Scott F.

I started mine Thursday night around 8PM. This one will be a water fast. I am reading as much as I can about dry fasting. I'm thinking about giving one a try before the end of July. Scott

Water.

I never purposely used any of the artificial sweeteners. The closest was I used the drink mixers for a long time. I even considered myself going cold turkey with the 'sugar' when I started carnivore but I was using the drink mixers to help me drink water. It was eye opening and a learning point. Just because the label says No Sugar does not necessarily mean there is no sugar. I don't think I had any adverse reactions but I am guessing over the long term there would be issues. Scott

The part about the phones is spot on and it is just not the younger generation anymore. It has spread across pretty much every section of society. I just had a meeting with my shift at work and basically said when I see you with a phone in the plant I'm clocking you out. I have a 62 year old man who worked his way out of the cold mines of West Virginia absolutely hooked on some 'cartoon combat' game that absolutely consumes him. Just like the food industry, the gaming industry spends millions to make sure this happens. The people working the registers at the grocery store (the ones that are not self-checkout) or the convenience store will answer their phone, or worse, finish their conversation/text back before doing their job. The ability to control the masses comes in all shapes, sizes and forms. It is not just Big Pharma or Big Food or Big Tobacco. Their play book can be used by just about any group to control the almighty dollar. Look at how brilliant the strategy was surrounding the food pyramid and the fact grains and seed oils 'are the healthy alternative'. Even to the point there was counter-intelligence work. Big Chicken ensured us pork was the biggest cause of high blood pressure so much so Big Pork had to market themselves as 'the other white meat'. Red meat causes cancer and saturated fats, mostly from red meat, is the primary cause of cardiovascular disease. The Big machines work very well. In our carnivore community Harvard found tons of positives just a handful of years ago. At the time it was the latest and greatest, even considered groundbreaking. Their study put billions upon billions of dollars at risk and just this past year that same institution did an about face. Scott

Going to eat tonight and then fast thru the weekend. I'm on night shift so most of the night I will be working and then most of the day I will be sleeping. So far this week it is too hot to eat anyway. I'm going to take advantage of this weekend (especially since I missed my fast earlier this month) Scott

Second the fasting. It is an amazing way to re-charge. Also, there are a lot of newer studies showing the benefits of creatine for brain health/cognition. Tons of videos out there. Check them out. Personally, I haven't found any of that via the carnivore approach. The closest I have found is that when I wake up, I am awake and ready to go. No dragging out of bed, or dreading the day. I wake up and hit the ground running, clear headed wishing the rest of the world got started with me at 4AM. Scott

Yesterday was two thin-cut T-Bones with left over pork ribs from the night before. Tonight, will be two more of the thin-cut T-Bones with 4-5 fried eggs. My schedule got thrown off earlier in the month so I am thinking I will start my fast on Friday night thru the weekend. Trying to get back on track. Scott

Some people can taste the difference. For a stretch we were getting 55-gallon drums of the wheat, barley and rye that were left over from each batch in a local brewery. Somedays I could taste a little difference in the eggs, especially the smaller eggs. The extra-large brown eggs, not so much. In a similar discussion there is a guy down the road that feeds the same to his meat goats. He says he can taste the difference in the meat. Even the type of grass affects the taste of milk. We are when we eat so I guess that goes for the animals we eat as well. Scott

We are living in a parallel universe. My son and my wife still buy the sauces. Our refrigerator in the house is starting to ease up but the one in the cabin is slam packed with what looks like every sauce and rub known to man. We had ten or so partial bottles once and I poured them all into one saucepan and made a 'concoction sauce'. It turned out to be amazing. Months later we had a number of partial bottles and I did it again. No exaggeration, the dog walked away from it. Spending $$$ and using all the sauce is one thing but spending $$$ and tossing an unfinished bottle in the trash is quite another. I now look at the refrigerator door and do the 'sauce to ribeye' conversion math. Scott

Just got off nights. A ton of typos. Eyes not focusing this morning. Scott

If I had never been exposed/benefitted from having a chicken house in the family I would probably think like the masses that pasture raised/grass fed/grass finished/organic are truly as advertised. They bred the hens and then candled them for fertility. Anything that was not fertile was given away. I went years with eggs running out of my ears. We had a a pack of rabbit dogs and six or eight coon dogs. A couple days a week they were 'egg sucking dogs', no pun intended. I have seen people pay $$$ per pound for organic chicken and turkey and no they buy their feed from the same place I buy mine. The only time I specifically buy 'farm fresh eggs' is when they are being sold my some kid. I see that as an investment as much as a carton of eggs. Any other time our eggs come from our chickens. If they go on strike two things happen. One, I hang up a leg quarter and have a conversation with the hens about being a egg laying chicken or a meat chicken. They usually get the hint. And two, we buy Eggland's Best or the grocery store brand to cover their drought. Maybe the third thing, like in the video, if it is a local farmer that I buy from I can trust what he says about how the eggs or meats were raised. For me, I am a nay-sayer at heart, so big grocery is no different to me than Big Pharma or Big Food. The dollar outweights all else. Scott

Enjoyed the video. I was working so I didn't get to participate. Maybe next week. Couple good points about supplements and dairy. I drink milk on occasion and use a whey protein supplement. The dairy is just like mentioned in the video, very individualistic. I do fine and have no issues. When I was losing some of the weight, I did have stalls and over time I linked the stalls to the milk. When weight loss was still a goal the milk was limited for me. I'm down somewhere between 90-95 pounds and drink a couple glasses a week, or so. Milk was designed to make us grow, and that it will. As babies and toddlers, it makes us grow up and as adults is can make up grow out, if that makes any sense at all. I struggle to eat enough protein to hit the target for hypertrophy. I'm amazed at how much others can eat, not only per meal but per day. It is a struggle for me to eat 200 grams of protein (1 gram per pound of ideal lean body mass). If I eat a 14-16oz. steak with a couple thee eggs I am stuffed and that full feeling lasts for ~24 hours or so, somedays even longer. In order to hit the target, I have to eat another meal that I do not really want, which is another carnivore irony in itself. Prior to carnivore I could eat a 14-16oz steak with a couple-three eggs three times per day and do a desert with 4-5 Mountain Dews during the day. I suppose it was all the carbs and sugars, cravings and maybe even addictions, that was telling me to eat/telling me I was hungry. I simply don't feel comfortable eating large amounts of food. I sort of 'protein cheat' with a protein drink. For me, this is working. I dropped 95lbs in 13 months. I have had some muscle growth but am much stronger (more plates). Good video. I hate I missed participating. Scott

Mass production needed cost savings. Teh approach in the 70's was profitable and the approach after that is mega-profitable. Anywhere high fructose corn syrup can be plugged in it is cheaper, increases profits and feeds the machine. Tons of truth in these videos. Our sports drinks back then came from the end of the garden hose. Today it is sugar laced fruit drinks. Tons of difference between the two. (I managed to be a fat kid in the 70's, got whipped into shape in the 80's via Uncle Sam's approach to diet and exercise. LOL) Scott

The same here. The meat bill is probably slightly cheaper but I can give a little and say 'maybe it is about the same'. Where carnivore saves me is not buying all the other crap in the grocery store. We grill a lot, and we tried sauces anytime we here 'that's a good one'. There was a time when our refrigerator door would have $100 or more of steak and BBQ sauces, dressing and what not. I'm not shopping that aisle so there is maybe $8-10 a week I'm no longer spending. That is pushing $500/year, but being a tad bit conservative, pushing $400 a year in sauces alone. So if I buy $200-$300 extra in meat (which I don't) I'm still a hundred spot to the good. Scott

The egg video is a 'no doubter'. My sister-in-law raised laying hens in a hatchery that got shipped off to laying operations. Multiple trucks from multiple companies picked up her pullets and each company had a different ad campaign. I never got much into the debate on the benefits of pasture raised or regular chicken house eggs. My chickens are pesticide and anti-biotic free but they do (most of them) live in a pen. I open the doors and let them out a lot of mornings and they come back to roost at night. I'm not sure where that lands in the quality of the egg but it does not much matter to me. I'm more of an egg is an egg kinda guy. Scott

For me it is an easy call on the statins. I am not a doctor nor a medical professional. The first six months my total cholesterol and my LDL dropped. Total cholesterol went from 239 to 219 and my LDL dropped from 187 to 152. The second six months my total dropped a few points, and my LDL went to 164. I went a month or two stretch where I tried to eat leaner meats and I let the fat content drop way below what I had been eating. One, I didn't feel as energetic as low-fat and no sugar/no carbs leaves the body searching for energy. Since I feel like I was pretty much fat adaptive my body turned to fat stores. I think that was the increase in LDL I experienced a few months back. The lipid test, much like glucose, is one spot in time and that number could readily change during the course of the day, the week the months. etc. If the body is becoming fat adaptive/adapted, it stands to reason there would be more fat in the blood. Cholesterol can go up. All the things you listed will help with lowering cholesterol. I'm not sure beef or bacon fat would cause heart issues as the research does not support those age old teachings. I would think your heart issues are from the years prior to carnivore. Eating carnivore is one thing. Having a partner that supports the efforts is one great, even being neutral at times, but having a partner who is anti-carnivore for health reasons is a whole different animal. Especially if their opinion is adamantly supported by your doctor. That will always be a tough row to hoe. I would suggest exercise and lifting weights/resistance training. (understanding the heart issues may limit your abilities). I would especially target the legs. Air squats, jumping jacks, etc. Tons of sitting resistance work videos on you tube. Followed by longer walks to get in those steps. If the fat is going to be in your blood the best thing to do is to increase the need for energy. Use the fat since it is already there. Best of luck. Thoughts and prayers. Scott

Those are words one could live by. Regardless of profession or trade or skill or opinion, there are two groups, young and old. When I was 17-18 years old striking out on my own, I was pretty sure my Pops couldn't pour piss out of a boot, even with the directions written on the heel. When I came home 6-7 years later and I was really 'out on my own' I found he had learned an awful lot in those six years. LOL Back when the man I grew up working for had the tobacco allotment every other year he had to wait for a 20–21-year-old kid to come from the NC State Agricultural department to tell him where to cut wind rows. He had farmed the same land for well over 40 years. Part of the deal I suppose. @Geezy I am sure there is a kid down in College Station at A&M that could tell you more about a cow than you ever imagined. Simply blow you away with facts and figures. But if you walked to the end of your driveway and handed him the keys to the farm and said, "You make the farm work". I'm guessing he would be as lost as last year's Easter egg. The young people need time and the old people want more time. LOL Scott

Rendering fat this morning. I'm close to a gallon of tallow thus far and maybe halfway. The fat crunchies or barnacles of love are amazing. Scott

I think it is pretty much the same everywhere. When you see that young Engineer out in the field putting his hands on things he will develop much faster and end up a better Engineer long term. If that same Engineer, does it from the office or via the control system, via a manual, then he will be a maintenance person's long-term nightmare. I too live it every day. And maybe my favorite part of all? We get a new/young kid right out of college, and he is assigned to me for training. At six months he is 'certified' and then starts telling me how to run the plant. Not, this is what I am planning to do and what do you think about the plan?, but do it this way?. 10-15 years ago I would argue tooth and nail if I thought I was right. At 55 now, it is, "I'd do it this way but I work for you". And as long as no one is going to get hurt in the process, it is best they learn the hard way. This will babble way past carnivore but.....I spent years in the service doing sound silencing analysis so sonar systems can't pick up the submarine I was on. We emitted just about zero noise into the water with the exception of the screw. That experience transfers to vibration analysis now with the point of predictive maintenance and making repairs before failure. I can put my hand on an electric motor and 'tell' if there is enough vibration or a pending failure. Last week I called the new reliability Engineer and told him a 40HP electric motor needed to be replaced soon. He assured me his vibration analysis was far more accurate than my simple touch. Four days later, at 2 in the morning, the front bearing failed, enough wobble to tear the seal on the input shaft of the gear box before the coupling came apart. 40K in parts and well over a 100K in downtime. His report deemed it an unexpected failure. I simply highlighted 'unexpected' and sent it back to him. There was a time when it would have been important enough to me to let everyone know. I'm way past that now. I am targeting 59-60. Hoping everything works out that way. Congrats on you all that have made it that far. Scott

When I was a carb and sugar eater one of my favorite things to eat was Pecan Twirls/Pin Wheels. The eight pack was a single serving container. Today I built the carnivore version of Pin Wheels. Hamburger rolled in bacon. I think I am l going to like these just as much. LOL Scott

I think my life's ambition now is to hear Bart Kay calling people an imbecile. Scott

Me too. When I walk outside, I look around the farm and think I have about a hundred friends in this world. Three of them are people. Just kidding but I have had animals, in the grand scheme of things, that ranked higher than some people I know. LOL Scott

We had this very conversation at work yesterday but it was about Engineers not Doctors. Memorizing the formulas and equations and theories can get you an "Engineering degree" but does not necessarily make you and "Engineer". I started off in the naval Nuclear Power field, then to a Nuclear Power plant, then to an industrial enzyme facility, to a chemical plant and now to a Pharmaceutical/Chemical plant. I have worked with probably every type of Engineer known, and sometimes the "Custodial Engineer" is the most valuable because they can actually use a much higher percentage of what they know. I only made two years of college while "at sea" in the Service. I have to suppose somewhere in the junior/senior year there is a class that I never got to titled, "As an Engineer/Doctor you do not have to listen to anyone without a degree" and in parenthesis (and only a small portion of those with a degree). I believe the disconnect begins there. Most doctors, but not all, are repeating to us what they memorized. So, with that, cholesterol is bad. Period. Saturated fats cause heart failure. Period. Prescribed medicines are needed daily for a lifetime. Period. Sort of to the point, but from a different angle. A few months ago, our dog passed away at 14 years old. The veterinary oncologist in a very high-end veterinary hospital came out and amongst these much younger, very clinical in approach, vets and techs he was much older. (Been around vets my entire life) He was one of the very best I had ever been around. He spoke as a doctor, and animal lover and listened to every work I said. He factored me and my thoughts into the path forward. At the end of the visit, I told him as we stood in a multi-million-dollar facility that I did not want to offend him, but he reminded me of an 'old family horse doctor' who would be more at home in muck boots on the farm. He laughed and said that was probably the best compliment he had ever received. He was a doctor, not just a Doctor if Veterinary Medicine. (if that makes any sense at all) Babbling, it is 4:30 AM and the gym opens in a few minutes. Had some time to kill. Scott

Nice work. The last one we built we went reverse flow as well. It's OK. I didn't get the math right on my stack as it was a few inches short. I couldn't get the flow like I wanted. When we extended the stack six inches it was a much better smoker. My son is much more of a smoker than me. I'm more on the old pig cooker. I use tin foil to make a 'smoker' out of it. I have two stacks so I can reverse flow when desired. We did a reverse flow brisket a few weekends ago and it turned out really nice, actually one of the better ones we have done. Nice work. Nothing like heat and meat. Scott

I fell into the group of almost instantaneous positive results, so much so, someone would be hard pressed into talking me into changing the course. I stumbled upon the health benefits and have reaped many in just 13 months. On the flip side of that, my son has started the carnivore diet three-four-five times. He drops 10-12-14 pounds in short order and then the "lack of variety" crunch happens. He and his wife like to eat out and they like to eat all kinds of food at all kinds of places. Maintaining the carnivore approach and eating at every restaurant within driving distance can't be a successful adventure. I told him if he ate carnivore 5-6 days a week and then ate out would be better than the SAD 7 days per week. But he opts out then opts in. My wife tried the diet, had OK results the first two weeks and then some significant weight loss the second two. She simply likes vegetables and fruits. Like me she came off the farm and meat and "potatoes" is a way of life. At some point she may be a candidate for keto type approach but for now, he plate could be heavy on the vegetables/fruits and lighter on the meats and she would be just fine. I think for a lot it is lack of patience. We live in a world where we want things right now, right here, in my hand this very minute. We have lost the ability to wait, lost the ability to work for something in the end and mostly just lost the art of patience. If a person does not see results the first week and then experiences some carni-keto type flu symptoms then it obvious the carnivore will not work for them. They bail. For most it is more than likely a combination of a lot of things. Scott