Everything I Ate on Xmas

A Pictorial Food Memoir

Mr. Skeptical starts, “Is that a bib you’re wearing?”

Mr. Skeptical starts to laugh. My jaw tenses. I respond, “Sometimes when I eat, things get messy.”

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Subconscious Fat at 30,000 feet

Turkey

The above is what I first ate on Xmas day. Before that I only had a little fruit in the morning. As one can see this first meal was very heavy on turkey protein.

When eating only protein, you often need more of it to fill up. And that’s not a bad thing, just eat more. The above is my second plate of food, and I decided to add sweet potato because everyone was raving about it. Yet, this was still protein-heavy and with lots of fat. I eat animal fat as much as possible because this fills one up, and I believe in the eating fat to run on fat theory.

I had a third plate, grabbing a little at a time, so that I can realize when I’m full. Someone served me this plate and added mashed potato on top. I didn’t want it because the sweet potato tastes better and it’s healthier too. I forgot to mention I did add cranberry sauce to all of these plates.

I didn’t feel totally full so I ate a fourth plate. As you can see I didn’t eat the mashed potato from before, wanting only the sweet potato. After this fourth meal I felt really, really full. Despite thinking I was eating under control, I went overboard, and I ate too much and too quickly.

Mr. Skeptical adds, “Just admit that you’re a pig!”

I decide to ignore his comment, but I look at him while raising my hand to flatten out my right eyebrow, using my middle finger to do so.

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Subconscious Fat at 10,000 feet

I was already stuffed, yet I had two more get togethers. I wondered how I was going to eat so much. After the first meal nobody wanted dessert, for everyone was stuffed. That is part of the strategy. You load up on good health meat options (like I did with turkey) so that you’re too full for dessert.

At the next party I was presented with the food in the pic below.

Despite already being full, I can’t help myself. I get food FOMO. If I see other people eating, I automatically want to eat. All the green circles I ate, including the crackers on the top right because they were gluten free. I do avoid gluten. See why here.

The cheese on the bottom right was so tasty, so I took a lactose enzyme tablet to avoid gut issues because I’m lactose intolerant. I ate almost all the cheese myself. Others at the party were looking at me funny.

Mr. Skeptical adds, “I would’ve said something. I would’ve called you a cheese hogger.”

I give him a dirty look. “Well I’m glad you weren’t invited to the party.”

After all the snacking I did while already full. The main food was served. So a sense of duty and family obligation made me lumber up to grab a plate and pile on more food. Below is what I ate.

The rice looked exotic, so I tried it. However, again my plate is protein heavy. Roast beef with fat mainly. This is the trick, to feed your body what’s healthiest first. Afterwards many dessert options were available. My sister had brought a gluten-free chocolate cake. I had a piece of it, which was delicious.

Subconscious Fat at Eye-Level

Stuffed I drive on to the next get together, and there was a lot of food there too. I realized there that I have a serious cheese addiction problem.

The cheese in the pic above where my fork is was to die for. I swallowed more lactose enzyme tablets and had at it. Above the cheese are stuffed mushrooms which did have a little wheat in them, but they were so tasty, I ate them anyway. I was happy gluten-free crackers were available.

I had more above as you can see. At this point my friend was taking me home so I was also drinking some alcohol, whiskey with ice and water. My friend and I hogged up all the cheese while watching a football game at the get together. We may have gotten some dirty looks from other guests, but we didn’t really care.

“If I were hosting that party I would’ve kicked you out.” Says Mr. Skeptical.

“Well, I’m glad you weren’t hosting the party.” I say with as much sarcasm as I can muster.

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Practical Suggestions and Conclusions

Eat all the animal products with fat first. Get full on the healthy stuff first. It leaves less room for the sugar and carbs that you may crave afterwards. It’s not how much you eat, but what you eat that counts.

Also don’t fall for the Broken Window mentality. Don’t fall into the trap that because it’s the holidays I’ll take a few days off from working out, or I’ll just eat anything for a week. This deosn’t work.

I actually worked out on the 25th, the same day I ate all that food and drank. Below is me working out the next day on the 26th. Of course it helps that my average workout lasts for only 20 minutes.

Life is a journey not a destination. Keep the exceptions, exceptions. Give yourself a break. Enjoy the time with family and friends, yet do it in a smart way.

In other words, be aware.

PS Full disclosure: Chat GPT was used to research and enhance this post.

PSS For those in the Miami area, I have two Meet-up events coming up one is a Carnivore Event the other a Resistance Band Training see link below for more details here and here.