Day 10?

It's the tenth of the month, so I guess I'm calling this Day 10, right? Is that how this works? My mind is a hazy fog of beans.

I'm getting worse at tracking my food, at least the quantities. If anyone has any advice on other slow-carb friendly things I should be eating, or what I might be doing wrong, please don't hesitate to tell me. If it wasn't for this blog I think I would have quit this yesterday, but I'm plowing through for the sake of posterity. I've been stressed out the past couple of days, and it culminated last night with me consuming over nine servings of refried black beans covered in Daiya cheese, a decent amount of wine, and most of a bag of sugar-free Chick-O-Sticks. I just ate the last two "sticks" as I wrote that sentence.

I intended to take supplements while on the diet, as well as exercising, but I quit my exercise routine not long before I started the diet, and I have only taken my supplement regimen once this month. I don't think I'm "slow-carbing" for any reason beyond pure will now.

One positive thing is I'll be off work next week, so I'll have time to be more creative in the kitchen. One thing I've noticed about Timothy Ferriss' slow-carb, David Zinczenko's "abs diet," and the recipes on Scooby's workshop is that they all assume those interested in the diet either can't cook or don't want to cook. While doing slow-carb, I have found myself really frustrated trying to come up with things to make. On a somewhat related note, I'm starting to think this diet is just not good for vegans. I'm already not following it to a "T" since Tim-Tim is anti-soy and apparently anti-gluten. His position on those might be more nuanced than that, but I am in the later stages of black-bean poisoning, so I do not have the physical or cognitive energy to pick up a book and read about the finer points of T-Ferr's mystical views on plant proteins.

In case you were curious, this package of bean flakes I made mine from last night says nine servings is about 30 ounces of beans. Wait, so, like, two pounds?

And now for the food:

(Should I be drinking more water? I think so. With all this f---ing fiber. Should this blog be "G-rated?" The verdict is still out for me. I'm inclined to say 'no.')


June 6

• 40 oz. water
• 2 Boca patties with spaghetti sauce and mozzarella Daiya cheese
• 1 spoon of almond butter
• 1 cup goji tea
• 1 cup ginger tea
• handful of carrots
• tempeh with canned spinach concoction (Canned spinach makes me sad.)
• 1 cup of coffee
• 1 cup ginger/green tea (I put one bag of each in a cup.)
• 1/2 caffeine pill (This isn't food, but I think it's important to include. I woke up at 2am and stayed up for the following 24 hours that day/those days.)
• 1/2 package of Tofurky pepperoni
• 32 oz. of Diet Dr. Pepper
• 1 oz. almonds

June 7

• 44 oz. water
• The other half of that package of pepperoni
• 1/2 caffeine pill
• can of black beans with fresh salsa and a Boca patty on top
• cup of green tea
• 1 oz. almonds
• Leftover tempeh/spinach with fresh salsa and two Boca patties
• 2 stuffed mushrooms, filled with some kind of soy/gluten sausage -- no bread crumbs or anything else grainy
• carrots, celery, and broccoli dipped alternatively in ranch dip or hummus
• the equivalent of one can of Hansen's diet cola with about three shots of vodka

June 8

• broccoli and hummus
• 2 oz. bag of Planter's peanuts
• 4 plain Boca patties microwaved (2 each at the beginning and end of day)
• 32 oz. of water (I hope it was more than that. I don't think I'm doing a good job tracking water intake.)
• sweet and sour tofu, broccoli, mushrooms (So, I ate sugar. I don't think it was too much though. I'm pretty sure it was the best option at Whole Foods at the time.)
• 16 oz. of black tea
• refried black beans with diced tomatoes, jalapenos, cheddar Daiya, and Tofutti sour cream
• carrots and hummus

June 9

• refried black bean stew leftovers with fresh salsa and Daiya
• 32 oz. water
• 1 oz. almonds
• can of black beans, pack of tempeh, salsa, Daiya
• 16 oz. of green/cranberry tea
• an obscene amount of refried black beans -- which is to say, over one and a half packages of Santa Fe Bean Company "Instant Fat Free, Black Refried Beans" -- with mozzarella Daiya and collard greens (I accidentally put a lot of basil in my beans. I didn't read the label and thought it was oregano. I do not recommend.)
• 8 oz. of red wine with 8 oz. of diet tonic water
• at least a dozen bite-size, sugar-free Chick-O-Sticks

This doesn't seem healthy to me. It looks and feels heavy, artificial, and dull. After I finish slow-carb, I think I may try the McDougall diet. It's a vegan diet, probably similar to Engine 2, in terms of promoting whole foods and eliminating added fat.  Or maybe I should do Engine 2. My sister and her husband did it a while back and I remember them having a lot of success.

Maybe this is exactly how I should be feeling since it's been six days in a row, and this should be the eve of my cheat day. However, since I'm off next week, I wanted to share a cheat day with my friend Brian, who does his on Wednesday. Also, by cheating on a weekday, I can go to the Thai House all-you-can-eat lunch buffet. Yea noodles! Emily the Raw Vegan is doing her cheats on Saturdays I think, but I don't know if she's actually doing the diet still. As far as I know, all she eats are bean sprouts and raw rice protein.

Sorry for the delay in this post. I hope it was worth it.