Some Recent Meals

 This is a so-called 'century egg,' a Chinese invention.  They take raw duck eggs, pack them in in a mixture of clay, ash, salt, lime, and straw or rice hulls for several weeks to several months, depending on the method of processing.

 When you crack it open, you find that the white has turned gelatinous and black.

 They have a strong flavor.  I cut them into slices like below.  Inside you find that the yolk has turned blue-green, and semi-solid.  The alkalinity of the curing materials above raises the pH of the egg to 9 or more, causing changes in the egg proteins.

 I cut the egg into slices and put a few along with slices of an omelet on top of this miso soup that contained bok choy, bean sprouts, onions, and other vegetables.

On May 30 I had the plate below.  Egg omelet, two types of sweet potato, white potato, and a combination of steamed Asian greens.

On August 12, I had the meal below.  Two grass-fed beef burgers, one raw and one cooked, about 8 ounces total.  On the cooked burger, we had a sauce Tracy created from blended tofu and spices that made it look a lot like cheese.  I had a large sweet potato, a large ear of fresh corn, some cooked kale and onions, and a green salad with quick-pickled cucumbers that Tracy made atop.  To finish I had one of those quarters of a small watermelon.

 On August 22 my first feeding consisted of this bowl of fruit and nuts.  It contained a half banana, 9 grapes, an apricot, half a pint of raspberries, a plum, a quarter-cup of cashews, a quarter-cup of almonds, an a couple of tablespoonfuls of coconut flakes.

 A couple hours later, I had the plate below with about 4 ounces of leftover cod, a pile of kabocha winter squash, steamed kale with some carrot raisin salad atop, half an avocado, and some cole slaw.  The two photos have different dates because it changes date some time in the mid morning (apparently I didn't set it correctly and don't want to take time to fix it).

Later that same day I had  two plates of food.  The first has a ~4 ounce turkey burger under that pile of wilted onions (seasoned with cumin), more kale, slaw, olives, avocado, and green salad.  I ate this while waiting for our potatoes to steam.  Then I had the second plate:  another turkey burger and onions, and two steamed red potatoes with black pepper.  Then I had the bowl of blueberries and banana with coconut milk. 

Micronutrient Comparison: High fat vs. High carb; Plus: Ancient Greek Diet and Diseases

A reader emailed me asking, in his words:

"I would love to hear what your current diet includes, how you get enough vitamins/minerals on a relatively low protein/fat diet and if you have any good resources on what a traditional western diet would include."

So I thought I would do a little post on this topic.

My Current Diet

My current diet includes, ranked from highest to lowest volume:

1.  Starches:   brown rice, oatmeal, sorghum, whole corn tortillas, sweet potatoes, white potatoes, yucca root, kabocha squash, occasional white rice

2. Vegetables:  various greens, onions, carrots, radishes, celery, tomatoes, etc.

3.  Fruits:  Apples, oranges, berries, grapes, etc.

4.  Animal products:  mostly fish and shellfish (almost daily) > eggs > poultry ( a few times in the past month) > red meat (once in the past two weeks); total of 3-6 ounces daily (one egg substituting for one ounce)

5. Some soy products:  tofu and soy milk (total of a few times a week)

6. Very small amounts of olive oil and flax oil (1-3 tsp. daily)

Where Are Those Vitamins and Minerals?

Now, on to the question, how can anyone get adequate vitamins and minerals on a low protein/low fat diet?

Let's take a look at two menus I created, each about 2400 kcal, for a moderately physically active male of about 150-160 pounds, one low in animal products and fat, the other high in animal products and fat.

Here's the one low in animal products and fat, about 64/14/21 carb/pro/fat percent energy, with the micronutrient analysis; take note of the quantities of rice, potatoes, and sweet potatoes; this is the way I eat:

The menu has 100 g protein, more than enough to sustain muscular growth for anyone weighing up to 100 kg.  It exceeds all of FitDay's standard requirements for micronutrients except calcium where it reaches 86% of the 1000 mg standard.  In fact this also exceeds the requirements of most people; research has shown that the actual average requirement for calcium is only about 740 mg per day [1, 2 full text], so this menu exceeds the requirement.

Just a brief note on quantity:  In my experience, when people try low-fat diets, they don't consume anywhere near enough food to satisfy energy requirements.  They feel hungry, and they erroneously conclude that eating carbs makes them hungry, when in reality, they are hungry because they aren't eating enough quality starch.  Asians eat an average of 1/2 to 1 pound of rice (precooked weight) daily [full text], plus other grains, potatoes and other starches, with people eating lesser amounts of animal products eating the higher amount of rice.

To create the high fat menu, I took the above menu and removed all the starchy foods (brown rice, oatmeal, and potatoes), leaving in one sweet potato (the starch with the highest nutrient density), getting the carbs down to 100 g, then added bison and increased the meat and fish portions so that the total menu would supply protein equivalent to the above low-fat menu.  I kept the same non-starchy, high nutrient density vegetables and fruits as in the low-fat menu so as to minimize difference.  Then I added approximately equal portions of olive oil and butter to get the kcalorie count up to 2400, same as the other menu.  The macronutrient ratio came to 15/16/68 carb/pro/fat % energy (about the opposite carb/fat ratio to the low-fat menu).  Here's the menu and micronutrient analysis:

This menu has 200 mg less calcium than the low-fat menu, failing to meet even the new standard of ~740 mg, and fails to supply the RDA for magnesium, potassium, zinc, thiamin, and pantothenic acid.  The following table compares the two menus relative to the RDA for the listed micronutrients.  Red numbers indicate values that fall below the RDA:

Nutrient	Low-Meat, Low-Fat %RDA	High-Meat, High-Fat %RDA	Highest Level LM or HM
Vitamin A	761	839	HM
Vitamin B6	336	188	LM
Vitamin B12	254	329	HM
Vitamin C	523	458	LM
Vitamin D	262	266	=
Vitamin E	108	164	HM
Calcium	86	60	LM
Copper	386	167	LM
Iron	250	176	LM
Magnesium	175	61	LM
Manganese	543	135	LM
Niacin	160	108	LM
Pantothenic Acid	225	87	LM
Phosphorus	270	151	LM
Potassium	124	75	LM
Riboflavin	124	125	=
Selenium	137	285	HM
Thiamin	209	74	LM
Zinc	111	79	LM

1.  Despite retaining the high-nutrient density vegetables and fruits, the high-meat, high-fat, low-carb menu fails to provide the RDA for six of nineteen nutrients (32%).  This occurred while including 100 g nutrient-dense sources of carbohydrate daily.  If I cut the carbs further, the menu would get even weaker in micronutrients. Could this explain why Atkins Nutraceuticals exists?

2.  The low-meat, low-fat menu supplies the higher amount for 13 of 19 nutrients, the high-meat, high-fat menu supplies the higher amount for only 4 of 19 nutrients, and the two menus have approximately equal amounts for two nutrients.

So, I get my nutrients by eating nutrient-dense plant foods.  Even though I included some of the most nutrient-dense of plant foods in the high-fat menu, it didn't match the nutrient-density of the low-fat menu.  So I can turn the question around now and ask, how does one get adequate vitamins and minerals eating a low-carbohydrate, high-meat, high-fat diet?

Traditional Western Foods

Try reading about ancient Greek diet:

"Cereals formed the staple diet......The cereals were often served accompanied by what was generically referred to as ὄψον opson, "relish".^[26] The word initially meant anything prepared on the fire, and, by extension, anything which accompanied bread.^[27] In the classical period it came to refer to fruit and vegetables: cabbage, onions, lentils, sweet peas, chickpeas, broad beans, garden peas, grass peas, etc.^[28] They were eaten as a soup, boiled or mashed (ἔτνος etnos), seasoned with olive oil, vinegar, herbs or γάρον gáron, a fish sauce similar to Vietnamese nước mắm. According to Aristophanes,^[29] mashed beans were a favourite dish of Heracles, always represented as a glutton in comedies. Poor families ate oak acorns (βάλανοι balanoi).^[30] Raw or preserved olives were a common appetizer.^[31]

Among the ancient Greeks, the wealthy ate substantial animal products but the peasants did not. Before you follow their example, you might want to know something.  This dietary division of the classes gave ancient Greek philosophers and physicians the opportunity to observe a distinct division of health between the classes. In describing the mode of life of the citizens of The Republic, Socrates says:

"They will feed on barley-meal and flour of wheat, baking and kneading them, making noble cakes and loaves; these they will serve up on a mat of reeds or on clean leaves, themselves reclining the while upon beds strewn with yew or myrtle. And they and their children will feast, drinking of the wine which they have made, wearing garlands on their heads, and hymning the praises of the gods, in happy converse with one another. And they will take care that their families do not exceed their means; having an eye to poverty or war......of course they must have a relish-salt, and olives, and cheese, and they will boil roots and herbs such as country people prepare; for a dessert we shall give them figs, and peas, and beans; and they will roast myrtle-berries and acorns at the fire, drinking in moderation. And with such a diet they may be expected to live in peace and health to a good old age, and bequeath a similar life to their children after them."[2, 3]

Glaucon protests that this substantially plant-based diet seems fit only for pigs, that the people should have "sauces and sweets in the modern style." Socrates retorts that doing so will create a "State at fever heat" and goes on:

"Now will the city have to fill and swell with a multitude of callings which are not required by any natural want; such as the whole tribe of hunters and actors, of whom one large class have to do with forms and colours; another will be the votaries of music--poets and their attendant train of rhapsodists, players, dancers, contractors; also makers of divers kinds of articles, including women's dresses. And we shall want more servants. Will not tutors be also in request, and nurses wet and dry, tirewomen and barbers, as well as confectioners and cooks; and swineherds, too, who were not needed and therefore had no place in the former edition of our State, but are needed now?  They must not be forgotten: and there will be animals of many other kinds, if people eat them."[3]

To which Glaucon says: "Certainly."

And Socrates says:

"And living in this way we shall have much greater need of physicians than before?"

To which Glaucon says:  "Much greater."  

In other words, Plato or Socrates had already observed, more than 2000 years ago, that the rich people eating their rich diet had affluent diseases and early mortality, and the peasants eating a frugal diet could expect "health to a good old age."  

I referred to this, among other ancient writings, when I wrote "the currently popular concept of paleo diet—animal-based, relatively high in protein and fat and relatively low in carbohydrate—conflicts with empirical nutrition knowledge accumulated over the course of 5 thousand years in both Asian and Western medicine"[4].  The knowledge that humans thrive on low-fat plant-based nutrition and get sick on high-fat animal-based nutrition is not some 20th century aberration in the West; we find it expressed by the very founders of Western civilization. 

I just find it uncanny that modern mainstream Western nutrition research seems to be reaching the same general conclusions about optimal human nutrition as Plato/Socrates, traditional Chinese medicine, and traditional Ayurvedic medicine, despite coming at the question from different angles in different ages and in different populations.

The irony:  Armed with their so-called 'scientific' method, which they haughtily consider superior to any previous method of discovery, a team of modern scientists climbs the mountain of Truth and when they get to the top, they find the best ancient philosophers and physicians from East and West have been sitting there for millennia. 


  

More Meat and Eggs Recipes For Better Health and Fitness

 Tracy came up with this awesome meal.  She made these green chili burgers, and topped them with beef bacon (from Trader Joe's) and eggs.  The recipe for the burgers:

2 lbs. ground beef, 80/20 preferred
1/4 to 1/2 cup canned green chilis
1/4 large onion, diced
1 tsp crushed red pepper
lemon zest from about 1/2 lemon
1 tsp oregano
2 -4 T fresh mozzarella cheese, pulled apart into small chunks
salt and black pepper to taste

Mix all ingredients, form into patties, and cooked in a mix of olive oil and butter in a skillet over medium heat.  Meanwhile cook the bacon and eggs in a separate pan.  When you finish the burgers, put fresh spinach in the pan to collect all the fat and juices. Serve burgers topped with bacon and eggs, and spinach on the side.

I made the turkey legs for this meal by roasting them for about 8 hours in a 200 degree oven in my Le Creuset pot.  I seasoned them with mild Mexican red pepper, poultry herbs, and liquid smoke. I made gravy by thickening the turkey juices with arrowroot powder.  We had sauteed onions, cabbage, carrots, and kale on the side.
 

We made these burgers by mixing some fresh mozzarella, about 10 chopped Kalamata olives and olive juice, some dried oregano, and two cloves of pressed garlic into a pound of lean ground beef.  Tracy fried them in a mix of butter and olive oil.   We topped them with slices of beef bacon.  We had leftover vegetables with them:  sauteed kale, carrots, and onions, and a mixed salad. 

Simple Practically Paleo Meals

Slow roasted beef with a side of kale, onions, and raisins sauteed in olive oil.   Following Richard Nickoley's lead, I've taken to preparing all of our 2-4 pound beef roasts, ribs, and turkey by this method:

1. Heat the oven to 500 F while putting a dry rub on the 2-4 pound roast.  You might also cut large chunks of carrots, onions, potatoes, sweet potatoes, or celery.
2. Put the roast and any vegetables in a covered roasting pot (I use my 20 year old Creuset French Oven).
3. Put the pot in the oven at 500 F for about 5 minutes. 
4. Turn the oven down to 150 F and let the meat slow roast for 8 to 12 hours.
 
The result is very, very tender, moist, rare to medium rare meat.  You have to be careful not to leave the oven at 500 F for very long.  I plan to try this using only the 150 F for 8+ hours.

Tilapia In Coconut-Curry Sauce

We got some tilapia filets for $2.97 per pound from Sunflower Market.  Here's the recipe I created:

1 onion, diced
1/2 red pepper, diced
1/2 to 1 green chili, chopped finely (adjust to your liking)
3 cloves garlic, pressed
2 T olive oil

1 cup coconut milk

1 tsp cumin
1 tsp ginger powder
2 tsp curry powder

1 pound of tilapia fillets (5 fillets)
1 bunch of kale greens, stems removed and leaves torn into bite-size pieces.

salt to taste

1 T arrowroot powder

In a shallow stainless steel pan that has a lid (we have Emerilware), I sauteed the first 4 ingredients in the olive oil, then added 1/2 of the coconut milk with the spices.  I added the tilapia fillets and kale, covered the pan, brought it to a boil, and simmered the mix slowly until it just cooked through, probably 5 to 10 minutes.  I then removed the whole tilapia filets, then dissolved the arrowroot in the remaining coconut milk and added it to the pan, stirring constantly as it thickened up (if you like it thicker you can use more arrowroot).

I put the tilapia on the plates, the veggies on the side, and spooned the coconut curry sauce over it all.  The result:

Enjoy!

My Meals: Budget Primal Fish Head Soup

The local Asian market sells a lot of fish, and since traditional Asians eat every edible part, they sell fish heads for only $1.99 per pound.  I picked up a salmon head:

Salmon head and dried alaria seaweed.

I put the head in our crock pot with the alaria seaweed that I get from Larch Hanson's Maine Seaweed Company, then covered it with filtered water, added a little lemon juice, and set it to cook on low.  I left it cook for more than 12 hours, during which time the entire head, bones and all, dissolved.

After the head dissolves, I usually add winter squash, preferably kabocha, to the soup, but we had baked acorn squash to go with the meal so I only added onion, garlic, ginger, red chili pepper flakes, and salt.  It may not look pretty but its chock full of vitamins, minerals, proteins, and omega-3 fats:

Salmon head and seaweed soup

We ate this soup with hot Italian chicken sausage, acorn squash (butter added), and Chinese broccoli stir-fried in lard from pastured pigs:

We enjoyed mixing the sausage, greens, and squash into the soup.

My Meals 12/21/2010: More Budget Primal

On Saturday night I used some of the leftover $1.97/lb cross rib roast to make a stir-fry.   I sliced onions, carrots, and collards into strips, and cut the beef into bite-sized chunks.  I heated leftover bacon fat in the pan, then stir-fried them successively, while I reheated the leftover mashed squash in the convection oven.  My portion looked like this:

On Sunday night I took another of those roasts and used Richard Nikoley's prime rib method to prepare it. I heated the oven to 500 degrees F, then put the ~3 lb. roast in for an intended 15 minutes, setting the timer.  However, Tracy and I decided to go out for a short walk, and I forgot the roast until we returned some time later to the timer buzzing.  I wasn't sure how long we had been gone.  I checked the roast and found the surface well-browned, but not burned, so I turned the heat down to 150 degrees (the lowest mark on my oven) and left it overnight.  Despite my mistake and the small size of the roast, it turned out with a great rind,  a medium rare center, and a texture like smoked meat.  I prefer it rare, but in this case I feel glad it didn't get well done.  I deglazed the pan with vegetable stock and made a gravy by thickening it with arrowroot powder. Some of it appears in a meal below.

As I heated the oven to 500 for the meat, I put in 4 large sweet potatoes that I purchased from Smart & Final for $0.50 per pound, half what we usually pay for sweets.  They were done by the time we got back from our walk. 

This past Friday we got a fantastic deal on locally produced Hickman's eggs at Sunflower market; $0.99 for 18 eggs (6 cents per egg!) marked down because they were near the pull date:

We keep our eyes open for these kinds of deals when shopping. Eggs keep for about a month after a pull date if kept in the refrigerator, but we will easily use 3 dozen eggs in two weeks.  I have already had a dozen of these eggs myself in just 3 days.

Today Tracy put some of those eggs to good use.  She took some leftover vegetables and potatoes and heated them in an omelet pan using olive oil and butter:

While the vegetables heated she beat 5 eggs then poured them over the vegetables:

She covered the pan let it cook on medium low heat until it was almost firmed up:

Meanwhile she set the oven on broil and when the eggs were almost ready, she removed the cover and put them under the broiler.  She then served it with some remaining leftover potatoes, and some of the slow-roasted meat covered with gravy.  Here's her plate:

And mine:

I put some salsa atop one wedge of the egg dish, and we both spread some sour cream on the eggs. I got the sour cream on sale at Sprouts market, 16 ounces for $1.99.  After finishing this plate I had another wedge of the egg dish, and a small bowl of pineapple, 3 prunes, and some walnuts.  I ate that at 10am after heavy strength training on an empty stomach; as I finish this post it is almost 4pm and I'm still satisfied, 6 hours later.

My Meals 11/25/10 - Practically Paleo Thanksgiving

Half a turkey breast roasted in a slow cooker with with a sausage dressing.  I seasoned the turkey with garlic powder, rosemary, black pepper, and a couple tablespoons full of grass-finished beef tallow.  The sausage dressing consisted of pork sausage, diced green apple,  celery,  onions, ground sage, and a very small amount of maple syrup*.  
Cranberries and apples cooked in apple cider with cinnamon and a very small amount of maple syrup*.
Sweet potatoes mashed with a small amount of orange juice and some coconut oil.
Brussells sprouts prepared by first steaming, then carmelized in a mix of butter*, olive oil, lemon juice, lemon zest, salt and pepper.
Green salad dressed with olive oil and bacon bits.

We chose to eat our "practically paleo" squash pie on Friday.  We used the dairy-free recipe in The Garden of Eating, page 384, using only honey* as a sweetener.  Tracy created the crust by mixing almond flour with some melted butter* from grass-fed cows.  You could use coconut oil instead of butter for a dairy-free "paleo" crust. 

We ate the pie with whipped cream; Tracy put cinnamon-flavored stevia* and some vanilla extract in the cream. 

* Asterisks mark ingredients that are NOT "paleo" by strict definition.  Hence, this meal was practically paleo, NOT paleo! 

My Meals: 11/21/10

I don't have photos of my breakfast this day.  It consisted of some leftover beef roast; Trader Joe's turkey keilbasa; collards cooked with onions and red pepper; and some leftover green beans, bok choy, and onions.

Supper

We got frozen ahi tuna from Trader Joe's.  It came cut in two steaks each a little more than an inch thick and about 1/2 pound.  I cut them into thinner steaks about 1/2 inch thick, and seasoned each of the 4 steaks with black pepper and a very small amount of salt.  Meanwhile I cooked 2 strips of Pederson's brand uncured smoked jalapeno-flavored bacon to just crisp, removed it to drain, and added about a tablespoon of grass-finished beef tallow to the pan.  As soon as the tallow melted, I cooked the tuna steaks for about 1 minute on each side in the mixture of bacon fat and tallow.  We topped each tuna steak with 1/4 of a sliced avocado, a little salsa, and 1/2 slice of the bacon.  I think this was the best ahi tuna I have ever had, very moist and flavored by the bacon fat and tallow.

Along side the tuna we had a mixed green salad consisting primarily of romaine lettuce, with red radish, onion, and zucchini, dressed with olive oil, and sweet potatoes topped with grass-fed butter.  For dessert we had a couple of the primal chocolate chip cookies we made earlier in the day.

My Meals 11/19/10

Breakfast 11/19/10

Grilled A-Bar-H Farm grass-finished round steak (marinated overnight in lemon juice, cumin, rosemary, garlic, and black pepper)
1 1/2 soft boiled eggs
2 strips of bacon
Onions, tomato, turnip greens, and bok choy sauteed in bacon drippings, seasoned with chili pepper flakes
Some leftover onions and kabocha squash baked in coconut oil and seasoned with powdered cinnamon
One orange (not in photo)

Supper 11/19/10

Turkey thighs roasted in crock pot with onions, seasoned with Wright's liquid hickory smoke , chili flakes, garlic, black pepper, touch of salt, and pastured butter
Sweet potato mashed with a small amount of orange juice (juice of 1/4 orange for 2 sweet potatoes) and pastured butter 
Red onions and bok choy stir-fried in coconut oil and seasoned with Thai Kitchen Fish Sauce and Red Chili Paste.

The photo doesn't do the turkey justice...those thighs were larger than they appear in the photo.

Products we used:

My Meals 11/8/10

Breakfast

Stew made with turkey backs, chicken thighs, leeks, garlic, celery, carrots, tomatoes, and potatoes (2 small potatoes for a pot of about 3 quarts of stew), seasoned with chili and topped with avocado

One banana topped with about 2 tablespoons of cream and 1/2 cup of walnuts

I had the same stew for lunch with some steamed broccoli seasoned with olive oil, a whole avocado, and an apple.

For a snack I had a couple of cups of full-fat yogurt topped with about 1/4 cup of almonds.  Lately I have been eating more dairy as my strength has been increasing and I find it an easy way to add some calories to my diet for weight gain.  I generally don't recommend daily intake of yogurt, milk, or cheese to anyone interested in losing fat, but for those who wish to gain weight, the insulinogenic and other growth promoting properties of protein- and lactose-containing milk products can be temporarily useful.

My Meals 11/7/10

Supper

Grass finished burgers with tomato, avocado, and local chipotle catsup atop
Tossed green salad with olive oil dressing
Steamed broccoli
Stir-fry of carrots, onions, and seaweed in coconut oil with a bit of honey and curry

Dessert (no photo) was blueberries with heavy cream, coconut milk, walnuts, and a little yogurt

My Meals 8/17/2010

Breakfast

4 egg omelet with Canadian bacon and curry seasoning
Stir-fried mix of chicken breast, red onions, red pepper, carrots, bok choy, shiitake, and collards in coconut oil seasoned with Chinese five spice and cayenne
Fruit:  oranges, bananas, and grapes (bananas not shown)

We spent this day having fun.  Later after spending time in the mid-day Arizona sun at the pool, we had a snack of strawberries and coconut cream.

For dinner we ate out at an Irish Pub for fun after watching Eat, Pray, Love.  We shared summer ale, french onion soup, a mixed beet root and green salad with grilled steak, beef short ribs, and Irish colcannon with mixed vegetables.