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This isn’t too bad. For the past 6 days I’ve been eating my father’s interpretation of the ‘carb free diet’.

The base is a vegetable mix with low GI vegetables (beans and lentils), combined with things such as carrot, broccoli, cabbage etc.
It is then ‘dry’ cooked in a base of butter and macadamia oil (fat isn’t an issue on the diet), garlic and chilli. The dry cooking (i.e. no steaming) is important if you do a large batch of the vegetables as this prevents them from becoming soggy. At present a batch will feed 3 people 3 meals for 3 days (lots of 3′s).

A meal is then constructed from this vegetable mix and a protein source, so a typical day might be:

Breakfast: (2) boiled eggs, cottage cheese and vegetable mix;
Lunch: large tin of tuna in oil, cottage cheese and vegetable mix;
Dinner: pork chop and vegetable mix;

Lots of vegetable mix. Fortunately there is variation between batches so it hasn’t become boring (yet).

The bit you’ve all been weighting for (see what I did there?), my weight loss to date.
Starting weight: 90kg
Day 5: 87.1kg

Nearly 3kg. Nice. I imagine there is a natural daily variation in there, so I’m prepared to call it more like 2kg.
Still, rather impressive.

It has been a little painful at times, and it’s been difficult adjusting to the always slightly hungry feeling. I have become grumpy if I’ve missed or delayed meals.  I suspect this is due to reduction in calories in general, as opposed to anything specific with the diet and I no longer snack at work. That I-must-eat-lunch-or-faint feeling has shifted from 1pm to 12pm.

The Book

Not much to say really. Received it a few days ago and have only started looking at it. I can see why people are so enamoured with him and by the same token, repulsed. He comes across as slightly smug (with his name dropping) and arrogant. I haven’t a major problem with this. It’s his book, he has chosen his style. If you don’t like it, don’t read it.

I’ve finished the ‘Fundamentals’ chapter, and am now reading ‘Ground Zero’. So far it’s been entertaining, and his arrogance and smugness is equally punctuated with humour, and engaging writing ‘voice’ and scientific fact (there is rarely a page without a footnote, and his endnotes are impressive).

And now, given it is my day off, go to drink a cup of tea with milk in it.
Outrageous.

At present his ‘healthy obsession’ is Tim Ferriss’  The 4-hour body (which is jostling for attention with his next most recent love, Systema). Once enamoured with something you pity any person that is unfortunate enough to be caught in a room with him, as he will corner them, and then proceed to disseminate his passion. I just so happened to be this poor bastard.

He gave the run down on the diet – essentially a variation on a dozen other low / no carb diets. Then onto the tricks and tips given to ‘hack’ the body. Things like ice baths, drinking combinations of grapefruit juice and coffee and eating near-on lethal amounts of cinnamon. Tim Ferriss, and his disciple, my father, we sounding like nutters (and me hoping it isn’t hereditary).

He then mentioned how much weight he’d lost to date, 6kg. Ok, now my interest was piqued. For all my father’s oft misplaced passions, he is fastidious with record keeping, and was able to show me his weight logs of his declining weight. Impressive.

After my recent return from the food centre of the universe, Hong Kong, I had put on 5kg and was looking to regain my ‘svelte’ figure. So, I’ve signed up for this crazy diet. I’ve made it through the first day, which consisted of vegetable mix and two boiled eggs for breakfast, vegetable mix and tuna for lunch and vegetable mix and a pork chop for dinner. I shall go into the diet in more detail later, but for now I am content to kick back with my second glass of merlot (two glasses of red wine are encouraged). Today was good.

Yes, as you can see I am as facetious as ever. But seriously, no grand proclamations this time; hopefully I’ll just write more.

Here it goes,
Tristan