The Simple Secret of My Success

April 20, 2024 by David Snodgrass

I mention this often when discussing a healthy (or healthier) approach to nutrition - having a substitute for processed food ready to eat as a meal or snack. Shown are four containers I noticed all lined up in the fridge - chicken breast, salmon, steak, and ground beef. All cooked and ready to heat and eat. This approach is doubly important if I have a stretch of consecutive work days upcoming. Being “busy” is no excuse to eat poorly.

The cool part of this secret is that it isn’t really a secret. However, it can be hard to do. Bringing supplies home from the store feels like running a gauntlet some days. Yesterday I looped through two stores, a grocery visit and Costco. My takeaways were chicken thighs, organic ground beef, and eye of round steak from Costco, and also a big pack of chicken breast from the grocery. So the deep freezer is now full.

There were only a couple non-meat items added: 1/2 & 1/2, bananas, avocados, baby carrots and spices. A little bag of carrots is my go-to work snack. Simple.

The Eyes Have It

April 18, 2024 by David Snodgrass

Unless you have lying eyes, the numbers below are pretty believable. Since I am old enough to have been over 16 years old for the entire span of the date range, I can’t argue with the trend direction.

US adult obesity rate:

1975 - 12%
1985 - 15%
1998 - 25%
2014 - 35%
2024 - 42%
2031 - 50% (projected)

For a decent chuck of those years, I could validate the data by simply looking in the mirror. Middle age. Lack of focus. I now work in a very public place, so it isn’t very hard to take a quick survey of random people walking by my aisle. All ages, all demographics. The numbers shown, if based on BMI, are probably low estimates. And the number of folks significantly beyond the beginnings of obese is quite sad.

The BMI scale was designed to judge large datasets of people, not individuals. If you put your information into a BMI calculator, it is really an eye-opener to see what has to happen to get below a 25 score. Unfortunately, it is very easy to be over 30, or Obese.

Beyond just making me wonder what happened, it makes me wonder why and how? Has the US population been unknowingly poisoned? What would it take to actively reverse this trend?

First Meal on Repeat

April 14, 2024 by David Snodgrass

My first meal of the day - not really a breakfast since it is usually late morning - may appear similar if you’ve seen my other articles but that is the whole point. Repeatability of meals is really an important part of the Carnivore Diet. After simplifying the food shopping experience and simplifying the meal preparation, working on the quantity and timing of eating is another step to consider.

Luckily eggs are sort of prepackaged, so I choose three. The fish I prepare is also packaged as 5 or 6 oz fillets. I am currently working through a bag of Wild Caught Sockeye Salmon from Costco. Sort of spendy, but I don’t understand the thawed ocean fish in the store case when I’m in the Midwest. I’ve even asked if they have it frozen. The guy said, “No, it’s fresh!” Really? How on earth did they get the fish from net to store without freezing it? The big processing ships catch and freeze it while at sea. Smaller boats take it to a processor who freeze it right at the shore.

One other quick point about the first meal. Since the fish and eggs are fatty enough, this is a really good meal to pair up with vitamins. For me, that means Vitamin C, D3+K, and fish oil are taken with this meal. Later in the day, when I’ll have something made of beef, I’ll take a multi-vitamin and magnesium. There is plenty of information on the internet about how vitamins need the soluble fat in order to be absorbed at the rate listed on the bottle.

A Convergence of Ideas - And Potentially Bad Timing

April 08, 2024 by David Snodgrass

In the overall timeline of my life (just a shade past 60 years), I would consider myself to be a very recent convert away from the standard American diet towards the Carnivore Diet. There are a couple of definitions that I try to follow, ranging from the very extreme (Beef, butter, eggs only) to just a bit extreme (beef and fish protein, eggs, and a little bit of dairy/yogurt/cheese). The reduction of all carbohydrates to a level as close to zero as possible, but typically 25g or less per day, is a given.

Beef, beef, beef, and wild caught salmon. Simple.

And guess what, after about six months, this approach works. Success is sometimes hard to admit, so I keep researching the technical medical bits, like mineral supplements, heart health, and potential harms. Can something be too good to be true? Well, it certainly is worth double and triple checking.

A quick walk around the grocery store is all I need to gather my nutrients. Beef, fish, sometimes chicken, butter, coffee and eggs. In and out. The other 99% of the grocery items are not needed and the dangerous tempting items are skipped altogether. In 2024, I am shopping for nutrients in a manner that would have been possible in 1924, or even 1824.

As soon as I started to get comfortable with this diet as being practical and do-able - almost easy, I began to see all of these signs that almost looks & feels like a brewing conspiracy. What is going on with the food supply? I need cows to have a chance to prosper. A quick glance at how beef is produced makes me wonder if beef will ever be a simple purchase.

I’ve collected some of the sources of information (linked below) that led me to this conclusion. I’m leaving aside the climate hoax, crushing inflation, all of the European farming restrictions, and apparent food production sabotage (ka-blooyee says the poultry factory).
Just a couple videos to start:

Rep. Thomas Massey (KY) is an interesting guy who happens to be in Congress. He is an engineer, raises cattle, and lives in a rural area. His thoughtfulness is rare among politicians.

Breakfast of Champions

April 02, 2024 by David Snodgrass

I believe I grew up in the heyday of breakfast cereals (and morning cartoons). The late 60s and early 70s seemed to be optimized for all things milky, sugary, and Peabody and Sherman(y). I don’t think I gave breakfast cereal a second thought until much, much later in life when I just stopped eating breakfast altogether.

Now, via the Carnivore diet, when I do eat in the morning, it typically looks like the above bowl. In this case, stir-fried round steak and three eggs. Don’t forget coffee. And I’ve replaced cartoons with motorcycling videos. Upgrades all around!

The nutritional details in this bowl also add up 79g of protein, 570 calories, zero carbs, and 27g of fat. This fat will end up being the energy source from this meal - which is needed while at work. I am very diligent to not eat at work, aside from hydration and a snack of baby carrots.

Recipe Revisit

March 30, 2024 by David Snodgrass

After trying a new recipe earlier in March, I decided to make more. Why? Not only did they taste good, they were very simple to prepare, directly from the freezer to the air fryer. Less than 20 minutes (even including time to clean up the air fryer).

Eating in a healthy manner requires some discipline, so I am fully willing to tip the scale in my favor to achieve my goals. One of the easiest cheats is to freeze food that can be accidentally consumed too quickly. The keto/protein meatballs are too tasty. So freezing them in groups of 5 helps. This is not an everyday snack. Because it includes cheese, bacon, and almond flour, the recipe is clearly not a Carnivore staple. It eats like a snack treat. Maybe once a week is plenty. I have no other use for the Bacon Crumbles - but I am guessing this bag will last quite awhile in the fridge.

The ingredient list includes these 3 packaged products, plus eggs and beef-fed beef.

Mixing meat, cheese, eggs and flour together by hand is fun.

Assembly complete. I found another use for a gravy ladle. Five meals from one assembly process; not bad.

A healthy breakfast of steak and avocado, while I enjoy coffee with Scott Adams.

Making Little Adjustments

March 26, 2024 by David Snodgrass

One of the advantages of being “retired” is that I have some time in my day to overthink most everything. Including my health. After coming to the forehead smackingly obvious conclusion that the standard American diet is mostly garbage, refining what that means in day-to-day life for me has involved a set of new rules. The end point can be summed up as “The Carnivore Diet” but that really oversimplifies the approach too much.

It is relatively easy to find a source or two online on YouTube where the host is gleefully chowing on an enormous ribeye steak (huge meat cleaver in hand) every day.

From a practical standpoint, most people can’t afford an all ribeye diet, but by eliminating the purchase of booze and all processed foods, there actually is a lot more room in the budget that you think.

Little Adjustments

So here are the little adjustment I have in store for April:

Tighten up my menu of meats to be inline with protein & fat ratios. A little less chicken breast and more salmon and beef (but without a meat cleaver).
Reduce the use of my meal replacement smoothies. My sense is that even though the ingredients were healthy, the overall effect can be counter productive. It is too much, too fast. I am going to restrict these to workout adjacent only.
With the threat of nicer Spring weather arriving, I will increase my outdoor fitness time.

How Did I Get Here?

March 21, 2024 by David Snodgrass

Before there was a health success story for me, there were many years where I was not eating (and drinking) in a healthy manner, I apparently wasn’t even trying. While many people can fairly cite many external factors, reasons, or even excuses, that approach wouldn’t be a fair test for me.

Several things happened all at once around 2010 that make it easy to see in hindsight. I left a trail of breadcrumbs (pun intended) on my computer and smartphones. Photos of meals, cooking accomplishments and mastery of the grill. The explosion of craft beers occurred during this same time-frame. For me, that was more fun than wine tasting. But I had a wine phase, too. Homemade pizza phase. Comfort food phase. Even a sushi roll phase.

For most of those years, I lived by myself, was a man of means, and had access to excellent health care benefits. I had plenty of time to seek help, exercise more, or just attempt change.

Instead, I worked diligently at my desk job replete with break-room donuts, absorbed the stress, and celebrated with carb-heavy foods and a cold beer. Apparently too often? Now, via Google Photos, I regularly receive an “On this date…” email with a little gallery of evidence. It serves as a reminder to try. And to continue to try even harder. The pizza looks good…but I’ll pass.

Sealing Success

March 21, 2024 by David Snodgrass

While I have a bias against more small appliances in the kitchen, today I added a vacuum sealer. I think this will work well with carnivore meal prepping and storage in my deep freezer. I don’t mind buying all the meats in larger packs to save some money. Breaking these down into small packs that are easier to thaw works well, as long as freezer burn doesn’t ruin it. I’ve seen that occur with regular zip lock freezer bags.

First up today was a large package of wild sockeye salmon. Some for freezer - and some for dinner.

Deep Thoughts

March 19, 2024 by David Snodgrass

Let's examine this. 3 pounds of bananas for $1.49. One avocado for $1.99.

How about we let the banana cartels run the avocado business? Mr. Idea Guy…