Summer Update - Experiments Galore!

Hi folks,

Long time, no see! Needless to say, things have been busy this summer. I have been to at least 10 big events since July 4th, and I have one more Disney symphony concert to attend next Wednesday before the month is up. I am getting as much studying done as I possibly can, so as you can see I have been slacking from my "one post a week" schedule! Physiology course has been checked done, now on to Community Nutrition.

This is the first somewhat free Saturday I have had in ages. I am experimenting with fake rotisserie chicken in the crockpot. I am re-activating my new water kefir grains I just got as a gift from my fabulous hubby in a sugar-water-apple juice-banana mixture. So, watch out for kefir apple soda in the near future! Bellydance practice and drumming practice may be in store for me as well.. or maybe a nap? Who knows what else will be accomplished in the rest of the day!

I have also been experimenting (life is an experiment, isn't it?) with Fast 5 to see if I lose any stubborn weight. It is similar to the Warrior Diet, where one only eats during a 5-hour window of time. The premise behind this method is to allow your body to rest between heavy digestion and to allow your hormones (specifically insulin and leptin) to balance out. Several weeks into it, I have to say it does seem helpful, but the quality and quantity of one's nutrition certainly still reigns supreme. I must say though that looking at the body holistically still gives the best indicators of good health and well-being. The interaction of hormones is definitely something on my radar for studying.

In terms of eating, I have had a few slip-up days in not following the ideal pro-thyroid diet (according to my enzyme therapist), but I also have had some incredible yummy summer days of good-quality pastured meat/poultry and lots of salads and greens. I really enjoy the hunter-gatherer diet the most - I think it leaves me the most satisfied and emotionally balanced. But, the experimentation continues!

Primal Chicken Gumbo

Hi folks! Had to post this recipe on here for a few of my dedicated (!) readers. Cheeseslave at www.cheeseslave.com is requesting bone broth recipes, so here's my contribution.

As the oldest of four kids (and a budding chef!), I would pick a turkey dinner clean to the bone after Thanksgiving. To the bone! And then, my mom would take the carcass and stick it in a pot of water to cook for a while. Best soup I ever had! After reading Nourishing Traditions (and reading Cheeseslave's website LOL), I realized how important it is to keep this tradition going - for all the lovely nutrients that we drink in the broth. When you let the broth simmer so long, it starts looking creamy - that's when you have the good stuff!

I'm not sure where the original non-primal recipe came from.. I've had it for so long, the paper is a little warped! So, in order to make it fit better with my primal/traditional lifestyle, I took out the rice and the roux (flour/oil thickener). The color is not quite like the original with the roux, but it does thicken if you use okra. It does take a while to put everything together, but once you get it going, definitely a keeper!

I plan on making this sometime over the weekend (with the upcoming rain and all), so hopefully will have a photo soon.

Ingredients
6 quarts chicken/turkey homemade stock
2-3 C leftover chicken/turkey
1 pound natural andouille sausage (I use nitrate-/nitrite-free sausage)
2 pounds shrimp
2 pounds okra (I use the frozen chopped kind bc it's easier to find & cheaper)
2 onions, chopped
1 bunch green onions with tops, chopped
2-3 bell peppers, chopped
5 ribs celery, chopped
5-6 cloves of garlic, minced
3 bay leaves
1 bunch fresh parsley, chopped
Creole seasoning to taste OR black, white, & cayenne peppers to taste
A few dashes of Tabasco or hot sauce to taste
Salt & freshly ground pepper to taste

Slice the andouille sausage up and brown, pour off the fat.

Pour stock into large stockpot. Add sausage, onions, green onions, bell peppers, and celery. (I'm lazy so I just stick them all in at once!). Add bay leaves, creole seasonings or pepper mixture to stockpot. Bring to boil. Reduce to simmer for 30 minutes. Add salt & pepper to taste and adjust seasonings as needed.

Add okra and cook for another 30 minutes or so. Add leftover cooked chicken/turkey meat and parsley. Simmer for another 15-30 minutes. Adjust seasonings, salt, pepper, Tabasco/hot sauce as needed. If it looks too thin, simmer for a while longer.

5 minutes before you're ready to eat, throw in shrimp. Do NOT overcook shrimp. A few minutes at most (otherwise they will get rubbery in texture).

You can eat it straight in a bowl, or if you miss rice, pour gumbo over mashed cauliflower. Works like a charm!

Have you challenged yourself today?

Here's my challenge, that I will share with all of you so maybe you can participate with me as well. I wanted to see what would happen after a full month of "sticking to it". The challenge to myself is to eat whole foods for 30 days. Whole foods to me means mostly colorful vegetables, some fruits, some protein, and some fats. To me, these are "primal" foods, such that our ancestors would have eaten before the agricultural age began.

Colorful vegetables - eggplants, kale, spinach, broccoli, you name it. Cauliflower and maybe those white asparagus that I never buy are the only exceptions that still work.


Fruits - mainly berries for me since they are low on the glycemic index. Blueberries, Strawberries, Raspberries, Blackberries. If I have an apple, I'll eat one quarter to one half of an apple, never the whole.

Proteins - fish, turkey, chicken, shellfish, and beef, in that order.

Fats - raw, cold-pressed olive oil for uncooked foods. Light olive oil for cooked foods.

I had the idea to start day 1 on Sunday, but I ended up eating leftovers yesterday that had beans. I'd rather eat leftovers than waste food, so I am starting today on Day 1 again. I will have to take measurements as a baseline and see how things progress over the next 30 days. Want to share this experience with me? Let me know how it goes for you too!