Diet: Day 3

Work yesterday was crazy busy, so there was not much opportunity to cheat on the diet. Breakfast was a boiled egg and a tangerine. The egg was cooked via the Julia Child and Georgia Egg Board method, reprinted below.

 *  Exported from  MasterCook  *

                       The Perfect Hard Boiled Egg

Recipe By     : Julia Child, “The Way to Cook”
Serving Size  : 1    Preparation Time :0:40
Categories    : Cheese/Eggs                      Family Recipes

  Amount  Measure       Ingredient -- Preparation Method
--------  ------------  --------------------------------
                        For 1-4 Eggs:
   1      to 4          Eggs
   2      quarts        water -- * see note
                        For 12 Eggs:
  12                    Eggs
   3 1/2  quarts        water -- * see note
                        For 24 Eggs:
  24                    Eggs
   6      quarts        water -- * see note
                        Special Equipment_________________________
                        High (not wide) Saucepan with cover
                        Bowl w/ice cubes & water (large enough to
                        completely cover eggs)

*note:  water should cover the eggs by 1 inch, so use a tall pan, and limit
cooking to 2 dozen eggs at a time.

1.  Lay the eggs in the pan and add the amount of cold water specified.  Set
over high heat and bring just to the boil; remove from heat, cover the pan,
and let sit exactly 17 minutes.

2.  When the time is up, transfer the eggs to the bowl of ice cubes and
water.  Chill for 2 minutes while bringing the cooking water to the boil
again.  (This 2 minute chilling shrinks the body of the egg from the shell.)

3.  Transfer the eggs (6 at a time only) to the boiling water, bring to the
boil again, and let boil for 10 seconds - this expands the shell from the
egg.   Remove eggs, and place back into the ice water.


Chilling the eggs promptly after each step prevents that dark line from
forming, and if time allows, leave the eggs in the ice water after the last
step for 15 to 20 minutes.  Chilled eggs are easier to peel, as well.

The peeled eggs will keep perfectly in the refrigerator, submerged in water
in an uncovered container, for 2 to 3 days.

                   - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

NOTES : The perfect hard boiled egg has a tender white, and a yolk properly
set.  There is not the faintest darkening of yolk where the white encircles
it (a chemical reaction caused by too much heat in the cooking process).
Eggs cooked this way can also be peeled neatly.

The system described here, developed by the Georgia Egg Board,  takes a bit
of fussing - but it really does produce an absolutely Perfect Hard Boiled Egg!

The 40 minute egg method (crazy, I know) yielded mixed results. The first egg was perfect, with the shell peeling off rather easily. Some of the other eggs were a struggle, and they ended up looking mutilated after I struggled to peel them.

Lunch was radishes, celery, carrots and, ahem, a Diet Coke. I think the Coke contains too many chemicals to help with the detox process, but I drank another one later in the evening. For some reason, I craved a Jameson and Diet Coke. Supper was snapper, broccoli, and green beans.

All in all not too bad yesterday. I ate a few pork rinds as well, knowing they don't have many calories and are totally free of carbs. For today, I hope to eat a larger volume of vegetables, as well as more water. The rule of thumb is to take your weight (in lbs.) and divide in half to get the number of ounces of water one should drink on a daily basis. Starting with 220 lbs, I would need to drink 110 ounces of water. The bottles here at work are .5L, or 16.9 FL OZ, so I'll need to down seven of these things. I hope no one hogs the bathroom, as I'm going to be in there quite a bit.

Breakfast this morning is a veritable feast. I started with some strawberries and a boiled egg. Next I'll move on to the South American peach (the first one on Day 1 wasn't so good. I'd say it was rather tasteless.) and a locally grown grapefruit and an apple of unknown variety. I think it's a Braeburn, but my wife keeps washing them and picking off the stickers.

Still no exercise. That's the biggest failure so far. Burning calories is the way to go. I think at work today, I'll walk around flexing muscles and striking bodybuilding poses.

My co-workers will love it.