Swotting Up On The Endocrine System & Stuffing My Face

As well as re-reading a lot of posts on blogs I already following, with this new lens aimed at metabolic function and how it is affected by nutrition, I'm also blogroll-hopping to find new lands of endocrine-exploration. Some follow paleo principles, avoiding neolithic foods, and some don't. I'm accumulating knowledge in a sprawling and all-encompassing manner, and I do not plan to regurgitate it all back out in posts here, since the metabolism is yet another area of health where scientists have not found all the answers. But as I go, I'll be sure to add notes in my posts where particular choices have been made with metabolic process in mind.

Here are just some of the web pages I wandered through today that I found thought-provoking and informative (some stuff I already knew, some stuff I didn't, not that I agreed with everything, necessarily - read critically, says GGP the English teacher...):

Ways To Boost Metabolism - A basic starting point, good for its notes about coconut oil. I took some CCO today, and I've been drinking white tea all day. My hands are like radiators right now...

A 7-step Plan to Boost Your Low Thyroid and Metabolism - points out the link between environmental toxins and hypothyroidism, as well as looking at the causes of chronic inflammation. His 7-step programme also looks good, especially the nutrition notes and heat therapy idea...

And here's an example of what NOT to do - Twelve Ways To Revive & Boost Your Metabolism. Yikes. Utter bollocks until she starts talking about muscles.

I'm reading through the info on the Schwarzbien Principle again. Highly thought-provoking, but not something to take as gospel.

The colourfully named 'The Diet-F*cked Blog' is written by two 18 year old kids who suffer from burned-out adrenal glands and compromised thyroid function. Whilst the blog seems to be stagnant (although there's an odd post asking for your email if you want to subscribe since the blog needs to go 'on the down-low'), there's some really interesting information that is essentially a translation of Ray Peat's ideas placed alongside anecdotal experiences.

To read more about Ray Peat's ideas, check out his articles on thyroid function.

Dr. Kharrazian is an expert in the field of thyroid functionality, but very little of his work is available online (that I can find). I have found reference to his ideas paraphrased in forum comments, but for more details I'd have to buy his book (and I'm not about to do that). The take-home idea of his, at this stage, is that it may well be possible that all of the potential causes of hypothyroidism can be eliminated without the need for medical/drug interference.

From a comment by Erin on a post on The Fabulous Foragers Forum:

From all the reading I've been doing (based upon the experience of people practicing functional endocrinology like Dr. Kharrazian and Nora), the consensus seems to be in favor of lower (not super-low/no) carb, moderate protein, higher fat for healing the endocrine system. Even Dr. Schwartzbein echos this, too. A low(er)-carb, higher fat diet (without all the excess protein!) resets leptin functioning, which then helps insulin, which then helps adrenal function and so on down the hormone ladder.

This comment, based on access to texts that are not available to read online as far as I can tell, tends to support the idea that KKwasniewski's The Optimal Diet is a good way to go. Although I've always felt fine, I've often wondered whether the amount of protein I consume when on a carnivorous WOE is unnecessarily high, and potentially dangerous. I watch my caloric breakdown carefully (i.e. keeping my percentage of calories from fat up to at least 65%) but this doesn't take into account total caloric intake. So if I futz around with Kwasniewski's ideas, here's what I come up with:

If I take 1g of protein for every 1kg of my ideal bodyweight (for which I'm using 65kg, which may be a little lower than my ideal - I don't know since I've never been there in my adult life!), that says I should consume 65g protein, providing me with 260kcal.

My optimal fat consumption range is therefore between 162g and 227g, providing 1458kcal to 2043kcal.

I should then, so Kwasniewski states, consume at least 35g carb but no more than 50g carb, giving me between 140kcal and 200kcal from carbohydrates.

Overall, my minimum caloric intake should be 1858kcal and my maximum 2503kcal.

This is supposedly a healthy eating plan for my goal weight, so eating at this level should encourage my excess weight to leave. But since I'm insulin resistant, it might help for me to consume a lower level of carbs... So theoretically, if I then cut back on my carb allowance (but maybe not to zero if I am to preserve metabolic function), then I should aim for 65g protein, 162g to 227g fat, and around 5g carb, resulting in a caloric intake of 1738 to 2323kcal. Looking at caloric restriction alone, I know that I don't lose fat at this level whilst consuming 20g carb, but perhaps I could on a ketogenic diet... And I've shown before that I can lose fat on a carnivorous diet consuming up to 2400kcal per day, so that may prove the Kwasniewski ranges are quite optimal... Maybe I'll play with this idea more post-ADF experiment.

From what I can tell, my iodine levels are fine, and my hormone test pre-PCO diagnosis suggested that my thyroid was functioning well. However, it cannot be denied that iodine deficiency is becoming a significant problem within at least the Westernised world, and especially those of us who shun fast-food, which is loaded with iodised salt. As Sue pointed out in a comment, Richard Nikoley's own experiences with hypothyroidism and iodine, and the comments which follow, are worth a read for anyone interested in metabolism.

In 2008, Matt Stone completed a 30 day trial of an all-meat diet, noting the therapeutic effects it had on digestion, skin & dental health, IBS, obesity (noting that "an all-meat diet is pretty much a sure thing for weight loss"), acne, blood pressure, and sugar/flour addictions. He touches upon the question I'm currently interested in - whether the carnivorous lifestyle can 'heal' the damage done to the digestive and endocrine systems by previous ways of eating (the usual SAD: high PUFA, high refined carb diet). Whilst this post didn't really answer that question, the comments took the discussion into interesting territory, and are certainly worth a read (until it turns into a weird argument about Charles Washington...)

It seems like everyone is interested in discussing iodine and thyroid function at the moment, including Diana Hseih, who has personal thyroid issues and is blogging about her experience, Hunt.Gather.Love, Dr. James Carlson, and we're promised that Dr. Michael R. Eades will soon be tackling the topic in depth.

In between the reading, I - of course - managed to find time for some really good eatin', especially since Organic Direct just delivered a new month's supply of delicious pastured meat!

Friday - Fasting
Adding to the scrambled eggs noted last post, here's a shot of the HUGE blade steak I easily put away before we headed out to the theatre.



Saturday - Feasting
Started the day with a sleep-in, then satisfied my hunger with lamb chops and fried egg, aw yeah...


A light lunch of smoked salmon followed...


And topped off the day with gorgeous salmon sashimi, followed later by a spoonful of metabolism-boosting coconut oil and a few pots of organic white tea.


Sunday - Feasting
Today is my first shot at keeping my protein intake around the 65g mark, and boosting my fat intake to at least 160g. Carbs will only be coming from animal products for now, so the number will fall as it wishes...

So I started off with a crab meat pancake - 140g crab meat, 3 eggs, and 50g coconut oil, mixed up and poured into a heated frying pan greased with butter. This made two large pancakes (next time I'd use a smaller pan to make smaller cakes - easier to flip) and I topped them off with more butter. I only got through one and a third pancakes though... Spark tells me it's around the 83% fat mark! Phwoar, talk about satisfying!



Then, for a late lunch, we picked up a rotisserie chicken and I ate the drumsticks plus some extra skin, mmmmmm!

Finally, I'd fulfilled my protein need for the day, but not my calories, so I turned to the most palatable fat in my kitchen - double cream! Yum!!

But the highlight of my day was not something I ate, but was still one of my culinary creations - today's article on Mark's Daily Apple is a post revealing my Sunflower Sesame Crackers, plus one of my dips, Prawn Paté!


Worker Bee's effort looks good, though not as golden as my batches of crackers, one of which will be my demo for my own recipe post later today. So now you know why I made all those dips, and the secret snack I alluded to throughout that recipe post... :) I hope you give them a go, and let me know what you think!

Listening To The Experts & Listening To My Body

One of the areas of health that has long been my interest is the concept of metabolism. I can recall a GP telling my Mum, when I was first getting a bit solid around my waist, that I might have a sluggish metabolism, but a thyroid issue was ruled out. So it has always been part of my understanding that my metabolism was the reason behind my weight, and never really blamed over-eating (which I didn't do - I ate the same amount as everyone else) or the foods I ate (which, thanks to Mum, were usually whole foods and sugary treats were very rare). I always understood that it was something else - like a 'fat gene' that I would often hear about.

Throughout my pursuit of information over the last 12+ months, I recognised that I was most probably insulin resistant, caused by my eating. I thought that maybe this was due to my Uni years where I lived on pasta and bread and not much else. But lately a lot of my findings have lead me to wonder whether my high-fruit diet as a child could have played a role in this. I do mean high in fruit - I would eat at least two apples per day, often the gigantic Granny Smith apples, and when in season I would consume nectarines, peaches, and mandarin oranges back-to-back. I adored grapes and would eat them by the bunch (and I loved them, despite the gut pain they ALWAYS triggered!), and we'd always have dried apricots and sultanas on hand to snack on. Fruit juice was part of almost every meal, as soft drink was banned. Not all of these items are comparably high in fructose, but the amount consumed would have potentially nullified the relevance of fructose/glucose ratios. It doesn't really matter where the fructose comes from (except potentially the use of considering fibre in the equation) - once it's in the system, it adds up. Considering that my weight issues have been consistent throughout most of my life, it made sense that, if externally triggered, they must be due to something that had been a normal part of my routine for many more years than my stint at Uni.

There is, of course, a growing understanding of the dangers of fructose, but until recently I did not understand that the problem with fructose might extend beyond the liver damage issue and blood sugar issues, etc. Richard J. Johnson, author of The Sugar Fix, explains it best:

“…we have powerful direct evidence to show that consuming too much fructose-rich sugar and HFCS causes the toxic brew of conditions known as metabolic syndrome. Moreover, this same body of research suggests that starchy foods do not induce metabolic syndrome.”

“It’s worth noting here that the glucose in starchy foods may cause blood glucose levels to rise, which stimulates the pancreas to produce insulin. But this is normal and healthy. Dietary glucose does not cause insulin resistance; fructose does.”

“And so begins a vicious cycle caused by eating high-GI foods, which overstimulate the pancreas. It’s an interesting theory, but it is not well supported by the metabolic facts. Stimulating the pancreas to produce insulin is not the problem. Your body is supposed to produce insulin when blood glucose levels rise, so that’s normal and healthy. It is insulin resistance that is closely linked to metabolic syndrome and weight gain. Glucose does not cause insulin resistance. Fructose does. Glucose does not trick your body into persistent hunger. Fructose does.”

I have also been wondering whether I may be fructose intolerant: yesterday I topped my coconut pancake with a small amount of thawed raspberries, and shortly there after my stomach swelled painfully. Today, I've noticed some intestinal issues as well. These are the same issues I used to find with excessive consumption of grapes, but perhaps I used to bloat a bit after eating all fruit high in fructose but just wasn't paying attention to it. The symptoms and details explained on the What About Fructose? of the Triglycerides-Lowering Diet ring more than a few bells.

One point that has popped up numerous times of late (not necessarily new news, just newly relevant to me) has been that starches are consumed by many peoples who do not seem to have the health issues the Western World experiences. The paradox of Asia's rice-based diet (on average) always seemed unsatisfactorily answered. But lately a variety of voices have explained this in a meaningful way, the thrust of which is that:

Glucose does not cause metabolic syndrome or insulin resistance. If you are not insulin resistant and have a high-functioning metabolism, then consumption of potatoes, corn, and rice should not be harmful as blood glucose levels are unlikely to rise as high as those levels experienced by the insulin resistant.

So, arguably, if you can get your metabolism in excellent working order and reverse the damage done by following ways of eating that combine significant amounts of fructose with other damaging behaviours, then eventually starches should not be the enemy (so long as they are not neolithic foods involving damaging factors such as phytic acid). I know that potatoes are out of bounds for me at the moment, since I have no reason to believe that my metabolism is all that great and all evidence points to continued insulin resistance, but it's interesting to think that I may not need to follow a low-carb diet forever. I already know tat the majority of paleo bloggers out there are not even slightly low-carb, and even Richard Nikoley's blog, Free The Animal, details his transition from low-carb to something more moderate, and he has not seemed to experience unpleasant results.

The main reason that I find this interesting (since I am currently happiest when on an all-meat diet) is that a number of nutrition experts have scientific reason to believe that low-carb diets - ketogenic diets in particular - are damaging in the long run. Matt Stone states effusively, in a guest post on The Fat Head Blog, that the ketogenic diet, if followed long-term is 'metabolic suicide'. His own personal experience was that low-carbing worked wonders for him for 3 years, but then his health started to reverse back to his initial state without any real change in his routine. However, the majority of experts attribute this to the process of losing weight itself - that being in caloric deficit for a significant period of time is necessarily going to encourage the body to conserve energy. This aligns with my own understanding, and I haven't seen reason to believe that the metabolism reacts any differently to a lack of dietary sugars vs. a lack of dietary fats/protein other than the insulin response itself in the short-term.

I am understanding more and more that it's not enough to simply trust that what makes you feel best in the short-term is going to work long-term. The obvious points here would be to look at consumption of alcohol, excessive sun-baking (inc. burning), using drugs recreationally, going to loud music gigs, etc etc. The less obvious practices which may well be damaging include my possibly-ruinous consumption of large amounts of fruit throughout most of my young life, and possibly my potential choice of living on an all-meat diet for longer than is my current practice. Perhaps Dr. Atkins had it right when he encouraged his patients to achieve a ketogenic state to accelerate fat-burning, but then to gradually increase the amount of carbs (in the form of vegetables, primarily) in such a way that fat loss didn't stop, but ketosis was no longer the present metabolic state. However, Dr. Kurt Harris suggests:

The paleolithic principle itself argues against LC and VLC being damaging the same way it argues against plants and all carbs as being poison. It just makes no sense, as it implies that humans in any given econiche, even one rich in a huge variety of animal foods, would have been at risk of metabolic damage from being in long term mild ketosis if they were not able to find enough starchy tubers and fruit in season. (We've agreed that grains like white rice are a recent food, I hope).

So, I am currently trying to work with both my body's response to food and the information available to me by the scientific community, and will not be consuming carbs for carbs' sake, but will be aiming to achieve ketosis in order to kick-start fat burning, and then finagle my food consumption to continue fat-burning but perhaps not be in ketosis. Alternate Day Fasting will still be part of the plan, as I want to continue this experiment, but on my feasting days I will be sticking to animal products until I achieve ketosis. Then I may add vegetables back in or take other action to keep clear of ketosis but not block fat burning... I'm not sure if this will actually be possible though, since in the past, whenever I have reincorporated carbs, I have experienced inflammation of various kinds. And as Dr. Harris puts it: Enough nonstarchy greens to choke a gorilla with an otherwise all animal diet will not keep you totally out of ketosis, I guarantee. If it did, I wouldn't want to share your bathroom. In the meantime I will be spending more time swotting up on metabolic functioning so that I can work towards overcoming insulin resistance once and for all!

Let's see how I go!

First, to catch up on the last three days:

Wednesday - Fasting
A fine day for fasting! I have really been enjoying my fasts, even though I miss out on a bit of cooking. I have been a little worried about fasting's effect on my leptin sensitivity though, since on feasting days I seem to be hungrier after eating than before... Re-restricting carbs should help that, I hope. Nuts & cheese tend to pose the most binge danger, so I'll be keeping them out of the house once more.

Dinner: It was a shockingly hot day, so we picked up a roast chicken after running off to the movies after work to hide in air-conditioned comfort. I served the chicken with a dollop of beetroot dip and a serving of anchovy paste (see my Dips post for recipes) - both were perfect with the juicy chicken!


Thursday - Feasting
I started my day with salmon sashimi (but forgot to photograph it as I was eating it whilst preparing the rest of breakfast) and a couple of coconut pancakes with some cream cheese in lieu of actual cream.


I packed up some leftover chicken for lunch, to help get me through a long night of rehearsals.

I was hungry when I finally made it home, so I whipped up some cheesy sautéed cabbage as an entree to enjoy whilst the lamb chops cooked:


Despite reaching a sufficient amount of consumed calories for the day, I was still hungry, so I made a dessert of coconut pancakes and raspberries. And even after that, with resultant stomach pain from the fruit, I still had the munchies! So I ended up snacking on nuts and a carrot, until finally locking myself away in my bedroom and tried to ignore my hunger pangs. I'm not sure if this reaction was a result of the food I had eaten or the fasting regimen... The crazy weather and extremely busy schedule at work probably didn't help!

Friday - Fasting
Another blissful fast to help alleviate the shame of over-indulgence the previous night! Despite a mad day of full-on classes and uncomfortable weather (kinda humid but cold with misty rain, but still hot inside of buildings thanks to the previous heatwave... Ick!), I didn't find myself heading toward hunger-territory until after lunch, which I washed away with some white tea.

Once home, I whipped up three eggs and a sprinkling of pizza cheese to tide me over until dinner.


And as I type, I'm grilling a couple of blade steaks for the beau & I before we head out to the theatre for the evening. I'd really just like to go to bed, but I'm an MTC subscriber and my dates are secured well ahead of time. Here's hoping it's a good show, else I may finally experience the embarrassment of falling asleep in public!

ADF - Week One

(Apologies for the delay - Blogger has obviously been suffering a chronic bout of cranky-pants lately, since it has steadfastly refused to upload any of my images for the last two days... I'll post this once it gets over its little temper tantrum...)

Although my first week was interrupted by being away from home for a family wedding where nothing was served but finger food, I've finessed the ADF plan to best fit my life. I've enjoyed the energy boost and litheness gifted by fasting, although I am still struggling with adequately digesting reincorporated carbs, despite upping pro-biotic supplementation. I won't be weighing in until I can tell that I'm not bloated or retaining water.

So, the schedule that I'm current experimenting with is designed to fit the stressful, longer days I work (Tuesdays & Thursdays), leaving the fasting days at Monday, Wednesday & Friday. I thought about fasting during one day of the weekend, but that would result in two fasted days in a row, and that isn't encouraged in the literature. Therefore, weekends will be normal eating days.

Although I will carry emergency supplies with me to work on fasting days, I plan to only eat a small dinner on those days, after fasting through breakfast and lunch. Ultimately, I will be incorporating three 24hr fasts into my week, consuming around 2500kcal in between, since that seems to match what my body requires, as suggested by hunger.

Thursday - Feasting
Breakfast - Salmon sashimi, sans lemon juice


Lunch - Smoked salmon, brought from home, mixed with a sad pile of garden salad: the only edible item served at a work conference...


Dinner - More salmon sashimi, with sautéed cabbage and bacon


Friday - Fasting
Fast until dinner - Pork roast (mainly crackling) with sautéed cabbage & fennel, plus some steamed zucchini.


Saturday - Feasting
On Friday night, the beau & I travelled back to my childhood home as we were to attend a cousin's wedding the next day. After a sleep-in, we lunched pre-wedding on lamb chops, smoked salmon, tomatoes and double brie.


The wedding ceremony was at 5pm, and afterwards we headed back to the local Surf Club for the reception. Platters of junky finger-food circulated, and I managed to score a couple of unadulterated prawns that were served amongst bowls of fried substances, pita bread, and questionable dips.

After watching everyone feast on garbage, I asked our hosts what the main meal would be.

"It's just finger food tonight, it's easier."

Oh, great.

We then contacted the kitchen staff to enquire whether actual food was likely to be prepared in there...

Thankfully, the chef said that there was some squid salad that I could have (from where it appeared, I did not ask), and she gave me the tiniest bowl of sad-looking salad, with a couple of measly strips of squid plopped on top. A satisfying meal, it was not.


So the beau and I had to LEAVE the wedding, to go back to our rented unit, so that I could cook up some dinner! I fried up some eggs and bacon, and grabbed out a bit of herbed cream cheese and some organic tomato pesto I brought from home.


We returned to the party and had a great time - I even had some celebratory bubbly.

The day of eats did go a little awry when we finally plodded home to our unit for the night, and a member of our party was keen to stay up and vent and snack on nuts, cheese and apples. Depressing revelations and bottomless walnuts do not mix well...

Sunday - Feasting
The hosts threw a post-wedding BBQ at their place on the Sunday, and I scored a delicious serving of barbecued lamb and beef, with fresh green salad and cheddar as a side.


Then it was time to get back in the car and return to Melbourne. Unfortunately, the late-night snacking threw my leptin levels out of whack (or something) and I found myself gagging for food all evening. No meat was defrosted, so I reached for nuts, nuts, nuts, cheese, nuts, and even some fruit leftover from the beau's family visit. Stomach = not happy.

Monday - Fasting
It was a joy to fast! I wasn't hungry in the slightest for the whole day, and only ate a little in the evening as I tested my Dip recipes for flavour levels. My digestive system certainly needed the break! I made the most of the fast by being active in the afternoon: walking up to the local shopping strip to pick up the veggie box and other dip ingredients, and boy were my feet, legs and biceps tired afterward!

Tuesday - Feasting
A normal, albeit somewhat light, day of eats:

Breakfast - The Usual (cheddar omelette), and salmon sashimi


Lunch - forgot to pack anything, so I dipped into my emergency stash of tuna. Yuck, so drying...

Dinner - Pork chops served with a spoonful of each of my veggie dips. Turns out that pork is absolutely brilliant served with a side of my Chunky Beetroot & Herb Chutney!


Finally, some inspired info by that champion of the health blogosphere, Stephan - Changing Your Body Fat Set-Point. That's my goal with ADF, since counting calories does allow me to lose weight, but doesn't teach my body to reset my fat balances. As Stephan points out, IF has been anecdotally reported to achieve this, and I hope I can add a successful anecdote to the growing body of evidence.

Recipe: Dip-de-dip-de Dip!

With a special article appearing soon on Mark's Daily Apple (of which I am sworn to secrecy!), I have been tinkering around with dips to go with the certain recipe that Mark has chosen to feature during the Primal Snacks month of his Primal Blueprint Reader-Created Cookbook Challenge... So this evening, I grabbed myself a bunch of different organic veggies as well as some seafood favourites of mine, and started pulverizing! I was expecting a few duds to come out of my experimentation, but without being immodest, they all turned out really well! These recipes are designed for my palate and my access to local vegetables, and I have also eliminated dairy to make each dip as accessible as possible to the primal/paleo community. They're all quick and easy to make, with minimal preparation and clean-up required. All up, I made 8 different dips, in less than 3 hours, one after the other (except where roasting/boiling time overlapped). Enjoy!

Stylist note - I'm a bit bored with taking the same old shots of my food with the same old background, so when the current Australian issue of Harper's Bazaar appeared in the mail today, I decided to get a little playful...)



All recipes make enough dip to fill an average-sized soup bowl, depending on size of veggies.

The Veggie Dips

Chunky Beetroot & Herb Chutney

Ingredients:

2 large beetroots
2 minced garlic cloves
1T chopped coriander leaves
1t ground cumin
1t ground cinnamon
1t Hungarian (sweet) paprika
2T lemon juice
Salt & pepper to taste


Method:

1. Chop the beets into quarters, and place in a saucepan full of water. Boil rapidly until beets are soft.
2. Remove beets from hot water, and place in cold water until cool. This should allow you to remove the skin with ease, if desired.
3. Place beets and all other ingredients into food processor (or small bowl if using a stick blender) and pulse until beets have broken down and all ingredients are combined. I like to leave mine a little chunky to maintain the home-made feel.

Serve topped with fresh coriander leaves, and my special secret Primal snack... ;)



Nice & Naughty Nightshade Dip

I don't have any issues with nightshades, so I decided to play with eggplant and tomatoes to see what there was in the way of dip potential... For some, there's no dip greater than baba ganoush, so I took that as a challenge... :)

Ingredients:

1 large eggplant (for extra oomph, char the skin over medium flame before using)
2 tomatoes
2 cloves garlic
2T olive oil or butter
2t ground cumin
2t ground cinnamon
1T lemon juice

Onto the base formed by the above ingredients, which is quite a nice, subtle dip in and of itself, you can add extra flavour via chopped Granny Smith apples, a splash of balsamic vinegar, ground cardamom, chilli flakes, black olives, capers, etc...


Method:

1. Heat oil/melt butter in a frying pan over gentle heat. Add the garlic and sauté until fragrant.
2. Chop the eggplant into cubes. Gently add to frying pan and sauté well.
3. Dice tomatoes, preserving the pulp and juices. Add to pan.
4. Remove from heat, and place in food processor. Add all other ingredients.
5. Process to desired smoothness. Check flavour balance and add further seasonings if desired.

Serve topped with black olive slices, curls of apple peel, or fresh herbs (along with my secret recipe, of course!)



Roast Pumpkin Puree

When it comes to pumpkin, my favourite combination of flavours has been captured in my pumpkin soup recipe. So why mess with perfection? For this chunky, 'dippable' version, I've simply omitted the stock! I've also cut down the cooking time by boiling my pumpkin rather than taking the time to roast the whole fruit. Roasting will produce a richer, sweeter flavour, but boiling still preserves that gorgeous roast pumpkin taste.

Ingredients:

500g pumpkin (whatever is grown locally)
1/2 large onion, sliced thickly
2T coconut oil
2t cumin
2t nutmeg


Method:

1. Chop pumpkin into cubes, and place in a oven-safe pan filled with water. Bring to a violent boil and leave it there for a good ten minutes.
2. While the water is boiling, heat oven to a moderate temperature.
3. Empty water from pan, and add all other ingredients to the pan. Toss to coat onion and pumpkin with oil and spices, and bake until onion has softened.
4. Remove from oven and allow to cool - or jump straight into processing, careful of flying bits of sizzling food. Puree thoroughly (although leaving the odd chunk of roasted onion is really quite nice to crunch into).

Serve with the you-know-what, and maybe a side of sour cream.



Refreshing Zucchini & Coriander Dip

A tasty, light snack that would be great as a palate-cleanser. Roasting the zucchini beforehand would intensify the flavour.

Ingredients:

2 large zucchini, chopped into small chunks
2T chopped coriander leaves
1T lemon juice (or more to taste)
2T olive oil

Optional - chopped red chilli, which would certainly change the impact!


Method:

1. Heat oil in a saucepan. Add zucchini and sauté until soft.
2. Remove from heat and combine with coriander and lemon juice. Mash or process until smooth.

Serve with a garnish of coriander leaves or flat-leaf parsley (and...).



Creamy Spinach & Basil Pesto

I have a friend who prides himself on his spinach dip. This kicks his spinach dip in the goolies.

Ingredients:

250g Spinach, steamed & finely chopped (frozen spinach will also work well)
A generous handful of fresh basil leaves, finely chopped
1 or 2T macadamia nut butter
1 or 2T olive oil or macadamia nut oil
2T lemon juice
Salt & pepper to taste

Method:

1. Whip macadamia nut butter, oil and lemon juice until the mixture begins to thicken.
2. Place mixture and greens in food processor and blend well.
3. Chill thoroughly before serving.

This one is perfect with the mystery snacks, and also lends itself very well to being eaten via veggie sticks (capsicum, carrot, broccoli, celery, etc). The beau has now fallen in love with this recipe, citing it as 'better than the pesto dips you get from the store, and this doesn't even have cheese!' Soooo satisfying... (The comment, and the dip!)


Imagine my delight when I arranged my five completed veggie dips - all light and tantalising in their own way - on my patio table to discover the oh-so-complementary colour palette! Perhaps the association with Bazaar has resulted in a surprise discovery of this year's fall line...


Dips From The Deep (i.e. Seafood!)

Anchovy & Olive Paste for Serious Savory Lovers

No, seriously. Small dips people, small dips! And if you're sensitive to salty flavours, make sure you have a glass of water on hand... It's so worth it though!

Ingredients:

50g unsalted butter
3 garlic cloves, minced
100g anchovies, finely chopped
1t capers
3T black olives, pitted and chopped
3T olive oil
2T chopped parsley
2T chopped basil

Method:

1. Melt butter in a small saucepan over a low flame, and add garlic. Sauté garlic until fragrant and thoroughly combined with butter.
2. Add anchovies, capers, olives and olive oil, lowering the heat to your stove's minimum, and simmer for five minutes or so, stirring frequently. The ingredients should combine and become quite creamy. The smell should be wonderful.
3. Remove from heat and add herbs. Mix thoroughly and process if desired.

Best served with salt-free dippers (of which my secret recipe may be...), such as fresh veggie sticks. A little goes a long way with this one! A layer of butter/oil may separate and sit atop the paste - you can mix it back in or scrape off to enjoy as a milder version of the dip.



Smoked Salmon, Onion & Olive Dip

I stumbled upon the winning combination of smoked salmon and olives by accident the other day when I added my home-brought lox with the sad garden salad served to me during a PD (the only edible part of the provide luncheon, you see...). Wowzers! I just knew I wanted to try these two ingredients in other variations, and processing allowed the flavours to mesh and develop beautifully.

This recipe is my favourite of tonight's creations :D

Ingredients:

100g smoked salmon
1/2 brown onion, chopped
1/4 cup black olives, sliced.


Method:

1. Put all ingredients in the food processor and pulse until combined but not sloppy (the crunch of onion within the creamy smoked salmon is just divine!)

That's it! Other smoked salmon recipes I've had in the past involved all kinds of dairy, particularly cream cheese, but if you can afford to omit it, the dairy really isn't necessary.

Serve with the little wonder-snacks, and top with fresh parsley or salmon roe!



Prawn Paté

Ingredients:

200g peeled, cooked prawns
75g salted butter, softened
2T lemon juice
2T chopped parsley
3T chopped dill

Method:

1. Place all ingredients in a food processor, and combine thoroughly.
2. Chill and serve as is (as I did this time around), or you can create a paté by leveling the top of the prawn mixture, melting 20g butter, and pouring it gently over the top. Chill for an hour before serving.

Serve with extra peeled prawns and lemon wedges, plus the - you know...


There's one more recipe I wanted to re-test before putting up for all and sundry to try, which was a spicy crab/avocado mix (yum!!), but the only avocado I could find was not yet ripe... So I hope that the fishy dips will expand to at least four before I'm done...


So for now, I hope you enjoy the Girl Gone Primal Dips, and I can't wait to introduce you to the GGP Dipper... Only a few more sleeps!



THE SECRET IS REVEALED!

My special Sunflower Sesame Crackers were unveiled on Mark's Daily Apple today, so I can finally share with you the tasty primal treats that have been thrilling my guests and completing my summer dinner party offerings for the past couple of months! They are absolutely perfect with all of the above dips, and are suitable for many more purposes as well. The recipe is ridiculously simple and easy to adapt - for instance, I add salt and pepper into the mix itself, then sprinkle with dried rosemary for an aromatic finish! Enjoy!!


Above - the Worker Bee's rendition of my crackers and my prawn paté, as seen on MDA!

A New Academic Year, A New Academic Experiment

Today marked my return to the educational institution I call my second home. My holidays are officially over, and once again I'm faced with the reality of what most people consider 'normal eating habits'. Case in point - morning tea & lunch were provided to the staff today. I didn't even bother going to the social staffroom to see what 'food' was served for morning tea, but I did cross the hall at lunchtime with an ultimately misplaced glimmer of hope. I was greeted with platters of party pies and sausage rolls, deep-fried spring rolls, tiny club sandwiches with minimal filling, and nori (sushi) rolls with sugary mayo coating the fillings.

I am seriously considering making a formal request for the food provided at such events to be whole, nourishing, and at least avoiding the most common allergens in at least ONE food option!

This experience further consolidated my idea regarding a new way of eating I wanted to try. I love sticking to a carnivorous diet - I feel energetic and lithe - but I am repeatedly reminded that for many people merely adhering to a low-carb plan is difficult enough, let alone a 'hardcore' regime such as Zero Carb. One of my passions is education, and whilst I know that self-experimentation can only ever be an n=1 study and that my results only prove what may work for me, not what definitely works for the general populace, one of the primary motivations for maintaining this blog is to use myself as a demonstration of feasibility. Since ZC seems out of reach of most people, who may do just as well on a more varied diet anyway, I have decided to option my options back up to include all Primal fare, whilst experimenting with a way of eating that has been making waves through recent scientific reports, and has a rich history of anecdotal success across a longer period of history. It has links to evolutionary eating patterns, breaks away from the socially conditioned patterns of eating, and helps to maintain a caloric deficit without hunger and without long-term harm of metabolic capacity.

I speak, of course, of Alternate-Day Fasting.

The general premise comes in many guises - Up Day Down Day Diet, Feast or Famine Diet, etc. A popular term for a more flexible approach is the Eat Stop Eat protocol, although this is not intermittent calorie restriction if the post-fast meal makes up for the calories missed by the fast. Long-time readers of this blog and other blogs in the primal community will be no stranger to the concepts of intermittent fasting, which I practice sporadically, particularly during the working week where finding time for a primal lunch is a pain in the loincloth.

However, this experiment is going to take a stricter approach than my usual 'meh, I'm going to fast until dinner today' spontaneity. This is in order to hopefully create stronger causal links between my programme and my results, and also to make my trial easier to replicate, should readers wish to do so. The goal here is not just intermittent fasting, but intermittent caloric restriction.

The basics:

On my 'normal' day, I will eat my usual primal diet, with a focus on meat & eggs, eating fat to satiety, and including a range of vegetables. On occasion, I will also include fruit & nuts. My usual carb range, even when eating what feels like a lot of vegetation, is 20g per day or less, but I will not worry if this number increases on normal days, so long as I stick to low glycaemic load foods. Given my history, when eating to satiety I tend to consume around 1800-2200kcal per day. I will not be watching this figure too closely for the first weeks.

On my 'alternate' day, i.e. every second day, I will consuming around one quarter of the amount of calories consumed the previous day. This may be achieved through only consuming one meal per day, eating a number of small meals, or perhaps a complete fasting excepting a few doses of coconut oil. I am very comfortable fasting until dinner time, so I suspect this will be my preferred method.

Numerous studies and anecdotes have demonstrated the relative ease with which individuals can adhere to this way of eating, even when the food consumed is not low-carb. For those people, the opportunity to induce lipolysis by having low insulin levels during fasting periods is a novel way to lose weight. For us, the benefit of fasting is more closely tied to the idea of triggering the release of 'survival' hormones through fasting and caloric restriction, enhancing our fat-burning that way, whilst keeping our metabolism intact. Fasting in general is also an accessible way to achieve caloric restriction without having to always count calories. So no matter where you sit on the 'relevance of calorie counting' discussion, alternate day fasting (ADF) has visible potential.

Many, many people have discussed regimes similar to ADF, and for those of you who want hard data and expert opinion, here are just some of the people on my blogroll and their articles exploring the concept:

Mark Sisson - Feast or Famine Diet

Matt Metzgar - The Alternate Day Diet & Intermittent Calorie Restriction.

Chris @ Conditioning Research - Intermittent Fasting: more research

JP @ Healthy Fellow - Alternate Day Fasting

&

Richard Nikoley - Alternate Day Fasting, Weight Loss & Food

Unlike ZC/carnivorism, where my goal is as much about maintaining a positive sense of well-being as it is a potential fat-loss method, ADF has the singular aim of fat loss. I don't expect to feel better or more energetic on this plan than I do whilst on normal primal eating patterns, and certainly not better than when eating only animal products since I have repeatedly demonstrated to myself that there's just no substitute if I want to feel great AND have a smooth belly AND have an excellent sense of balance in all my physiological systems. ADF is all about the bottom line. And my hope is that I'll end up with results that inspire others to give it a shot and lend weight (no pun intended) to ADF as a potential fat-buster for those who lack the will-power to give up unhealthy food choices, or cannot break psychological ties to food, whether they are truly emotion-based or due to insulin imbalances. If we can get obesity under control, that's a step in the right direction.

It begins:

As a control measure, I took a few days to reintroduce fibre into my system, eating to satiety and then some in order to boost my metabolic rate. I was picking up on some flu symptoms, possibly caused by excessive air-conditioning whilst up north, so I wanted to re-feed my body to give it a good chance of fighting off whatever was ailing me.

Sunday


After a much-needed sleep-in, I served up a large, fresh salad with an array of seafood topping options: salmon sashimi, grilled salmon, and fried seafood marinara.




For dinner, I whipped up my favourite, Caveman Chicken, served with aspects of Veggie Cornucopia, plus wilted beet leaves.




Monday

Started the day with The Usual - ham & cheddar omelette.


We were off to the Australian Open, so I packed up some leftover Caveman Chicken & veggies for a decadent lunch whilst watching Davydenko slowly pulverise Verdasco. My meal was more interesting than the match - thankfully, the rest of the day was riveting watching, even though it was not a good day for the last two remaining Aussie challengers.


I had assumed that there would be nothing but rubbish served at the Open and that I would be sure to miss out on dinner. Imagine my surprise when I discovered a 'sizzling salads' stand, serving nothing but fresh salads (Greek, Mediterranean, or Green) topped with grilled meat (beef or chicken, or crumbed calamari). Delight and rapture! And a bonus - we were late getting dinner, and the stall was packing up for the day, so they stuffed my bowl as full of meat & veg as it could contain!



Tuesday - The First 'Normal' Day

The debut of the suddenly-infamous Coconut Pancakes... Sooo gooooood....




Inspired by the Mediterranean salad on offer at the tennis, I roasted up some pumpkin, capsicum, zucchini and carrot, and served it with another range of seafood options - smoked salmon, fried calamari and baby octopi!






After two big meals, we were happy with leftover salad and some barbecued lamb chops and snags for dinner. I went for some chipollatas from Jonathan's.




Wednesday - The First 'Alternate' Day

I effortlessly fasted through breakfast and lunch, distracted by the business of getting ready for the return of the students on Monday. Of course, fasting is pretty much a breeze when you know you're going out for dinner at Rockpool Bar & Grill! My usual order is the $50 Cape Grim Dry Aged 36 month old Grass Fed Fillet (250g), but tonight I felt like something a bit more special. So I upped the ante and went for the David Blackmore Mishima Grass Fed (From A Marble Score 9+ Animal) Rump (240g). Wow! The exquisiteness of this amazing beef was solidified when I was offered a piece of my usual order, as purchased by the beau's Mom... The comparison between that 'really good' steak and the utter amazingness of the tender, buttery-textured Mishima is indescribable. Go get it! We accompanied our hunks of gorgeous animal with sautéed zucchini and wilted greens (broccolini, leek, and cabbage). Culinary perfection.




My first round of ADF is in the bag! I barely consumed 600kcal today, yet five hours after dinner I'm still feeling fine. Bring on Round #2...