Carnivore Chewy July - 31-day Challenge - 2023

[Shinita]

Oh, pâté… IDK when I will make it again, mine isn’t as nice and soft as the store-bought one and it’s some work (cleaning the grinder or what is it called) while my very tiny liver allowance (it’s just too nutritious ) is easy to eat using fried liver with some dairy to make even the very strong flavored chicken liver mild… Carnivore made me lazy.
But I surely will make it again one day. I love pâté. But I need meat it in, much better. The store-bought stuff often has it too.

I am roasting the little pork belly in the oven now I am a bit afraid I won’t be able to wait until I get properly hungry but this time was better to make it (it’s still morning). I will fry my little leftover green ham later, it proved yesterday I can’t resist it when it’s around me… That surely will change if I manage my plan and focus on it more than ever. I have no better idea to keep my energy intake in check (and get perfect satiation for most of the time, chill and simplicity etc.).

I have read about salt pork and using it. On a history channel. Salt pork was a staple but it can’t just use as it is. Soaking was needed (maybe not if one put just a few pieces into a big pot of soup ;)).
I am glad I don’t need such things nowadays (fridges and freezers are awesome, I am so very thankful for their existence). Oversalted things are horrible, they BURN me… I handle some smoked salted pork here and there but I am sure it’s not even near to the level of old salt pork.
But it’s tricky with so many salted stuff. Like smoked pork hock, it’s very salty so even when my SO put it into a big pot of legumes, he should use the right amount and not more to get the end result properly salty. And then I grab some of the meat that lost enough salt to be enjoyable… That stuff needs cooking to be as tender as I love (it’s already cooked and edible to begin with but I am into that super tenderness!).
But I am sensitive to salt and find too many things too salty already, it’s good I have my sponge cakes and sour cream or cream to help.

And where do the billions of bacteria get classified in the ZC lifestyle?

And where do the billions of bacteria get classified in the ZC lifestyle?

Good luck at avoiding bacteria… I always considered that an okay group. It can’t be only animals. Pure, strict carnivore has nothing from plants and fungi but there are some more kingdoms beyond them, not just Animalia…

the desolation of the dessert

I only ever met the word “desolation” when it was about the desolation of Smaug

By the way, desserts may complicate my life, I think I should keep them low. I did eat quark with sour cream today but only because my lunch (my first, most important meal!) was devoid of meat. Maybe I shouldn’t do that in the future but it always happens: I just don’t have (enough or any) meat when I start to eat for various reasons. (I really should put something into the freezer for emergencies).

Interesting dessert ideas, well I would never put meat into my pancakes, those are vegetarian carnivore, the dough, I mean though I never used meat as filling yet. But that’s totally a Hungarian thing so maybe one day. The cheesecake and custard tart sounds nice (if I manage to find cream cheese again, I will have another recipe to use, yay! its availability is worse than the one of beef! I can’t just easily find it in supermarkets. but I LOVE it and I think ALDI has it. and I eat it up all alone too quickly. but I only bought it 2 times, maybe it will get better eventually), the ice cream is obviously nothing like MY ice cream. For 4-6 yolks I don’t use 1 liter cream (OMG I never have such an insane amount, that is for months!) but 60g at most (I will experiment with a bit more later as yolks are too salty to provide the bigger half of my desserts now). (Zero works too but then it stops being carnivore as I need to add something else to sweeten it. And if it’s ice cream, it’s banana for me.)
Not like I like ice cream nowadays but it’s useful if I am very hungry and can’t stomach any other carni food. Or if I want something icy, maybe. Otherwise, well, pork is WAY tastier. And sour cream is creamier.

I wanted to write about my day but I forgot my pic and I am lazy after my 2nd meal on this gloomy day (we had rain!) with my somewhat lack of sleep (but I dreamed some elaborated story, it’s rare so I am glad)… No tracking yet either not like I have ANY idea about the fattiness of my meat. Pork belly. It’s amazing and surprisingly lean. At some points, at least, it had wonderful fat layers, the top got roasted nicely. I am very pleased with it. Should have bought the other piece too…
My carni items are so perfect that it’s no hardship to stick to them. And some flavorings/spices, I keep those. Dessertless carnivore is something too extreme to me. I totally don’t see the point of avoiding that (not like I could, of course) until it’s mentally healthy (it’s not in my case if you ask me but I don’t care about that tiny level. just try to have days without desserts when I get back my brain from the summer) and the article made no sense to me when it wrote that desiring desserts every day means sugar addiction. Nope, I feel very clearly that I don’t want sugar, I want DESSERT. Anyway, I cut out added sugar (of course not perfectly all the time, few people do that. but close) ~13 years ago and it was easy, never missed it. I doubt I ever had sugar addiction. I had sweets addiction but it turned out it’s more like dessert addiction as the right kind is great without sweetening (some don’t even have cream or milk in it so they aren’t even sweet). I don’t know if I still have it but if I manage to eat enough meat and other proper food, I don’t want dessert. But I never had that for long, I can imagine I would miss desserts even if I could eat enough meat and eggs.
Sadly, keto made my dependence on sweets stronger as I pretty much needed them to get my nutrients while keeping my carbs low. But adding meat mostly solved that problem. And as time passes, I can handle meatier and meatier weeks (weeks as a really meaty meal or day was easy even in the beginning, well more like it happened in extreme cases… but I got bored of it quickly in the past and had to stop).

I send before I write even more, sorry for blabbing in my half-asleep state. Not like I can’t do it any time but it’s a tad even worse when I am like this.

[Shinita]

I’ve read back, I only missed one comment but that was lovely.
@Geezy56, I would gladly taste both the ham and the pizza (cheesiness or not ;)).
I just wouldn’t put in much work… Carnivore made me lazy and I have so many simple delicious recipes… Sometimes I want something specific or remember cooking is my hobby and I may be in a mood to play more with food… I actually NEED to spend some time and effort on cooking but as I don’t only cook and bake for myself, it’s no problem, I have that.

I made this today:

Quite wonderful. The meat part may be a bit too lean on the top but there were all those lovely fats to go with it. Enjoyable and very satiating. Still didn’t track.

[…]
Why do I track, seriously? It’s much work even on a very simple day, I needed several measurements for my pork belly…
But now I know I ate about 1.3 pounds of pork belly. Its fattiness is anybody’s guess but I definitely overate fat and protein as it is my wont (okay, I don’t always do that just usual). No wonder, I had 3MAD and my first meal was meatless. Bad idea I know. Why I got hungry for the 3rd time I don’t know but now I am very nicely satiated Food wise I did well, I even consider my day simple. Oh but details!

Lunch (at 1pm): Scrambled eggs with cheese, soup with a poached egg, quark with sour cream, little milk (with a tiny bit of coffee).
Second lunch (soon, of course I can’t just get satiated with a meatless first meal): Pork belly!
Late dinner: Pork belly, cheese, scrambled egg (as it was 1 egg), milk. It was hard to get satiated as I started with little pork belly but I gave up and ate more.

7 hour eating window, no appetite or joy problems at all, nice satiation after meals, high protein, high fat. I decided I adore scrambled eggs with a tiny cheese again, I need some eggy days in my near future. And pork belly isn’t my new fav only because it’s hard to beat the marbling of pork chuck. Or whatever it has but it often has fat veins everywhere and that’s simply awesome. I can handle lean meat with bigger fat layers if it stays juicy but I like the marbling better. Taste wise it’s fantastic, reminds me of the nostalgic rare ribs from my childhood. Not surprising considering both are meat from around the ribs. So that is a great place. It’s not so easy to find a bad place in a pig, of course but this is the best, apparently. For me. There are fancy expensive cuts I dislike but clearly many people do. And the feet! I saw a great sale for feet but we can’t consider it edible.

So, I feel content as I ate sooo well.
It’s much more convenient and successful to eat less times but I need to get rid of these super early meals.
I stop tracking until that happens.

[Geezy56]

Broke my fast with pate and scrambled eggs. This is by far my favorite way to eat pate now.
I’ve got some venison stew meat slow cooking in some bone broth in the crockpot. I would really like to add some onion to it but this will be 100% carni. No fudging.

[Geezy56]

Ladies and gentlemen, my venison stew.

Made with chunks of venison stew meat that was quickly seared in tallow. Then I added some slices of that smoked venison ham that I made the other day. Then some pork fat from a pork butt that I cooked up for an elderly neighbor that we care for. Then I slow cooked it in the crockpot for four hours in a nice beef bone broth. Only seasoning used was pink sea salt and the saltiness of the cured ham.
Super tender and oh so rich. I wish I could share it with all of you.

[JJFiddle]

I only ever met the word “desolation” when it was about the desolation of Smaug

LOL @Shinita! Great minds think alike!

@Geezy56 I watched that Chris Cooks video on pizza from start to finish. Looks good; looks like a lot of work; I will probably try it at some point! On keto I made the cream cheese/mozzarella cheese/almond flour pizza crust and hubby finally said don’t. It’s not the real thing and I’d rather not have it. Mainly though, it was the almond flour texture. I was so glad to get rid of all that keto stuff after starting carni! Oh the VOLUMES of junk, jars, weird flours etc that I threw out. I still have a box or 2 of Carbquick but I’ll never use it so why is it still there?
Hubby is simple to cook for, eats mostly the same thing every day and rather than cook fake keto food and try to get him to eat it, I cook real stuff he likes, like pie and cornbread, because I don’t touch it and it’s fun to play with food This way of life beats out the old way by a country mile!
@FrankoBear thanks also for the 6 desserts article, I read it, and it is truly nice to have something frozen occasionally. I made Dr. Kiltz’s ice cream recipe twice. The 2nd time I added a tsp of sugar (Kiltz’s suggestion) for our 2 servings and YUCK. No taste to it at all for me but the mucousy reaction I had made me know that wasn’t for me. Hubbyy’s happy with no sweetness in it. I did put some vanilla in. A pint of cream, 6 egg yolks, and a tsp or 2 of vanilla, and into the ice cream maker. I’ll do this once a week. Easiest ice cream I ever made.
I’ve discovered that whenever I finish reading the thread it’s good to post a little bit even if there’s not time for the whole report - because then, next time KF will bring me back to my last post and I won’t have to scroll through a week of posts I’ve already read!

[Shinita]

Everyone beware, it’s a comment with plenty of carbs. It’s often just because others mentioned some… But sometimes my mind just wondered. I will write about my day later though it’s not a carni day, to put it lightly. But nothing crazy, that wouldn’t be a smart thing to do. I come back to carnivore-ish very soon. It’s what I can do now, have some carni days, even very proper ones without my tiny extras (yesterday was like that). This is good practice. But I come back for a longer period in the not too distant future I am sure.

I would really like to add some onion to it but this will be 100% carni. No fudging.

Nice attitude, I actually have the same despite my frequent off days… It’s important my default attitude points to carni…
And I could omit onions from almost everything very easily. I didn’t think chicken liver would work without - but it did!
I still use onion in stews as they aren’t Hungarian stews without it but I plan to skip it one day and see what happens. When I made paprika chicken from the leftover of chicken thigh, I didn’t use onion and paprika chicken is a stew here so onion is mandatory… Good I never cared about rules in cases where it was my own business But my chicken wasn’t very tasty so I can’t tell if skipping onion in stews work normally. I will try. I doubt it would be bad at all as my pork is great even without paprika And we make simple stews, fat+onion+paprika+meat+salt. Many, maybe most people put tomato and capsicum into it too but my family never did.
But even when we make the occasional stew, its onion content is minuscule. I saw recipes with more onion than meat, well that can’t be good even for most normal person… But as onion is very sweet to me now and I hate meat with sweet things (with extremely few exceptions but sweetness should be kept in moderation even there), it’s obvious the “proper” amount of onion wouldn’t work for me. But I just wanted to say that it was easy for me to forgo onion even when the dish actually called for it
The success was better with garlic, I lost interest in it when I tried carnivore. It suddenly got undesirable. I still have fond memories from the onions I used in crazy big amounts in my first few decades… Hungarian kitchen depends on it very much, it’s in many traditional dishes. Just like sour cream but that’s carnivore, how lovely

I wish I could share it with all of you.

You are a nice one, I would gladly eat a small bowful of it
I use pink Himalayan salt, love the taste since I first tasted it… I think it came with the other fancy items paleo brought, maybe 1.5-2 decades ago? We couldn’t buy things like coconut fat (I don’t call it oil as it’s almost never oil in my house. it’s hot summer and it’s still solid just soft), oily seed flours or pink Himalayan salt when I was a kid… Well we didn’t even have Western items or many tropical fruits back then… (So my childhood was spent without banana. Scary. I still adore banana to bits. I just don’t need it and can go for very long without any. But when Alvaro buys 18 bananas - happened a few weeks ago. it’s not a big amount for him, way too easy to eat up before it spoils - AND I already have off days, well I can’t behave so perfectly then. I still don’t jump them, that was before carni just taste a bit.) Breakfast cereal was a novelty when I had a young adult, not like I noticed it, only know it from my SO who got a taste in school or what? It didn’t stick with him either as far as I know. I still consider it very weird that people use it as food… It doesn’t look like food to me. And where is my precious fatty protein? I can’t get satiated without it.

Sorry for all the carb talk, I remembered.

It’s not the real thing

Fortunately I couldn’t care less if it’s the real thing. But if he meant it’s subpar and doesn’t worth the effort, I can accept that, of course it’s still individual.
Many people say that we just should eat the real thing. But I DON’T want the real thing. I don’t even know if I would find it edible now. Probably but would it be good…? Flour isn’t a tasty thing. Somehow it works in bread but even there, a low-carb version tastes so much better (my low-carb version, it’s important. I dislike a ton of fiber in my bread, nope, I rather go with my sponge cakes then and they aren’t even remotely like bread but they are GOOD and work well).
Not everyone makes subtitutions because they have problems with the carby ones but they find them the best tasting. I don’t even understand how so many ketoers find carby things great tasting. Don’t their tastes changed like mine did despite going off all the time? But we are different and maybe these changes aren’t as common as I would think.

Oh the VOLUMES of junk, jars, weird flours etc that I threw out.

When I tried out carni, 3-4 years ago? I STILL have stupid flours No way I ever throw out ANY kind of food so I won’t but they last forever… It’s actually a relief when they spoil but these things last almost forever… I still need some flours for Alvaro’s cakes but not many and anyway, he is fine with rice flour (as he uses it every day, multiple times), I always used oily seeds galore so I still will get rid of certain flours. And I will have so much more place in my cupboard and my gelatin will fits there… My kitchen isn’t small so I can store everything somewhere but it can get better.

I cook real stuff he likes, like pie and cornbread, because I don’t touch it and it’s fun to play with food

It’s me and baking bread I don’t like putting effort into other carby things so I only cook his 2 biggest carby staples requiring like 1-2 minutes of work - and he can cook his stupid non-satiating veggie dishes for himself in the weekend (HOURS of work but they last for days). Right after buying the vegs or using the ones being fine in the cellar as we won’t have space for them in the fridge.
But sometimes he cooks some stew and it’s nice.
Today he made the meatiest curry he ever did as we had 1.5 kg of chicken breast and just a bit more vegs (mostly very low-carb so it’s a fine keto dish)… I could imagine a way meatier curry but we started with vegetarian ones and came a long way.
He is easier to satiate (I am sure chicken works for him) but it’s a very low-cal dish so it won’t last very long.

I made Dr. Kiltz’s ice cream recipe twice. The 2nd time I added a tsp of sugar (Kiltz’s suggestion) for our 2 servings and YUCK.

WHY OH WHY.
Okay it’s a carby comment already so noithing can stop me… I made keto ice cream today. I had no milk or cream and I wanted to taste the tasty curry quite seriously anyway… So I did it normal except I tried some sour cream in it. It’s sweetened with banana, one of the best tasting sweetener/flavoring of mine (Alvaro brought home 5 yesterday. I had a definitely carnivore day and resisted. July is good practice, we have plenty of fruits in the garden, many overlapping fruit seasons and I didn’t touch ANY for a whole day. not like it’s hard when I have pork belly, I didn’t WANT them but still, a tiny self restraint was needed), I use it in ice cream since ages and only kind of stopped when I realized I don’t want ice cream on carnivore and that I can make lovely carni ice cream.
If I wanted to make it sweeter, I have xylitol and erythritol, sugar has zero (or rather negative) advantage over any of them (xylitol is even much tastier). But it’s very unnecessary. When I use cream and especially milk, it’s even sweet… And sweetness is overrated anyway. I quite enjoy my not exactly sweet carni desserts now.

I will try that super creamy ice cream but no way I ever use more than 100ml cream for it. That’s good, I like to have a decent amount of ice cream and in this case it means little A decent amount of meat is 21oz, a decent amount of ice cream is more like 3-4… And 1oz booze is too much unless it’s beer. Some people drink more and eat ice cream galore but consider 4oz meat a portion. People are weird.

I’ve discovered that whenever I finish reading the thread it’s good to post a little bit

Quite right! I didn’t need to discover it as I am completely unable not to write here if I pop in and there was more than 1-2 comments here But I enjoy the benefit nonetheless.

[FrankoBear]

Went to the pub for dinner. They had beef cheeks. So yummy.

Ladies and gentlemen, my venison stew.

That looks amazing. Fantastic description. And good stuff with looking after the elderly neighbour.

[Karen18]

Pork looks amazing

[Karen18]

Friday was a bit of a rest day, well rest from stairs, running and CrossFit but i went dancing to Lichfield in the afternoon and enjoyed that… i aways do enjoy it at that venue.

Didn’t eat before going so picked up a packet of pork loin slices which were very moist and tender and a pack of mild cheddar slices… didn’t eat them all on the way home but by the end of the evening there were none left! I had completely forgotten to take anything out of the freezer… unlike me, so i grabbed a couple of the big thin beef burgers and stuck some cheese between the 2 and ate that.

Up about 8 this morning, very wakeful night, did 50 stair runs then coffee and books in the lounge as it was raining… and still is … drove to CrossFit and paired up with my daughter, Sian for the wod. Great workout, hard but good.

Drove over to Sandiacre, which is a short divertion home, to a bigger Lidl store to see if they had the succulents i noticed at the Beeston store yesterday. I haven’t had outdoor suc’s before but they looked particulary good and only £5.99 per 6. I picked up 2 packs ready to plant out when the rain breaks mon or tuesday.

As soon as i got home it was nosh time and I made 2 beef burgers topped with a slice of cheese each and fried eggs and it was delish. Felt a bit hungry about 2 hours later and heated up some cooked chicken slices in butter. Nice.

I have a small sirloin steak defrosted for later and 2 beef burgers left over from the opened pack should i feel hungry again.

[robintemplin]

Love succulents! Awaiting your photos of where you plant them.

[Shinita]

My hot pink flower was a succulent But I have those succulent “roses” too (houseleek? why? it’s “rock rose” in Hungarian and that makes more sense to me).

We had a not too hot day today, had a walk around 5pm (we watched an Attenborough film, Dragons and Damsels and had to find damsel- and dragonflies and it was successful! we saw a tiny frog too) and could air a little later as it was only 23C outside!!! That’s pleasant.

I ate well today, not just carni items but had meat and eggs galore and a little dairy too. The chicken breast and some fattier protein sources worked well enough for quite long even with some carbs present but I needed a decent amount of pork in the evening. Tomorrow should be better.

[Karen18]

I want to get a couple of nice shallow bowls. Xx

[JJFiddle]

@Karen18 your food looks wonderful and the succulents are so cute! @Shinita I have something like the rose you describe, I’ll have to get a pic… And also an app on my phone can identify it.
We are between gigs. First one was 99° but fans were going. We’re soaking wet but drying in the ac in the house. Just an hour between getting home and leaving for the next one. Our weekends are still crazy!

[Karen18]

Busy busy you must get very tired with all those gigs.
I will take anothet suc’s pic when i get some nice bowl type planters for them. I think they should like nice placed about the slate x

[Karen18]

Up at 8 today. Last night started wakeful but i think i eventually had a bit of a longer time between wee trips! I haven’t looked at the fitbit to check…too depressing seeing all those red markers

Met Sian at the spa this morning for our get together before her birthday on tuesday… just in case I don’t get to see her. She is always busy busy. The spa was nice and we get some quality chat time in there. It was quite busy today but we still managed to find a couple of reasonably empty sauna rooms. It’s a big 3 storey gym, spa and swimming pool.

Just eaten brunch, the small sirloin that was waiting in fridge from yesterday, 2 fried eggs and 2 rashers of smoked streaky bacon. Very nice meal, steak was lovely.

Raymond went back in to hospital last night … unrelated to the heart and leg issues. I’ll be popping over to see him this afternoon.

[Shinita]

Horrible sleep at night (more like lack of it for a big part), hot but not extremely hot day - and I am soooo back to the strictest possible carnivore style of mine tomorrow… And maybe even more importantly, I do my best to keep my eating window small, 1-3 hours. Today I managed not to eat (except a few bites like a little cheese, coffee with little cream) until 1pm but it’s still super early. 3pm is the earliest I can be content with, obviously I can’t wait so long if I get properly hungry earlier but normally it’s no problem for me.

My waking time got quite early despite the often bad sleep, I wish to keep that. It’s due to me unable to suffer the high temperature of my room at night. Sure, I still am up downstairs but still not that very long. But the coach is tiny and not as comfy as my big mattresses upstairs Even my bean bag is better and I usually can’t fit my legs there… And Alvaro didn’t make the Kitchen Computer. Maybe the old one there still works, I didn’t try it since years… I just can’t be here, too hot. I managed to nap here after lunch (as the temperature was better than usual) and woke up horribly hot.
Oh well, only 1.5 months at most and we get good weather again.

[FrankoBear]

Hope you stay well hydrated at 99F work places! That sounds a teeny bit crazy.
—-
Bacon and eggs omelette yesterday lunch. Sunny winter day on a Sunday. Apt. Storms due again on Tuesday. Lamb chops for dinner.

We’re getting near the end of the July ZC carnivore challenge. Will you make it to 31 days? Please start suggesting names for the August challenge.

[JJFiddle]

Ok I’ll start the bidding… How about “Ontrack, All Out, Offal August?”

Yes @FrankoBear, on the hot gigs there is always plenty of water offered plus I bring my own thermos to keep it cold. The crazy thing about this area is that musicians are allowed free unlimited beer and wine during gigs. We do not partake. We need our brains to work during 2 or 3 hours of intense memory work and entertainment. We stroll, meaning we walk through the restaurant talking to people, taking requests, entertaining up close and personal. A drunk musician should stay in stage where they can’t get in too much trouble!

@Karen18 Oh no, not another hospital visit for Raymond! Hope this one’s quick and he’s back on the dance floor soon.

@Shinita bummer on the sleep problems! I can’t sleep where it’s hot either or worse, no air circulation. But I love your attitude, “Oh well, only 1.5 months at most and we get good weather again.” Rather be hot for a couple months than to be freezing and in high winds all the time.

By Sunday morning when we’re playing the little ranch church we are stupid dizzy tired! As usual, lastnight and Friday night we were home at 1 to eat eggs and bacon, bed about 2, and Mimsy gets me up for the morning stroll to the gate about 6:30 in the summer. Our deal is that she can’t wake me before it’s light out and she sticks to that deal pretty well.
We do request long prayers of the pastor so we can get a little shut-eye
Lastnight, near 2am I threw a frozen chicken in the sous vide so it was perfect at noon when we got home today. I seared some pieces for us and we finished watching the show we fell asleep to yesterday . Then I conked out on the couch. Our normal Sunday routine to start recovery from the weekend

Hubby made a cello into a wall cabinet for the guy who’s managed the Stable Bar where we have played. The place is closing. A cute little gathering place decorated with horse polo paraphernalia.
Here is the cabinet-

[robintemplin]

Love the cello!

[JJFiddle]

A lady in church has lost much of her vision from macular degeneration (“she’s got the macular” her sister told me.) My mom had that. Painful shots once a month and not too slow onset of blurriness, then darkness. Irreversible they say, like so many conditions.

I looked up macular degeneration/carnivore and came across this narrative in Reddit:

https://www.reddit.com/r/carnivore/comments/bepgl3/an_actual_carnivore_miracle/?utm_source=share&utm_medium=android_app&utm_name=androidcss&utm_term=1&utm_content=2

She ate a lot of egg yolks and went carnivore with dairy.