Cool Tip: Fast Metabolism Diet Diary ~ Week 2

Time For a Change! Week 2 of the Fast Metabolism Diet

Week 2

Here’s the Week 2 Meal Map.

Monday (Phase 1)

Big weigh-in day: Kennedy lost about 8 pounds and I lost about 4. (It is the sad truth that when a man and woman start a diet together, the man usually loses more weight faster than the woman--this is an immutable fact… and it ticks me off!)

OK, a new week and a new Meal Map. Back to fruit and grains.

Breakfast was Cinnamon Quinoa with Sliced Strawberries. We made this in the Rice&Grain Cooker (which is getting a tremendous workout on the diet), using rice milk, and the results were surprisingly tasty. This will probably be a keeper after the diet.

Mid-morning snack was a half papaya each with lime squeezed on it.

Lunch was the rest of the Cumin Beef Kebab, but this time over brown basmati rice to get our grains in. The vegetables were the mushrooms and onions on the kebab, with a pear for our fruit dessert. Note: you get a fruit dessert at lunch, but not at dinner.

Our mid-afternoon fruit snack was fresh pineapple. It’s actually nice to have an excuse to eat fresh fruit: we don‘t always think to do that, and we love it.

Dinner was London Broil with Lime Garlic Ginger Marinade again, and we liked it just as much this time. Again we served it over fresh arugula from our garden, and we didn’t feel deprived with only 4 ounces of meat. BTW we bought the prime top sirloin at Costco, and it’s a wonderful cut of meat for both these dishes. (See our Cool Tip: Against the Grain… on how to slice meat, and Cool Tip: The Steak Gauge at the End of Your Arm to determine when your grilled meat is done to your taste.)

Lessons Learned:

►There are some really good recipes on this diet, that we’ll make after the diet is over.
►A prime piece of a slightly lesser cut of meat can be tastier than a choice cut of a better cut of meat.

Tuesday (Phase 1):

By copying over the Meal Map from the last week, we get ideas for this week, and several of the dishes bare repeating, particularly when it’s a week apart. So we had Cinnamon Ginger Peaches on Sprouted Grain Toast again, and enjoyed it just as much… nice texture and flavor contrast.

Mid-morning snack was Kennedy’s favorite: fresh pineapple, and it really is a lot easier if you cut it out of the rind with a Pineapple Cutter.

Lunch was the Cilantro-lime Pork Taco without the taco (who knew sprouted grain tortillas would spoil if not refrigerated?). So we had it over arugula and added some sprouted grain toast as our grain. And more fresh pineapple, which made Kennedy very happy.

I had a meeting that afternoon, so I used an old trick of my sister’s when her kids were young: apple in a baggy. Just slice the apple (with an apple divider) and put it into a baggy. For little kids, it’s a portable snack. For me, it was a portable healthy snack as well, and I could eat it while driving to my meeting. Kennedy finished the pineapple.

Dinner, once again, was London Broil with Lime Garlic Ginger Marinade over fresh arugula. Nothing more to say about this dish, except that this is a keeper recipe.

Lessons Learned:

►Read the package for any new product to see if it has to be refrigerated… duh!
►Copy the Meal Map over from one week to the next to get started

Wednesday (Phase 2):

We’re pretty much getting phase 2 nailed. It’s all about protein and vegetables and really nothing else. So we started the day again with Diced Jicama with Turkey Bacon and Lime. We had diced the whole jicama last week in the Big Mouth Chopper, and it had kept remarkably well in a Nest Storage container. So all we had to do was microwave the turkey bacon on the Microwave Grill for one minute per slice, chop it up, add lime juice and zest and we were ready to go.

Snacks in this phase are protein, so you can have a piece of deli meat, or, as we did, make your own Turkey Jerky. This was really good, and relatively easy. We’re also thinking that this would be a good snack to take on a flight because it’s portable, tasty and healthy.

Lunch was a reprise of the Bacon Meatballs with spicy tomato sauce and 1-minute asparagus (wash, break off the bottoms, put them in a Steam Case and cook for 1 minute in the microwave...Perfect!)

Turkey Jerky again for afternoon snack and then Margarita Pork Tenderloin with asparagus for a delicious dinner.

Lessons Learned:

►It’s cool, easy and healthy to make your own turkey jerky
►Asparagus cooked in the Steam Case tastes even better than grilled asparagus--not sure why, but it’s true

Thursday (Phase 2):

Breakfast and mid-morning snack were a repeat of yesterday.