Day 81 – “You Look Pale”

“If I had milk in the fridge, it would probably have more colour than I’ve got”

~me

189.7 lbs.

I’ve been hearing that I’m pale more and more lately. I’m not sure if it’s due to the starvation or that I spend less time outside than most of my friends in the summer sun.

There are a few reasons I stay in during the day. My clothes don’t fit that well anymore; shirts that were skin tight are now baggy, and after losing 5+ inches from my waist my pants are cartoonishly over-sized. I tend to be up ’till the wee hours of the morning; it doesn’t seem to matter how early I get up, I can rarely get to sleep before 3am. Finally, I’m of the opinion that too much time in mid day sun ages you, and I already have enough help looking old.

That’s one other glaring physical symptom of this project: aging. While I’m 37 and thus no smooth faced young man, I’ve noticed wrinkles deepening and hair greying at a faster than normal rate. After 82 days of this I think I look 2 or 3 years older. If someone was foolish enough to turn to anorexia out of an ego driven desire to “look good” (which, as far as reasons for anorexia go, is extremely rare) they’d be in for one rude surprise. There are those who claim if you eat less you’ll slow the aging process, but my experience has obviously been the opposite.

The “good” news is my weight is starting to drop again after that long plateau. Part of it was, I think, that I hadn’t had a BM in a week or so. Without “dropping ballast” stuff was going in but not coming out, so even as body fat went down my weight remained about the same.

Now I’m snacking on sugar snap peas or the occasional plum (not in the same day – things with small amounts of calories can still add up) the “log jam” gave way.

I’ve also been eating a single Lean Cuisine or Weight Watchers meal per day a few times a week (check out my reviews of them in the “review” section). The other day I was in the grocery store with a foodie friend of mine and we spotted bargain prepackaged macaroni and cheese – the kind that’s already made, then frozen. At a buck a meal I thought this stuff had to be like nuclear waste shaped like macaroni covered in yellow sludge.

Just for sh*ts and giggles I compared the nutrition label with a prepackaged “diet” meal. The calories were about the same – but the budget mac and cheese had 1/3rd the cholesterol and about 1/2 the sodium! Who knew?

Of course, not all cholesterol is bad for you. The HDL (high density stuff) is actually helpful. it’s the LDL or ULDL cholesterol you want to watch out for. Unfortunately in my neck of the woods nutrition labels just list the total cholesterol by weight – I think they should break it down into types of cholesterol the way fats are broken down into saturated, trans, and so on.

I can’t say if the mac & cheese tasted as good. Some of those diet meals are quite nice, and having chicken & rice, or lasagna, or something similar is extremely filling when you’re dumb enough to starve yourself. I did pick up a package of the mac & cheese though. One of these days when I’m brave enough to try it I’ll review that, too.

As I said on day 25, too much prepackaged, microwaved food is atrocious – mainly because of the sodium content, but there’s something to be said for fresh foods as well. Part of the fun is the cooking, but if you really don’t have the time then slice up some bell peppers for your snack or something.

There are a few interesting tricks you can do with your microwave though:

steaming vegetables
Put your veggies on a plate (in one layer, if possible) and cover them with plastic, another (upside down) plate, or whatever. The idea is to hold moisture in – you don’t need to add water, though. Veggies are full of water. Cook them on high, checking them every s often (tender items like spinach, mushrooms, and snow peas should be checked after 30 seconds, crunchy things like carrots checked after 4 minutes or so).

toasting nuts, breadcrumbs, or coconut
Your microwave can toast small things in about 25% of the time it takes to do it in the oven. Spread ‘em on a plate and heat on high for 2 to 3 minutes, pausing the timer to stir them about every minute. They’ll continue to toast for about a minute after you take them out of the microwave, so don’t worry if they don’t look quite done after 3 minutes.

roasting garlic
45 minutes to roast garlic in the oven vs. 8 minutes in the microwave. Hmm. Slice off the top of the garlic head to reveal all the cloves. Put it in a small, deep dish with some salt & pepper and drizzle with 2 tablespoons of good olive oil. Spoon 2 tablespoons of water into the bottom of the dish, cover it with plastic wrap, and cook at medium power for 7 to 7½ minutes. Let the garlic stand for a few minutes before unwrapping it.

decrystalizing honey
Honey that has  gone solid can be turned back to golden liquid by uncovering the jar and heating on medium power for 30 seconds to 1 minute. Personally I like the crystalized stuff spread on toast, the liquid honey used as tea sweetener, so for weirdos like me two separate containers is a good idea.

proofing yeast doughs
Yeast doughs that normally take an hour or more to rise at room temperature can be proofed in the microwave in about 15 minutes. Place the dough in a large bowl and cover it with plastic. Put a 250ml (8-ounce) cup of water in the back of the microwave with the bowl of dough in the center, and set the power as low as possible. About 10% ought to do it – we’re raising yeast, not blowing up Alderaan here.  Zap for 3 minutes, then let the dough rest in the microwave for another 3 minutes. Heat it again for 3 minutes longer, then let it rest for 6 minutes. The dough should double in bulk.

disinfecting sponges or plastic cutting boards
Wash the board thoroughly, rub it with the cut side of a lemon, then heat it on high for a minute. The germs will all be killed by the radiation, or at least mutate so horribly they won’t be able to get dates and multiply. The same works for kitchen sponges – soak the sponge in white vinegar or lemon juice, then give it the same 1 minute microwave blast. Careful taking it out though – use an oven mitt or something. Those sponges can get HOT.

softening brown sugar
For those of you who don’t put a piece of bread heel in with your brown sugar (what – I’m the only one whose mom did that?) you can bring it back to life with electricity. Keep the sugar in its plastic packaging (or tupperware, if that’s how you store it), add a few drops of water, and heat it on medium for 10 to 20 seconds.

Cooking
I know, I know. Duh, right? But most people use their microwave for heating packaged food and calling that “cooking”. I mean actual cooking any recipe that calls for braising, poaching, or steaming, and in about 25% of the normal cooking time. Just remember to stir liquids often to redistribute the heat, and take the food out a minute or two before it’s completely done since it will continue to cook.

Got any other tips? Leave them in the comments below.