Bob

Welcome aboard @Aurie

It's hard to find a recipe with a whole bag of brown sugar in it, lol. But I did find this one for regular bologna...

https://housewifehowtos.com/cook/recipe-homemade-bologna/

It has a miniscule amount of sugar compared to some others I found. I would probably try this as a starting point. Replace the beef with a combination of deer and pork fat. Other deer bologna recipes suggest adding pork fat in with the deer meat, probably because deer is very lean. Then, remove the tiny bit of brown sugar (or leave it, because 1 tablespoon spread across 3 pounds of meat is going to be meaningless).

I would be interested in hearing how this goes for you.

3 hours ago, Steven2023 said:

They would rather sell a whole beef, but that is an expensive one-time hit. It is probably cheaper in the long run though.

1 hour ago, Geezy said:

Maybe you could find someone to go halves with you or even a couple more to go quarters.

The place near me is called Duma's Meats...

https://www.dumameats.com/

They sell them as sides and quarters for as little as $3.79 per pound. Granted, you buy 300-400 pounds at once, but that price can't be beat.

I would need a chest freezer though, lol. 

I had to quite coffee because it stirred up my ulcerative colitis. I drink tea now.

My friend did the same for his Chrohn's. But he does boil water and drinks just hot water in the morning. It satisfies his desire for a hot drink when he wakes up.

12 hours ago, CIO said:

After much googling I read that HRT (which includes testosterone) may create insulin resistance so I have come off it to see if makes a difference. 

Will let you know it that is the cause but thanks for all the help. 

Yes, please do. Everything I was reading was gloom and doom, lol. 

I currently get most of my meat at Sam's Club. I save several dollars per pound vs the grocery store, except on holidays when the grocery store will have a massive discount sale.

There is also a local meat/butcher/rancher that I occasionally visit for some rare tasty meats.

Carnivore soft tacos, using the Egg Life wraps....

(add sour cream, lettuce, salsa, or jalapenos and it's still keto with zero grains for the win!)

10 hours ago, Orweller said:

though I like the idea of dirty carnivore/ketovore/paleovore. But for now I'll add another 30 days of carnivore and see where I land

I did pure unadulterated carnivore in May, June, and July. In August my apple tree was ripe and so I would pick from it. These apples are small. Since then, I call myself 97% carnivore. I will occasionally "cheat" with some lettuce, or a piece of fruit, but that's very rare. My personal beliefs towards what constitutes a natural human diet is basically a marriage between the carnivore end of Dr. Ken Berry's Proper Human Diet, and the animal centric end of Paul Saladino's Animal-Based Diet.

Ken will say that humans are naturally a low carbohydrate mammal. He says the Proper Human Diet is a spectrum, from 0 carb carnivore all the way up to 100g of carbs daily (depending on your genetics) of low carbohydrate veg, nuts, or berries. He will discourage fruit and honey. Paul Saladino on the other hand says there is no limit to fruit and honey, and will even recommend a person eats a minimum of 150g of carbs or more per day in those forms. He himself is pounding down 350 carbs or more of fruit and honey a day along with his muscle meat and organs.

I think they are both on to something. I agree with Ken that humans are a low carbohydrate mammal that should stay under 100g a day at the most. I also agree with Paul in that fruit is not going to kill you, whereas vegetables - specifically leaves, stems, and seeds - will try.

The two of them are targeting 2 different audiences. Dr. Ken Berry's target audience is those trying to lose weight and reverse diabetes. This requires the keto/ketovore/carnivoire approach. Paul Saladino speaks to those who are already metabolically healthy, without weight or disease issues. They both will speak against grains, seed oils, and processed sugars, but Ken Berry will go a step further and discourage fructose in fruits as well, but will admit he has a pear tree that he will attack at the end of summer himself (Dr. Robert Kiltz is a carnivore doctor but will confess to occasionally enjoying french fries, lol).

So to summarize, I believe we should be eating meat and animal products the most - muscle meat, organs, cream, cheese, butter, and maybe some milk, and some occasional plucked or picked fruitage is fine too (and "fruitage" can include certain vegetables too). I think humans have ate seasonal fruitage all along, for even though our digestive tract and PH balance resembles that of other carnivores, we do have a cecum. The key here, though, is "seasonal", as they were only available in the harvest season. 

Yes, I am saving a ton of money since switching to carnivore. Things like bread and pasta may be cheaper, but when I ate it I was a bottomless pit because it didn't satiate me for very long at all. Deli meats are about double what fresh meat, so those sandwiches were actually pretty expensive. This doesn't even take into consideration the lettuce, tomato, and condiments that would go on it too. My previous diet I could eat 4-6 times per day. Now I am 2, sometimes 3 and that's it.

The "per pound" price for cereal vs meat is very similar. But calorie for calorie, the meat is way more rich, nutrient dense, and able to make me last much longer until my next meal. The hyper-palatable ultra-processed food just had me munching non-stop, filling Big Food's coffers

This was something I made for lunch yesterday. It's basically a fried bologna sandwich, but I used Egg Life wraps (made with egg whites) for the "bread". Bologna was cut 1/4" thick and I melted gouda cheese on one and sharp cheddar on the other. Pure carnivore goodness, minus perhaps just a smidge of taint in the processed bologna I got from the deli.

Maybe invest in another blood glucose meter? Those readings are considered dangerously high.

On 12/31/2023 at 11:58 AM, CIO said:

just want to know if this continues without reason if I should worry

Maybe. You want to see something more along the lines of 4.7 to 6.0, so something is up. The description of your diet sounds perfectly fine except for the chocolate which will contain sugar. Just how much chocolate are you eating? Whatever the answer, stop that immediately. 

You may have undiagnosed Type 1 Diabetes, and what you are experiencing could be diabetic-related ketoacidosis. That much glucose in your blood could indicated your body does not have enough insulin to use sugar for energy. So your body instead breaks down fat for energy, which causes your body to release ketones. Too many ketones cause your blood to turn acidic. Ketoacidosis is bad, whereas ketosis is good. They are 2 different things. The high blood sugar could indicate the former. It can be caused by chronic alcoholism, starvation, or an overactive thyroid too.

Your body should not allow you to have that much glucose in your blood. Your pancrease should respond by releasing insuling to either move it into the cells to be used as energy, or converted to fat for later use. 

I don't want to alarm you. There are usually symptoms that you would experience but you say you feel fine. But I would go see your doctor and get some blood work done.

This can't be diet related at all, even if your one meal a day was 2 pounds of chocolate.

A medical book from the 1700s recommends raw milk and ruminant meat for many illnesses...

3 hours ago, CIO said:

The issue is since I started a month ago my blood glucose has been over 15 every day! Sometimes it hits 24.

If the conversion on this table is correct, 15 mmol/L is equivalent to 270 mg/dl and 24 translates to 432. Yes, those numbers are crazy high.

When do you take these readings? If you take a reading after a meal, or as soon as you wake up, your numbers will be elevated. I would be curious what your number would be if after finishing your dinner, you did not eat again for 3-4 hours before bed, slept a good nights sleep, woke up and did not have anything but water for the first 2 hours, and THEN check it and see what it is. We want to know what it is in a fasted state and not influenced by the "dawn phenomenon" that Geoff mentioned above.

Are you diabetic?
Are you taking insulin?

If you are and have been, are you still taking your insulin or other diabetes medications? 

Some people make the mistake of dropping their meds as soon as they start, and this is no good. The healing takes time.

4 hours ago, CIO said:

eat only meat (rump steak) and a bit of fish and chicken plus a bit of dark choc.... Baker MD podcast mentioned increasing fat and lowering protein but I don't like too much fat and also I can't just eat fat/butter etc!

Learn to like it, lol.

Your fish would be better if it was fatty fish, like salmon. Your chicken would be better if it was dark meat, and make sure you eat the skin. But in reality, fatty red meat and eggs with the yolks should be the staple of your carnivore. The macros of fat and protein are usually already in their proper portions when it comes to ruminant meat. Get some ground 80/20 ground beef or 73/27 and try to avoid draining the fat, or at least too much of the fat, or replace it with butter. Butter everything.

If you are not eating carbs, AND you are not eating enough fat, then generally speaking your body will use the protein to produce it's own glucose. But even still it should not be enough to send your numbers that sky high.

Nice. That's a new upload. I will have to watch it later.

Here is one from a couple years ago that was really good....

Last night we went out for a seafood boil. I had a lobster tail, snow crab legs, and shrimp. For an appetizer, I had 6 raw oysters. It was an Omega-3 night, lol.

They bring it out in a plastic bag so it wasn't very photogenic or else I would have snapped a pic.

I actually did some reading in this book this morning. And it's very fascinating. For example...

"No one knew then, and as far as I know, no one knows with certainty now. Some patients can lose weight while eating 2 lbs of meat at each meal, three times a day. It depends on the individual. Some can eat much more than others, and not gain. We heard of a woman down in Tierra del Fuego who, if she could get it, could demolish a whole 12 LB goose at one sitting. Eskimos gorge themselves on walrus meat after a successful hunt, and yet the Eskimo is rarely obese. He has the biological trait of a fat looking face, and this, with his bulky clothes, gives a mistaken impression of his body weight. Our old time trappers and the West devoured enormous quantities of Buffalo hump and tongue and still kept lean. There may be an upper level of meat intake where no one can lose, but I have never found it."

This is similar to Dr. Ken Berry's claim that you can eat all the beef, butter, bacon, and eggs you want and try as you may, you won't gain weight. There are also some carnivores claiming to eat 5000 calories or more a day of nothing but fatty meat.

My weight fluctuates a few pounds, which I think is normal. I've never set out to challenge the idea by gorging myself on meat, lol.

Another interesting quote follows. You've heard me say on here and in Dr. Kiltz's Mighty Tribe that when I eliminated dairy and started skimping on the fat, I suffered from diarrhea. But when I added back butter, started eating the animal fat, and reintroduced cheese, my stools returned to normal. Well, check out this quote....

"Then Andersen was put on just the meat he liked and Stefansson, to his alarm, was put on only the leanest meat possible to obtain. This was because DuBois had been told of a previous experience to Stefansson had had in the Arctic. The fall migration of Caribou had been missed. The animals on their return in the spring had exhausted their supply of fat. In spite of the caches groaning with lean meat starvation stalked the camp. Weakness, protuberant abdomens, and diarrhea developed. Access to fat saved their lives. This report had likewise been greeted with skepticism, so Stefansson was asked to start off the experiment with lean meat alone.

Within two days he had diarrhea and a feeling of baffling and discomfort. Allowing him to eat fat again cleared up the symptoms in three days, and the experiment went on."

The experiences of Stefansson mirrors my own almost exactly.

And then for a little humor....

"It's a strange fact that even if a patient's life is imperiled by overweight their loving kin will continue to stuff them with lethal tidbits, if they can get away with it."

So true, lol

I'm a simple man, lol. A little seasoning and a sprinkle of shredded cheese and this was my breakfast.

High school weight (senior year) can be a good goal, IF you were not overweight in high school. Sometimes I was, and sometimes I wasn't. I can remember being a chunky kid, and leaning towards the obese in junior high. The first time I dieted was in 8th grade, by eliminating diet coke and candy. I really took control of my health in my between my junior and senior years though, because for some reason, out of the blue, I suddenly gained some popularity and attention from girls.

After high school I fattened up again. Then in 1996 when I was 20, I read Dr. Atkins New Diet Revolution and took it all back off, and even got down to my lowest of 162. I am currently 175 which was my initial goal. I now look at 165 as my new goal but I am honestly happy with where I am at so I am not working too hard anymore. I'm just enjoying my healthy 90/7/3 (carnivore/ketovore/animal-based) life. But in early 2024 I think I am going to double down on my efforts and go strict, maybe even lion diet for 30 days or more.

I do think that I am stronger and maybe have more muscle today than I did as a high school senior, from the little working out that I do, and lifting heavy things as part of the tile trade that I work in. Since muscle weights more than fat, getting as low as my exact high school weight might actually translate to less fat than I had then. Today's 170 might be the equivalent of 18 year old me's 165.

Awesome!  Keep doing what you are doing!

There is admittedly some mixed signals when it comes to calories.

When someone is starting out, we don't want them fixated on calories. Just eat a proper human diet, 3 meals a day until you are comfortably stuffed (but not painfully stuffed) with no snacking in-between. In time, your proper hunger signals will start working properly. With carnivore or strict keto, the food you eat is satiating. Before long, you might quite naturally and without much effort move into an intermittent fasting eating schedule, eating the same amount of food, or just about, across 2 meals instead of three. This gives your body more time to break down and use up those nutrients and energy.

But calories is still a metric that can be referenced. For example, I am 2 meals a day. This works for me most of the time but I occasionally have a major hunger day and I will have a big breakfast, lunch, and dinner, and I might be heavier on the scale the next day as a result. If I have thirsty days and drink a lot, same thing. If I eat and then go to sleep, definitely.

My weight has been oscillating rather wildly between 174 and 177 for the last month+ and my progress has stalled. I've stalled before and I know just to wait it out. If I get tired of waiting I will do an extended fast. Currently I think I am stalling because it's the dark days of winter and I am not as active as I usually am.

BUT... one thing I do notice is that even during a stall I might drop a notch on my belt, etc. I think that when stalls are happening, the body is working on other things such as healing and body recomposition. Then, when those tasks are done, it returns to weight loss and I will have another sudden drop. And that is they way it is for me. Drop. Stop. Drop. Stop. Slight gain. Stop. Drop. Up. Down. Down. Up. Plateau. Down. Up. lol

1 hour ago, Jen said:

These are on my to-do list now. Has anyone batch cooked these and stored them for later. I’m thinking fridge or freezer?  Any suggestions?

I personally haven't... yet. But I have only just recently started making and using chaffles. A quick web search though says they can be stored in the fridge up to 5 days, and can be frozen as well...

https://www.bing.com/search?q=refridgerate+or+freeze+chaffles

3 hours ago, Angela Little said:

Nothing yet, I have some ground beef, eggs and bacon, any suggestions on what to do differently with them?

You could do a no-bun burger, with a patty on the bottom, topped with bacon, and an over-easy egg on top. The beef pattie can be used to wipe up the valuable yolk as it runs after breaking into it. Add some salt, seasoning, or cheese to taste.

Alternatively, you could make a "power bowl". Cook your bacon and break it into smaller pieces ahead of time. Chop up the ground beef like you were going to make tacos. Don't drain the beef fat but add the bacon and some eggs into the mix and start stirring it around so everything gets mixed together. Salt and season or cheese to taste.

Wrap any of the above in a large lettuce leaf and you will still be keto. Then you might be able to pick it up with your hands and add a little avacado mayo. 

Our friend @Steven2023 has said he makes his own sausages. I don't know how or what he uses though. I tagged him so maybe he'll chime in when he can. 

There is a menu button on the top right. It's a hamburger menu button on mobile, and on PC it's a the little down arrow next to your picture and name. Go to Profile and then the Edit Profile button is actually in the masthead on your profile.

Or you can click this link: https://carnivoretalk.com/profile/137-steven2023/edit/