prep and partial fasting

Today turned out to be almost a fasting day after a deliberately indulgent day of eating on Saturday (and yet, my blood sugar today was only 143; I would've thought it'd be closer to 200 after yesterday's indulgence). I guess not eating today is a good thing: I plan to do a 14K walk tomorrow morning, and I'll be sure to take my meds before I set out, then get my numbers once I'm back. Weight today was also back down to 110 kg—still gargantuan by most Koreans' standards, but better than the 112 kg I'd been averaging recently.

This walk is going to be the most monkish one in terms of food: I'll be limiting myself to whatever's locally available at convenience stores—mostly tuna, maybe two cans of it. No snacks on the path for fear of a carb/insulin-related reaction (I was shocked to discover how many grams of carbs are in most Korean brands of beef and pork jerky—the ones that finally have nutrition labels on them, anyway), and just water, for the most part, plus an end-of-day diet drink (or something carb-free like certain brands of barley tea). The last few walks haven't been very impressive in terms of weight loss, but the regimen I'm describing might kickstart the loss again, at least for the few weeks that I'm on the path. (I do, however, have two days on my walk calendar for food indulgences: my go-to Chinese place in Daegu and my chicken place in Namji-eup. Otherwise—tuna. Maybe a small cup of fresh fruit.)

So I spent all day today doing my slow, plodding food prep. Prep took so long that it was no longer wise to eat a Sunday dinner, so I mostly fasted. I did sample the things I was making: oi-muchim (spicy cukes—my buddy Mike might remember them from when he ate "gyros" at my place last year); a cheese sauce for my keto "gyro" pizza (mozz, feta, double cream, garlic powder, chili flakes, black pepper); oven-roasted tomatoes; tzatziki sauce (to go on the pizza after it comes out of the oven); chopped dill pickles; chopped chili peppers; chopped olives; and of course, my beef/lamb mix with herbs, spices, seasonings, and olive oil. The cheese sauce was surprisingly dominated by the mozzarella; I had expected the crumbled feta in it to shine more. I sampled a little bit of everything. I doubt the total was more than a couple hundred calories. Definitely not fasting, but also definitely not even a full meal.

Meat prep was a little different this time: I had bought shabu-style, thinly sliced beef and lamb; while the meats were still frozen, I cut them into strips, trying to simulate the cut-off bits you get from a Greek-style resto's vertical rotisserie. I mixed in my spiced oil (the recipe always varies slightly, but there's always going to be salt, pepper, cumin, paprika/cayenne, turmeric, some herb like basil or oregano or thyme (I do hear that marjoram goes well with things like pork and lamb, but I don't have any), tossing it vigorously through the strips of meat, then started frying the meat up... until I remembered that I have a new next-door neighbor who is a woman. Realizing she might not appreciate Middle Eastern-ish smells from late-night cooking, I cooked only a small batch of meat, tasted it twice, then put the rest in the freezer. The remaining cooked batch of meat is in the fridge, awaiting the rest of the sliced-up flesh, which I'll cook tomorrow afternoon—when ambient, cumin-y odors are more permissible—once I'm back from my walk. I'll also prep the pizza crust, which will basically be the keto-"baguette" recipe I've used many times in the past, only spread out in a sheet pan like a crust instead of baked in baguette trays. 

Expect lots of photos tomorrow afternoon or evening. Oh, yeah—I also need to go out and buy my bus ticket for the 26th.

Then: rest on Tuesday to give myself a chance to digest. Out again on Wednesday for an 18K walk down to Bundang. Friday: decisions, decisions. Seoul-Hanam or Yangpyeong-Yeoju?