Reza’s Rants

This slow-carb diet has forced me to cook a lot more, and I’ve enjoyed the process.  I thought I would share a couple of the dishes that I enjoy – and that are a lot more interesting than the ones that Tim (ala 4-Hour Body) recommends.  I will not present this in the typical recipe format, rather, it’s more of a technique you can apply.

First, great simple way to prepare chicken/pork.  This cooks fast, gives juicy results, and tastes great.  First, the marinade – super simple – super fast.  Sriracha Hot sauce & Soy sauce.  I bought this organic kikoman soy sauce and really like it.

Add a bunch (I use about equal parts, but adjust to suite your taste) to meat (I like using the costco frozen tenderloins).

Just a few minute seems to work, because we will then fry it in some oil.  Doesn’t have to cover the meat.  The meat absorbs none of the oil, cooks fast, and is super juicy.  I also use the same method for pork cutlets.  I sometimes add an egg yolk if I want it to have more of a battered feel, though it’s not needed.

I have also decided I can’t stand canned beans anymore.  Ugh.  I’ve tried my hand at lentils (someone posted a recipe that sounded great and involved bacon, but it didn’t come out all that great).  So I hit up a local Indian grocery store and picked up…

That, 1/2 and onion, a tomato, and some lentils

and I have some simple and great tasting lentils.  Super cheap too if you figure the cost of ingredients.   It takes about an hour or so worth of cooking, but you can make bigger batches and save.  The instructions require a scale, which I had.  I like cooking with a scale more than the volumetric measures we usually use.  Seems more scientific

Finally top off with what I’ve found to be a veggie that I’ve not gotten tired of – microwaved broccoli with mayo.  

Super tasty, and if you cook the lentils in advance, less than 15 minutes from start to finish.

diet, slow-carb chicken, lentils, recipe, slow carb

I think I’m going to start posting some details about the progress of my diet through the course of it as this sort of info might be helpful to others.   I had my 1st “bing” day yesterday, which is sanctioned by the diet.  I decided to try to go full bore and see how it effected me.  My breakfast consisted of:

• waffles
• fried chicken
• 2x sausage & egg sandwiches
• grits (didn’t like it, didn’t eat much) – how are these supposed to be eaten?
• 2x 16oz glasses of sweet tea

As good as it tasted, it made me feel horrible for the rest of the day.  I had a headache and my body hurt.  It’s amazing how bad sugar is for you.  The evening was filled with more goodness including crab cakes, bolgogi beef, chicken meatballs, pan-fried mac and cheese balls, shrimp with bacon, sausage burgers, beer, wine, bourbon.   The results:

Now, if the diet works, by Tuesday I should return to my post-binge weight.  Sarah and I went to Safeway (how I hate that place) and I bought more veggies than I ever had before in my life.  Trying to follow the paradigm of “use bag of frozen veggies” just didn’t cut it and I need to get some variety.  So for lunch I had two “slow-carb” burritos that consisted of a large piece of lettuce, layer of refried beans, garlic pulled pork from last week, sautéed green beans/onions/garlic/spring onions, peppercinis, avocado, and habanero salsa (finally found a safeway salsa that I liked).  And it was really good – I didn’t miss the bread at all.  

I’m really enjoying the cooking that I’m doing for this diet, as I’m usually too lazy to cook.  I’ve found it’s been a lot better on the wallet but a huge pain in the ass to clean up.  The dishwasher runs like 2x/day now. 

And tonight – safeway had a great sale on Dungenous crab  — so I’m going to try to make a crab salad with homemade mayo (all the stuff in the store had some sugar added).   I’ll probably add some bacon to it as well. 

diet, Personal diet, slow carb, tim ferris

I’ve been working too hard at graduating and a number of other projects where I found I wasn’t going to the gym nearly as much as I used to.  As a result, I started feeling unhealthy, but I also didn’t believe in dieting.  That was till I saw a blog entry on gizmodo.com about Tim’s book, the 4-hour body.  It’s not a diet book, but rather a somewhat scientific look at how to hack many aspects of your body – and I bought his pitch.  It made sense to me, and it seemed like an approach that I could follow. 

The chapter that talks about the diet is essentially converted from this blog entry.  I’m not going to bore you with the details, but I’m trying to be a bit methodical about the progress and want to document it.  Essentially, it’s 4 meals a day of lots of beans (I never want to eat beans again after this).  He also stresses keeping the meals simple (read: boring) and the same.  He argues it’s simpler that way.  Unfortunately,  following that advice will get me disinterested quickly from the diet.  I need variety.  I just finished cooking the garlic pork dish from this cookbook I found online.   

Anyhow, I’m doing pretty well though I accidentally violated one of the rules and had some fruit juice.  And I’m drinking some whiskey instead of wine right now (thanks diQ for leaving that bottle behind).  But so far I’m on track to hit my goal of 20lbs in 30 days.  I’m also following a regiment of a ton of supplements that he suggests – 13 pills a day no less at a cost of $75/month for the supply.  Normally I’m not into that kind of stuff, but there’s something cool about the thought of hacking my body, so I’ll give I a shot.  Here’s the data, though I started right after finishing 3 days of my unintentional food-poisoning diet which I dropped 5lbs over 3 days.  I’m actually less now than I’ve been in years.  I’m going to start weight training again after I hit 170, but my body puts on muscle fast and I don’t want to see my weight increase (it’s a motivational thing).

Personal diet, four hour body, slow carb, tim ferris