Author Archives: primalgirl


About primalgirl

Tara Grant is an author, speaker, spokesperson and mother of two who has had tremendous success with the Primal lifestyle. Her new book The Hidden Plague: A Field Guide for Overcoming & Surviving Hidradenitis Suppurativa will be available in 2013 through Primal Blueprint Publishing. Tara attends PrimalCon each year as a presenter and will be volunteering at the 2013 Ancestral Health Symposium in Atlanta, Georgia in August. She is the new spokesperson for Farmer Goose, a family-run farm in the Phoenix area that practices multi-species grazing and offers grass fed beef. Tara currently lives in Phoenix, Arizona with her husband Derek and their two boys Taylor & Gibson.

Primalgirl Cooks: Paleo Pasta Part Two

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PastaAustin and Houston were amazing, thanks for asking! Okay, you didn’t ask, you’re waiting for the pasta recipe. Sorry to those of you on the East Coast, I promised you dinner for Monday night. I forgot about the time difference and the ass-pain of airport security. To those on the West Coast, you’re welcome. O_o

Here goes. Hopefully you made your sweet potato, yam or plantain flour. If you didn’t, you can experiment with other flours such as rice, quinoa, sorghum, finely milled almond flour, or other gluten-free flours that you’ve found don’t give you gastric distress. The basic recipe is as follows:

Paleo Pasta

Ingredients

  • 140 grams sweet potato flour or a combination of flours.
    (Please see note below if using almond flour.)
  • 60 grams tapioca starch
  • 2 egg yolks
  • 4 whole eggs
  • 1 tsp salt

Note: If you want to use almond flour, I suggest making the following changes with regards to flour, unless you want to add xantham gum and/or guar gum to help the pasta hold together. All the other ingredients (eggs and salt) remain the same. Almond flour is not starchy at all and doesn’t absorb the liquid from the eggs very well. This causes a couple different problems. First off, if you simply follow the regular recipe and just substitute some almond flour, your dough will be wet and sticky. If you don’t use finely milled almond flour, or you use too much, your dough will have chunks in it and it will break apart if you try to roll it out too thin.

Option 1
Option 2
• 120 grams starchy flour
• 40 grams almond flour
• Extra tapioca or arrowroot powder for rolling out the dough
• 100 grams starchy flour
• 40 grams almond flour
• 80 grams tapioca starch
• Extra tapioca or arrowroot powder for rolling out the dough

Directions

Get your water boiling. I like to add salt and olive oil to the water, but I’m not sure it’s terribly necessary.

If you have a stand mixer, add all the dry ingredients to the bowl and blend to combine. If you’re using a regular mixing bowl, whisk or use a fork instead. (For the following steps, imagine your hands are the stand mixer’s paddle and just follow along. Go wash your hands first, though.)

Make a well in the center of the flour and dump the eggs in. Blend with the stand mixer or use a fork until it’s mostly combined. (You can finish it off when you knead it.)

Turn the dough out onto a clean, flat working surface, lightly dusted with tapioca, arrowroot or other flour if your dough is a little sticky. Knead it by hand until it’s smooth. If it feels a little dry, you can add a teaspoon of olive oil. It’s it’s too wet, add a sprinkle of whatever flour you want until it’s perfect. Your dough should feel silky and smooth and should not be sticky.

I like to wrap the dough in plastic wrap to keep it from drying out. You won’t be able to roll it all out at once and it will dry out and crack if you just leave it sitting on the counter.

Either use a rolling pin and roll out about 1/4 of the dough as thinly as you can, or put small chunks of it through your pasta roller until it’s the desired thickness. Because this has eggs in it, it puffs up a bit when you cook it. If you don’t get it pretty thin, you’re going to have very thick pasta. It will take longer to cook and you may not be happy with the result.

Cut the pasta to your desired shape, using a pastry wheel, an attachment on your pasta roller or a plain old knife. If you’re making spaghetti or other long noodles, it helps to use a pasta drying rack to keep them from sticking together. However, when I started out, I simply used a cookie sheet and separated layers of pasta with wax paper. I DO love my pasta rack, though. It’s way faster and easier. Once you’ve got them hanging up, or lying flat but separated, it’s okay if they start to dry out.


To cook the pasta, put it in boiling water and cook for about 3 minutes. Ravioli will take a little longer, approximately 6 minutes. Once it has started to float towards the surface, take a piece out and taste it. Act quickly — pasta like this can quickly turn from perfect to mush if you’re not careful. Once it’s done, drain and serve with your favorite sauce.

I’ll be posting pictures of my ravioli on Facebook and Twitter tomorrow, once I get my husband up out of bed and he finds the camera for me. I’ll also try to post a recipe for my pumpkin sage cream sauce soon for those of you that are nightshade free.

Enjoy! I hope this works as well for your family as it has for mine. I’d love to hear about your experiences, the different flours you used and what you thought of the recipe in the comments.

Primalgirl Cooks: Paleo Pasta Part One

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For those of you that caught my tweet the other day, you’ll know that I have come up with a Paleo pasta recipe.

That’s right: PASTA. I’m not talking zucchini noodles, spaghetti squash or those disgusting  zero-carb shirataki noodles that smell like fish. I’m talking real, honest-to-goodness pasta that you can turn into lasagna, spaghetti, fettuccine, ravioli or whatever the hell you want.

It’s grain-free, gluten-free, guar and xantham gum free and 100% Paleo. It does take a bit of work though, but trust me when I say it’s worth it.

This whole adventure started when George Bryant over at www.civilizedcavemancooking.com posted a recipe for beef bacon ravioli. I’ve been missing Italian food something fierce lately so I eagerly clicked on the link. To my dismay, I discovered that George hadn’t made the pasta himself, but had gotten it from Capello’s Gluten Free Products and that it was $55.00 for 4 12-oz packages. Not only can I not afford $55 for pasta that will make approximately 2-3 meals (my kids eat A LOT), but the ingredient list left a little to be desired: almond flour, cage-free eggs, tapioca flour, potato starch, xantham gum, sea salt. My children and I can’t eat potato.

I spent the next two weeks coming up with what I think is the perfect Paleo pasta recipe and although it takes a lot of time and preparation, it does NOT cost $55.00. It’s not low in carbs, but it doesn’t have any gut irritating substances in it. Treat it like a moderation food on the Primal diet: you don’t want to start eating it every day but there’s no reason you can’t have it once a week.

I’m about to leave for Texas for a weekend of Primal Transformation Seminars, but before I go, I wanted to leave you guys with the recipe for the flour that you’ll need for the pasta. That gives you all weekend to play around and make the flour, and when I get back on Monday, I’ll be posting the full recipe so that you can Paleo Pasta for dinner Monday night.

You’ll also want a couple other things while you’re at it.

Pasta Making Accessories:

  1. a heavy rolling pin or a pasta roller. (I personally opted for the pasta roller after spending hours trying to roll the pasta out thin enough. It’s practically the same price as the rolling pin, after all and sooo much freakin’ faster.)
  2. a pastry wheel or a pizza cutter.
  3. a kitchen scale. I don’t use cups or teaspoons; that way you can substitute whatever flour you want and the recipe will still work.

sweet potatoesAlright: the flour. I have used a ton of different starchy vegetables to make flours and they’ve all worked out great for pasta. So far, I’ve tried jewel yams, Asian/Oriental yams, plantains, purple sweet potatoes and golden sweet potatoes. Taste-wise, I like the jewel yams the best (plus the pasta was bright orange!) but for looks, the Oriental yam won hands down. The flour ends up being white, hence the pasta is a creamy color and looks more like the “real” stuff. The kids loved the purple sweet potato spaghetti — the pasta was purple — but I personally felt like I was eating play dough. Plantain flour works amazingly well, but it has a pretty earthy taste to it and may not be to everyone’s liking. I’m planning on experimenting with taro root, winter squash and pretty much every starchy thing I can get my hands on when I get back. If anyone has already tried these, please let us know in the comments!

Instructions:

  1. Peel your starchy vegetable of choice.
  2. Slice very thinly with a mandolin slicer or carefully with a knife.
  3. Dehydrate until vegetable is completely dried out. (Try snapping a piece in half, if it’s dried all the way through then it’s done. This step doesn’t take as long as you’d think. Mine was done in less than 2 hours. I also tried this in the oven. Set the oven as low as it will go (170 degrees or less) and occasionally crack the door open to let the moisture escape. Keep an eye on the slices and remove when dried. Using an oven for this is more of an art than a science but it can be done.)
  4. Put the dried vegetable into the dry container of a Vitamix, or a good blender. Blend until the vegetable is a smooth flour.
  5. Use and store as you would any other flour. I keep mine in sealed mason jars.

That is it — that is all. A very simple way to make Paleo flour from your favorite starchy vegetables. You’ll need approximately 140 grams of flour (I like to use a couple different kinds — 70 grams or so of each) for the pasta recipe, so make sure you have enough. Whatever you have left over, you can turn into pancakes for Sunday morning breakfast. :) You’ll also need tapioca flour/starch and finely milled almond flour (if you want — almond is optional) in addition to the flour you’ve made so pick them up this weekend if you don’t already have them!

For those of you in the Austin and Houston areas, I hope to see you at the Primal Transformation Seminars this weekend. Otherwise, I’ll be chatting with you Monday when I return.

Oh — you’ll need one final thing: a nice bottle of red wine.

Primalgirl Reads: The Modern No-Nonsense Guide To Paleo by Alison Golden

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alison_goldenbookThe Modern No-Nonsense Guide to Paleo by Alison Golden is available starting today at www.paleononpaleo.com and www.amazon.com!

Finally a book about the HOW of Paleo, not the WHAT. I’ve been Paleo/Primal for four years now but never realized that I had adopted many of the principals Alison mentions in this book without knowing it — if I hadn’t, I wouldn’t have been as successful as I have been.

Lucky for you, Alison has taken the time to write everything down and explain things to increase your chance of success with the Paleo lifestyle.
After the first 30 days, then what? When the “glow” of a new diet or lifestyle wears off, you need some strategies in place to help you to continue along this path, because trust me — it’s not always easy. In this book, you will learn:

* The four keys to paleo success
* Why perfection is the ‘enemy of the good’
* How to create a paleo life that operates on autopilot and why it is important.
* Why willpower is a myth and what to do instead
* How to resist temptation and stay motivated
* How to shop, organize your kitchen and stay on budget
* Ways to live alongside non-paleo family and friends
* Hundreds of strategies for living paleo in a non-paleo world

Move away from recipe books that don’t actually teach you anything except how to follow a recipe and learn how to LIVE a Paleo lifestyle that is right for you. Because if there’s one thing we Paleo veterans have learned, it’s that our lifestyle is completely unique to us and that following meal plans created by other people rarely results in success.

The Modern No-Nonsense Guide to Paleo by Alison Golden is available starting today at www.paleononpaleo.com and www.amazon.com!

Saving Money Living a Primal Lifestyle

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savemoney_growOne of the complaints I hear most from people thinking about adopting a Primal or Paleo lifestyle is that it’s too expensive. Meat costs money. Coconut flour is expensive and hard to find. Organic fruits and vegetables cost more than their conventional counterparts. How do you make this type of lifestyle work on a restricted budget?

I believe that if anyone can answer this question, I can. We are a single income family with two kids. Technically, we’re below the poverty line, since my husband is enlisted in the Air Force. However, we own our own 4000 sq ft home and have two beautiful (working) cars in the driveway. I have enough handbags and shoes to wear different ones every day for six months and we eat grass fed beef, pastured eggs, organic produce, coconut oil, pastured butter and bacon on a daily basis. I shop at Whole Foods, Trader Joes and Sprouts. We have savings accounts with money in them and while the balance on our credit card is a little higher than I’d like it to be, we don’t have any debt that isn’t manageable.

How am I making it work? It seems like an impossible task, doesn’t it? I’ll tell you my secret: I’m damn good with money. And I don’t waste anything.

I received a request for a guest post from someone who wanted to share some money saving tips with you for a Paleo lifestyle (which I’ve included below) but I thought it would be fair if I shared my tips with you as well, as they’re completely different.

Saving-Money1. I’m realistic. Although I know the benefits of grass fed pastured meat, it’s not always available to me at a price I can afford. When my local grocery store has a “buy one get TWO free” special on meat, I buy it and put it in our deep freezer. I buy my pastured (grass fed) meat in bulk from a local farmer, and also store it in the freezer. I figure that if we eat grass fed meat some of the time and regular meat some of the time, we’re not going to up and die. Having a selection of both in the freezer means that I can rotate the good stuff with the regular stuff and still feel good about what we’re eating.

2. I get all my fat for free from my local farmer, in exchange for writing reviews on how awesome their farm and products are. (You can check out their website here, shameless promotion, cough, cough.) I get A LOT of it at one time. I render the fat down myself, strain it and put it in mason jars, which I store in the freezer. I use this fat for everything from cooking to homemade sausages to hand lotion in a pinch. You’d be amazed how many people are willing to give the fat away for free, as no one else seems to want it. (And you’d be amazed at how well it moisturizes, although it’s a bit smelly lol.)

3. I save my bacon fat. I just leave it in the pan, even overnight. It doesn’t spoil. It’s just there, deliciously waiting for me to fry my eggs in it the next morning. Organic, pastured eggs, which I’ve gotten from my farmer for about the same price as the crap conventional ones in the grocery store. If this grosses you out, think back to how your Grandma used to cook. She had a can next to the stove for her drippings and fat, didn’t she? It never went in the fridge. My dad’s family used to use these drippings to spread on bread when butter was scarce. I am too lazy to wash my cast iron pan every day, so I don’t bother with the can.

4. Any produce that has a thick skin that we’re not going to eat, I don’t bother buying organic. This includes bananas, avocados, oranges and sweet potatoes. (We don’t eat the peels of anything anymore, by the way, but that is another post for another day.)

save_money5. I make everything myself from whole real ingredients. We don’t buy any packaged food, except for the occasional package of gluten-free rice pasta and gluten-free tamari. I make chicken broth and even make my own coconut and almond milk. Why in the hell would I pay $2.99 for a can of coconut milk that has stabilizers, artificial vitamins and preservatives in it, when I can make the same amount of coconut milk for about 35 cents? It tastes better, it’s organic, I use filtered water and I know exactly what’s in it: coconut and water. It’s not rocket science. Neither is making your own coconut butter. If you buy a jar, it’ll set you back 10 bucks. Making it yourself costs…about $2. I make my own beef jerky, because I just can’t find any gluten-free, preservative-free jerky in the store that isn’t $45. I also make my own mayonnaise. It takes less than 1 minute, thanks to an awesome tip from Orleatha Smith, which we will be sharing with you via video sometime in the next month. I can use that mayonnaise for salad dressings and sauces and I even use it to cook with (it’s just oil, vinegar and eggs after all — if your recipe calls for those ingredients, why not use mayonnaise?) It’s amazing how expensive packaged food is. Don’t pay for flashy packaging and marketing campaigns. Stop spending money to have someone else (a machine, let’s face it) make your food for you. Take back your power and save yourself some cash.

6. I don’t waste anything. When I only have a little bit of mayonnaise left in the jar, instead of washing it out I add a bit of vinegar to it and voila! Instant salad dressing. I squeeze out every. last. bit. of toothpaste from the tube before I toss it. I add water to the dish soap bottle to get the remnants out. You know those neat soap dispensers that give you foam? The ones that are ridiculously expensive? Did you know that the first ingredient in that soap is water? I buy the original bottle so I can have the aerator-thingy and when the soap is gone, I refill it with about 5 cents worth of dish soap and fill the rest up with water. I learned these tips from my mom, who really needed to stretch the budget. She learned them from her mom. We’re so wasteful as a society it makes me sick sometimes. We only need to put our garbage cans out about once a month, while our neighbor’s cans are overflowing each and every week.

7. We don’t eat out. A meal for a family of four at McDonald’s costs over $20. For $20, I can make a meal that includes things like bacon wrapped scallops, grass fed steak, organic vegetables AND fruit. We mostly drink water. I don’t spend money on juice or soda or milk or coconut water or whatever you trendy kids are drinking these days. I make my coffee myself, with pastured cream, and take it in a reusable to-go cup. I refuse to spend $5 on a cup of coffee.

8. We do things that are free. Guess how much it costs to go hiking in the mountains? Or camping? Or to the park? When they grow up, our children won’t remember the ridiculously expensive vacations we went on, or the expensive flashy toys we bought them. They will remember the time they spent with us, not the money we spent on them.

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I have more tips, but I’ll save them for another day. In the meantime, Zara Blake, a financial blogger from the UK has some money-saving tips for you:

fruit picBuy from a farmer’s market: Buy fruits and vegetables from the farmer’s market where you will get them for cheap.  Visit the market at closing time when you will get the items for a cheaper price.

Dressings and salads: Make your own dressings and salads at home. Don’t spend $15 to have someone else make it for you.

Buy local foods: Always go for locally grown and seasonal foods. Exotic ones are more expensive and your body is not built to digest them regularly.

meatBulk meat: Buy a whole lamb or goat with a friend. Try meat-shares for larger animals. It will come already cut up and packaged so you can store it in the freezer. Try to buy grass-fed meats rather than the grain fed ones.

Plenty of eggs: These are the best source of protein after meat and are also pretty cheap. Include plenty of eggs in your diet.

Sales: Watch out for clearance sales in different grocery and online stores. Grab them while you can and stock up.

Do some gardening: Grow all the vegetables you need and save money. Use your kitchen waste as manure and practice rain-water harvesting. If you are running tight on living space, try roof-top gardens or potted plants.

Soups: If you find your veggies becoming dry, prepare soup with them. Using homemade bone broth is a great addition to this.

Fishing: Go fishing on weekends and catch as many fish you can. Clean and fillet them and store them in the freezer.

Nuts: Buy nuts in bulk quantities as they are cheaper than prepackaged nuts in small bags. Package them yourself and store them in the freezer.

Home-food: Eat at home and don’t eat out at restaurants too much.

No wastage: When you buy meat, don’t waste what can be eaten. If you dislike a certain part, learn to cook it in a new way. Don’t buy unnecessary prepackaged items as it will make your grocery bill go up very fast.

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These money saving tips were contributed by Zara Blake, a financial blogger from UK. She has written many articles on health, nutrition and finance. Catch her on Twitter: @financeport

A Chance to Win 8 Primal Blueprint Books!

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the-hidden-plague-tara-grantI checked my email earlier today and was ecstatic to see that Primal Blueprint Publishing is starting to advertise my new book, The Hidden Plague: A field guide for overcoming and surviving Hidradenitis suppurativa, which will be available later this year. The cover art is all done and I think it looks great!

If you visit this page here, you can see all the new books that are coming out in the next couple of years. Leave a comment and you’ll be entered in a contest to win 8 Primal Blueprint books! For those of you trying to manage your HS, this is an invaluable prize. Those books will give you information, recipes and advice on how to best adopt a Primal diet, which is your best chance of beating your HS forever.

Do me a favor and leave a comment saying that you want to read MY book the most!! I’d be eternally grateful, plus you will have a chance to win some great stuff. You can find more information on the book, The Hidden Plague: A field guide for overcoming and surviving Hidradenitis suppurativa by clicking right here. Or check out my author page at Primal Blueprint Publishing. It mentions what else I’ve been up to lately…and I’ve been up to some exciting stuff!

If you are suffering from HS, or you know someone who is, please don’t forget to pick up a copy of The Hidden Plague when it’s released. It will be available at www.primalblueprintpublishing.com and Amazon.com. Thank you guys for all your support.

Slim Is Simple and Grass-Fed Beef

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Primal Transformation Seminars

I’ll be doing Primal Transformation Seminars in Austin, Houston, Minneapolis and Portland this spring together with Tracy and Matthew from True Nature Training, so if you’re close to one of those areas, sign up! You can find all the information you need right here. If you’d like us to hold a seminar in your area, leave a comment with the city that you live in and we’ll see what we can do.

These full-day seminars include a 2.5 hour lecture/discussion with me on the Primal way of eating and lifestyle, followed by a 3-hour training session with Tracy and Matthew. True Nature Training is based on Primal fitness and includes elements of natural movement, parkour and gymnastics. It’s perfect for beginners! Participants will receive copies of The Primal Blueprint 21-day Transformation, the 90-day Journal, a gift bag with goodies and samples from Primal Blueprint, a t-shirt from True Nature Training and the chance to win a copy of the Primal Connection, Mark Sisson’s latest book. It’s going to be an amazing day so make sure you grab your ticket soon.

Slim IS simple

I have a couple of interesting links to share with you this week. The first one comes from Jonathan Bailor from SlimIsSimple.org, a non-profit nutrition education effort. He created an amazing video that explains how this whole diet thing works and has made it incredibly easy to understand. This is a great introductory video to play for friends and family to show them how to get started. Please share it on Facebook, Twitter or anywhere else you think it could help someone.

I just found a farmer close to my new house a couple weeks ago, so this next post on the benefits of grass-fed beef is pretty timely for me. If you’re in the Phoenix area, www.farmergoose.com is a great family farm that provides beef, chicken, turkey and eggs and has plans to branch out further. They are planning on holding events like farm tours and dinners in conjunction with the Phoenix Primal Living Meetup group to help people learn how to cook and eat locally.

The following article is written by Rich Coffman from Teton Waters Ranch in Colorado. If you’ve ever had any questions about the benefits of grass-fed beef, this is a great reference.

Is grass-fed beef worth the premium price?

Angus_Ranch2I have made many improvements in my nutrition over the last year. Like most health oriented people, my goal is simple: to eat the best quality food possible. This article dives into the reasons why grass-fed beef is a healthier choice that is worth the premium price.

I had heard many times that grass-fed beef is better than conventional grain-fed beef. Initially, despite being told that it was more nutritious, I was not willing to fork up and pay more. I thought to myself, “meat is meat, it all tastes delicious to me.”

When I began fine tuning which foods I put in my body to optimize my diet, I decided to take another look at grass-fed and did a little research.

Why is Grass-fed More Expensive?
Price is a big factor when considering grass-fed beef. I think it’s important to understand why grass-fed is more expensive to get a better understanding of its true quality. Is grass-fed more pricey because it is more nutrient rich?

I’ve found that grass-fed meat’s added value is derived from the extra time and space. The life of modern day, conventional grain-fed cattle is different on all fronts from grass-fed cattle. The only similarity is that they both end up on the dinner plate.

Big Beef
Conventional feedlot operations are designed to put weight on cattle as fast as possible. The cattle are fed a dense mix of grains and… other things, which packs the pounds on faster than normal pasture grazing. Grass-fed ranchers choose to let the cattle grow and put on weight naturally. After all, good things come to those who wait.

The rapid weight gain that is standard operating procedure for feedlot cattle is good for revenue, but not good for the animals’ health or quality of life. The lifespan of a feedlot cow is much shorter, with operations regularly slaughtering animals just after their first year. Factory cattle operations generate revenue based on quantity, not quality. Large volumes of cattle are the only way to make a profit. In general, the principle of quality gets shelved.

Grass-fed cattle, on the other hand, have more time and space to fatten up naturally, commonly up to an extra year. This time and care plays into the price of grass-fed beef, as the ranchers of grass-fed cattle have higher expenses in maintaining the land, paying the mortgage and taxes on their vast grasslands which are required for a healthy and vibrant herd to graze.

Better Nutrients
If you’ve ever done any research for yourself you’ve likely discovered that grass-fed is more nutritious. While there are many benefits, I’ve highlighted those that I feel are most important.

Vitamins and Minerals
Grass-fed beef is rich in vitamins and minerals, more so than feedlot beef. This has been proven by a number of studies including one by the USDA and Clemson University and published in the Journal of Animal Science in 2009. Briefly, this is what they found:

  • Grass-fed beef usually has up to 7 or 8 mcg/gram of Vitamin E compared to 1 to 2 mcg/gram in grain-fed beef
  • Grass-fed beef is higher in beta-carotene. It is also higher in riboflavin and thiamine, common B Vitamins
  • Grass-fed beef shows a higher content of potassium, magnesium and calcium

CLA
Grass-fed beef is an excellent protein source for Conjugated Lineolic Acid (CLA). CLA has been proven to improve the body’s immune system. The presence of CLA has also been correlated with the reduction in risk of obesity, cancer and diabetes.

Omega-3 Fats
Beef from pasture raised cattle is also rich in unbroken long-chain omega-3 fatty acids. These fats are vital for proper cholesterol levels and maintaining good blood pressure. Omega-3s are also essential for proper brain function and optimal mental and physical health.

Studies show that depending on conditions, grass-fed beef can contain between 2 and 7 times the amount of omega-3s compared to commodity beef. Grass-fed offers a better ratio of omega-6 to omega-3 fatty acids as well.

Throughout history, man’s intake of omega-6 and omega-3 was naturally at a ratio of 2:1. Since the Industrial Revolution, the ratio has been skewed upwards to approximately 15:1. The consumption of grass-fed beef offers a rebalance with a better ratio of these bioactive fats.

Bacteria
When cattle eat grass and other plants (as they were meant to), their immune systems stay strong. With a stronger immune system, grass-fed cattle have less E. coli in their system compared to their grain-fed counterparts, meaning people eating grass-fed beef are less likely to cause bacterial infection from E. coli

A study at Cornell University by Francisco Diez-Gonzalez and James Russell noted that our digestive systems’ naturally occurring acids can kill E. coli from grass-fed beef far easier than beef from grain-fed cattle. Due an unnatural diet of grain, cattle for commodity beef  have an abnormally high level of acidity, which E. coli become accustomed to. On occasions when that resistant E coli is passed into our body, the acid present in our system is not strong enough to kill it, increasing the likelihood for infection.

Antibiotics
There is no need for antibiotics among herds of cattle naturally grazing in open pastures. In large feedlots common with many factory farming corporations, the cattle are confined to small spaces with cattle given enough room to eat and possibly turn around. In some operations, hundreds and even thousands of cattle can be condensed to just a few acres.

Disease spreads easily in tight spaces such as this, and when conditions are unsanitary, disease can devastate a herd. To protect against the problems caused by these poor conditions, antibiotics are overused on the cattle. This overuse helps generate antibiotic-resistant strains of bacteria that can cause severe illness upon consumption by humans.

It works like this: an introduced antibiotic will kill 99% of bacteria, but the strongest 1% of bacteria that remains has newly open real estate to multiply and spread to with no competition. The process is repeated–new antibiotics are introduced, killing most of the bacteria–and each time only the strongest of the strong survive. Drug resistant “super bugs” evolve out of this process.

Hormones
Many people might not know what exactly is in their beef, but if given the choice, most people would likely prefer meat free of synthetic growth hormones. Ranchers of grass-fed cattle typically do not use growth hormones because of their commitment to quality beef; many choose an all natural approach instead. While it’s not essential, you would be hard pressed to find grass-fed beef that is not proudly hormone free.

GMOs
The majority of grain feed for commercial cattle is now grown from GMO (genetically modified organism) crops. GMO food can be eaten directly or it can be consumed indirectly through eating GMO grain-fed beef. Despite their current popularity and overwhelming use, there have been no studies done on the long-term side effects of GMOs on the human body. There are many people against GMO use for many reasons, but that is another story altogether.

Research from France’s Caen University which was published in 2012 demonstrates that rats which were fed a lifetime of genetically modified corn had a dramatically higher rate of cancer and tumors, and their lives were much shorter. Because of the unknowns and research like this, it is best to avoid ingesting anything that is genetically modified.

Safe to Say
I’m thinking grass-fed beef is worthy of its price tag. Money can be saved if it’s purchased in bulk or if purchased on-site to avoid shipping expenses. In the last handful of years people have begun to wake up and understand food on a deeper level. Connections are again being drawn between the earth and the plate.

The choice was easy for me when I discovered the pitfalls of our modern day factory farms and feedlots that dominate the food industry. I support my local grass-fed beef rancher with my stomach and encourage others to do the same with theirs. From the pasture to the plate, grass-fed beef is better on all levels –- it’s a full spectrum of goodness.

Rich Coffman eats and writes from the front range of Colorado. If you would like to learn more about grass fed beef please visit Teton Waters Ranch.

Primalgirl Reads: Eat This, Not That and Rich Food, Poor Food

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eat-this-not-that-bookOne of the things that upsets me the most whenever I’m in a book store is the prominent position of stupid books like Eat This, Not That by David Zinczenko and Matt Goulding. I flipped through it to see what the authors had to say and went through all five stages of grief within a one-minute period:

1. Denial: No. Noooooo. No way are you telling me that I should choose Breyer’s ice cream over Haagen-Daas. Why the hell would I want a lower fat content, added stabilizers and unpronounceable chemicals?! And you’re telling me the reason that the Dairy Queen Banana Split is healthier is because it has a freakin’ banana in it?! What about the high fructose corn syrup poured all over the top?! I can’t believe that people would fall for this!!

2. Anger: O.M.F.G. This book is going to perpetuate the obesity epidemic in this country and isn’t going to help ANYONE. It just validates people’s shitty choices and makes them feel good about ordering a chicken burger with fries and a diet soda instead of the hamburger with fries and regular soda. W.T.F.

3. Bargaining: Maybe if I put sticky notes on the front of every one of these books in every store I see them in, someone will notice. Maybe if I stand in front of the display for hours, I can talk anyone who is interested in the book out of buying it and steer them towards a copy of The Paleo Solution by Robb Wolf. Maybe if I complain to the store staff, they’ll do something. Maybe if I go on a hunger strike and alert the local media, someone will pay attention.

4. Depression: Why am I bothering. This country is going to kill itself. Why should it make any difference to me if some housewife gives her kids diabetes, they’re not going to listen to me anyway. Let them all die miserable deaths after living miserable, short lives.

5. Acceptance: At least the 20 bucks they’re spending on this book will be 20 fewer dollars they spend on fast food. At least they will be making marginally better food choices. At least people are starting to actually pay attention to what they put in their mouths. At least they’ll have a fuel source when the zombie apocalypse finally happens and they need something to burn.

Suffice it to say, I do not endorse Eat This, Not That. I think it is a sensational piece of garbage that uses faulty 1980s science (think: low fat is good!) and perpetuates reliance on the industrial food complex. I think if the authors of Eat This, Not That teamed up with the “nutritionists” (ha!) on The Biggest Loser, it would be freakin’ hilarious and a fantastic advertising opportunity for Nestlé.

Enter Jayson and Mira Calton, Stage Left:

RichFoodPoorFoodI was thrilled to receive my advanced copy of Rich Food, Poor Food: The Ultimate Grocery Purchasing System (GPS) by Jayson and Mira Calton a couple weeks ago. I think this book may be the answer to a looming problem we all have: when faced with a store full of choices, an industry intent on tricking us into choosing quantity over quality and we want real food, what the hell do we eat?

Apparently Jayson and Mira had similar reactions to Eat This, Not That as me. This is a beautifully put-together, wonderfully written book for people who want to eat real food and who are looking for the best options on the market when they do turn to pre-made stuff. It’s Paleo-friendly and wheat-free.

Honestly, I wasn’t expecting to learn anything but as I flipped through the pages, I found tons of information that I hadn’t been aware of. Did you know that you can ferment brown rice and beans to reduce the phytic acid content by up to 96%?! I didn’t, but Mira and Jayson did. Not only do they tell you about it, they actually give you the recipe so that you can do it yourself. It was nice to see that I had instinctively been making some of the best choices I could on my own, and not so nice to find out I had been duped in a couple of instances.

This book is empowering. With it, you can head to the grocery store knowing what products are okay to eat and which ones contain dangerous chemicals and additives. You will also have healthy alternatives that you can make yourself. The Caltons refer to specific brand names that you are likely to see in stores and tell you exactly why some are “rich” and some are “poor.” The book is divided up into Aisles (instead of Chapters) just like a grocery store and it covers most things that you would be likely to eat. After brand names are covered, there are featured recipes so that you can make things yourself and tons of information so that you can always make the right choice when you’re at the store.

In Rich Food, Poor Food Jayson and Mira also uncover industry secrets and tricks that are cleverly designed to fool us into thinking a product is healthy. They give us the skinny on dairy, meat, fish, produce, condiments, grains, baking ingredients, beverages and snacks, as well as the tools to know whether the product is right for us or not — no matter what the label says.

Rich Food, Poor Food doesn’t cover everything; it is designed to teach you how to quickly identify a “rich food” from a “poor food” on your own. This is exactly what most of us need: the power and knowledge to make our own decisions, instead of trainers and meal-plans that don’t actually teach us anything and ultimately end up making us slaves to them for all eternity.

That being said, I couldn’t think of any foods that I would actually eat that this book didn’t cover in some way. Rich Food, Poor Food is perfect for someone like me. I make most things myself — like mayonnaise, sausages and broth — but sometimes I’m too busy or tired to make everything. That’s when I’ll pick up my copy of Rich Food, Poor Food and head to the store.

Rich Food, Poor Food is the indispensible follow-up to Jayson and Mira’s 2012 bestseller Naked Calories. You can find coupons for discounts on “rich foods,” cool products such as grocery bags (with the GPS basics printed on them!) and tons more information by signing up for the Rich Foods Center on Mira and Jayson’s website at www.caltonnutrition.com. The center launches February 26, 2013!

Your Microbiome: What It Can Tell You

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Gut Flora: here, the bad guys outweigh the good guys.

Gut Flora: here, the bad guys outweigh the good guys.

Remember when the human genome was mapped? Or when DNA tests became available so you could see what drugs you reacted to or what diseases you had markers for? The folks at uBiome are mapping the human microbiome – the flora that’s in our gut, that makes up over 80% of our immune system and affects every aspect of our lives.

Whether or not you care if the whole world gets mapped, this could be of critical importance to your own health, since if you make a donation to the project you will get your own personal microbiome results so you can see what’s really going on in there and what supplements you need to take (or which ones are totally ineffective).

Today’s post is a guest post by Jessica Richman at uBiome. This is a fantastic project that I will be participating in, since I’ve been dealing with a couple GI issues lately. Let me know what you think in the comments. And, if you end up getting the testing done, let me know what you find out and how it helped on your journey for optimal health.
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Our Microbiome

written by Jessica Richman

Have you ever wondered how you can measure your effort to change your diet or lifestyle? Is your paleo diet working? What happens if you stop eating gluten or dairy?

The microbiome are the bacteria that live on and within us; all of us are actually covered in helpful germs. Like the rainforest, the healthy human microbiome is a balanced ecosystem. Studies have linked microbiome imbalance to autism, depression, and anxiety, as well as many gut disorders, eczema, and chronic sinusitis.

To bring this technology to the public, my co-founders and I started uBiome, the world’s first citizen science effort to map the human microbiome. From a small sample on a cotton swab, a uBiome test can help anyone learn more about their body, including:

So far, the project has garnered over $285,000 in crowdfunding from over 2,000 participants from around the world, and been featured in Wired, Venture Beat, Scientific American, BoingBoing, Fox News, Los Angeles Times, MIT Technology Review and more.

Please join us at www.indiegogo.com/ubiome — The campaign ends in just 4 days!

Five Things Your Microbiome Can Tell You

1. Obesity.  Ley et al (2006) and others have identified gut microbes associated with obesity, such as Eubacterium rectale. In addition, Upadhyay et al (2012) did experiments with mouse models and suggested the possibility that the microbiome could be manipulated for weight control in the near future

2. Dietary composition. Wu et al (2011) found that gut enterotypes were strongly associated with long-term diets, particularly protein and animal fat (Bacteroides) versus carbohydrates (Prevotella).

3. Antibiotics.  If you have recently taken antibiotics, your gut microflora may not yet have been replenished. Dethlefsen et al (2008) found that ciprofloxacin treatment influenced the abundance of about a third of the bacterial taxa in the gut. Similarly, Jernberg et al (2007) found that long after the selection pressure from a short antibiotic exposure has been removed, there are persistent long term impacts on the human intestinal microbiota that remain for up to two years post-treatment.

4. Allergies. Is your nasal microbiome associated with the profile of chronic sinusitis? Abreu et al (2012) found that multiple, phylogenetically distinct lactic acid bacteria were depleted concomitant with an increase in the relative abundance of a single species, Corynebacterium tuberculostearicum, in patients suffering from chronic sinusitis.

5. Bacterial vaginosis. If you have a penis, your microbiome may be correlated with bacterial vaginosis in women. Price et al (2010) found that two families found in certain penis microbiomes — Clostridiales Family XI and Prevotellaceae — have been previously associated with bacterial vaginosis. This may correspond to frequent infections in your partner.

ubiome

Paleo Treats: Rations for the Driven

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My Standards

Sometimes people send me things to sample. Usually they’re hoping for a review — some of them ask, some of them don’t. Usually they’re hoping I’ll at least pass on a message to you, dear Reader, and help promote their company.

You can see I don’t actually post that many reviews. I try to live by the adage, “if you don’t have anything nice to say, don’t say anything at all.” If I don’t believe in a product or actually use it myself, I certainly don’t advertise for it. I don’t care how much money I can make, I refuse to sell out. My integrity means everything to me.

Paleo companies are popping up all over the place, as Paleo becomes the newest and greatest thing since gluten-free sliced bread. Even some Vegans are converting. I’ve received samples from companies claiming to be Paleo but when I read the ingredients on their flashy packaging, I’ve been bitterly disappointed. Not only did I not consume their products, I didn’t blog about them, either.

I have standards, you see.

Paleo Treats: Rations for the Driven

I was contacted a couple weeks ago by a representative of a company called Paleo Treats. They didn’t ask me for a review, they asked me to become an affiliate for their company. A quick look at their website piqued my interest. They clearly list all the ingredients in their products and all the ingredients were Paleo. I wrote back and asked for a sample. I didn’t want to push this stuff until I’d tried it myself. I’ve made crappy Paleo “treats” in my own kitchen and have given up trying; the pictures in my cookbooks look amazing but never turn out the way I expect them to. They taste…healthy. To be honest, this is what I expected from PaleoTreats. I was delightfully mistaken.

My package arrived the next day. There was a flyer in the box telling me to either freeze or refrigerate any of the treats I wasn’t going to eat that day. This was a refreshing change: a product that actually spoils if you leave it out too long. Sure sounds Paleo to me — after all, real food spoils.

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Paleo Treat’s Brownie Bomb

I threw all the treats in the freezer, except for a Brownie Bomb, which I decided I was going to eat right then and there. Take a look at the picture and you’ll see why. The ingredients were listed as: honey, pecans, eggs, coconut oil, cacao powder, almond flour. It was, beyond a shadow of a doubt, the most delicious thing I’ve had since I went Primal. The texture was a combination of cake and mousse – not chewy like a traditional brownie, but perfect in all other regards, especially taste.

A entire brownie is actually two servings. Even though honey is listed as the primary ingredient, the brownie wasn’t overly sweet. I couldn’t actually stop at one serving, I ate the whole thing in one sitting. That made a total of 28 grams of sugar – about the same amount as a Snickers bar. But the difference between this and a regular candy bar was that the Brownie Bomb didn’t make me sick, depressed or break out the next day. I felt good eating it and my body liked it.

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Paleo Treat’s Mac Attack

The next day, I tried the Mac Attack. It was, in a way, even better than the Brownie Bomb. Chewy coconut, combined with chocolate chunks, it tasted just like the chocolate macaroons my mom used to make, except it didn’t have 3 cups of sugar, corn syrup and sweetened coconut in it. I took it out of the freezer while I was eating my lunch and it was ready to eat by the time I finished my salad. The ingredients in the Mac Attack are: shredded coconut, egg whites, honey, cacao powder, cacao nibs, vanilla extract. That’s it. Only 12 grams of sugar for the entire cookie but you wouldn’t know it. My first thought was, I betcha I can make this on my own. My second thought was, no. I can’t. Not this good, anyway.

mustang_bar

Paleo Treat’s Mustang Bar

The next day, I ate the Mustang Bar. OMG. How could it possibly be even better than the other treats I’d eaten?? It was. It truly was. This one is my favorite. At only 9 grams of sugar, you’d think it would be so-so, but it wasn’t. I had to force myself to slow down and enjoy every bite. The Paleo Treats website describes the Mustang Bar as follows: “Creamy buttery nutty goodness, this lil’ fella melts in your mouth from straight out of the freezer. A cross between paleo granola and a sweet snack bar, this is like paleo candy.” The Mustang Bar contains almond butter, coconut oil, walnuts, honey, almonds, raisins, pumpkin seeds, almond flour, coconut, vanilla and salt. More ingredients than the other products, but man, what a combination of flavors.

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Paleo Treat’s Cocao Now

The only product I haven’t tried personally is the Cocao Now chocolate bar. It looks amazing, but it has goji berries in it. For those of you that have read my posts on Hidradenitis Suppurativa, you know that I have an autoimmune condition and need to avoid all nightshades. Goji berries are, sadly, a nightshade. The ingredients in the Cocao Now are as follows: honey, cacao butter, almonds, raisins, cacao powder, pistachios, goji berries. My annoyingly slender husband, however, doesn’t have to avoid nightshades, so I gave it to him to try. He’s the one that routinely hates all of my Paleo desserts so I wasn’t expecting much out of him. However, this is what he said:

“It’s good. I wasn’t expecting to like it, but it’s good.”

That’s high praise from him. When I asked him if he thought it tasted healthy, he said, “A little. But not as much as I was expecting. I like it.” Ah, a man of many words.

The price on the website scared me a little before I received the treats in the mail. When I saw the actual size and quality of the the treats, though, it made sense to me. First off, they’re not really all that expensive. They run from about $3.50 to $4.50 each and there are combination boxes you can buy to make things cheaper. They will keep for a really long time in your freezer. They’re made from quality ingredients that would cost you the same amount (or more) to buy and make yourself. Plus, they’re a treat. I’ve been eating them for four days in a row in order to do this review but normally, I would limit myself to one treat a week. Essentially, if I make my own coffee at home for just one day, I would save enough to justify buying a Brownie Bomb. Which goes amazingly well with coffee. Coincidence?

Paleo Treats also offers discounts. Right now they have a 5% discount across the board on any order. If you’re military or law enforcement, you can get a 10% discount. Paleo Treats also runs specials several times a year, offers a wholesale and affiliate program and is open to requests for other discounts, if you feel you need one.

The Beginnings of a Paleo Business

Co-owner Nik Hawks was really forthcoming when I asked him a few questions about the business. He started it along with Lee Selman and a friend named Dave after only a few short weeks into the Paleo diet themselves, way back in 2009. “We noticed that after eating Paleo for a week you feel pretty good, after two weeks you feel great, and at the three week mark you start to wonder, ‘Wait a second, where the heck is dessert?’” he said.  ”We knew if we had a problem so did everyone else, and the three of us came up with the answer in the form of pretty damn good treats that we can ship anywhere on the planet.  We’re still working on a solid mission statement, but it really revolves around the twin pillars of making desserts that are A: totally Paleo, and B: REALLY delicious, not just “healthy” delicious.”

In order to come up with their recipes, the guys had to get serious about what it was that they wanted to eat. Their answer: chocolate. “Like anything worth doing, it took a while to come up with the first two (The Cacao Now and the Mac Attack), probably anywhere from 20-50 hours each, although we don’t really keep track of time that well,” Hawk jokes.  ”We made 2,000 of those in our super tiny kitchen at home.” You can read more here about their experiments and recipe testing.

“[We] decided that was enough of that, so we found a bakery in San Diego and took the Treats into actual production.  We’re still with the same bakery today, almost four years later and running strong.  The Brownie Bomb was our third cookie and answered the call for ‘more chocolate.’  It also helped set a trend for us continuing to make radically different desserts; what we have are not variations on a theme, i.e. six different flavors of bars, they are actually different types of desserts,” Hawks says.  ”Our latest incarnation is the Mustang Bar, an almond butter bar which is the hardest to describe, the best selling, and the only Paleo Treat so far to be called a ‘Paleo-gasm’ by one of our customers.”

With only four different types of desserts available, one may think that Paleo Treats is limiting themselves, their growth and their potential customers. However, Hawks says it’s important to have quality over quantity. “With four products in four years, we’ve learned that it takes us a while to develop new Treats good enough to stand behind. We’ll probably stick with Treats and not branch out in snacks.”

The guys are currently working on a lemon bar (my personal favorite flavor) but it will take a while to get it out of the development stage and into production. In the meantime, they continue to maintain their high standards by sampling their own products daily, working closely with other Paleo companies like Steve’s Originals and promoting the Paleo lifestyle in their everyday lives.

Paleo_Treats_Plain_300x250BYes, I am a Paleo Treats affiliate and I will make a small amount of money if you click on the links on this page and make a purchase. However, I stand behind the quality of their products and think that what Paleo Treats offers can be of benefit to you and your Primal/Paleo lifestyle.

Primalgirl Reads: The Primal Connection by Mark Sisson

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I was thrilled to recieve my advance copy of Mark Sisson’s latest book in The Primal Blueprint series, The Primal Connection: Follow Your Genetic Blueprint to Health and Happiness, last week for several reasons. First (and foremost), I was interested in seeing how Mark interpreted a topic that should resonate with us all at our core. Second, I was curious to see how the book was laid out, seeing as I’m writing a very similar book myself. (Thankfully, Mark has covered the bigger topics I haven’t, and my book may end up being a great companion to this one.) Third, I was excited for people to actually read this book and start making changes in their lives — changes that would make it easier for me to interact with them, to connect on a deeper level and to form tribes based on shared human experiences instead of the latest model of a designer purse or the shared love of Nikon cameras.

Why I Need This Book

I’ve been feeling majorly disconnected from modern society for about four years now — about the same length of time that I’ve been Primal. I’ve lost touch with many friends, as I no longer have much in common with them. When I started eating and exercising the way my genes expected me to, something deep in the recesses of my brain woke up. I started questioning why I did everything that I did: Why did I feel the need for a bigger house? What role was television playing in my life? Why did I want to be surrounded by people at certain times and completely alone at other times? Why did I suddenly hate video games and everyone who played them for hours on end — the only ‘social’ interaction they had all day? Why was I depressed after looking at Facebook? Didn’t I have over 500 friends on there? Shouldn’t I be happy to see what was going on in everyone’s lives, including people I haven’t seen since third grade and honestly haven’t thought about since then?

Never before have we been this connected and yet this lonely and isolated. Admit it: we ALL feel it. Something is wrong. Something is off. Something is missing. We were meant for something more. We’ve missed our calling. Something isn’t right.

Our Missing Primal Connection

Mark Sisson addresses this modern societal phenomena in his latest book in the Primal Blueprint series, The Primal Connection. The Primal Connections are organized into six categories in the book:

  • Inner Dialogue: Ten Habits of Highly Successful Hunter-Gatherers and how to implement them in your life.
  • Body: The body and mind influence each other in ways we’re only now beginning to understand. Relearn how to sit, stand, walk and move.
  • Nature: We are hardwired to encounter the sights, sounds, scents and sensations found in nature. Find ways to reconnect with it.
  • Daily Rhythm: Honor your circadian rhythm and use technology without it consuming you.
  • Social: We are wired for meaningful personal relationships. Learn how to create them.
  • Play: Playing is how we learn. Learn how to play without any attachment to the outcome and free yourself.

This book is beautifully laid out and easy to read. There are concrete steps and ideas on how to reconnect with ourselves and how to live simple, happy lives while still embracing modern conveniences and technology. What I like most about Mark Sisson is that he has always been about combining modern society with what our caveman brains expect and need to thrive. This book isn’t about breaking off from society and culture, living in a mountainside cave, wearing bear skins and shunning everyone you’ve ever met (which, I have to admit, does sound good to me on days like Black Friday. Just sayin’.). Instead, it’s about “honoring our ancient genetic recipe for health while still enjoying the comfort and convenience of modern life.”

This is a great book to take with you on a retreat, or to read on the train while you commute to work. It will make you think. It will make you aware. And, if Mark has done his job right, it should make you happier, more connected to the world around you and to your inner caveman. Grok on.

SPECIAL DEAL!

For the next two days only (until Thursday, January 10th, 2013), Mark is giving away special bonus packages and giveaways when you order the book. You can click on the links above, order from his site, from a book store — it doesn’t matter. Click here for more information on the exclusive goodies you will receive if you buy The Primal Connection within the next two days.