If that’s the case, why do I want to start the Slow-Carb Diet?  On Tim’s blog, I read a guest post by Robb Wolf called “How to Keep Feces out of Your Bloodstream (or Lose 10 pounds in 14 days)“.  The information on digestion and improving digestion were fascinating to me.  Since moving back to Oregon, good food, healthy eating, cooking, gardens, and ways to improve my body have become important to me.  I believe we are what we eat and I’m slowly starting to become more conscious of how different foods affect me.  About a year ago, I had a severe reaction to something I ate.  I had huge hives from head to toe for about 3 days and was in a stages of agony and disgust at the welts on my body.  To this day, I still don’t know what caused it, but I assume it was food because everything else was as it always was.

I’m trying this experiment for five reasons:

1. Better digestion? I’ve felt more bloated and gassy since being back in the States.  Until recently, I didn’t make the connection that the foods I love could be doing this to me.  Upon coming back in 2009, I heard the term “gluten-free” for the first time and thought it was just another hippie trend.  After finding out what it was, I learned that some people had better digestion and more energy after cutting it out from their diet.  I don’t have Celiacs disease, but I want to know what foods are a good fit for me.
2. I like challenges. I wonder if I have enough self-control to do this for a month.
3. It’s only a month. If I don’t like it, I can go back to my regularly scheduled programming on March 1st.
4. It’s relatively easy. These are foods I’d be eating anyway.  Plus, there’s one cheat day to eat anything you want.
5. Moral support. W is going to do it too, so it’ll be fun to compare our progress.

Here are the five rules:

Rule #1: Avoid “white” carbohydrates

Avoid any carbohydrate that is — or can be — white. The following foods are thus prohibited, except for within 1.5 hours of finishing a resistance-training workout of at least 20 minutes in length: bread, rice, cereal, potatoes, pasta, and fried food with breading. If you avoid eating anything white, you’ll be safe.

Rule #2: Eat the same few meals over and over again

The most successful dieters, regardless of whether their goal is muscle gain or fat loss, eat the same few meals over and over again. Mix and match, constructing each meal with one from each of the three following groups:

Proteins:
Egg whites with one whole egg for flavor
Chicken breast or thigh
Grass-fed organic beef
Pork

Legumes:
Lentils
Black beans
Pinto beans

Vegetables:
Spinach
Asparagus
Peas
Mixed vegetables

Eat as much as you like of the above food items. Just remember: keep it simple. Pick three or four meals and repeat them. Almost all restaurants can give you a salad or vegetables in place of french fries or potatoes. Surprisingly, I have found Mexican food, swapping out rice for vegetables, to be one of the cuisines most conducive to the “slow carb” diet.

Rule #3: Don’t drink calories

Drink massive quantities of water and as much unsweetened iced tea, tea, diet sodas, coffee (without white cream), or other no-calorie/low-calorie beverages as you like. Do not drink milk, normal soft drinks, or fruit juice. I’m a wine fanatic and have at least one glass of wine each evening, which I believe actually aids sports recovery and fat-loss. Recent research into resveratrol supports this.

Rule #4: Don’t eat fruit

Humans don’t need fruit six days a week, and they certainly don’t need it year-round.  If your ancestors were from Europe, for example, how much fruit did they eat in the winter 500 years ago?  Think they had Florida oranges in December?  Not a chance.  But you’re still here, so the lineage somehow survived.  The only exception to the no-fruit rule are tomatoes and avocadoes, and the latter should be eaten in moderation.  Otherwise, just say no to fruit and its principal sugar, fructose, which is converted to glycerol phosphate more efficiently than most all other carbohydrates.  Glycerol phosphate –> triglycerides (via the liver) –> fat storage.

Rule #5: Take one day off per week

I recommend Saturdays as your “Dieters Gone Wild” day. I am allowed to eat whatever I want on Saturdays, and I go out of my way to eat ice cream, Snickers, Take 5, and all of my other vices in excess. I make myself a little sick and don’t want to look at any of it for the rest of the week. Paradoxically, dramatically spiking caloric intake in this way once per week increases fat loss by ensuring that your metabolic rate (thyroid function, etc.) doesn’t downregulate from extended caloric restriction. That’s right: eating pure crap can help you lose fat. Welcome to Utopia.

All the rules are easy, except for #4.  No fruit!?  Whenever I’m hungry, I usually grab an apple or pear.  I’ll start the diet on Monday, January 31, which will be easier than starting on Tuesday, February 1st.  This kind of meal plan actually suits me pretty well.  I don’t mind eating the same 3-4 meals during the workweek because I’m too busy to think about what to make for lunches and dinners.  Plus, I usually splurge and go to more expensive restaurants on the weekend.  In preparation, I went grocery shopping today.  Everything I’ll be eating will come from today’s purchase, so I’ll also be able to calculate how much I’m spending per meal.  The proteins should last me 2-3 weeks, if not longer.  I’ll probably have to buy more vegetables and legumes in 1 1/2 – 2 weeks.

Trader Joe’s

• spiced soybeans (read to eat)               1.98
• frozen asparagus spears                         1.99
• frozen shelled edamame                        1.49
• frozen french green bean                       1.99
• frozen cauliflower and romanesco       2.99
• frozen bean, broccoli, & cauliflower    2.99
• frozen minced basil                                 1.99
• jar of crushed garlic                                 1.79    *frozen veggies will really save me time.  Just heat and eat!

Total: $17.21

Costco

• ~15 Turkey burger patties                 10.69
• chicken thighs w/ skin (12 pieces)    8.90
• 18 cage-free, organic eggs                  4.99
• 6 cans pink salmon                            10.59
• 1 bag of mini cucumbers                     5.59

Total: $40.16

WinCo

• 1 can refried beans (from black beans)    1.04    * canned beans will be easier this week.
• 1 can pinto beans                                          0.58
• 1 can black beans                                          0.68
• 1 can black beans                                          0.68
• 2 small avocadoes                                          1.56
• dried red beans    (1.59 lbs @ 0.78/lb)      1.24
• breakfast steak                                               4.64    *not the best cut, but it’ll satisfy my beef needs this week.

Total: $10.42

GRAND TOTAL: $67.79

Well, my plan is out there for the world to see, so I’ve got to follow through on it.  Check back for daily updates!

Maui Brewing Co. | CoCoNut Porter

just a touch of coconut. not bad.

Oregon Brewers Festival 2010

[flickrvideo]http://www.flickr.com/photos/lao-ocean/4822050504/[/flickrvideo]

Fried okra.  After I had okra for the first time in Greece, I vowed never to eat the mushy, slimy vegetable again.  Maybe it’s because I’m older, but I’ve been trying it again whenever I can, just to make sure I don’t like it.  You know what?  It’s not bad.  Fried okra or picked okra in a spicy Bloody Mary at Screen Door is actually pretty good.

This is jambalaya, if I can remember correctly.  It was a little soupy… is that how it’s supposed to be?  It was spicy and I felt the heat was hiding the dish’s lack of flavor.

Group photo on the cow couch

Warning: Food porn ahead

grilled summer squach panini, feta, pickled peppers, basil

charcuterie board, house made and artisanal daily selection

house made and artisanal daily selection cheese plate, daily selection of three cheeses, marcona almonds, fig jam

barbeque wagyu brisket, cornbread, caraway onion ring, apple slaw

razaor clam poboy, stewed pepper jam, remoulade, red leaf

local summer cherry salad, goat cream cheese, arugula

fish and chips, pacific halibut, farm fries, remoulade

The Urban Farmer menu can be found here.

Tasty Margarita

Kerry had to touch some Nip/Tuck-esque booty on her way out.

Photos taken during lunch.

It was a great lunch with delicious food and wonderful company.  Thanks Ellen!

(This photo was taken in the summer, when Seoul was a much warmer place to wander around in.)

Anyone know where Mao restaurant in Iatewon is?  We’d like to have peking duck there tomorrow night.  If we can’t find it, My Thai-China sounds like a good alternative.  It’s on one of the side street by “3 Alley Pub”.

One of my co-workers went back to New Zealand for a week and came back with chocolate treats for everyone in the office.  It’s a Caramello Koala – yummy.

I love the tagline for this coffee candy.  “When you don’t have time for coffee!”  Usually when I don’t have time for coffee, I just don’t drink coffee.  Hey, what do I know?

Ras called the restaurant (02-529-8248) to find out when it opened and to make a reservation.  Since it was 1pm at the time, the call was forwarded to Chef Kim’s cell phone, who took the reservation himself.  At first, we weren’t sure if a reservation was even needed at 5:30pm, when the restaurant opened its doors.  Upon arriving (late) at 5:40pm, Chef Kim smiled towards Raswan and said, “You must be Ras.  Welcome.”  We were led to the back area of the restaurant and saw that all seven tables there were reserved.  We were then relieved to have made the call after all.  The two larger tables in the front of the restaurant were the only ones not reserved.

When we entered the restaurant, we were only the second party in the restaurant.  Menus were given in both English and Korean.  Ras and I already had an idea of what to order, having read ZenKimchi’s blog post.  As a starter, we opted to skip the BulGalbi and Grilled Mushroom Organic Salad and get some other mushroom appetizer with bread.  Upon hearing of our order, Chef Kim came out of the kitchen, kneeled down to our table, and offered to give us advice on what to order.  He said the mushroom/bread starter was just a regular dish, nothing special.  Instead, he advised us to get the BulGalbi and Mushroom salad.  Hey, who are we to argue with the chef?  We agreed, he smiled, and went back to the kitchen to prepare the salad.

While we waited, this came out: broccoli with garlic oil and sprinkles of deep fried garlic pieces.  Delicious!  Ras and Kevin ended up fighting for the last pieces of the deep fried garlic.

Our salad then came out.

Wow.  We were not disappointed by this.  Utterly delicious.  The meat was tender, the mushrooms were perfectly grilled, and the dressing was robust and flavorful.  Out of the four dishes ordered last night, we all agreed that this was our favorite.

The next dish was Million Won Samgyeopsal Jjim with aged kimchi.  It’s very much like a tender, but thick piece of “bosaam.”  Since I love bosaam, I loved this dish.  The guys did too.

Then came Sweet and Sour Beef (Tangsooyuk).  While this was delicious, the batter crispy and light, and the saucy not gooey, it’s still Sweet and Sour Beef.  There’s a Chinese restaurant near my university that also has a similar tasting “tangsooyuk”, although it’s with pork and not Australian beef.  I wasn’t disappointed, but it wasn’t anything too special.  We all agreed we wouldn’t order this one again.

The last dish was Fried Whole Mullet.

As Ras commented, this is not a fishy fish.  The cilantro, ginger, and onions were a great combination to the fish.  The waitress came out and de-boned the fish and squeezed the lemon on it for us.

Dessert: Apple Snowman

It might not look so good because it was melting fast, but it was delicious.  The first two layers are apples, and then vanilla ice cream on top.

The service at the restuarant was great.  The staff took great care to bring out our dishes right after we finished the previous one.  There were no long waiting periods.  Instead we were constantly eating and drinking, as it should be.

The head waiter was top notch and it was obvious he had good training before working at this restaurant.

Last, but not least, this restaurant is not cheap.  A couple dishes start at 10,000 won, but most are in the 20,000-30,000 price range.  For the three of us, we had four main dishes, a dessert, and three bottles of wine over the course of three hours, for 220,000 won.  While this is 73,000 won per person, we all thought it was absolutely worth the price.  The food was fantastic and we can’t wait to go back with a larger group of friends next time.

Star Chef:   Seoul, Gangnam-gu, Dogok-dong 417-2

Map here.  Line 3 – Maebong Station

02-529-8248  (Opens at 5:30pm, reservations recommeded)

Recently, we had another night of bowling in Suwon.  Curtis came down from Seoul and joined us for our excursion.  As usual, we had a wee bit of alcohol during our games.  Throwing heaving balls while intoxicated may not be the best idea in other situations, but in this one, it was perfect.  Alcoholic consumption was done very discreetly with Kim’s Club paper cups, rum in a tea bottle, and Coke Zero.  I don’t think you could tell what we were doing, but the Koreans that did look over probably wondered why we drank so much Coke.  Our anju (side dish accompanying alcoholic beverages) was a box of fried chicken snacks.  They crunchy, made in the shape of little drumsticks and tasted like fried chicken, without the bone!  Surprisingly, they are pretty realistic tasting.  The last time I had these were 3+ years ago.  It was a nice throwback to my hagwon days when kids gave me snacks with their dirty little fingers, I smiled and pretended to save then for later, only to throw it away when they weren’t looking.

Afterward, we topped off the night with dinner around midnight.