By now you probably get it,  I’ve drank a lot of beer in my time. More than likely you’re not surprised at this.  Most men go through this phase in their lives when their younger. But I really never grew out of it. I still love beer, but these days I prefer quality over quantity.

Gone are the days of $6.00 twelve packs, and bargain hunting in the beer isle. Now I prefer to buy a higher quality  beer then mass quantities. It truly is a glorious time to be alive for the beer lover too, for the variety of beer today is nothing short of remarkable. IPAs, Pale Ales, Lagers, Pilsners.. you name it, it’s out there. Microbreweries are everywhere these days too, so there is an unlimited variety of recipes being brewed. So now it is not uncommon to find a beer drinker standing in the beer aisle for log periods of time, staring at the selection in front of him with a look of bewilderment and confusion as his choices are too numerous for him to make a quick decision (of course by “Beer Drinker”, I mean me).

So I’ve established I love beer, and I have an affection for ice cream that would rival any eight year old. What’s the point?

The point is, I refuse to give these things up. Unlike most addicts though, I’m not going to hit you with the “I can quit any time I want,” bullshit. I can’t. And even worse, I don’t want to. It’s not just beer and ice cream either. I also love a bunch of other stuff. Like  tacos, pizza, really awesomely made cheeseburgers with bacon, chinese food, and oatmeal raisin cookies… those are the best!

I guess where I’m going with this, is so many fad diet and fitness programs preach to you that you should give this stuff up. I’m sure they’re right, but why? I guess if getting in shape is so important that you are willing to separate yourself from so many things you enjoy, then go for it. As for me, I never had any luck doing this kind of stuff. I love beer, and when I try to cut it out of my life, I have a great amount of success in losing weight. But when I go back to it, I go back hard, and the weight comes right back at me.

The same goes with ice cream, and all that other good stuff. I can cut it all out, but I’ll  end up going on a binge before too long, which is followed by guilt and self loathing…. blah, blah blah… you’ve heard the story a thousand times.

So rather than trying to push them out of my life, I use them for a reward instead. Just because I’m crazy about ice cream doesn’t mean I have to have it every night. Now I just tell myself that I’ll enjoy some when I meet a fitness goal, like a target weight or a run time. The same goes for Beer. There are certain meals I eat that the beer is as important as the main course. Okay every meal I eat the beer is as important as the main course. That’s because beer tastes great with food. So rather than make myself crazy by drinking water with dinner, I’ll have a beer only after I’ve worked out that day. No workout, no beer. To easy.

I’m not offering you any advice here, or advocating for people to ditch their Keto lifestyle and go drive some Chunky Monkey in them, I’m just talking for myself. I’m in my fifties now, and I’m going to enjoy the thing in life while I still can, but I’m not going to go overboard. Too much of a good thing isn’t a good thing at all.

I guess this was just a long winded, three part post to say “everything in moderation”. So there you go. Also, my wife told me if I loved cream and beer so much I should write a post about it. So I did.

Oh yeah, I love donuts too.. but I’ll save that for another time.