072 Slow Carb Diet Breakfast

Just above is my usual breakfast: broiled eggs, broccoli, spinach, Korean kimchi. Ah, and a mug of black coffee, but that's old news.

I used to grab my first cigarette upon waking up ; now I cook a bit.

The point here: think of breakfast as a regular meal, like lunch or dinner, eat consequently, and you'll find it much easier to sustain the pace and keep wants in check.

Cheers!

071 What to Eat How to Cook: More Low Carb Menus

We'll now introduce a few ideas for some fun and variety within an ingredient-limited low carb diet menu. If you missed them, here are the basics, here is the detail.

Of course, this is no necessity, but you should try and give a thought not only to what you can cook and eat, but also how you can cook it. Make a habit of it. Creating new habits unrelated to cigarette helps a lot in driving it out of your head!

Quick links:
Minced meat
Fish

Minced meat is great — be it beef, pork or chicken — because of its texture, which mixes well with virtually any minced / mashed ingredients. A few examples:

With minced carrot, ginger root, garlic.
And the result:

A variant with minced carrot / onion, natto + spinach + broccoli as sidekicks:

Add some tofu for a fresh taste on the top:

Cooked well-done, for a crispy feeling:

Fish is often forgotten in low CH2O menus.
For protein, don't focus on meat only: tuna, for instance, makes a nice change from those chicken breasts (steak with soy sauce, & canned, below).
Besides, it is a precious source of calcium.

Sidekicks: spinach, broccoli, tofu / beans, corn, mixed veggies, eggs.

If you trust your fishmonger / fish vendor, sashimi is alway a great treat.
And don't forget wasabi ; ) 

07 Low Carb Diet Menus

A reminder of what you should & shouldn't eat:

SHOULDs: proteins (eggs, meat, fish), legumes (beans, lentils), vegetables (spinach, broccoli, lettuce, etc.), lots of liquid (water, tea, and coffee with moderation as digestion enhancer)

SHOULDNOTs: food & drink containing carbohydrates/CH2O (all starch, bread, pasta, cereals, rice, potatoes, beer, etc.), among which fructose (fruit juice, fruits except avocado & tomato with moderation)

That may not seem too sexy, but there's actually a whole lotta combinations. That said, simple is always best. Single out a few things you like, and rotate through the week. Here's what I eat & rotate through, for instance:

Protein: eggs / chicken breast / tofu / beef (minced, steak) / pork (thinly sliced, minced) / fish (any sort, raw in sashimi, cooked or grilled, canned tuna)
Legumes: natto / red & black beans in different forms
Vegetables: spinach, broccoli, lettuce, onion, carrot, renkon & other local (Japanese) veggies & picked vegetables
Drinks: coffee (x3/4 mugs/day), water & tea (gyokuro, sencha, maccha, hojicha, all green teas, mate & Western teas as well, ca. 2 l/day)

Two chicken breast favorites & perfect examples of what you can do / cook / eat while on the low-CH2O diet. Super quick & easy to prep.

1) chicken breast + broiled eggs on the top of boiled spinach + fresh natto (fermented beans)

2) chicken breast again, natto & boiled broccoli (with stem of course)

We'll add more menus and ideas later.

Also, remember to throw in light exercise in-between meals (ideally shortly before & 1h30 after), to trigger off muscle growth.

Don't forget — it's very important — to binge (& purge ;) on anything you want for at least one meal and up to one day per week, to prevent metabolism to adjust to the new regime. My day-off is Saturday and here was my breakfast this morning:

2 mugs of coffee, 2 glasses of grapefruit juice, 6 doughnuts (4 choco / 2 sugar — the remaining 2 sugar donuts will be for a light afternoon snack ; ), one chocolate 'melon-pan', one portion of cheese cake, yoghurt with home-made apple jam. That's pretty much it. ; )

And?

Two weeks after quitting smoking & having started the diet: same weight, lower bodyfat %, higher muscle mass.

There was on average a couple of days per week on which I didn't follow the diet (unconvenient working hours, overlapping with meal schedule, impossible to have a decent meal while working: sweets & snacks). But that's all right, the main point is here: not touched a cigarette since, and very minimal craving to do so — but sugarlust at times. So far so good.

More detailed menus next.