It’s been a year now since I got serious about dropping my carb intake, about a ketogenic way of eating, about intermittent fasting and going for a walk every day.

I don’t own a scale for weighing myself, so I can’t give you numbers about that.

But as of today and post-vacation, I am officially back to a 37-inch gut, down from 46 when I started, and I’m proud of that.

My goal starting out was 35 inches, and I still think I’ll make it there eventually, but I’m no longer laser-focused about erasing those last two.

Instead I just want to work on feeling good.

I’m very intrigued by this video about a kind of ‘fasting’ that doesn’t ban all food, and performing that ritual monthly or seasonally for five days at a time, while maintaining the habit of eating very well all the time, without the militant rigor of the past year.

So while I remain philosophically opposed to eating grains, I’m going to eat as many tortillas as my body wants, so long as they are organic and of the very highest quality available.

It’s the same with legumes and particularly beans. I’ll be having more of them, carbs and all, provided I have access to the best of the best.

The majority of my eating will still be about salad greens and avocado and cheese and olive oil at mid-day, and grass-fed animal protein for the early evening (grass-fed at a bare minimum, and beginning to source even better, all the way to actual organic).

The little fish will be a factor too, and so will the berries of black and blue and rasp. I don’t think either of those will ever quite be staples, but they both resonate with me as food in a way I can’t really explain rationally.

Extending the walks will matter. I think maybe some light weight training will too.

There isn’t a concrete measurable goal for the second year with all this.

I just want to be well and to expand the boundaries of what that word means, in a world that is continuing to grow darker and more impoverished and ugly, until the rising waters of this societal unwellness can’t be held back any longer and rush in to swallow up everything in a night of final sleep without end.