That’s my obligate carnivore friend, Phoebe, on the Isle of Wight. We’re having a talk about all things carnivore.
I did an experiment starting in January where I stopped eating all plants. Yes, it was weird at first. Yes, it was great.
I liked the freedom I had with it.
Freedom with such restrictions?
Yes.
I found that the limited choices allowed me greater freedom of having to think about, worry about food. It was great.
However, traveling around the world with my family has made it harder to stay on the carnivore diet. I tried. It usually cost me more money and left me eating only ground meat, for the beef part of the diet. I prefer beef and crave it. Or do I just crave certain cuts of beef (like ribeyes)? I like the way beef makes me feel. However, eating it only in the ground, minced form… ack, not my favorite meal after meal after meal after meal after meal.
In some parts of the world it’s harder to get fatty cuts (the fridges aren’t stacked with them) and even fatty ground beef (some parts are still anti-fat).
Moreover, I don’t love ground beef like I love ribeye steaks. 😭 Does anyone?
When I ate all-ribeyes those last weeks before leaving the USA, it was so easy to stay on the carnivore diet. When I’m stuck eating just ground beef? Ack, totally not my favorite, which leaves me feeling restricted. 🤨
We’re also living frugally for now and it would be much cheaper to live on grilled sourdough cheese sandwiches. Well, ok, not “live on” them but to eat more of them.
Quality eggs are moderately priced in Europe based on the experiences in Denmark and England, but my stomach doesn’t like if I eat 5 or 6 eggs at a time, which is what I’d need to be full. Even then, it wouldn’t stick with me for hours like a big-ass ribeye. 🥩
Awesome. You can easily buy lard in the UK.
I found myself, during the past month, eating too much salami (I love that stuff) and cheese and eggs and then ground beef and I wasn’t very happy.
I don’t want to follow a diet I’m not loving. I also don’t want to feel crappy by eating too many carbs.
Decisions! First-World Problems!
So, now, I’m trying my best to figure out what I can get away with regarding some frugal carbs while still getting in enough healthy carnivore foods. All the while, I’m trying to not stress about it.
In fact, I refuse to stress about it. No more stressing about this.
There’s a time and season for things. Right now, we’re traveling the world and ribeyes are not on the menu for me. I had too much anxiety about the price of the carnivore diet and limited access to ribeyes (and steaks in general) in Denmark, and having to eat meal after meal of ground beef (which I didn’t fancy!)… my immune system suffered. No more of that shit (the stress).
My gut is telling me every-which-way to stop this madness.
Am I a baby because I’m whining about eating only ground beef? No.
I don’t want to approach every meal with dread. That’s not fun. I don’t feel like I’m “living” if it’s like that.
Life is too short as it is.
Will I make mine shorter by eating carbs? Maybe. I don’t know. I think what is more important is a calm attitude of gratitude. Long-lived cultures around the world aren’t dying pre-maturely or young with carbs on their diet. They eat meat, yes, but not exclusively. I personally like days on end where I eat ribeyes exclusively, but that’s not the chapter I’m in of my life right now.
I will be the first to admit that I dance with food too much.
I obsess about it too much. I’m also crazy passionate about good food, the gustatory experience, and ingredient quality.
I’m still trying to figure out how to keep that all balanced.
Not sure I ever will. However, there are driving influences in my life and I can’t fit a square peg in a round hole. Right now the reality is we’re a nomadic family, we’re living frugally, and my priority is not obsessing about food.
Here’s some massive perspective.
I’ll start with huge gratitude that I even have food in my belly whether it’s a cheese sandwich or bowl of soup. I have food! Too many people going without it.
A cappuccino in an English pub. 💥
More perspective.
And, for the life of me, I don’t want my daughter to see me with these stupid food struggles. I want her to learn about healthy living and quality foods, but her witnessing my angst over it is not an option.
I started this post wishing I were eating a ribeye carnivore diet. I did love it. I loved the taste and ease of it. However, it’s not going to happen right now, and I’m OK with that.
The Tao Way…
Be content with what you have; rejoice in the way things are. When you realize there is nothing lacking, the whole world belongs to you.