My Advent Calendar – 7 Dec – (keto-ish) Xmas lunch with my other exercise class

You all know by now that every Monday just before 10.30, I toddle down the road to the Kilbirnie community centre (about where I was standing to take photos of the parade on Day 2) and teach a mobilisation exercise class. What I may not have mentioned is that once a month I jump on a bus and go across to the far side of the city to take the Karori class.

Today was their last class of the year, and as usual, they arranged a Xmas lunch at a local pub called The Pickle Jar. There are 3 other instructors who I rotate with, so it’s nice to see them once a year, as well as hanging out with the ladies in a more relaxed way.

Since @frot and I work from home, I don’t get to go to the various Xmas lunches, dinners and afternoon teas that I used to enjoy in the corporate world. So this is one of my few Xmas celebrations, apart from the family ones.

9am saw me heading for the bus stop and 10am is class start time. Once again, I threw in a variety of Xmas music, most of which I’ve already shared with you. But I don’t think I’ve shared this one, which was new last year – the amazing Pentatonix with Away In a Manger.

By noon, we were grouped round the table, with hearty appetites.

The part of the story where I digress

You may remember that before I vanished I was in the middle of writing about the Ketogenic diet, and various types of fasting. In my absence, I’ve been sticking to the keto WOE#, at least 95% of the time. I’ve also done another 3 day water fast, and in the month since then have been adding a new food each day, so I can get a good idea of how I’m reacting to various foods.
# = way of eating

For anyone who’s curious about what works and doesn’t work for me – I’m going well on fresh meat and poultry, beef or chicken broth, sardines, salmon, pork rinds, cold pressed olive, hemp or avocado oil, MCT oil, coconut products, lard, butter, fermented cream, eggs, a little cheese, macadamias, small amounts of fermented carrot and beetroot, broccoli, onions, and a few strawberries, blueberries or cherries.

The things that haven’t worked so well are bacon, salami, commercial pâté, cacao powder, brown mushrooms, and lamb mince – though I was great with the lamb roast that @kiwiscanfly brought us. And I still have a list of foods that I haven’t tested yet.

I pick up the original tale

So, as you can imagine, much as I enjoy a meal out, it’s not always easy to find something that works with my WOE. Meals high in fat and low in carbs are not common in most pubs, as they are usually accompanied by fries, some other type of potato, or bread of some kind.

Here you can see some of the ladies about to get stuck into the starter of flat breads, with olives, gherkins and pickled red onion. Sorry I didn’t consider the window in the background as I surreptitiously took a quick snap of the meter long platter that had just been put on the table.

I declined the flat breads and just kept sipping on my glass of San Pellegrino sparkling mineral water. (Am I the most boring person imaginable to go to lunch with?)

The mains enjoyed by everybody else included pizzas, fish and chips, baked fish with new potatoes and salads. But I wanted a steak. So I had sirloin steak, medium rare, with garlic and herb butter, plus a green salad. Hold the potatoes and can I have the dressing on the side, thanks.

Again not a very good photo, as I was a bit embarrassed to be seen taking photos of my meal, which I normally wouldn’t be seen dead doing. So it was a very quick snap, sadly not very well placed. But – it does enable you to marvel at the size of the chunk of garlic and herb butter perched on top of the steak.

Normally a steak that size would be a bit high in protein for keto, but that lovely chunk of butter evened it out a bit. Anyway, enough of the technical stuff. The main point is that I had a lovely lunch out with my class, without going off my low carb eating plan.

To finish off the day’s activities, after lunch, I went to visit my 93 year old aunt, who lives in Karori. I pop down to see her most times that I go over there for the class.

• Day 1 – Carol singing with the NZ Symphony Orchestra
• Day 2 – Kilbirnie Santa Parade
• Day 3 – Posting overseas Xmas cards & a Xmas themed exercise class
• Day 4 – Last minute book buying
• Day 5 – Last choir rehearsal for the year
• Day 6 – Choosing gifts for the Xmas game

What shall I do on Day 8?

Thanks for reading and listening

Photos taken badly on my cell phone, as my camera battery died, and the spare battery was the wrong one, oops. @frot will be so ashamed of me. Video from Youtube.

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