Spaghetti Squash Beef Casserole

I saw someone post something similar on one of my carnivore groups this week and I immediately thought it was such a good idea! I made it right away and all 3 of my kids ate it up, so I knew it was a success!

Ingredients:

1 medium spaghetti squash

1 T melted butter

Sea salt

2 pounds ground beef

1 t garlic powder

1 t onion powder

1 C cream, preferably raw

1 C parmesan cheese

1/4 teaspoon lemon zest

1 C shredded cheese, preferably raw (I like Costco’s raw gruyere)

Instructions:

Preheat oven to 350. Cut the spaghetti squash in half lengthwise, and scoop out the seeds. Rub the melted butter all over the inside and salt liberally. Place inside-down on a cookie sheet and bake for 40 minutes. When they are cool enough, use a fork to scrape out the “spaghetti” from the squash rinds.

In a sauce pan, warm the raw cream to 120 degrees and stir in the parmesan cheese with a little salt and the lemon zest.

Brown the meat with salt, onion powder, and garlic powder.

Stir the spaghetti squash, beef, and alfredo cream sauce together in a large bowl and spread in a glass baking dish. Top with the shredded cheese and place under the oven broiler for a few minutes until the cheese is just melted. Serve and enjoy!

Salmon Poke Bowls

These are super easy, delicious, and versatile. Set out little bowls of all of the ingredients, and let your guests or family build their own! Top with tamari and pickled ginger and enjoy!

Ingredients:

Sushi-grade raw salmon, chopped

Julienned or sliced English cucumbers

Shredded carrots

Sliced avocado

Chopped mango

Chopped pineapple

Shredded nori

Wheat-free tamari sauce

Pickled ginger

White rice, if desired

​​Seed Oils: The Underlying Cause of Obesity and Disease

There is a hidden ingredient in our food that is causing obesity and common chronic diseases like diabetes and heart disease.

Although bacon cheeseburgers, carbohydrates, and sugar have traditionally been blamed for rampant obesity and metabolic disease, they are not actually the root cause. The hidden ingredient in our food—especially in almost all restaurant and processed food—doing the real damage to the human body is vegetable oil, more accurately called “seed oils.”

Seed oils are known scientifically under many names: linoleic acid, omega-6 fatty acids, and polyunsaturated fatty acids (PUFAs). Dr. Cate Shanahan, long-time nutritionist for the LA Lakers and author of Deep Nutrition, calls these oils the “Hateful Eight”—including soybean, corn, canola (rapeseed), safflower, sunflower, cottonseed, grapeseed, and rice bran oil.

None of these seed oils were historically part of the human diet. Our ancestors didn’t press oil out of soybeans or corn in the wild—in fact, humans didn’t eat grains or beans at all until relatively recently. Historically, our ancestors were hunter-gatherers who ate mostly meat and fruit. They primarily hunted large game (ruminant animals) and gathered eggs and ripe fruit. The traditional human fat sources included animal fat as well as fat from fruits like olives, avocados, and coconuts.

There are three basic types of fat: saturated, monounsaturated, and polyunsaturated. Saturated fat comes mostly from animal fats and coconut oil. Monounsaturated fats are found in fatty fruits like avocado and olive. Polyunsaturated fats are primarily found in seeds.

The 3 main kinds of dietary fat.

Saturated fat is solid at room temperature (think beef tallow and butter) because it is fully “saturated” with hydrogen, meaning it has no double bonds—so it resists bonding with oxygen and oxidizing. This allows the fat molecules to stack neatly, making them stable and solid. In contrast, mono- and polyunsaturated fats have one or more double bonds, creating “bends” in the chain that prevent them from stacking and make them liquid at room temperature.

If a fat is not fully saturated with hydrogen, oxygen can attach to those double bonds. Monounsaturated fats (with one bend) and polyunsaturated fats (with many) are therefore prone to oxidation. Oxidized fats go rancid and contribute to inflammation and disease in the human body.

The fats we eat get incorporated into our tissues. Every cell in the body has a phospholipid membrane—meaning the cell’s outer wall is made of fat. When those membranes are built from unstable polyunsaturated and monounsaturated fats, they become weak and prone to damage. This can lead to metabolic disease, including diabetes, obesity, heart disease, stroke, and cancer.

graph from optimisingnutrition.com

About a century ago, polyunsaturated fats were introduced into the food supply. It started with Crisco, a company that chemically processed cottonseed oil to market it as a “heart healthy” alternative to tallow, lard, and butter. Prior to WWI, cottonseed oil had been used to lubricate machinery. After the war, the surplus was sold to Americans as food.

Not only were seed oils introduced into human food, but they were also used in animal feed. Monogastric animals (like chickens and pigs) store the fats they eat without converting them. So, when they’re fed seed oils, we consume those stored PUFAs when we eat chicken skin or bacon.

Cows, on the other hand, are polygastric (with four stomachs) and have gut bacteria that convert even corn and seed oils into saturated fat. So, corn-fed beef still produces saturated fat–rich tallow and butter. This makes ruminant fat (from cows, lamb, bison, etc.) the safest and most stable fat for humans. In the carnivore community, we say: “Cows are king.”

Even grass-fed cows contain a small amount of PUFA—red meat has ~3% PUFA in grass-fed and ~6% in corn-fed beef, or about 3 grams in a pound of 70% lean beef. Eggs also contain around 0.5g PUFA each unless the hens are corn- and soy-free. Since red meat and eggs are some of the best foods for humans, a small amount of PUFA is unavoidable—but the goal is to keep it under 10g/day.

Unfortunately, there is rampant misinformation in the U.S. about seed oils. Many doctors and nutritionists recommend high PUFA intake based on the idea that it lowers LDL cholesterol, which they associate with heart disease. But newer, more accurate studies show that lowering cholesterol does not prevent heart disease—and can even increase the risk.

Some researchers suggest that what matters is the ratio of omega-6 (PUFA) to omega-3 fats. But this is misleading. While omega-3s (like in fish oil) are technically PUFAs too, they’re not as harmful and may have some benefits. But focusing on the ratio is a distraction. The total amount of omega-6 fats is what matters most—and that number needs to be as low as possible. These fats are toxic, bioaccumulative, and extremely slow to detox.

The half-life of linoleic acid (the primary omega-6 in seed oils) is 680 days—meaning it takes nearly two years to clear just half of what’s stored in your body. It takes 4–7 years to fully detox from decades of seed oil consumption. Since this toxin is linked to obesity, diabetes, cancer, and other diseases, we need to avoid it like the plague.

So, how do we do that?

At home, it’s simple. Throw out all vegetable oils (they’re all seed oils), and use only beef tallow, butter, coconut oil, and high-quality olive oil. Avoid the fat from chicken and pork, but you can still enjoy the protein from boneless, skinless chicken breasts, fat-free ham, or lean pork loin.

Avoid all seeds, beans, grains, and nuts—they’re packed with seed oil and other plant defense chemicals.

The harder part is restaurants. Studies show up to 40% of the calories in a typical restaurant meal come from seed oils. Everything fried, sautéed, or dressed in sauce is usually cooked in them. French fries, ranch dressing, stir-fries, sautéed onions, chicken wings—it’s all seed oil.

However, a few restaurants use beef tallow fryers (e.g., some Buffalo Wild Wings locations) or butter-based cooking. Your safest bets are steak and burgers (no bun or mayo), since those are usually grilled without added oil. Ask for butter packets or bring your own. For salads, ask for oil and vinegar and add your own dressing. Call restaurants in advance when they’re slow and kindly ask about their cooking fats.

Even some “butters” in restaurants are 50% seed oil blends. Fast food burgers, surprisingly, are often 100% beef and free from seed oils—just add tomato, pickles, onions, and mustard if you like.

In France and Italy, traditional cuisine avoids seed oils. This is part of the “French paradox”—they eat lots of fat and carbs but don’t get fat or sick like Americans. Authentic European restaurants are more likely to use real butter and animal fats, but in the U.S., always confirm.

What happens when you stop eating seed oils?

After removing seed oils and keeping PUFA intake below 10g/day, I noticed rapid improvements. Within three months, I could eat moderate carbs without gaining weight or triggering intense cravings. I felt stable and normal again—like when I was a kid.

Another benefit? No more sunburn. Many people in the carnivore and pro-metabolic communities report that eliminating seed oils makes them more resistant to sun damage*. This makes sense—our ancestors lived near the equator and were exposed to lots of sun without sunscreen or clothing. It’s not the sun causing sunburns; it’s the unstable oils in our tissues and the chemical sunscreens damaging our skin.

What should you eat instead?

The best way to heal is to eat what our ancestors ate: meat, fruit, and eggs. Fruits (technically the sweet part of the plant that holds seeds) include not just apples and oranges, but also avocado, olives, cucumbers, squash, and coconuts. Some people also tolerate cooked root vegetables like carrots and sweet potatoes. Meat and fruit don’t contain plant toxins or seed oils—and they’re what our bodies are designed to thrive on.

Beans, grains, and nuts? These are seeds, and they’re full of both PUFAs and plant toxins (gluten, lectins, oxalates, phytates, saponins, etc.). Humans aren’t designed to digest seeds—and our ancestors rarely ate them unless they were fermented or sprouted to reduce toxicity.

Even olive oil and avocado oil, while monounsaturated and lower in PUFA, are prone to oxidation if not cold-pressed and stored in dark bottles. Plus, studies show 80% of these oils on the U.S. market are adulterated with seed oils*. Thankfully, Costco’s Kirkland Signature olive oil and Chosen Foods avocado oil are among the few verified pure brands.

The food industry is not protecting you. From replacing tallow with canola in the ‘80s to allowing mislabeled oils today, there is massive fraud and corruption. But you can take back control of your health.

Start today. Throw out your seed oils. Choose beef, butter, eggs, and fruit. Bring your own butter to restaurants. Call ahead and ask about ingredients. Support restaurants that use real fats. Share this knowledge.

The benefits? You’ll lose weight, burn fat, stop sunburning, reduce cravings, and heal long-standing health issues. You’ll feel stable, energized, and in control again.

Even if you cheat and eat junk food—never eat seed oils. Just remember: it takes 680 days to clear out half.

Within 3 months of reducing PUFA to under 10g/day, I started healing and losing weight. You can too.

Additional references:

https://drcate.com/pufa-project/

https://drcate.com/category/food/seed-oils/

https://www.zeroacre.com/blog/linoleic-acid-facts

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3195369/

https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/27071971/

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC5492028/

https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/24853887/

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2373379/

https://www.worldatlarge.news/function-health/linoleic-acid-as-driver-of-heart-chronic-disease

https://www.gq.com/story/seed-oil-health

https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/records-found-in-dusty-basement-undermine-decades-of-dietary-advice/

https://podcastnotes.org/wise-traditions/episode-262-the-hateful-eight-industrial-seed-oils-dr-cate-shanahan-on-wise-traditions-with-hilda-labrada-gore/

Coconut Thai Curry Chicken

This high-protein meal is perfect for a chilly fall day. It can be modified to be protein-sparing by using light coconut milk. Enjoy!

Ingredients:

4 boneless, skinless chicken breasts, cut into bite-sized chunks

1 T coconut oil or butter

1 can organic coconut milk with no gums - I like Native Forest

1 C bone broth

2 C chopped carrots

1 t fish sauce

1 T wheat-free tamari or Braggs coconut aminos

1 t garlic powder

1-inch piece of ginger, peeled and minced, or 1 t ground ginger

1 t onion powder

1 t ceylon cinnamon

1/2 t turmeric powder (optional)

1 T dried cilantro leaves (not coriander seed)

1 t fish sauce (gluten free)

1 T dried Thai basil

Directions:

Heat a large cast iron pan on medium-high. Add the coconut oil or butter, chicken breast chunks, tamari or aminos, and ginger. Stir-fry until chicken is cooked through and onion is soft. Add all other ingredients and stir well. Simmer until the carrots are soft, about 20-25 minutes and serve.

Coconut Curry Shrimp

This is a fun and quick weeknight dinner, super flavorful and colorful. You can use full-fat coconut milk if you’re at your goal weight, or light coconut milk on a weight-loss protein-sparing day. Other kinds of seafood can be substituted for the shrimp, like fish, scallops, clams, or calamari. Enjoy! Serves 2.

Ingredients:

Shrimp:

2 pounds of medium shrimp

1 T coconut oil

dash sea salt

Sauce:

1 can coconut milk, no gums - I like Native Forest

1 T fish sauce

1 T tamari sauce

1 t garlic powder

dash onion powder

2 t minced fresh ginger or 1/2 t ginger powder

1/2 t ceylon cinnamon

1/2 t turmeric, optional

3 T chopped Thai basil, optional

lime slices for serving

Instructions:

Whisk all the sauce ingredients together in a small bowl and set aside. Heat up the coconut oil a large cast-iron/stainless steel/copper pan on high until hot. Add the shrimp and the dash of sea salt, stirring constantly with a wooden spoon until the shrimp are pink and cooked through, a couple minutes. Pour in the sauce. Stir until hot and well combined, and remove from heat. Add more fish sauce and/or tamari to taste, for saltiness. Sprinkle herbs on top. Serve immediately with limes on the side.

Perfect Boiled Eggs

I’ve recently fallen in love with boiled eggs. They are perfect for protein-sparing days because they don’t need to be cooked with butter or other fat in the pan like with omelets, scrambed eggs, and fried eggs. All you get is the super-healthy fat in the yolk, which is 4.5 grams/egg. And with 6 grams of super high-quality protein each, they are super filling, delicious, and done in minutes! This recipe is choose-your-own-adventure, depending on whether you prefer your yolks runny, medium, or hard! Enjoy!

Ingredients:

Fresh eggs, soy- and corn-free (how many depends on the size of your pan: not more than will fit in one layer in the bottom of your pan, with some space around them)

Instructions:

1. Boil 3 inches of water in a medium sauce pan, being sure it’s not more than half full so there is room for your eggs after the water boils.

2. Lower fresh cold eggs into the rolling boiling water with a large spoon so they don’t crack on the bottom of the pan. Work quickly so that they don’t start cooking much before you get the timer set. Keep heat on high.

3. Set the timer immediately. Runny yolks = 7 minutes. Medium yolks (my fave) = 8 minutes. Hard yolks = 10 minutes.

4. When the water comes back to a roiling boil, lower the heat to medium, making sure that there are still simmer-bubbles in the water.

5. When the timer goes off, immediately pour out most of the hot water and add cold tap water to fill the sauce pan. Dump that water and fill it again with cold tap water to stop the cooking.

6. Peel, season with sea salt and pepper, and eat warm! Leftovers can be stored in the shell in the fridge for up to one week and eaten cold.

image: Photo by Anton Nazaretian on Unsplash

Salmon Greek Salad

This is one of my favorite salads ever. You can really use any kind of meat or fish you want but I love it with grilled or sauteed salmon. Serves 4.

Ingredients:

4 large wild-caught salmon fillets, 6-8 oz. each

1 tablespoon grass-fed butter

8 eggs

4 C zucchini noodles (or thin slice)

1/2 C kalamata olives

1/2 C feta cheese

2 C chopped cucumber

1/8 C super high-quality extra virgin olive oil

1/4 C balsamic vinegar

Sea salt and pepper, to taste

1 t each dried oregano, parsley, and dill

Optional: a few cherry tomatoes, if you tolerate nightshades (not recommended)

Directions:

Salt the salmon fillets and fry them in a hot buttered cast iron pan for a couple minutes on each side, so they are still rare in the middle. For the soft-boiled eggs, start with boiling a few inches of water in a medium pan until there is a roiling boil. Lower the eggs into the boiling water with a large spoon and immediately set a timer to simmer for 8 minutes. After the timer goes off, pour out the simmering water and fill with cold tap water to stop them from cooking. Peal and quarter the eggs. Plate the zucchini, cucumber, salmon, feta, eggs, and olives. Drizzle the dish with o.o. (olive oil), balsamic, herbs, and sea salt. Yum!

Beef Larb Salad

These are fun, easy, and absolutely delicious. Even my kids will eat them - in fact, they gobble them up! Double or triple the recipe for more than one hungry person.

Beef Larb Salad:

Ingredients:

1 pound ground beef

1 t sea salt

1 t garlic powder

1 t ginger powder

2 scallions (green onions), sliced, both white and green parts

juice and zest of one large lime

2 T fish sauce

2 T low sodium/ wheat-free tamari OR Braggs liquid aminos

2 T rice vinegar

1/2 Cup chopped fresh cilantro, mint, and basil (thai basil or regular)

For serving: julienned English cucumber (skinny cucumber with thin skin, wrapped in plastic).

Directions:

Brown the beef in a cast-iron pan with the ginger, garlic, and sea salt until cooked through. Turn the heat down and stir in the sliced scallions, tamari, fish sauce, rice vinegar, and lime juice and zest, and warm through. Sprinkle some of the herbs on top to serve, and plate the remaining herbs, and cucumber on the side. Serve the beef larb in bowls, topped with cucumbers and herbs, and enjoy!

Chicken Kebabs with Lemon-Yogurt Sauce

I grilled these up for some friends last night, and multiple people told me it was the best meal they’d had in months. The kebabs and yogurt sauce can be made in advance, so all you have to do is grill them up and serve!

Kebabs:

4 pounds boneless skinless chicken breast, cut into 40 2-inch chunks

2 sweet potatoes, cut into large slices

4 zucchinis, cut into large chunks

1 pineapple, cut into large chunks

Marinade:

1 Cup sour cream

1 t garlic powder

2 Tablespoons Herb de Provence, dried (or 4 Tablespoons fresh herbs)

zest and juice from 2 lemons

1 Tablespoon sea salt

Yogurt Sauce:

3 Cups Plain Greek yogurt

juice of 1 lemon

1 t garlic powder

salt to taste

1 onion powder

Optional sides:

Mixed Greek olives, pitted

feta cheese, crumbled

Instructions:

Whisk the marinade ingredients in a small bowl and pour 2/3 of it over the chicken to marinade for 30 minutes. Also soak the wooden kebab sticks in water for 30 minutues so they don’t catch fire on the grill.

The other 1/3 of the marinade can be poured over the “veggies” after the kebabs are prepared. I like to position the potato and chicken toward the middle of the kebab since the middle of the grill is often the hottest and these parts need to cook more.

To prepare the yogurt sauce, combine all ingredients in a medium bowl and whisk. Serve the yogurt sauce as a dip for the kebabs, with feta cheese and olives sprinkled on top! Enjoy!

Bobotie (Curry Beef Custard)

This is one of my favorite dishes. Its from South Africa and is quite popular there. It’s a unique combination of flavors, but it’s magical how they all come together. It’s also easy enough for a quite and hearty weeknight dinner. Sometimes it is dressed up for weekends or holidays by cooking it in a hollowed-out pumpkin!

Ingredients:

2 pounds ground beef, preferably grass-fed

1 T beef tallow or butter

2 t sea salt

2 T nightshade-free curry powder (2 t ceylon cinnamon, 2 t turmeric, 2 t ground ginger)

2 t garlic powder

1 t onion powder

8 eggs

1 can coconut milk or 2 C raw milk

1/4 C raisins

1/4 C chopped apricots

2 apples, peeled, cored and chopped

Optional: 5 bay leaves

Preheat oven to 350. Saute ground beef, tallow or butter, and salt, and break it up until well cooked. Add all spices and turn off the heat. It should be a little too salty at this point, as the custard will absorb the saltiness. Combine eggs and milk/coconut milk with an immersion blender or regular blender until well mixed, and pour it into the beef/spice mixture. Stir well, adding the raisins, apricots, and chopped apple. Lay the bay leaves on top in a decorative pattern. Bake (in a cast iron pan, dutch oven, glass baking dish, or hollowed pumpkin!) in the oven for 20 minutes or until a knife comes out clean. Do not overcook. Serve warm.

Taco Meat for Burrito Bowls

Taco Tuesday! Pile on top of shredded lettuce with your toppings of choice: sour cream, shredded cheese, diced avocado, cucumber, olives, and lime juice.

Ingredients

Per pound ground beef: (I like to make 1 pound per person and there will likely be leftovers)

1 teaspoon paprika, if tolerated

1/2 teaspoon ground cumin, if tolerated

1 teaspoon garlic powder

1/2 teaspoon onion powder

1/2 teaspoon dried oregano

1/2 - 1 teaspoon sea salt

Instructions:

Brown the ground beef in a cast iron skillet with a teaspoon of bacon fat per pound of beef. When it’s cooked halfway through, add the seasonings and stir well, breaking up the beef and salting to taste.

Chimichurri

Next to herb garlic butter, this is my favorite topping for steak. I like to double the raw garlic and cayenne if I feel a cold coming on, but then my kids think it’s too spicy and won’t eat it. Although, that just leaves more for me!

Ingredients:

I large bunch fresh flat-leaf parsley, stems removed

1 large bunch fresh cilantro, stems removed

juice of one lime

2 T red wine vinegar

2 T finely chopped oregano

dash cayenne

dash cumin

sea salt and pepper

1/2 C melted butter

Directions:

Place all ingredients except olive oil into a food processor. If you don’t have one, an immersion blender works or you can fine chop the herbs and stir in all other ingredients. While machine is running, drizzle in the melted butter in a thin stream to emulsify. Add more salt and pepper to taste.

Egg Custard

A super easy and delicious dessert. Can also be made into a pie, using an coconut flour crust and topped with whipped cream.

Ingredients:

4 eggs

2 C heavy whipping cream, half and half, OR milk

1/3 C raw honey OR 30 drops Nunaturals liquid vanilla stevia

pinch salt

couple dashes of nutmeg, preferably fresh ground

Directions:

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Mix all ingredients using a whisk or immersion blender. Pour into custard cups placed into a glass baking dish and add warm water to fill the baking dish halfway, this is called a “bain marie” or water bath, and helps the eggs to cook slowly and not scramble. Bake in the oven for 15-20 minutes or until a toothpick comes out clean.

Panna Cotta with Fresh Berries

Probably my favorite dessert in the whole world. Gelled cream, slightly sweetened with stevia, and topped with fresh berries. Melt-in-your-mouth deliciousness. Enjoy!

Ingredients:

2 C heavy raw milk OR half and half

1 packet unflavored powdered gelatin

4 teaspoons honey and a 1/2 teaspoon vanilla OR 20 drops Nunaturals liquid vanilla stevia

pinch salt

1 C fresh berries, I recommend raspberries or sliced strawberries

Directions:

Pour one cup of the milk or cream into a small saucepan. Sprinkle the gelatin over the top and let it stand for a few minutes to “bloom”. Add the honey and vanilla (or vanilla stevia) and salt and stir over medium heat until it’s very warm but not boiling and the gelatin has dissolved. Take off the heat, add the second cup of cold milk and stir. Pour into custard cups or wine glasses and chill until set, 1-2 hours. Top with the berries and serve. Makes 4 servings.

Vitamin D

I recently had a sinus infection that just wouldn’t go away. I rarely get sick, although I am historically prone to sinus problems. Although this one wasn’t very painful, it just wouldn’t quit. I happened across an article by one of my favorite bloggers (link below) that discussed Vitamin D and its importance in killing viral infections like influenza. I’d been largely treating my sinus infection as either bacteria or fungal with 10 different remedies, with no luck, and I suspected it must be a viral infection. Also, my kids had all had a brief bout of the flu right when my sinus problems started, so that was suspicious. The study I found mentioned something called the “vitamin D hammer,” and I had to learn more. Within 24 hours of trying it, I was significantly better for the first time in a month, and within a few days I wasn’t sick anymore. It was magical.

The “vitamin D hammer” is a one-time dose of 50,000 IU in one day (or 10,000 IU 3 times a day for 2 or 3 days), for adults with viral infections who haven’t been previously supplementing with sufficient amounts of vitamin D before they acquired the infection. As the FDA only recommends 400 IU of vitamin D daily for adults, this is a much larger dose than I’d ever heard of taking. Many people recognize that the FDA recommendation is wholy inadequate, and daily doses of 1,000-5,000 are common. According to the research, it takes almost 9,000 IU per day for 97.5% of adults to reach serum vitamin D levels of 50 nmol/L or more. Some vitamin D scientific researchers advise taking doses high enough to reach serum vitamin D levels of closer to 100 nmol/L, especially while fighting a viral infection like influenza. Up to 75% of Americans are deficient in vitamin D, which is actually a hormone usually produced by the skin’s exposure to sunlight.

According to the researchers from Canada who discovered the “vitamin D hammer”, “The results are dramatic, with complete resolution of symptoms in 48 to 72 hours. One-time doses of vitamin D at this level have been used safely and have never been shown to be toxic. We urgently need a study of this intervention. The cost of vitamin D is about a penny for 1,000 IU, so this treatment costs less than a dollar.”

Another group of researchers interested in the “remarkable seasonality” of influenza noted that the sunshine causes “robust seasonal vitamin D production in the skin; vitamin D deficiency is common in the winter, and activated vitamin D, a steroid hormone, has profound effects on human immunity. [Vitamin D] acts as an immune system modulator, preventing excessive expression of inflammatory cytokines and increasing the ‘oxidative burst’ potential of macrophages” (white blood cells found at sites of infection). His research found that not only did a study involving volunteers injected with influenza have more fever and illness in the winter, but that children with vitamin D deficiencies had higher rates of viral respiratory infections.

I was not only amazed by vitamin D’s ability to stop influenza in its tracks, but in my resulting research I found scientific links between high vitamin D levels and the prevention of many other illnesses and conditions, including autoimmune diseases; type 1 diabetes (which many researchers believe to be an autoimmune disease); insulin resistance including prediabetes and type 2 diabetes (also associated with obesity); neuromuscular issues including muscle weakness, a reduction in falls of elderly patients (one study found a 20% reduction and another found a 72% reduction in falls), idiopathic low back pain, and fibromyalgia; multiple sclerosis and rheumatoid arthritis (40% reductions in the risks of developing either with supplementation of vitamin D); as well as a possible protective effective in cardiovascular disease by lowering systolic blood pressure and heart rate; and cancer (by inducing cell death in some kinds of cancer cells, including breast, colon, ovarian, and prostate cancers).

Obviously, I had largely underestimated the importance of vitamin D supplementation. It is found in animal based foods like eggs, salmon and other seafood including cod liver oil, beef liver, and cheese; but since the researchers are showing that we need 9,000 IU/day, food sources are not enough. I now buy 5,000 IU gel caps, and recommend taking enough that your levels are close to 100 nmol/L, when tested by your doctor, especially in the winter months.

Learn more:

https://www.cheeseslave.com/how-to-get-enough-vitamin-d/

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2870528/

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4210929/

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4463890/

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2870528/

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3317188/

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2426990/

Keto Sushi Handrolls

This is one of my favorite meals. Adding seafood to our diets is essential, and I highly recommend wild caught seafood whenever possible to minimize toxins and maximize nutrients. Seafood has long-chain fats that cannot be found in any other food, including DHA and EPA, and is also rich in omega-3 fatty acids, vitamins D and B2 (riboflavin), as well as calcium, phosphorus, iron, zinc, iodine, magnesium, and potassium. Seaweed paper (called nori) is also highly nutritous, containing as much protein as some meat, as well as high levels of iodine, an essential mineral.

Keto Salmon Handrolls:

1 lb wild salmon, seasoned with ground ginger and soy sauce, and sauteed in butter until medium rare

a few ounces of salmon roe (fish eggs), optional

1 package nori (seaweed paper)

1 hothouse cucumber, julienned

1 carrot, grated fine, optional

1 red or yellow bell pepper, julienned

2 ripe avocados, julienned or sliced fine

4 scallions, sliced fine

one jar of pickled ginger

wasabi

tamari (gluten-free soy sauce)

Instructions:

Take a nori seaweed wrap and lay a slice of salmon down diagonally, adding your desired julienned vegetables and toppings, and roll up, pinching the bottom and adding roe, tamari, and wasabi to the top. Enjoy, with bites of ginger before and after!

Barbacoa Beef (Instapot)

My family eats this for dinner about once a week, it’s our main staple. I can’t get my kids to eat plain pot roast because they think it’s too boring, but they inhale my Barbacoa Beef on “taco salad night”. Hope your family loves it too! (This recipe can be easily doubled or tripled and makes great leftovers, too.)

Barbacoa Beef (Instapot)

Ingredients:

2 T butter

2 lb beef chuck roast

1 C beef broth

Juice of one lime

1 T apple cider vinegar

1 T tomato paste, optional

1 T chili powder, optional

1/2 t cumin

2 t oregano

1 T sea salt

1 t garlic powder

1 t onion powder

Instructions:

1.     Cut beef into large chunks. Either place on a cookie sheet, salted, under the broiler, flipping once, until brown; or saute in the Instapot with the butter until all sides are browned and then press cancel.

2.     Combine lime juice, vinegar, tomato paste, cumin, oregano, garlic powder, onion powder, and salt in a lidded mason jar and shake.

3.     Add the mixture to the Instapot with the browned beef.

4.     Secure the lid on the Instapot, closing the pressure valve. Press the “manual” button and set the timer to 30 minutes. Afterword, allow the pressure to naturally release for at least 20 minutes, releasing the pressure valve at this time if it hasn’t released on its own yet. Remove the lid, transfer the beef chunks to a bowl, and shred the barbacoa beef with two large forks, stirring in enough of the remaining liquid/fat so that the beef is saturated and moist.

5.     Serve the barbacoa beef in bowls with various toppings of your choice: shredded lettuce, sliced olives, sour cream and cheese, chopped avocado, lime juice, etc.

Grass-Fed Cows Create Soil and Reverse Climate Change

We often hear about the methane emissions from cows’ burping and farting, but we rarely hear about the contributions that grazing cows can make to reversing climate change. If raised correctly, cows can pull more than 10 times the climate change-causing gases out of the atmosphere that they add to it. Cows can be not only carbon-neutral, but carbon-negative.

Current farming practices involve factory farming of most of our meat, but this is a very different scenario than how cows and other ruminant (grazing) animals acted in the wild. For millennia, ruminant animals covered the grasslands of North and South America. Because of predators, they would stay in tight, bunched groups, and constantly were on the move for new sources of tall grass to eat. Their hooves would press the chewed grass into the soil, planting the seeds, and their waste would fertilize the plants. They would naturally move on when the majority of the tall grass was eaten, leaving short grass behind. They would not stay long enough to kill the grass but only to leave stubble, similar to when we mow our lawn. If we never mow the lawn, the grass becomes too tall and dries out from an excess of plant matter blocking sunlight and using up the water in the soil. If we mow our lawn too short, the grass can die as well. Both situations result in desertification, which is a fancy word for the removal of topsoil.

Soil is made out of carbon, because it is largely decomposed plant and animal matter. When this soil is sent up into the atmosphere, it become atmospheric carbon and contributes to climate change through an increase in global temperatures caused by the carbon trapping heat in the atmosphere. Both removing grazing animals from grasslands, and over-grazing the grasslands, causes desertification. But, mimicking nature with managed grazing actually does the opposite, and causes the grass to pour carbon into the ground - creating new topsoil and reversing climate change.

Grass has a symbiotic relationship with the fungus that lives underground. This means that they trade with each other. Fungus provides the grass with micronutrients, and in exchange grass provides the fungus with sugar, a 6-carbon molecule. Basically, the grass is purchasing nutrients from the underground fungus, and the currency is carbon. The grass obtains this carbon from the atmosphere, using sunlight as the energy source to drive photosynthesis (the creation of sugar). When the grass is eaten down by the cows but not killed, it causes the grass to pour carbon into the ground in order to “purchase” additional nutrients from the fungus to re-grow.

Allan Savory, the scientist who discovered much of this process and how to recreate it with farming practices, claims that grazing animals can create as much as a foot of topsoil a year, underground. The topsoil is created down into the earth, the level part of the ground does not change. Dead sandy areas underground become “humus”, or pure carbon, living topsoil. A teaspoon of healthy topsoil contains billions of organisms, mostly bacteria and fungus, as well as worms and grubs and much more.

Current farming practices, especially of grain and bean crops like the corn and soybeans that covers the U.S., cause desertification, the removal of topsoil, sending the soil carbon into the air. Some scientists believe that the removal of topsoil has contributed more to atmospheric carbon, and climate change, than all fossil fuels use COMBINED. But all we hear about is fossil fuels, no one is talking about soil. When the ground is tilled, broken up, during modern agriculture, it breaks up and kills the underground fungus and ruins the symbiotic relationship between the plants and the fungus underground. The plants are no longer able to “purchase” nutrients from the fungus, which is now dead from being tilled, and the farmer is forced to use artificial nutrients (fertilizers) to feed the plants. Also, the actual tilling of the ground sends more soil carbon up into the air. Then the modern farmer also kills pests and weeds with pesticides and herbicides, further killing the bacteria and fungus underground, creating dead soil that no longer is able to absorb water or support life without artificial nutrients.

When Europeans arrived at the Americas in 1492, there was an average of 10 feet of topsoil covering the continents, created by millennia of ruminant animals grazing the grasslands. Now we are down to an average of 6 inches. Scientists state that we have less than 60 harvests left before all the soil is gone and plants will no longer grow. We need to stand up to the monolithic farming conglomerates that have taken over the small farms that used to cover our land, and are mass-producing corn and soybeans in order to feed not only factory-farmed animals, but humans as well. Humans are not meant to eat grains and beans, and neither are ruminant animals.

Allan Savory states that if we cover the earth’s existing grasslands in grazing animals, we could create enough topsoil (by pulling carbon out of the atmosphere) to completely reverse climate change. Cows can save the planet.

Learn more:

Allan Savory's TED Talk (One of the Top 100 TED talks of all time)

https://www.independent.co.uk/life-style/food-and-drink/cows-beef-farming-reverse-climate-change-global-warming-a8202121.html

https://sustainabledish.com/meat-is-magnificent/

https://www.greenbiz.com/article/how-regenerative-land-and-livestock-management-practices-can-sequester-carbon

https://www.agriculture.com/livestock/cattle/meet-allan-savory-the-pioneer-of-regenerative-agriculture

https://insideclimatenews.org/news/20091209/climate-conscious-ranching-free-range-really-better-feedlots

Cayenne Gargle: A Natural Cure for Strep Throat

Scientific studies have shown that there are many natural medicines that are just as effective as antibiotics against strep throat (Group A Streptococci). The most effective natural medicine against strep throat that I’ve found is cayenne pepper (active component: capsaicin). Two others that have shown promise in studies are oil of thyme or oregano (active compound is carvacrol), and cinnamon oil (Cinnamomum verum EO) - which was found in a study of essential oils to be the most effective essential oil, similar to a common antibiotic (Amoxicillin) in its antimicrobial activity against strep.

My favorite home cure for strep throat, that has worked over 20 times in a row in my family for over a decade, is to make a salt water-cayenne gargle and use it many times throughout the day as soon as one’s throat becomes sore. I use 1/2 teaspoon of sea salt and 1-2 teaspoons of cayenne powder (as much as I can stand) in one cup of warm water, using one medium sip for each gargle. Spit the gargle out after. It’s important to start right away, and to keep the spicy residue on the throat and not drink water right after. Basically every time I eat or drink, I do another gargle of the salt-water cayenne, and I can feel the cayenne killing the bacteria on my throat. I do rinse my mouth out with plain water after the gargle, if the cayenne makes my mouth too spicy, but I leave the spicy salt/cayenne rinse on my throat.

Usually the pain is reducing by the end of the first or second day, if I am strict about keeping the spicy on my throat. The salt is helpful by creating an osmosis effect on the cells of the throat, drawing the bacteria to the surface so they can be killed by the cayenne, and rinsed out of the mouth. We also make sure to not eat any grains or sugars, so that we don’t feed the throat bacteria simple carbohydrates, eating mostly healthy animal fats and proteins, as well as fruits and honey for carbohydrates if needed.

People have also had success with the cayenne technique with young children by using Cholula mild hot sauce, which contains capsaicin, the active compound in cayenne pepper, and isn’t quite as spicy. It can be added to their food, like scrambled eggs, with a little sea salt, and eaten periodically throughout the day. Be sure to visit a doctor if a child’s sore throat doesn’t improve within a day or two.

References:

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4643145/

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/22807321

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/25784902/

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3638616/

Letter To My Daughter's Teacher

Just ate a huge steak covered in butter while I wrote this letter to my daughter's teacher.
Hey *,

I just wanted to drop a note to you about the earth day lesson that you gave the kids yesterday. My daughter was concerned and I would love to pass on some scientific information to you that you might not be aware of and might be interested in.

So, she let me know that you told the class that meat eating is bad for the planet and that a plant-based diet is best for the environment and our bodies. I am a nutrition researcher by trade (masters in biochem from the U and I'm also a licensed nutritionist) and I'm actually writing a book on the topic. Although in the past, science agreed with you, the emerging science is painting a very different picture.

It turns out that our ancestors were largely carnivorous and every primitive culture that we've studied ate an animal-based diet. Not only is meat NOT the cause of chronic disease (this is commonly called the diet-heart hypothesis and was started at the U where I went to school - the science has been disproven and it is now widely accepted science that all chronic disease is actually caused by sugar and grains) but the environmental science has been off, too. I discovered during my graduate work that all nutrition science in the US is industry funded, and the U of M nutrition department is funded largely by the grain industry, as well as Coca-Cola. The system is very broken and the science disproved the links between animal fat and chronic disease long ago, but the systems in place (including Big Pharma and the USDA - corporate grain and bean farmers) hugely profit off of this misinformation.

Although animal flatulance does contain methane, this addition to climate change is miniscule compared to the carbon that is removed from the atmosphere by grazing animals. When cows eat grass (just like in the wild), they cause the grass to dump carbon into the soil (because the grass has a symbiotic relationship with the soil fungus, providing it with sugar - a 6-carbon molecule - in exchange for micronutrients) sequestering carbon from the atmosphere and creating up to a foot of topsoil/year. If the earth's grasslands were covered in cattle, it would completely reverse climate change in our lifetimes. I am including some scientific articles for you to peruse if you are interested in learning more.

Although I completely respect your right to decide to not eat meat because of spiritual or animal-welfare reasons, I want you to know that it is scientifically a much less healthy diet and ironically, mass agriculture of grains and beans is actually the cause of desertification (removal of topsoil), which has contributed more carbon to the atmosphere and climate change than ALL fossil fuel use combined. Plant based diets are actually causing climate change, and grazing cows is one of the only things that can reverse it. And red meat is actually the healthiest food for the human body. Humans aren't grainivores, we don't have a gizzard (the organ that grinds grains into flour in the animal's body) and grains are one of the newest foods to be added to the human diet.

Her dad and I wanted you to have access to this scientific information and hold no hard feelings about your teachings because we know your motives were pure and you want our kids to be healthy and the environment to be saved. We would really appreciate it if you would look over this additional research I'm sending, and please not spread misinformation in the classroom. My daughter was so upset after your meat-is-bad speech that she went in the bathroom and cried. Since our family eats a meat-heavy diet (all grass-fed and organic, of course) this was hugely upsetting to her, and us. Since I began eating a meat-based diet, I have reversed my type 2 diabetes, all of my digestive diseases (SIBO, IBS, and celiac) have gone into complete remission, and I've lost 70 pounds and kept it off for over 5 years.

Thanks so much for listening. I highly recommend watching this TED talk from the leading permaculture scientist Allan Savory, it's one of the top 100 TED talks of all time, and explains how to reverse climate change and save the earth.

https://www.ted.com/…/allan_savory_how_to_green_the_world_s…

And here is an excellent article by one of the leading scientific nutrition researchers in the US about red meat and how it's actually the heathiest food for the human body and was the primary source of nutrition for our ancestors throughout a million years of human evolution: https://chriskresser.com/red-meat-it-does-a-body-good/ He also has an entire ebook (free) online if you want to learn more about the science behind animal-based diets.

Thanks *, we really appreciate you, but we would like you to be aware of the way our daughter was affected by your lesson and have access to the alternative scientific information.

Love, Marissa