Nutrition and Physical Regeneration

I have been away for a few days but things will be back in full swing shortly. In the meantime check out this tasty steak recipe.

Enjoy!

I am a big fan of all things coconut: the milk, meat, water, and oil. Coconut is a prized nutrient dense food in many parts of the world. It is one of the few significant sources of saturated fat in the vegetable kingdom. It is so highly valued by Pacific Islanders (like the Kitavans, who have no measurable heart disease) that it is known as the "Tree of Life." In the days ahead you will see many posts exploring all aspects of the nutritional and medicinal value of the coconut and why it should play a significant role in your diet.

Since I rarely eat gluten grains I have on and off looked for a good substitute for making the occasional bread style item. Face it, bread and other cereal grains are really good as carriers for butter, for sandwiches, for eating with cheese, for cleansing your palate between glasses at a wine tasting , and for serving as an appetizer. Right now my best carrier for butter is the smashed baked or boiled sweet potatoes I eat on a regular basis. So it is nice to find a coconut flour recipe that works both taste wise and texture wise. I will be experimenting with making sandwich bread with coconut flour in the near future and I will report back with the results.

I'm not sure why in the video Elana uses grapeseed oil but I would recommend using coconut oil since highly unsaturated fats like grapeseed oil readily break down under high heat. Also ghee alone or in combination with coconut oil works wonderfully as well.

One final note, I would be very leery of using the extremely fructose rich (90%) refined agave syrup as a sweetener. It is not a healthy food. More about that in an upcoming post.

See also: What To Eat In A Crisis
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Pemmican, in my opinion, is the superfood, especially for those who are following a traditional style diet where it is fully understood that animal fats are not only important and tasty but essential.

I always have a difficult time when I am looking for something to snack on. You can no longer buy properly prepared tortilla chips at retail. To the best of my knowledge no manufacturer produces them, Kettle Brand Chips being the last manufacturer to do so (the dangers of untreated starches due to persorption cannot be overstated).

A bag of "healthy" potato chips doesn't work because store bought chips are usually cooked with PUFA oils heated at very high temperatures (for the lowdown on the dangers of polyunsaturated vegetable oils see Chris Masterjohn's Special Report). The only real options are to make your own snacks in advance.

I like beef tallow chips when I want something crunchy before a meal (note: you can make your own chips from masa tortillas or thinly sliced potatoes cooked in beef tallow), or chicken drummettes, or sliced charcuterie with cheese, but when it doesn't matter pemmican fits the bill just fine.

Even more, as you will see below, pemmican is capable of sustaining your health entirely on its own, should you ever find yourself in such a situation or simply want to go on an all meat diet for awhile.

It has no equal when it comes to food for hiking and backpacking. Instead of loading up on various types of not very palatable or not very healthy MRE's or other freeze dried foodstuffs, you can pack enough pemmican for a day or even a week without taking up much backpack space.

This is why I call it a superfood. It can fully sustain you now or in a crisis when other foods may not be readily available due to personal economic reasons or market disruptions.

Given the current economic crisis, and the uncertainty about the solutions offered by the US government, many average ordinary run of the mill folks are stocking up on foods and purchasing food storage programs. These people are not died in the wool survivalist types but your Mr. and Mrs. Joe neighbor.

Read more…

There is a Making It From Scratch blog carnival going on over at SimplyForties and my post How To Make Ghee is one of the featured articles. Check it out!