Eggs

Image via Wikipedia

From the Hobbit:

Riddle: A box without hinges, key, or lid,
Yet golden treasure inside is hid.

Answer: An egg.

Most of us who have chosen to live our lives under the banner of "Paleo" consume eggs. And why not? Eggs have been eaten by mankind for millennia. Bird eggs (including chicken and turkey eggs) consist of a protective eggshell, albumen (egg white), and vitellus (egg yolk), contained within various thin membranes. Every part of an egg is edible,although the eggshell is generally discarded. Roe and caviar are edible eggs produced by fish, but this post is about eggs from birds.

The largest concern over eggs is how to tell if they are fresh or not.

Assuming the eggs have been bought when they were very fresh, they will last 30-40 days in a refrigerator. The best way to tell if an egg is still fresh, meaning edible, is to crack it open. Very fresh eggs tend to have a loose, light yolk and a clear white. The thick, whitish strings that attach the yolk to the white, called the chalazae, will be very prominent in a fresh egg. As the egg ages, the chalazae will slacken, the yolk gets darker and tougher, and the white becomes dingy. Even then, these eggs are still safe to use. A rotten egg, however, is immediately recognizable, as the smell is powerfully offensive.

Education is Missing in the Lunchroom

What follows is an essay I wrote my my English 106 class:


There is no question that schools, public or private, are in place to educate children. For twelve long years, children learn facts about nearly every facet of their lives from history to geography, mathematics to biology, sex to reading and writing comprehension. Children have ample opportunities to become inspired intellectually and artistically. While education is at the core of every school, there is one place where education is sorely absent: The lunchroom.

Are Flowers Paleo?

My children actually brought me to this question. Ever since they learned that some flowers could be eaten, they ask about every flower that they come across it seems. Would not our ancestors have done the same thing? I was curious to understand why those of us who are living a Paleo and Primal lifestyle get into the macro and micro nutrients of nearly everything they eat, but flowers are never brought up. Perhaps it is because flowers are seen as non-edible by most.


For example, everyone should know that dandelion leaves are edible, I mean, they have salads with dandelion leaves for sale in Wal-Mart. But did you realize that the roots and flowers are edible as well? I especially like the tea produced by roasting the roots, but the leaves and flowers have that distinct pungent flavor as do the ilk of healthy vegetables like collards, spinach, chards, etc. If you think about calcium and phosphor when eating the dandelion, you'll understand why it has the flavor it does. You are tasting health. The dandelion has, in addition to fiber, the following particularly good concentration of:

Diabetic Cookbook from 1917, almost purely Primal

Found this very interesting book written in 1917: "Diabetic Cookery; Recipes and Menus" by Rebecca W Oppenheimer, a very primal like diet from 90-odd years ago. What the hell happened to us? Why have we screwed up our nutrition so poorly? I mean, I know what happened. Industry happened, excess of corn syrup happened, bad science happened, and worst of all, people became sheep. It is irritating to see hoe blinded we have become to our own bodies and the results that we can see taking place in other people, as well as the lack of results. This makes me think of William Banting and if you don't know who that is, see below.

William Banting's Letter on Corpulence, from: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/William_Banting

"In 1863, Banting wrote a booklet called Letter on Corpulence, Addressed to the Public which contained the particular plan for the diet he followed. It was written in the form of an open letter in the form of a personal testimonial. Banting accounted all of his unsuccessful fasts, diets, spa and exercise regimes in his past, then described the dietary change which finally had worked for him, following the advice of a physician. His own diet was four meals per day, consisting of meat, greens, fruits, and dry wine. The emphasis was on avoiding sugar, saccharine matter, starch, beer, milk and butter."

Here is the full text from "Letter on Corpulence" written 1869. He even charts his weight loss. It's pretty cool. Especially because we have known how to be healthy. It seems that the public opinion is that when a new study comes out, the older studies become null and void. This is not the case, only BAD studies and those that were fabricated and revealed only part of the truth should be null and void, regardless of how old or new they are.

Remember, "Let thy food be thy medicine and thy medicine be thy food." - Hippocrates, the father of medicine.

Me Caveman?

I follow the Paleo lifestyle in that I eat as my paleolithic ancestors would have eaten and I exercise as they would have. I started living this way back in January of this year and have reduced the size of my pants by 4 and have lost at least 50+ pounds. All of my health issues have also cleared up. My energy is higher than it has ever been and I am extremely happy in what I am doing.


Here are a few videos that will explain what Paleo is all about.