mike echo

I consider anything on price reduction-especially on a higher priced item I perceive as an upgrade. I have the 3rd place MK4, bought long before John's excellent video. Got that on a great, one time, discount somewhere in the low $60 range. I use this more than my original Thermoworks Pocket Thermometer. Probably can designate the Pocket as the backup. No complaints on either. M.

Well done. Hope you start wondering why you didn't do this earlier. I don't envy you lifting the Primo in....... M.

I do country style pork ribs/sauce with a super old recipe (circa 50s) passed on from my Mother in the house oven. Have not had the gumption to convert it to a grill. PM me if you want the recipe. M.

-just saw All Clad is having a second quality sale-via homeandcooksales.com. Additional 15% off using GSEBVIP15 in cart. What makes SOME items a second is no big deal, i.e. a damaged box. If you are one to have name brand stainless....The discounts are nice. Read the 1st review for enlightenment. M.

Got away from my cruddy, highly rated Cuisinart, replaced once, under a cruddy warranty. Got a Braun recently for a decent price. Time to clean the internals, Oops. Now it's descaling. Whatever. Anyway, I have always used a 50/50 vinegar/water mix as per directions for years. Got some stuff on Amazon. Urnex Dezcal. Powdered citric acid. Allegedly much better than vinegar. Apparently used by commercial operators and some laypeople. So, anyone have any words on anything I mentioned above? I need to find a comfort zone on product and procedure. Cheers. M.

Looks like I am " the horse of a different color" on the cookware discussion. Many years ago we got a Circulon pan as a gift. We liked it so well that we added more Circulon pots and pans to our collection. Had those Circulons for 20+ years. No issues at all. Recently we purchased a set, yes, a set of newer Ciculons. The set was well thought out by Circulon, (no seldom used pots or pans) and we use every single pot or pan regularly. No issues with buying a set. Maybe the marketing people were banking on consumers buying more product-IDK. We have one cast iron pan I use for bacon or corn bread on or off the grill. M.

We live urban but not anywhere near noise generating stuff-busy roads/interstate traffic, restaurant parking lots etc. Our town has 3 stoplights. Quiet enough for me to fall asleep listening to my wind chimes. Read a fiction book by Crichton, "Timeline" where archaeologists travel in time to medieval France. These time travelers were astounded by the quiet-no airplanes, no highways, lawn mowers etc. I got close to that backpacking pretty far off the beaten path. M.

I have resurrected a quite few items with some DIY ingenuity. My successes at times, seem to be short term. I suspect manufactures are indeed using some barely acceptable parts throughout their products. What this means to me is I can fix an item, only to have another component later fail on the same unit due to poor quality. That said, I look at a new item and wonder, "can I fix this if I have to?". So I am judicious in what I will repair vs.replace. I had a high quality in ear headset fail on me only to find it was manufactured in such a way that repairs were not an option-by anyone. My Dad always complained about "planned obsolescence". The concept appears valid. M.

Is there still a remmitance to John when Prime products are bought? If so, does it matter which products? M.

So another Keto benefit for me. Lowering sugar in any form, has helped with my bladder. I saw a video that talked about sugar and insulin resistance contributing to the bladder being overactive (for men, getting up too much at night) and thought this was a maybe. There seems to be an automatic blame on the prostate which in my case, was urologist examined and declared normal 3 years in a row. Meanwhile still getting up too much. A diagnosed bladder issue was not the way to go. Sure there are meds for overactive bladders, but not to my liking. Let's not forget the infomercials to improve the prostate. Those informercials relative to men posessing a prostate gland. No help for females M.

My initial reason to get a pellet grill was to try it out. I settled on an entry level Rec Tec. In short, pellet grilling is fine. I will always defer to my KJ when I want the absolute best cooks. Rec Tec has been really great. No need to cheer lead for them (a little) as I am confident many manufacturers are driven to be super customer friendly before and after purchase. I will say. Rec Tec has to be in the top 3 of the pellet grill world. Any contact I have had with them has been super. If it's not they want to know pronto. Their app is great, temp control is great, they send me Christmas and birthday cards, they take care of their community as well. Etc. Etc. M.

Keto is the real deal Is it tough to achieve ketosis? Yes. I have a co-worker and his wife that have done keto and converted to a healthy keto lifestyle with great success. His best help toward me was to read up on keto. Is weight loss a bit of a head game? Absolutely. Overcoming old weight loss myths and pains of failed weight loss tries are huge obstacles. Support in your quest helps tremendously. Experimentation, as you are, with different plans of attack is excellent. I constantly do that. Be patient. Be persistant. It took awhile to gain extra weight, it will take a while to lose it. I assure you that I am subject to everything mentioned above. I have been keto aware for about 18 months, lost 30 plus pounds. It is never easy, foolproof or subject to mistakes. M.

My low sugar, low carb plan includes all the recipes mentioned here and more. So far I have had great results using truvia blend sweeteners making my own BBQ sauces instead of the original recipe. My last success was using a brand of confectioners sugar, almond flour, and a truvia sweetener for a pumpkin roll recipe off the back of the label of some pure pumpkin to complement the spatchcocked turkey I did at Thanksgiving. I imagine we could use any brands we want but I wanted to post about this as it was a success. I was squeamish about subbing ingredients but getting bolder. Bon appetit. M.

Thoughts: Keto is a healthy living tool. I flirt with ketosis, A work around I call healthy keto. I believe in getting healthy to lose weight. Too many years of thinking I was doing OK food wise but was just contributing to insulin resistance. So many improvements in my health via healthy keto. I have about 10 lbs. to go-of the 32 already gone. I slip up on the Keto plan. This is a toughie. I have hit many plateaus. I am convinced I need to go to one meal a day, or even longer using a 100% Keto diet. I can slip into pure ketosis, just gottta to do it and stick. Already contemplating a maintenance program, to last forever. And the coup de gras, my wife is doing the same and has lost over 30 lbs. My daughter is giving her smaller clothes to wear. M.

So after gathering of info from the net, mostly Dr. Berg on YouTube......There is a lot more. Any fasting beyond 18 hours yields better results for the body. Key word is autophogy . Key phrase is avoiding insulin spikes and the ensuing insulin resistance. No need to be a diagnosed diabetic to avoid insulin spikes. Focus needs to be on foods/yes drinks, with a glycemic index below 50. Lower numbers are better. Sugar free does not mean no insulin spiking. Look at Monk fruit, erithytrol, and Stevia as acceptable sweeteners. Watch out because some products have sweeteners using the words of the good stuff mentioned, but depend on a high percentage of a sugar sub. that has a high glycemic index. I.e. Maltodextrin and many others. M.