Day 5 — my IF keto journey
Weight: 76.5 kg
Mood: happy, sleepy
Didn’t get enough sleep last night because we went to sleep later than usual (the stomach pain didn’t help with going to sleep) and because I woke up at 7, as usual, so I had fewer hours of sleep than I’m used to. Not a big deal, though.
The pain is gone, thankfully, and I’m back in the game, with willpower and willingness to keep going at maximum. The morning workout wasn’t exactly easy because at some point the muscles in my right leg started cramping, but it was manageable. It’s a great energizer for the whole day.
My weight went back up a bit, but that’s not a problem, since for the last two weeks before starting keto it stayed at 78 kg. I was a bit worried, to be honest, with just losing weight like that. I want to take it slow, I don’t want to rush things or expect my weight to change so much from one day to the other. Also, it’ normal for me to become quite bloated before my period and it didn’t happen now, maybe because of the keto. We’ll find out in about a month. Until then, I have three days until my first week of keto is done and I’ll be able to see any general changes and decide whether I’d like to continue.
For today, I plan breaking my fast with a big salad. Yesterday we found some huge leafy greens in our little Turkish shop, I have no idea what they are, but they have a nice texture, no discernible smell and they feel just like lettuce in the hand. If you have any idea what this plant is called, please let me know, I’d like to read more about it.
I soaked some hazelnuts and almonds and I’ll mix them up with the lettuce (if that’s what it is), radishes, onions (did I ever mention how much I love onions?), a bit of cheese and some sardines with a dash of lemon juice. Just thinking about it makes me dream about the moment, but not drool. I’m not hungry, I’m just content right now.
I should prepare something for tomorrow, so I’m thinking of making a chicken spread, like we used to make with canned fish. We got some chicken for making into schnitzels, but I’m not in the mood for the frying and the breadcrumbs, so I just came up with this idea. There are some people out there doing this as well, probably, I may not be the only one thinking of replacing the fish with something else. I guess you may be familiar with the fish version in a tuna salad (although I’m not sure whether what you call tuna salad is what I imagine it to be).
My version is what my mom used to make us when we were kids (did I mention I have an older sister?) to add some variety to breakfast and because it’s soooo tasty (fish umami? yes, please). She’d mix a piece of room-temperature butter or margarine (most of the time margarine, the hard kind, used for baking, not the soft kind for spreading, as the spreadable one has so much water in it that everything goes to hell if you ever try to use it), until it was soft (kind-of like when making buttercream, except we almost never made buttercream). Then she’d add the canned fish without the juices (the soup and the oil from the can), keeping those for “dipping”, along with some lemon juice (she also put lemon juice in the “dipping” sauce, it was super tasty when soaking up bread in it, yummy). She’d use the mixer to blend everything together. If it was too crumbly or dry, she’d add some of the drained liquid from the can, until it became a soft, fluffy cream, perfect for spreading on toast or fresh bread. It was perfect with radishes and spring onions and it’s still one of my favorite dishes of all time.
Now I could make this with the chicken, by cooking it quickly on the grill (with the usual spices) and keeping the drippings for hydrating the paste. It would have it all, the freshness, the flavor from the grill, the proteins and fats, the potential to be spread on my never-ending supply of crackers (of which I still have half, how is that even possible) and the ability to be added to anything at any time.
It’s a plan. If it’s successful, I may even take some photos.
Later:
Ugh, not only was I not successful (because I didn’t try), but I was sick for most of the day. It may be a virus, but the keto didn’t help with fighting it (both throat problems and digestive system problems), so I stopped it for the day. I was barely able to make some schnitzels late in the evening, for my hubby, as I was feeling sick while standing.
Going out in the wind and rain was refreshing for a bit, but it didn’t help much (especially because of the speed of the wind, I’m not used to it blowing constantly at over 30–40 km/h). Hopefully the coming days will be better.
I’ll add the photo of the big lettuce when I get enough energy to get it on a computer. See you tomorrow!
