Critical MAS

Nourishing Kitchen

Sep 2nd, 2010

by MAS.

This morning I looked around my kitchen and saw just how far down the path of nourishing food I’ve gone. Nourishing is a term I borrowed from the Sally Fallon book Nourishing Traditions. It is a cookbook that teaches you how to prepare food in the manner that cultures did prior to modern times. Our ancestors knew out how to prepare meals in a healthy manner without microwaves or even refrigeration. It is time we relearned that knowledge.

Let me take you on a mini tour of my kitchen to explain what I mean.

Soaking and Drying Almonds

Almonds and other nuts have anti-nutrient properties called enzyme inhibitors that can be tough on your digestive system. By soaking nuts overnight in water with a little sea salt, you can neutralize those enzyme inhibitors. This action leads to increase in vitamin absorption.

Source: The Nourishing Gourmet – Soaking Nuts

The almonds are drying in a food dehydrator and will be ready tomorrow morning. That is when I’ll be doing pecans!

Kombucha – Continuous Brewer

Kombucha is a fermented tea with a trace amount of alcohol. Besides being a refreshing beverage it is believed to have health benefits including probiotics.

Can you see the SCOBY (Symbiotic Culture of Bacteria and Yeast)?

Kimchi

I’ve been making kimchi for months. I love it. I’m currently on the last day of my latest fermentation. I ran out of Korean dried chili flakes, so I tried some Thai chili peppers in this one.

Sprouting Garbanzo Beans

Beans are loaded with anti-nutrients. Too much for this post, but the way to prepare beans is to get the beans to lower their plant defenses so the nutrients can be absorbed. Primitive cultures have figured out that soaking and sprouting beans accomplishes this. I am going to make some hummus tomorrow. I expect these garbanzo beans will be sprouting by then.

Waking Up My Kefir Grains

Frequent commenter DHammy recently sent me some kefir grains. My first batch was a little thin. My second batch was better. Later today I will start batch number 3. Third time is a charm, right? Kefir is a fermented milk drink that is loaded with many strains of healthy bacteria. I’ve heard of people that have had amazing health benefits after adding kefir to their diet. Kefir is the extreme version of yogurt.

Why?

Our food is too dead and too processed. Learning how to prepare foods in a traditional manner and how to restore positive gut flora will help your health. Two books that will help you on this journey are Nourishing Traditions and Wild Fermentation.

Posted in: Nutrition.
Tagged: beans · fermentation · kefir · kimchi · nuts
2 comments

The Vegetarian Myth

Sep 1st, 2010

by MAS.

4 comments

I wish this book was around when I first looked into starting a vegetarian diet.

The Vegetarian Myth: Food, Justice, and Sustainability by Lierre Keith is a good book from a 20 year vegan that returned to meat. The author writes in a highly respectful and caring voice to those readers that may be following a vegetarian diet. The book covers environmental issues, nutrition, mental health and the politics of big agriculture. It is not preachy at all. It is written in a conversational yet informative manner.

This book is not perfect. For some reason there is no index in the back of the book. I’ll never understand why an editor to a non-fiction book would exclude an index. If I want to revisit the pages on serotonin and tryptophan, I have to thumb through each page hoping those words catch my eye. I would hope that if there is a second edition that an index is added. I also didn’t like the last chapter. Instead of being a concise summary, it was just a rambling incoherent dialog with feminist opinions that seems completely out of place in a book on food. If you read this book, skip the last chapter.

Despite the last chapter, I think this is a very good resource for someone that is considering or having doubts about their vegetarian diet. This book is your second opinion. Because our diet can be our identity, we tend to seek out information that confirms instead of challenging our choices. This is called confirmation bias. It can be dangerous not to test your assumptions, especially if your early ones are incorrect.

It ain’t what you don’t know that gets you into trouble. It’s what you know for sure that just ain’t so. – Mark Twain

If you don’t have the time to read this book, let me point you to two podcast interviews the author did about the Vegetarian Myth.

Primal Body, Primal Mind Podcast – Scroll down to May 5, 2010.

Former 20-Year Vegan Lierre Keith Now Advocates Omnivorism (Episode 334) – Interview with Jimmy Moore.

Posted in: Nutrition.
Tagged: bias · podcast · vegetarian
4 comments

Diet as Identity

Aug 31st, 2010

by MAS.

3 comments

I love learning about nutrition and I love sharing what I’ve learned with others. What I don’t want to do is attack another person’s diet as being wrong. There are a couple of reasons. The first is that I may be wrong. I’ve been wrong in the past, so it is possible that I’ll be wrong in the future. The second reason is that people tend to wrap their identity in the food choices they make. When you attack their diet, it is seen as an attack on them. If I call your diet dumb that can come across as me calling you dumb. I don’t want to be in that position.

Not respecting someones dietary choice, even if it is highly unhealthy, does not open a dialog about alternate nutritional strategies. I also believe that slow minor changes can lead to permanent lasting health benefits. So attacking someone about their diet is not only disrespectful, it is not necessary.

Elvis Recipe: Fried Peanut Butter and Banana Sandwich

Diet is a lot like politics. Everyone thinks they are right and the other side is clueless. After after all the yelling and debating, nobody changes their opinion. They walk away angry and more firmly entrenched in their opinion than when they started. By respecting someone for making a conscious decision to improve their health via diet – even if I disagree with that choice – means I can have conversations and not debates.

Posted in: Nutrition.
Tagged: respect
3 comments

Summer is Not the Season To Lean Out

Aug 30th, 2010

by MAS.

4 comments

In the past two weeks I have heard the disappointed voices of a few friends that were doing so well on their diets until summer came. Then all their progress stalled. I’m here to offer some encouragement. Summer is not the season to lean out. Winter is. Let me explain.

Long days tell the brain that it is summer. Summer is the season where carbohydrates are most plentiful. Our evolutionary design is similar to other mammals. For survival purposes we gain fat before winter comes, because once winter arrives there will be less daylight and fewer sources of carbohydrates.

Summertime in Sequim, WA

The book Lights Out: Sleep, Sugar and Survival helped me understand the role seasons play on the hormones and how that effects the body. Because winter brings the possibility of famine, during the summer we all have an instinctive carbohydrate craving to store fat for hibernation and scarcity.

Modern vanity is the exact opposite of our evolutionary past. We allow ourselves to get fat from holiday parties, comforted in the fact that we can hide our winter weight underneath coats and sweaters. Then at the first sign of spring, the modern man decides it is time to get lean. Only at this point, the brain gets the signal that the days are longer and it is time to eat more carbohydrates. And every year we get a little bit heavier.

Since we now have an endless supply of food and there really isn’t a need to fatten up before winter, what should we do? My solution this summer has been to double my weight lifting, eat the occasional ice cream and take a break from intermittent fasting. In other words, I am not fighting it. I will use the growth signal and direct it towards muscle gain.

If you were successful dieting this summer – congrats. If not, don’t fret it. Your body was designed to gain fat during the summer. The time to get lean is approaching.

Posted in: Nutrition.
Tagged: evolutionary · hormones · seasons
4 comments