< So I count the carbs, enjoy a beer or two when I feel like it, and that's
that.  I had been having a  bit of farmer cheese on occasion; I decided to
have certain cheeses,  such as farmer and goat cheese, whenever I felt like
it. >

Great work Todd.  You've nailed one of the crucial issues in diets.  we are
not just products of nature [paleo nature], but also culture.  man took to
fermented foods because they *worked*.  You will find it even better to
home-brew the beer and start drinking after 3-4 days without putting it into
bottles.  The yeast metabolites I believe  are usefully used by the body.
saves work for the liver.
Try cider which was more used in northern europe until tudor times than
beer.

The there's the story of 'Old Par,' who supposedly lived to 153 eating goat
milk and rancid goat cheese and the odd trout from the river...

Andrew