Don't Put the Whey Powder in the Broccoli Soup

or:

How a search of the archives can help you solve your immediate problem, while drawing your attention ten or twelve other problems you didn't know you had.

So I decided to search the CR Society archives for "breakfast."  And guess what I found?

You guessed it.  Breakfast is probably a good thing.  There are two schools of thought: one that breakfast is a good thing, the other that "the more fasting the better," one meal a day, etc. folks.  While all agree that meal spacing is not that important in the context of overall calorie reduction, there does seem to be an argument for at least trying eating breakfast.

So I thought I'd try it.  Now onto the small problem that this archive search solved for me. 

I found an idea for what to do with the whey powder.  That's good, because it has a lot of protein, I have a lot of it, and my attempt to mask its flavor by putting it into broccoli soup night before last turned out terribly.  Very high Ick factor on that one.
Some innocent broccoli had to die.

So here's what I tried this morning.  80 calories worth of whey powder (that's one scoop) for 20 grams of protein, blended in the blender with 1 cup of skim milk and 3/8 cup of Trader Joe's frozen berry mix, 40 calories.  Total of 200 calories even, 28 grams or protein (80 cals and 8 grams of protein in the skim milk itself), and it tasted okay!  It was even a kinda pretty color.  I feel a little anxious about having 200 calories gone so early in the day (I think one of the reasons why I haven't had much trouble with hunger is that I start eating so late in the day that I get hungry at 11am, I eat, and I have plenty of calories left for the rest of the day.) but we'll see how it makes me feel.  I felt a tremendous sense of accomplishment having gotten 28 grams of protein before 6 am.  (I may have never mentioned it, but I'm an extremely early riser.  Like, before 5 am on a normal day.  Mostly an adaptation to the requirements of my job.) 

I was very hungry when I got to the office (took a train in today... on the rare occasions when I don't need to have my car during the day for work, I take public transport) so I ate both an egg (70, 7 grams of protein) and a cottage cheese (110, 11 grams of protein), bringing my protein total for the day up to 47 so far.  It's a little nerve racking to be close to 400 calories before the technical lunch, but I think that the hunger was more a result of not eating much last night, not of eating early in the morning.  I hope so.  If eating early seems to make me hungrier throughout the day, I may dispense with it, since total calories matters so much more than when or what.  (Dare I say, "Absolute Calories?"  Am I the only one who thinks of vodka ads everytime someone starts saying "Absolute Calories" over and over again?  Granted, CR folks are the last people who would be doing vodka promotions (well, aside from the Women's Temperance Union) but Absolut has so ingrained their ad campaign into my head.) 

Last night I felt a little sick.  I think I may have tried too much, too fast on the giant dead fish.  I enjoyed it at the time, but in the afternoon I started to feel a little queasy.  After sitting in traffic for an hour and dealing with a minor work crisis on my cell phone, I was feeling distinctly green.  So I couldn't face eating, drank a coke instead, which is totally meaningless calories but always, without fail, settles my stomach.  So total for yesterday, throwing in the Emergen-C powder for 30 that I drank after lunch (probably did not help the fish digestion problem) was at or around 830.  Since I ate almost all of that before 2 pm, it's no wonder I'm hungry this morning.  I'll just have to take it easy on the fish... I don't think my long term vegetarian body really knows what to do with dead animals yet.  And once I get my software and figure out a long term protein strategy, I suspect I'll dispense with the fish all together.  See latest MR quotes on fish and radical life extension (thanks, Kenton!)

Meanwhile, the 30th birthday celebrations begin tomorrow.  Thought they were going to start today, but arrival of college roommate has been delayed by a day, so tonight I will probably just go out with VLC (Very Little Co-Worker) after work, and then go home and get some rest.  Maybe even do laundry.  Drop by the dry cleaner?  My life is really so exciting. 

I am certain that my calorie levels will be high over the weekend, so don't worry too much about yesterday being low.  I am going to stick with my whey shake for breakfast, try to get as much protein and veggies as I can at the celebratory events, and in general remind myself that these people are here to celebrate with me and what I eat really should not be an issue.  To clarify, I mean that I should not feel pressure to eat any particular food or quantity of food "because it's my birthday."  It doesn't matter to the people who come to the celebrations what I eat, and if it does, they're the ones with the problem.  Besides, my friends are generally very tolerant of "April's Little Hobby," as CRON has come to be known in my circles.  The place where we're going on Saturday night has great veggies and soups.  I had an amazing roasted root vegetable soup there over the winter that was almost identical in color to the berry whey shake I had this morning. 

I'll write again before evening.