< 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