DAY 29: CINNAMON AND GUNPOWDER

April 7, 2022

Fasting Update: Day 24 of 28. I am hanging in there. Today is the first day I have decided that I have had about enough! 4 more days of water and the refeed begins. I have energy but I do still tire quickly. Not much more to say than that. This fast is winding down.

Daily fasting numbers: Weight-181.3 Weight lost during fast-24.7 Weight loss since adopting diet-53.7 BP-123/82 Heart rate-79 Oxygen level-97 Temperature-98.4 Glucose-72 Sleep-5.75 One minute pulse rate-steady Muscle pain level-0 (scale 1-10) Energy level-7 (scale 1-10).

My Comments: One can only watch so many TV shows and movies. Reading still hurts my brain if I do too much of it. I do not get much exercise. So what to do? I have found I enjoy listening to audio books. Especially, if the reader is a man with an accent of some kind. 🙂 Other issues: I do have some itching on my back. I suspect the soap they have here is not as hypoallergenic as they think it is.

Lecture: Today’s lecture was titled “The Habit Science” about how to create new healthier habits. You need repetition, reward, and context to accomplish a new habit. Start small, keep it simple, be consistent and flexible. A reward should be instantly after the performed new habit was completed. A sticker, listening to a favorite song, or some other non-food reward. A reward stimulates dopamine. Use it to your advantage. Your environment and timing of the new habit can make a difference too. Make it harder to do a bad habit by putting it further from you. Like keep the kids candy in the car trunk but keep the fresh veggies in the fridge.

Cooking: There was no cooking class today but I have been watching Chef Bravo’s videos in his two cooking courses. There is a lot packed into the courses that I will have to go home and watch them all again only in the kitchen cooking along side the video. I have my new iPad which is a very large one that has a magnetized case that will hang on the fridge. A good way to play the video as I cook. Something I did learn, to caramelize onions in a dry sauté, you are not looking for the onions to turn brown but the bottom of the pan to turn brown. Then use a liquid to deglaze the pan and that brown-ness which is sweet is now part of the flavor profile of the dish. If you had not caramelized the pan the sweetness would be lost.

In one one of Chef Bravo’s dishes called “Apricot Saffron Soup”, he uses a touch of Marsala wine. Even though the alcohol cooks off, this is not allowed at True North but this is HIS cookbook at BravoPB.com. I will ask him tomorrow at his cooking demo was the Marsala dry or sweet? He did not say. The recipe was inspired by the book called “Cinnamon and Gunpowder” by Eli Brown. It is about a chef who was kidnapped by a pirate to cook for the captain. Chef Bravo’s soup is based on the description of this soup in the book. I am listening to the audio book.