100g is too low, I think. Out of nowhere, I feel very shaky and weak. I’m making flax bread in hopes that it will help. I think low-carb diets only work if you are not very active. I am weak! But I will raise my carb intake to 150g tomorrow and see how that works.

I also have comments enabled again! Speak freely!

I arbitrarily chose to restrict myself to 100g of carbs per day. It sounded like a lot to me, but trust me, it’s not. However, I could already feel that I didn’t crave food as much during the day as I usually do. I’m someone with a sweet tooth to an extreme; I love candy and chocolate. Ennui at work or at home usually leads me into random snacking. But those empty carbs (of course - they’re mostly sugar) leave me craving more complex carbs that I try to sate with more sweets.

You’ll see that I got weak at the end and had to succumb to my chocolate craving, just a little. If this keeps up during the whole week, I’m probably going to wind up eating a whole cake when I’m done.

breakfast:
unflavored soy yogurt: 7.5g 1/2c
kashi golean crunch cereal in honey almond flax: 14g 1/2c
matévana tea with 1tsp sugar 2x: 2g 32oz

breakfast total: 23.5g

lunch:
a salad -
lettuce: 4g 2c
newman’s own oil & vinegar dressing: 1g 2tbsp
mushrooms: 1g 3oz (though i doubt i put 3oz of mushrooms in this salad)
grape tomatoes: 4g 9toms
walnuts: 2g 1/8c
seitan: 8g 3oz (i really don’t know what 3oz of seitan is but again i doubt i put that much in there)
water: 0g (duh)

lunch total: 20g

snack:
1 medium red delicious apple with skin: 17g

snack total: 17g

dinner:
breads for life sprouted wheat bread 2x: 8g 2pcs
seitan: 8g 3oz (i probably used about 3oz for this one)
hoisin sauce: 12g 1tbsp (fucking yikes! i didn’t look before i used.)
tofutti cream cheese: 2g 2tbsp
sweet & spicy chai tea blend, no sugar: 0g

dinner total: 30g

“dessert”:
celery: 1.5g 1 stalk
small amount of chocolate chips: ~8g (this is purely an approximation - there are 26g per 1/4c of chocolate chips and i ate like, 11 of them.)

dessert total: 9.5g

day total: 100g!

Being vegan means that I have to look at the ingredients of everything to make sure that there is no egg or dairy or gelatin in it. That’s pretty much become second nature. However, searching for items with little carbs in them and/or trying to figure out how many effective carbs would be in a serving and if it would be worth it was a whole new ballgame. I think it would be advantageous to many people if they switched up their diet and restricted different things every once in a while, just to learn.

I’m doing a low-carb vegan diet for one week. For whatever reason I decided to stay up until 2am last night researching it. It sounds absurdly restrictive, and I’ve been feeling rather drowsy and sick post-meal lately, which a low-carb diet should solve. I am going to try it, just to see if the benefits listed do actually occur. There are many scientifically demonstrated benefits, such as decreased blood pressure, decreased insulin sensitivity, weight loss, etc. The ones I am interested in are as follows:

Increased energy
Cravings for sweets gone or much less
Better mental concentration; no “brain fog”
Improved mood; emotions more even
”Compulsive” or “emotional” eating gone
Improved dental hygiene (less dental plaque; improved gum health)

Reached a good fermentation stage roughly 54 hours after start. It smells tremendously spoiled, but doesn’t taste as sour as I thought it would. I may let it sit a little bit longer next time, but I am very pleased with this batch. It tastes a bit like sourdough, which makes me think that it can be topped with basically anything that tastes good as a sandwich or toast. My first bowl was topped with some cinnamon sugar, which was reminiscent of cinnamon rolls. I may try garlic next, to see if I can imitate garlic bread, but I’m not a huge fan of savory breakfasts.

NEED

1/2lb. pitted medjool dates, handful of almonds, handful of walnuts, handful of desiccated & finely shredded coconut, 1tbsp of cocoa powder.

DO

- chop nuts until finely chopped. You do not want them ground into a powder, but as small as you can bear.
- place into a bowl along with the coconut and cocoa powder. Mix together until everything is coated in the cocoa.
- microwave the dates for 45 seconds or so. This softens them up so it’s easier to mash them with your fork.
- once the dates are smashed into a resistant paste, add your other ingredients and mix well.
   I recommend using the fork to combine everything and a plastic spatula to remove it from the bowl.
- this next part is tricky. I used a square pan to help mold my bars. Place the mixture into plastic wrap, cover and press into shape. I pushed it against the sides and against the bottom of the pan to get that nice bar shape.
- let sit in the cellophane. You can either throw them in the fridge or leave them sitting out. I left them alone for maybe three hours in the fridge, but I don’t think it’s really necessary.
- cut and consume!

Insert cheap dates joke here.

On another note, my Oativia* is coming along nicely. It’s starting to get a little sour, like a light yogurt-y aftertaste. I’m letting it ferment just a little bit more overnight and hopefully I can have some for breakfast tomorrow!

*- a friend of mine told me that I had a mission to find a better name than “oatgurt”. And I agreed, because it is pretty dumb. So Oativia it is.

I never find this to be a problem and welcome any challenges to better myself as a chef. If Sandra Lee met Grant Achatz and had Isa Chandra as a surrogate, that’s my kitchen personality. Experimenting with ready-made mixes and various vegan tools to make strange food is a pastime of mine. I’ve gotten lucky in that it’s never been unpalatable or unsalvageable but some definitely turn out better than others.

During work, in the midst of the afternoon ennui that settles in when clients don’t show up, I was dreaming of Larabars, cake and Cheerios. I remembered that there were box yellow cake mixes in the cupboard this morning, along with my egg replacer. A brief stop at the Health Hut after work to sate my Larabar craving (of which I will be making a version on Friday!) and I was home. After making a sandwich, I prepared the cake and threw it in the oven. 40 minutes later plus a 10 minute cooling session, and I cut in. It was extremely fluffy and soft, and the taste was light and sugary on my tongue. Exactly like angel food cake!

A word to the wise - parchment paper under your cake batter will allow for more concrete pieces.

I can only imagine that an angel food cake mix would result in something like cotton candy.