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The Truth About Fruit

Fruits and vegetables are like Ernie & Bert on Sesame Street: always grouped together but very different from each other. If you don't know Bert & Ernie, you should.

You should eat more vegetables than fruits, by the way.

Why?

Both fruits and vegetables provide a broad spectrum of nutrients. The basic difference is that fruits are sugary and vegetables are not. The good news is that the fiber in a whole fruit slows down the sugar absorption so it won't hit your bloodstream like a candy bar. The bad news is that too much sugar is too much, even if it's from fruit.

When we eat sugar, whether it's the white refined stuff, an organic apple, or a piece of whole grain bread (yes, grain melts into sugar), the pancreas secretes insulin. The job of insulin is to balance blood sugar, which is good because high blood sugar feels bad (fatigue, blurred vision, extreme thirst) and low blood sugar feels bad (dizziness, shakiness, sweating, headache, etc.).

When you eat more sugar than you need for immediate use (sitting at your desk eating chocolate), insulin sends the sugar you don't need to the liver to convert to fat. Thus, it has been named the "fat-storing" hormone.

Generally, eating less sugar and foods that melt into sugar (fruits, pasta, bread, crackers, etc.) means lowered blood sugar and less body fat.

It's not the whole story, but it's a good rule of thumb.

So now back to fruit.

Berries are best because they are high in fiber (which puts the brakes on the release of sugar) and full of antioxidants. Tropical fruits like bananas, mango and pineapple add a lot of sweetness and flavor to a smoothie but a lot of sugar as well, so watch out.

My general suggestion is to consider 1/2 cup of berries or chopped fruit or 1/2 whole banana as a serving of fruit, and to eat 1-2 servings max per day.

A good rule for the other thumb: too much of a good thing can be bad.

Starting the day with a fruit smoothie or a stack of pancakes can be almost the same thing. We've set ourselves up for sugar cravings for the rest of the day. A serving of fruit with some protein and fat can be a good way to fuel your day. But if you are struggling with your weight or mood, you may want to try saving your fruit for the afternoon and stick to plants & proteins before noon. An omelette with greens and salmon or leftovers from last night's dinner.

Staying off the sugar roller coaster in this way helps you stay mentally alert and undistracted by sugar cravings.

The takeaway: fruits are fine to eat for fun

but

eat plenty of plants for peak performance.

NOTE: Strawberries and apples are consistently on the Dirty Dozen list so eat these only when they are organically grown.

#fruit #blood sugar #vegetables

It's citrus season - go getya some! #foodtruth

#foodtruth

Looking Back to Move Forward

As we end another trip around the sun, it makes sense to think about where we've been and where we're headed.

If you want to be a healthier person this year, start living like a healthier person now. A thinner person? Eat like a thin person now. A kinder, gentler person? Start with the next words that come out of your mouth.

3 Questions to Answer Now

What did I do last year that I'm proud of?

Everything from having a baby to painting your bathroom counts. What matters is that you feel a sense of accomplishment because that feeling will motivate you to take on another challenge.

What did I learn about myself last year?

Some say that if you aren't failing, you aren't learning. So this question really is "what did I fail at last year?" The lessons we learn from the mistakes we make are valuable because they reveal the real opportunity for change.

An all-or-nothing approach to a healthy diet reveals an issue that needs to be understood.

After eating "perfectly" for a few days, do you "reward" yourself with something unhealthy like sugar, alcohol or junk food, sabotaging any real progress toward better health.

Maybe a friend or family member is critical of your efforts to improve yourself, fearful of being left behind. Which brings us to...

What am I willing to leave behind?

Have you ever done this: packing a suitcase to return home from a vacation, you realize that because you did some shopping, there isn't enough room to take everything you came with so you leave some things behind. You choose what's useless or weighing you down: magazines & books you read on the beach, that old pair of shoes that you replaced, maybe even some toiletries you can do without. Certainly that bathrobe you hoped was complimentary (it never is).

What will you leave behind in 2016?

Habits that make you feel worthless, people who bring you down, chronic complaining and certainly the fear of being in better health than anyone else you know.

Diet soda? Out.

Beer? No.

Fast food? Gone.

You really can say goodbye to things in your life that are hurting you, leaving room to welcome new habits, new people and new foods that nourish you.

Any voyage requires a glance or two in the rear view mirror from time to time. But real progress is made when you focus on your destination.

Here's an exercise that will help you focus on the good things.

Each month write down something you did that you're proud of, a place you visited for the first time or a great new recipe you mastered. Write down a meaningful experience you had with someone important to you. Toss the note into a jar on your desk and at the end of the year read them as you celebrate yet another miraculous trip around the sun a year from now.

#New Year resolutions health self-improvement #habits

What's New? Setting Yourself Up to Win

Marie Antoinette is credited with saying that "there's nothing new, only the things we've forgotten" or something close to that. In French, of course.

The point is that you already know what to do to feel better: eat clean, stop drinking, be nice and sleep deeply.

The knowing is the easy part. The doing is where it gets choppy.

Many resolutions will be made and broken over the next few weeks, leading to disappointment and despair. Don't get involved in that game. Start each day with the intention to care for yourself and those around you and do good work.

If you hit that mark more often than not, you win.

Like a baseball player.

Never, ever, ever give up.

#New Year resolutions health self-improvement

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Butternut Squash - Sweet Potato Soup: Orange is the New Black!

Let's face it, ever since Mario Batali rocked those orange crocs in the kitchen orange stands for chic cuisine.

This bright orange soup comes together quickly and satisfies your sweet tooth and your savory cravings at the same time.

Here it is in short:

WHAT

3 cups peeled and chopped butternut squash

2 cups sweet potato

3 chopped shallots

2 tbsp butter

6 cups bone broth

1 tbsp ground cumin

1 tbsp smoked paprika

1 can organic coconut milk

salt to taste

HOW

Sauté the squash, sweet potato and shallots in butter until slightly softened, about 5 minutes.

Add the cumin and smoked paprika and stir to coat the vegetables.

Add the broth and simmer over low heat until vegetables are soft, 15-20 minutes.

Let cool slightly and then purée in a blender until smooth, adding coconut milk to each batch. Return to the stockpot, heat through and season with salt to taste.

Garnish (or not) with toasted coconut flakes, cilantro leaves or toasted cashews.

#soup #squash

CH, CH, CH... Chocolate Cherry Chia! Muffins

I saved the best for last in the Muffin-Madness series. These are a real treat but you can still feel good about eating these moist muffins with a mug of herbal tea.

The fiber comes from the chia seeds (which give a little texture) and the coconut flour (so they're gluten-free but no one will complain) and although you can easily leave the chocolate chips out, they seal the deal. If you really want to go crazy, add the cocoa powder. When you buy high-quality, mold-tested cacao products, they amp up the antioxidant factor in the most delicious way. This is the best one I've found.

Chocolate Cherry Chia Muffins

(NO DAIRY/ NO GLUTEN / HIGH FIBER)

WHAT

Dry Ingredients:

1 CUP ORGANIC COCONUT FLOUR

1/2 TSP SEA SALT

1 TSP BAKING SODA

1/4 CUP CHIA SEEDS

Wet Ingredients:

1/4 CUP PURE MAPLE SYRUP

1 CUP COCONUT (OR ALMOND) MILK

6 EGGS

1/4 CUP COCONUT OIL (MELTED)

4 TSP VANILLA EXTRACT (OR 2 TSP VANILLA POWDER)

Other Ingredients:

1 CUP ORGANIC CHERRIES*, CHOPPED

1/2 CUP BITTERSWEET DARK CHOCOLATE CHIPS

HOW

PREHEAT OVEN TO 350°F & LINE A MUFFIN TIN WITH PAPERS.

SIFT DRY INGREDIENTS TOGETHER IN A BOWL.

IN A BLENDER, COMBINE WET INGREDIENTS AND BLEND UNTIL SMOOTH.

ADD WET INGREDIENTS TO DRY AND STIR UNTIL COMBINED.

STIR IN CHERRIES AND CHOCOLATE CHIPS.

FILL MUFFIN CUPS.

BAKE AT 350 FOR 25-30 MINUTES.

*Cascadian Farm frozen organic cherries are my favorite.

#Baking #Muffins #Cherry #Gluten-free

Coping With Seasonal Allergies

Sneezing and wheezing?

Before you head to the drug store for relief, check your food choices and other habits to see if you can cut your body a break.

Allergies are an inflammatory response to environmental triggers so the first thing to do is limit your exposure to these triggers.

FIX FOOD FIRST

1. AVOID FOODS THAT CAUSE INFLAMMATION

This is a great time to eliminate gluten, dairy and sugar to give your body a break. Your immune system will thank you and you will have more energy to fight off the other offenders like leaf mold.

2. EAT FOODS THAT CALM INFLAMMATION

Bone broth, dark leafy greens, pasture-raised meats, wild-caught salmon, nuts and berries are the best.

3. DRINK GOOD FOOD

This is the time of year that juicing fruits and vegetables make the most sense. The harvest is in and prices are low. Aim for quercetin-rich foods like apples, spinach, garlic, cherries and plums combined with chard, celery, cucumber, ginger and lemon. Only organic, always.

START SUPPLEMENTING NEXT

1. MULTI VITAMIN/MINERAL

Symptoms are a result of deficiencies and toxicities. Fill the gaps efficiently with a high-quality multi. Liquid or capsule form is best, not a Costco tablet. The best multi-vitamins must be taken several times a day and have expiration dates

2. PROBIOTIC

The importance of a healthy gut cannot be overstated. if you are suffering with allergies it means your gut needs help. Start by populating it with good bacteria to fight off infection and strengthen your immunity. Eat a forkful of lacto-fermented vegetables like kimchi or raw sauerkraut a few times a day, even better.

3. FISH OIL

Omega 3 fats lower inflammation and are strongly linked to reduced hay-fever symptoms.

4. VITAMIN C

The perennial favorite of Nobel prize winner Linus Pauling, all the smart docs and grandmothers everywhere. Buffered ascorbic acid - or a liposomal form is best, if an IV infusion is not available to you. If you just do one thing, order THIS and take it as directed.

MAKE THESE NEW HABITS

1. TAKE A SHOWER BEFORE BED EVERY NIGHT

Your hair and skin catch environmental allergens all day long and then you breathe them in all night. Keep your sleep as clean as possible.

2. SAUNA OR STEAM A FEW TIMES A WEEK

These tools help you clear congestion with heat therapy and boost your nervous system, which is under assault by the chronic stress of allergens.

3. RINSE YOUR EYES AND NOSE REGULARLY

Use an old-fashioned eye cup and a Neti pot. If eye drops and tissues are the best you can do, at least get homeopathic type.

If you do all of these things and still feel lousy, take heart that winter's coming, and you are better prepared to fight the flu with all of these strategies in place. ;)

#allergies #inflammation

Leaf Wraps are the New Sandwich!

Summer just isn’t summer without tomato sandwiches.

BLT’s to be exact. But if you’re avoiding grains, there goes the bread and how in the world do you make a BLT without bread?

Here’s how:

Roll all those luscious ingredients (garden-ripened tomatoes, crisp bacon and chopped lettuce) in a cabbage or broccoli leaf! Here's a chicken salad version ready to roll:

Don’t forget the mayonnaise recipe I sent over last month - it’s mandatory! You can find it HERE if you missed it.

A cabbage leaf - are you kidding me?

Not even a little bit. No stick-to-your-teeth gummy rice flour gluten-free bread spiking my insulin and sending me into a 3pm must.have.coffee. crash. Those days are lonnng gone, and so are the extra pounds, thank you very much.

Using leaves as wraps instead of flour tortillas (skillfully re-branded bread) is great way to add more plants to your daily diet and more nutrition (including fiber). Works well for boiled or scrambled eggs and chicken or tuna salad too.

Give it a try - today a very large leaf of savoy cabbage wrapped me up in BLT goodness and half an avocado sealed the deal. So good!

#grain free #gluten free #summer cooking

Mandatory MAYO Recipe

FACT: tomatoes are only tasty in the Summer. And when they're ripe, they are one of the best fruits of the season.

The antioxidant lycopene in tomatoes is better absorbed with fat. So olive oil is the obvious choice when gazpacho, bruschetta or tomato salad is on the menu but there are times that it just won't do.

I've been all over the block with mayonnaise recipes and frankly, I don't want my mayo to taste like olives. Sorry, aioli.

So here's the best I've done so far to avoid Hellman's inflammatory, GMO soybean oil spread:

WHAT

1 whole pastured egg

2 tbsp fresh lemon juice

1/2 tsp dry mustard

1/2 tsp salt

1 1/4 cups avocado oil (almost zero flavor)

HOW

Add the egg, lemon juice, mustard and salt to a small food processor or blender and

ALLOW TO COME TO ROOM TEMPERATURE.

Pulse briefly to combine. With the machine running, add the oil VERY, VERY SLOWLY and continue blending until it is slightly thickened.

This step should take 3 WHOLE MINUTES.

Do not skimp on this step or it will not be mayonnaise.

If you can do better, let me know. If you want to get fancy, add a few basil leaves to the mix.

Food Pyramid revised: the 4 Food Truth Food Groups

Although I love 70's fashion and music (think bell-bottoms and Tom Petty), not everything that went down in that decade worked out so well.

Let's face it, perms and the Food Pyramid were fails. The presumed concept behind the Food pyramid was good: eat a variety of foods in the right proportions. Too bad it was funded by industry and the proportions were off: too much grain and sugar and not enough nourishing fats.

We got fat and sick and the processed food companies got rich.

Before that we had the popular "Basic 4" food groups:

FRUITS & VEGETABLES, CEREALS & BREADS, MILK and MEAT.

The 4 Food Truth Food Groups are a revision of that tired old model and here they are for your consideration:

PLANTS

It's well documented and understood that plants are nourishing to us for their micronutrients and fiber. But consider how sustainable they are as well. If you leave some of the plant when you harvest, it will keep producing continually throughout the season and then produce seeds in order to grow more next year.

This miraculous process is mentioned with the Divine endorsement of plants as food in the first chapter of the Bible (Genesis 1:29). "Then God said: "Here I have given to you every seed-bearing plant that is on the entire earth and every tree with seed-bearing fruit. Let them serve as food for you."" There it is: immense variety and sustainability to keep our bodies running bright and beautiful.

PROTEINS

Muscle tissue is fundamentally protein and thus needs the building blocks of protein to regenerate. While plants contain these essential amino acids in small quantities, animal proteins provide more bioavailable components. The same can be true of certain vitamins as well**. Although most cuts of meat are muscle tissue, the most nutritious parts of an animal may be the ones that get ignored these days. The nutrient-dense organs (named "offal") were traditionally considered the most desirable but in the last 100 years they have become very unpopular and are often regarded as "awful". However, there is compelling reason to eat the liver, heart, kidneys, even tongue and brains of healthy pastured or wild animals because of the rich stores of bioavailable vitamins and minerals they contain. Also, joint-strengthening glucosamine in broth made from the bones stimulates collagen production for healthy skin, hair, nails and arteries.

Admittedly, these are not your mother's food groups... (most likely she would shriek at the FATS group) but the 4 food groups in this model are the most nutritious foods to seek out for optimal health.

FATS

Healthy fats are crucial to skin and brain health, hormone production and absorption of fat soluble vitamins (A, D, E, K). And by the way, fat tastes really good too. Why? Perhaps it's the viscosity, the "mouthfeel" or that the fatty acids bind to the sweet, sour, salty, bitter and umami receptors on your tongue, enhancing these flavors. Food doped with MSG will enhance your perception of flavor too and stimulate your appetite for more and more and more... (think Doritoes) but healthy fats satisfy your appetite while enhancing flavor naturally (think buttered vegetables).

FRUITS

Before the mass production and shipping of food, you would wait until the peach tree bore its succulent fruit in Summer or the apples turned red in the Fall before enjoying every last one until the following year. Nuts fell from trees once a year and plants produced seeds to gather up on occasion as well. You would have to compete with the squirrels to gather enough to store up for the months ahead.

This scarcity and biodiversity was probably better for us nutritionally than our current pattern of eating where most things are amply available year round and we tend to eat the same things constantly. I've heard the argument that this type of eating is to blame for our foods sensitivities. It's plausible, though there are probably other reasons as well.

What I know for sure is that blueberries grown in hothouses under artificial lights in petroleum-based fertilizer and shipped thousands of miles in plastic containers to your supermarket cannot compare to the ones you pluck from the stem warm in July. That's the real argument for seasonal eating.

Here they are again, in short:

PLANTS

including the nutrient-dense leaves, shoots and roots.

PROTEINS

from pastured or wild animals and fish.

FATS

nourishing natural fats, not hydrogenated man made fats.

FRUITS, NUTS & SEEDS

the parts of a plant produced occasionally that should be eaten occasionally or in small quantities.

*This model omits the BREAD & CEREAL category altogether because grains have become problematic for many and are implicated in a number of issues like inflammation, the precursor to disease and weight gain leading to metabolic syndrome and obesity.

**For example, only animal products contain true vitamin A (retinol). Carotenoids and retinoids found in fruits and vegetables must be converted in the digestive tract. See the book "Deep Nutrition" by Catherine Shanahan, MD, p.140.

#meat #protein #Food Pyramid

BEST KALE SALAD EVER

Kale is enjoying a long run as the darling of greens these days and I'm a fan - especially of the bluish-green variety called lacinato, or "dinosaur kale". But I'm tiring of the usual garlicky dressings so here's something new: use cashew butter and lime juice for a tangy, sorta sweet and creamy dressing!

Accessorized with toasted pumpkin seeds and cilantro, bring this to any picnic and share the spotlight with kale, the star of the show.

BEST KALE SALAD

Toss these vegetables together in a bowl:

3 cups torn kale leaves (use the stalks for soup) massaged* with 1 tbsp fresh lime juice

1 cup finely sliced red cabbage

1 large carrot, peeled into ribbons

Combine these in a small food processor or blender until smooth and creamy:

3 tbsp cashew butter (almond butter would work too)

1 tbsp lime juice

1 tbsp fresh ginger

2 tbsp hot water

1 tbsp coconut aminos

Top the salad with these after mixing thoroughly with the dressing:

1/4 cup chopped fresh cilantro

1/2 cup toasted pumpkin seeds

*This is real, the lime juice tenderizes the kale.

Why I Don't Eat Wheat

A few years ago I accepted the challenge to "get off grain" and felt immediate benefits: fewer headaches, cravings and crashes. And joy of joys, the stubborn 10 melted away!

I shut the door on wheat but let it swing open from time to time for other (organic, non-GMO) grains like corn. That happens less frequently now because I find them unappealing and co-reactive (I get symptoms).

No celiac or antibody tesing was necessary to tell me that I feel better without wheat in my diet. Then came Dr. William Davis and the Wheat Belly revolution with a backlash from Bread Heads far and wide.

I get it. Bread is delicious and we love it. There is no denying the intoxicating effect of those gluteo-morphine... but I've already been down that road in other bread-bashing posts so I won't go there.

Should everyone stop eating wheat forever?

Who knows. What I do know is that right now I feel better without it and you can do yourself a favor by taking a 3 week break from it to see if it's hurting you.

I also know that eating wheat makes you hungry.

Restaurant owners know this too. That's why they serve you free bread before you order your meal. You never "fill up on the bread" as you fear but instead, it stimulates your appetite and you usually order and eat more.

I just learned WHY from top health researcher Sayer Ji.

He says there is a little "thorn" in wheat called wheat germ agglutinin (WGA). This is a wheat protein that blocks the leptin receptor in the hypothalamus. Leptin is the hormone that tells you "that's enough, stop eating". If you have trouble knowing when to stop eating you may likely have developed "leptin resistance".

Remember that wheat is a grass. Do you know who eats grass non-stop, all day long?

Cows. And it works for them to be hungry all day long.

Cows have 4 stomachs and digest in a much different way than we do. One of the problems with wheat for us is the indigestible protein that blocks absorption of other nutrients. Gluten is the most commonly indicted of these troublesome proteins in wheat but there are many more.

In fact, Sayer Ji cites 215 problems with wheat from the research references. If you want the details, check out mindbodygreen.com

For now I'll leave you with this thought. The word for the human eating disorder that involves chronic overeating and binging on food is "bulimia" which literally means "hungry like a cow".

That should give you something to chew on!

#gluten #wheat #bulimia

Chili for a chilly night. Andy's venison, Erica's tomatillos and my puréed pumpkin - all harvested last Fall! #littleredhen #locavore #nobeans #paleochili (at Catskill Mountains)

#paleochili #locavore #littleredhen #nobeans

Eat less and move more to GAIN weight ?

Losing weight is simple, right? Which is why most people are effortlessly thin and when you put on a few pounds all you have to do is eat less and move more. Sounds perfectly logical and yet nothing could be farther from the truth. Why?

When you eat less, you get hungry, and after you exercise (move more) you get hungry.

So what can you do? That's the million dollar question isn't it? Actually, weight loss is a billion dollar industry and there is obviously not one simple answer that works for everyone.

To understand how to lose your extra weight, you need to understand how you gained it.

If you're thinking that you've just eaten too much, you are most likely wrong. Don't you know a skinny person who eats more than you do and manages to stay thin?

There are many factors that contribute to weight gain but the big 3 in my book are sugar, starch and chemicals. This is a key takeaway because although each of us has a unique biological story, we have enough in common to apply some general guidelines and get the needle on the scale moving in the right direction.

1. SUGAR

By now, everyone accepts that sugar isn't helping you in any real way, except to please your palate for a few seconds. Search "sugar" on this site and you will find all sorts of caustic comments about the corrosive nature of sugar and how it rusts you from the inside out.

For now just accept that the more sugar you eat, the more you will want.

And the more you want, the more you will eat and the fatter you will be.

I wish it wasn't true but I didn't write the rules. I love tasty sweets too but I love them even more when I do not have them very often.

2. STARCH

That means all grain: bread, crackers, cookies, flours, rice, all the things you love and feel like you can never live without. If you are a client of mine, you remember the resistance you felt when you first heard me say that grains are addictive, fattening and nutritionally-bankrupt. You searched for loopholes and played around with quinoa until you couldn't stand looking at it anymore.

I'm telling you that it's easier to just stop playing the grain game for a while to see what happens.

I won't launch into a gluten discussion or debate the virtues of amaranth and quinoa here and now. I'll just tell you dogmatically that if you get off grain for a while you will quickly discover how much starch is part of your personal weight gain story. For that matter, starchy vegetables like potatoes aren't helping either.

3. CHEMICALS

This is a biggie. As difficult as it is to break up with sugar and starch, avoiding chemicals is nearly impossible.

You know that industrial agriculture has taken over the world scene and in order to produce mass quantities of food, pesticides and fungicides and herbicides are used. Large-scale animal production necessitates the use of chemically-treated feed (grains again) besides the use of synthetic hormones and antibiotics to plump up those animals to bring them to market sooner.

Did you catch that? When animals are given antibiotics and synthetic hormones, they gain weight.

It's part of a strategy called "feed efficiency" which helps bring animals to slaughter 30% faster. So only eat animal foods (meat and dairy) from animals that were pasture-raised.

Chemicals make animals fat and chemicals make us fat.

The mechanisms are complex but here's how I see it: when you ingest chemicals (in food, air, water and through the skin from beauty products and fragrances) your body knows to preserve your brain and vital organs from damage, those nasty chemicals need to be wrapped up and stored in your fat. One theory is that weight loss resistance occurs because the body is reluctant to release these toxins back into the bloodstream and will instead slow down metabolism when you restrict calories to keep you from harm.

What can you do to lose weight safely?

Take another look at the list of 3 things that make you gain weight and get them out of your diet.

Give your body the most nourishing and clean real food you can afford and some time to heal. You didn't gain that weight in 3 weeks and it won't be gone in 3 weeks. But you can start to feel better immediately, and when your body starts to trust that you are going to feed it real food instead of insulting it constantly with chemicals, it will start to cooperate with you.

If you're on Rx drugs, your climb will be steep because they are chemicals and most are taken very day, sometimes many times a day. Do what you can to counteract the effects that they are having on your weight by eating well and research the possibility of tapering or eliminating them with trusted, trained guidance.

So here it is again, in a nutshell. If you want to lose weight you need to understand how you gained weight (see above list). Then do the opposite. Of course, being active, getting good sleep and having fun and sun are helpful too but this place is called Food Truth.

1. Stop Eating Sugar

2. Get Off Grain

3. Eat Real Food

Staying slim really is 80% food and 20% exercise. I'm living proof. Because of an injury, I was out of commission for several months and pretty sedentary but I stuck to my good eating style and my weight only fluctuated 3-5 pounds, like it always does. Once I started moving around more and did a little (very little) weight training, I got some muscle tone back. And come to think of it, I also got hungrier.

Like Mark Sisson famously says in the epic film CarbLoaded: "You can't exercise away a bad diet". I heard Dr. Mark Hyman say it again very recently too and tell his own related story.

Check these lean guys out:

The film is on HULU and Dr. Hyman's new book "Eat Fat, Get Thin" is awesome. I'm listening to it now in the car and find it as entertaining as it is informative. It's not rocket science, it's real life.

#how to really lose weight #Mark Hyman

Broccoli Bone Broth

Yes, I know broccoli doesn't have bones... but bear with me and I'll tell you about this ultimate fast food and your life will go from good to great in a few easy steps.

Lately, bone broth is all the rage. What used to be considered a critical first step to any real cooking is now the toniest warm beverage. For those in the know, it is the ultimate fast food: full of nourishment and sippable. Don't be bitter, Starbucks, you had your run.

The first Food Truth Bone Broth Reboot program just ended and the results are in: flatter bellies, smoother skin, flex-ier joints, and the local farmers are out of bones. Most of us are taking our broth obsession with us beyond the program because we feel too good not to. Making a weekly batch of broth means that you always have a snack or mobile meal and that your rice or soups will be extra flavorful and nutritious.

Now back to the broccoli broth. It's soup. I admit it. But since there is no cream or cheese or anything else that makes it questionable for consumption, I prefer to rename it "broccoli broth" so you can feel free to indulge any time, all the time.

Here goes, another recipe that is more difficult to type out than it is to make, but that's how I roll.

BROCCOLI BROTH

In a large stockpot, melt 1 tbsp pastured butter and sauté:

1 large onion, peeled and coarsely chopped

4 large carrots, peeled and coarsely chopped

1 celery heart or 4 stalks, washed and coarsely chopped

Next, add 2 tbsp Bragg seasoning or dried herbs of your choice cook for a minute or so.

Add 2 quarts homemade bone broth (find recipe here) and bring to a boil.

Add 6 cups frozen organic broccoli and continue to cook until broccoli is thawed and vegetables are soft, about 15 minutes.

Remove from the heat and let it cool slightly. In batches, purée in a blender to the consistency you like best. Season with salt and pepper to taste and drink from a mug any time of day for a nourishing snack or meal!

Yes, it really is that easy. And fast. You can even take with you in a travel thermos. No more excuses and no more fast food drive-through windows!

Fast, nourishing and delicious.

What's So Awful About Offal?

"Offal" is the word used to describe the internal organs of an animal (everything except the muscle and the bone). When I mention organ meats like liver, kidney or heart as the more nutritious option to tenderloin and chops, most people recoil in horror. And yet, a side by side comparison reveals that liver (from a healthy animal only of course) is perhaps one of the most super foods on earth.

CHECK THE FACTS HERE

Vegans and meat eaters alike don't merely scrunch their noses but actually freak out when confronted with chicken feet, pig's ears or other unfamiliar parts and pieces of commonly eaten animals. These cuts are very much out of style for most of us these days and it's no surprise since they require a bit more culinary prowess than flipping a burger on the grill. But I buy the argument that it's worth learning how to cook "offal" because it's a big bang for your buck and if you have a slow cooker (crockpot) there's no easier meal to make.

Today I'm simmering 2 pig's feet with bay leaves, an onion, celery, red pepper flakes and 1/2 cup white vinegar. Assembly time: less than 5 minutes. Simmering time: 3 hours.

Tonight I'll trim the meat from the bones, add it to some wilted baby kale and collard greens and serve with mashed sweet potatoes. A succulent meal for two in under 15 minutes for less than $5.

Not a small point: these pig's feet came directly from my farmer so I trust that the animal was pasture-raised (as all of his animals are) and humanely treated to the last. It seems wasteful not to use all parts of the animal and, as a culinary bonus, the "offal" is very tasty.

The heart, for instance, is mineral-y in flavor but when soaked in milk, it becomes very tender and delicious. My favorite way to prepare it is in a Moroccan-inspired braise from the cookbook mentioned below. I've used beef, elk and venison hearts and served it many times simply calling it "beef" so as not to set off a firestorm of protest.

My absolute favorite cookbook for inspiring recipes in this category is called "ODD BITS - How to Cook the Rest of the Animal" by Jennifer McLagan. Much more than an ordinary cookbook, Odd Bits delves into the nuances of these unusual meats and inspires with tantalizing tales (pun intended) of their historical use. Everything old is new again!

Check it out on Amazon HERE.

#organ meats #offal

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