Pork (bacon)

by | Jan 14, 2013 | Food Choices, Low carb diet, Meat Products | 0 comments

Here is another copy of a post I have commented to at lowcarber.org regarding meat products 

Liz53’s Post:

Excellent post, MarkMoxom. I’ve been eating primarily grass fed beef and free range pork and poultry since reading The Omnivore’s Dilemma in 2006, with nothing but improvements to my health.

I truly believe the body is satisfied with less food if it is of high quality. It makes sense because, bottom line, food is fuel for us. The body is going to continue to signal that it needs food, and we will likely continue to eat, till its essential needs are

Stuart, you may want to check out eatwild.com They have a list of local purveyors of sustainably-grown meat and vegetables in the US and Canada, organized by state and province. You might find something close to you.

My Reply:

Liz53,

Thank you for that link. It’s an excellent one by the way. Another one you might consider is polyfacefarms.com. They have a fantastic program of raising food totally naturally themselves. Also they take on apprentices who then go off and start out farms and repeat the same pattern, naturally produced in the old fashioned time all that way.

Hope that helps,

Mark

Re: I’m Starting Again

by | Jan 11, 2013 | Food Choices, Low carb diet, Meat Products, Weight Loss | 0 comments

Here is a copy of another comment I made at fattoskinny.net about a previous thread on weight loss

 

Here is the thread:

 

From: Itsoversugar

It’s been quite awhile since I’ve checked out prices online. They’ve always been more expensive than I could get locally. Where do you order from?

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From: Umpa

Welcome MarkMoxom! I am Umpa Dougs wife if I can help you please ask.  I have a column on the homepage where I can convert your favorite foods to fat to skinny friendly.Enjoy the forum

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From: TooSweet

Welcome to the forum MarkMoxom     I’m curious where you order your meat as well

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From: mouseissue

Welcome to the FTS family, Mark!!!      

We are blessed to live around a LOT of ranchers.

We buy our beef by the side and save a good deal of money compared to stores prices.
And we get the prime cuts too!… Those are the ones usually reserved for restaurants only. 

Tony

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My response: 

 

Hi everyone!

Thanks to Umpa, TooSweet and mouseissue for the nice welcome.

I’m now fortunate enough to spend a lot of my time in France so a lot of what we eat comes from the farms, literally, just next door all around us. Our chicken comes from Pernwal who is just across the lane. Our fresh eggs come from Petit Poulet who lived just down the end of the lane. In fact, virtually, everything we eat, vegetables, cheese, meat, you name it, is locally produced because we decided some time ago to make the effort to eat as cleanly as possible, by clean, I mean, free from preservatives and things like that, artificial flavors, colorings, and all those sort of things our body neither needs nor wants. There are two really good things about living in the country. One, you can see exactly where your food comes from and two, because your buying form the actual producers, you’re getting more or less, market prices. This can be typically to a third, or four, even half the price to what you would see the same type or produce in the Bio section of your supermarket or delicatessen in many cases.

So in answer to Itsoversugar, it’s been a while too since I actually ordered naturally raised products by mail order. Some months in fact, I’m now thinking about it, it’s even longer than that. Many of my circles who continue to live the urban lifestyle and they keep me upraised about what’s going on in various parts of the world. One supplier, I’d like to draw your attention to, and I have no connection to them, by the way, I just think they are a brilliant, brilliant operation, is Polyface Farms. They are based in Virginia, but I think they serve Virginia and Maryland but one of the great things about Polyface Farms and many others who follow a very similar pattern is that take on apprentices. Once the apprentice is qualified, they then go off and start farms of their own so you’ve got them in Ohio, Iowa, Oregon, Pasadena, quite a few places around that part of the States. The thing is they’re not alone. It really is a simple matter of going onto Google and  putting in the search term, firstly, “farmer’s market” and the  your local area or “grass fed beef” then your local area, county, state or whatever and you’ll find a whole hosts of different producers producing exactly the type of food that we as low carbers want to eat. If you got the opportunity to go to one that is near to you, you’ll often find that the price that you pay on the farm is a lot less than your paying mail order. The thing to do then is to get together with other people who would like to eat the way you do and buy, say, half a cow, or half a sheep, or that sort of quantity and divide it up. Another good thing about doing in that way is that, if you buy half an animal, you get virtually everything that comes with that half of the animal. They are also buying it a lot earlier in the food supply chain so you can guarantee its freshness.  And as just as mouseissue had said, you get the cuts that are often sold off to restaurants or specialist delicatessen. Where we are, they have a very, I’ll say, a curious system, but it’s not curious in many ways. It’s quite sensible. Quite a number of these small farmers all over Europe, in fact, will at certain times of the year, allow you either on your own or as a group to buy,  say, a calf and you pay for it  there on and it becomes your calf. You are the registered owner of cow number, whatever its ear ticket says but you don’t take it home with you. It stays on the farm and the farmer will continue to raise it for you. This is normally done through the grass feed season as well so you can be sure that most of its feed is on good, natural pasture. Once it has reached its table weight the farmer will also organize the preparation for table giving you excellent quality meat at a very reasonable price.

The main thing I’d like people to take away from this is that we don’t have to accept just what the shops have to offer, that with a little bit of investigation,  a little bit of tenacity, and not being shy to ask around, we can find some of the best food for our table and our families that is possible to find.

Hope that helps,

Mark

Get started Part 2

by | Jan 11, 2013 | Food Choices, Low carb diet, Sensible Eating | 0 comments

This is a copy of a recent post that I have commented on at About.com Low Carb Diets about carbs

sunnydesertday wrote:

Thanks, Mark. Many people do eat the same foods over and over. I think it is a great idea to try new foods, cook new foods. It helps keep life a little more interesting. I am trying cauliflower “rice” and cauliflower “mashed potatoes” this week. I may like them, I may not, but I am looking forward to tasting the results.

I replied:

When I started low carb, I wasn’t going to let the few things I couldn’t eat be the limiting factor to what I could eat. Realizing that my diet up to that point had been fairly limited, I decided that I would start to look all around the world, metaphorically speaking, to find new things to try and new things to eat. So once a week, I designated a certain day when that would be the day I visited the culinary delights of a foreign land. So I got out my map of the world,  drew a line through as many countries as I could to try and circumnavigate the globe until I came back to my own doorstep. I visited France where I discovered the delights of beef bourguignon and so many other dishes. Spain, where I introduced myself to the delights of serrano ham and the delicious beef and almonds stew. Portugal for espetadas, then on to Italy for veal scallopini, only there, instead of using breadcrumbs to cover the veal, I used crushed nuts….. Really delicious!! And it was turning north, up through Eastern Europe, Germany, out through Denmark, across into Norway for a smorgasbord, right turn into Russia, well, I’m sure you get the picture.  You know, there are nearly 200 countries in the world, I think it stands at around 196 in the moment and I still haven’t visited everyone in the culinary sense and even if I only found 2 dishes from each country, it would be over a year again if I had one new meal every day before I visited the same country.

So, there’s a bit of a challenge. How many countries are you going to visit this year?

Hope that helps,

Mark

P90X

by | Jan 11, 2013 | Exercise, Fat Loss, Low carb diet, Weight Loss | 0 comments

Below is a copy of the post at Jimmy Moore’s where I commented on regarding exercise while on a low carb diet

 

Here’s what greggers19 said:

Has anyone tried to do the P90X workouts while on a low carb, high fat diet? I am starting it today but wanted to know if someone on here has done it before and what to expect. I’ve done P90X before but it was when I wasn’t low carb, and I saw mild results, I wonder why ha. 

Thanks, Greg

 

My comment:

Hi greggers19,

I have to tell you, you’ll find some seriousrly brilliant resulsts if you do any type of exercise when you’re on a low carb diet. I remember when I first started low carb, I used to be a body builder and I would spend anything up to an hour and half, 4 or 5 times a week doing a number of sets. Now the concensus of opinion among many in the bodybuilding arena is that you can’t do low carb when you’re doing weight training. They says it zaps your energy.

Well, after a  few, maybe 6 weeks on low carb, the most amusing thing was is that towards the end of my time at the last gym I was at, the trainer used to follow me around and he couldn’t believe that I was doing the same sort of weights in the time I was doing them in, mind you, at that time, neither could I. So as ecocarnivore has said,  any exercise program works on low carb, I would change it, just slightly, any exercise program works better on low carb.

Hope that helps,

Mark

Ketosis with low BF%

by | Jan 11, 2013 | How Your Body Works, Low carb diet, Metabolism | 0 comments

Here you will find my comment regarding a post at Jimmy Moore’s about body fat

 

SeriousTyro said:

Excerpt from Lyle McDonald’s “The Ultimate Diet 2.0”:
One problem may be that lean individuals can’t make enough ketones to exert a protein sparing effect; this is a consequence of the difficulties in mobilizing fatty acids in the first place. Even during total starvation, when you’d expect ketosis to have the greatest impact, ketones aren’t protein sparing in lean individuals (<15% bodyfat or so). Perhaps this is the shining moment for MCTs (Medium-Chain Triglycerides), by producing ketones in larger amounts, we can exert a protein sparing effect beyond simply providing quick fat energy. Assuming protein intake is sufficient in the first place, I still tend to doubt ketosis has any huge advantages in this regards. If it does, it simply hasn’t shown up in real world experience.

When you have less fat to begin with, it becomes more difficult to mobilize the body fat because the body needs it as a survival mechanism. In turn, the body resorts to using protein in order to produce the glucose needed. Ketosis is more of a “side-effect” of fat loss for lean individuals due to the high rate of glycosis due to low insulin levels on a low-carb diet.

Quote from Arti
Quote:MCTs are mentioned because they break down faster than Long-Chain Triglycerides (commonly found in meat), and can be mobilized into energy much faster. The former can be found commonly as Coconut/Palm Kernel oil, and butter has a small amount of it as well.

A small amount of glucose provides a small sparring effect (as well as limiting ketosis), as well as increasing protein intake. The former is more efficient. That’s why “no carb” is relatively worse than “low carb”.

My take from this is:
So less body fat -> less oxidation of fat -> less ketones -> less fuel for body -> body gets fuel from protein -> if not enough protein then get from muscles?

To counteract this, consume fast burning fats, i.e, MCTs such as Coconut Oil?

What are your thoughts on this?

 

My response:

What are my thoughts on this? Well, I’m tempted to say, eat more cheese. I’m now running around with a 32-inch waist. A 50-inch waist wouldn’t let me do that. I much prefer to keep the 32-inch waist so I guess in many ways, I’m like nzmegs other half. Although I have to be honest, I haven’t got a clue what my body fat is. All I know is, it looks okay in the mirror. 

And nzmegs , you are exactly right! Your other half’s body will encourage him to eat more fat and protein. That’s exactly what mine does. If I’m working out in the yard, then I’m more likely to have a chunk of cheese with my cup of tea. Yes, they do go together, actually. Compared to when I’m sat in front of the computer, where a break might be accompanied with a slice of meat or two. And don’t forget, the body is clever and as a general rule, it won’t start breaking down muscles that are used on a regular basis, which leads me to the conclusion that we all know. A low carb diet is the only diet that works with the body and when we listen, our bodies will provide exactly what the body needs at exactly the right time.

Hope that helps,

Mark

 

Low Carb Pasta Sauce

by | Jan 10, 2013 | Food Choices, Low carb diet, Recipe | 0 comments

This is actually a post where I shared one of my delicious and healthy low carb pasta sauce

mdanziger’ request:

I was in the grocery store last night and I wanted to get some pasta sauce to use with my miracle noodles as well as my pork rind chicken parm.  Anyway, I must have looked at more than 50 jars, from store brand to gourmet ($7.99 per bottle), plain, flavored, marinara, pizza sauce, organic… every conceivable kind.  The net carbs per serving ranged from 4 to 14 grams.  Of course the lowest carb count was in the most expensive sauce.  Even the plain “pizza sauce” had 5 net carbs.

I tried the Walden Farms sauce, and found it inedible.  I was never a fan of sweet tomato sauce, so it amazes me how much sugar companies put in their sauce.  I never made my own “gravy” (as my Italian friends call it) before, but I am thinking that might be the way I have to go.  Can someone please recommend a good, low carb pasta sauce?  Thanks.

What I shared:

Here is a recipe that I use quite often. Actually, I had to stop and think about what ingredients went into it because I just make it as in when I need to. It’s really versatile. You can use it over most things that you would use any type of pasta sauce over such as shredded cauliflower, zucchini or whatever you fancy.

Recipe ingredients

Knob of Butter

200g smoked straky bacon, roughly chopped

Small onion finely chopped or shallots if you prefer

2 egg

2 eggs yolks

3 garlic cloves, very finely chops

1/2 cup thickened cream or Creme Fraiche

100g parmesan cheese, finely grated or in paper thin slivers

To Prepare:

Simply put the melted butter in a large pan. I prefer a nice cast-iron skillet over a medium heat. Add in the onions or the shallots if you prefer. Let them start to cook and then after 2 or 3 minutes, throw in the bacon as well. Continue cooking until the onions are nicely done and the bacon is well cooked, almost to the point of being nice and crispy. Note: Drain off the excess fat if you’re bacon is a bit fatty as you don’t need that much of the fat in the sauce.

In a clean bowl,  whisk together the eggs and the egg yolks, add in the cream and about half of the parmesan so that they are all nicely combined and then season with a bit of salt and pepper as you like to taste.

Drain off whatever you are going to have with it such as your cauliflower or your noodles but leave them in the warm saucepan.

Add to the warm saucepan, the cooked bacon and onion. Then pour over the egg and cream mixture and combine until all is nicely mixed and warming through gently over a low heat.

This actually makes a very versatile sauce base as you can add curry powder and fresh coriander for use with lamb or something like that or you can swap out half of the bacon and add in 200 grams of finely-chopped mushrooms and use it as a fish sauce.

Quick, simple, delicious and cheap.

Now, I feel a need to go off and cook something.

Hope that helps,

Mark