Another Carnivore Thread

#1445

I am unable to take supplements. Even if I find them a good idea (rare) and try, it just doesn’t happen. But I am all for making my diet good enough! I still don’t look up a normal day nowadays on Chronometer but I will one day. I don’t even know what a normal day is, my meat intake is all over the place. But usually very low. The mutton stew was great but little. 16 days until we can go to get my biggest ruminant meat order ever (it’s the third time), I have some chicken liver, some smoked pork chuck (sooo yesterday since I tasted ham but it’s still meat. I need to think about new recipes as it’s too salty alone and I don’t want to eat it with scrambled eggs), a tiiiny bit of ham and a tiny bit of fish until then. I go to the city next week so I get more ham. Maybe eggs too, I start to run out of them again. We have cheese but it never will be a staple, not even temporarily. I hope it’s the last such time, I don’t eat my old non-egg food items or just a tiny bit, I need meat. And it’s my most exciting food so it needs to help my eggs for multiple reasons, nutrition and variety/fun/whatever makes me not getting tired of eggs.

Maybe I will be stricter when I will get my beef (and try out carnivore with significant meat consumption for several days, I never had that. I doubt I need it but I am always curious about such things. of course it won’t be much meat but I won’t be super careful with my allowance) but my new default is eating whatever I want and have, no limits (well, except the ones I can’t defy). I changed so I continue my least carby period ever, I am just free. It works very well this far, my body behaves exactly the same as on my second carnivore trial. I feel okay, hunger and appetite is mostly in the past and I get satiated extremely quickly so I usually have a few smaller meals or a bigger and a tiny, very rarely it’s OMAD but that’s rare. No desire towards vegetables, most sweets and usually anything else edible. I eat mostly because I have to or because I am curious how a new food turned out. I hope it changes a bit soon, it’s abnormal especially for a hedonist. Of course my food is enjoyable but still.
But I am quite pleased with the changes in the last months. When I eat more plants or more carbs (lactose. it never really much but normally I stay extremely close to zero), those days serve as experiments. It seems that if I stay close to carnivore or extreme low-carb (I never noticed it matters if I eat plants if they contain very little carbs) or if I don’t but it’s for a single day, things don’t change. I had the same on low-carb, I could break my personal carb limit for a day without problem but only if I didn’t go too far and it was one day, not several. Now I have the same, with a much smaller carb limit (and “problem” means something totally different. I don’t get unwell if I still stay below my old limit, I just get hungrier and gets random desires). I didn’t find problematic items this far and I actually tried some totally not keto-friendly food as well (strict times quite naturally cause that later, my rebellious self still has some strength but not really much). I didn’t try a significant amount of vegetables as I just don’t want them at all. So no idea what would happen then. Or if I ate 50g peanuts. I won’t try that for the sake of experiment, I am quite happy I got rid of that addiction right away when I had my carnivore trial (and run out of peanuts, we still didn’t buy any tasty ones so no idea if I can get tempted in some circumstances. It’s super easy to feel no desire when I don’t have the item, only very strong, real addictions work differently. It was the “I eat it if I have it and get tempted” type).
I wouldn’t be here without this topic now, that’s sure.
My weight is always 11 stone but I’m obviously losing fat, it just can’t be shown this quickly.

I got carried away, sorry. I totally use this topic for thinking and analyzing things sometimes. I do it anyway but writing often help, I realize more things. Probably due to spending more time on it.

But it will be less exciting from now on, I expect stability and only small changes. So I won’t think about these things so much.

#1446
(Ashley) #1447

Finding out I prefer cold ground beef compared to
Cooked :thinking:

#1448

interesting. a few have gone that route :slight_smile: I never hit it, still like mine hot.
it is amazing how we all change on zero carb, it’s a great thing finding how we love to eat our best!

#1449

I didn’t even reached the ground beef phase yet, I wonder if I will.
People are into ground beef in this country too but I never was. I like stews and soups, meat in small cubes, cooked until it becomes tender. I fry softer meat. It’s enough this far. And I have my egg-something flatbreads, I used cod today. My somewhat new, pretty and strong blender set is wonderful. I never tested it on beef slices though… I don’t have the usual tool to make ground beef and I won’t get one.

#1450

I’ve been doing this a while now. It sits much better with my stomach when it’s cold.
I love to precook burger patties, too, and eat them cold topped with tallow.

(Ashley) #1451

I think I’m going to start making enough for multiple days and chill then as well :slight_smile:

#1452

Goodness people, 3 days without a post here??? :laughing:

Hope y’all are doing well.

#1453

Sorry, I went and wrote about my problematic times and possibly strange ideas a lot…

I had nothing to say here. I had bumps on the road. Well, almost complete lack of meat, it makes carnivore super hard even for single days. But as carbs just makes me starving and I refuse to eat most plants anyway (no desire and no point in that), I do what I can. Yesterday I waited until i got hungry, ate 7 eggs, 5 yolks, some dairy and a really tiny bit of meat (it still became a dirty carnivore day out of necessity but it’s good enough in my books, especially now). Now I almost run out of eggs too and won’t have more until Friday… Even my only working plant option (I am willing to eat it and it’s satiating and not too carby) is lacking. But I still have chicken liver, frozen egg whites and a bit of this and that… More than enough cheese too. I will manage.
Then I will buy some fish in the city on Saturday or something. And smoked pork, of course. I got bored of it fried (I mean the chuck, the ham is perfect every way) and it was too salty too so I made some broth of it. Is it a valid thing? Not like it matters to me. It tasted very nice and the meat lost most of its salt and became tender. I will do broth all the time, I like soups and it’s perfect for my poached eggs (I used to put them into my onion soups but well, I just don’t do vegetable soups anymore, it seems. I planned, we have vegetables and my SO likes them but it just didn’t happen. But he cooked beetroot soup with potatoes and lentils on the weekend so he’s fine. Now we both are bad at cooking for the other but it still works somehow and we still have some common ground left. Very tiny regarding soups, though). Next time I will put some chicken liver in my broth too, what could possibly go wrong?

10 days until I can get my beef. Things will get a bit easier then.

So I just can’t go back. I did vegetarian keto for so long without big problems. It was a bit tricky and I went off keto a lot (as that felt about the same but was easier) but it was nice while lasted. But now, if I don’t have meat, I am doomed, miserable and hungry (until I either massively overeat or make sweets to put enough egg protein into me or something. eating tons of gluten works too). If my freezer will have space after I put the meat in, I order more next time (I need to do my best to reduce the amount of frozen fruits there). Once per month is a serious restriction. There was an option for roosters with a nice timing (I’ve just run out of mutton and had much space) but I didn’t look at their page for a day… Maybe I will try the allegedly local farm pork in the hypermarket. Or ask my relative, she sometimes get some pork from a house but that’s once a year. The “beef” farm has pork once or twice a year too. The pig farm usually only sells live piglets and smoked stuff as far as I know.
Well, I’ve just started, I am sure it gets better later. And it’s not like I need much meat. Just some. Not this… 0.1 pounds per day in average I have in these weeks. That’s close to nothing. 0.4, I can work with that. I can add some more smoked pork and especially fish, I just need good recipes (already working on it) as a fried lean fish is pretty boring, simple frying only works with great stuff like salmon. My SO would have problems with eating meat all the time, not like it has so much to do with my eating. But probably I couldn’t eat lots of meat all the time either. No idea, never could try and I am changing. Once I got bored of ruminants for some days (along with eggs, that was tough) but not all meat in general.

But it’s quite okay now, I seriously focus on my carb intake and as long as it’s low, that annoying starvation feeling is out of question. And I have barely enough to eat (enough is the key word) so I am fine. But I don’t always like challenges, I need some smooth sailing already.

My SO isn’t predictable. I thought he is. I told him I am thinking about making a “lard cake” (more like an egg one but lard must be included) and he, the big lard and tallow hater told me I shouldn’t tell him it is that so he can try it without prejudice. Wow. Now I am more motivated.
My not-quite-mayonnaise gave me the idea, it is so pretty! I still dislike mayonnaise, I think but if I drastically reduce the amount of fat and use lard, it’s nice. I used 40g lard and one egg yolk first, I ate it but it’s still very fatty (and it’s a too big amount anyway. but there is no such thing as half a yolk). But the taste (mustard and maybe a tiny bit of lemon juice, the one made from orange-ish colored lemon, it’s way tastier than normal lemons), the texture, the softness/hardness and the fact I just need to mix them with a spoon… I really liked it. It’s as pretty as my Mom’s vanilla frosting, I must make a cake with it, it’s fun. The sponge cake is easy, it will be egg only, it should work. I love pretty cakes and funny, it’s-not-what-it-seems things too :slight_smile: And triangle cake slices look fabulous too. I always liked my food pretty though it’s secondary and my skills aren’t very good. But I can learn a bit.

(Ashley) #1454

I’ve been still carnivore but puttering along on the forums as I been busy with other things!

#1455

Me too, it wasn’t a complaint just an observation. :smiley:
I didn’t really have anything useful to say but not having posted much lately I felt the need to say something so that’s the first thing that came to mind. I’m not very good at small talk in real life either.

I still check in and read here and there but mostly taking a break from being very active here.

#1456

yup, I think that is me now also and am in that frame of mind too :slight_smile:

(Edith) #1457

I am excited. I found a local farm that does a CSA for meat, all grass fed and pasture raised beef, pork, and chicken. I am going to do a trial month and see what I think. Maybe I’ll sign up for the six month subscription. It works out to be about $8/pound. Pricier than just buying a half a cow, but cheaper than buying that kind of meat from the grocery store. I will also be able to get organ meats, bones, and suet/fat from them.

#1458

CSA? Buying shares in a carcass?

(Edith) #1459

Ah, yes, in the US, CSA means Community Supported Agriculture. The consumer pays for a share of the farm’s harvest, like a subscription. We are getting a meat subscription, so to speak.

#1460

Nice! There are nothing like this here, we just order meat and buy it 1-4 weeks later… I do that with the nearby “beef” farm.
If I just consider exchange rates (it’s not completely fair to compare prices in different parts of the world, probably), $8/pound is insanely expensive to me (I can buy wild salmon for that money if I am lucky, I think), well, there are pricier meat, of course… But eggs meeting my standards are around $1.2/pound… The same is liver and heart, bones are cheaper but they are bones, scraps costs almost nothing but I never could buy them, they are probably mostly fat, ribs are around $2.3 not counting the bones. I buy that, it’s a good price, of course, way more expensive than some meat in the shops but I definitely not touch those (except the chicken liver just once). Everything else is more expensive but I like neck and it’s just a bit more. Mutton was a bit pricier but not so bad and it was amazing. And it’s so small, I really consider buying half a sheep next time. My freezer is tiny but half a sheep is tiny too. 11kg/24.75 pounds and we would immediately remove the bones and cook a significant part of it. The sheep is way, way, way heavier alive but it loses the blood, the guts, lots of fat and all that huge hide and its head with big nice horns!
There are way bigger sheep breeds and species but not in this country.

Chickens are way more expensive if we want good quality and not the cheap ones from stores but the beef from a nice farm has the same price or it’s even a bit cheaper, it’s great. I don’t know what’s the case with pork. More processed stuff is more expensive from a farm (sausage, cheese).

Suet… It’s one thing the farm doesn’t sell. It didn’t even sell organs last time and I am so curious about beef liver and heart… The bones run out quickly too. But there is always next time. I am somewhat patient.

(Edith) #1461

I live in an area that has a fairly high cost of living. If I bought grass fed beef at the grocery store, especially steaks, it would be more expensive.
I don’t have the storage to purchase half a cow so the 14 kg/month may work out quite nicely. I haven’t committed, yet. I’m just doing a one month trial.

#1462

So it’s really a more expensive location… It’s hard for me to figure out these things as sometimes I see high prices - and sometimes someone buys their meat so cheap I won’t ever have a chance to go near that (I don’t noticed we even had some really good sales regarding meat here)… I live in a tiny country and though costs of living vary a lot, it’s usually not the food or not significantly. I know simple store-bought eggs in the USA are pretty cheap as I’ve read that many times. But better eggs (I don’t write free-range as there are other kinds that are considered better but it’s still not free) are super expensive somewhere. They are quite expensive here too, usually, in stores. It’s not so much if I just buy them from someone in the village and I even know more about the hens and their life and diet then.
Chicken prices are crazy here. There is the cheap broiler chicken. There is some better quality chicken, it’s twice as much. And there is the even more expensive home-raised chicken… It’s great that roosters from the “beef farms” are as cheap as beef liver or eggs (Hungarian people often consider eggs expensive, usually, I don’t get why and they buy it at a way lower price, usually. okay, it sometimes go up and reach the price of my eggs but it’s still not so very much). They are huge, big roosters and yeah, its meat is surely not super tender but I can cook it for long… I definitely will buy one when I can.

#1463

Reading this thread, I feel bad about wanting to downsize our grass-fed beef farm. So much demand for affordable, grass fed meat - and here I am wanting scale things back! Maybe I’ll feel differently this summer, or perhaps when hubby semi-retires in a couple years. (He’ll need something more to keep himself busy!) It just seemed like more work and more time consuming because I started working outside the home last March. I hope that I won’t feel so overwhelmed this summer, and can balance things out better. Carnivore has made me feel much more calm, and relaxed- not nervous, worrisome, short-fused, etc. After listening to Dr. Ede talk about the psychological benefits from a carnivore diet, it just affirmed that what I was feeling wasn’t all in my head. So, maybe that was the key. I wasn’t on carnivore during haying season. So maybe my perspective will have drastically changed when July rolls around. Let’s hope.
Very happy to report that my hours are finally being trimmed down at work…so I can have a little more time at home to prep, cook, and even pressure can some meats. Currently trying to decide if I want to raise meat chickens an turkeys again. Timing is part of the equation, along with availability. And weather. We just never know how long the snow will stick around, and I DO NOT want chickens and turkeys in the house with Rufus. So, we wait.
The carnivore experiment with hubby has gone so-so. He broke down a couple times, and got into some bread, a piece of pizza, and some Mtn Dew. He is staying with it now, for the most part. But, I’m finding that for dinners - he feels like he needs a side of something next to the abundance of meats/cheeses. So, last night, I made him a broccoli cassarole with 3 cheeses and HWC to go alongside the chicken-three-ways. He was perfectly satisfied. All I can figure is the veg gives him a little variety in terms of taste and texture, and it was a lot of fat - so, it’s all good. If I can keep him mostly carnivore, with a little keto-veg here and there, I’m happy. He’s down at least 10 pounds, seems to be feeling pretty good. He shoveled roofs and plowed all weekend, and didn’t get the usual back ache and pains that he normally does. Perhaps that is a sign that some inflammation is down?
Also finding that hard boiled eggs have been instrumental in keeping him (and the rest of us) full, and away from any non-carnivore snacks. The three kids who frequent our fridge have got one leg on the wagon, too! I’m up to boiling at least 18 eggs per week (or more). I still eat them with a slice of butter and salt…its my fav.
Had a couple of days off this week, got caught up on housework and did some shopping. Loving how I can buy clothes in smaller sizes now. So much more selection!
Speaking of shopping, I was gobsmacked when I got the to meat dept at our grocery store…there were only 2 packages of skin-on chicken thighs!!! I about died! Yes, I snatched them up quickly, but what the heck?! Normally, there’s like, 30-40! 3 different brands. Only 2 left. They were not on sale. This has me perplexed. I was just there a couple days earlier…and the racks were full. Maybe I’d better do chickens after all.
Well…my days off have come to an end, and I start a 4 day stretch today. 40 hours this week, 32 hours next week, and 28 the following week. Ah. I feel better already. Think I will stop by the gym and renew my membership— as it appears there will be more time for some workouts! Have a wonderful day all!!! =)

(Edith) #1464

I’ve listened to a couple of podcasts lately about regenerative agriculture and the health of dirt and it makes me want to buy some land and raise my own beef, pork, and chicken.

Who knows? Maybe when we retire someday. Of course, now that my kids are getting older I’m looking forward to the day when my kids have moved out and the pets have died. Maybe I won’t want to raise my own meat by then.