MOOvember Carnivore

[Shinita]

A nice long walk to the village (I skipped the shopping, that will happen on Thursday, the Fowl Day in the little town supermarket we frequent, I want a duck thing, spine+wings or what, I just finished my soup yesterday but want another! it will be too fatty for a soup but I will take off the fat from the top when it gets cold :)), a probably big lunch, mostly pork shoulder. I didn’t fancy much but eventually I ate a decent amount and a tiny liver. Some eggs and mascarpone/sour cream will follow and I call it a day I suppose. I drank coffees too.

Yes, as I suspected, today isn’t problematic, the fatty pork satiates me just fine. I am not quite satiated yet but not hungry and my dinner will be early, perfect.

The weather was sunny and I was in summer clothes Not sleeveless top but t-shirt and not full length pants.

Cramps again, why? Maybe Epsom salt would help…? I have no Mg pills left.

72kg on the scale, I didn’t expect this but fine, I accept

And look, a pretty short comment from me with basic information!

[JJFiddle]

Good morning, it’s near 11am. Hubby left 2 hours ago to get the car inspected in a town about half an hour away, so I’ve had a relaxing morning. Had 2 eggs and sausage and watched Murdoch on my Kindle, then read a little. I’m so infrequently alone as we work together on every gig these days, and I usually only watch tv when he sets it up, we watch it together, then he turns it off. This was nice.

We’re back in the saddle here with gigs starting almost as soon as we arrived in Texas. I rewrite the hymns for church because they’re written in 1 key in the hymnbook and played in a different key with the new key chords written above for the musicians… which is easy for them but impossible for me! So in the end I’ll have a copy of the hymnbook in the key and matching chords that they use. To what purpose, nobody knows, as I seem to be the only one who benefits.

We got back Wednesday night, Thursday we ate at the brewery and I had wings which were delicious. I hit the grocery store that day and Friday - we had hamburger patties, but I had put on a prime rib roast in the morning that took 12 hours and finished just as we came in the door Friday night, so we had a slice or 2 of that as an evening “snack”, freshly cooked. Immediately following, I put a pork butt in the sous vide, which cooked for 24 hours.
So Saturday we had prime rib, and when we got home Saturday night we tried out some of the pulled pork. Sunday, another meal of the pork and now we have those two roasts in the fridge along with 5 frozen bags of chicken thighs. Yesterday we had chicken thighs cooked in the air fryer oven, delicious and crunchy! Today, we’ll have prime rib and I think that may finish it. Which leaves pulled pork for tomorrow.
Snacks for me are the boiled egg in the morning, usually a few pieces of sliced sharp cheddar at night, and 2 or 3 coffees with heavy cream during the day.
Just cruisin’ along having found a nice level in the ZC world.

Yesterday I started the yogurt for hubby’s smoothies, using the instant pot. After the 1st phase which is boiling the milk you have to cool it to 115°F, then press the yogurt button again and add the yogurt starter… But my instant read thermometer’s battery was dead! After looking for a spare battery I realized this morning that if I wanted to ferment it for 24 hours I better get started, then realized the BEST incubation at accurate temps is the sous vide! So I set the sous vide to 115, mixed in the yogurt starter and we’re off to the races. Darn. I feel like a genius, lol
(the 24 hour ferment eliminates the lactose and reduces carb count from 13 to 5g according to a search I did … For me it just keeps that post covid garbage smell and taste away. A taste I’ll probably have forever.)

[carnivoor2]

Been eating very fatty lately, for no reason, just feel like it.
Got tallow, lard, cheese and butter added to every meal, yum.

Going to Gibraltar tomorrow.

Planning to eat raw for a few days, its easyer.
Although I know an exellent grilled chicken shop there. Raw + chicken it is.

[Shinita]

Inheritance papers took my desire to eat (and my pork was satiating. my mood can’t stop my hunger or need for fuel) so I am low on protein (I mean, not my usual high, it should be more than enough) and calories. Maybe I will get hungry later. I don’t care now.
I drink nice coffees instead.

[Shinita]

Such a perfect satiation since my late dinner (little egg, little pork shoulder roast, I do it simple now and it’s very satisfying as I like my food. not as much as pork chuck but still good!).

I looked at all my days in November. There is a pattern. If I focus on some nice pork and don’t overdo certain things (cheese, fat tissue), my day is better. I only have the numbers to look at but they are in correlation with my number of meals (and how well I feel, I am usually hungry a lot if I have many meals, it annoys me, not chill, not convenient), at least now. Previously I had plenty of barely enough food days with 5 meals but now I can avoid tiny meals during the day. Small ones still aren’t satiating, I want my bigger ones. Not big ones, that would be overeating. (I still consider only over 2000 kcal meals big. It won’t reallly change. 1600-2000 is a decent, substantial, OMAD sized meal I had zillion times in my life without doing OMAD, yeah that was a tiny problem sometimes. I have no definition for small and tiny, it probably varies, 10 eggs look much more than 160g roasted pork shoulder…)

640g meat today, it’s the highest in November this far. It seems pork shoulder + TMAD still have this effect, at least it’s not 1000g, that is definitely excessive for me. I feel so wonderfully satiated now I know I wrote that already but it’s great after my hungry yesterday.

I planned a cute meal for tomorrow, we will see. It’s tricky with too fatty or too lean meat as I need to pair it up with something to balance things out. Pork chuck is the perfection but I wrote that so many times already… Maybe I will buy a ton of it next time and just base days on it…

We still eat very few eggs (I don’t think Alvaro ate much lately. I have my sponge cakes but little else egg wise), even the egg lady’s hens can support us this way. They diligently provide 30 eggs a week! Considering the egg lady said ages ago (1.5 years I think) that she will stop as feed is expensive… Maybe the egg prices catched up with it? Maybe the hens just refuses to retire therefore die? No idea, we will ask.
Young, fat rabbits (fat for a rabbit, at least :)) are offered quite often lately but Alvaro refused them now, it wasn’t long ago we ate some. But he will say yes not so much later again. I am totally fine with it. Lean or not, it’s tasty, lovely, tender! And we make the cats happy with small bones with little meat on them. They can’t do much with huge turkey and pig bones… But they love chicken and rabbit ones.
By the way the pork shoulder has some chewier pieces, that goes to the cats too, they seem pleased. And quite pretty especially now that they have their super fluffy winter coats. Except Tofu, she isn’t that fluffy, never was. Caroline (Cloud in winter) is the fluffiest but Pie has a thick, soft coat too. Even softer than Cloud I think and she loves getting attention any time. Caroline is a bit of a loner (“cuddling? fine! for 3 seconds. now let me sleep (or gimme food)”) and Tofu bites and scratches (playfully) while growing, she is a tsundere weirdo. But all are nice cats.

[FrankoBear]

Woke after a wonderful, restful sleep. Full moon last night. I find I wake a few minutes before Mrs. Bear’s 4:30am alarm. She gets up and does yoga. I get up for a pee and go back to sleep until 7am. Just 1 pee per night is normal for me. If it is more then that is indicating change, and also to pay attention to salt and electrolytes.

This morning fasting blood glucose on waking is 6.6mmol/l (119mg/dl) and blood ketones 0.1mmol/l.

@Fangs was right. After a dirty carnivore excursion yesterday, I was more hungry than I am used to on ZC at 7pm dinner time. No cravings, however. Then I had half that big, thick Cattleman’s steak. That sorted things out. Back on plan.

[robintemplin]

That should take care of it, yep!

[Naghite]

Yesterday breakfast. Got 185% of RDA for magnesium and about 80% of vit E. snails help so much

[Fangs]

@JJFiddle
super happy you guys got gigs coming at ya like crazy. Nice your career work is holding strong!

InstaPot can go in water like that. I guess it can. don’t own one, being more minimalist I was so on the fence to ‘get this gadget’ but my inner self said too much clutter and junk in the house HAHA yea that is me. Interesting reading that set up and all.

@carnivoor2
Gibraltar. wow! I think of you as our world traveler carnivore! Name fits you well Raw chicken I tried. I don’t like the texture and chew but in a pinch, darn right I would! Such a sense of adventure in career travel and food intake…love it!

@Naghite
you always find that right combo of zc food for you. Snails to the rescue! cool. Like reading your posts you taking care of you as you need it on zc.

@Shinita
sorry the inheritance papers and more gave you a tough day

-----------------keeping life super simple. got me some stress in general going down in my happy little zc world LOL nothing big, just stuff that is annoying but gotta handle.

So hubby walks into house from work with a ‘bag of HOLIDAY goodies’ that are now out on the shelves. ugh. 99% of the time I am who cares. no thought. last night he came in with 2 favs of my from old times cause kiddo likes them too. I got jealous. pure and simple. had the old ‘life is unfair’ crap in my head LOL but in the end I walked thru this crap enough times to say nope and shut it out of my brain. problem is this morning I woke up thinking about it cause that crap is still there ya know. bleck.

to combat all in full battle war cry…off to store in a bit and WILL buy expensive as crab legs. just for me. A meal to take the brain off the crap and onto me and my lifestyle.

yes my brain is still wonky at times. thing is the 99% I got this, that one day 1% if it hits right is my one meal away from total backslide. Get those carbs into me and whammo. I know this cause been there done that I said before, no more been there done that so I will pull out my best zc way forward and f it to carbs

will put up a pic of my crab when I buy it later today. Now I am like screw the crap in the house, I am super excited for my ZC meals today cause I am gonna make them epic…that keeps me right here some days ya know

Forward!!!

[Shinita]

had the old ‘life is unfair’ crap in my head

But why? Isn’t it great not eating sugary crappy things?
I would be torn about not being able to (or else negative consequences come but I am a hedonist so it’s a huge deterrent for me), it’s helpful but I lose some flexibility I probably don’t need, per se but still… But basically it’s fine, why would I want to eat that. I ate my old favs way too much in my life. Maybe it’s just me but the I never missed my worst items I think… Some items are just too good and fatty but even the slightest temptation is rare.
But I am not one to talk, actually as I almost never have such things in the house and when we do, it is actually harder… (Well not really, if I get tempted, I just eat it.)
But I never feel I miss out something if I don’t eat really bad stuff. (Proper homemade non-sugary carby things, they are different. I made a super good one today and being sleep deprived and anxious and not wanting much meat but a not too bad experiment is always welcomed, it’s not a carni day again. I lost my momentum so my November determination went away, I need to generate it again. As soon as my mascarpone runs out, I do some no dairy no coffee strict time.)
You can say I don’t count as I go off all the time but I still am quite far from certain food groups nearly all the time. And as long as I love my meat, it’s fine as a nice fatty pork always beats everything else (except when I overdo it but it’s harder and harder).
I just meant to say that being envious is so odd to me as I wouldn’t be even if I had to try hard to resist the temptation. I don’t envy bad food. Maybe you envy the feeling, not the food itself but you have other joys Okay, it’s not always enough. Sometimes I MUST HAVE something crunchy and no amount of lovely meat and eggs and even dairy can help. Maybe it’s like that.
I rarely get nostalgic and even then, my old lovely feelings can’t be recreated by eating the old fav food as I changed way too much.
The exceptions are dangerous. But I don’t really feel bad when I eat off so I don’t have a proper deterrent… I have some others but my health-consciousness thinks it’s fine to eat nearly anything if it’s super rare or tiny… And determination is a rare guest. Sigh. And I have no big pride in sticking to rules either.

to combat all in full battle war cry…off to store in a bit and WILL buy expensive as crab legs. just for me.

That’s what matters, being able to solve tough situations! And you get crab legs Yay.
I am looking forward to seeing the pic!
(I don’t think I ever ate crab legs. Like, a whole thing, maybe there was a piece in something. Not much run-in with crabs. Shrimps were a rarity too. But they were quite nice. Want them again. So very expensive. And so, so little seafood here but I won’t start that again.)

About my day (the not carby part)… I learned that being in a hurry and using a high temp for the turkey isn’t the best idea. I added more time later but it’s STILL not tender. We could eat it, Alvaro enjoyed it just fine but to me, tenderness is very important. Not always but usually I want super soft things if that can be achieved by cooking. If something has soft and firmer versions, I typically prefer the former. And my turkey bones grabbed some meat with their tendons and they are strong! So I put 2 into the freezer, I will make soup from them and some duck parts if I get my way…
So I didn’t enjoy this turkey as much as I usually do. But I had a wing piece, the biggest (IDK, 250g meat at least?), a piece of pork roast and some sponge cakes. And some mascarpone, partially in my coffees. Oh liver too, I forgot. Not much, I surely will have a loooong break from it.

Tomorrow should be meaty too, I had my little break from my pork (eating a little is still a break, it’s almost impossible for me to skip my pork for a whole day. it’s my satiating meat, it’s vital).
I don’t expect the carbs (probably a bit much, didn’t track yet) making a difference, probably the usual, I will be less hungry tomorrow, I suppose. It wasn’t sugar, I am so impressed, I am evolving. And I don’t think I overate today but I haven’t the foggiest idea about my macros, actually. I can’t guess my macros ever (unless I eat very, very typically and I still may be 50g off but still, it’s not that inaccurate to me).

I didn’t want to come today due to the carbs but couldn’t resist as usual.
Very ugly day, by the way. Cold too. We heat, it was much today, 4.5 hours and it’s still not good enough, downstairs is nice and toasty but my room isn’t. But better than it was , I am never cold in my bed now.

[JJFiddle]

@Fangs it’s just the inner pot of the Instant Pot that can sit in water, not the whole electric gizmo.
I started getting electric kitchen appliances galore in 2012 when my kitchen broke down and we moved the cooking to the basement in the Virginia house. He never replaced the stove so I decided ok then I’d just use that as a rationale to get the best appliances I could to take the place of it. I think that was the year the Instant Pot first came out! There still is no working kitchen in that house but I’ve got all this figured out. Electric frying pan, Instant Pot, sous vide, microwave and toaster oven, and I’m set. Here in TX I have a big kitchen, all new and I mostly still just use the electric things

[Karen18]

@JJFiddle fab foodie pics. Isnt it so good to get some solitary time! I love my own space and just time with me🙃 i feel very sad for all the people in the world who are lonely or just hate being on their own … I would say I never feel lonely… I do like company and I am more than happy to give my time to people… I am always ready to just up and go for a spur of the moment walk with someone but I do love my own personal space, just me, on my own.

Today has been a very busy day. I have set my alarm 4 times, 7.30am to get up, 8.25 to get to the gym for my lower body workout, 10.50 to get bathed and ready for dancing and 12.25 to set off to pick up my friend Liz for the tea dance! Never got chance to eat as I was reading my books in the garden before and after the gym so finally ate when I got home at 5pm. I was ready lol so ate 12 beef meatballs salted and peri peri chicken wings . I had already opened and started cooking the beef when I remembered I had defrosted the wings so thats why I had to cook them too. I know I didn’t have to eat them and could have saved them to eat cold but I felt I could eat them all lol also had a bit of cheddar and one slice of beef topside while waiting for the food to cook!

[FrankoBear]

Using crabs to fight carbs. Quite the battle. I like it. Crabs for the win!

Bit of poor form from hubby, I think, with bringing home the carby junk food. So proud of you @Fangs for staying on plan and carnivoring through it.

We have eaten almost all our food here at the homestead. There are bacon, eggs, and coffee left. Some frozen lamb in the freezer, and dog and cat food.

Mrs. Bear is still coughing. Her voice is returning. She told me last night that one of her yoga studio bosses had brought back COVID from travelling last week, and Mrs. Bear went down sick a few days later after seeing her. But no positive tests, yet.

Billie the Labrador was sick last night (as well). I’ll take her to the vet in the closest country town today even though she looks better this morning.

There are jobs to do. I’ll check in later on.

[Azi]

…eating 2-3 lbs of meat does not mean your body absorbs 2-3 lbs of meat In Protein meat is made up of water protein and fats…and ypur body does not absorb protein at 100 % out of that meat… so where is the myth??

[FrankoBear]

Vet visit today. The vets I see are all graduated after me from university. It’s good to get a few practitioner brains working together. Like here. Getting carnivore practitioners to work and think together to solve nutrition mysteries.

Billie the Labrador has an abscess from a grass seed under her belly. So she will have an anaesthetic and surgery to clean that up, and hopefully remove the grass seed cause. It is a bit stressful. I could do the surgery. But I’ve learnt it is better to be the client when it comes to one’s own pets.

Post coffee fasting blood glucose (with a bit of Billie worry) 6.4 mmol/l with 0.3mmol/l blood ketones. Not hungry yet. Coffee will switch that off. Could easily stress response eat, but won’t. I’ll take another test before breakfast and see what it reads.

I hope your wife and dog get better soon

Thanks.

…eating 2-3 lbs of meat does not mean your body absorbs 2-3 lbs of meat In Protein meat is made up of water protein and fats…and your body does not absorb protein at 100 % out of that meat… so where is the myth??

I understand that all biochemistry has limitations, and many times intricate and complex feedback loops, and rate-limiting steps. Often the rate limiters are the availability of enzymes, and then nutrient transporters. Depending on resources, we can overload biological systems like digestion and nutrient absorption from the gut, and at the cellular level in different tissues. There is credence (not CCR, great band in their time, that Fogerty guy’s vocals, amazing) to the physiology of limits on protein digestion and absorption in different metabolic and health states.

It’s raining here now. So…

---

A bit later… Blood glucose is now 5.6mmol/l. That 0.8mmol/l drop has switched on some hunger signals. So I’m ready for breakfast of eggs and bacon with 4 x 15g slices of local cheese.

[Sophie107]

I am calling my new resolution: “Three Months of Weights and Bacon.”

A little background. Last spring I went through an extremely stressful period in my life and turnedstrong text to food for comfort. My eating wasn’t that bad, compared to a lot of Americans, but it definitely was not Zero Carb or even low carb. And I know that my body cannot handle carbs.

Once I started eating a lot of carbs again, the cravings returned, and so I continued eating carbs even after the stress lifted. I’ve gained about 10 pounds - not enough to have to get new clothes, but almost. Plus, I again have those terrible carb and sugar cravings that I had worked so hard to get away from.

So, I am now pledging to go back to what I would consider “dirty carnivore.” (I hope it is ok to talk about that here.). That is, I have found that there are some vegetables I can eat that don’t trigger carb cravings for me, and my stomach and digestion seems to be better if I mix a bit of those in. (Things like greens, brussels sprouts, bell peppers.)

The rest will be all meat, fish, eggs, and the heavy cream I put in my tea. I’ve found cheese triggers cravings for me so I no longer buy that.

The bacon part is that I am pledging to always keep cooked bacon in my fridge to snack on when I get cravings (or if I’m hungry and don’t feel like cooking). I’m going to test whether it’s possible to eat toomuch bacon. (Any votes?)

And to ease back in more gently, I’ve splurged on pound-size orders from my favorite BBQ place, so my fridge is now stocked with brisket, pulled pork, and collard greens. One of the things I like least about Zero Carb is all the cooking required, so I’m hoping having a fridge full of yummy low/no carb stuff will help me transition back.

Oh, and the weights part - I’m resuming my weight-lifting routine to help with body fat composition.

So wish me luck! And happy November everyone!

[Fangs]

But why? Isn’t it great not eating sugary crappy things?

99% I am fine. I think it is jealousy pure and simple of not fitting into the little family unit sometimes. Not often, but on vacay when we hit ice cream out and they are having a blast yummy and ohh and ahh over how good it is I can get jelly fast LOL but key being, I been on plan long enough to know it is great not eating that sugar, cause in the end, that sugar is total destruction for me. Just human nature kicks in some times, more rare but it sure is not gone at all in me

@JJFiddle, Ohhhhhh, lol. didn’t know it came apart and had an inner pot but duh, yea for cleaning I guess I am far from an Inspector Gadget type HA

I would say I never feel lonely…

Same here. I am a loner type easily and must have down time or alone time and never put me in big crowds. I lover social stuff on my timeline and on the day and hr. I want it, then leave me alone

Bit of poor form from hubby, I think, with bringing home the carby junk food.

Nah. I don’t think that way anymore. If my family can’t eat around me and I do ok on my plan then my plan is useless to me ya know. Like I said to S above, rare I get jealous and feel left out of stuff but if I am in more stress mode, which I am right now handling life stuff for ourselves now, I can get that jelly mode fast. But being on plan means I cope with it, I handle it as it is MY issue. Old days when I transitioned over I told him never buy xyz and bring into house and he did comply, now I had to let that go and let them live their life as they see fit. I can’t be that burden when it is my issue to correct ya know.

Luckily it is rare holiday products and disappear and he won’t buy more of that any time soon. Impulse buy when he spotted that crap and they had their fill too on it so I realize big holiday times and some vacation fun will mean I have to pony up and draw from all my past work on me to stay on plan. So far, so good for me actually. I just like to type about experiences that seem ‘hard’ in the moment but I got thru them. Makes me realize when I type it out how well I did get thru it, more power for my future times I might feel less than and wanna eat the world

Happy Mrs B is improving and oh boy hope nothing is wrong with Bille!!

I’m going to test whether it’s possible to eat toomuch bacon. (Any votes?)

we don’t chat eating veg. that is keto plan or lc chat ok if ya eat it for sure but we don’t wanna hear it on the thread. I mean this for me ya know in that I need a zc chat thread without veg chat LOL Many ‘ketovore’ types exist out there. heavy meat intake and little bit of veg they do well on, not a darn thing wrong with that. Just this is a clean zc thread so chat away on your meat intake for sure!!

but never too much bacon ya know. I inhaled lbs of it literally day in and day out for like 2 yrs. I did so fine on it for sure. Til I got sick of it

sorry cheese is a trigger. so many have this issue, I never did. I do well on hard aged cheese. Soft cheese guts don’t like. But it is tough when reg. ol’ cheese can’t be enjoyed on carnivore ya know but some truly have issues with it. Best of luck changing your eating around!!!

-------------------SO NO CRAB. I WAS CRABLESS. I HAD ZERO CRAB.
yea hit store and they had NO crab anywhere. this is not a ‘seafood dept.’ area in this small local store. It carries only frozen crab legs in bags and it was gonzo. Chatted with my meat worker friend and he said they aren’t gonna carry it more daily…only when it hits a sale will they receive it on the truck for sale times. No one is buying at the high price so it is more useless to stock that item. Huh…HELP! and I asked I saw no lobster tail cause I was that desperate and he said same issue so that got shot in the foot fast

So I hit country pork ribs on sale markdown pack. I ate this first yesterday and while delish and so darn fab I grumbled thru every bite pizzin’ and moanin’ it wasn’t crab HAHA Yes I am a child that way sometimes, lol.

second meal was scraps. stole some bacon cooked for hubby he made extra for breakfast, gonzo, 2 burger patties with cheese, then I ate up some salami slices.

eh survival food

Mission is find crab legs I so want! other stores have it I hope and should put it on sale near holiday season now but those stores are more of a long drive away. I am more rural area and rely on my crappy local stores to buy mostly…but time to expand and commit some drive time to run down my crab legs LOL I will do just that. lazer crab focus time.

ZC ON!

[robintemplin]

Oh, man… we forget how powerful carb cravings are! Go as low carb as possible for as long as you can for now, just to kill the cravings.

So yeah, you put this is the wrong thread, but no worries. We are close neighbors and friends. We may be carnivore, but we don’t eat our own.
You’ll do great.

[Fangs]

We may be carnivore, but we don’t eat our own.

some day ya might
what I seen go down on Keto Plan threads

[FrankoBear]

Dirty carnivore is fine in my opinion. I’m interested in that approach. But there are readers here who like to create a safe space where they don’t read about carby food triggers. So if I mention medicinal foods like honey or fungi, I’ll use the blur option from under the cog wheel icon. Sometimes I’ll blur text that I want people to read. As I know people are curious as cats.

It’s interesting about dirty carnivore as I just listened to Chris Kresser on the Peak Human podcast and food nutritional density. There is some interesting science around that. And hormesis and phytonutrients. Brian Sanders calls it the Sapien framework. I think sapiens means wise. It challenges some carnivore maxims. So, I reckon it’s worth discussing in a clean eating dirty carnivore context. But we can always open that up in a new topic thread.

Oh, and the way food prices are going, it’s interesting to talk about food nutrient quality and satiety with dollar-value metrics. Is it actually cheaper to eat carnivore due to higher quality and less food mass? So even though the price per weight is higher for animal-based foods, the mass, or amount eaten is less.