Bone broth

Using bones to make broth is one of the eleven principles that the fabulous Dr. Weston Price discovered during his worldly travels studying the traditional diets of "primitive" people. It is an extremely cost-effective way of loading up on nutrients and healthy fats (especially if you're using bones and/or carcasses that you'd otherwise throw out), and makes soups, stews and kitchari taste amazing!!

Dr. Weston Price and the greatest nutrition study ever conducted

Dr. Weston Price was a brilliant dentist whose groundbreaking nutrition study during the 1930's filled an enormous gap in modern society's knowledge of nutrition. I tried countless "healthy diets" to try and relieve my chronic stomach pain, bloating and fatigue before stumbling upon his work - vegan, vegetarian, raw, paleo, grain-free, alkaline, Ayurveda, food combining, etc. - and I remember being extremely frustrated at the amount of conflict between the nutritional studies backing each of these "healthy diets". Furthermore, my stomach pain persisted, and every diet I tried took an enormous amount of self-discipline - I had a constant feeling of deprivation, like my body was opposed to my efforts to be healthy and wouldn't stop begging me for the "bad foods".

The moment I read about Dr. Weston Price, I knew my search was over. Finally, here was someone with the good sense to simply find the healthiest people in the world and ask them what they were eating!

Dr. Price travelled to many remote corners of the Earth in search of isolated "primitive" people who were still providing for themselves and living off the knowledge of their ancestors, and who hadn't yet been touched by the "modern foods" of the industrial revolution. His theory was that these people would be much healthier than the people living in modern cities, and he was absolutely right.

Stainless steel cookware 101

Nonstick coatings on cookware are bad for your health and the environment. After just a little practice using stainless steel cookware, you will wonder why you ever needed non-stick cookware in the first place! In fact, things take much longer to caramelize in a non-stick pan.

Non-stick coatings and their fumes (some of which are proven carcinogens) will end up in your body if you cook with them - there is no question about it. Any substance that is repeatedly heated and cooled will break down. It's basic physics! And besides, a good quality set of stainless steel cookware will last you a lifetime. One little scratch with a metal utensil will remove the coating from a non-stick pan, and guess where it will end up? In your food!

Here I will show you how 3 essentials can be effortlessly made in stainless steel pans.

Everything you need to know about fats and oils!

I recently read a great book called Fats that Heal, Fats that Kill. It is simultaneously fascinating, informative, and a little scary - according to this well-researched book, degenerative diseases involving fats prematurely kill over two thirds of people in industrialized nations. TWO THIRDS!!! These include (but are not limited to) cardiovascular disease, cancer and diabetes. As it turns out, most oils in our grocery stores, restaurants and packaged foods are produced, packaged and shipped in ways that are extremely detrimental to our health. In other words, if you're like me and you're willing to make some changes in order to avoid dying a premature death, reading this book (or at least my summary of its important points) has a very good chance of helping you accomplish that goal!!

Soaking and sprouting grains, nuts, seeds and legumes

Why is soaking so important?

I can't explain it much better than one of my favorite nutrition books of all time, Nourishing Traditions:

"Modern farming techniques prevent [seeds] from germinating before they reach our tables. The process of germination not only produces vitamin C but also changes the composition of grain and seeds in numerous beneficial ways. Sprouting increases vitamin B content, especially B₂, B₅, and B₆. Carotene increases dramatically - sometimes eightfold. Even more important, sprouting neutralizes phytic acid, a substance present in the bran of all grains that inhibits absorption of calcium, magnesium, iron, copper, and zinc; sprouting also neutralizes enzyme inhibitors present in all seeds. These inhibitors can neutralize our own precious enzymes in the digestive tract. Complex sugars responsible for intestinal gas are broken down during sprouting, and a portion of the starch in grain is transformed into sugar. Sprouting inactivates aflatoxins, potent carcinogens found in grains. Finally, numerous enzymes that help digestion are produced during the germination process."

In other words, dormant seeds don't want to be digested!! They are holding onto their precious nutrients and doing whatever it takes to preserve themselves until the conditions are right for them to grow. They need to be germinated before they will release their nutrients and stop resisting our bodies' digestive enzymes. If you ever get stomachaches, I highly recommend you try soaking all seeds before eating them. It will definitely give you enormous relief!

Every isolated group of "primitive" people that Dr. Weston Price studied germinated all seeds before eating them.

How to start the germination process: soaking