Maffetonovember

[Mid Life Crisis Marathon Man]

Space beer, part 2.

‘It’s called beer belly for a reason’ said my drinking companion, who, like me had switched from the much-lauded Vostok Space Stout to red wine. A burst of summery weather had descended, and the upstairs bar at the 4 Pines Hotel in Manly*, one of Sydney’s tourist hotspots, was full to the brim with hot, thirsty clients looking to slake their thirst in the late afternoon on any number of that establishment's fine in-house brews. So my drinking companion (I think his name was Gerard**), myself and Mrs MLCMM stood out, had anyone bothered to pay us that much attention, as we firstly drank stout - not exactly the most obvious of warm weather drinking choices - and then switched to red wine.

My reason was, of course, the current low-carb Maffetone Method diet which precludes beer but allows dry wine. A cool, steely Eden Valley Riesling might have been a better option given the warm conditions, but none of the choices on the wine list appealed, so we stuck to safer territory and ordered the shiraz. Gerard (or Gabriel, I'm not sure now) had answered my polite enquiry as to the reason for his switch to wine with the beer belly quip. He then expanded on his observation with: ‘and you never hear anyone speak of a wine belly, do you?’ as he downed his tempranillo with a wry smile and not a little gusto.

I had to concede the point. When I thought about it, I had indeed never heard reference to a wine belly, although I can think of one or two people who clearly do have one. But in general, it’s true that beer contains significant carbohydrate which, especially in blokes, does tend to lead to an excess of wobbly stuff in the general vicinity of the belly, whilst wine has considerably less tendency to reside about the waist. As evidence of that, quite a few beer bellies were on clear display right there and then at the 4 Pines, their owners doubtless having contributed significantly to the profits of that establishment (and probably many others), and who, by the looks of them, will soon also line the coffers of some of Sydney’s finest cardiologists.

It’s somewhat ironic then that I, relatively lithe and athletic by comparison to some of those gut-busting spheroids, should already be on the books of two different cardiologists. However, I suppose that’s the point of all this: having had my scare I’m now taking great care to avoid further trips to intensive care cardiac wards and the need to lay inside gigantic toroidal magnets having all my molecules realigned in order to take an internal photograph of my ticker. A slightly more disciplined approach to this caution was then the reason for switching to wine at the Manly 4 Pines, albeit on a day rather too warm for the chosen vin du jour.

So, a drastic reduction in carbohydrate intake has not precluded the imbibing of alcohol, and it’s probably true to say that I have consumed the demon drink on most of the 12 days now completed of my initial 14-day Maffetone Method starter programme. Despite this, I have lost prodigious amounts of belly blubber, which, like the consumption of fine wine, is incredibly satisfying.  

I’m now delving deeply into the good Dr Phil Maffetone’s book on the subject, and I shall report back my findings as I experiment with the aerobic training, low-carb eating techniques therein. But thus far, it’s tremendous fun, and yielding some excellent results.


*Readers not familiar with Sydney's history may wonder how this particular suburb came by such an odd name. According to the history books, Manly was named by Captain Arthur Phillip, the first Governor of New South Wales, after he observed the indigenous people living there, and noting in his log that ‘their confidence and manly behaviour made me give the name of Manly Cove to this place’. The suburb that grew alongside the shoreline was named more simply ‘Manly’.

** Mrs MLCMM thinks it was Gabriel. We'll go with that.