Go Fast!

Somehow, in the middle of another hellishly hectic working week, I managed to successfully fast for THIRTY-SIX HOURS without a hitch or a hint of hunger! Huzzah! I will definitely be working more fasts into my week, since I feel so good without having to worry about food and I have proved it to myself now that my body is more than capable of burning my stored body fat efficiently enough to keep my energy levels at an acceptable level. The only level at which I noticed the lack of food was on the emotional level - the staff is heavily over-worked this term, and I'm on the metaphorical front-lines since I have a number of additional commitments, so even though I haven't really been over-eating (thanks to going meat-only), I have been taking pleasure in food on the emotional level. This aspect has bitten me in the bum a bit this weekend, since meat wasn't terribly accessible, but I'll get to that later...

I'm heading into the last week of term, starting with Parent-Teacher Interviews tomorrow, lots of rehearsals, and busy evenings, but then I have two weeks off and we'll be away from home a lot, so the ability to comfortably fast will be of great benefit when accessing good meat is difficult. And having a chance to relax is desperately required!

Wednesday

FAST! Begun after dinner on Tuesday, broken at breakfast on Thursday.


Thursday

Bacon & scrambled eggs - breaking the fast with a traditional favourite:


And with a massive afternoon and evening, running from commitment to commitment, I cooked up a few pork-based snags from Jonathan's and took them to work with me for lunch and pre-concert dinner. I trust you all know well enough what Jonathan's gorgeous sausages look like by now... :) And I hope that you all, one day, with also get to enjoy what they taste like!

Friday

More snags, plus a trip down memory lane with The Usual - a ham & cheddar omelette (yep, a little bit of cheese - testing out my reaction to goat's cheese!)


After work, tried a different omelette composition for a snack - smoked salmon, and soft goat's cheese - amazing!!


Finally, the beau & I sat down to a plate each of lamb chops and Jonathan's chipollatas


In preparation for a weekend away, I made some 'care treats' for the beau, to help discourage his interest in junk food and sweet treats - I whipped up an experimental concoction of baked goodness using unmeasured amounts of coconut flour (about 1 cup), dessicated coconut (~ 1 cup), unsweetened cocoa (~ 1/2 cup), cacao nibs (~ 1/2 cup), a few eggs, and then a healthy serve of coconut oil and water to make the mix into a semi-liquid. Then I shaped the mix into biscuit-sized blobs, and some into mini-muffin pans, and baked it all for a good half-hour until the mixture was hard on the outside (though it won't cook the same way all the way through - but you don't want raw egg still inside!). After they cooled, I tried them out on the beau, and he roundly approved! No sweetener, no dairy, totally Paleo (though yes, it's Neolithic mimicry, assuming no cultures ground flours pre-wheat agriculture...), and he loved them! In curiousity, I even tried them to see where the enjoyment came from - absolutely delicious! I look forward to more in the future, once the fat levels are back under control.


Saturday

With four hours of public transport travel in front of me, I didn't want food in my belly (I don't do the moving vehicle lavatory thing), so I fasted until I arrived in my home town and met up with family at one of the local pubs. I ordered the tastiest-sounding dish on the menu - beef eye fillet, wrapped in bacon. How could the kitchen get it so wrong?? Limp bacon that hadn't been pre-crisped, and a sad clump of meat that was visually unappetising, and had a fairly average taste despite being served rare, as requested. Boo! (If only I' d had my phone with me!) Plus, I had to watch as my aunt bought chips and battered fish/chicken nuggets to my little cousins, washed down with Neapolitan ice-cream... Noooo! I know what I'll be getting her next Christmas.

Later, after attending a reunion of my old primary school (which was merged with my old high school seven years ago, and had its original buildings demolished), we bought some Chinese food for Dad's birthday dinner (for him), selecting the least icky items from the menu: five-spice quail as an entree, garlic chicken & veg, black bean beef & veg, and prawn & veg, without any rice. Not too bad! For Mum & I, we picked up some smoked salmon, roast chicken, and some cheeses.




See, my parents are renovating their kitchen, and the only cooking implement they have is an electric frying pan which Dad won't allow to be used in the house. This makes cooking things a nightmare of flies and night-time vision impairment. No-cook meals, or microwaveable leftovers are what they're living on at the moment, and will be for the next month or so! As you can tell, this situation was bound to pose a problem to my chosen diet...

Sunday

What to eat?

I ate the last few bits of chicken from last night's roast bird.

I wasn't well-prepared for a fast, as I had a headache from the heat, and without a kitchen, my water sources were the bathroom (where the water has always tasted a bit funny) and the laundry (and who wants to drink water that has come from a sink so close to the toilet?))... How lame am I?! So instead, I tried to get my hydration from food - a cheddar omelette.


Thank goodness for the satiety provided by dietary fat! Although the dairy left me with the munchies, I was able to pull it together and fast (without caloric restriction) for the rest of the day, with its long journey back to Melbourne. And now I'm home, with meats defrosting in the fridge, ready to help support me through the 50 hour working week I have ahead of me - and only around 10 of those hours are NOT face-to-face teaching or meeting times!

See you at the other end...