Carnivore Chewy July - 31-day Challenge - 2023

[FrankoBear]

Here it is. We are at the nexus. In the middle of everything.

You might be cruising in the Zero Carb groove. You might be at the pinnacle of metabolic health taking in the view. You may be going down a dip, or struggling up a hill. We are are right here in the middle with you.

It’s mid-winter. It’s mid-summer. It’s middle bacon.

What are your tweaks and peccadilloes on this Way of Eating. What are your aims and goals. Welcome. Share your stories.

For some of us it can be a time to look back a year (or 3). The changes are more apparent over time:

Jerky Jubilee ZC July!

Here is our new thread for July. Carnivore on everyone!! Any goals, changes to your eating, any experiments you are wanting to see for this month? Just continue to cruise on ZC with no changes? Whatever your challenges, experiments or just chat how great the zc benefits are to you, come on in and discuss any zc topic -----------for me today is small ribeye steak with shrimp. keeping my eating very very simple. also have some chicken breasts for another meal or my good ol’ r…

[FrankoBear]

Meat Chew'n June! - ZC Carnivore 30-day Challenge - 2023

Howdy! Another marathon weekend accomplished with all these gigs. Yesterday late afternoon was the most uncomfortable as we play in the winery which is just a huge steel barn open at both ends and whole there are fans there’s no ac. It was in the mid 90s and very humid but it’s been 10° hotter so we survived! Then right into town to play the steakhouse.
We had guests this weekend who are ac specialists and fixed the air conditioning in our house. Great to see them and to have the apartment they could stay in.
This afternoon we all went to the brewery in town, I got this German sausage:

One of them had little pieces of hot pepper, no longer my thing! But I was hungry and the 3rd one was kinda of dry. I always just say it’s okay, I have better food at home

@Fangs your vacay sounds amazing, I remember the jellyfish from last year though, I know you’re being more careful!

@Karen18 your food always looks so good. The crispy omelet is to die for!

Canceled all my students for Monday and Tuesday for the holiday. We need a staycation! This has been a nutsy 2 weeks.

Crikey. They are magnificent sausages!

[FrankoBear]

Meat Chew'n June! - ZC Carnivore 30-day Challenge - 2023

Yesterday for me was scrambled eggs with some of my pate mixed in.
And then a nice T-bone seared over a mesquite fire.

Delicious! (But, what is a mesquite fire?)

[FrankoBear]

Meat Chew'n June! - ZC Carnivore 30-day Challenge - 2023

Well, if that down right puts me in the mood for an omelette!

[FrankoBear]

Meat Chew'n June! - ZC Carnivore 30-day Challenge - 2023

jul1friedpork.jpg789×650 40.5 KB

That fired pork looks like Mangalica!

[FrankoBear]

In the ZC groove. The reoccurring bouts of heart problems eased off as soon as the intense work time eased off. I had a few horse falls associated with driving hours to work meetings and situations that were not too my liking. But all the problems eventually got solved, and some were not problems at all and went away with ignoring them. I also was part of a team of 4 creators and we made a short animated film that has gone into a competition.

I am chasing down some health markers, though. I had some standard blood tests and saw my GP doctor to get a referral to a cardiologist. I have had some heart imaging and will see the specialist this Thursday. I coincidently scored an appointment with a dermatologist for a skin cancer check (it’s routine in Australia). I do like the numbers and measurements, the data, to keep me on track.

I have found Jersey cow beef and cooked a rib eye 2 nights ago, and would have to say that it may have been the best steak I have eaten in my memory. The lamb fore quarter chops and target chops are still on the menu. Bacon and egg breakfasts. Beef bone broths and salty electrolytes.

Here is a winter postcard from my neck of the woods.

[Shinita]

peccadilloes

That was a new word to me. IDK if I will remember but it is a useful one

Nothing interesting about my eating now. I ate fried pork and I got out some pork from the freezer to have fried pork tomorrow… It’s my fried pork phase
We have plenty of boiled eggs so I eat boiled eggs too and probably will make some deviled eggs soon.

Alvaro started his mandatory 3 week holiday (the company needs to sort out itself after the change of owner, everyone got 2 weeks but he had lots of vacation days he didn’t use yet so he got a third one). IDK what it will mean for my eating, hopefully not much just freedom from cooking for him. I still will bake and do this and that but not the main things. He wants some curry so I will give him the breast of the whole chicken and then I roast the rest and we will see how much I can and want to eat!
Maybe I should make some sauce to make it tasty enough… I am not familiar with that but I surely will have some ideas as I made a few 1 minute sauces for my most boring meats before. (I never feel my meat boring now, not even the leaner kind. Fried pork is just superb.) Yolks surely will be involved

I don’t have any goals right now beyond staying real close to carni (I went off too often lately) and avoid eating without a good reason. I keep my higher-meat style, it seems to work best.
I will track, probably, my first meals at least but I will do it lazily. I can’t do it accurately enough (though it depends on the fattiness of my meat) and it doesn’t matter sooo much. It’s enough for me to know how much meat and eggs I had, maybe my vague fat intake too if I can track it… I want chill and focus on important things, not my food. Except when I cook, eat and stuff, I focus on my food and plan to enjoy the hell out of it then.

I did the phone call I was just mildly anxious about since the conversation between @Karen18 and me… I knew I had no reason for it but even my mind doesn’t work like that, somewhat but not quite. I could put away it in the last days, thankfully, it wasn’t too bad in this morn and then it went perfectly! We don’t even need to cross the country for the new contract! Yay!

We go to the city instead, social visit, shopping, picking up webshop orders, Alvaro run out of some extremely vital items for his desserts and life would stop without desserts. We only order some gelatin for me.

[Karen18]

Whrn i order an omelette out i am usually disappointed that the chef/cook doesn’t know how to get an omelette light and fluffy … i am aslo usually tempted to suggest i show them tho i am sure i would be quickly escorted from the premises

I am so glad to hear about the medical appointmrnts you have made and will be very interested to hear the outcome. You can’t keep plodding along treating yourself even though you have managed it well over the last year so getting some tests done will give you a clearer idea of where you are now and how long you can continue the self help method.

The steak sounded WOW, i picked up some Rose Veal Osso Bucco today… had to read the back of the pack to see what it was but i will give it a go… no idea without googling what part of the calf it comes from … hey hey it’s a mystery!

[robintemplin]

We’ll make the cardiologist journey together!

[Karen18]

@JJFiddle sausages looked great … disappointing to hear they weren’t quite as good as they looked

Early rise this morning so i could fit in my reading and coffee in the garden first thing. Then off to get my bloods taken for the 2nd time to check on the potassium level and this time no bruise… i knew there wouldn’t be one as it was a nice easy needle insertion this time.

Went over to Raymonds to run through some grievances he wanted to address at his surgery then off to the meeting. Hot through pretty much everything in just over an hour… probably would have been several if Raymond had
Been alone to speak about them… he goes all round the houses bless him whereas i don’t beat about the bush… straight to the crux of the matter…in like a dagger ha ha😉 hopefully there will be some resolve for him. So we went into Beeston town to the cafe and had brunch as it was now midday.

Sian suggested a sauna this afternoon so after brunch i dropped Raymond back at his place and dashed over to Long Eaton to the gym and met her in the changing rooms. We spent a good hour catching up as she had been working all this weekend down the country. We had a super lovely time.

Came home via The Company Shop … oh my Lord i must stop ‘popping’ in there lol! I haven’t any more room in my freezer!

I picked up a small packet of corned beef, amongst other things lol, so made a cheese sandwich with each slice😊 there were 4 slices. While i ate that i had some spicy pork kebabs in the oven and they were delish. I also chucked in a lamb shoulder as the temp was right and i had foolishly taken it out of the freezer a couple of days ago and so it needed to be cooked really… i didn’t want to refreeze it and besides i was runing out of space in there!

I am sure i will give it a taste later on, just to make sure it is cooked properly of course!

[collaroygal]

Love the pics, I miss all those things.

[Shinita]

I vaguely tracked today. Yeah, maybe I shouldn’t add added fats and cream and eggs this readily, on the same day, my day got too fatty again (I had only a little leaner pork and had to get out some fattier stuff from the freezer). But it was nice, not extreme and tomorrow will be all good. I tried to plan a nice day but maybe I won’t care and just eat as much fried leaner pork as I want (that’s usually the case ). I try to keep my egg eating tendencies in check. Macros add up quickly there and I like my bigger amounts of meat too…

I totally forgot about my planned workout. I planned it for yesterday. And didn’t even do it today. The phone call must get it out of my mind. Oh well, tomorrow will be the day then. Alvaro is willing to join me, normally he has his run/cycling on workdays and only do chest presses occasionally. He doesn’t want to wait until I will be significantly stronger than him He could change that quickly though but fine
But we had a short walk at 11am, it’s amazing that we had no hot days since several days! I could sleep on my comfy mattress! But over 30C days are coming, forecast says. Not like it didn’t say it before, we were lucky to be in the cooler areas of the country It may be a very small country but it’s still much for the weather. Sometimes one part is 20C cooler than the other

So I have no interesting new food now (I still bring the fried pork pics but I finished leftovers today) but I have others.

My periwinkles look bad (only 1-2 tiny flowers and the snails or what chewed that too… they probably would get better later) but this wonderful flower is an overachiever! I know I showed it before but now it has 5 flowers at once! FIVE. And they are beautiful even though I can’t put the focus where I wish to.

The cornflowers were more cooperative (and better lens and lack of bright sunlight helped too), look at that gorgeous color! The deep purple one. I have various pink hues, almost white and light blue too…

And one day I looked out of the window and saw a tit. Nothing unusual here but it sat on the grapevine like this:

Not so bad pic considering it happened through a 3 layer window with some dust on the outside I expected worse but had to try it.

I feel fine, light today but it will change if I can’t change my life as I totally need and plan. But I am hopeful as always.

[Shinita]

I can never know what a new day brings… I ate a lot yesterday but this morning (no coffee! I drank tea. but it’s too wet and I felt kinda hungry anyway, not really but wanted to nibble on something) I had cheese whisps. It was so long! So I decided I keep it simple so my fatty stuff will be cheese And not pork jowl.
I fried up my 1140g fresh ham, it should be enough for 3 days considering I will eat some other meat items like scratchings (I need lard to fry some liver. I miss liver), pork jowl, maybe some sausage and chicken liver.
We ate our usual higher amount of eggs in the last days (even Alvaro’s carby dish contained… not many as he forgot to add some of them but 6. it should have been 10), I should slow down anyway…
But how lovable things eggs are…

We had a rainy morning. It’s so nice to have cool July days

[…]
Sigh. I should learn that I shouldn’t (attempt to) buy meat when I want… But when it is there.
No 70/30 pork today. I thought Tuesday is the best day for it (as far as I know, the meat fridge is empty on Monday and gets filled on Tuesday) but maybe not. Oh well. I don’t need the meat just the lard. In the worst case I can just use coconut oil, I am a bit wary and don’t often fry with butter… It suits liver well though… I probably just postpone my liver meal.

The fried pork is wonderful, by the way. Today became an experiment. What will happen if I eat all day but only leaner pork, some eggs and some cheese? (Or whatever I can’t resist. The pork jowl is too tempting but I try to minimize it.)

[Karen18]

Up early this morning and did some stair running before coffee and books in the garden then ran to CrossFit. Gymnastics and wod much harder than it looks on paper. 4 rounds of the wod doesn’t sound too bad but then do it in 18 min time cap… it was hard but i got done in 17.42 and there were quite a few who didn’t finish! The rig work was a killer … 15 minutes of pure unadulterated shoulder burn!

Ran to The Company Shop en route home to buy more goodies to add to the goodies i got yesterday because Raymond didn’t think what i had got initially was going to be enough … goodies are for his birthday celebration at the tea dance on friday well he has plenty now!

Because of my cargo i had to walk home else there would have just been crumbs left to take to the tea dance!

Cooked 2 beef burgers with added fat from the short ribs i cooked over weekend or in the latter part of last week, anyway i added mild grated cheddar and 2 fried eggs. Then for dinner it was round 2 of the same. Also eaten a bit of cheddar and finished the lamb shoulder. What was left was a big mix of fat and meat so i left a lot of the fat as it wasn’t anywhere near as good as the fat from the beef short ribs.

Got rid of the 2 big bags to the charity shop and also a big bag of the weeds from the garden pots to the skip and then was very naughty and went to Beeston Lidl which is bigger than my local lidl and bought 2 large indoor plants down from 17.99 to 12.99 and 3 lovely flowering plants for the garden!

I may need to go back there tomorrow and pick up 3 more of those flowers as i have an idea where to put them! Ah well it’s that time of the year isn’t it and i didn’t buy any plants during the winter!

[Shinita]

We took a tiny walk (we took out the garbage. It’s only… 1200 meters? Still found like 4 different fruits outside of our property… it’s July) and talked about prices.
In the village we can buy meat cheaper than carrots! (Only chicken though.) Even Alvaro has the opinion that meat is way more useful, it has protein, calories, satiation effect… I promised him I won’t eat a noticeable amount of carrots even on my off days Not like he ever would buy such an expensive stuff, he waits for a nice sale, I put some into a box (it’s one of the rare plants that get some space there)… And we use it in moderation anyway. IDK, maybe 1-3 big carrots per months? It depends. Alvaro rarely makes soup or curry (but then carrots are very much involved), my soups almost always only contains meat, smoked pork skin, water and salt (sometimes eggs or spices but I use meat and skin for flavoring, not spices)… Good.

Sorry for the veggie talk but I can’t stop compare prices like this sometimes. Meat is so, so, so much better. And vegs were allegedly food for the poor who can’t afford meat…
And it’s summer now. Some winter veggie prices go over pork chuck price easily… And pork chuck is near perfection, one can base their day on it…

[…]
I have tracked. My eating window was about 12 hours but lean pork is amazing, I had it normal, just above 130g protein, way less fat… Despite not being able to keep it super close to carnivore, things work.
Tomorrow I do my best to have a pure carni day, who knows, maybe I will be successful… But I definitely stick to this meatier style in July! Okay, it was only 400g meat today (all proper, no processed at all) but it was just right considering my eggs and not little amount of cheese… I am perfectly satiated now. I can’t put a number to my meals, I ate… Several times but usually just a few bites…? I had a bigger meal at 2pm.

No workout, yes coffee, I had headache for hours. I wish to go for longer walks and bicycle rides… We have plans. Just the usual nearby places, we go there every year…

I forgot to shot my fried pork, maybe tomorrow! Not like you can’t imagine it, I had it a lot of times already… Of course it’s never exactly the same, last time it was a bit black and now it wasn’t
But the warm brownish gray bowl with light green inside is my official fried meat bowl. It’s big enough so I can fit my leftover pork even if I fry up 1140g

@Karen18: Yay for new plants! They are all pretty. I am glad I get this second hand joy, I really couldn’t put any more flowers anywhere at this point… (Well I could make room somewhere if it REALLY would be important…)

[Shinita]

Mozzies woke me up after like 4-5 hour sleep… I was awake for hours (I was fine enough), slept more and became a zombie, worse than my usual morning zombieness. But I got better.
We got a webcam for an eurasian scops owl nest on the bird watching site! Very tiny chicks and eggs at this point and the adult owls are so very beautiful My new fav is still the red-footed kestrels, they are breathtakingly gorgeous, both the male and the female (they look very different) but this owl has a great look too. And it’s always nice to look at the rollers as well, most of the chicks have their lovely blue feathers at this point…

Alvaro finished his lunch at 11am but I am not sure I can join him for dinner, I start to get hungry already… It’s almost 2pm now, we will see. I didn’t even do my workout and I barely have any energy now but after a meal, no way.

I tried to plan a day and I am a bit torn between being SUPER hopeful and somewhat realistic. Should I actually TRY to add fat? Or hope that protein will be enough with the tiny fat it inevitably brings? Being hopeful is a risky move as 2 meals easily becomes too much while a bigger single one lasts longer.
Oh well, I don’t know what to do so I just follow my desires, that’s the easiest thing to do anyway. (And it usually gives me no results but my diet starts to get super good with all the not too fatty pork I eat nowadays.)

I got hungry before midnight yesterday, I waited but it didn’t go away so I had a really huge eating window (15-16 hours? oh my. 8 is already very long for me). Still no overeating due to my beloved leanish pork (so very perfect for satiation) and I had all that cheese too… I went over a pound of fried pork again I like this Still no hint of boredom. Good stuff.

I still am very adamant to have a pure carni day. A relaxed one as I still drink my coffee… I don’t even plan to eat any dairy except some milk in my coffees. And we barely have any eggs left, I ate up all the boiled eggs yesterday. We will see.

[SecondBreakfast]

Cooked 2 beef burgers with added fat from the short ribs i cooked over weekend or in the latter part of last week, anyway i added mild grated cheddar and 2 fried eggs.

Such a great way to work in extra fat!!! Looks delish!!! We must have been thinking on the same wave length. A couple days ago, I cooked 2 chuck roasts in the insta-pot, saved all the fat, and then used it to fry up a bunch of little meatballs with added egg and cheese. YUM!

Great pics, too! I love seeing all your plants! =)

Having cleaned up my eating since the vacation, I feel SO much better. Its been rather hot here (for our area), and, that alone makes it less appealing to cook and eat. BUT, it was a great time and opportunity to transition back to OMAD and carnivore. The 4 pounds gained on vacation are gone.
It’s amazing how detoxing the body and brain from bad foods can bring such fantastic mental clarity and energy back. Looking to do a longer fast at some point here. I am feeling the beginnings of that “WOOSH” sensation in the torso/belly area. That’s the only way I can think to describe the sudden shift or loss of fat . So, I’m anxious to get moving today.

New things. I start back to work at 7am tomorrow- unloading a truck. But, the crazy hours and walking on a concrete floor with this darn foot are less than appealing. SO. Took a BIG step, and applied for a job with the county. Sent in the application and resume last night. (It rained here, so, fireworks were cancelled.) I had prayed about that alot, and I know that I am supposed to leave the current job. Can I share a cool story here? So, I was praying about the job and what to do, and as I’ve done in the past, just ask the Lord to give me a sign to ensure I’m taking the right step. I had in my mind a couple of people that I thought about asking to serve as personal references. Figured, if I was to come into contact with them over the next couple of weeks, I’d take that as a sign. But no! That very same day, just a few hours after I prayed- they BOTH showed up at work, and were excited to be references. So, that was pretty cool.
There are still other jobs I’m thinking of applying for, but, we’ll see.

So, the garden is growing leaps and bounds. So are the baby chicks and turkeys. I need to butcher a turkey soon. Hay season is underway. Just hauled in the first 25 round bales for the season. Taking cattle to the butcher in August, so, been clearing out the meat freezer, and freeze drying. Got lots of laundry to handle here, so off we go!

Have a wonderful, blessed day everyone!!!

[Shinita]

Lunch at 3pm. Couldn’t eat the planned meat (I could subtle not-even-force it but I like to go with the amount I actually fancy, it’s not bad nowadays) and had various dairy items as well.
Almost a pound of pork (if we count the pork jowl ;)) 120g protein, 104g fat (or a tad more, my fresh ham was a wee bit fattier than the normal… doesn’t matter), 19g carbs (15g from milk, it was a coffee-y day but this doesn’t matter either). So it should be an OMAD day and who knows when it’s not even midnight? And it’s only past 4pm. My macros look fine, maybe it will be fine. And I don’t start eating when I get the slightest maybe-hunger sign anymore.

I liked my meal but it wasn’t a really high enjoyment one. Just a normal one but that is pretty good too.
I had

• fried pork,
• scrambled eggs with pork jowl, cheese and sour cream
• a cheese whisp
  and many milky coffees. I did use some spices and condiments but not the bad (still tasty and we will use them) ones.

Alvaro joined me at my workout. The timing was unfortunate so we only did the biceps exercise. He felt his muscles and surely will have muscle ache tomorrow I feel nothing and won’t have any but I am experienced while he just suddenly jumped with my actual weights, they are just perfect for him as well.
I am curious about the rest of the workout and the future… He run a lot today while I slept so I am not so great regarding other exercise. It’s a summer day so no way I will leave the house any time soon. It would be nice to run a bit in the evening but it will be too hot for that so I need some extra willpower. And then the cold shower (well cold->lukewarm, I don’t use cold for my torso) I really enjoy now that it’s summer. So nice.
I need more exercise for energy. But more fresh air helps too.

[Karen18]

Loving this. It’s fabulous you had your prayers answered. He is one awesome God. I have had many prayers answered, some instantly, some take a little longer and of course some unanswered but He knows what’s best for me He must get fed up with me chewing off His ear so much fortunately He doesn’t show it!

[Karen18]

Up about 8 this morning. It was Raymonds 86th Birthday today so after coffee and books in the garden first thing i went over to give him his pressie and card. He had a distant friend dropping in to see him late morning and also his niece and hubby were coming down from Bridlington. I didn’t want to stay too long and get caught up with his visitors so left and, naughty me, went back to Lidl in Beeston and "Oooh I did it again’ lol got myself a repeat of yesterdays plant buying. Those large indoors plants were just too good a bargain to miss buying some more and 3 more of the same plants for the garden. Now it is symetrical 3 on one side of the path and 3 on the other. I will take a pick tomorrow. Watered the lounge plants and got distracted when i took the succulent up to the bathroom. Ended up rearranging everything, cleaning and chucking out old creams and serums. The succulent looks nice in there, i have one on the windowsill in a nice metal planter with 2 little birds etched on it and i had another spare planter the same and this succulent from the lounge fit in it perfectly and now reside on the vanity unit. Yes i am pleased. When i camr back downstairs i did wonder why the lounge door was open… light bulb eventually went on and i resumed watering the remaining plants!

Brunch… sometime after midday was the fish pie mix, cod, salmon and smoked haddock pan fried in butter and 2 eggs poured on top like a fritata. It was lovely but missing something so I added grated cheese… if in doubt lol!
Dinner was buffalo chicken wings. Nice and spicy but not quite falling off the bone so i chucked it back in the oven for another 10 mins … still wasn’t perfect but i still enjoyed them… only small amount really and so ate a bit more cheddar and then opened a can of smoked mackeral and just finished that. It was lovely.