Engaging protein test, thank you for sharing @Fiorella! I’m 50/50 on finding this on your 24th day, what a fab read through food and experiences, but I expended most of my daily likes reading through in one run . I even “liked” the fish/seafood entries, and I’m not a fan of this food area.
Keto reintroduced me to my love of cooking, piqued my interest in learning more on why cooking techniques work versus executing them well. I like to have a recipe as a guideline and then breaking the rules. You’ve added fuel to the flame of wanting to understand why it works. I bought The Food Lab for Christmas, and I suspect you’re a walking Food Lab x10 .
32 day ZC Variable Protein Test
I love Kenji. I could watch his you tube recipes for hours. His techniques are spot on, and I also love his simple and effective teaching method.
Thank you for your kind words and likes. I wanted to share this ZC journey with others…so that we can all learn together.
Your approach to cookery is brilliant. Just learn the few fundamental techniques, but then explore outside the recipe guidelines and customize to your personal palette and likings. Not only will your home made food taste incredible, but the control you will gain in the kitchen feels amazing.
Day 25 - Eggs
I am still feeling good and energetic all day long.
Daily Stats:
- How does gut feel? Great! No discomfort.
- Hunger level? I felt a bit hungry today. I would say same level as yesterday.
- Mood? Upbeat, optimistic
- Energy level? Pretty good!
- Sleep? Good deep sleep.
- Delta weight since start = +3.2 lbs…the chicken yesterday was so good…if I had more I would have been tempted to eat more. I wonder if this had induced something to increase weight. We’ll see in the next few days.
Today I ate half dozen soft cooked eggs, some with a variety of dried pepper, and some with fleur de sel.
Day 26 - Eggs
I am feeling mostly good and energetic all day long. However, I’m detecting a bit of discomfort in my gut. Almost like having a bit of a hard time to digest. The discomfort starts high up in my trunk area, and descends…feeling like a lump trying to move through. It’s not a big discomfort, but kind of like there is some gut inflammation. Just slightly noticeable, since I’m eating in a very limited fashion, I can detect these things. So, I think I’m detecting a bit of issues with eggs. I will have to repeat this protocol at a future date (like a one week all egg fast) just to see if I detect this again and then validate it is the eggs that cause some inflammation.
Daily Stats:
- How does gut feel? Some discomfort noted.
- Hunger level? I felt hungry today.
- Mood? Upbeat, optimistic
- Energy level? Pretty good!
- Sleep? Good deep sleep.
- Delta weight since start = +4 lbs…I wonder if I’m retaining water because of some gut inflammation that I’m feeling
Today, I ate a half dozen pickled eggs
Day 27 - Eggs
I am feeling mostly good and energetic all day long. The discomfort in my tummy went away.
Daily Stats:
- How does gut feel? No issues today.
- Hunger level? I felt hungry today, again.
- Mood? Upbeat, optimistic
- Energy level? Pretty good!
- Sleep? Good deep sleep.
- Delta weight since start = +2.2 lbs…I think the tummy issues I had yesterday retained some water, which explains the 1.8 lbs loss from yesterday
Today I ate 5 eggs prepared as an ancient roman recipe called ovis apalis
I didn’t eat the other stuff on the plate…they are just there for decoration…sort of what a Roman would have eaten around 50 AD
Day 28 - Eggs
I am feeling mostly good and energetic all day long, again.
Daily Stats:
- How does gut feel? Feels good.
- Hunger level? No hunger at all.
- Mood? Upbeat, optimistic
- Energy level? Pretty good!
- Sleep? Good deep sleep.
- Delta weight since start = +2.2 lbs…no change from yesterday
Today I ate one fried egg and Omelette made with 4 eggs.
Day 29 - Cheese
Yay for cheese!!
I am feeling energetic all day long, except for this morning when I woke up. I woke up with a bit of a headache. It disappeared in about an hour later.
Daily Stats:
- How does gut feel? Feels good.
- Hunger level? I felt hungry today.
- Mood? Upbeat, optimistic
- Energy level? Pretty good!
- Sleep? Good deep sleep. But, woke up with headache.
- Delta weight since start = +0.4 lbs…I lost more than a pound in one day. I think eating nothing but eggs is a powerful weight loss strategy.
Today I ate Burrata with crispy bacon
Day 30 - Cheese
Only two more damn days to go, and then I’m free! Can’t wait!
I was feeling energetic all day long today.
Daily Stats:
- How does gut feel? Feels good.
- Hunger level? I felt a bit hungry today.
- Mood? Upbeat, optimistic
- Energy level? Pretty good!
- Sleep? Good deep sleep.
- Delta weight since start = +0.6 lbs
Today I ate a saffron sour cream and bacon soup (with chicken bone broth as base). I also added fresh cheese curds that I got from a local cheesemaker.
Day 31 - Cheese
Only one more freakin day to go…and then freedom!!!
I was feeling energetic all day long today. But, my tummy ached, starting last night and continued today. Definitely some sensitivity with dairy products. While eating cheese today, I could notice that I didn’t want to eat it. I was hungry…but, the cheese didn’t seem appetizing. It’s like my body knew I shouldn’t be eating it.
Daily Stats:
- How does gut feel? It was a bit sore.
- Hunger level? I felt a bit hungry today. But, with tummy ache. Kinda awkward feeling.
- Mood? Upbeat, optimistic
- Energy level? Pretty good!
- Sleep? Good deep sleep.
- Delta weight since start = +1.4 lbs (the added weight I suspect comes from water retention with tummy ache, as in inflammation)
Today I ate a variety of cheeses from a local cheesemaker. They raise their own grass fed pastured cows, and have a cheese shop at their farm. The plate had four different flavoured Gouda (hot paprika, cumin seed, mustard seed, and wild nettle), Swiss, emmental, and muenster.
I’m trying hard not to pester people on the forum, but I have waited long enough for a recipe! Bacon Soup, how could you tease us without a recipe!
Yeah…I snapped the photos when I made it yesterday. I will get the recipe up today. And please, you are not pestering at all. Thanks for the reminder…it’s appreciated.
Day 32 - Cheese
Yay!! I made it to the end!
I was feeling energetic all day long today. With no tummy aches. Was just a bit hungry.
Daily Stats:
- How does gut feel? Felt good today.
- Hunger level? I felt a bit hungry today.
- Mood? Upbeat, optimistic
- Energy level? Pretty good!
- Sleep? Good deep sleep.
- Delta weight since start = +1.0 lbs
Today I ate paneer cheese fried in homemade ghee, and with homemade creme fraiche dipping sauce
Congratulations on reaching your goal @Fiorella this thread has been a great read and a wealth of knowledge in many ways, especially when it comes to food. The recipes section of this forum in particular is so much the richer for all the magnificent photos, instructions and cooking technique tips you have shown us - thank you.
Day 33 - the day after the last day of cheese
To close this off, I need to report one more day, in order to show the effect of the protein of the previous day.
I was feeling energetic all day long today, and without stomach aches. Not hungry at all.
Daily Stats:
- How does gut feel? Felt good today.
- Hunger level? Not hungry at all.
- Mood? Upbeat, optimistic
- Energy level? Pretty good!
- Sleep? Good deep sleep.
- Delta weight since start = +0.4 lbs
It’s pretty amazing that the result of 32 days of ZC eating, which followed a 7-day fast, ended with only +0.4 lbs.
I graphed my results:
A few interesting observations:
- fish correlated with the highest weight gain
- switching to another protein often correlated with a drop in weight
- egg correlated with most drastic drop in weight
7 day fast
Great graph…really interesting results!!! Thanks for taking one for the team and sharing.