my grandmother struggles with low potassium and has been hospitalized for it.

So far my calories by day looks like this:

Fast day average: 433 kcal
Feast day average: 2607 kcal
Total average: 1,520 kcal - So, I am still eating less on average than I would normally.

What I have found interesting is that the amount of calories I have been eating on my fast days has decreased gradually (down to just 347 calories yesterday), while on the other hand my feast day caloric intake has increased gradually. I think the crazy feasting behavior has also been me seeing if I can manage to make up the entire 1,500 calories I missed on my fast days up. The closest I have gotten is still 500 calories short, and that was with eating two breakfasts, a bacon cheeseburger, and a 3-course meal at a sushi restaurant. (It was an epic feast day.)

Again, I woke up with a headache. However, it was not nearly as bad as the headaches have been. I also took Sondra's advice and got a magnesium supplement, took that today with breakfast, and my headache is gone now. Amazing! Studies like this one show a link between low magnesium and headaches and that adding magnesium to the body alleviates headache pain. Thanks again, Sondra.

The best part about starting ADF is how much more aware I am of the types of food I eat and what dietary values they hold. I also really appreciate eating everything. I also had no idea how many calories were in foods. Keeping a food diary has been a huge wake-up call to how I have been eating for years. It reminds a lot of when I first started using Mint to track my spending. After I tracked my income and spending for a month I had a wake up call about how much money I wasted---mostly on food, drinks, and miscellaneous things. This was the impetus for me saving my money and being smarter with finances. I feel tracking what I am eating is giving me that same wake up call and will help me eat healthier.