So I made a massive change in my lifestyle a couple weeks ago. A month ago I changed to a keto diet. First because I really want to shed this weight, also because of the massive amounts of diabetes in my family. My levels have been borderline for 20 years mostly because I have always paid attention to sugar. After a couple weeks doing keto life was pretty boring. I felt great and had lots of energy, and was never hungry, which is awesome. But with being pescatarian for the last ~35 years the keto diet was really restrictive. So a couple weeks ago I started adding meat to my diet. Surprisingly, I had no ill effects from reintroducing it. In the last couple weeks I have had chicken parm, turkey slices in chef salad, and even steak! Much of the reason I felt comfortable making the change is the ready availability of organic meats from local grocery stores. This was unheard of 30 years ago when all meat was fattened with hormones and fed all manner of garbage. So options.

Anyway, I ended up buying a month's worth or organic meat including pork, beef, and chicken from a delivery service, Butcher Block. I checked the pricing of my first box and it was about the same as Whole Foods for their organic stuff. Then I sat down this weekend and made an entire 4 weeks menu plan for dinners going through my keto recipes and using each of the items that are now in my freezer from the Butcher Block delivery. So I just look at my menu planner and buy whatever veggies or other ingredients I'll need for the next couple days recipes and I am all set. I planned 6 meals a week because I know I am going to eat out once a week.

So, a couple things. First, it is just fabulous to not have to decide what I am cooking each day for the next month, because deciding what to eat is always a chore for me, more than the actual cooking. We both enjoy trying new recipes, and I have a whole bunch of them lined up to try! BUT it is really really odd to eat meat after all these years. I feel great and it hasn't bothered me physically at all. We'll see how my lab tests look when I go later in the spring and it will be nice if the sugar numbers are better. The cholesterol on the other hand, well we'll see. And it is good to be eating the same stuff as Brendon. Much less complex.

Feeling hopeful that it is going to work out.

Yay, Laura. We use Butcher Box as well.

The cholesterol on the other hand, well we'll see.

My brother eats keto, and loves Butcher Box. Also, his cholesterol dropped after going keto, which is notable in our heart disease-riddled family. So you may see a similar change.

I was impressed with my first Butcher Box. Having that list of main ingredients made the menu planning easier. I added a fish day and an eating out day each week and the box took care of the rest. Have you been happy with the variety, sj? I see they have custom boxes too, but since I hardly have favorites after several decades of not eating the stuff it was easier to just go with whatever they sent.

That's encouraging, Steph. My doctors have said all along that if I lost weight my cholesterol would be normal, and of course the diabetes is aggravated by weight too. I just have to say it is a whole lot easier to eat healthy choices when you aren't starving! When I have tried vegan in the past I gained weight because I was flat out starving all the time. Have to listen to my body.

Laura, yes and I'm enjoying trying and learning how to cook cuts I would never have tried otherwise. Although I'm not doing keto, just trying to balance out carbs with proteins.

I'm a dedicated carnivore. Doc and I were going over my numbers recently and I asked about my cholesterol. He blinked a little in surprise: "Normal." Heh. (I eat lots of chicken and fish.)

I went to look at an apartment today. I liked it a lot, and I told the realtor that I liked it, but that I'd just started looking and wasn't ready to commit to anything, and that I'd like to look at some others. She said that was fine -- she thinks that someone else is about to make an offer on this one, but that some others in this building might come available soon -- and she talked with me a bit about what I'm looking for, and said she'd email me tomorrow with some suggestions. She mentioned a couple buildings that she thought I might like, and I just looked them up, and they do look nice.

What neighborhood, Hil?

East Walnut Hills.

The one I looked at today was in the old Walnut Hills High School building.