Fasting day 15 Oct 28 2008-182 lbs.

Looks like my weight came back off. Nice to be back on track. Not much to report today. Will not cook tonight...just heat up some stuff for the fam. It got cold here in NYC today. So that means I was extra cold b/c I'm fasting. Got to remember to bundle up on fasting days. Especially for the office.

One thing about fasting is you tend to think about food and what you will be cooking for the next meal. It is not a "longing" for food like you are starving to death. Just thinking about what you will eat next and trying to decide on a menu. Like food becomes more interesting of something. Its more fun to plan and prepare meals now I guess.

So along those lines I am thinking of cooking a roast chicken with pan ju and vegetables tomorrow. Sounds good right now. If it comes out good I'll take a pic and post it.

Oh yea, yesterday we had meatloaf and mashed potatoes. I cooked the meatloaf in the pressure cooker. It only takes 20 minutes for a 1 pound meatloaf. You just make a meatloaf according to your favorite recipe and put in the PC on an insert to keep it off the bottom Add maybe a 1/2 cup of water and bring to pressure for 20 min and voila its done.

I'm likin' this ADF as a lifestyle or way of eating (WOE) and not just a diet.

Fasting day 14 Oct 26 2008 185 lbs

Ok so I gained 2 pounds over the last two days of eating. Today was a good fasting day, however. No problem. I actually wanted to fast after eating all that food Friday and Saturday.

I made potato-leek soup and spaghetti bolognese for dinner for the family. Use homemade vegetable broth, made in the pressure cooker, for the soup. These are common recipes so I won't list them in detail but I do have pictures.



I like cooking while fasting for some reason. Especially dinner. By that time I am so into the fast that I don't have a problem resisting the urge to eat.

Fasting day 13 Oct 23 2008 183.5 lbs

So it is a double fasting day. It is Thursday around noon and I haven't eaten since Tuesday night. So far so good. Actually feel great today. Mental acuity is high. A little hungry but am used to it by now. Hunger is not worse than what I experience on the one-day fast. Will check-in at the end of the day.

UPDATE: 728 p.m. Still okay. 2 day fast is no more difficult than one day fast. Making dinner for kid right now and not a problem not to eat. Felt high energy all day...a little wired and loopy however, but I enjoyed the edginess. I think my brain works better on fasting days than on eating days.

I made homemade mac and cheese for J for dinner. Here is what I did:
Sauce:
1.5 cups whole milk
1 cup of grated longhorn cheddar
1 by 2 inch block of velveeta
2-3 tablespoons of Wondra flour
2-3 tablespoons butter.

Put milk, butter and wondra in saucepan. Bring to boil while stirring constantly. Boil for 30 seconds. Remove from heat and cool for 1 minute. Add cheeses and stir until melted. Cook 1/2 box of elbow macaroni until just under done. Mix with sauce, put into a baking dish and top with a little cheese and some bread crumbs. Before baking pasta should be fairly wet with the sauce. Sauce will dry out upon baking so don't be afraid to use a high sauce:pasta ratio. Bake for 20 minutes until a nice crust if formed. Take out of oven and let cool for 5 minutes before serving. Sprinkle with a little paprika for color.

This is a great recipe b/c I used exactly half of the elbows and the cheeses. That way I can make it again without going to the store ( as long as I have milk and butter and Wondra on hand). Oh yea, get Wondra..it is great for sauces and gravies.

This stuff smelled GOOD. I will have to reheat some tomorrow and taste it.

UPDATE #2: Slept like a baby...woke up feeling rested. Ate a bowl of Kashi/Rice dream to break fast. Was like rocket fuel. Now for 2 days of eating...

Fasting day 12 Oct 22 2008-184.5 lbs.

So we have company coming for Friday night and therefore Friday and Saturday will be eat days. So....I am thinking to fast today AND tomorrow so that I can be in synch. We'll see about that but I will definitely fast today.

In anticipation of a two day fast I ate big time yesterday. Pancakes, eggs, bacon (turkey kind) for breakfast, two slices of pizza for lunch, a few chunks of grilled chicken after work, and a steak and baked potato and salad for dinner. Had a bunch of bowls of Kashi puffed grain cereal with rice milk as a late night snack. So I think I have eaten enough for a two day fast. Its funny that I now eat lots of meat and dairy but still retain an affinity for "vegetarian" foods such as rice milk and Kashi cereal. These were foods that I ate on the McDougall plan. I still like them but I really crave MEAT now.

Part of the difficulty of fasting is fear of future hunger but not the actual experience of hunger. For example, when you are fasting you think "I am getting a little hungry and its lunch time. How can I possibly make it for the entire day? I will just be even hungrier later. It will be impossible to fast all day, I should just eat now." Fear of future hunger is what drives us to overeat, I believe, at least sometimes. Perhaps this was an evolutionary mechanism to get as many calories and nutrients as possible when food is available, in anticipation of food being scarce. Once you conquer this fear, fasting is easy. You learn that you don't keep getting hungrier and hungrier as the day goes on and that hunger is manageable. Hunger comes and goes.

Fasting day 11 Oct 20 2008-184.5 lbs

Made a good dinner last night. I like the way my spanish rice is coming out. Here is what I did.

1 cup brown rice
1 can chicken broth
1 16 oz can diced tomatoes, strain out the juice.
Cumin, turmeric, chili powder, salt, pepper.
a little oil.

Put oil in sauce pan and heat up. Add rice and toast it a little, stirring constantly for about 5 minutes. You should start to smell it getting toasty. Add chicken broth and tomatoes and seasonings. Don't put too much turmeric in, just a little to color it. Add a half cup of water. Cover, bring to boil, reduce heat and simmer until rice is done. You can stir it occasionally. If it gets dry before rice is tender then add more water and keep cooking.

I ate this with some grilled chicken breasts marinated in margarita mix, tequila, olive oil (equal parts each), garlic powder, onion powder, chili powder and cumin. Oh and some extra lime juice. I marinated them in a food saver canister for 1 hour under vacuum.

Looking forward to a good fasting day although a little groggy this AM.. gee I wonder why.

Fasting day 10 Oct 18 2008-185 lbs

Fasting days are not so bad anymore. Anyone who wants to lose weight and get healthier can do ADF. It is better than dieting because you don't have to hold back on portions or watch what you eat. I cannot believe that I made it to 10 fasting days.

I notice people who munch on junk food and not even think twice about it. Individuals who are clearly overweight. For example, those who snack on chips and stuff while standing in the elevator or on the subway. People are ALWAYS eating. And the stuff they get at the supermarket. ALL packaged junk. The production and packaging of this crap must take tremendous resources. Think of all the energy and money we would save if everyone would just buy a whole chicken and cut it themselves instead of frozen chicken nuggets. Or a potato and cut it and fry up your own fries instead of the packaged kind. Make your own mac and cheese. Make a pot of beans in a crock pot instead of canned refried beans. All you have to do is learn to cook and you will enjoy much fresher and healthier foods. I guess I shouldn't criticize others, I have my weaknesses too. But one thing is clear, our family ate relatively whole foods before I started this crazy ADF routine. Now we eat even better whole foods. And I don't have to eliminate fats or meats like before.

I bought a bathroom scale at Target. Never had one before. So now I will be weighing myself and posting every fasting day. Maybe I'll make a running graph and display it on the page. It will be nice to see the downward trend in my weight. My goal weight will be 170 so I have 15 pounds to go. Shouldn't be too hard.

Yesterday I made the best beef stew in my pressure cooker. If you don't have one of these....get one. I use mine all the time for pinto beans, chicken or vegetable stock, stews, etc. It takes a fraction of the time to cook these things in a PC. Here is the recipe for beef stew.

1 lb. stew meat.
One medium potato peeled and cut into 1 inch pieces
Two or three carrots peeled and sliced
Two celery stalks sliced
One medium onion diced.
McCormicks Stew Seasoning (okay so I cheated a little)

Dredge meat in flour and brown on all sides in pressure cooker in oil. Once brown add 1.5 cups water and half packet of seasoning and put on lid. Bring to pressure and cook for 25 minutes or so. Release pressure and add vegetables. Bring back up to pressure and cook for 20 minutes more. Release pressure and serve. This was enough for 3 people easy.

I like ADFing b/c usually i woun't eat beef stew as it was not part of any particular diet plan I happened to be on. For example, on low carb you can't have potatoes. On McDougall you can't eat meat or oil. Now I can eat it. Pizza also. There is NO diet plan that allows that!

Fasting day 9 Oct 16 2008

Fasting for a whole day is getting easier. Got to remember to bring a sweater to work b/c you get COLD while fasting esp your hands and feet.