Attempting to Be Healthier With a Carnivorish Diet

 My husband started carnivore in September. He is trying to lose weight.  He is doing incredibly well.  The cost and learning to cook things a new way is daunting.  I suppose you could say he is also doing it with intermittent fasting, he skips a meal a day, although we do keep cheese, cooked bacon and boiled eggs around just in case he feels like he needs a snack, then he has something healthy.  

I tried full carnivore for a week.... I know it was sugar withdrawal, but I couldn't stand myself, so I started eating sugar and carbs again...  End of November, I had two teeth pulled... well, mostly just the roots-my teeth are in horrible shape...  One of the roots was clear down in jaw bone still..... It's still healing, but almost there.  I was put on a full liquid diet for a week (no straws, mind you)... I automatically started fruit smoothie bowls with protein powder, only to send my blood sugar for a loop... Because I had been cutting back sugars for a few months, so to go from less sugar to nothing but sugar, even though it was healthy sugar (fruit) my system didn't know what to do with me.  

So as soon as I could stand chewing again, I started cooking steaks and eating that..  I've slowly been working back in crumby and more foods as the hole in my mouth heals.  We're getting there.  But being put on a diet to avoid crumby foods for an entire month has helped me cut way back on the sugar and carbs.  

It's hard to go on a way of eating where the two rules are eat meat and only eat when you're hungry when, by all accounts, I probably would have been diagnosed with an eating at least one point in my life...  Honestly, I can go a day without eating some days... So I force myself to eat at least two meals some days.  

Some days it's as simple as sausage patties with cheese on top... other days I actually eat better meals, steak, hamburgers, cheeseburgers... Stuff like that.  I hate eggs.... Not a huge fan of yogurt...  Previously my breakfasts have been toast with cream cheese and jelly, or cream cheese and chocolate chips.  but I couldn't eat bread for 2 weeks nor could I eat yogurt for those two weeks because I was on two antibiotics.  

When I'm home, I can go make a hamburger or cheeseburger real quick.. Sometimes I put sauce on top (A1 or Arby's is a favorite right now).  

Your probably wondering how we afford that much steak.... I buy roasts, prime rib, chuck... A 8 pound roast is around $10 a pound and gives 8-9 steaks (there's tutorials on YouTube).  When I buy ground, I make a lot of patties all at once so it's easy to just grab a patty or two.  Costco prices are some of the best per pound around here.  

Personally, one of my biggest trials since the baby was born last year was my weight... it never went down.  My wedding ring stopped fitting... I finally got it off a few months ago and am now trying to heal my finger-it was pretty tight and the pattern of the underside of my ring in on my finger even after 4 months of not wearing it.  I would absolutely LOVE to be able to put that ring back on...  but in all reality, I'm HEALTHIER now. I feel better now. I don't have near the amount of low blood sugar, low blood pressure episodes I used to have.  I have energy.   I'm just fine with being at this weight.  For now, I'll wear a cheap silicone band that I had previously bought to wear during pregnancy (NOT PREGNANT).  

The BMI charts put me at obese....But I'm not listening to them... Because if I feel healthier.  I would absolutely LOVE to heal, or even approve my arthritis and carpal tunnel... There's so many reports of people on carnivore being able to heal those.  But I don't know if that will ever happen... it's certainly not improving, but then, I'm not full on carnivore either. 

I know I'm a emotional eater....  And there's still some part of me that wants to splurge "on the kids" and get them those sweet treats...  But the amount of sweets and treats I'm keeping in the house are getting a little less... I'm working on balancing for more salty.  I don't feel right giving up fruit.. Vegetables, I could honestly take them or leave them... A salad is nice here and there-but my salads are more toppings than actual salad-always have been.  I'm not giving up cinnamon rolls-not gonna happen.  But I make a batch every few weeks, when they are gone, they are gone.. And with 7 kids, believe me, one batch MIGHT make it a full two days.  For the most part, I don't crave chocolate or bready foods much anymore.  

I'm also working out three-four times a week-past what I get with housework.  I want to keep my heart and lungs healthy.  

Even with all of these changes, I'm still hovering around 140 lbs.  I'm 5 ft.  But I feel good... and quite frankly, our bodies are supposed to change.  I don't want to be back to the 100 lbs I was in high school.  Honestly, my only thing I want to change in my weight is to be able to get my wedding ring back on... but I'm not entirely sure it's my weight causing the issue, I think it's arthritis swelling my knuckles-and that's probably not ever going away.  

I want to be able to go outside and work on the yard with the kids for more than a few hours because I have to stop from exhaustion.  I want to be able to go on  a mile or two walk and not be winded at the end.  I could care less about my weight, I don't care about "the baby weight" or the "mom belly",  I just want to be healthy-for my husband and my kids.  

~Tabitha 

Starting Again

I'm sitting here attempting to meal plan and write a grocery shopping list. 

Failing.

I know I need to do this, not just for my sanity, but for the budget. 

But I can't.  I can't even eke out 3 days of meals.  

It's so overwhelming trying to figure all of this out.  This is the 5th time I've attempted since school started and I can't get it done.  

What is going on in my mind?  

I'm also binging Jordan Page YouTube shows. Reminding myself how to do things....

This is the best way to help and to save us money but I can't make myself do it and I don't understand why.  

I have a feeling this is all related to the post-partum anxiety I was dealing with last year... But that doesn't mean I know how to combat it. I mean, I can't exactly go to the doctor and say "hey, I think I'm dealing with anxiety".....  They threatened to take my kids away over a slight risk of my baby having markers for possible jaundice (she didn't have any high amounts, nowhere near it even the lab techs couldn't figure out why we were there), but they threatened because I wanted to take her home and get her in sunshine.  If I tell the doctor I'm having anxiety attacks, what would they actually do?  

I know  my only hope is The Great Physician (God).  

I need to stop trying and give it up to God.  

I learned something this morning while reading in Joshua 1.  The original meaning of 'courage'.  Today, we think of it as having bravery and valor... it's original meaning was more the state of the mind.  God kept telling Joshua to "be strong and of good courage".   He was reminding and reinforcing to Joshua that not only did he need the physical strength to lead the people into the  land now known as Israel, but to keep a good attitude, demeanor and treat people in a way to show them he was God's man.  

I keep finding things in the Bible I would love to put on the wall and make posters or something out of... the problem is, I only have so much wall space. 

Sorry, this was a little scattergoried this week.... I don't know if my brain being everywhere is a result of unseen anxiety, or a result of trying to cut back sugar and carbs (as I stare down a homemade chocolate chip cookie)......  but it's getting on my nerves. :/  

~Tabitha 

Change of Diet

 My husband has been on a weight loss journey for about 6 years..  He's trying to lose the weight through lifestyle change, not something fast.. He did slip up in the middle of it and give up.  But he's trying again and doing awesome.  

He has stalled for the past 8 months, but hasn't gone over 440.  Which is awesome (he started at 520).  Now, he is ready to try hard again.  So here we go.  

He has decided to try the carnivore diet-it is what it sounds from everything I can gather.  Just meat, very little to no anything else.  

Quite frankly, I'm a little intimidated.  

We're trying to keep grocery costs down as much as we can, and now to add in more high cost items such as meat, I'm a little intimated.  However, from everything we've been reading and hearing about it, Once his body gets used to eating the meat, he won't need to eat as often. One to two times a day instead of 3 and feeling like he needs snacks in the middle.   

So, I'm going to take what I know about grocery sales and do my best.  We're told the first few weeks the "worst" because he's used to eating so often, so he'll go through more the first weeks while his body adjusts.  

This week so to start him off for lunches while he's at work, I've made chislic, boiled eggs, bacon and drumsticks with garlic and onion.  

We have no idea how much he's going to eat, so we'll see if I'll have to make more midweek or not.  

~Tabitha 

Starting Life At a "New Normal"

 It seems like everybody is using that phrase lately "new normal"....  

My brother picked up a phrase somewhere when we were growing up "normal is just a setting on a dryer".  Well, it's true.  Your normal is going to be vastly different from my normal.  My husband's normal is different from my normal-simply because his work and school is on the computer and out delivering mail, while my normal is very much attempting to keep up life around the house.   

We are still working on figuring out grocery shopping with the whole mask thing...  The kids can't really go in a grocery store with me, so we're doing what we can through grocery pickup, Schwans and local stores where I can shop more often, then getting big ticket items like baking and meat at Sam's or specialty stores in Sioux Falls so we can buy as much as we can in bulk... Aldi is very much a novelty right now.. I miss it so much, it's so hard to swallow the prices I have to pay at other stores when I know Aldi is cheaper-but I have to do what I can and priority is feeding us all.

We had the baby June 20th..  She came fast and early.  Little girl Dinah is already defying daddy lol.. He kept saying "you can't come on a Saturday, I have to work on Saturdays" (he's a rural mail carrier in the area, is normal days are Saturdays).  Well.. She came at 2:25 AM on a Saturday morning. Poor daddy was tired for work that day.   But she did wait until I had cinnamon rolls in the freezer! LOL  I didn't get many dinner freezer meals, but our church family is awesome and helped out with dinners.  We were able to get back TO church right before Dinah came, so that was a blessing also.  

Dinah is our first colicky baby, it's been a long 8 weeks, but I think we're finally getting the colic and tummy problems under control.  I'm still usually fixing something different for meals for me from everybody else, apparently dairy is a huge a trigger for colic.  Dinah usually lasts about half an hour sitting in the swing or the bouncy seat -or until somebody comes and starts messing with her. lol She doesn't like too much touching and isn't a fan of the baby carrier.  

We have been rearranging the house to try and give me a better pantry along with a shelf that just for school stuff... It's slow going, but we're getting there.  We're also gearing up to start school in a few weeks, just waiting on the rest of our books.  

Our biggest adjustment to this "new normal" is grocery shopping.   It's no longer a straight 4 weeks I can shop for anymore,  I can't take the kids in stores anymore as most of our area stores have a policy of one person per cart or/and masks... Have you tried to keep a mask on 4 kids for 45 minutes? Yeah...not happening...  Without the help of my big kids or my husband shopping for a month at a time isn't happening.  It's also pretty much impossible to soothe a newborn with a mask on.  So I go to Sam's every 8ish weeks,  get as much as my freezer or shelves can accommodate,and stop there.  A week or so later I go to the butcher and get 40 pounds of beef, 20 or so pounds of chicken, bacon out the wazoo-I think around 40 pounds.. and anything else we need.   I fill in with Walmart, Amazon pantry, Aldi and the local store as I'm able or need to.  Thankfully we have Dollar General in town so I can get MOST of my cleaning supplies there.  

My meal planning, baking and cooking has changed...  Before Dinah came I was making most everything from scratch, it was really fun learning new techniques and the food was amazing..  But let's face it, there's only so much time with a newborn... So I have to start slow again.  Cinnamon rolls are my first thing to get back into... Noodles will be the next, homemade spaghetti noodles are the best.  I had been frying our own tostadas and chips, but that's been difficult with the baby so I'll try baking them I saw instructions on Pinterest, I just have to find them again. 

This go round is really the first time since April I've been able to plan meals ahead of time..  Most of the summer was spent blindly shopping, then planning from what I bought. Because of the sporadic shopping I'm able to do, I'm planning for 7 weeks...  When I get low on flour, we'll go back to Sam's...  and fill in everywhere else as needed.  

Right now, it's super important I keep up with exactly what is in my pantry and freezers.. So making those detailed lists will come this week sometime.  

One thing at a time, one day at a time.  God will help us through.  

Ecclesiastes 3:1  To everything there is a season, and a time for every purpose under the heaven.  

~Tabitha