Protein
First up protein weight is not the same as meat weight. 100g of beef has about 26g protein.
It would be a sad day indeed, if we couldn’t enjoy a bit of nutrition maths with our NOFUN fish and cheese omelette: 120g pilchards (canned in olive oil), 60g Jarlsberg, 4 large free range chook eggs, cooked in last night’s steak fat.
Recommended daily intake of protein in a “moderate protein”, low carb, ketogenic diet is 0.8g dietary protein/ kg of ideal body weight. For middle aged people the protein intake recommendation is higher, 2g/kg as a goal, and let’s call the baseline 1g/kg for easier calculations.
In amongst this breakfast contemplation, I was thinking about @Azi’s Linda’s slight elevations in HbA1c and fasting insulin while on the carnivore plan. Adapting to eating increased amounts of meat may have two effects, one is that meat can (and likely will) induce insulin secretion. That may result in an elevated insulin test. But as Linda pointed out, stress and the autonomic nervous system response related to it will see the release of stress hormones, elevation of blood glucose, and subsequent insulin response. External stress and a carnivore WOE, that may create a mild dietary stress response, may combine to create a higher baseline blood glucose, which will be reflected in an elevated HbA1c result. As long as we know what underlies metabolic bio marker changes, then we can understand if those changes are health significant, or not, in a broader health evaluation.
Back to beef. So, if I was on a beef, salt water carnivore plan maths would be easy. My goal would be to eat 200g protein per day (to satisfy estimated hunger driven by protein leverage), and that would be about 800g of beef. That would be about 1.75 pounds of beef.
There is a calculation somewhere about the maximum limit of protein intake per meal. For muscle building in young athletes, it seems the limit guide is about 20 - 30g of highly digestible protein (e.g. white chicken meat, whey protein) per meal. But there are other body needs besides muscle building and our carnivore meals protein is delivered with intrinsic saturated animal fats and collagen, which may affect digestibility. So, I found a science journal article that described 0.55 g/kg/meal. So, if I’m aiming at 200g, that would suggest 55g per meal, and 4 meals per day. This is interesting stuff from the muscle building world, but I think I’ll rely on hunger signals, and, maybe, reconciliation against blood glucose sampling. 2MAD is very comfortable in my n=1.
In my carnivore WOE observations over the past almost 2 years. I find a beef meal of about 500g meat/ 125g protein very satisfying as the main meal. So, the thing I was wondering today is if my breakfast of eggs can fill the protein gap? Do I get 75g or more protein from breakfast? Let’s look.
Today I had 4 large eggs, 60g Jarlsberg cheese and 120g of mackerel. That feels like a satisfying breakfast. And about 50ml of double cream in a large black coffee.
Cream: 0.8g protein
Mackerel: 22.0g
Egg: 6g protein x 4 = 24g protein
Cheese: 27g protein in 100g = 16.2g (this number surprised me)
TOTAL = 63g protein in breakfast
So, just with intuitive carnivore eating, I am under-eating when compared to a mathematical goal, but very comfortably over a baseline. 10g of protein would mean about 40g heavier steak, or adding 2 eggs to dinner, or about 50g of Jarlsberg cheese. All easily done. Or 3 cups of bone broth, if I were to drink the protein.
The main thing I’ve learnt in this exercise is that reading nutrition labels on packaging is a real challenge these days.
I wish her a long, happy life! Pigs are lovely pets. When they don’t have potty issues, at least. 
My body have a tiny extra time to get ready… Or way more as if I make a photo, I get the food significantly earlier, make all the planned courses first, even my pancakes… I usually eat the pancakes fresh and warm, often standing while I make the next. So it’s different. I wouldn’t like to make a photo every time, it’s a chore and tend to disrupt my usual behavior. Not always. The best is making a shot of my roasts for 3-4 days. But sometimes I prepare a plate of cold food, try to make it as nice as I am willing (it’s food, not a painting) and it’s more appetizing that way…
i don’t really like weekends and Bank hols in work as I prefer the normality of the weekday regime. But hey ho it is what it is and I just have to get on with it lol.
Or feel the need to eat, it’s not always hunger, sometimes a very serious need to refuel…
