This week was a rough one as far as chewing beef goes. I participated in a week long musical retreat in North Carolina, wonderful not only for the incredible music making, but also for the celebratory social gatherings abundant with feasting and imbibing. I longed to sample the savory Iranian eggplant stew with fresh Mediterranean salad, roasted corn, bouillabaisse, and beet and kale and caprese salads. Some red wine wouldn’t have hurt either! It was a little rough socially because I ate my beef while everyone is um-ing and this is sooo good-ing over the gourmet meals. And obviously there was a lot of explaining to do on my end, which was fine. Did I mention the chocolate cakes? But I was strong people! I did it another week.
I really don’t get the zero carbers who are just fine with letting vibrant colors and mouth watering aromas wash over them with nary an inner tear for having to abstain.
BUT
Guess who didn’t feel like junk at the end of the retreat like I did the last two years? ME!
So the first five days we were on base at the camp and I had access to a kitchen complete with quality pots, but the sixth day I needed to get my meals out. This was the first time that I had to do beef without being able to prepare ahead of time or use a kitchen. So this is what happened: $18.50 for one pound of ground beef happened! Ugh! I had called a restaurant to see if they could make me only beef patties and they said, fine, no problem. The waitress told me two patties would be one pound. $16.50 (including tip) later I received my patties and they were not close to a pound. Believe me. I’ve gotten good at telling what a pound of chewing feels like. I thought, I’m going to need more food.
I have found that if I don’t eat enough my electrolytes get off and that is BAD. So what did I do? The Unthinkable. No judgement here if that’s your thing, but seriously I never do this. I went through the McDonald’s drive through and bought 2 more hamburger patties for $2. I thought that that sure beats out $16.50!
So phew, I made it through lunch, but after the rehearsal we had a short dinner break and then there was a concert for which I would need full brain power! What was I going to do for dinner? Certainly not repeat that experience! So again, I did the unthinkable, seems there are many of these on an all beef diet: my very first all you can eat Hibachi Grill buffet, and I even had a friend accompany me! Well, that certainly turned out to be a disaster. Yes, it was definitely beef that was grilled before my eyes with no sauce, but I didn’t think that I would react to the oil that the cook was using to fry it up. In the end I had terrible brain fog and also felt like barfing . I’m afraid that my playing dramatically suffered from the meal, and that is always a bummer.
So what did I learn? I’m going to simply have to cook in advance or perhaps try a steak house. At least then the meal might actually come closer to being worth $16.50. One other note on eating out. On the way south I did stop at Five Guys and they awesomely only charged me $2 per patty. They were delicious and I didn’t have any brain fog, so if I can find a Five Guys again I’ll definitely do that!
The main health news of the week is how I’ve been continuing to explore the electrolyte situation. Recap, the past weeks my electrolytes seemed to get so skewed that I was supplementing at least four times a day and it seemed to be getting worse. Then I read a post about how the focus should be on eating more so that your body can regulate electrolytes, which is what it wants to do without outside help. Having low electrolytes is just a cry for more food. So I thought I would give it a try. Results? People this is pretty astounding. I ended up eating an additional pound of meat per day and did not need to supplement even one time. I can tell that I’m overall still a little low, but I’m going to keep eating more and see if my body won’t tweak it to perfection.
I found that I had to be super careful about eating enough before rehearsals, because one time I didn’t and I had those scary symptoms of low e-s, spacey brain, feeling like I have to pee, shaky etc.. But as long as I kept the fuel coming I was fine. I am very excited about this development, because I was becoming worried about the escalating out of whackness of the electrolyte situation. I knew if I didn’t find a solution the meat eating might not be sustainable. But who knew, I just require a lot more meat for fuel! This is a major breakthrough for me on this way of eating.
Additionally, I found that I was drinking much less water. Normally I am so thirsty all the time. I just guzzle water. After not supplementing I only drank about 1.5-2 liters per day. That was very nice as normally it could easily be double that.
Other positive: After a week of playing baroque violin every day for about 5 hours I had no significant pain in my neck, shoulders, back or arms. I still have difficulty with circulation and thus quick motor skills but the lack of any pain is HUGE! Baroque violin does seem to be a lot easier on my body than modern and perhaps some of the body resiliency is attributed to that, but nonetheless a great sign.
Negative: last week was the week prior to my period, and I’ve noticed for two months now that I feel totally exhausted and miserable during that time. I don’t recall it being this noticeable prior all beef, so I’m not sure what that’s about. I was so fatigued if I had no commitments I am sure that I would have spent half the days in bed resting. It was pretty rough and very challenging. I felt discouraged during those days and I will definitely be keeping an eye on this trend.
However in sum, I’m really going to celebrate the electrolyte progress and the lack of pain while doing what I love to do. I’m naming this week overall a success!
Gonna Get Well 