Food Sober Christmas 2018

Hello All,

I'm having fun with my family, friends, a little bit of time off work now, more later.

My weight is stable, yet high in the maintaining range. I don't really regret yesterday's salty BBQ. Not sorry. LOL. So meaty, so good.

Firehouse Ribs, San Clemente, CA. 

Christmas dinner with the fam bam, 2018.

Here's to abstaining from known trigger foods, having fun and living life free and clear from food addiction. This is my 8th year of food sober living. It's so worth abstaining from my food triggers.

Here are some cool holiday photos. Christmas in Southern California is different from Indiana. Play this song if you are a Hoosier celebrating outside the great state.

Here's what we do in So Cal for Christmas. There are plenty of opportunities indoors and outdoors that don't involve putting food in your pie hole.

Hang a wreath on the life guard tower, Laguna Beach 2018 

Check out the King Tides while staying safe on a cliff trail, Terra Mar Carlsbad, 2018

Check out the big surf, safely, watch for sneaker waves, Moonlight Beach, 2018

Decorate a tree, beach themed.

Cool sunsets and photography with the family.

Dana Point, CA Dec 2018

Eat, yes but hey, low carb, keto, Paleo, Carnivore. Dial in your own food template; the outcome Lean, muscular, and binge free during the holiday. Find what works, do that. Leave the binge brain excuses behind.

Choose wisely what you put in your body. Thoughts, food, physical and mental health.  Keep what works, leave the rest behind.

Happy Holiday's, Merry Christmas, Happy New Year. Here's to your own food sober living. 

Don't let the food pushers get you down. 

Slight change in food choices along with 18:6 or 16:8 fasting for the WIN Dec 2018

Here's that update, Dec 2018.


I'm getting better and better satiety signals. Whoooo, hooo!!!!! I've gone 45+ years without them, so I'm done getting mad when I do get them (why, why now? What the heck??)


The likely root cause:  That extra ghrelin gene expression I've had since the age of 6, coming out to play. Ghrelin is a hunger hormone. This SNP is one of many, so it does not act alone.

So why, why after all these years? Who knows. But I did stumble upon some very small food changes, along with early time restricted eating 18:6, or 17:7 or 16:8 work out great for me.

The food changes are these

1. Prioritizing Red Meat

Yep! Ribeye, ground beef, beef ribs, top round (leaner), chuck roast are all my favorites. I feel so young and good and thin when I eat meat. #meatheals  Indeed. I'm not carnivore, however red meat is super great for my mood, my attitude, how I feel health wise, and for my gym strength.

For me, red meat is essential to health, wellness, and weight maintenance.


2. Prioritizing meat off the bone- chicken thighs, drumsticks and sometimes wings, along with bone in ribeye, beef ribs

Thank goodness for the air fryer. I've become an expert on cooking bone in, skin on chicken thighs.

3. Animal Fat for cooking at higher temps I still use olive oil for dressings, but for cooking high heats- stir fry, getting a good sear on meat, etc

• rendering extra fat from cooking ribeye (I cut off the extra if there is a nice fat cap)
• grabbing the chicken fat from cooking thighs in the air fryer
• or pouring off lard from occasional baccon (I don't eat much but prefer lard in some meals)

DON'T worry, I'm not butter chugging here, just normal amounts for cooking

4. Adequate plants- the ones that I know don't jack up my glucose or gut.  Too many veggies and my colon is wrecked. Pain, bathroom troubles. bad stuff.  Too few and I get weird GI stuff. 

Veggies, Cooked or raw, but some volume with the meat seems to help with my hungry or full signaling, so volume. Big assett salads work for me, too. 

Sometimes more, sometimes less. I'm still at 27-50 grams total of carbs per day. 

• Kale, cabbage, broccoli, broccoli slaw, Brussels Sprouts
• Carrots, Red bell peppers, onions, garlic
• Occasional jicama, beets, lemon slices, lime slices

Beef Brisket, spring mix, broccoli, peppers, cabbage, beets

Onward and keep doing what works.  I'm 99% Neanderthal in my 23 and Me. Not too hard to imagine #meatheals for me. 

Glad to be rocking the heck out of my n=1. Here's to making your own best weight maintenance.

What didn't work in the past

0. I ate constantly- morning, noon, afternoon, evening, bedtime. Food addiction SUCKS!

1. Being afraid of red meat because I thought it would give me cancer- not true for me

2. Only eating non meat subs- like tofu. Oh, I felt terrible after I ate these.

3. Pretty sure that lard was going to clog up my arteries. Had I looked at my hs-CRP of 6.8 I would have figured out it was all those low fat, heart healthy grains that put me at risk. Sigh.

4. Not taking my glucose after eating potatoes, rice, and other starchy foods that put me at risk for type 2 diabetes. Measuring glucose 2 hrs post was super key for me not being a diabetic.