Well, it’s a new day and I have a new opinion. After revisiting Memo’s on several late night excursions in the U-district, I have come to believe that they have cleaned up their act.

When you go to Memo’s, ignore the normal menu. Instead, focus on the “EXTRAS 4oz SERVING section:

I got one size of Carne Asada, Chicken Asado, Guacamole, and Lettuce. After tax this equates to $6.65. It was enough food that I went from being truly hungry to legitimately full.

In my last review I complained about the taste. They must have a new cook or manager working back there because the food is now actually good. It’s by no means a demonstration of culinary art or talent, but for the price, being open 24/7, and being able to get just a side of meat and vegetables, the food does not taste bad and is actually enjoyable to eat.

Still don’t know about quality or hidden ingredients but when you are out at 2:00am and your choices are that, pizza, or Jack-in-The-Box, I’ll take my chances at Memos.

They also have a “freebee” salad bar with marinated carrots, onions, and fresh cucumbers and radishes. Impressive Memo’s! Very impressive indeed. Note that whenever I order this I seem to thoroughly confuse the person taking the orders and typically have to physically point to everything I want, but in the end it always works out!

STEP 1: The Day Before and of

Hydration
- Make sure you are fully hydrated the entire day before you start drinking. For most people this is roughly 1/2 your body-weight in ounces. So if someone is 180 pounds, they should consume 90 ounces of water. More if you are active or drinking diuretics (caffeine, soda, alcohol). Less if you are having to force it down. What does that look like? It may be more than you think.

Sleep
Coming into the party already sleep deprived isn’t going to help your recovery since you’ll likely be up late again that night. Make sure you are getting 8+ hours of sleep (as you should already be) the night before you are drinking.

Food
It is very important to avoid excess fructose consumption surrounding drinking times (and just in general) as it is metabolized through the liver just like alcohol is. We want the liver to be able to focus 100% on the liquid poison you are consuming rather than the sugar poison you eat all day.

Also, have a large meal around 2 hours before you start drinking. If you have to think back to when your last meal was, you are in for one hell of a night. You don’t want it to be too long before that you are already getting hungry again, but also not too close as to allow for adequate digestion before you start jumping around and getting into trouble.

STEP 2: That Night

Drink Choice
The drink you choose will have a huge effect on your night and follow day.

• Avoid sugary alcohol (wine, mixed drinks with coke, redbull, tonic water, Mike’s Hard, etc) as they always leave the hardest hit. Again, fructose is metabolized through the liver and if it is at the same time as the liquor, it won’t end good.
• Avoid gluten containing alcohol such as beer and grain-based distilled liquors. By avoiding gluten you help your gut lining stay healthy and make it easier on yourself to recover.
• Choose potato vodka and blue agave tequila as they are low sugar and plant (not grain) based.
• Mix with unsweetened soda water and fresh lime or lemon juice.  By using soda water you are partially rehydrating yourself. Carbonation also makes you feel it faster so you can drink less. Finally, lemon and lime juice are full of vitamins and minerals that may help something.
• Choosing high quality liquor that has been filtered many times will help tremendously. Cheap liquor makes you sicker.

Rehydration
For every cup of alcohol you had, you need a cup of water to replace it. This may be impossible but it is something to try for. Have you noticed if after having a few drinks and you have to go to the bathroom that your urine is often clear? This does not mean you are hydrated, it means you are losing all the water you hydrated with earlier in the day. Give it a few hours and I guarantee it will change color.

When the night is nearing the end, stop drinking alcohol and start drinking water. If you chug it, it will go to waste. Your cells can only absorb so much water at a time. Drink a lot of water over as long of a period as you can before passing out. Replenishing electrolytes is equally important as explained in the next section.

Late Night Munchies
These are good, and should not be ignored. The last thing you want when you go to bed is for the last thing you consumed to be more of your drink. Eat fatty and salty food. Ideally these would be fatty grassfed meat to get an anti-inflammatory effect and mineral rich sea salt to replace mineral loss. When you become dehydrated you lose 2 things; water and electrolytes. Eating mineral rich sea-salt rich foods will help.

Exercise & Air
Walking is a great way to sober up fast. Fresh air will help you feel better too.

Stay Up
It’s 2am, you are drunk, and do not want to be hungover the next day. What do you do? Don’t go to sleep yet. Even if it means you go to bed at 4am and will get less sleep than you would by going to bed now, your sleep will be much more efficient if you go to bed sober.  These extra 2 hours give a perfect time to start eating and drinking water and get some walking in so by the time you do go to bed, you are in better shape.

Sleep
So you are finally sobering up and ready to go to bed. Sleep as long as you can, even if you have to throw off your clock by sleeping in until noon. Just like always, you want 8+ hours here. With the sun going up not long after you go to bed, it is important to sleep in a 100% blacked out room so the light doesn’t wake you up and interfere with your recovery. Black out rooms are a worthy time investment.

Also a little note – if you feel like you are going to throw-up get into bed slowly. As soon as you lie down you lose the effect of gravity keeping your stomach contents down and you might just lose it as soon as you plop down on your mattress.

STEP 3: The Next Day
You may wake up a little dizzy or queezy at first, but hope is not all lost.

Rehydration
This continues. Keep drinking water and get your electrolytes restored. Do not use Gataorade as it is full of fructose. Instead, go for Coconut Water or put Nuun Elecrolyte Tablets in your water.

Breakfast
Eat the normal healthful foods that are recommended all over this blog. Meat, vegetables, some fruit, a few nuts and seeds, and healthy fats and oils. Avoid grains, legumes, dairy, sugar, refined vegetable oils, and processed foods.

Exercise & Air
Walking is still a great way to feel better. Sunlight combined with the fresh air will again help you the day after too.

STEP 4: Repeat

Congradulations! You’ve survived Friday. You are feeling so good that you just can’t wait for tonight…It is Saturday afterall!

All of these suggestions are partially based on documented fact and partially based on what I have found works for me. Your mileage may very. If you drink way too much, none of this will save you. Drinking responsibly is the best prevention. If you still feel awful the next day, don’t blame me…blame whatever you did to get you there. Remember also that alcohol is not good for you even if you follow these steps, but it is about as good as you can get if you are going to drink.

I just wanted to let you know that I am running a banquet with Sarah Fragoso of Everyday Paleo next month. Check it out! Hope to see you all there!!

Sign up at http://www.meetup.com/paleoseattle/

http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/1895436813/primal-chef-episode-2

http://www.meetup.com/paleoseattle/events/50790272/

Hope to see you all there!

Before I get in too deep, I feel the need to start off with a slight complaint, because so many restaurants say this including Jak’s. “ We buy only corn fed, Nebraska raised beef. The finest beef available anywhere!” Displayed promptly on the front of the menu. If you use the word “finest” in any sentence you can make people believe it is true. What I read is: “We buy only corn fed beef, because it is the fattiest and cheapest beef available anywhere!” Oh well…I can only bet if this place sold grass-fed meat it would be even more expensive, but come-on…do you really have to brag about selling grain-fed meat? Anyways, onto the meat of this review.

On Monday nights they have the Prime Rib special. For around $21 you get around 18ounces of meat, which in comparison to their other prices, is a great deal. This also comes with a salad. The meat usually comes with steamed vegetables and potatoes but they had no problem substituting the potato for more veg. Also with the meal is a side of Au Jus and Horseradish (looked creamed so I skipped it).

Taste: 8 – Meat was a little undercooked even for me. Fat was chewy. 
Nutrition: 8 – Fatty cornfed meat. Otherwise pretty darn good. 
Filling: 9
Price: $$$ (Dinner)
Overall Value: 7 – Pretty good meal, but like all steakhouses (except Brazilian!) you can do what they do at home for a fraction of the price. Also I love me some steamed vegetables but when I eat out I wouldn’t mind something a little more creative.

For those who didn’t see, there is a very special event this coming Sunday. We’ve convinced an already gluten / dairy free friendly restaurant to be 100% Paleo for the night. Getting restaurants on board isn’t easy and a successful night this weekend could be the start of a big movement.

To do this though, we need your support. There are still 25 slots left that we’d love to see go. If you have the time, please consider attending to help show the culinary world there is a demand for this type of food.

Thanks and see you all there!

RSVP: http://www.meetup.com/paleoseattle/events/41310402/

Here’s what I had:

SOUPE DU JOUR .........................................................................8

Was a tomato provencal soup on that day. Very good.

*GRILLED PORK CHOP............................................................. 17
10oz Grilled Pork Chop in Extra Virgin Olive Oil, Lemon, Garlic and Herbs

Usually comes with mashed potatoes but they were happy to substitute a green salad
for me, and I was happy to accept.

Taste: 8 (meat was overcooked) Nutrition: 10
Filling: 7
Price: $$$
Overall Value: 8 – Left happy, would come back. Wasn't anything too special
or crazy though. I can make a pork chop and salad at home too.

The good news is, many traditional thanksgiving foods are not only great tasting but also very nutritious. Others however, are not. While most Thanksgiving nutrition advice is along the lines of eating low fat foods and only taking one small serving of each food to keep your calories low. This article is about how to choose the right foods so you don’t have to do all that. Most importantly, you won’t feel guilty afterwards.

The Bad Stuff

Stuffing: Stuffing is basically just a pile of bread, which means it is a pile of refined, high blood sugar spiking, gut irritating starchy carbohydrates. Even whole wheat stuffing is not by any means a healthful food to be eating. Here’s where you start making sacrifices for good health, by leaving the stuffing off the menu.

White Potatoes: While mashed potatoes are a very traditional food, much like the stuffing they are a pile of starchy carbohydrates that are recognized by the body the same way that sugar is. If you are someone who tries to avoid sugar but still eats potatoes, you are essentially wasting your time.

Cranberry Sauce (sweetened): The amount of sugar in this dish is extremely high. If you are going to be sweetening a cranberry sauce, consider looking at natural sweeteners such as raw honey and maple syrup rather than refined sugar. While natural sweeteners won’t make it much less harsh on the body, it at least will provide some nutrients to come with that sugar high. Also, don’t even get near any artificial sweeteners which might be the only thing you can do worse.

Gravy: Your normal turkey gravy contents are mostly fine, however the flour that is added to thicken it is not good. Instead consider either making extra gravy and then reducing it over heat to thicken it or experimenting with plant based thickeners such as arrowroot. At the very least, use rice or corn starch rather than flour which will keep your gravy gluten free.

Desserts & Pie: Going with the same rules as above, try to sweeten your pies with natural sugars and bake them yourselves to avoid artificial ingredients that many pies have. Look into gluten-free base alternative such as almond or coconut flour. At the very least, look for marketed gluten free flours which are typically made from rice or garbanzo beans. These are not ideal but still much better than wheat.

Now here’s what my ideal thanksgiving menu would look like.

Turkey (free ranged or pasture raised. No antibiotics. It is purchased from PCC, Whole Foods, a local farm, or any other conventional supermarket that happens to sell free ranged birds. No need to toss the skin when ordering a high quality bird. Enjoy it.

Yams: Yams or sweet potatoes are a great healthful addition to a thanksgiving table. Fill up on these rather than white potatoes or stuffing.

Gravy: Thickened using above methods.

Vegetables: Green Beans, Squash, Beats, Brussels Sprouts, etc

As you can see there is still plenty of stuff to keep your feast going. Incorporating these nutritional rules into your daily lives will help you not just on the night of the big feast but as you choose your foods each time you eat. Happy thanksgiving and stay warm!

Butter Lettuce Salad : $8 – Point Reyes blue, shaved radish and red onion, toasted hazelnuts, sherry vinaigrette (cheese left off)

Grilled Oregon Natural Meats Ribeye: $29 - Grilled Walla Walla onions, Olsen farm Ozettes, sautéed kale (Subbed ozette potatoes for butternut squash +$2)

Taste: 10
Nutrition: 10
Filling: 9
Price: $$$ (Dinner)
Overall Value: 7 – Great meal, just very expensive

I’ll be back as soon as I’m rich, Stumbling Goat Bistro!