2/28/2017: Brenda & Donna's 30-Day Steak Challenge

[Brenda]

Mmmmmmmm buttery roasted beef shank steaks! Pulled beef FTW

[BellaTricks]

Did that yesterday myself. Such a cheap cut. Does so well in the slow cooker.
I’m pretty inspired by the challenge. Bought a rib eye yesterday. Are it for breakfast and was right til 430pm!

[Donna]

I don’t like eating beef from limited parts of the cow…as in just the fatty steaks. I like to eat from all parts…this includes lean steaks, as well as the other uncommon bits, like liver, tongue, heart, etc.

I don’t have scientific studies to back this up, but my gut tells me that it is not wise to eat from the same part of the animal, all the time, every day. Also, I don’t take any mineral or vitamin supplements at all. Just whole foods. So, I need to forage for nutritional variety.

Long term, absolutely it’s more valuable to eat from all parts of the animal. We are just being gimmicky for a month, for the challenge of it.

Please definitely adjust it for how you need to eat to suit your own health!

[Brenda]

my gut tells me that it is not wise to eat from the same part of the animal, all the time, every day.

For only 30 days, I’ll take my chances. Lol. I normally eat beef heart and marrow bones on the regular.
Going through March 31, only 25 days to go…

[Lucrecia]

Hmm… I’m inclined to agree with you on this… Don’t think it would be that much of a problem for just a month though. Still debating with myself on this one.

[Fiorella]

Yes…one month is gimmicky…but, long enough to start a deficiency, I think. I don’t want to back track and cancel what I have obtained thus far. So, I will try my best to vary my protein sources from different parts of the cow. And cook in beef tallow, so that it is not high protein with low fat.

So far, in this test, I have GAINED 5.8 Lbs. This tells me that this way of eating is certainly inferior to a varied protein ZC way of eating. I dunno. I will continue to see where this goes. Hopefully the weight gain will stop, or else I will have to pull out.

[Fiorella]

You are taking vitamin supplements. I don’t do that. So, you are kinda cheating the system…getting more nutrition than just beef. I am now only getting nutrition from beef, and that’s it.

[Fiorella]

Day 7 - Beef heart fried in beef tallow and tenderized chuck steak fried in beef tallow

The beef heart steaks:

The tenderized chuck steak:

[Brenda]

You are taking vitamin supplements. I don’t do that. So, you are kinda cheating the system

Cheating WHO’s system. OMG Hee hee
#CUE TWILIGHT ZONE MUSIC

I am continuing supplements I have taken for months. My only variable in my life that has changed is my restriction to strictly beef steaks for 30 days.
Which was the whole point here.

Your protocol is completely different.

Have fun though. It’s all in the name of interesting and challenging science, right? And maybe willpower. IDK.
I sure am getting great BG and ketone readings with all this excess protein. I didn’t expect that. Just goes to show you how different we all are.

[Fiorella]

Well, not sure it is entirely willpower though.

I get cravings for particular foods when I have a deficiency. It’s normal for me to crave foods like salmon, oysters, egg yolks, spices, liver, butter, etc. I think that’s pretty cool that my body can make me crave certain foods, in order to make sure I get a certain nutrient.

So, if I force myself to eat only beef, I have to make sure I get a wide variety of nutrients. To calm down any potential cravings.

Today, I cooked beef heart. It was very dark red and bloody…just like liver. So, hopefully, that will help depress cravings.

[AnnaLeeMI]

My 30 days starts tomorrow! Given a certain pee test is negative. I’m getting a whole panel of blood drawn tomorrow as a baseline, and I’ll check again at the end of the 30 days.

I’m interested to see what my fasting glucose and ketones do. Today my glucose was 130 when I got up!! And my most recent A1C was 4.9, so it surprised me to see such a high number. I’ll check blood glucose and ketones when I wake up, along with my weight and waist/hip/bust/neck measurement.

[AnnaLeeMI]

And…day one is not going well at all. Fasted until 12:30 to get labs done. Felt kinda crummy all morning, hungry, headache etc… got my labs done, was driving home and had to pull over to puke. WTF. I’m going to be so mad if I’m actually sick.

[Brenda]

had to pull over to puke.

And that “certain blood test”? Get it back yet?

[AnnaLeeMI]

Oh. Negative of course. My sister and her babies had the stomach flu over the weekend.

[Brenda]

Not sure if I should like, or dislike. Maybe dislike would’ve been more appropriate…

[Brenda]

Continue this thread HERE:

3/6/2017 Continuing Steak Challenge Thread

I started a new thread since the last one was a bit…unwieldy. (Follow Brenda’s daily steak journal HERE if you want to get extra geeky: https://www.ketogenicforums.com/t/brendas-personal-30-day-steak-challenge-journal/8422 ) So far, lost 3" in the waist, and 5 pounds (since the 28th). I gained one today. I am not surprised by the poundage, but I am shocked at the 3". I can only blame plants for that, much to my dismay, as I don’t want to eliminate all dairy. Increasingly this appears prud…

[richard]

thinking I shouldn’t worry about going over fat or protein during this trial?

When you drop from the 20g or so of carbs you were getting in vegetables, you can tolerate more protein to secrete the same amount of insulin. 40g extra protein (protein is 1/2 as insulinogenic as glucose) is probably 200g extra steak without provoking more insulin.

But I doubt anyone by @amber will be on the steak challenge long term and so in the interest of changing things up I’d not worry about counting protein or fat calories and see what your body does. @Brenda’s is obviously running her furnaces at full speed with abundant calories and she is losing remarkable amounts of weight.

[Brenda]

When you drop from the 20g or so of carbs you were getting in vegetables, you can tolerate more protein to secrete the same amount of insulin. 40g extra protein (protein is 1/2 as insulinogenic as glucose) is probably 200g extra steak without provoking more insulin.

THIS IS FUCKING AWESOME

…though I’ve since decided so much extra protein is a waste, and am currently upping my fat on my steaks to reduce it…

[Brenda]

You guys. @DawnH.
Please continue this discussion here(it is the most current):

3/6/2017 Continuing Steak Challenge Thread

I started a new thread since the last one was a bit…unwieldy. (Follow Brenda’s daily steak journal HERE if you want to get extra geeky: https://www.ketogenicforums.com/t/brendas-personal-30-day-steak-challenge-journal/8422 ) So far, lost 3" in the waist, and 5 pounds (since the 28th). I gained one today. I am not surprised by the poundage, but I am shocked at the 3". I can only blame plants for that, much to my dismay, as I don’t want to eliminate all dairy. Increasingly this appears prud…

[PastorWendell]

I always have glass (or 2) or Cabernet with steak… is this in rule book?