Last meal of the day, June 11th

Last meal of the day, and I’m ready to pass out. I taught two hot Bikram classes, got in a great shoulder/back/calves workout at the gym, and of course practiced bikram myself in the morning. I decided not to go out to a birthday party, as it’s just too much action, I’m tired, I have legs tomorrow, and sometimes you just have to say “no” for the greater goal. With only 5 weeks left for SAF and 6 weeks for IDFA, I’m heading into the zone guys!…
Now, in the past I’ve been relying on melatonin pills to fall asleep when doing my final dieting, (falling to sleep can be a problem for some of us as the low complex carb intake can wreck havoc on serotonin and melatonin levels) but as I’m not using supplements these days, I switched to a bowl of oats before bed during my last practice dial-in. This time, I want to play around a little more with my tool-box, and really cut out carbs that have a high glycemic load at night, so I’m switching to the power-house of complex carbs, legumes and pulses, and in very small quantities. An added bonus is that these guys are absolutely packed with dietary fiber as well: 1/2 cup has 6 whole grams!!! This is another big check for legumes as I am trying to be as healthy and regular as possible, and just ask any physique athlete about the problems of fiber intake during the final few weeks.
I think the bit of fat from the egg yolk combined with the complex carbs from the lentil puree and chick peas has set me up for a great night of sleep. I’ll know more after a week of trying this out. I have to say, I feel pretty darn good about this dial in, (though it’s only been a few days), but saying good bye to milk and cheese isn’t going to be that hard afterall. With a wide variety of cooking methods, fresh herbs, vegetables, legumes and condiments to choose from, getting lean will only be a matter of discipline and timing, not taste…The thing about making your meals super clean yet tasty, is to take a small bit of time, (I usually take an hour Friday and Wednesday) to prepare some interesting flavors. I just made roasted eggplant and peppers, pickled onions, kidney beans and whipped white lentils (made with water, not butter and milk this time), and toasted off some almonds and peanuts. Then have a bunch of colorful, nutritious containers in the fridge that you can then compose different meals with. It’s kind of like a painter preparing his/her palette. Your much better fed, and because your “diet” food is so damn tasty, it really cuts back on cravings. Plus, you’ll probably find that you’re eating much more healthily in the off-season, avoided unnecessary fat gain, because your satiety level is going to be way higher. Tonight, I had a strong craving for more seared paneer, but as I’d already had one meal today with it, I chose instead to have a whole egg combined with about 2 tablespoons of lentil puree and a couple tablespoons of red chickpeas, kind of like a mini assiette…With that I had some fresh corn I had prepared yesterday, and a small slice of the roasted red pepper. All of this was cooked in the same skillet at the same time, but separated, with just a little salt and olive oil. I sprinkled some chat masala on top, a standard indian spice mix, and voila, a great last meal was served!