After eating 6 pounds of corn tortillas last week, I felt like eating a pound of bread yesterday. I picked up this rye loaf from Bread & Cie on University, near 5th. I ate 500g of it for dinner, with an avocado, tomato, some onion and butter. I also had some bean & vegetable soup, and all of it must have totaled near 2000 calories. It felt like the right amount of food, after a pretty serious bike ride that morning.
Month / July 2014
Neon Ride
Thanks to Jamie and Jeff for organising the Neon Ride Bike Party tonight through Kensingston with a lot of lights, glow sticks, and fun. I saw a few guys I know from the Awarewolfs, and met a few more fixed riders I didn’t know before. There were about 40+ of us, and it was like being in a parade. All the people in the bars waved and cheered.
Fresh Corn Tortillas
I bought 3 lbs of fresh corn tortillas from a Barrio Logan grocery, and have been eating them warmed up, with a little butter, over the last few days. They’re pretty good, but I might try to find even thicker, doughier ones, or make my own from masa harina. I dab some water on the tortillas before I heat them up in the pan, which give them that just-made steaminess.
I pretty much ate a pound of these a day (450g/day) until they were gone. I ate a few with beans, but mostly I ate them with a little bit of butter. Usually, my rule is to eat my starches with fiber (e.g., lots of vegetables), but these were really good with just a bit of fat 🙂 Luckily, I still lost weight over the last few days, so they can’t be that bad for you.
Paleo Snack
When I was 10, a good sugary breakfast cereal was the most important thing in the world. Now, 40 years later, I have to force myself to choke it down. But, it’s Paleo, so I thought I’d give it a try. (Careful, Fruity Pebbles are not Paleo.)
I haven’t eaten this kind of thing for 30 years. It’s funny how important this was to us as kids, on a visceral, existential level. When your kids scream that they have to have it, they’re not kidding. You could not reason with me back then over this (look, it’s Wholesome!). And if you instead bought the generic store-brand sweetened cocoa-flavoured puffed rice, I would have had an epic temper tantrum.
I wonder what Post paid for the licensing rights to use the Flinstone characters for their cereals. I wonder how much of that Fred Flintstone actually saw.
Foratini al Pomodoro
I was hungry for a big plate of pasta today, so I headed down to Assenti’s to pick up some fresh noodles and roma tomatoes. I made the sauce the traditional way (blanched the romas and removed the seedy part; puréed them, and fried it up in olive oil seasoned with garlic and fresh basil). I ate 200g of the pasta, which probably totaled around 500 calories. The thick, doughy noodles really hit the spot. If you don’t know by now, this is how I lose weight.
One Loaf, One Sitting
Here’s the problem with a loaf of white bread. It’s not the gluten, and it’s not the 42 chromosomes. It’s the 500g (1.1 lb) serving size. Of course, I didn’t intend to eat the whole thing in 15 minutes, but when it’s soft and fluffy with no fiber to slow you down, and there’s a couch and a tv, what do you expect to happen?
There may be something to that “insulin spike”, because I felt sick after eating it, and crawled into bed to sleep it off. A few hours later, I woke up dehydrated and regretful. The good thing is that at 1500 calories, it’s not too much more than my normal 1000+ calorie dinner. But I’d never feel sick like this after eating 1500 calories of my normal, unprocessed food.
Lesson learned, I’m not going to buy a loaf of white-flour bread again. I never see any dark, heavy whole-wheat loaves, so I guess I’ll stick to rye and pumpernickel.
Top Ramen Lunch
I thought I’d take the time to actually cook the Top Ramen noodles for once (instead of eating it out of the bag), and made a nice, healthy 400-calorie lunch. Does this look fattening to a low-carber? I bought this kale yesterday, at a fellow shopper’s suggestion. She said to sauté it in “ghee or coconut oil” (cult alert!). She obviously wanted me to ask her what ghee was, so she could tell me about her Paleo diet, but I didn’t bite. I said I just had “regular oil”. I admitted it was canola oil. Luckily, she didn’t give me the omega-6 lecture. I told her I was going to eat it with Udon noodles, and she just smiled and bit her tongue.
What is it with this internet echo-chamber?! Before, a new fad diet would have to be relatively simple (i.e., “carbs are bad”). Now, with the internet, blogs, and message boards, these diets are incredibly specific. I have to sauté in grass-fed ghee? I have to limit my protein intake because of glycogenesis in the liver? I have to avoid exposure to all artificial light sources while I sleep?
Oh well, if you want effective magic, you have to follow all the steps exactly as written in the spell book.
Mt. Laguna via Kitchen Creek
I joined the Gitman-Holland club ride up Kitchen Creek to Mt. Laguna, just to see if I could do it on my Cinelli fixed 48×16. The answer is, “yes, but it hurts”. The ride covered 93km, with 1800m of vertical climbing. The main Kitchen Creek climb was 21km with typical 5% – 6% gradient hills, and a 0.8km section @ 11%. Ouch. I hung with the guys for the first 15km of climbing, then finished up at my own pace. We all re-grouped at the store on the top of the climb, and everyone gave me kudos for the effort.
I’ve lost 24kg so far, but will still lose another 10kg. So, at 70kg, my power:weight ratio should be 11% higher than today. That’ll really help up the hills.
I burned 3000+ calories, so I thought I’d try some fast food back in Pine Valley (population 1,408). A bunch of bikers-for-Jesus on their Harley’s were eating there. I ordered a hamburger and fries. It was okay, but I only ate half the fries (from frozen). I still prefer my own cooking, with the complex tastes of fresh ingredients. So I made some chicken fajitas when I got home.
1000 Calorie Salad
I make my famous Chinese Ginger-Sesame Salad two or three times a week. I chop up a yellow bell pepper, two green onions, cilantro, a carrot, a head of napa cabbage, some purple cabbage, a tangerine, a bag of crushed Top Ramen, and a bag of crushed roasted almonds, all by hand. It takes a while, but it’s worth it. I make the dressing with minced ginger and garlic, lemon juice, rice vinegar, toasted sesame seeds, salt, pepper, 10g of sugar, and 15g of toasted sesame oil.
All together, there’s about 1000 calories in the salad, including 25g of protein, and 45g of fat. I eat it all in one sitting. If I’m still hungry afterwards, it’s real hunger, since the bulk of the salad and fibre do it’s best to fill up the stomach.
Mt. Soledad Sunday
Thought I’d take the long way to spin class, so I mashed up the 5.4k, 4.6% climb to Mt. Soledad this morning. I’d never climbed it before, but I scoped it out on Strava, and knew what to expect. (Short 8% sections hurt riding 48×16 fixed, but are bearable.) The cross is now part of a federal war memorial. From 250m of elevation, I saw some nice views of the city under the morning mist.
I probably burned about 1500 calories this morning, and went right to the stove when I got back home. I fried up a burger from 100g of grass-fed organic beef (my first time trying it), and ate it on a whole-wheat bun with avocado, onions, tomatoes, and a bunch of dark greens. I guess it would have been Paleo if I didn’t use a wheat bun. And it would have been vegan if I used a veggie burger patty. Like it matters.
Two Pounds of Starch A Day 