In a perfect world, you’d only be eating organic produce. Heck, in a perfect world, there’d be no such thing as “non-organic” produce, period. I’ve always found the term “non-organic” a little hard to wrap my head around anyway, seeing as produce is, by definition, organic in nature.
Literary conundrums aside, there’s a bigger dilemma at play here: you can’t always buy organic. It could be the crippling price of organic fruit or vegetables which has you passing them by at high speed, headed for the considerably cheaper chemical-enriched produce aisles. It could also be that your local supermarket simply doesn’t have the incentive or resources to source a good range of organic produce.
Whatever the reason, there’s a good chance that you’ll be munching on a non-organic apple one afternoon, or steaming up some non-organic broccoli for the family dinner one evening. And while you’d be commended for at least eating whole foods in the first place, you’re still ingesting a heady concoction of toxins. These toxins are largely due to pesticides sprayed onto the surface of those fruits and vegetables to protect them from insect and animal attack, and keep them looking blemish-free.
While the reasoning behind such an action is perhaps understandable, the result is not: the chemicals in these pesticides remain in the skin and flesh of the produce, and when ingested they pass into our digestive system and pollute our bodies. The result is a higher risk of developing a wide range of diseases and health conditions, from hormonal imbalance, to neurological disorders and even cancer.
As we recommended in our article on buying the healthiest fruit and vegetables, the logical first step is to turn to the Environmental Working Group’s Dirty Dozen and Clean Fifteen lists. These are an excellent starting point for paleo, primal and simply health-conscious shoppers, as they give an indication of which produce is ok to buy non-organic, and which fruit and veggies you should be prepared to fork out the big bucks for and buy organic. I also just stumbled across this consumer reports guideline, which lists 48 conventional fruits and vegetables available in the US and guides you through which varieties to go for, and which countries have the lowest-risk produce.
But despite all these efforts, you’re probably still going to end up with some non-organic bits and bobs. This is when a good DIY pesticide wash comes in handy. And it doesn’t have to be a super fancy-schmancy thing you buy from some online health food stores for a million bucks. All it takes is some water, vinegar, and a little bit of patience. Doesn’t seem so bad, considering your health is at stake, right?
Fill a large stainless steel, ceramic or glass bowl with 4 parts water to 1 part white vinegar.
Submerge any fruit, vegetables or other produce that you'd like to clean within the solution. Use a plate or something heavy to keep the items below the water, and leave for 20 minutes.
Take out your fruit or vege, rinse well with tap water, and you're good to go! Simple as that. Make sure you discard your cleaning solution each time.
This recipe was created by Liivi Hess, ThrivePrimal.com
You’d think that after dunking your fresh produce in vinegar for 20 minutes, it’d taste pretty strong. But surprisingly, there’s very little hint of vinegar on the food afterwards, and often what vinegary aftertaste does make it through actually complements the native taste of the produce quite nicely.
While you aren’t going to rid your fruit and vegetables of every molecule of pesticide with this vinegar wash, you’ll banish most of it. And in my opinion, less chemicals, no matter how much less, is definitely a good thing.
Having spent 5 weeks hopping around Thailand recently, my latent passion for curries has intensified somewhat. Passion for certain curries, that is – my mouth is simply unable to find enjoyment in some of the more spicy curries, namely the ominous green curry. Now, you’re probably thinking “but I thought red curries were the hot ones?”, but it turns out that the opposite is true, with green curries being crammed with Bird’s Eye chillies to give them a particularly vicious kick. It’s probably a color thing – traditionally, the color red symbolizes warning and conjures up visions of heat and, incidentally, spicy red chillies.
But I digress. Red curries are great, and in particular the ever-popular Panang curry, otherwise known as “Phanaeng curry” and “penang curry” – take your pick! Panang curry is a personal favorite of mine as it has a deliciously rich, nutty flavor that lends a pleasant sweetness and has just the right amount of spicy zing. I find that ordering Panang curry from restaurants, however, can be kind of hit and miss – especially in Western restaurants, where they can lose their zest and become a bit bland.
Your best bet is to make your own – this way you can control the heat, make sure there’s plenty of good ingredients, get lots of healthy saturated fat, use good-quality meat, and ensure no nasty vegetable oils make their way into your meal (as they tend to do in your average restaurant dish). I’ve used chicken in this recipe as it makes for an amazing curry, but you can substitute chicken for any meat of your choosing, including beef, lamb, pork, fish or shrimp! Enjoy!
3 lbs boneless free-range chicken breasts, cut into medium chunks
2 medium red bell peppers, seeded and sliced lengthwise
¼ cup fresh organic basil leaves
Instructions
In a large frying pan, mix together the coconut milk, curry paste, lime zest, lime juice, fish sauce, and red pepper flakes (if you can't handle too much heat, play it safe and start with just 1 tsp red pepper flakes).
Simmer over low heat, stirring regularly, until paste is thick enough to coat the back of a spoon, about 20 minutes.
While the sauce is simmering, prepare the non-paste ingredients. In a saucepan, cook the onion in the butter/ghee/coconut oil over medium heat until translucent and slightly brown. Add the chicken and cook on medium-high until each piece is white and cooked through. Remove from pan and set aside. Add the bell peppers to the saucepan and cook over medium-high heat for around 10 minutes, until softened and slightly browned. Remove pan from heat and set aside.
When the curry sauce has thickened, add the chicken, bell pepper and onion mixture to it. Stir to mix together the ingredients and simmer for 5 minutes on low heat. Add the basil, turn off the heat, and leave for 3-4 minutes minutes.
Serve warm over white rice or cauliflower rice. Garnish each serving with a few fresh basil leaves and squeeze a little fresh lime juice on top.
This recipe was created by Liivi Hess, ThrivePrimal.com
How did your Panang chicken curry turn out?
We’d love to know the results of your foray into Thai cuisine! Did you add too much spice or too little? Do you have a secret ingredient that you like to add to get that curry taste explosion?
Eggs. They’re small, roundish, and surprisingly mysterious. You might navigate your way swiftly and surely through all the isles of the supermarket, only to be stumped by the dilemma that these nutritional powerhouses present.
Eggs can be an amazing source of essential fats, proteins, vitamins, minerals and beneficial compounds when they come from quality sources. The problem is, it’s not always obvious what those sources are, and how to pick out the healthiest eggs from an extensive selection which, to all outward appearances, look almost identical. In this post, I’ll explore why you really need to prioritize “good” eggs over “bad” ones, and then how to go about digging out those good ones from amongst the masses.
Why you need to invest in high-quality eggs
In the paleo, primal, bulletproof, and wider health communities, eggs have developed into something of a cult following in recent years. There’s a good reason for this – they’re an inexpensive, readily available, easy-to-prepare source of healthy fats, protein, and nutrients. Few foods rival the humble egg’s nutritional capacity, but only when those eggs come from healthy, happy hens. And while this may seem a simple enough solution, the agricultural industry is slowly but surely turning egg production into the stuff of nightmares.
When it comes to buying eggs, most people make the mistake of prioritizing price over quality. I myself used to be one of those people, heading straight for the lowest-priced eggs and feeling like I just scored a financial victory as I strolled towards the checkout. After doing some research, however, I later discovered that those decisions made absolutely no sense, due to the fact that I was paying far more in health problems from eating things like inferior eggs than I could ever save by tightening my budget in the store.
While for some foods the difference in price is simply due to branding, eggs are an excellent example of how price can be an excellent indicator of quality. In general, cheaper eggs are cheaper for a reason:
cheaper eggs come from hens that are jammed wing-to-wing into tiny battery cages inside vast, reeking warehouses. These cages offer little to no movement, certainly not the movement required for a hen to be healthy, but this allows farmers to squeeze in far more chickens into a small space – effectively increasing their productivity per square foot of warehouse space.
cheaper eggs come from hens which are given the lowest-cost feed available, feed which is designed to fatten the chickens up as fast as possible (and therefore get them laying faster) but not to support the development of healthy bones and organs
cheaper eggs come from hens which have their wings and beaks clipped to prevent harm or cannibalism in such as tight space, are injected with growth hormones to ensure they reach their egg-laying age faster, and regularly fed antibiotics to ensure they don’t get sick or die due to the cramped conditions.
The result is warehouses which can literally pump out thousands of eggs, increasing productivity and lowering the cost of these eggs. Unfortunately, the benefits stop there. Many of the toxins and health problems of the hens are passed into their eggs, meaning they contain antibiotic and growth hormone residues, a very poor omega-3 to omega-6 ratio (making them pro-inflammatory), and high levels of environmental toxins.
Eggs which come from healthy chickens, on the other hand, are an excellent source of omega-3 fatty acids, have bucketloads of nutrients, keep you feeling fuller for longer, and are much less likely to contain harmful environmental toxins. For this reason, a 3 or 4 dollar difference in price could mean the difference between something which can harm your health and increase your risk of disease, or something which can nurture your body and actually work to heal any ailments you might be suffering from. Anyone who is aware of this difference and still goes for the cheaper eggs clearly doesn’t value their health at all.
Finding the healthiest eggs
While price is a good starting point for sorting the quality eggs from the bad, it unfortunately isn’t a hard and fast rule. Many companies market their pricey eggs as a higher-quality product, with fancy packaging and fancier words, when really their eggs are just as bad as the cheap ones. Here’s how to know to look out for the best eggs:
Pasture-raised: these are the best eggs you’ll ever find. Chickens which produce these eggs live on farms that allow them to roam freely outside, eating foods of their choice (like tasty worms and bugs!) and getting plenty of sunlight. These hens are free from hormones, antibiotics, and the hardship of a life spent inside a tiny cage.
Free-range: not as good as pasture-raised, but still a healthy choice. Hens that produce these eggs are permitted limited access to the outdoors, and don’t get kept in cages. They can move around, but for most of their lives it’ll be inside a large open-plan warehouse rather than outside.
Free-run: a slightly lower quality version of free-range, and often synonymous with “cage-free”. These hens don’t have access to the outdoors, but can move around freely and are much healthier than caged hens.
Cage-free: pretty self explanatory really! Cage-free can include all three of the above egg-types, however if you can’t see any other labels then chances are these hens are confined to the indoors.
Organic: The organic label assures you that those eggs come from hens which were raised on feed without additives, animal by-products, growth hormones and antibiotics. In certain places, this also means that such hens must be given access to the outdoors, perches, dust-bathing areas and stipulated minimum space requirements. Don’t be sucked in by “organic vegetarian fed” labels – chickens need to eat worms and bugs in order to thrive, meaning “vegetarian” is not necessarily a good thing.
At the end of the day, all of the above types of eggs are better than caged eggs. Generally, the price of eggs will go up according to how the hens were raised (pasture-raised being most expensive, cage-free being least expensive). Where possible, try to find eggs which tick more than one box – i.e. free-range eggs which are also organic. Also keep in mind that “omega-3” eggs are a bit of a gimmick, and you’re far better off getting high levels of omega-3s from eggs lain by healthy chickens than by chickens who have had artificial sources of omega-3 slipped into their feed.
If you’d like to find out more, this article provides a really good analysis of the various eggs available on the market and how to determine whether they’re good or bad.
Ok, so you’ve got your paleo/primal/Bulletproof eating down to a fine art, you’ve thrown out all your chemical-based household cleaners and replaced them with a simple spray bottle of white vinegar, you’ve thinned out the ranks of your cosmetics and personal care products, and you’re on the home stretch to becoming the healthiest human in a 10 mile radius. Nicely done.
But, and I hate to go picking holes in your otherwise impressive suit of health, do you have your laundry detergent sorted? Are you still using store-bought detergents? You know, the one’s filled with artificial fragrances, toxic cleaning agents, chemical stabilizers, ammonia, brighteners and phosphates? The one’s which are dousing your clothes (and therefore your skin) in a poisonous concoction of illness-inducing, disease-causing chemicals?
If the answer was “yes”, that’s a pretty big hole I just picked at, sorry to say. And don’t think that because you’re buying a purportedly “natural” or “plant-based” detergent from your local supermarket that you’ve somehow skipped the chemicals and found the real deal. Even the “healthy” store-bought detergents have their share of nasty ingredients, meaning you’re infinitely better off making your own.
This recipe is a slightly modified version of that provided by our friends over at mommypotamus.com. I know you’ve got places to go and people to see, so I’ve also fast-tracked it so you get that hole in your health suit patched up quick-smart and start living your life and being awesome again. You’re welcome.
Cut the bars of coconut oil soap into rough chunks, then add to a kitchen food processor along with the washing soda.
Blend on high until the mixture forms a fine powder. Consider placing a towel or cloth over your food processor during blending to prevent any powder from escaping.
Allow the powder inside the processor to settle, around 2-3 minutes.
Slowly pour the powder into a clean glass jar with lid.
In a top load washing machine, add 2 tablespoons of the detergent for a medium load and 3 tablespoons for a large load. If running a cold wash, consider dissolving the powder in a cup of hot water before pouring into the washing machine.
Add half a cup of white vinegar to the fabric softener receptacle, and 3-5 drops lemon essential oil in with the laundry detergent as a degreaser and natural fragrance.
This recipe was created by Liivi Hess, ThrivePrimal.com
Thoughts? Comments?
If you tried this recipe out, let us know how it went! Did you have to modify some of the ingredient amounts, or the ingredients themselves? If you’d like to mix things up a little, the folks over at morningchores.com have very conveniently gathered up 28 more DIY laundry recipes!
Mention the word “dairy” to your average paleo enthusiast, and they’ll shake their heads and mutter to themselves about potential toxicity issues, food allergies, and the untrustworthiness of these types of products. And they’d be right – this subject area is a very difficult one to navigate, as dairy products are typically shrouded in mystery and have the potential to throw your clean dieting right off the rails.
In Part 3 of our food shopping series (check out our guide to fruit and vegetables here, and our guide to shopping for meat, poultry and fish here), we’ll explore how to tell if milk and other dairy-based foods are good for you, how to find high quality ingredients in your supermarket or at the farm gate, and hidden dangers you need to look out for.
Read on, to continue your training towards becoming a supermarket superstar!
Is dairy and milk paleo?
From a strict Paleo standpoint, dairy was not consumed in the Paleolithic Era (aside from human milk, that is!), and for this reason many of those who follow a regimented Paleo diet stay away from it.
But just because something wasn’t available to our ancestors doesn’t make it inherently bad. Good quality dairy is an amazing source of nutrition, designed by the animal that produced it to be loaded with saturated fats, beneficial bacteria, essential fatty acids, proteins, vitamins and minerals. As it is the first thing a newborn calf, kid (in the goat sense) or lamb drinks, it provides a vital burst of nourishment that this animal needs to survive the first phase of it’s life.
Now, while this milk was not designed for human mouths, there’s no reason why we might not gain benefit or nourishment from it. In my opinion, it’s the same as eating good quality eggs – they clearly weren’t designed for human consumption, but they’ve attained an almost godlike status amongst the Paleo community, and are celebrated for the vitamins, minerals, proteins and fats they can provide us. Milk is the same – we can benefit from the same compounds that the calf, kid or lamb would thrive on.
Where dairy gets a bad rap is with regards to lactose, casein and the potential for introducing synthetic toxins into our bodies. It’s important to note, however, that this is usually only a problem when buying regular, grain-fed, store-based milk or dairy products. These products are made from cows (and to a lesser degree, sheep and goats) which have been raised on a diet consisting almost solely of GMO corn and soy, while being confined to tiny pens inside horrific dairy factories, away from the sun. These animals are also regularly injected with hormones, to make them grow faster and produce more milk, and antibiotics, to prevent them from developing diseases due to their unhealthy living conditions.
All this nasty stuff gets into the milk, while all the good stuff (the beneficial bacteria, digestive enzymes, saturated fats) gets removed during the processes of skimming, pasteurization and homogenization. The result is a dairy product devoid of nutrients and healthy fats, which is now missing the very bacterial cultures and enzymes which make it easier for our stomachs to digest in the first place (and which would otherwise prevent us from developing lactose or casein intolerance).
Why raw milk is NOT dangerous
Unfortunately, the agricultural industry has made it ridiculously difficult to get your hands on good quality dairy. Most of the US states continue to impose a complete ban on the sale and distribution of raw milk, citing antiquated cases of people becoming sick or even dying from consumption of raw milk that was somehow contaminated. These fears are based on a system of pasteurization which was introduced back before the invention of refrigerated transport and storage, when milk or dairy products could become eventually become contaminated by harmful pathogens after sitting in a warm place for too long.
Well, as it happens, we have fast, refrigerated transport now, and cold storage, and fridges at home – so those claims about the necessity of pasteurization are completely redundant! What’s more, those stories of people getting sick from raw milk were almost always due to that milk coming from cows which were raised in undesirable conditions – like the small pens, with antibiotic-injected, hormone-enriched, grain-fed cows I talked about earlier. If the cows themselves are raised in pasture and allowed to roam free under the sun, these health concerns are even more redundant.
In actual fact, you’re far more likely to get sick from drinking regular pasteurized milk than you are from raw milk! One expert even goes so far as to state that “you are about thirty-five thousand times more likely to get sick from other foods than you are from raw milk”. So quit worrying! If, however, you still find yourself shaking in your boots at the very notion of drinking something which hasn’t been heated to smithereens, check out this article we wrote a while back.
How to buy good quality, healthy dairy products
Rather than going into too much more of a rant about the dairy industry and how it’s turning people against one of the most nutritious (not to mention delicious!) food sources available, lets get down to business. You came here to learn how to ferret through all those nasty dairy products and locate the actual good, healthy ones, and the below table should help you do just that. The table is laid out to present the most desirable sources of dairy first, then works down the list to products which you should probably just stay away from altogether. Remember – if you can’t find good quality dairy, it’s generally better to just cut your losses and eat or drink something else.
It turns out that making a table to show how best to prioritize your milk is a difficult task. Hopefully the above gets the point across: the highest quality milk and dairy is from humanely-treated, grass-fed cows (and sheep and goats) that have been raised on an organic farm (which implies that they’re free from hormones, antibiotics and probably GMOs). The best milk is also raw and full-fat! As you work down the table, the dairy becomes progressively less good for you when it is no longer organic or full-fat. To provide a rough indication, I’d recommend regular (daily to 2 or 3 times a week) consumption of dairy products which are found in the green category, occasionally (no more than once a month) for those products in the orange section, and never buying those products in the red. ESPECIALLY dairy which is raw but comes from non-organic, grass-fed cows…although you’re fairly unlikely to ever come across that!
Finding good quality dairy is difficult, but not impossible
During our time living in Canada, Liivi and I became obsessed with the idea of getting our hands on a regular supply of grass-fed, raw dairy. It was very, very difficult, on account of strict Canadian laws which prohibit the sale of raw dairy products, and because 99.9% of the dairy farms there are grain-feeding. After much searching, we eventually came across this website, which got us in touch with a cooperative that provided real, organic, humane, grass-fed, RAW milk and dairy products. They products were expensive, but boy, were they good!
In the US, state governments are slowly starting to loosen up the laws, following increasing pressure from the public. Check out this interactive map to see whether your state allows the sale of raw milk in-store, or at least at the farm gate.
If you live in an area that is prohibitive to raw milk, however, don’t dismay – you can generally still get your hands on some high-quality, grass-fed dairy products, even if they’re not raw. As we travelled through the States and Canada, we would keep our eyes peeled for either the Kerrygold brand or the Anchor brand. Kerrygold comes from Ireland while Anchor comes from New Zealand, and both are produced from grass-fed cows, with no hormones and no antibiotics (I would know: I used to work for Anchor as an environmental officer!). You’ll often find Kerrygold butter or Anchor butter in your supermarket, and sometimes also Kerrygold cheese. Elsewhere in the world, you’re more than likely to stumble across a range of Anchor products, including Anchor butter and Mainland cheese. Failing that, order them on Amazon:
Another great way to get many of the benefits of grass-fed, organic cows, is from this whey protein powder which I came across after days of painstaking research. Find out more about it, here!
Confused about how to get the most out of your meat shopping, either at your local supermarket, butcher, or down at the weekly farmer’s market? You’ve come to the right place!
It might look a little overwhelming as you stand there and eye up the towering mounds of beef, pork, lamb, chicken, fish, and various other unidentifiable meats. But with a little bit of ground work and a knowledge of how to prioritize the best meats, you’ll do just fine. Here’s the quick and dirty on what you need to know.
On the importance of fat
If you’ve just recently made the shift to paleo, chances are you’re having trouble wrapping your head around the whole fat-is-good thing, especially with regards to saturated fats. This understanding of fat plays such a foundational role in the success of the paleo, primal, and Bulletproof diets that it needs to be revisited before we go delve any further.
So, without further ado: the saturated fat and monounsaturated fat that comes from meat, be it beef, lamb, pork, chicken, duck, fish, or otherwise, is one of the best, healthiest sources of fat available to humans. This is particularly the case with animals that have been raised in healthy living conditions, or are wild caught. Keep this in mind as you peruse the meat section of your supermarket or pretend you know what you’re talking about when you instruct your butcher what cuts you want.
Saturated and monounsaturated fats are your friends, so don’t shy away from meats which look fatty – these are the best, most nutritional cuts of the entire animal, aside from the organs (more on that later). Your traditional red meats (beef, lamb, bison, venison) have the highest saturated fat content, and incidentally have the best nutritional profiles (rivaled only, perhaps, by cold water fish like wild salmon or wild sardines). Chicken and pork, on the other hand, are generally lower in saturated fat content, have a higher monounsaturated fat content, and are packed with less vitamins and minerals.
Is it important to get grass-fed, pastured, or wild?
In a word: yes. Very important. If you’re going to put your dollar to work in the supermarket, put it to work buying the best quality meats you can find: the difference between a low quality meat and a high quality one is huge.
Grass-fed meat
“Grass-fed” is a term used to describe any ruminant (cow/beef, deer/venison, lamb, bison) which has been raised all its life on a diet of grass. This is what their digestive systems have evolved to process, and they can only truly be healthy when allowed to roam freely and eat grass to their heart’s content.
Grass-fed meat is much more nutritious and has a significantly better Omega-3 to Omega-6 ratio, meaning it is less inflammatory than grain-fed meat and much better for your body. Grass-fed meat also has a significantly higher saturated fat content, which is a good thing.
Meats which display the label “grass finished” indicate that the animal has been primarily raised on grain throughout its life, then has been allowed to graze at pasture for a few weeks prior to slaughter. While this is better than a ruminant which hasn’t had any interaction with grass at all, it is nowhere near as good for you as grass-fed meat.
Pastured or free-range meat
The term “pastured” essentially has the same implications as “grass-fed” but it applies to non-ruminant land animals like pigs, chickens and ducks. If a meat displays the label “pastured” or “free-range”, it indicates that this animal has been raised in a healthy environment where it can roam freely, eat selectively and choose those foods which it gains the most benefit from. “Free-run” is slightly different to free-range, with free-run chicken or eggs coming from hens which can theoretically run free in an “open concept” barn, and are not housed in cages like conventional hens – not quite as good as free-run, but still better than your average cage-raised hen.
Even if the meat is not organic, if it is pastured or free-range it is generally fair to assume that this meat has less antibiotics, hormones, and other nasty surprises hidden in it’s depths. This is purely because such animals are healthier than their caged counterparts, and therefore need less synthetic treatments to keep them alive.
Wild-caught
“Wild-caught” can technically apply to any type of animal which occurs naturally in nature (such as venison or duck), however in most cases it refers to fish. As with the previous two categories, there’s a huge difference in quality between wild fish and farmed fish. Farmed fish are fattier, but it’s the wrong kind of fat, with a high ratio of omega-6s to omega-3s. This higher fat content in farmed fish also means that you’re getting less protein per serving than wild fish.
Possibly worse than this is the amount of toxins you’ll find in a typical fillet of farmed fish. In one of these babies, you’re likely to find high concentrations of body-harming compounds like dioxins, PCBs, fire retardants, pesticides, antibiotics, copper sulfate, and canthaxanthin (a dye associated with retinal damage used to make colorless farmed fish various shades of “wild” pink). Delicious.
Wild caught fish can contain these same toxins, but in far lower concentrations, and it’s only because of humans polluting the waters they swim in that they’re present at all. Another thing to keep in mind is the amount of destruction and pollution that these fish farms are doing to the waters in which the real, wild fish make their home.
For more information on choosing the right fish, check out this article from the Natural Resources Defense Council (NRDC).
Should I try and buy organic meat?
Yes, you should certainly try. While organic meat is often hard to come buy, it’s worth seeking it out as it typically has an improved nutritional profile, but more importantly it doesn’t contain toxic residues from pesticides, herbicides, antibiotics or hormones which you’ll find in high concentrations in other, non-organic meats.
If a meat is organic, the feed it is given also needs to be organic, which means that this animal will be healthier and it’s meat is therefore of a better quality. Most of the time, organic also implies GMO-free, which is always a good thing. For more information on this, check out the section on GMOs in this article.
Which meats are best?
Originally, I had intended to put a list in this section which rated each type of commonly-stocked meat based on a range of variables and then recommended which were best. After giving it some thought, however, I came to conclusion that many others have reached – there’s no single best thing. Such a list should never exist, because there are so many different variables at play.
That being said, I do have some recommendations for what you write on your next grocery list with regards to buying meat:
Vary your meats throughout the week
While many paleo enthusiasts consider beef to be one of the best meats due to it’s high concentration of saturated fats, wide range of nutrients, and balanced fatty acid profile, you shouldn’t eat beef every single day. Doing so would put you at risk of iron toxicity, as red meats like beef and lamb have high concentrations of iron. Similar issues apply to other meats: too much chicken or pork could mean not enough saturated fats or an overload of polyunsaturated fats (the troublemaker of the fat trio), and a lack of the nutrients found in red meats. Too much fish, especially salmon or other cold water fish, could actually lower your omega 6 levels to the point where they’re unhealthy (yep, thats a thing).
The point is, vary your meats throughout the week and you’ll be getting all their benefits without getting an excess of their less desirable attributes. I have a very basic system whereby I always separate my meats by at least 2 to 3 other meats. For example, I might eat beef for dinner on Monday, then have eggs for breakfast on Tuesday, chicken for lunch, fish for dinner, a smoothie for breakfast on Wednesday, and lamb for lunch. This way, you’re enforcing a buffer period so that you don’t eat the same meat over and over, which can lead to health complications.
Eat organ meats on a regular basis
Yes, they taste pretty darn horrendous, but they’re probably one of the most nutrient-dense foods available to humans (if not THE most nutrient dense food!). This means they’re well stocked with many vitamins and minerals which you’d be hard-pressed to find anywhere else. For this reason, they can really give your health a kickstart, by filling in any nutritional gaps you might have in your body.
Of all the organs, liver is by far the most nutritionally-dense, so you should make sure you have this at least once a week. Other organs which you’ll likely see in the supermarket include kidney, heart, and tongue (these last two technically being muscles, but lets not nit-pick) – experiment with different organs and different recipes (this article has lots of good tips), and you’re bound to find SOMETHING which you and your family can choke down without complaining too much.
Oh, and remember to go for high quality sources (grass-fed, pastured, free-range, organic, yarda yarda)
Experiment with different cuts of meat
You know when you get up to the butcher’s counter, and they ask you what cut of beef or lamb you’d like, and you start to panic because you know NOTHING about which cuts are best? Well, you don’t have to panic any more – there IS no best cut. Traditionally, people would slaughter a cow or lamb, for example, chop it up into manageable portions, and proceed to literally eat that animal from nose to tail. These people, as it happens, were a whole lot healthier than most modern day westerners.
Take a leaf from their book and embrace the “nose to tail” mantra. Try buying different cuts of meat each week, perhaps even asking the butcher if they would recommend any particular cut which is interesting or different from usual. Eating different parts of the animal means you’ll be gaining access to a range of different nutrients and fat ratios, and as I’ve said before – variation is good!
Questions? Comments?
Phew, that was a lot of writing! I seem to recall saying that this was going to be “quick and dirty” at the start of the post, but it turns out that it was more “long and arduous”. That said, if you’ve got any further questions, or have a beef (pun unintended, surprisingly!) with something I’ve said, then drop us a comment and let us know! Oh, and do check out post number 1 in this 3 part series, which explains how to shop for fruits and vegetables like a pro!
A few days ago, I was strolling down the sun-blasted streets of Echo Park, Los Angeles, and I saw something completely and utterly ridiculous. First, an oversized sign heralding the low-low prices of a particular establishment’s coca cola. And immediately following this message, a promise of savings on diabetes “supplies”. Any guesses which particular establishment this was? None other than Walgreens.
There’s SO much wrong with this scenario that it’s hard to know where to begin. Walgreens is a classic example of an American institution which claims to be looking out for the best interests of it’s customers, but instead is MAKING them sick then CASHING IN on their sickness. And no-one seems to have a problem with that!
If your mind is moving a little slower than usual, allow me to elaborate. Coke, and basically every other kind of soft drink available today, is a major contributor to development of diabetes. While doctors and the majority of conventional health practitioners would have you thinking that diabetes is primarily genetically-derived, arguably the biggest factor determining your likelihood of diabetes is food.
Foods high in sugar, in this case high-fructose corn syrup (amounting to 16 teaspoons of sugar in a single 16 ounce bottle of the fizzy black stuff), cause our insulin levels to spike. Chronically-elevated insulin levels pave the way for obesity, cancer and (you guessed it) diabetes. A study conducted last year found that consuming sugar-sweetened beverages (i.e. Coke) at a rate of one 250 ml serving per day (approximately two thirds of your average bottle of coke) would increase your risk of developing diabetes by 18%. For artificially sweetened beverages (i.e. Diet Coke or Coke Zero), that risk increase was a whopping 25%.
And Walgreens, the purported “giver-of-health” is selling three 12-packs of coke for $10. So really, the sign should say “increase your risk of diabetes by 18-25% for the low low price of $10!”.
And as if that wasn’t enough, they then had the gall to immediately follow this offering with one claiming that “savings on diabetes supplies” were to be found inside. Firstly, there’s something seriously wrong with the words “diabetes supplies”. To me, the word “supplies” suggests buying something en mass – sweeping great hordes of consumables into a pharmacy trolley to hunker down for the coming natural disaster or next economic crisis. So does this suggest that people are “stocking up” on diabetes supplies? Instead of cans of beans and water for that natural disaster, they’re loading up on diabetes drugs for the oncoming surge of diabetes from all that Coke drinking?
Secondly, they’re contributing to diabetes in the first place, then shamelessly making money off people who develop diabetes from consuming THEIR PRODUCTS! The nerve of it is astounding. And the worst part? It’s happening everywhere. Walgreens is by no means the only business to be so shamelessly contributing to then cashing in on people’s lack of intelligence when it comes to health, but they could at least TRY to be a little more subtle about it, couldn’t they?
The point is, be vigilant, people! The only person you can trust with your health is yourself, so get researching and find out what is and isn’t good for you. It may seem daunting at first, but once you get a feel for what’s healthy and what isn’t, you’re away laughing. And if in doubt, steer clear of processed foods and drinks – they’re almost always going to do you damage.
Mankind’s relationship with grains might be considered a long one, tracing back to the agricultural revolution approximately 12,000 years ago. It was at this point in our history that humans developed the means to cultivate grains, and since this point they have come to be seen as the backbone of civilization. Humans treasured grains on account of their rapid growth rates, versatility, and long storage life, and they soon became a valuable form of currency: one which could dictate the rise and fall of towns, cities, and even empires.
Today, grains continue to be seen as vital to our existence, with politicians, media, and health specialists all urging mass consumption of whole grains in order to stay healthy. The notion of grains as staple food has become so embedded in our consciousness, in fact, that it is difficult to even consider life without them. After all, how would you get your daily dose of fiber? With what would you sandwich your ham, cheese and tomato? Indeed, where would you put your pasta sauce? A life without grains seems hardly worth contemplating.
So why, then, is there such a poor correlation between grain consumption and health? Why do the heaviest grain-eating populations, America in particular, continue to get sicker and more disease ridden?
Grains, explained
Alright, alright, lets back the truck up…what the heck IS a grain, exactly?
Well, grains are the reproductive embryos of plants. Each grain is designed to ensure the establishment of a new generation of a given plant species, and must be dispersed away from the parent plant in order to ensure that it does not compete with it’s dearly beloved. To promote dispersal, most plants encourage animals to ingest the grains then poop them out somewhere else, whereby the seed contained within the grain can take hold in the poopy soil and begin to grow.
While effective, this method of dispersal presents a problem. By encouraging the animal to eat its babies, the plant risks having them destroyed by the animal’s digestive system. The plant must then design its grains to be indigestible to animals in order to ensure the survival of its species, and it is this design which is responsible for many of the chronic autoimmune diseases we see in people today.
Grains are unhealthy? That’s preposterous!
In order to discourage digestion, grains contain a potent mix of anti-nutrients and gluten. Unless you’ve had your head in the sand for the past 10 years or so, you’ve probably heard of gluten. It’s also probable that many of you have adopted a gluten-free way of life after reading about the ravages this protein can wreak upon your gut and immune system. This is certainly a step in the right direction, but unfortunately it’s not enough.
Gluten comprises most of the protein found in wheat, rye and barley. It is a compound protein which causes gut inflammation in 4 out of 5 people, and can often trigger an autoimmune response when the body develops antibodies to fight the intrusion of alien proteins in the bloodstream. Gluten contains a protein called gliadin, which is very similar to certain proteins naturally found in the tissues of organs, most notably the pancreas and thyroid. As a result, gliadin can cause your antibodies to mistakenly attack your organs and result in chronic disease, particularly hypothyroidism and diabetes.
Added to this is the highly inflammatory effect of gluten, which causes the walls of your intestines to thin and promotes the development of “leaky gut”. A leaky gut allows bacteria and toxic proteins to enter the bloodstream, and further exacerbates your gliadin-induced health problems.
In summary, gluten is a nasty little hell-raiser. So, you cast aside any wheat, barley and rye due to their glutenous evil, and turn your dietary attentions to other, “healthier” grains. The problem is, while only certain grains contain gluten, ALL grains (yes, even quinoa!) contain anti-nutrients. The most troublesome of which are lectins and phytates.
Phytates are a derivative of phytic acid, a primary source of fuel for plants. Phytates hang out in your gut and bind to important nutrients which are essential for your health, including magnesium, zinc, calcium and iron. This process can prevent your body from absorbing nutrients from food, resulting in chronic nutrient deficiency disorders.
Lectins are toxins which have been designed by plants to prevent their digestion. These proteins possess the uncanny ability to bind to, and damage, the intestinal tract, further compromising gut bacteria and contributing to leaky gut. Prolonged exposure to lectins can result in the development of leptin resistance, which can set the stage for obesity and diabetes.
The link between grains and chronic disease
Certain animals, birds in particular, have evolved to eat and even thrive on grains, and can therefore digest them without experiencing their ill-effects. Humans, however, have only been exposed to sustained grain consumption for 12,000 years or less. When considering the evolution of our species, which took place over millions of years, 12,000 years is not a long time. Certainly not long enough to have allowed our digestive systems to evolve the ability to process grains and receive benefit from them. Added to this is the increasing commercialization of grains, whereby scientists modify the genes and cultivars of grains to encourage high density yields while sacrificing nutrients and other useful compounds found in wild or heritage breeds.
As a direct result of this, modern society is riddled with chronic inflammatory conditions. These conditions are closely associated with high grain intake, and include:
A growing body of evidence is also beginning to suggest that grain consumption may also be responsible for certain neurological conditions, such as multiple sclerosis, autism, and schizophrenia.
The solution is simple: stay away from grains
Based on the increasing number of studies showing the damage that grains can do to our bodies, if you’re suffering from chronic pain, it’s possible that grains are the cause. Here’s an idea: stop eating them! If you can’t bring yourself to remove grains completely from your diet, soaking and sprouting them can significantly reduce the concentration of anti-nutrients and make their vitamins and minerals more digestible.
