Okay, I’ve slacked a little bit, relatively speaking, but the updated version of 180 Kitchen:?180 Tips, Recipes, and More is complete.
Nearly half a year has passed while I have been left mortified at some of the low-carb one-liners lingering in 180 Kitchen. Well, no more “golfball-sized” portions of starch, dumb recipes for things like a “cream shake” to drink with meals as a fat supplement, and so on.
That’s not to say that I went all low-fat on you guys. Actually, most of the recipes and fundamentals?remain with little to no alteration. At the end of the day, what I feel is by far the most important factor in maintaining good health long-term is being able to make satisfying whole foods-based dishes in your own home – without the addition of ingredients that inevitably turn up when dinner turns all commercial (like vegetable oil, chemical flavor enhancers, refined sugar, and who knows what else).
I still believe, with unshakable solidarity, that the ultimate long-term key to success with any health pursuit?is making enjoyable food in your own home from unadulterated ingredients in the most quick, simple, and time-efficient way possible. This is even more true for those that are in charge of feeding not just themselves, but an entire family of hungry mouths of all shapes and sizes.
For that reason, 180 Kitchen didn’t get the type of major overhaul that 180 Metabolism did earlier this year.
But there were some changes, most notably with the?menu plans.?The most major changes are:
- A 7-day menu plan’to accompany the?eBOOK, with a starch emphasis
- A discussion and brief menu plan for Maximum Nutrient Partitioning (MNP) for gaining the most muscle possible with the least amount of body fat
- A discussion and brief’sample menu for 6 popular ways?for fat loss discussed in 180 Metabolism and in recent times – including everything from carbohydrate cycling, calorie cycling or?”cheat” dieting as discussed in THIS POST, Intermittent fasting, Weight loss for the morbidly obese, and a’starch-based approach to fat loss that has been the subject of?late
- A section dedicated entirely to Resistant starch, a substance I hope to write about soon that has numerous implications for weight loss, increased metabolism/mitochondrial activity,?increased insulin sensitivity,?etc.
- And a handful of other updates, including several minor adjustments to old classics like “Creamy Grits.”
*Original 180 Members can login to the Members area HERE to receive discounts on the new 180 Kitchen and other 180DegreeHealth products.
*To receive?a $5 discount‘towards the purchase of the entire 180 Collection, which includes all the latest versions of the eBooks including the New 180 Kitchen and more, add the Collection to your cart HERE,?enter the discount code “blogdork” and press “update cart.”? This discount code will be good through this Friday.
Those that have already purchased the eBook as is or part of the 180 Collection can use the same 180 Kitchen url to access the new version.
Oh, I've been looking forward to this, but didn't want to have to buy it since I just bought the package a couple of months ago. Thanks for making it so those of us who already own it didn't have to buy it again. I already have staples that we use out of the original like the creamy chicken and rice we had tonight(I don't remember the name…just how to make it). I also love that the recipes are more guidelines so I'm don't have to go look up the details each time I make it.
Thanks Matt, I'm developing the habit of cooking at home a lot more and this can only help.
Matt, your sliced yams fried in coconut oil are the greatest things EVER. EVER.
Dan
I just moved into my own place, and can't wait to break in my kitchen with your great book!
I've been meaning to ask you some questions, that I've been trying to find the answers to while surfing your blogs and comments. Hopefully they don't sound too dumb and "out of the loop".
1. So (as of right now) you are advocating a "fruit meal" once a day? If so, how long must you wait to eat other foods to consider it isolated? Are juices and all-fruit smoothes acceptable? I seem to get so hungry after I eat fruit, even after pounding it. Is there a suggested time to have it?
2. Raw milk is not accessible where I live. Is your basic store bought milk el diablo?
3. I've always questioned having whole wheat pasta, as it says "whole durum wheat". Is that still just as processed as the stuff I avoid?
4. I've been following you and your advice for a year, and gained 15 pounds and have since lost that weight. I'm considering doing RRARF, and I'm a little nervous on gaining that weight back. Do you think chances are I already went through the "healing weight gain" phase?
Thanks Matt!! Hope to hear from you soon :) And congrats on the 2nd edition.
Discount code is not working, well didn't for me. I ordered regardless. Looking forward to the read.
Thanks
Thanks for the book Matt. The MNP section is helpful, including the words fo ecnouragement at how damn hard it is to et these calories in.
Also- I know you still have mixed feelings about some of the WAPF food prep stuff, but I think it'd be especially important when cooking lots of oatmeal or buckwheat or brown rice on it. Something like Stephen Guyenet's starter ( http://wholehealthsource.blogspot.com/2009/04/new-way-to-soak-brown-rice.html ) is actually really easy once you get into it, and it makes me feel better about eating a ton of brown rice or oatmeal in sitting knowing that at least some of the antinutrients are being neutralized. And you do recommend peeled potatos (maybe for the same anti-nutrient avoidance reasons)- so it makes sense to me.
Anyway- question: why are red potatos especially good?
Thanks again man, and kudos.
Couple more things- oatmeal according to my label has about 6 times as many calories from starch as from fat. Is that a concern. If we want to reach that 8:1 ratio, should we be mindful of havign starches that have even less fat to balance it out?
And can you say a few more words about amylose versus amylopectin, and why basmati rice (white?) might be preferable over other (white) rices, like jasmine?
Thanks again- frijolefrescos, amigo.
Will-
The discount code is for the 180 Collection which includes all the eBooks, not the 180 Kitchen eBook purchased solo. Send me an email if you want to add the Collection some other time and I'll make sure you can add it for $15 and still basically get that discount.
Rob-
You are probably right about the soaking, especially when it comes to oatmeal (less of a concern with brown rice and buckwheat from what I understand).
Oatmeal is a very high-fat grain as far as grains are concerned. Probably shouldn't be a staple for those trying MNP, even if it was possible to consume oatmeal in the kind of quantity necessary to get actual results.
As for amylose vs. amylopectin as well as the resistant starch conversation, I'll get a blog post out on that soon.
Anonymous-
I was eating 1 fruit meal per day for just a little while – when I was doing a lot of hiking. I haven't hiked much lately but did go out yesterday and ate 4 bananas and about a dozen Medjool dates all by themselves. Dates are the ultimate trail food as far as I'm concerned.
I still do eat some fruit, but it is usually by itself when I'm in the mood – most often after a workout (which I haven't done much of lately either) or first thing in the morning every now and then – like once a week. An apple for a snack is good on occasion too.
If there was an ideal time to eat fruit, it would probably be right after waking up in the morning about 1-2 hours before a regular breakfast – or during or right after heavy exercise about 1-2 hours before a meal.
2. Pasteurized isn't el diablo, but don't force it down for calcium or whatever if it is triggering allergies, stomach problems, snottiness, etc.
3. Whole durum wheat pasta is good.
4. I think doing RRARF with a little more of a starch emphasis probably won't put weight on you very effectively. The ratio between your metabolism and your appetite will be too high to gain much body fat. 30 days is probably more than you need also. Consider maybe doing a couple days of eating beyond appetite per week just casually.
Luming-
Very interesting. Aurora had severe hyponatremia when she was doing a lot of running on a low-carb diet. That is certainly very interesting and a bit scary I imagine. Let us know how things develop.
I'm confused. Are original 180 members supposed to shell out the full price for the new 180 Kitchen ebook or are we getting a discount?
Oh whoops, I should've checked email first. Is this correct. Date on first page says August 2010 and file size is reduced from 7K to 3K?
Not sure why the file is smaller. It may be because I used a different image in the header than the original – and since that's on every page that might've been the difference.
Your ebook is a frickin 226 pages. How the hell am I supposed to print out this beast!
Sneak into a friend's house and do it.
Congrats on the new edition of 180 Degree Kitchen! I'll buy it again just to support the cause!
You know it's so sad. I absolutely hate cooking. Yet, I've cooked all my own foods for the last 5 years cause it's the only way to be sure the ingredients are organic and don't include PUFA's, sugar etc. But I actually think doing dishes is FUN compared to cooking. lol. I've got a system down now where I cook the food in huge batches and then just put the whole pan in the fridge. Then I can just take it out when I need to eat. It's like my own little fast food system. lol. Easier than freezing it in small jars anyways, and I eat so much there's no real time to freeze anything. lol.
Today my fasting blood glucose levels sank to 91 mg/dl from my original 101 mg/dl! RRARF works!
Ah that was good for a laugh! Thanks Matt, new ebook looks great;
? White rice
? More white rice
? Potatoes (peeled)
? More potatoes
? More white rice
? White rice smothered in potatoes
? Potatoes smothered in white rice
Ooooh, I'll have to try that white rice smothered in potatoes. Never had that before!
;)
What it is? It seems as though I am gettin freakin fat. I've been doing RRARF for a little over a month and temps are up 0.5 degree to 96.8. I'm about to outgrow my fat clothes so something's gotta be done (I'm NOT buying another Gi). I'm gonna start using less fat and upping my starch. Actually I did that today at lunch: some salmon and 5 ears of corn with a pint of skim milk (not store bought). An hour later I'm hungry! Two hours later I can feel myself getting weak but I'm still at work with no access to food!
Did I underestimate how much starch I need to displace the fat?! Good lord I'm hungry.
Cutting out fat initially causes massive hunger in most people, but it doesn't last. For me it took a couple weeks before I started looking at food like I do when I've got a stomachache.
But fat is generally about 8 times more calorie dense than starch as I discuss in the new book.
1 ear of corn is roughly the same as 1T of butter.
But you'll start to see things change over time I bet.
Lisa-
Yeah, that's what I do too, and what I always did when I was a single guy. In 180 Kitchen I call this the "doubleheader."
Jimmy Moore said the glucose spiked my blood sugar and then came crashing down, leaving my me weak and hungry. Thanks Jimmy.
That anonymous was me….stupid iPhone.
@Matt
That's what I was thinking. Time to buy a bigger lunch box I guess.
Cook book awesome! Cook book useful. Tonto say cookbook best thing Matt Stone do ever.
Here is my blog post -with pictures- on how I make eggshell calcium:
http://healingendo.blogspot.com/2010/08/eggshell-calcium.html
Does anyone know if any primitive people ate eggshells though? I'm not sure if it might increase the risk of heart attack or not (like calcium supplements apparently do)? Does anyone know?
@Johnny Lawrence: Jimmy Moore also thinks a low fat diet cannot be done without processed foods.
See the title of his article:
Dietitian Annette Presley: A low-fat diet is impossible without processed foods http://www.examiner.com/examiner/x-867-LowCarb-Lifestyle-Examiner~y2010m7d27-Dietitian-Annette-Presley-A-lowfat-diet-is-impossible-without-processed-foods
Since he has heard of the Ornish, McDougall, and Esselstyn low fat diets, which are/should be done on entirely whole foods (see the "MWL" version of the McDougall diet for a very simple whole foods diet), he is either extremely forgetful or resorts to false claims in his zeal to make himself and others believe in low carb.
Also, after seeing Jimmy Moore's low carb menus here, http://lowcarbmenu.blogspot.com/ , I don't see how he is meeting the daily RDAs for many nutrients. e.g. a day of hamburger, cheese, butter, and cauliflower at a total of 1542 calories is not going to achieve a good CRON-o-Meter score.
Not to mention that 1542 calories is scarcely enough for a light 5' 2" female, so any weight loss this guy achieves can hardly be chalked up to the "success of low carb", as it's a calorie deficit for anyone.
Jimmy Moore is so far out there, I would take any of advice with a large grain of cheesy salt.
@Johnny:
I had the same symptoms when I first started upping the carbs. Scared the hell out of me. But it did resolve itself fairly quickly. I'm honestly starting to feel like I'm able to tolerate every macronutrient at this point, which feels good. I can eat high fat without getting sick to my stomach, and I can eat high carb without having violent blood sugar swings. Of course, in reality I'm eating moderate amounts of both (though more carbs than before) but it's nice to know I can be a lot more flexible with my diet than I used to be.
Awesome e-book Matt. I downloaded it yesterday and have had a good flick through…. This baby is HUUUGEE.
Will get some proper reading of it done later and hopefully put some recipes into practice.
Hey Matt & co.
I have been healing my metabolism since the beginning of the year, and i feel great. But i have tried to grasp how to do a proper fat loss phase, since the HED diet put it's mark around my waist…
I have a hard time finding out if MNP is the right thing to do for fat loss (and also muscle gain which i would gladly welcome!) or if i should do carb-cycling/IF instead, with some frequent re-feeds?
Would be happy for suggestions!
– Kasper
I also cook large batches of food and either refrigerate and eat within a few days or freeze.
I was wondering if anyone has views on the effect of microwaves on food. At work it is the only method I have of heating my meals.
Microwave ovens were banned in Russia in 1976; the ban was lifted after Perestroika.
http://people.tribe.net/395b98fa-1758-4f4c-b42c-a0ebb2239d5f/blog/158ea18a-ece9-4d8f-9bbb-ac4aa3f6eb23
I try to minimize my use of them but am a bit unsure really.
@DavidL:
Mercola did some interesting articles about microwaves:
http://articles.mercola.com/sites/articles/archive/2010/05/18/microwave-hazards.aspx
I don't use it anymore to heat food. Every once in a while I use it to heat water in I'm in a bind, but mostly my microwave serves as a convenient storage unit above my stove. ;)
One method for avoiding microwave at work as to prepare bentos. Bentos are traditional Japanese boxed lunches which don't require refrigeration or reheating to be tasty. Bonus to those of us on a high starch, low fat diet: they are almost always rice based. The traditional sushi rice (seasoned with rice vinegar and sugar..gasp, I know, but the amount of sugar used is relatively small) is a natural preservative for the rice. You can go on to flavor the rice with preserved vegetables (bonus there for macrobiotics), fish flakes, sesame seeds, or other intense flavor concoctions called furikake (don't buy the store bought ones, they are loaded with MSG). Meat is usually a garnish in bento. Little fried meatballs (you can make the meatballs ahead of time and toss them in a pan and cook them in a few minutes in the morning) are excellent. There is also an omelette that has a small amount of sugar and soy sauce as a preservative that is quick to make in the a.m., yummy and keeps just fine at room temp. Throw in a bit of fruit or a few tomatoes as a garnish and you have a bento. I did this for the better part of a year (and then quit when I went 180…) and never spent more than 15 minutes in the kitchen in the morning. It was so worth it to have a colorful delicious lunch that I could actually look forward to. And no microwave or fridge required.
Another awesome no microwave lunch is leftover barbeque (with home made sauce that is heavy on the preservative vinegar) and a vinegar based German style potato salad. Throw in some fresh kraut and this is about the best lunch I can imagine. If you are into cooking up big cuts of meat on the week-end this is the way to go!
Arigato Jenny-San. Good idea. I've also been enjoying big, chilled potato salads with beans, salsa, fresh veggies, etc. a la the RS3 salad in 180 Kitchen (#82).
As for microwaves, I used to be super anti-microwave, but I have loosened up a bit. Shame on me. Don't tell Mercola. I just don't see it being a huge factor in the grand scheme of things.
Plus, if I pass out dead in front of my computer, you guys can all insist that it was not the carbs, but the fact that I sat in front of my computer too much, got way too much radiation via sitting face to face with some electronic gadget, and I used the microwave to heat up tortillas.
Shane-
Yes, Jimmy Moore is an incredibly easy target. It's amazing what being "nice" gets you though in terms of loyal followership. It seems to totally negate the entire absurdity of everything you just mentioned, in addition to the fact that he ate nothing but eggs and butter for a month and then was violently ill for nearly a month afterward with an infection that would have killed him prior to modern times and Cipro and Symbicort. And he writes….
"Most of the time my healthy low-carb lifestyle keeps my immune system elevated and stave off anything and everything that would bring me down. But that isn't always the case no matter how good you eat!"
Kasper-
Ya know, all things considered I don't really think there's one set way to lose fat. I think the main idea that we've been crafting is that one way or another, fat loss must be occasionally interrupted.
In other words, low-carb weight loss must be interrupted by carb refeeds to prevent adaptation. Low-calorie dieting must be punctuated with overfeeding days once per week. Same with exercise-induced fat loss.
Just be mindful of taking a break from losing weight to rebuild and save the metabolism from downshifting and your chances of success are much higher. Be flexible. Be patient. Be smart. And experiment with it using an open mind without any fear of "x" food or macronutrient.
Hey Matt, just working my way through the new e-book and I have a couple of questions.
1) There is a lot more olive oil in there than I would have imagined from reading the comments in your blog. My abandonment of olive oil coincided with starting 180 and reading a scary article in the New Yorker about olive oil quality.
http://www.newyorker.com/reporting/2007/08/13/070813fa_fact_mueller
So any recommendations on brands for Extra Virgin and extra light?
2) So many crazy things, I never knew like how mysterious things like confit, bisque and glace de viane are really not that hard to make or that complicated. Do you realize the four star restaurant mafia are going to want you dead after this? I mean after going through all the work of making "bone broth" ala Sally Fallon is really that much harder to keep going and make glace?
And Lisa-
Thanks so much for that post. You did a great job with it. I left a comment there answering your question. Fascinating about all the tooth problems on low-carb. You are one of several that have reported this other than myself. My teeth hurt like hell on low-carb. JT has also mentioned getting cavities.
JT will also like Martin Berkhan's most recent post, where Paleo guy dissolved a bunch of muscle tissue to the point where he was almost as skinny fat as a native aborigine, and then decided to do some high-starch overfeeding to the tune of massive lean gains in 60 days.
http://www.leangains.com/2010/08/definition-of-lean-gains.html
Jenny-
No food is complicated. Like Ken Frank, a chef I once worked for at a restaurant that was top 20 in the U.S. at the time said, "I've been in hundreds of kitchens and I've never seen any magic tricks."
A little olive oil is fine, just like some bacon is fine, some poultry is fine, some nuts are fine, and some fatty pork ribs are fine.
The question is if you have a 12:1 ratio of omega 6 to omega 3 in your tissues, or body fat that resembles the composition of corn oil, what level of restriction is needed for a year or two? In some cases, severe restriction. But 180 Kitchen is about long-term healthy cooking, making good food, etc. It's more or less a helpful tool in structuring the good ol' average everyday maintenance diet.
But I prefer making mayonnaise-based stuff with sour cream instead if I can – like Caesar salad dressing. Using mac nut oil over olive oil when I need a liquid oil.
I also use such small quantities of olive oil that I can buy really choice artisinal stuff.
But in general, I steer clear of most liquid oils in my home kitchen unless there is a real culinary need for them.
But even Ray Peat uses a little olive oil.
So what's the deal with Mercola? Does he subscribe to any specific diet guidelines or is he just a health blogger? I was trying to find if there were any specific guidelines on his site, but I couldn't find them.
Jenny,
Do you have any resources for the preparation of preserved rice and vegetables?
Mercola likes to:
1) Write about any and every possible hot health topic that anyone might be interested in to drive traffic to his site
2) Get people to subscribe to his free newsletter once they see how cool and groovy and alternative he is
3) Sell them a bunch of weird, expensive crap like tanning beds and krill oil
Matt, What's your opinion of Asian glass noodles? I generally use rice pasta for Italian cooking because of phytic acid and digestibility factors (Tinkyada is amazing, no one can ever tell it's not wheat). But my family loves glass noodles in Asian dishes (also called celophane noodles). I know they're made from mung beans but the only info. I can find about mung beans in traditional cooking is that the Chinese would sprout them. Do mung bean noodles fit into a whole foods traditional diet? I'm mostly concerned about digestibility and phytic acid, as I have a son who tends to have weak teeth. I'm not a phytic acid Nazi, but I do try to neutralize as much as possible for my growing children. Thanks for all your excellent work!
Is there a domaine control for olive oil? Maybe there should be. The domaine control laws for cheese and wine really seem to work to keep the quality high. One of my favorite Simpsons was the one where Bart had to live with evil French farmers. When they were captured they were prosecuted for adulterating their wine, not for kidnapping and slavery.
I will probably still continue to avoid olive oil for another year or so. A lifetime of eating veggie oil will take some time to overturn. It's great that you have the alternative recipes for getting around liquid oils.
And… it would be really helpful if you had a search box on your site so it's easier to find info. you've already written about. :-)
Mercola's big beefs are with grains (and starch like potatos generally, but not beans it seems) and sugar, as well as frankenfoods of all sorts (MSG, aspartame, GMO-foods, etc). He's a big fan of pastured meat and eggs, and raw dairy, and fresh local organic produce. I like him a lot, though as Matt says, he does have some huckster-ish qualities and sells weird things.
He's a good resource generally, though, of information about all sorts of health topics- fluoride, natural birth control, benefits of raw foods, energy medicine, the dangers of anti-bacterial soaps and vaccines, the benefits of sunlight and stress management, etc. I think he mostly deserves his status as a top natural health web resource, and is a great place to send non-alternative types since he is a practicing physician and has those sorts of credentials.
Oh Jenny. You said the magic words. I'm glad you put then in quotations. I hate the term "bone broth". You know how there are just some words or terms that get under your skin? Well that is one of mine. Curse you, Sally Fallon! I'm 99% sure you're the one who introduced that term into the internet-food lexicon.
I'm about to nerd-out, heavily, but the term is stock, for godssakes. Stock! Bone broth just sounds so ridiculously difficult and weird and witches' brew-ey. Honestly, it sounds like something you have to grind and soak and lacto-ferment for 3 weeks.
Stock!
"Jenny,
Do you have any resources for the preparation of preserved rice and vegetables?"
Just Hungry and Just Bento are fantastic online free tutorials for making sushi rice and quick pickles (preserved veg). Real fermented veggies you may need to use nourishing traditions or buy (or get from the library) a book on tseukomono (traditional preserved veggies). I think Matt also recommends a book called Wild Fermentation for making homemade pickles. Pretty much any lacto fermented veg is wonderful with mildly seasoned sushi rice. And zero fat, there, so you can afford in your fat budget, if you will to splash out and eat some meatballs or some coconut fried fritters.
Sushi rice is kind of an art to itself. I definitely recommend following an online tutorial before you do it the first time. Just following the directions on the rice package has never worked out for me. I usually cook up a big batch on Sunday, use half for sushi for dinner and then freeze the rest in individual servings for the rest of the week. Now that I have a rice cooker coming my way, I plan to make it fresh more often during the week.
Annabelle: Matt used the quotes in his ebook so I did it too. Until he pointed it out, I hadn't really realized how pretentious it is. I love me some home made stock though.
I feel like I need a deep freeze just for all the dang bones and frozen stock, I have on hand.
Yes, Matt was much more subtle about it than I. LOL The quotation marks say it all.
"Arigato Jenny-San. Good idea. I've also been enjoying big, chilled potato salads with beans, salsa, fresh veggies, etc. a la the RS3 salad in 180 Kitchen "
Yes! The first thing I thought when I saw your RS3 salad recipe was: this would make a kick-ass bento filler! RS3/RS Shmee. It sounds delish and requires no fridge/microwave.
We don't have a microwave at home (I just hate to waste the space and it makes us feel ultra superior in a Stuff White People Like kinda way to say we don't have one) so I heat up tortillas by throwing them right on the gas burner for a few seconds a side. It's super easy and quick and the tortillas don't get that "too chewy" texture once they've cooled.
Annabelle-
You amaze me with hilarity. You and Jenny and Debbie Grassfed Mama should have some kind of comedic comment competition. I don't know what you are eating in your profile pic, but I was thinking maybe we could get together and have some mung bean glass noodles together Lady and the Tramp style (I'll have to look into these more cloesly to see if they are acceptable as regards phytic acid content).
Actually, "bone broth" isn't that bad of a term. Most people think "stock" is something that comes in a can. Since nothing at the supermarket is labeled "bone broth" it implies that you have to make it yourself.
Jenny-
Ah, student have become teachah.
And just because I know how much you like to laugh at white people, I will add some more details that confirm that I am, in fact, caucasian other than previously disclosed information (like liking Santa Barbara and driving a Mini Cooper)…
1) I have a Cruiser bike in my garage, and enjoy riding it
2) I don't have cable, and tell people that I don't have cable tv
3) I own expensive water bottles
4) I'm wearing flannel pajama pants right now
5) And I, like you enjoy camping
It gets worse though. Like, I have champagne in my refrigerator, only drink microbrew beer (I'm 32 and have never had a Coors or a Natty Light), recycle, and boast about how many miles per gallon my car gets…41 (even though I drove it 22,000 miles last year).
Wild Fermentation by Sandor Katz is awesome. Sandor is one of my favorite writers- so on point on all the right notes- local, whole foods, food justice and sovereignty, etc. But incredible humble and inviting in his tone. Wild Fermentation is worth a look at by anyone who loves food, even just the culinary aspect of it, since fermented foods offer flavors and textures unheard of in commercially avilable food. You'll find recipes galore for ferments to add flavor absent fat.
His other book, 'The Revolution Will Not Be Mcrowaved,' is an awesome oevrview of the food issues going on today.
And Matt- 41mpg- pretty solid. :-D
Matt said:
"You amaze me with hilarity. You and Jenny and Debbie Grassfed Mama should have some kind of comedic comment competition."
Oh it's on! Actually, I think we should form a gang, Warriors-style. I'm thinking that we wear chef hats and use frying pans as our weapon of choice.
"I don't know what you are eating in your profile pic…"
I'm not entirely sure what it is, either. Some kind of strange eggy waffle I found in Chinatown.
"… but I was thinking maybe we could get together and have some mung bean glass noodles together Lady and the Tramp style (I'll have to look into these more cloesly to see if they are acceptable as regards phytic acid content)."
I think you, me, Jenny and Debbie should have one big glass noodle four-way.
Oh and
1) I own 3 pea coats
2) I love hummus
3) I love black music that black people don't listen to anymore.
4) I enjoy picking my own fruit
5) I love a good bottle of wine
6) I have bangs
Hi gang,
My, my, I go away for a bunch of months and when I come back, everyone's gone all lowfat! Eeek!
I've been finding a doctor and doing a million and one tests and about to start pretty heavy-duty treatment for Lyme disease. I did HED for about 4 months, including the no-exercise part, and then segued into the same diet really but just not overfeeding anymore, because I was just. too. stuffed.
Result was a big increase in basal rate, much improved mood and skin and hair, and lost about 5 pounds. I'm weak as a kitten from being sick and not exercising, but at least I'm not fat.
Just got a lipid profile back and had total and LDL flagged at 265 and 176, but triglycerides were 93 (range 0-149) and HDL was 70. The lab report starred the HDL number and said that HDL > 59 is considered a negative risk for CHD.
So all hail the cream!
I find if I eat any sugar, I gain 5 lbs in a day, all around the middle. I'm gluten intolerant and I hardly ever eat any kind of "replacement" flour either — I'm pretty sure that the steady weight depends on being both flour and sugar free.
Anyway, looks like I've got a lot of catching up to do. But I don't think I'm going to be convinced to give up my butter and cream! A lot of recipes from the first cookbook are in my rotation, so I'm looking forward to seeing what's in the new one too…
You know I accidentally bought and cooked some glass noodles while making pad thai a week back. They were terrible to use with the pad thai. I ended up throwing them out and sending my husband to the store for some real rice noodles. Meanwhile I have a big package of glass noodles in my cupboard that I have no idea how to use. Some tips would be appreciated. I did wonder about the phyto nutrients though when I read they were made from bean starch. Also when doing my cursory research on this, it said there was a huge scandal in china because they were using cornstarch to make the noodles and lead based whiteners to make them transparent. China, man, what is it with them and adding lead to stuff?
M
OK, further internet research yields a kind of glass noodle made from our beloved potatoes:
http://www.amazon.com/Mitsukan-Harusame-Saifun-3-5-Ounce-Units/dp/B001AY4DKI
Kaiylin, thanks for mentioning Tinkyada. I will give them a try. I'm always looking for a new noodle experience for my pasta loving family.
My absolute favourite noodles are called dang myun. They're Korean sort of cellophan-ey noodles that are made from sweet potato starch. They're what are used in jap chae, if you've ever had that. We have loads of Koreans in Toronto, so they're very easy to come by in Asian markets, here. But maybe not in the US? Depends on the area, probably.
Well when you have a population control issue on your hands Jenny, whats a government controlled food industry to do?
Interesting insight on the whole fiber dealio from a little ways back…
http://news.sciencemag.org/sciencenow/2010/08/western-diet-tied-to-intestinal-.html
"A team of researchers led by Paolo Lionetti, a pediatric gastroenterologist at Meyer Children Hospital in Florence, Italy, decided to compare the fecal microbes of healthy children from a village in Burkina Faso, in western Africa, with those from healthy Italian children. The African children ate a high-fiber, low-fat, vegetable-heavy diet that reflects what people ate at the dawn of agriculture, whereas the Italian kids had a typical Western diet, low in fiber but high in animal protein, sugar, starch, and fat.
The researchers found that the children from Burkina Faso had significantly more bacteria from the Bacteroidetes class than did the Italian children and significantly fewer Firmicute bacteria. Previous research has shown that people with more Bacteroidetes and fewer Firmicutes tend to be lean, whereas people with the opposite ratio are more likely to be obese.
Additionally, the researchers detected bacterial strains of Prevotella, Xylanibacter, and Treponema only in the children from Burkina Faso. These bacteria are excellent at breaking down fibrous foods and producing short-chain fatty acids that provide added energy. Studies have also shown that those same fatty acids help protect the intestines from inflammation, which could explain why inflammatory bowel disease is almost unheard of in African communities that eat high-fiber diets, Lionetti says."
OK, timeout for one of us, namely myself, to be a geek.
Matt, brilliant stuff, love it, however cannot be read if downloaded if one is on Google Chrome. Let me restate that. Beyond about Page 30 it cannot be read. Comes up as a black background with white stripe running down the middle. OTOH, IE8 and Firefox, no problemo. Just saying, you know.
But what if you don't already have those strains of bacteria to break down fiber? Will they naturally colonize when provided with an appropriate diet? Or do you have to go all baby Koala to get the right bacteria? Google it if you don't know what I mean :).
Matt said:
"I. . .only drink microbrew beer…"
Have you ever tried making your own beer? It's really easy and much cheaper than buying it all the time. After a few batches, I have also added some meads into my brewing which are probably the easiest (and tastiest!) alcoholic drink to brew. Just use fruit juice, honey and wine yeast. Meads are eally tasty, especially for people who do not like wines (meads are sweeter and you can leave out the tannins if you want).
Scott
Hi all, I have a few things I'd like to hear of other people's experiences.
After having tried several other diets from low fat vegan to high fat zero carb, I am now at a high starch low fat low protein diet.
On the days that I eat too much saturated fat, like, if I eat a lot of cheese or if I eat a lot of dark chocolate, I feel like it has an immediate effect on my adrenaline (or other adrenal hormones). Anyone else who has this experience? I feel like I get more aggressive, talkative, I notice details better, I get more hyperactive, etc.
Is this normal? Does anyone else get this feeling when eating a lot of saturated fat, even if in combination with starch? or when eating lot of protein, like a meal of meat and veggies with no starch?
Anonymous adrenaline-
Yes, that's precisely what I notice. In fact, I've only had two nights in the last month where I didn't sleep well – and both were after eating a big beefy, fatty, dinner. This happened like two or three times per week on a low-carb diet, and I couldn't manage to sleep until sunrise – ever. Not anymore though. Just when I eat a massive meat meal.
Swede-
I'm not a big alcohol partaker. Never have been. Shamefully, I've never made my own beer. Someday. Someday…
Sarah-
Thanks for that. That kind of thing has been noted time and time again in various ways. The production of short chain fatty acids is a really big deal I think, and why I'm starting to have a major woody for resistant starch right now.
Hawaii Girl-
I do think that the digestive tract can change, big time. What most people focus on is seeding their digestive tracts with probiotics instead of putting all their efforts into creating the ultimately hospitable environment for the "right" type of bacteria to thrive, which, "if you build it, they will come."
I'm a true believer in that now, having restored my ability to eat beans (richest source of starch) without severe pain and bloating that made even a tablespoon of frijoles negroes intolerable for years. I think eating 20+ bananas per day for nearly 2 weeks did it, as bananas are really rich in Fructooligosaccharides (FOS), resistant starch, fiber, etc.
My digestion totally changed during that time. At first I basically had diarrhea. By the end my movements were the best they've ever been and only came twice daily. I didn't even have gas. Sounds like bacteria breaking it down properly to me.
I hate Google Chrome
Nell! Welcome back. Not exactly amazing cholesterol numbers, but they could be worse I guess.
We're not ditching all butter and cream, just half of it.
Made the RS3 salad last night. The boy loved it. Ate two huge bowls of it. My only suggestion to those making this salad is to put beans in at the very end. My black beans got all mashed up in tossing the salad with all the other ingredients and turned it an unappetizing gray-ish color. So delish salad, kinda ugly though.
Yeah, kidneys or pintos would be purdier in that one.
I'll have to stick with lighter colored beans.
Hey, Matt, I was just reading in the cookbook where you were recommending siracha sauce. At our little local whole in the wall "Asian fusion" (i.e. a whole bunch of popular Asian dishes cooked by people from Vietnam) joint of course has the Rooster sauce on every table, which they call "cock sauce." There's this one weird old dude who comes in and starts shouting, "there's no cock sauce! Can I get some cock sauce?!" for like five minutes. We were under the table laughing. So funny. Cock sauce.
Jennythenipper – you won't be disappointed with Tinkyada. It's the only kind of rice pasta I've found that doesn't taste like paste. :-) My favorites are the penne and spaghetti.
Matt – I'm curious about your 20 bananas a day. I'm always looking for digestion improvement. But I assume that bananas contain fructose, so are they not a good idea if you're trying to reverse insulin resistance?
Another thing I loved in the new ebook was your description of preparing artichokes. The one and only time I ever did this my hands were all cut up and bleeding– not a good state for someone who is about to eat something doused in lemon juice! If you want to know what it was like, watch the scene in Gone with the Wind when Scarlet has to pick cotton for the first time. They were baby artichokes too, which meant a frustrating amount of labor for relatively little actual food. After that I made my husband who is the artichoke fan do the prep. His hands are like baseball mitts anyway from working on cars.
Anyway, just lovin the e-book.
Matt,
I thought Taubes's big point is that total cholesterol numbers are meaningless, and that triglycerides and HDL are the only ones that matter. Did I miss the boat?
Cholestrol numbers aren't meaningless, just weak indicators of overall risk. The higher the number, the greater the risk, but a person with a cholesterol level of 300 vs. 200 doesn't have a heart disease risk that is really much higher. Just a little bit. But the media would have people believe otherwise, or that having a low cholesterol level means that you are immune to heart disease and strokes, which is false, especially as it pertains to stroke.
But high cholesterol is an indicator of a reduced metabolic state.
The best predictor from the standard monitors of risk is probably the HDL:Trigs ratio, which yours is great.
I think RRARF would perform really well in clinical trial for raising the HDL to triglyceride ratio in the shortest amount of time.
Kaylin-
I don't believe fructose in fruit can be equated with refined fructose. I have some issues with it sometimes sure, but the resistant starch, fiber, and FOS in bananas for example are great for countering the negatives of excessive fructose consumption.
Anyway, when I did the banana thing I was eating roughly 2 meals per day of just bananas. I ate them until I was sick of the taste and then ate a few more! Usually 10 bananas per sitting. Some days I ate only fruit.
A more modest approach might be to eat fruit all day once per week – or all day until dinner one or two days per week.
Also, I'd just like to throw out there that I grilled the best steaks of my life last night following your advice. I used the meat poking test, and put them in a 150 overn to rest for ten minutes while the veggies grilled.
This was the best meal I've ever made on the grill and even though I was using the lean as hell, tougher than leather grass fed steaks, the pan juices were like freakin necter man. And the texture was not too bad. I soaked them in coconut oil for a while before seasoning them. Still a bit tougher than I'd like, though. (Probably I need some acid in there to soften the meat a bit) Can't wait to see what I can do with some marbled conventionally raised meat from the supermarket!
Thanks Nipper. Glad you are digging the subtle nuances. Little underappreciated things like allowing red meat to properly rest before serving is enough to totally change the quality of one's cooking.
The other night, for example, I cooked up a half of a whole ribeye and let it rest for an entire hour. It was unbelievable – as good as I've ever had.
All I did was:
1) Coat it heavily with salt and pepper
2) Sear it in coconut oil on very high heat until all sides were browned.
3) Cooked it in the oven, well-covered for a little over an hour at 250 degrees F (it was a pretty small half-ribeye)
4) Let rest for an hour, keep covered
5) Reheated in the oven at 350 degrees for 30 minutes and then sliced it into 10 pieces.
It was $$$
Tinkyada rice noodles are delicious. I think I even like them better than wheat pasta–not necessarily as a replacement, but as rice noodles in an Asian-flavored dish compared to wheat pasta in an Italian-flavored dish.
The idea that you could reheat ribeye kind of blows me away. So did you let it rest in the oven or on the stove top?
Did you have a crowd to reed with all the rib-eye or are you reusing it?
Oh, and the packaging is appealing and even has little Asian-cutesy bunnies on it, announcing "Not Mushy!" It could use a bit more Engrish, though.
Rachelle that's a great idea. For most Italian dishes I still can't stand the whole wheat pasta. (The exception would be spaghetti bolognese or lasagna) For some reason though I don't mind it with mac and cheese or Cincinnati chili.
I guess the common denominator there is really high fat! The lighter Italian dishes still kind of gag me when they are made with whole wheat noodles.
I will definitely try Tinkyada the next time I make pad thai.
Stovetop-
It stays plenty warm if covered tightly with aluminum foil. You don't want it to get cold, just remain warm. Then you re-heat it to get it hot enough to serve. It was for a group of 10 people.
Well, you all talked to me into it. I gotta get the update now. Light bill is due though……tough decision.
Somebody asked about mung beans. I don't know about the phytate content, but here are some thoughts.
The cellophane noodles are made from highly refined mung bean starch, so that's a totally different thing from whole mung beans.
The Chinese don't only use mung beans for making sprouts, but also for making a paste that is used as a filling in sweets or boil some in a lot of water to make a tea. I'm sure there are many other uses for them as well.
The hulled and split version of mung is pretty much a staple in Indian cooking, and Vietnamese like to steam them with rice.
I've tried cooking whole mung beans (with the green skin) but for some reason they tasted disgusting. Hulled mung with rice tastes quite good though.
Is this book still available? I can’t find it anywhere…
No, sorry.
Is there any possible way to get it? We are 3 months into RRARF and I definitely need some inspiration!
My mnobeyed youtube cooking channel is still up, but it was less carby back then. There are also a few cooking vids on the 180DegreeHealth youtube channel.