This is my typical lunch, which I’m STILL not bored by.  The above picture has butter lettuce, lentils, edamame, mozzarella balls, beets, and tangerines.  I vary the toppings but I always use butter lettuce, lentils, edamame, and my favorite salad dressing – Annie’s Organic Asian Sesame.

Below is a picture of my college friend and I from last week.  We hadn’t seen each other in two years and it was nice to catch up.  Coming back and writing here again gives me the same fond memories.  It’s been awhile, but it’s great to see you again!

In addition to all the food, we went shopping at Columbia’s employee store.  One of my brother’s best friend is a shoe designer there and everything was 50% off or more.  Unlike going to an outlet store, the merchandise was exactly what you’d find at Columbia.com.  Columbia also owns Mountain Hardwear and Sorel shoes, so those were also in the store.  I picked up the following jacket for $105, which retailed for $240.  For three days I wore the jacket with the tag still attached on the inside, making sure I really wanted it.  For a girl that gets cold in the sun, it’s so lightweight and warm that I had to keep it.  R. also picked up a down jacket for Japan, since he gave his old Burton jacket to “Part-timer.”  He found one he liked, paid for it, and wondered if he had made the right decision.  When he finally got to a computer and looked through the 103 near perfect reviews for the jacket, he felt better about paying the $130 or so for it.

When I returned to work on Monday, I felt the onset of a cold.  After almost a week, I think it’s finally disappearing.  During that time, I was not on the diet.  When you’re sick, you want comfort foods that don’t require waking up at 6am to make.  I had muffins, dairy, and sweets, but for the most part, I kept to the lunch and dinner requirements of the slow carb diet.  I know breakfast is the most important meal of the day, but I’ve never been a big breakfast eater.  I’ve really appreciated the convenience of the high protein meals for lunch and dinner.  In the mornings, I’d mix a can of black beans ($0.68), a package of spiced soybeans ($0.99), and a can of wild salmon ($1.76) together.  I’ll split this in half and have one portion for lunch and one for dinner.  Before I heated up the meals, I threw in frozen asparagus, green beans, or broccoli on top.  For $1.72 per meal, it’s really cheap and convenient for me.  Sometimes I’ll also throw a grilled chicken thigh, turkey patty, or salmon patty on top so I’ll have leftovers for an after-school snack at 3:30pm.  Of course, it’d be even cheaper with a can of tuna or  some other protein cooked at home, but I love salmon.

I’ll try the diet again, but to what extent?  The only thing I didn’t like about the experience was having to eat breakfast 30-60 minutes after waking up.  I don’t really like eating breakfast unless someone else is cooking it for me.  I’m happy with a liquid breakfast of coffee or tea since it seems like such a chore to force myself to eat when I don’t feel hungry in the morning.  I need to find some kind of breakfast mixture that I’d only need to heat up.  Frying up an egg almost seems like too much.  I’d like to try the experiment again, since 4 1/2 days was not a sufficient amount of time to make a judgment.  Day 1 starts again tomorrow.

Day 4 – Breakfast: 2 fried eggs and a turkey pattie with salsa. I had already started eating this until I remembered to take a picture.  7:30am

Day 4 – Lunch: A mixture of black beans, spiced soybeans, half a can of salmon, mushrooms, and asparagus.  11:30am

I only ate half of my lunch and ate the other half after school at 3:30pm.

Day 4 – Dinner: A turkey pattie with lots of salsa, black beans, green beans, and sugar-free Jell-O.  7:30pm.

Evening snack: Another Jell-O and half a cup of curry cashews.  I’m not sure I should have had the cashews… oops.

Tomorrow’s Friday and I’m already thinking about the two cheat days I’m going to have.  That’s right – Saturday and Sunday will be mildly glutonnous.  I already know I can’t be a proper Portland tour guide this weekend without joining in on the city’s delicious food.  Plus, Sunday is the Super Bowl.  Beer and bar food are unfortunately not low carb.  My last justification is that I’m not really fat, so stalling weight loss is okay for now.

Breakfast: a turkey burger pattie, asparagus, and mushroom.  7:00am

Lunch: 2 chicken thighs, asparagus, and black beans.  11:30am.

Snack 1: 2 mini cucumbers and a hard-boiled egg.  5:30pm

Snack 2: half an avocado and seaweed.  6:00pm

Dinner: 2 pieces of breakfast steak, 2 fried eggs, green beans, and a small bowl of salmon tom yum soup.  A half cup of Jell-o is not pictured.  8:00pm.