Bubbles and Butter

Bubbles and Butter, really does say it all.

This was after 3 weeks of tracking my actual intake. Before I was aware of keto.

I’ve been a fan of both for as long as I can remember. The point at which it was clear I was selecting bubbles and not just consuming what was in front of me was post ballet recital, age 7. We had a party at the house afterward. Loads of Mom’s friends joined us. Many brought food and drink. Someone brought a 4-pack of tiny bubbles, a down market Cava. I planned a heist and absconded with … all … of them. I was discovered giggling under my bed with 2 empties.

Life is challenging for the parents of clever children. #SorryMom

I’ve certainly given other boozes a try. I’m not Baptist. But nothing quite dents my preference for bubbles.

Bubbles bring joy. More Bubbles, more smiles.

So, I stick with what works.

Butter has been a solid feature of my eating plan because I’ve never had an eating plan. It is my favorite spice. It goes with everything, the quintessential little black dress of your pantry. I am a bit fussy about the butter. As soon as it starts to turn I can taste it, even if it’s salted. If you’re the type who freezes butter from a warehouse store to use later, put the blocks in a freezer safe bag. When I was a kid I could tell you what the cow (sheep or goat) had been eating. The amount of butter and the kinds of butter in my fridge and on my counter might disturb the uninitiated.

One could even claim that I’ve fought for the spread of truth. My college roommate and I tangled over butter v margarine. Despite her thousands of head of cattle, 1/2 the state of NM for grazing, and pre-med status, she was a margarine gal. My Dad had taught me that margarine was really nothing more than Tide + vegetable oil. Vegetable oil is not for consuming so said (and says) the biochemist. Margarine is an oil + surfactant, seriously. 100% I gave her grief about keeping margarine in the tiny fridge we shared. Sorry Keri. That makes me a bit of an insufferable Missionary for the Spread of Truth, butter.

Everything is better with Butter.

Keto

How I fell into keto and what pushed me to try it for real.

  1. I was largely a fat-based diet even in the 90s when everyone around me seemed to be eating rice cakes. Every time I tried to “eat healthy” I’d have issues with fainting. So meat, meat and cheese, pasta with BUTTER and cheese – more butter and cheese than pasta, same with my bread. Starches were carriers for butter because it was not (still is not) socially acceptable to gnaw on a butter stick at the table…. What you do at home is your business. #America!
  2. My cousin – not that one the other one – was diagnosed with cancer. This after losing a double digit number of F&F in 18months, 2016-2017 rough spell. My cousin had received no dietary advice which struck me as odd. I took a diet measure challenge. What diet are you? Tracked food for 2-3 weeks. Popped up with You are paleo-keto. The top 8 items are posted above. That’s the real list. There were other foods, but that’s pretty accurate and a significant reflection of things I actually eat not just aspire to eat. Fruit/Vegetable of the month with a billion more antioxidants than whatever, I just don’t have bandwidth for that.
  3. I’ve dug into paleo before, but it just seemed unnecessarily fussy, expensive. I started reading pub-med studies about keto. But that’s a bit dense for a start and the search functionality isn’t great: human vs animal studies or observational v clinical trials, you can’t search in a civilian-functional way. Enter the youtube. There were proper docs – internal medicine folks sharing real data at conferences willing to post their presentations. Perfect.
  4. Prowling through the yt, I learned about the epilepsy study from the 50s. Then I found the new BRAIN STUFF. 🤗🤗🤗 Wait, I could ditch the parts of my diet I already considered superfluous (extra veg that would turn before I’d eat), double down on the parts I loved (butter and beef) and test the rest to see how well I could tolerate AND possibly build a super better brain too . . ..  OMFG!! Yes, I’m in.

So Xmas 2018 I started harassing my close F&F. Read this. Tell me what you think. Want to join me on an experiment? A couple of rocky setbacks in January delayed the start. But a beloved student said yes and got a friend on board. If you’re a student with a specific objective and we might have a way to boost your native power, wouldn’t you be willing to try it? N=1 bloomed to n=3. And now we have a small cadre of smart people willing to try this test for 8 weeks. This is start to tease out a stronger hypothesis that a more advanced team can test.