Starting the year with a long fast

When 2019 started I was ready to focus again on my health goals without holiday distractions. I decided to attempt a 240 hour (ten day fast) the first ten days of the year. Previously my longest fast was 75 hours but I was ready to challenge myself.

It went fine (not easy but doable) until the end of the 9th day when I started to feel seriously, weirdly unwell and I made the decision to break my fast. It was the best decision. I completed 214 hours of fasting. I feel very proud and very happy to be done with it.

I did lose 8 pounds during the fast bringing my total weight loss to 51.4 pounds. I am hoping the fast contributed toward healing my insulin resistance.  I also hope shorter fasts will now be much easier going forward.

I am not sure that I will ever do such a long fast again but I can see 3 and 5 day fasts in my future.

A recount of Stage 3 of my current health journey

Stage 3 started with a close friend's birthday late October and continued through the end of the year. 

During this time I ended up eating out a lot, and frequently not by choice. I learned how to fast after eating restaurant food full of hidden carbs and sugar in order to return to balance.

I learned how to fast longer times up to 75 hours. I learned to eat more fats to balance out the fasting and deal with cravings. I kept on weight-lifting. I navigated meals for my birthday, Thanksgiving, long weekend in NYC and the winter holidays without losing my mind. I shopped thrift stores for smaller clothing. I weighed myself every day. I recorded all numbers. I made lists of accomplishments and motivational sayings.

I decided to invest in a keto mojo monitor so I would know when I was or was not in ketosis. I learned how to prick my finger to take measurements. I kept track of my morning blood sugar numbers and calculated my daily GKI ratio. I could no longer kid myself about the effect a meal out had on me. I decided to stop drinking alcohol for the duration. I did not try for perfection but I did strive for awareness and clarity.

Early in Stage 3 I entered onderland with much rejoicing. By the end of the year I had lost 44 pounds total in 22 weeks.

The next stage (4) is the current stage.

A recount of Stage 2 of my current health Journey

Mid-September of 2018 I changed up several things in my health quest and I continue to do them today.

I started super-slow strength training. I have wanted to do this kind of training with a trainer for years. I view this as a fun thing I can now do thanks to more time in my schedule.

I added a few more foods back into my eating plan. I eat olives, avocados, cauliflower, spinach, mushrooms, 100% baking chocolate and other LC choices although my meals are still primarily fat, meat, seafood and eggs.

I started fasting to heal my insulin resistance. (see any of Dr. Jason Fung's books if you are interested in the science or 'why' behind this) At first I panicked when I didn't eat for 24 hours but I kept plugging away at it.  I learned that eating is mostly habit for me. After all I have months of stored energy available to me on my body. Do I ever feel true hunger?

I also learned how to plan better and dealt with many (too many) restaurant meals. Planning ahead for me is key. I started tracking my strength training numbers as well. Got on the scale everyday

By the end of another 6 or so weeks I was down another 14 pounds and I lost 4 inches on my waist, 8 inches on my hips. I dug out smaller clothing I had put away. My edema was mostly gone and my blood pressure was back to normal.

Lots of positive outcomes but I was dreading the start of the holiday season which for me starts at the end of October.

Stage 3 recount coming up

A recount of Stage 1 of my current health journey

Apparently I have a strange idea of fun because shortly after writing the previous post I decided I had time to focus once again on weight loss. This was 5+ months ago.
          
My goals: lose 100 pounds [or so], get way more energy [lots more], get rid of edema, lower inflammation and heal my insulin resistance.
     
To get myself into ketosis as quickly as possible I ate meat, seafood, eggs, a little cheese, mayonnaise and coffee and tea for 6 weeks. I removed all sugars including fruit and sweeteners including stevia. I took baseline measurements of waist, hips, bust and thigh. I weighed myself every day. I tracked all these numbers on a spreadsheet. 

I lost 15 pounds and went into ketosis. (fat-burning mode). My breath smelled so bad - mint essential oils were a necessity.

I know I need to document my health efforts else I become lazy and mindless. So I am going to do so here for 2019.

Stage 2 recount to come.

The past 3 plus years

Where have I been the past 3 years?  The simple answer: Graduate School.

Why didn't I post while in school? Truth: In my experience blogging is more fun than classwork. If I wanted to complete all of my writing assignments I had to limit the distraction of other writing.  So I did. 

All of my classwork is done and I have my final project to complete. I feel that I can start slowly adding fun things back into my life. This may only be a couple of posts a month but I am delighted to have some time to do old things I like to do.

Whole Lemon Mousse

It was a revelation for me when I first made this tart. One uses the entire lemon!  I loved that idea, not only does it save time, it tastes great and using the whole lemon gives you the highest amount of nutrition from the fruit so there is added smugness as a bonus.  :) The only modifications I make to Deb's recipe is replacing the sugar with honey [and less of it], thickening with tapioca instead of corn starch and using a grain free crust.

However what if you do not want to turn on the oven? It is high summer and simply too hot for ovens.

This led me to scouring the internet for a whole lemon mousse or curd. Which I could not find. So I created my own using the above recipe as inspiration. 

Some notes:

Buy an organic lemon if you can, remember you are eating the entire thing. Those with thinner skins [less white pith] will work best.  A food processor or high speed blender is needed to grind up the lemon. When I make my tapioca slurry for thickening I shake it in a jar.

This makes a tart lemon mousse, serve it with berries for extra sweetness if you desire.

Ingredients:

1 organic lemon
I cup of honey
4 large eggs
2 T tapioca flour
pinch of salt

1 cup of heavy cream

Method:

Slice off and discard the two pointed ends of the lemon.
Slice the lemon into thin rounds and remove the seeds.
Process lemon rounds and honey until lemon is pureed.
Add eggs and process until smooth.
Pour this mixture into saucepan except 
Combine 1/4 cup of mixture with the tapioca flour to make a slurry.
Add tapioca slurry back to mixture in saucepan and stir.
Heat over medium heat. Watch carefully - it thickens quickly and scorches easily.
When thick remove mixture from heat, stir then chill through.

You now have a whole lemon version of lemon curd. To make mousse continue on...

Whip the heavy cream until peaks form.
Stir a large spoonful of heavy cream into chilled curd.
Then fold the rest of the heavy cream gently into curd.
Chill [again] until firm.
Serve with strawberries or other fruit as you desire and enjoy.

Sweets without using your oven.

Tuna Salad with Cherries?

We have a abundance of pie cherries again this year and it has been heavenly.  Not only have I given pounds away to family and friends but I am always finding new ways to use them.

This year I perfected a cherry tart with an almond crust which I love. This took quite a bit of work and a lot of tart eating. [poor us!]

Sometimes though the ideas come easily.  Today I put together a tuna salad with -- tuna, mayo, capers, chopped celery and fennel. It tasted good but it tasted fantastic when I threw in a huge handful of pitted pie cherries and ate it with sweet potato chips. The sour salty salad was fabulous with the sweet-ish chips. I meant to take a photo but it is already gone.

Oh well - I must remember for next year.