Kevin from Wisecracks and Wisdom visited me this weekend and we went to dinner this evening at Uncle Jack's.

Uncle Jack's is a steak place very much like Keene's, which I like quite a bit, although I find the atmosphere to be a bit stuffy there at Keene's.  Uncle Jack's is pretty posh.  I wore a t-shirt and jeans and Kevin wore a polo shirt and jeans.  We both felt underdressed, but since it was an early dinner, we got over it.  I would recommend at least a button-down if not a jacket at a minimum for this place.  A tie would probably be ideal.

The service was phenomenal and I noted something a little remarkable even for NYC from our waiter.  If you have an ounce of social perspicacity, you know I'm gay.  And you see me with another male and you will conclude that there's a date or something going on.  Our waiter appeared to be rather typically straight.  When he approached out table he was open and congenial.  But he gave no sign at all that he thought we were a gay couple, but realizing the possibility, he very evenly asked, "Are we celebrating a special occasion?"  This may not seem like a big deal, but it's a very even question that applies to all possible scenarios.  We might be two straight guys just out for a steak.  We might be friends celebrating a birthday.  We might be on a date.  We might be celebrating an anniversary.  Or any number of gay or straight possibilities.  I really appreciated not only his discretion, but the directness, friendliness, and openness with which he delivered the inquiry.

In addition to this, he was very helpful and friendly.  I will say it was rather American-style service. 

European wait staff tend to leave you alone.  You often have to ask for more water or drinks.  You have to ask for the check.

American service is a lot more hands-on.  They check in frequently.  They volunteer the check -- a gesture which Europeans apparently regard as rude and as an indication that they are being asked to leave the table.

I like a slightly higher amount of attention, but prefer to ask for the check.  Even as our waiter volunteered the check, he made it clear that we were welcome to stay and sit longer.  He was very good about it in my opinion.

Now the food.

We started with the Maryland crab cakes.  They seemed to be solid crab meat with some cheese and herbs.  Very, very good.

We skipped the salad and went straight to the steaks.  We both had the Kobe filet mignon.  It was absolutely, hands down the BEST steak I have ever had in my life.  We both ordered the steaks "rare-plus" which is where the middle is pink, but warm, as opposed to pink and cool.  The texture was softer and smoother that any beef I've ever had.  They seared the steak in something sweet and there was a very flavorful crust on the outside.  The inside was moist and tasty.  Words fail when I try to describe this.

For sides, we asked for sauteed onions and some garlic mashed potatoes.  Both were good, but I only had a bit eof each because the steaks were so large.  The steaks were supposed to be 15oz.  They seemed to be the size of footballs.  SO GOOD.

We also got some kind of chocolate cake thing for dessert.  The name escapes me.  I had a few bites and it was also quite tasty.

But I have to say that since I've had this steak, all other food pales in comparison.  It was insanely good.

The prices were actually moderate for the kind of food we were eating.  Our filets were only $75 each.  Other so-called Kobe and Wagyu steaks in the city run about $100.  This was nearly 1lb of steak for just $75.  Bargain.

So, I strongly recommend Uncle Jack's.  They have three locations in the city for your convenience, so make a point to try it out.  Food is great.  Service is very strong.

Posted by: Flibbertigibbet at 07:24 PM | Comments (3) | Add Comment
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As you know, I cook my food for the week on Sundays. This week, I am using this slow cooker recipe to make a pot roast:

Tangy Slow Cooker Pot Roast

I like to try different recipes for pot roast because I have yet to find one that doesn't start tasting bland after a few meals.  This particular recipe was appealing because it called for browning the roast after a spice rub, which should lock in more flavor.  Further, it asks you to start at a high temperature and then drop to a low temp after an hour, which should help keep more flavor as well.  Also, I've never made a roast that called for honey and vinegar.  So, I'm excited to try this one!

Since I put minimal veggies in with this roast and it's getting to be springtime, I decided to try to make a chopped salad this week.

One of my favorite restaurants, Jane, has a delicious chopped market salad and I wanted to make a variation on that.  I did a bit of improvisation that I think will turn out nicely.  My big worry is that I doubt the salad will keep all week.  We'll see.

My chopped salad consists of:

• 2 bags of those ready-to-eat herb salads from the grocery store.
• 1 jar of sliced olives
• 2 cans of chopped tomatoes with onions and celery.
• 2 chopped green peppers.  (Orange or yellow would have been a cool color addition, but the flavor difference is minor but the price difference is a little shocking.)

Posted by: Flibbertigibbet at 11:51 AM | Comments (2) | Add Comment
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Because I just can't leave well enough alone, I decided to try drinking a soda today. A Pepsi to be specific.

Disgusting.

I used to love drinking Pepsis and I would have one or two a day.  Today, I had several small sips but ended pouring it out.

I don't remember it tasting so plain.  Yes, it's sweet, but it has a flavor like sweet cardboard.  This is why I now only take my cola with Jack Daniels in it.  Or perhaps some Jim Beam if I'm feeling particularly sophisticated.

Posted by: Flibbertigibbet at 03:15 PM | Comments (3) | Add Comment
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Then I would advise you not to read a book called Good Calories, Bad Calories by Gary Taubes because if you read this book you will learn that sugar will kill you dead until you die from it.

I'm not done reading it, but so far I have learned that it will give you diabetes, heart attacks, strokes, blindness, fatness, cancer, old age, and dead. 

Do you want dead?  Go for another bon-bon and let me know how that works out for you.

In seriousness, it doesn't CAUSE cancer, but it feeds cancer.  Have you ever given a stray cat some food and then you wake up the next day and there are 75 felines perched on your headboard watching you sleep?  Sugar is like that for cancer except cancer kills hence the deadness you also get from sugar.

I'm tempted to just eat steak constantly and wash it down with that delicious half-and-half I love.

Posted by: Flibbertigibbet at 08:04 PM | Comments (7) | Add Comment
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1 You crack me up.

That is pretty much the reaction I had after eating it.  "I'm going to eat nothing but fatty meat for the rest of my life..."

I've come to revise my thinking somewhat on carbohydrate based on the fact that there are some healthy cultures absent of these diseases that eat starchy tubers.  What they don't have are massive amts. of sugar, wheat, and veggie oils.  I definitely don't eat wheat.  I'm pretty sure that's a major problem along with sugar.  I also avoid other grains... for now.  I'm pretty sure veggie oils are also a major problem.  I enjoy taters now and then, though.  And I think sweet potatoes are fine though I don't eat them, trying to lose weight.

I agree with Taubes that controlled studies need to be done.  Too bad we didn't have them done 40 years ago due to dumbass Ancel Keys.  What a disgrace to science.

Posted by: Monica at March 31, 2009 08:47 PM (jTHCA)

2 You kill me, Flibby!  And that's better than being killed dead until I die from eating sugar, I assure you!

Posted by: Diana Hsieh at March 31, 2009 09:34 PM (+THWS)

3 The whole feeding cancer thing stuck out in my mind as well. After reading that book I dropped my sugar intake dramatically and I certainly don't feel worse for it.

Posted by: Andrew Baker at March 31, 2009 09:51 PM (bVVsH)

4 I completely eliminated wheat from my diet about three months ago. Having decided not to eat wheat (or other high-gluten grains), I automatically avoid all bread, biscuits and cake and most of the sugar and polyunsaturated vegetable oils I might otherwise have ingested. I don't miss any of them; I just eat cream, butter, eggs and all kinds of meat and fish instead. I no longer think it's my duty to eat fruit, salad and vegetables, though I have a weakness for blueberries and sweet potatoes (not together). Curiously, I discovered that my calory intake on this regime was well below 2000 per day - much lower than I had imagined. I do have a food problem though: what should I do when it's my turn to provide the Monday morning box of donuts at work?

Posted by: Valda Redfern at April 01, 2009 03:24 PM (gVjbR)

5 Valda:  Are you going entirely gluten-free like a person with coeliac disease? 

Posted by: colin at April 03, 2009 09:21 AM (WjXmd)

6 Nice complement to my oh-so-serious review. 

Posted by: Amy Mossoff at April 03, 2009 10:37 AM (hI/Iq)

7 Colin: I do cut out pretty much all gluten these days, since I find my health has improved somewhat in the three or four months I've been avoiding it.  It's not that I had any great health problems before, but small niggles that I'd gotten used to have disappeared.  One of my motives was to see if gluten avoidance would reduce my hayfever symptoms, and I decided to give myself a good long time on a wheat-free regime before the start of the grass pollen season here (June).

Posted by: Valda Redfern at April 05, 2009 03:44 AM (gVjbR)

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I didn't eat very much this past week.  I was feeling puny and then I was out of town one day.  None of this was a very good idea since I made a TON of meat sauce and spaghetti squash last weekend that was just sitting in the fridge.

So, this week, I decided to use the leftover squash and meat sauce to make a couple of caveman-friendly casseroles.  I just got some eggplant and zucchini and took the meat sauce and leftover squash and layered it with a little bit of cheese and it's baking in the oven.

Well, I still had some meat sauce and eggplant left over from the casseroles, so I took some flaxseed flour (I'm sure almond flour would work, too, but the grocery store didn't have any this week.) mixed in some salt and pepper.  Then, after slicing up the eggplant, I breaded it in some egg and the flaxseed mix.  I fried it up in some olive oil.  Then I took the meat sauce and used it as a little condiment on the side.  DELICIOUS!

It was so easy and fast.

Posted by: Flibbertigibbet at 02:42 PM | No Comments | Add Comment
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Has anyone else on the caveman diet noticed that alcohol has a much more profound effect?

Maybe it's because I simply don't drink as much these days (although, I've never really been a big drinker) when I do have a couple of drinks I always have a hangover.

I had two drinks last night and although I did not feel any more inebriated than two drinks usually makes me feel, but this morning I feel far worse!

If for no other reason, drinking less might be a good idea just to feel better.

Posted by: Flibbertigibbet at 08:24 AM | Comments (1) | Add Comment
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You may recall that I was surprised last week when I noted that the half-and-half at my office had LESS saturated fat than whole milk.  Well, prompted by Monica who was similarly mystified by this revelation I went back to the fridge this morning to carefully compare the labels.

No, it's definitely true.  Half-and-half, which, I suspect, does not require hyphens, does have less saturated fat per serving than our whole milk.

PER SERVING.

Lo and behold, guess how much a serving of whole milk is.  One cup.

Guess how much a serving of half and half is.  Two.  TWO TABLESPOONS.

I poured myself a whole glass just to spite the FDA and it is delicious.

Posted by: Flibbertigibbet at 08:59 AM | Comments (1) | Add Comment
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So, I am currently in the process of making  recipe.  I put too much butter and cream in it and so it's a little more watery than I would like.

But I wanted to give my readers a warning about this recipe.  I had never tasted plain heavy cream before and I tasted it this evening and I discovered that the key ingredient in heavy cream is pure China White.  That's right.  Heroin.

This stuff is so good.  I dumped all of my cream into the squash because I was scared that my roommates would find me face down in the middle of our kitchen beyond all help with an empty carton of the stuff the only clue to my untimely end.

It's that good.

Oh!  And add butter?   And squash?  And... well, let me just recommend that you make sure the mixture isn't hot enough to burn you when you dive in.

Update: The meatloaf is also SUPER yummy.  I added salt and pepper to the recipe because it seemed wrong to leave it out.

Posted by: Flibbertigibbet at 08:09 PM | No Comments | Add Comment
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So, I mentioned a bit ago that I've been drinking a glass or two of whole milk in the mornings.  It started because I made some jerky that was a little too spicy and the milk was such a nice contrast.  And I've been lazy about making breakfast in the mornings, so my jerky snack has turned into my jerky breakfast.

Well, I've also been lacing my whole milk with half and half.  I did it once and I liked how the half and half looked, so I did it a few more times.  And then I looked at the labels.  Did you know whole milk has more saturated fats than half and half?!

I don't know a lot about milk or fats still these days.  I learn a little at a time.  But I was really surprised by this.  So, I just started having my whole milk plain.

Posted by: Flibbertigibbet at 05:22 PM | Comments (2) | Add Comment
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After much begging, cajoling, and just being generally bothersome I convinced Kevin to send me some of his Peanut Butter Cookies.  They arrived today packed in a tin and after trying them, I really only have one thing to say:

NOM! NOM! NOM! NOM! NOM! NOM! NOM! NOM! NOM! NOM! NOM! NOM! NOM! NOM! NOM! NOM!

When I am allowed to spend money and invest in making food like cookies, I will definitely have to make some of these on my own.  They were so moist and delicious and they were largely sugar-free.  (The ones he sent me seemed to have peanut butter chips in them, but as you can see from his recipe, you can leave those out.)

I think if you ate just one or two of these in a day you'd have plenty carbs/sugar in your life.  I, of course, ate every single one of the cookies he sent me because they were so good.  I didn't count them, but it was probably a dozen of these delicious little monsters.

So, HUGE thank you to Kevin for sharing his cookies with me!

Posted by: Flibbertigibbet at 07:41 PM | Comments (4) | Add Comment
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1 Oooh yum.  You're making me hungry for cookies.  It has been ages since I have had a good peanut butter cookie.  Hm, I might have to go make myself some peanut butter cookies.  MMMMM!

No Monica you can't do that.  You need to lose weight for your wedding. 

Posted by: Monica at January 28, 2009 09:07 PM (8e6FG)

2 Maybe you could make them FOR your wedding!!  They really aren't the absolute worst thing for you as far as cookies go.  Kevin subbed out almost all of the regular bad stuff.  And a few peanuts aren't THAT bad are they?

Posted by: Flibbert at January 28, 2009 09:26 PM (Cniw0)

3 Oh well I hadn't seen that is uses practically no sugar and almond flour.  That would  be perfectly wonderful!  No, I'm not opposed to peanuts.

(I just don't eat wheat.  My assumption was that they contained regular old flour.)

Wow, thanks for alerting us to an awesome recipe.

Posted by: Monica Hughes at January 31, 2009 07:07 PM (8e6FG)

4 Kevin's working on caveman-friendly brownies this weekend, too!

Posted by: Flibbert at January 31, 2009 08:08 PM (Cniw0)

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Reuters: Studies find mercury in much U.S. corn syrup

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Many common foods made using commercial high fructose corn syrup contain mercury as well, researchers reported on Tuesday, while another study suggested the corn syrup itself is contaminated.

Food processors and the corn syrup industry group attacked the findings as flawed and outdated, but the researchers said it was important for people to know about any potential sources of the toxic metal in their food.

In one study, published in the journal Environmental Health, former Food and Drug Administration scientist Renee Dufault and colleagues tested 20 samples of high fructose corn syrup and found detectable mercury in nine of the 20 samples.

Mm hm.  Well, since I have adopted the Primal Blueprint as a guide for choosing what I eat, I would recommend avoiding both HFCS and sugar alike.  And now I can add my desire to stay completely sane to my list of reasons why.

Posted by: Flibbertigibbet at 02:41 PM | Comments (2) | Add Comment
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I just realized that I cannot give you my Chicken Soup Recipe because it is based on a recipe that is protected by copyright by Betty Crocker.

Here's the book:



It's on page 70. It's their Quick Chicken Soup Recipe.

This cookbook is really, really great if you're just learning to cook and you want some solid recipes.  My mother bought it for me several years ago hoping that it would be similar to her 1953 edition of the Betty Crocker cookbook.  (It's not.)  But I still recommend it.

This recipe is also really good if you're not a very patient cook or if you're really pressed for time.

It does call for pasta, which I left out, of course.  I did add in some frozen corn before I remembered that corn is high in starch (duh!) even though the recipe doesn't call for it.

I also use canned white chicken meat.  Yes, it is less flavorful than if you baked some chicken on the bone and then chopped it up, but it makes the recipe a lot faster and a lot easier.

Last night, I actually boiled some extra chicken quarters in the soup because I didn't have enough chicken bouillon (I was short 6 cups!!!) and with a few more spices it still turned out AWESOME.  So, when I tell you it's hard to mess this recipe up, believe it.

Posted by: Flibbertigibbet at 11:03 AM | Comments (4) | Add Comment
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Because of my schedule this weekend, I couldn't make my regular batch of jerky.  This meant I had to make it last night.  So, when I got home from work, I put my jerky in the oven and promptly forgot about it.

Until this morning.

I now have meat-flavored charcoal strips for snacks this week.  Mmmmmmm...

Just a note to all y'all making jerky: 12 hours is WAY too long to leave jerky in the oven.  Aim for some amount of time between three hours and 12 hours depending on how thickly you cut your strips.

Posted by: Flibbertigibbet at 08:00 AM | Comments (2) | Add Comment
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A lot of people on the primal plan and in other such circles strongly advocate raw milk.  Raw milk isn't homogenized or pasteurized. 

When I was little, we had a dairy farm about 2 miles from our house and I remember going with my parents to buy milk and then we'd bring it home and skim the cream off of it.  I remember my parents telling me that it was pasteurized, though.

But with all the talk about it and a DIY impulse to make my own butter and even cheese from raw milk, I'm giving some thought to joining some other New Yorkers and seeking out a black market source for the stuff.

I just read the NYT article on the Raw Milk craze.  They make raw milk drinkers sound like Competitive Russian Roulette players, though.

There are pro-raw milk resources, though.  RealMilk.com has some of them. I'm not a food scientist, though, so going through all of the discussions would take me a fair amount of time and energy.

One of the biggest sources of my reluctance isn't that I might get a criminal record, but the simple fact that I rarely drink or cook with milk.  Buying a gallon of milk would be very wasteful for me as most of it would spoil before I got around to drinking it.  A quart of the stuff would meet and exceed my milk needs, really.  The only reason I can foresee needing more would be for making cheese and butter and yogurt and things like that, which I can't imagine making with any frequency or regularity.

So, I think for the time being I'm just going to keep reading about the stuff, but not actually pursue it.

Posted by: Flibbertigibbet at 01:28 PM | Comments (5) | Add Comment
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I'm making jerky in my oven again today.  Jerky is a great snack.  It's tasty, full of protein, and it does actually help stave off your appetite.

Jerky that you buy in stores is full of preservatives like nitrates and other things that sound like they'd be better for my potted plants than for me.

So, you can make your own!

The first time I made this, I sort of followed this recipe.  I hate how that recipe is written, though, and this time I tweaked it a little, so I decided to write down what I did both for your reference and mine.

Ingredients

• 4 lbs of London Broil
• 3/4 c of Worcestershire sauce
• 3/4 c of Low Sodium Soy Sauce
• 3 tsp of Salt (I use fine-grain sea salt)
• 3 tsp of Black Pepper
• 1½ tsp of Garlic Powder
• 1½ tsp of Onion Powder
• 1½ tsp of Cayenne Pepper
• 3 tsp of Other Stuff that Seems Like it Would be Good
  

1. Put the meat in the freezer for 30 minutes to an hour.  This makes it firm enough to cut into thin slices.
2. While your meat is chilling, get a big bowl (preferrably one with a lid) in which to marinade your meat.
3. Mix all of the other ingredients into the bowl and stir it up.
• About that "other stuff."  For marinades, soups, and cooking in general, I rarely measure anything very carefully.  Measurement is FAR more critical in baking.  Here, I was looking for some liquid smoke.  My roommate cooks a fair amount of cajun food, so you'd think we'd have some.  Nope!  So, I used about 1½ tsp of Browning and Seasoning sauce.  And then he came in and suggested this smoked pepper, so I tossed in about 1½ tsp of that.  I wanted my jerky to be a little smokier and a bit spicier this time around.
  
4. Trim off any big pieces of fat.  A little fat is fine, but the big pieces won't dry out well and they taste really gross.  (Trust me.  I tried it.)
   
5. Cut meat into ¼ strips.  You can go thinner, too.  Thinner slices dry better than thicker ones.
6. Put all of the meat into the bowl with the marinade and stir it up.  If you have a big mixing bowl with a lid, like I do, you can just put the lid on and shake it up to make sure the marinade gets all over the meat.
7. Let marinade in the fridge over night at least.  24 hours would be ideal.  I've been known to go and shake up my bowl of meat and marinade a couple of times just to make sure everything gets hit with the marinade a lot.
8. The next day, drain the meat in a collander and then pat it dry on paper towels.
9. Line the bottom of the oven with aluminium foil.  This will catch the drippings from the meat so that your oven isn't a hideous mess and fire-hazard.
10. Put the meat strips directly on the oven racks or, if you have them, cake racks.
11. Set the oven to its lowest temperature or about 200 degrees and let the meat dry for 3 - 5 hours.  Check it after a few hours just to see how things are coming along.  If you weren't very consistent in your slicing, the thinner pieces will need to be removed from the oven before the thicker ones.  If you have an electric oven, you'll need to leave the oven door open a crack to let the moist air out.

Posted by: Flibbertigibbet at 12:53 PM | Comments (4) | Add Comment
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1 Have your roommates been better about keeping the kitchen clean?

Posted by: colin at January 11, 2009 01:27 PM (WjXmd)

2 Not really.  I've just been working around it.

Posted by: Flibbert at January 11, 2009 01:29 PM (xzhy1)

3 I'm trying your recipe tonight.  Why oh why do I have to wait a day to bake them?  I wish I could do it tonight!

I added Louisiana hot sauce and horseradish to mine.  mmmm mmmmm I can't wait to try it.  I'm so excited.

potted plants.  ha.

Posted by: Monica Hughes at November 13, 2009 11:11 PM (8PowW)

4 It's yummy! 

Posted by: Monica Hughes at November 14, 2009 09:36 PM (aD6VN)

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When it comes to preparing food, I am mostly concerned about things being fast.  I don't like spending a long time standing over the stove watching things bubble.  It's fun if other people are around to talk to, but if I'm by myself, I tend to wander off and end up calling the fire department later. But, of course, now I am concerned with my food also being cheap.  AND I am trying to keep my diet in line with the primal plan. 

That's a lot of requirements, but I've managed to come up with a meal that meets all of that AND can be prepared in a single pan for easy clean-up!

Ingredients:

• 1 Tbsp of butter
• 1 Tbsp of minced garlic (if you like that)
  
• 1/2 bag of california blend frozen veggies (carrots, cauliflower, broccoli)
• Eggs (as many as you plan to eat)
  
• Parsley (fresh or dried)
• Salt
• Peppet
  

1. Put the butter and garlic in your frying pan and sautee while you're opening the bag of veggies.
2. Dump in half of the bag of veggies.  You can use the whole bag if you have a large frying pan and a large appetite
3. Sprinkle some parsley, salt, and pepper all over the veggies and stir it up real good.
4. Scoot all the veggies to one side of the pan.
5. Add your eggs to the empty side of the pan.
6. Sprinkle the eggs with parsley, salt, and pepper to your particular taste.
7. Cover and let cook for 5 - 7 minutes over a medium-low heat
8. Serve when it looks good to you.

Posted by: Flibbertigibbet at 12:10 PM | No Comments | Add Comment
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So, after reading on Mark's Daily Apple that cavemen don't like beans (that much), I decided to tweak my stew/chili recipe.  Due to my ineptitude for estimating volumes, I only went through two pots this time.  I wanted to use my slow cooker again, but after cutting up all the veggies and everything, it was overflowing, so I resorted to the big stock pot.

Ingredients:

• 2 cans of cubed tomatoes in juice
• 2 bags of baby carrots
• One medium Spanish Onion
• 2 lbs of stewing beef
• 2 Tbsp chopped garlic
• 1 jar of jalapeno peppers
  
• 1 large yellow squash
• 3 small zucchinis
• 3 cups of beef bouillon
  
• 3 Tbsp chili powder
• A bunch of fresh, chopped cilantro
• Salt & Pepper to taste
  

1. Brown the meat in a skillet.
2. Add everything to a pot and cook over low heat, covered for a long time.

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Mark at Mark's Daily Apple has posted a new Energy Bar recipe.  I tried his old one and while it was good, it was, as he mentioned, very fragile.  I'm excited to try this out sometime.  It sounds delicious and Mark says it holds together better, but it will probably be after I pay off the credit cards.

Posted by: Flibbertigibbet at 09:02 PM | No Comments | Add Comment
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I made the Low Carb Apple Pie from Mark's Daily Apple today and it's very tasty. 

Instead of baking apples, I used two Gala apples and one Granny Smith because I couldn't find anything called "baking apples" in the grocery store and because I thought this combination would be delicious and I was right!

A couple of tips:

• My crust never behaved the way Mark describes.  It was never crumbly before adding the water.  And when I was trying to roll it out, it made a big, sticky mess and so I wound up just pressing it into my pie plate with my hands.
• I used the crushed pecans tip.  I recommend including this to balance out the flavors a bit.
• Serve with a spoon.  This pie just doesn't hold together like a pie.  The crust is now VERY crumbly and the chunks of apple do nothing to hold it all together.
• If there were a way to make the crust stay together, I would also consider making a top crust.
• I would also consider peeling the apples next time.  The skins are delicious, but they add a strange consistency to the pie that I think may be best left out, unless there were some way to arrange the slices so that there are uniform layers of peels throughout.  hmmm...

Posted by: Flibbertigibbet at 08:48 PM | Comments (3) | Add Comment
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My past food experiments have involved large doses of sugar and the worst effects have been digestive discomforts to such an extent that I really didn't notice any other ill effects.  This holiday, however, has presented opportunities to observe the effects of large amounts of starchy carbs and grains.

I tried to steer around those things for the most part, but there were two meals at home in which I had lots of corn and potatoes.  We had a low country boil, which is one of my absolute favorite meals.  And then again last night, I went with some friends and had Mexican food in which I had a large margarita and a quesadilla.

I really didn't notice any ill effects from this food until last night, one of which I inadvertently documented for you.  Remember the post about my mind racing?  Well, similar things happened to me last night after my quesadilla dinner.  Thinking back, this seems to be one of the symptoms I experience when my blood sugar spikes at bed time.

Last night, I had restless sleep all night and crazy dreams.  (I even had a dream in which Dr. Monica asked me if I was still cheating on the caveman diet.) And that's when I put it together.

I'm not exactly sure how I was getting sleep on my diet before, so all I can think is that I've grown more sensitive to this sort of thing since having been on this diet.

On the other hand, I haven't been very good at doing this diet the way it should.  My problem is that I still tend to do lots more veggies than meat.

I went to my doctor for my annual physical the week before last and had my blood tested.  But my lipid panel was not much improved.  (I have to call them to get the exact numbers for you.)  It's not that my cholesterol is high, it's not.  The issue is that my HDL level is low.  And I'm sorry to report that according to my doctor there has not been much of a change, although I can't remember what I had eaten in the days preceding the test.

So, anyway, there's another food update for you!

Posted by: Flibbertigibbet at 08:53 AM | Comments (6) | Add Comment
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1 Dr. Monica.  haha.

I wouldn't kick yourself too hard.  We all fall off the wagon now and then.

I had a somewhat similar experience recently.  I made a huge Thanksgiving dinner for Christmas, because we had Thanksgiving with friends this year and I didn't get to cook, and two nights ago when we had the leftovers I had some stuffing and potatoes for the first time in a very long time (I'd avoided them the first two nights and the night since).  My colon was pretty miserable the next day!  Oh, well -- just serves to reinforce what makes me feel good and what doesn't.

I don't want to be preachy, either, but I'm not sure I'd worry about your HDL too much.  It does seem to be a mild predictor of health but lots of people have heart disease even with a good lipid profile.  Take that vitamin D3.    I think I left this link here before, but this is a good post on what your ratios should be.  It's the ratios that matter most:  http://www.freetheanimal.com/root/2008/07/lipid-pannel.html

I have no idea what my numbers are and don't worry about it.  I figure as long as my fat soluble vitamin intake is high and I'm attempting to lose weight, I'm good... do wish I had the "before" numbers though when I eventually do get around to testing!

Posted by: Monica at December 29, 2008 09:51 AM (xzy2/)

2 One more thing... after reading Good Calories Bad Calories and a whole bunch of other low carb blogs, I've done some reading on another great site entitled Whole Health Source.  It's now my top health blog...

Here are two posts indicating that all carbs may not be a problem:

http://wholehealthsource.blogspot.com/2008/03/say-hello-to-kuna.html

http://wholehealthsource.blogspot.com/2008/04/leptin-and-lectins-part-ii.html

I can't find the link, but apparently the specific group he is discussing, the Kuna, have a moderately high carbohydrate intake from tubers and such -- no grains.  Yet when they're put onto grains they suffer the same problems we do.  When grains are avoided, they suffer from no "diseases of civilization."  Grains specifically seem to cause a problem.  The same problems are being observed in China as wheat becomes more prevalent there...

It's definitely an interesting case study -- I thought you might want to have a look.

I don't doubt you had physiological effects from eating a lot of potatoes, though.  Now that you're not used to it you would really notice that shot of sugar going to your brain. 

Posted by: Monica at December 29, 2008 10:02 AM (xzy2/)

3 Oh, I don't feel very guilty about it.  I doubt a couple of meals would make a big difference in the long run and it would have made my holiday less pleasant to try to avoid them.  It's ok.  I just have to go back on it now!

My cholesterol was good before going on the caveman diet.  My total cholesterol was 173 before.  I'm not sure what it is now.  I attribute this to the fact that I had generally -- although not consistently -- good eating habits with lots of veggies and good meat and relatively few grains and sugar.

I think one of my New Year's resolutions will be to read more about nutrition so that I can do better -- particularly when eating out.

Posted by: Flibbert at December 29, 2008 10:17 AM (xzhy1)

4 Personally, I've found that the best way to recover from eating something -- or rather, many things -- that I ought not eat is by fasting.  That seems to get me back on track pretty quickly. 

For example, I ate a lovely but huge Christmas dinner with friends at a fine local restaurant.  I had about three alcoholic beverages, plus some (but not much) bread, plus a pretty hefty chocolate dessert.  My body definitely felt somewhat abused later that night and the next day.  So I fasted -- until 7 pm the next day, i.e. about 22 hours.  I wasn't hungry all day, so it was easy.  Then I had a light dinner of homemade beef and vegetable soup, plus some greek yogurt.  The next morning, I was 1/2 pound lighter than I was on Christmas morning, and I've been losing weight since then.  (I've now lost 15 pounds of flab; I have 5 more to go.)

In contrast, going into Thanksgiving, I was losing weight like crazy.  For Thanksgiving, I ate way, way too much of all kinds of bad things -- although definitely not as much as I would have in years past.  I didn't fast afterward, and it took me weeks to feel under control again.  (I wasn't gaining weight, but I wasn't losing weight either.)

I've also been able to fast before a known large-and-uncavemanish meal with good effect -- like Greg did with Thanksgiving.

Hmmm... perhaps I should write something on NoodleFood about this.

Posted by: Diana Hsieh at December 29, 2008 01:49 PM (3x5AO)

5 OMG, last night we did a bad, bad thing. 

After not getting much food all day (events conspired to cause very little consumption before the evening), we went to Mongolian BBQ and made otherwise decent dinners to take home.  (Except for their sauces, which I assume have bad things in them.. gotta inquire about that.)  Well, we were hungry and upsized -- I made a Barbarian bowl (large size rather than a medium), and Tammy did a medium instead of a small.  Yep, personal firsts in portion sizes.  And now personal lasts.  Went home and looked at my Barbarian portion in a big serving bowl, thinking there's no way it'll get finished... well, I scarfed it.  ALL of it, plus a bunch of peanuts, PLUS a bunch of 70% chocolate.  Good God, what a feeding frenzy we had.

Taste buds loved it, but we were both MOST uncomfortable from the stomach on down. :^(

Anyway, I had to chuckle upon reading all this and Diana's thoughts on 'resetting' with a fast.  We had decided to wait to eat until tonight's monthly dinner with some local Rand fans.  Yeah, not eating today is not so much of a challenge after that -- and the meal SHALL be modest.  Me and my accountabilabuddy will be watching out for each other this time. ;^)

Posted by: Greg at December 30, 2008 01:57 PM (F8KyC)

6 Hey I found something which may interest you, from Dr. Eades' site and a post of his on sunscreen:

Another interesting aspect to all this is how it impacts cholesterol levels. Vitamin D is made in the skin from cholesterol. People who live in areas where there isn’t much sun exposure tend to run higher cholesterol levels to trap as much of the tiny UVB exposure as they can. For this reason, if you check your cholesterol levels, they will almost always be higher in winter than in the summer.

Posted by: Monica at December 30, 2008 08:37 PM (p/mp7)

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This is a delightful cold-weather appropriate recipe that is sure to become a favorite of caveman households across the nation. 

I started out wanting to make a vegetarian chili in my slow cooker like the one Fresh Direct sells. 

I bought John David a slow cooker for Christmas along with a cookbook and I saw a recipe that looked promising.  But then I got into a discussion about intellectual property rights with John David and, not wanting to violate those, decided that I wanted to merge it with another recipe in the book that contained meat. 

So, I made my own recipe and what follows are the step-by-step instructions so that you can enjoy the same with your family.

Ingredients:

• 1 medium butternut squash peeled and cubed
• 2 diced carrots
• 1 onion finely chopped
• 1 can of diced tomatoes w/ juices (28 oz)
• 2 cans (19 oz) of black beans drained and rinsed
• 1 can (4.5 oz) of chopped chilis
• 1 zucchini sliced
• 2 lbs stewing beef
• 1 cup of chicken stock
• 3 Tbsp chili powder
• 1/2 tsp salt
• 1/4 cup of chopped cilantro

1. Immediately decide to double the above amounts without any regard to the capacity of your slow cooker because you didn't eat breakfast or lunch on the day you went grocery shopping.
2. Get to the grocery store and substitute three regular yellow squash for the butternut squash because you can't find the butternut squash and you're not sure how big a medium one is.  Besides, squash are delicious and pretty.
   
3. Buy three zucchini instead of two because you love zucchini.
4. Choose to buy beef stock instead of chicken stock because it just seems to make more sense with the addition of beef to the veggie chili recipe.
5. Buy a bag of baby carrots because the adult carrots look weird and the baby ones promise to be a good snack while you're cooking.
   
6. Wander around the store for 45 minutes looking for canned chili peppers.  Instead of asking for help, buy a jar of chopped jalapenos because, after all, you're a manly man and the Spanish word for peppers is "chili," so it's really kind of the same thing.
7. Brown the meat in a large skillet.
8. Combine all the other ingredients, but don't measure too carefully.  It's chili.  So, maybe put a bit more jalapenos and a bit more chili powder.  Oh!  And just dump all of the beef stock in because why waste?
   
9. Just chop up all of the baby carrots that you haven't eaten because no one really knows how many baby carrots it takes to make a grown-up carrot and why would you even consider such a thing when the babies are so cute and delicious?
10. Add some more jalapenos because the chili seems like it might be a little bland and you also think maybe you didn't add a full 9 ounces to the mix because the jar you bought is 12 ounces and you were just eyeballing it anyway.
    
11. Use sea salt instead of regular salt because you bought some last week and unless you have a real fear of night blindness, you don't want it to go to waste.
    
12. As you're chopping and dumping things into your slow cooker, you will come to realize that you obviously have some kind of problem in your brain that makes you completely unable to gauge the volume of all of these ingredients.
13. Dump everything into a stock pot that your roommate left out.
14. Realize that the stock pot is not big enough, either.
15. Dump everything into a larger stock pot and put it on the stove.
16. Put over a low heat and cook for 4ish hours stirring now and then mostly out of curiosity.
17. As you stir it, feel free to dump in some other stuff that you think will make it taste good.

Posted by: Flibbertigibbet at 05:09 PM | No Comments | Add Comment
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So, this weekend I'm at L'Italiana's house and I decided to do a comparison between my caveman diet of the last week and what I used to eat.  I like science.

Last week, I was a LOT better than usual at the primitive plan.  I did eat out three times and had a few things (alcoholic beverages, one hamburger patty, etc.) that I oughtn't to have had, but by and large I did very well what with having cooked my lunches in advance with healthy stuff and cooking my own breakfast, too.

Well, what have I eaten here?

Last night, I ate half a pizza and today I had Chic-fil-A complete with waffle fries and sugarys BBQ sauce finished off with a DELICIOUS peppermint and chocolate chip milk shake.

It was AWESOME.  So delicious.

About an hour later, I wanted to curl up in a ball and die.

I haven't talked much here about my general digestive stress because even I have some sense of propriety about these things and I know no one is interested in a blog about poop and farts. 

I wouldn't say I have irritable bowel syndrome, but from time to time my body responds violently to things I've eaten.  I've never quite put my finger on exactly what sets things off, but it is very, very unpleasant.  This started in college and I'd simply learned to live with it.

Well, since I started eating like a caveman all of that stopped happening.  Everything was proceding very comfortably and what I imagine is normal for people.

WELL.  Peppermint milkshakes are not on the caveman diet for a good reason, I see now.  And, yes, I do blame the milkshake.

I still feel kind of yucky and blah, but I am now convinced that I need to get back on my regular eating plan STAT. Say what you will about cavemen, but now that I know this condition can be avoided, I think the alternative is barbaric.

Posted by: Flibbertigibbet at 04:12 PM | Comments (5) | Add Comment
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1 A hamburger patty is a deviation? Am I reading that right?

Posted by: Inspector at December 06, 2008 11:41 PM (80+F1)

2 I am surprised you could drink the entire shake. I find many drinks too sweet after reducing my sugar intake. If I have sweet things usually it has to be premium ice cream or a well made cake to be edible. I think it may have to do with that they would be more likely to use fat in those things or they use other spices to enhance flavor.

Posted by: Andrew Baker at December 07, 2008 12:28 AM (bVVsH)

3 I still haven't lost my sweet tooth on the diet.  The only thing that ever seems to overwhelm me is salt and I can't quite explain why.

As for the ground beef, it's not a major deviation at all. It's a long story, but I have a personal categorization of foods, "clean" and "dirty," which isn't meant to imply evaluation, but I feel like I need certain amounts of each and the hamburger was too much in the "dirty" direction. 

Apart from the likelihood of the hamburger not being made of the best meat, being mixed with some unsavory fats, I don't think the hamburger is really a deviation from the primal plan.

Posted by: Flibbert at December 07, 2008 10:50 PM (xzhy1)

4 Sometimes we get those preformed patties with the paper in between.  They are OK in a pinch but the hamburgers I make myself from ground beef are SO much better.  And the ones I make from grass fed Angus from my friend, processed in a local facility, are even better than that.  I know what is in the ground beef I get from my friend.  I do not know, with any certainty, what is in the ground beef with completely different taste and texture, that I get from the grocery store. 

I used to have a boyfriend who even refused to buy ground beef in the store.  He ground his own with a meat grinder attachment on his KitchenAid.  Then again, this was a guy that scrubbed every single pot with metal cleaner after using it (in addition to washing with detergent) and folded into perfect flat squares every single plastic shopping bag.  A mite anal retentive.

Posted by: Monica at December 08, 2008 12:00 PM (sBhdi)

5 My hang-up about ground beef is mostly just from my personal quirks about food.  I have small worries about microbial cross-contamination for people who insist on eating hamburgers rare, but I don't do that, so it's not THAT big a deal.

I just prefer my red meat to be in big chunks rather than lots of little pieces mushed into convenient shapes. 

Posted by: Flibbertigibbet at December 08, 2008 01:14 PM (ErOeR)

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I've been cooking my sausage and eggs in coconut oil this week.  I haven't really noticed any coconut flavor in my eggs, but this morning I did notice one benefit: smoke.

If you cook with the heat too high, whatever oil you're using will start to smoke.  This morning, I experienced just this, but instead of being acrid, blinding, death-dealing smoke that you get from margarine or veggie oil it was rather light smoke and had only a faint, sweet odor.

Of course, I didn't let it really get out of hand.  I just turned the heat down and opened the window in the kitchen, so I don't know if the smoke would have gotten smelly and gross after a time, but this was downright pleasant.  Our apartment does not stink from it or anything!

Coconut oil also seems a little more "durable" than veggie oil.  I'm not sure of the right word, but it stays in the pan better and lasts longer through the cooking process.

So, anyway, I'm really enjoying this stuff.  You should check it out.

Posted by: Flibbertigibbet at 08:25 AM | No Comments | Add Comment
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Ok, so I went to Whole Paycheck Foods and spent $14 on a pound of almond flour this evening.  When I got home, I set out making these Energy Bars from Mark's Daily Apple.

Is it just me or are his instructions sometimes a little vague on some rather important points?

Also, does it seem like his portions are unusually small?

So, I made a double batch.  I also decided to spice it a bit with some cinnamon at the end.

Here are some lessons I learned:
1) Almond butter can be made into a liquid with very little heat.
2) Raw honey is solid at room temperature.
3) All of these hippie foods are crazy yucky to see or touch, but taste surprisingly good.

Anyway...

THEY ARE SO GOOD!

ZOMFG!  NOM! NOM! NOM! NOM!

SO GOOD.

You should totally go out and make some right now!!

I do worry that they won't hold together very well, so I will likely play around with methods of making them a bit more solid at room temperature.  Like, maybe if they were baked for a little bit.  That might help, right?

I used cranberries, but I want to make some more and mix dried blueberries and dried cranberries.  I'll bet that's even better.

And they have hazelnut meal at the store.  I'll bet that's a crazy good option, too.

ALSO, instead of paying a zillion dollars for this flour, I think I'll just buy the nuts raw and then grind them myself in my blender or food processor.

So, basically, I'm telling you this is some good stuff here.  You need to go get you some.

Posted by: Flibbertigibbet at 08:53 PM | Comments (1) | Add Comment
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My impressively stocked local grocery store had raw almonds.  I don't know if they've gone through the secret pasteurization process that folks have been talking about -- I suspect they have -- but they definitely taste "greener."  They're also crunchier than the other almonds I've been buying.

Pretty cool!

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