lunch after 4 days' fasting

I broke my fast, which went from Tuesday through Friday. Keto-ish gyros.

top to bottom: tofu tortillas, crumbled feta, halved "droplet" tomatoes

unsweetened dill pickles, tomatoes

Pickles, normally sliced lengthwise (I had no choice with these; the grocery didn't stock whole dills), are more of a shawarma thing, but they occasionally end up on gyros, too.

standard lamb/beef combo, fried up a bit differently this time

Normally, the way I prep the meat is to make a "loaf" out of it first, while it's still flexible (ground lamb, home-ground beef, spices, seasonings, olive oil), stick it in a Ziploc bag, then put it in the freezer overnight. The next day, I use a heavy cleaver to slice the meat while it's still frozen. Today, however, I took out the slab of frozen meat, let it thaw for an hour, then pinched the middle of the loaf with a plastic bench scraper, broke the loaf in half, and tossed the semi-frozen half onto a skillet with some oil. As the frozen surface of the meat sizzled, browned, and got some char, I used tongs to hold the main mass of the meat vertical and sliced off the cooked portion—almost like what they do at Greek restaurants with the meat on the vertical spit. The meat didn't actually need to be sliced: with a little prodding from the knife, it fell off the main body of the loaf in sheets. I returned the loaf to the skillet, turned the fallen meat over to let the uncooked side cook a bit, then tong'ed everything onto a plate. The results look about the same as all of my other gyro meat. All of this was substantially easier than cutting through a solidly frozen loaf with a cleaver. I'll use this prep method from now on.

I moved the background cuke out of the way.

my lovely tzatziki, which I somehow never do wrong

chopped-up black olives, reminding me vaguely of Korean snails (우렁이, ureongi)

the ensemble

I ate four keto gyros and a plate of "Greek salad" (no tortilla) afterward. The tofu tortillas, which I'd seen randomly on Coupang, had been an impulse purchase. They're okay, I guess, but rather boring, and the more of them I ate, the harder they became to force down. I'll use up the shipment I got, but I doubt I'll ever buy these again.

Normally, when I eat gyros, I use an Indian-themed, yogurt-based flatbread recipe given to me by Charles long ago. Works every time, and works like a charm. The only problem, of course, is the carbs. But keto alternatives to regular flatbreads—whether we're talking pita or naan or saaj or whatever—can't be expected to be all that exciting. Keto flatbreads are missing the one component that makes flatbreads so good: the carbs themselves. It's certainly not the gluten: gluten, being proteinaceous, is keto-compatible and not carby. No, it's the carbs that make these flatbreads delicious, but it's the carbs that can kill me, too.

Anyway, today's huge meal means no walking tonight. Maybe I'll walk again tomorrow night. Then again, I do plan on eating again. Or maybe I'll walk on Monday since I expect to feel bloated tomorrow, with high blood sugar to boot. In fact, according to the nutrition label for the tortillas, each tofu tortilla has a comparable amount of carbs to a regular one. It's almost as though I should've made my regular flatbread. Hmmm. Yeah, these were really not worth it.* But the rest of the meal was great, and now, I have leftovers.

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*Some online sources suggest that the fiber content of tofu tortillas (where's the fiber coming from? Is it added in?) means the tortillas' net carbs are much lower.