Had some leftovers for dinner last night so I grabbed a precooked chunk of pork roast out of the freezer to take to work for meal 1 today. Came home and cooked up four fatty pork chops, couple of those will be my lunch tomorrow, and I made a gorgeous pound of ribeye for my dinner. Munched on a few pork rinds.
OXtoberFest ZC Challenge
Fangs
#102
yea this is me too. It really is nice to be on such an elimination menu that we can add back in one small thing and truly see in real time results. We get real honest answers from our bodies definitely. It is a good way to roll.
very cool.
NoVegber HAHA love it, but hmm, NoVegember? I donāt know HAHA
Fangs
#103
yea this is a how do you personally wanna roll. Some love their salt, like me, and some can easily do without, barefootbob dropped salt cause he just walked away from it and did very well. And I agree, extra over salting is never needed, the Bear shows that for sure, but if you wanna go for it, try it definitely. I am a heavy salter, I just love the stuff but when I am more aware and watch my intake I think I do a bit better off alot of it vs. using alot of it, but that difference is small for me so it doesnāt sway me one way or the other, but I think less salt in our lives is a better way to roll. Now for me to take that advice HAHA
Try less, see how you do, and just roll from there
yea I know that. No one wants to gain any lbs LOL Definitely watch processed sausage etc. Fresh meat, fresh seafood beats anything packaged and made for us. Runs could be a few things truly, watch different types of your fat intake. Like if I do too much butter, which I can easily do, I feel it in the guts. I hold to beef type fats I am fine, I eat more pork fatty meals and I feel it in the guts. So alot of things can be swaying that bathroom for you. Just experiment a bit around, or of course you could have been sick a bit, with something that did effect your guts soā¦usually with that go a bit more lean for a little bit. I think you will roll thru ok 
Nothing wrong with freely eating, but make sure it is real hunger ya know, cause alot of it sometimes is boredom eating, or emotional type, or fill in the blank eating. I have been known to do that. So just listen to real signals kinda and see if you are on that fence of just eating for the sake of eating or your body really needs it. Alot of us go thru this time, not quite sure times.
sounding good E! Making it work well for you!
Alexaar
(Alex)
#104
NovemBEAR? I can see how focusing on animals rather than the lack of plants would be helpful also in honour of the Bear ha.
I remember this popping up before in a carnivore discussion and someone mentioned he ate a fair amount of cheese every day so to take his advice on no salt at all with a pinch of salt, pun intended.
In the Fat of the Land he reckons that long term excess salt is more a habit than a necessity though so weaning your amount down might be helpful. Certainly I donāt think itās necessary to add it to everything. Would be interested to see how you get on!
Shinita
#106
Thank youā¦ Really? I thought I am a weak lil thing who clings to dreams and desires and canāt face some restrictive woe even for the future when I will like it 
Well, the open-minded chill part is good, I guess.
Novembear makes me thing of the topic where people talked about bear meatā¦ Once I read a book where there were bear hunters and they ate itā¦ My curiosity doesnāt go that far, I mean, I obviously would try almost anything (if I would consider it safeā¦ who knows what diseases some random animal has, raw meat may be dangerous etc.) but my burning curiosity has different, easier targets. Like emu Lamb. Liver of various animals. Even veal. Steak. Well I will try to make a steak from some cheaper cut when I can get beef, I even have a recipe nowā¦
Alexaar
(Alex)
#107
I feel like your approach is much more effective than my previous attempts this year where Iāve been super restrictive and gone a bit mad and as soon as Iāve had some joint pain Iām like āthis clearly doesnāt work I may as well eat a whole bar of dark chocolate and wash it down with some rum!ā. Moving slowly towards a big lifestyle change and being chill about it and enjoying life leaves room for life to happen along the way
My doc managed to schedule the blood tests for thursday morning which is much sooner than I was expecting. I canāt seem to step away from this thread so Iām gonna go zc again on thursday. Even adding in a few berries and some brussel sprouts has made me crave junk food again and my ulnar nerve inflammation has worsened (when itās bad I wake up with temporary paralysis of my ring and little finger on both hands). I didnāt realise how much it had improved on just lamb and beef and ghee, even despite my histamine response to beef. Theyāre recommending mirtazapine to help me sleep which seems like a terrible idea when Iām trying to uncover an underlying health issue 
Iāve been taking chlorphenamine (a short-acting antihistamine) before bed which has reduced nighttime itching enough for me to get to sleep and stopped me waking up in the night having scratched holes in my skin.
Sorry for the health ramblings, just feel like itās madness that the standard first response to me mentioning I canāt sleep due to itching, which could be caused by poor liver/thyroid function so Iām getting tests to check that, is to give me a powerful drug which has a warning that it might affect liver functionā¦
Anyway, only 2 more days until I can fully commit again!
Shinita
#108
Itās very important to know what restrictions we are able to do without harm 
I am a hedonist and donāt resist temptation, thatās an important knowledge of mine tooā¦ I just canāt stand restrictions if I feel them restrictions. Not eating something I donāt need, no matter how I look at it is easy. So I cut out added sugar and my life got better right away. Now I know I was super lucky as too many people are addicted to itā¦ Well addictions are strange. I was totally addicted to peanuts but when I cut them out, I didnāt miss them. I just needed a switch in my mind, I often do that, it was effective with bread and added sugar too. āItās NOT food to meā. So I donāt eat it and donāt feel tempted.
It doesnāt work with everything and things can come back so I train myself too. So sometimes I take a big jump, sometimes I very slowly change. I believe I evolve in the right direction. But it takes time. Trying out carnivore sped it up pretty much. So I am all for elimination if/when the one is question can bear the idea as we can behave extremely differently when certain influences are absent. Both physically and mentally, itās like a small(?) miracle.
I couldnāt do total elimination, well I did it for days in the very beginning (I donāt eliminate eggs ever so they were there and meat)ā¦ I canāt do restrictive things I donāt believe in for long. And I canāt eliminate coffee but I drink less and donāt give up that it may happen one dayā¦
But what I did was big enough for me. And I will evolve further when my habits and subtly changing taste (and curiosity and actual whim) allow.
Itās not my final form yet. (That would be pretty tragic, my eating is a tad chaotic now.)
This thread is a nice little nest and we often talk about not so much food related life things. And I wouldnāt say itās not related. Our health and woe are closely correlated.
2 days arenāt much, hopefully you quickly get better and your body can handle fine whatever the docs and drugs do to itā¦
Alexaar
(Alex)
#109
As a british 90s kid I cannot read this without conjuring Dragonball Z images in my head (https://knowyourmeme.com/memes/this-isnt-even-my-final-form), gave me a well needed chuckle! Itās really cool to see people evolve in long term challenges like this, who knows what our final forms will be or if weāll ever reach them or just keep changing day by day towards whichever choices feel right
Iāve definitely noticed on 100% zc I am much less neurotic about food. Similar to how I stopped being bothered by glutenous foods when I accepted I was coeliac and was avoiding them completely, when berries/chocolate etc. arenāt an option I find I can just eat meat when I feel like it and then when Iām done I donāt think about food until I get hungry again. Whereas now Iām not physically hungry after breakfast but itās like thereās a little shouty voice in my head going āberries are nice! chocolate is nice! fudge is nice! cake is nice! food food food food foodā and I canāt wait for the little carb-addicted twat to dissapear again so I can enjoy a nice quiet mind 
Fangs
#110
Yea. I know that. I used to call that my evil PIA twin. Carb monster twin. Until we truly get our bodies and mind healing on plan for a longer time and they sync upā¦that stupid evil twin can scream carb cravings at ya like crazy. It stinks right? But this is where our zc plan helps so much, eat more meat or seafood. Eat til you canāt possibly put one more bite into your tummy and when one does that, you definitely can not put one carb past your lips at that point LOL
dark chocolate and rum, we must be related When Cheryl started this challenge long ago that was my direct goal. Drop the little bit of dark chocolate I would eat every now and then on plan. I kept it. Held onto it like a miser. A carb miser. It was my safety blanket, but obviously it wasnāt. I just couldnāt let that little bit go. It was like I holding onto it for dear life to mark another life? I donāt know, but with Cherylās challenge I dropped the bit of chocolate and darn if I donāt give a flying furball about it now It was hard to let that final bit go but I did and it put another notch on my āI am in controlā belt ya know. Gave me a boost I needed to know I will survive ok without certain habits in my life where food is concerned.
Glad your tests are coming earlier for you. Get some markers on where you are at for now. Also itching and more can be adaption sign related for some but of course could be alot of things Glad you are just moving forward and see where you stand. No need to rush things out, you are walking your path the way it was intended. I did that with zero carb. I was extreme low carb and zc for about a year. I was in and out of it but then one day I said, ZC ALL the way baby! Never looked back. I found it very hard to let go of carbs. Canāt say I gave up carbs 1 day and zc the next. I fought like a darn dog against carbsā¦but in the end, I won A personal journey we all have to take.
VirginiaEdie
(Edith)
#111
No, itās been hunger.āim not usually hungry for breakfast, but Iāve been hungry in the mornings. Iāve been eating three meals a day.
Like I mentioned earlier, my hormones turned back on after four months of being turned off. Maybe itās hormonal?
Fangs
#112
absolutely could be hormonal. those darn hormones do alot with our bodies 
remember also it might not last long. When I started I gained about 8 lbs with zero carb. Freaked me out. Lost that and like alot more The 8 lbs came on a tad later, like in month 2-3 I started gaining a bit but that was when I truly started to eat my most. I had days I ate so much it was insanity trulyā¦but for ALL I did eat, gaining only about 8 was nothing, cause if that was carb equivalent, I would have put on 20 lbs in a flash LOL
remember too if one came from a life of restricting kcals cause of a numbers game, like I eat only around X amt of calories per day, I watch my food intake tightly and wonāt eat if hungry etcā¦then as we enter zc we will be more hungry. Our bodies are getting it freely and says Heck yea give it to me and it uses this fuel to heal internally, and while you might put on a few lbs, it is ok cause down the line you will lose those lbs. This again is esperienced by zc people and yea, alot of us do freak out a bit LOL cause who wants lbs back? I sure didnāt but you hold thru the course of what it takes for your body and you will truly come out ok on that other side. Hang in there VE, you are walking thru some normal steps of zc. Longer you will know what your path must be to heal and more and it is ok, we are right along there with ya I bet you will come thru all this in great shape!
Fangs
#113
Oxy morn to all
Ate great yesterday. Nice tender steak and more of my usual.
I have to say I woke up withā¦I am still full feeling. I am not sure if I like that tho. I have to say I like the ātummy feels very empty but fineā feeling vs. the āI feel like I ate but am not hungry feelingā waking upā¦I know, sounds nuts, but I know my tummy feelings, them and me are very close 
I never know how my eating day will be, mostly it is always 2 times per day, my usual, but I think today might be OMAD for me. I just have 0 food interest at all on my mind. Again, normal for me.
I got a lb. of hamburger with my name on it when I do get hungry. Always be prepared for when I say I have no interest in food, in a few hrs that can flip to feed me now or I will whack someone! 
So having food around at all times is imperative for me to fry up fast and eat. I can go an incredibly long time without food when this feeling kicks in but when it flips, watch out HAHA
All good. Just chillinā thru zc. Being aware and watching my patterns a bit and understanding me more thru it. More I know about me the better way to maneuver me thru my lifestyle.
ZC ON!
Shinita
#115
I would say you donāt know what is it like having a separate dessert stomach (even after full, you can eat a ton of sweets) - but even that is present only when some carb scouts are released alreadyā¦ Yeah, magic
I actually wanted to make carni ice cream on carni beforeā¦ And I just couldnāt bring out the desire for any (cravings wonāt happen, thatās fine but some little desire, curiosity, whateverā¦ not just wanting to make interesting things at some point in the future, not now). I surely could eat it with joy and itās a welcomed food when I have no other food I want but if I have something else to eat, I donāt need it. I was always curious if it stays like that longer term. No way I could lose my sweet tooth (well, dessert tooth? sweetness is overrated) so easily, right? We will see in November.
But sponge cakes are nice. I enjoy the fluffy texture and I need ādrierā things sometimes. And they are useful under certain circumstances.
Chocolate isnāt so carbyā¦ Itās as carby as liver, at least my chocolate. Yeah, I know they are different carbs but still.
I still find chocolate uninteresting most of the time but it was amazing with pancakeā¦ I blame the remaining carbs in my life, of course. And my sweetness perception changed back. I need to do something about it but October isnāt that month. I continue my current eating style for 3 days and then go off for reasons. I feel very controlled, itās a very conscious decision. I need to spare strength and supplies for November. I have no good circumstances for carnivore at all but I am very stubborn about my November (and I burned the bridges anyway so I just canāt stay totally off for more than a few days. even my carni stress in the most dire times is nothing compared to what I need to endure when I go off. I have a nice day and I immediately want to come back, I will psycho-analyze myself next time as itās a bit strange. I am between two worlds and both are impossible for me in their proper form).
Maybe nothing special will happen. I want a few things but last time I wanted to enjoy my low-carb with non-carni things, I postponed it as my desires towards them were negative. My mind considers something nice and itās allowed and surely canāt cause much problems so my consciousness is fine with it - and my body says no thanks, I prefer my usual. And my generous mind feels like some wonderful granny who bakes us a cake and we would prefer some boiled eggs without salt and we donāt even love that so much and we eat 6 every day anywayā¦ But we just canāt produce the necessary desire to try it, not even thinking about nostalgy, rarity of the food item in our life (it was always quite effective for me. I can avoid eating things almost forever if I always can have some if I wanted but if itās this week of the year onlyā¦ uh-oh, well thatās must be eaten, obviously as long as itās tasty even if I donāt particularly want it) and love.
I still didnāt reach the high level where I refuse Alvaroās Momās baked goods (what did I do in my 7 weeks long first keto time? probably didnāt go near the city. we go rarely and in good times there is meat, not cake). I fear the probably inevitably day when it will come, a bitā¦ I am very good at not eating what I donāt want so that part is fine, she is a cool person so wonāt be upset but stillā¦ It actually would be nice if she wouldnāt bake and I would bring a cake. I prefer making stuff I actually want eat but well, I baked bread and carrot brownie yesterday, a few carrot cakes lately (carrots were on sale and we bought a tad much :)), I will bake cheesy bread sticks and pizza today (for me too so itās better. pizza is fun even if not real pizza. but I made pizza only for Alvaro before. itās fine as long as I have something good to eat)ā¦
Sorry. But well, itās my life. We have some kind of cake multiple times a day. Well, Alvaro has. I just bake some of them. Itās amazing that he with his high-carb woe and huge sweet tooth (though he says itās partially necessity, he is hungry and itās the simplest solution) typically eats cakes without sweetener. Except fruits. Yeah, thatās sugar and sweet (especially the dried ones) but normal people usually add extra sugar/sweetener to cakes, no matter how much sweet fruits are involved.
Maybe my mind is addicted to every kinds of food, I mean, just talking about them. I donāt want them, if I did, I would just go and eat them. I will go off soon anyway (at least thatās the plan, the logical thing under my circumstances but I am a slave to my bodily desires so if I desire to stay, I stay for a while more). So I prefer enjoying this peacefulness until I can And training! Thatās important. Everything for the success of my November.
I am very very pleased with my non-existing (no, rather negative) desires towards carbs now. And I even eat some carbs, why they donāt interfere? Wow. I donāt recognize myself.
But it means little until I canāt do this for LONG.
I always ate as much chocolate as I wantedā¦ I think. Sometimes a bit more as I was hungry and had nothing else I wanted. Once I had nothing else, period.
It got out of hand when I learned to make chocolate, I solved that with āketo daysā where my desire towards sweets totally stopped (one day at a time. I probably wasnāt even in ketosis but until I didnāt eat much carbs, I wanted no sweets). Real long term keto had no such effect so I ate it every dayā¦ Years of on/off keto, zero change (just the sweetness of my chocolate went lower). And then came carni, I obviously stopped eating chocolate and then I couldnāt really bring it back. Itās meh. I can eat zillion better things.
Chocolate isnāt my problem. Fruits are more like that but no, such amazing things are never āproblemsā. Even with unfortunate sugar in them. But I can handle some. I have fruit eater anchestors A bit too long ago, thoughā¦ I canāt imagine a perfect solution regarding them but whatever I do, it wonāt be too much of a problem I am sure.
(There is some sci-fi book, I think where there is a species who have sex once in the life, early. And they remember it for the rest of their life. I can even look at my fruits without eating them! I do that many times every day, actually, they are very pretty. Fortunately, I definitely not want to eat much of them, in the contrary, my body and mind are in agreement about it, finally, I just want to enjoy them A LOT during seasons. Thatās why I keep plants.)
Makes senseā¦ Surely not everyone is like this, very serious eating disorders can have a strong hold on the mind and carni food tends to be satiatingā¦ But It makes much sense, a smart body does it, I imagine And a smart mind doesnāt keep poor body starving.
Carni always lowers my calories significantlyā¦ But I canāt starve, my body always realizes when it didnāt get enough (and I see low numbers and make steps anyway). My food choices are important though. I can reach the same satiation level with very different calorie intake. I am safe but some people undereat even on keto. Not everyoneās body and mind work properly. And some people need to gain weight.
I work fine I guess but I canāt eat much on carni. I am sure I could learn so I will take steps when I will need that (unless they happen automatically, probably will). I eat okay now. The modest amount I eat is enough for this current body.
No, I donāt write about tummy feelings too, itās already too long againā¦ I feel very satiated now, obviously, iās only 2pm after all and I cook only later today. I probably will do OMAD but who knows? I surely donāt. My mealsizes vary too much to know but my body nudges me if I happen to go too low on some day.
KellynP
(Kellyn )
#116
Thanks, Alex. I definitely plan on reducing the amount of salt slowly. Starting with the salt I was adding to my water. I know Iām weird to do that. I just like the way it tastes. Iām still not sure about completely eliminating it, but we will see.
I agree, Shinita. I am one who does a lot of research for better health and will jump on one idea or another. Kind of like mouth breathing. Let me explain. I watch the youtube āWhat Iāve learnedā and he was talking about how much better it is to breathe through your nose and not your mouth. Now I try to consciously nose breathe. As for the salt, I guess I will just add this to my next experiment. I do love salt, but will see how reducing it effects me and go from there.
Lamb is delicious by the way. I just had some last week and I will definitely be getting some again.
I love this. I feel the same way about bread and sugary foods now. Watching videos about the effect of carbs and sugar has helped a lot with this mentality.
This is so true, Fangs. It is what has helped me beat my sugar addiction.
How do you make this, Shinita? Is it zero carb? Was thinking of making the egg pudding as soon as I can find the right metal bowls for it.
Fangs
#118
ahh, that was around my time. So donāt worry, just eat well, and hold this course. believe me I went onto the zc forum sites and said HELP and every single long term zc person said, donāt panic! LOL I was like, donāt tell me not to panic HAHA but everyone gave their experiences and more people do gain at the start, not a dramatic amt but more than we expect, CAUSE alot of us do come from ārestricting kcals, eating very lc, watching macros and all this control jazz in our menuā. We did not truly come from free eating in life into zc so if one comes from SAD into zc, you know in truth, they do a bit better in a way. Their body is like OMG I am getting nutrition, lets start the healing process, dump the carb bloat and moreā¦us who controlled and changed to more healed and āwatched our food and intakeā closely, the body says, DAMN give me some darn food and when you do, I AM putting on a few lbs, rebalancing these hormones, feeding your muscles and body and once there, we will flip it and let your newer balanced healed body lose these lbs and more.
so it is a darn wild ride but the long term zc people said ākeep the faith in the planā and boy it was hard for me to do it but I did and all came around fine for me.
so I think you are walking thru your time, I know you will be ok
Fangs
#119
yea I get this. I never made carni ice cream or any of that stuff. I am SO NOT into recipes or the kitchen truly so this stuff went off my radar.
I put my want of total simplicity as key for meā¦and I gotta say, IF I get ice cream back I want the real darn thing, substitute things for like my old carb loves doesnāt help me one bitā¦for my personality they work against me.
I am bestā¦slap meat in hot pan. Done. Eat. LOL
But I know many who love some ācarni extrasā and making carni egg noodles and more. Heck you can make carni meat noodlesā¦using like finely ground chicken or turkey etcā¦here is a little vid on that: donāt look at this guys kitchen tho HAHA
but for me I just aināt into cooking enough to go down this route but there are ācarnivore gourmet type chefsā out there having a blast LOL
There are tons of carni recipes out there trulyā¦more than I would have thought. All legal ZC items and absolutely on plan.
PattyW
(Patty W)
#120
Made it through another work weekend. My body is telling me itās ready to try adding back some pork products this week & see what happens. Iām my own science experiment this week. Pulled 3 packages of bacon (different types for variety) & some frozen pulled pork I had made pre-carni. I bet I go through a whole package of bacon in one sitting! Good energy this morning, just seeing where to channel it for the day. Looking forward to trying chicken or eggs in 5-7 days or so. (Iām looking forward to making the steamed egg pudding dish). Curious to see how the bacon will work in my air fryer. I donāt get to spend as much time on the forums as I would like, but I really appreciate all the sharing of experiences & kind words of encouragement this group has for each other. Sending good thoughts on the thread to those who are having health challengesā¦
Have a good week! PS Frankobearā¦beautiful spring flowers picture 