Thirsty Thursday
It’s time for that weekly ritual of Thursday evening drinks. As a someone who tries to follow a Paleo/Primal lifestyle I have felt like a hermit at times not going out with friends to stay strict to ‘the diet’, or worse, go out and totally have a indulgent, cheat night and feel like complete and utter shit the next day.
This is where good choices come into play. You need a little information ammunition to get through the evening BEFORE you start drinking, because we all know that our decision making process goes down the toilet after a couple of drinks. That being said, be responsible, and don’t over indulge. Nobody likes a drunk, especially a hypocritical Paleo-drunk.
I’m going to cover all your choices/options over the next few weeks, but here’s the short course:
Beer = Bad – Don’t drink it
Red wine = Kinda good – have a glass or two
White Wine = not so good – make a different choice
Cocktails = well that just depends… (steer clear for now until you have all the ‘rulez’ down)
Hard Cider = Good as it’s gonna get – have a pint
I’m a poor excuse for a German, I don’t drink beer. Never really acquired the taste for it. Dyann has me try some now and then, and I just can’t get past the first two sips.
It really sucked when I tried to be in a fraternity in college too. My options were: 1) warm beer, 2) warmer beer, 3) spittoon beer, and 4) hot beer. I didn’t last too long in that environment. I always wound up doing shots of God knows what, getting completely plowed, and then doing stupid shit like jumping off the second story roof of the house playing human tetherball on the flagpole (to my boys – DON’T EVER DO THAT! LEARN FROM MY STUPIDITY).
So I've lucked out on not having to deal with removing beer from my diet. For you beer aficionado's don't worry, I've had to cut out plenty other indulgences from my diet, and I am suffering slowly along with you.
But I do like Cider. That wonderfully fermented adult apple juice, often enhanced with exotic juices like blood orange or ginger. Oh yes. I could sit at 3 Peaks every afternoon and enjoy pint after pint...but I don’t. It’s usually a couple of 8oz glasses and a growler fill for the house. I have to get out of there before I start ordering fish ‘n chips from the fish market and go down that guilt ridden rabbit hole.
There are a couple of things to be aware of when you’re ordering a cider though. The most important is the sugar content. For those of you out there looking to drop fat via a stringent Primal protein approach, just don’t have any drinks until you reach your target. For the rest of us, you just need to be aware that you are consuming carbs. Stick to the dry Ciders, they have the lowest alcohol. And watch out for preservatives. Those shitty chemicals that mass producers slip into the mix for no reason except to extend shelf life. And if they need to extend shelf life that means their Cider tastes like shit and no one is buying it.
So tonight we are enjoying an awesome Pear Cider from Ace Hard Cider out of Sebastopol, California. It’s just the right balance of sweet and pear flavor and goes perfect for this warm evening we are having here in the PNW. Sitting on the back deck with the love of my life, drinking cider and watching the sun slowly fade into the wildlife refuge. Nothing better!
