Nutrient Dense Recipes + Answers for Healthier Families
This is a list of books and cookbooks I have read, loved, and want to share with you. Education is key when nourishing a family!
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Strawberry Lime Popsicles, Blueberry Coconut Popsicles, in smoothies (strawberry, banana, coconut milk, collagen, white chia seeds, & shake of stevia is our current favorite!). It can be dissolved in cold water, kefir soda, kombucha, or lemon water and used in warm tea, coffee, or hot cacao.
Because collagen dissolves in cold liquids easily and has almost no taste it is easy slip it in unnoticed! Great Lakes is the brand we buy because it is from grass-fed cows, has a good reputation, and the price is about half of other leading brands. Vital Proteins is another well know, trusted grass-fed brand.
Cooking eggs in coconut oil or animal fat
Using lard and palm shortening to make pastries and cookies
Butter & coconut oil coffee (aka the popular "bullet proof coffee")
Buttered or coconut oil coated veggies
Grass-fed beef several times each week
Recommended reading: "The Big Fat Surprise" by Nina Teicholz
Did you know that a single egg contains: 5 grams of good fats (omega-3's & omega 6's), 6 grams of protein, vitamins A, B2, B5, B6 B12, D, E, K, phosphorus, selenium, calcium, zinc, and choline. Studies are now showing that eggs do not raise cholesterol and may even lower the incidence of heart disease and stroke. Pastured eggs may even lower triglyceride levels for some people! To find nutrient dense eggs be sure to look for eggs laid by hens that roam free in a large pasture, eat insects, and are ideally supplemented with organic table scraps. If they are given grain check to make sure it is non-GMO and free of corn and soy.
Collagen is an insoluble protein that accounts for 1/3 of the protein in our bodies and 70% of the protein in our skin; it has multiple health benefits including joint repair, boosting the health of skin, hair, and nails, helping to heal leaky gut, improving metabolism, energy, muscle mass, and reducing stretch marks/cellulite.
According to this study, conventional eggs have a 19:1 ratio of omega-6 to omega-3 fatty acids (1). Whoa! Truly pastured hens eating insects (and free of corn, soy, GMO's) have a 1:1 ratio of omega-6 to omega-3 fatty acids. What's the problem with omega-6 fatty acids? Nothing when consumed in small quantities. However, in larger quantities omega-6 is known to help stimulate more inflammation in the body. We currently buy our eggs locally for ~$5/dozen and it is worth every penny. These yolks are like liquid gold! Bright yellow, thick, and super tasty. The yolk takes up most of the egg with a smaller but equally delicious egg white and the egg shell itself is hard to break. (1)Â Fallon, Sally, Mary G. Enig, Kim Murray, and Marion Dearth. "Fats." Nourishing Traditions: The Cookbook That Challenges Politically Correct Nutrition and the Diet Dictocrats. Washington, DC: NewTrends, 2005. 11. Print.
Do our kids eat fermented foods? Absolutely! Milk kefir smoothies, kefir "soda", kombucha, sauerkraut, fermented garlic & dill pickles, fermented ketchup, & dirt. Yes -- dirt. We encourage our kids to get dirty & if they put good soil in their mouths I don't sweat it. The key is to start early if possible; we were able to start our second child much sooner and by 8 months she was eating sauerkraut plain right off her tray (and prefers it to "pancakes" to this day!).
We eat 1-2 tablespoons of fermented foods and/or 2-6 ounces of a fermented beverage with every meal. Why? To help our immune system, improve our digestion, increase energy, and take good care of our guts. Here is a real life example of how we eat ferments every day: Breakfast: Eggs with sauerkraut or kimchi & Kombucha/Snack: Milk kefir smoothie/Lunch: Fermented pickles or carrots/ Mid-afternoon: Kefir water or kefir soda/Dinner: Fermented ginger carrots or garlic cloves.
Are Probiotics BAD For You?Improving one's gut micro biome is a hot topic these days ... but is the standard "probiotic" the way to do this? Is consuming billions of copies of just 3-24 strands of bacteria (when your gut contains 30,000+ species) just another billion dollar industry that is underserving the needs of our bodies?
Check out my favorite (free) podcast episodes to learn what triple board certified Zach Bush, MD & microbiology researcher Kiran Krishnan have to say on the subject:
Why You Can’t Get Away From The Toxin Glyphosate (& What You Can Do About It)
Thank goodness it is no longer shocking to hear that saturated fat (animal fats such as lard & tallow, coconut oil, butter, and palm shortening) are actually good for you. The culprit that is deleterious to our health is ... drumroll .....sugar! For our families this means no refined sweeteners, keeping all forms of sugar minimal, and including moderate amounts of well sourced (organic, grass-fed, pasture raised, sustainably sourced, etc.) saturated fat in our diet daily.