Here we are, day 2 of the “Ape” diet. If you want to be technical it is really day 3; but, we did start over, so we are calling it day 2. Quick update before we jump into dinner – the best part of the day, right? NOT when you are on an insane diet!!!

I was surprised that we woke up feeling pretty good today as the last thing Lenny said before falling asleep at 11pm was, “do you think I can have an apple right now?” This is from the guy who said all was “good, really good”, the night before. Surprising I was not hungry when I got up, I felt really energized. Maybe it was the vitamins or maybe it was the super-ape powers taking over my body or maybe it was my muscles eating up all the fat I have stored over the years – regardless, I felt great! We snacked on grapes and carrots during that day. That seems to be the easiest way to do this diet while at the office , orking and trying not to think about the fumes of dim sum from Yank Sing, that is floating through your vents and windows. Just lay out a couple pounds of raw veggies and fruit and go to town. Lots of green tea seems to help also. For lunch we had hefty salads again. We are noticing that they are getting bigger though … everyday is another $2 to $3 for lunch, so we are eating more. As well we got some raw nuts, to snack on, they seem to help as well.

It did suck today. We left the office early to do a couple errands. I remembered this cute little “euro” place near the store we had to go to and I suggested we grab a beer and hang out before heading home. Oh, that is right, we can’t do that, Apes do not drink beer! So, we came home did our usual thing, Lenny rests and I try to run &/or do some yoga. Then it came time to make dinner, our together time. Mind you, I usually think about our meals all day. What I am going to make, what is in season, how I am going to make it, etc….. today, was different.

We had some eggplant, asparagus, shallots, garlic and some chili peppers in the house. It was freezing out, so we were not about to eat “raw” food for dinner, so we decided it would be alright to cook them a little. This is what we came up with ……

We minced the garlic, shallots and chili peppers, tossed them into a ziploc bag with thinly sliced eggplant strips, mixed it all up really good and then laid it out onto a cookie sheet, put them into the oven, along with the asparagus, for about 10 minutes, just enough time to keep everything “crisp” on the inside but warm on the outside. Verdict …. very crunchy but super tasty, the shallots, garlic and chilies helped out!

How did we feel? Satisfied, we were both really full and pretty happy with how it came out. That was until an hour or so later; especially after I found a hunk of dark chocolate behind the container of tea – eeksss! I tossed it into the back of the cupboard and went back to work……….

TIP:  DRINK TONS OF WATER!!!!