Quick Guide to Different Cuts of Beef

Why we eat Primal/Paleo: Processed food is full of Shit

In the wake of the peanut butter salmonella scare (caused by rats, roaches, and other awfulness inside the factory), an op-ed in the New York Times examines the government's standards for acceptable levels of gross stuff in food. According to the writer, you are likely ingest up to two pounds of "flies, maggots and mites" each year, without being aware. Snip from The Maggots in Your Mushrooms (E. J. Levy / New York Times):

"In its (falsely) reassuringly subtitled booklet “The Food Defect Action Levels: Levels of Natural or Unavoidable Defects in Foods That Present No Health Hazards for Humans,” the F.D.A.’s Center for Food Safety and Applied Nutrition establishes acceptable levels of such “defects” for a range of foods products, from allspice to peanut butter.

Among the booklet’s list of allowable defects are “insect filth,” “rodent filth” (both hair and excreta pellets), “mold,” “insects,” “mammalian excreta,” “rot,” “insects and larvae” (which is to say, maggots), “insects and mites,” “insects and insect eggs,” “drosophila fly,” “sand and grit,” “parasites,” “mildew” and “foreign matter” (which includes “objectionable” items like “sticks, stones, burlap bagging, cigarette butts, etc.”).

Tomato juice, for example, may average “10 or more fly eggs per 100 grams [the equivalent of a small juice glass] or five or more fly eggs and one or more maggots.” Tomato paste and other pizza sauces are allowed a denser infestation — 30 or more fly eggs per 100 grams or 15 or more fly eggs and one or more maggots per 100 grams."

Here's that happy-fun FDA publication that the article speaks of: "The Food Defect Action Levels - Levels of natural or unavoidable defects in foods that present no health hazards for humans." Bon appetit!




Basically, if you don't get sick, it's not a problem.

There's a difference between sanitation, which is biological, and cleanliness, which is psychological.

For instance, take a beaker and autoclave it. Then spit into it. Then a minute later, drink your spit. It's totally sanitary, but probably psychologically "disgusting".

And Americans in particular are obsessive about "cleanliness" of food, while frequently ignoring whatever is in it that's actually physically harmful to you. McDonald's food possibly epitomizes this.

Bacon Food Porn and a Primal-Friendly Cheddar Spread

Yes, that is a wonderful sight: A plate full of freshly cooked bacon.

Now, far be it from me to tell you what to do with your bacon, but if you are planning on inviting people over and you want to keep things Primal (meaning, this will contain dairy), I have just the dip for you.

Heavy Metal Wines

There are a good number of studies out there about wine that speak about the various health benefits of wine.



Polyphenals in wine are extremely healthy, there is research showing the polyphenols break down the oxidation of dietary fat, that red wine contains 5-10 times as many phenals than white and that white wine contains zero amounts of resveratrol,that same resveratrol can combat cancer and reduce the signs of aging or protect against it completely, that you get a 30% increase of antioxidant activity when you mix wine and berries together, that both red and white wine prevents cavities, the polyphenols in red wine block the formation of proteins that build the plaques long-thought to destroy brain cells and promote senility and Alzheimer’s, that the consumption of red wine seemed to increase the concentration of omega-3s which everyone should be consuming more of, and that wine gives those that drink it a better immunity and resistance to infectious cold viruses than those who do not drink.

To be honest, I could keep going, but I feel that it is not really necessary.

Wonderful Primal Brownies

2/3 cup Almond flour (found out later that I was using meal, not flour, which could have been the source for the textural problems)
1/4 cup honey
2 eggs
1 stick butter, melted
1 tsp vanilla
1/2 tsp baking powder
1/4 tsp salt
6 tbsp coco powder

Mix.

Preheat oven to 350.

Spread mixture into a pan, 8x8 or whatever.

Bake 25-30 minutes.

It will be soft when first out of the oven, though the toothpick will be dry. Waiting for it to cool will let it harden up a bit.

According to my wife and kids, the texture takes some getting used to. However, I freaking loved them... 2 small squares was my dinner and it was nice and filling. Also due to the high almond content (and high Omegea 6 content due to that) we have tried using coconut flour.

Coconut flour needs a LOT of liquid to make it work, and he have not found the correct amount yet. They have came out extremely dry, so we reduced some berries with a little honey to pour on top of the brownies which counteracted their dryness. My wife and kids also said that the texture was perfect, for which I am glad.

I'm not big on using Primal/Paleo-friendly foods to recreate Standard American Diet edible items, but I do love brownies (even when my wife used to make them using tofu) and this recipe is the closest thing to a "cheat" food that I have.