What I Eat

A blog like this is a tricky thing — there are some general, all-purpose topics I want to cover, but then there are also some specific, practical aspects of what I am doing that I want to share.  As I’ve said, I don’t necessarily think everyone who wants to lose weight needs to do the Slow-Carb Diet, but for those who do want to try it, I want to have as much info here as possible to help.

So today, I want to talk about the specifics of what I eat.  I’ll try to tie it to general concepts, too, so hopefully it will be useful.  Here’s what an average day looks like for me:

Breakfast: Premier Protein chocolate shake with one tablespoon of Adams Organic peanut butter, blended up with a few ice cubes.

This is one area where I stray a bit from the book.  Tim Ferriss would like me to be eating a high-protein meal that includes meat or eggs, veggies, and beans/lentils for breakfast.  I tried that, and it just doesn’t work for me.  Tim stresses the importance of getting 30 grams of protein within 30-60 minutes of waking up, but to get 30 grams from eggs, veggies, and beans would take a huge breakfast, and I just don’t like that much food first thing in the morning.  So instead, I have the protein shake, which has 30 grams of protein.  The peanut butter adds a little more protein, but for me, there are two much more important things about it: 1) it adds some calories, so I don’t get hungry an hour or two later; and 2) drinking a chocolate protein shake blended up with ice and peanut butter does wonders for my sweet tooth.  It’s nothing I would ever mistake for a real milkshake, but it’s close enough that it does the trick.

Lunch: Salad from Costa Vida without the tortilla or rice, beans on the side (a mix of black, pinto, and refried), pico de gallo, extra guacamole, extra meat (both grilled chicken and pork), no dressing.

This has been my staple.  I’ve probably spent about $1500 at Costa Vida in the past nine months, and most of the time when I walk in the door, they don’t even have to ask me what I want.  I’ve had times when I went in, got my salad, paid, and walked out, without saying a single word other than a couple “Thank you”s.

Let me break this thing down for you.  Obviously, the tortilla and rice are no-nos, and once you don’t have those, it doesn’t make sense to put the beans in the salad itself.  So I get them on the side, and I mix all three kinds just for variety.  (To be honest, I’d probably get just refried beans, but they are the least healthy, so I try to healthy it up by mixing them with black and pinto.)

I have them put the meat on the top, because the juice from the meat combines with the pico and the guacamole to eliminate the need for dressing.  The reason I get both chicken and pork is pretty straightforward: more is better, pork tastes the best, chicken is a bit healthier.  So I split the difference and get both.  (The pork at Costa Vida and Cafe Rio is sweet, and I’m not totally sure what they use to sweeten it.  I’ve read that they use Coca-Cola as the sweetener, which means the pork probably breaks the rule about not drinking calories, but it seems to be working for me, so I am sticking with it for now.)

Dinner: Two organic hamburger patties (Smith’s new “Simple Truth” brand) grilled on my George Foreman grill, topped with lettuce, tomatoes, pickles, jalapeños, and mustard, and a bowl of beans (usually a mix of a few different kinds of beans, some jalapeños, and other spices).

This meal is pretty self-explanatory.  Protein, veggies, and beans.  And it tastes great, too.  The thing that appeals to me most is that it is quick and easy to make.  Nothing fancy, you can get it done in about ten minutes.  It makes it easy for me to sit down and eat with my wife and kids even though we’re not having the same thing for dinner.

So anyway, that’s an average day for me.  Other foods I have on occasion:

• Unwich from Jimmy John’s (just a sandwich wrapped in lettuce instead of bread).  These are very good, and they get your veggies and your protein in for you.  When I am having this for lunch, I will usually bring a dish of my bean mixture from home to have with it.  The tricky part here is remembering to say “Unwich” and making sure to get it with no cheese.
• Carl’s Jr. hamburgers.  One really cool thing about Carl’s Jr. is they will make any burger on their menu as a lettuce wrap, so something like the guacamole bacon burger with no cheese as a lettuce wrap is a nice little treat sometimes.
• Fajitas, without the tortillas, sour cream, or cheese.  Basically, you end up with meat grilled with onions and peppers.  Most Mexican places bring you beans and rice with your fajitas, and if you have them substitute veggies for the rice, you have a great meal for this plan.

Feel free to shoot me any questions in the comments.  Like I said, I tried to tie everything to general principles and concepts, but I’m happy to help.