Photos of recipes from the new book Tender Grassfed Barbecue
Photos of recipes from the cookbook Tender Grassfed Meat
Enjoy Grassfed Barbecue Without Fear
By Stanley A. Fishman, author of Tender Grassfed Meat and Tender Grassfed Barbecue
Bison Porterhouse Steak, page 126, Tender Grassfed Barbecue.
Every barbecue season, the health “experts” tell us what not to eat to supposedly “lower the risk of cancer.” Usually the first item on their list can be predicted before the list comes out, “Do not eat red meat!”
I have a huge problem with this advice. These experts NEVER distinguish between factory red meat and grassfed red meat. Factory red meat is raised with the use of chemicals, fed unnatural feed sprayed with pesticides, and often bizarre feeds like chicken manure, donuts, and candy bars still in their wrappers. Grassfed meat is raised on green living grass, without the chemicals, and unnatural feed. The difference between these two types of meat is huge, as they are very different in their content and composition. The studies used by these experts for the basis of their opinion NEVER distinguish between factory meat and grassfed meat, treating them like the same substance. Since over ninety-eight percent of the red meat eaten in the U.S. is factory meat, those studies really only apply to factory meat, not grassfed.
Our ancestors barbecued red meat all the time. In fact, a huge portion of the meat enjoyed by humanity for thousands and thousands of years was cooked with fire. But until modern times, nearly all of this meat was grassfed.
Is Grassfed Meat Dangerous to Barbecue?
Every food has some element of risk, but I do not worry about barbecuing grassfed meat. As long as I use the traditional techniques described in my book, Tender Grassfed Barbecue, and as long as all the red meat I barbecue is grassfed or pastured—I feel fine.
The studies that demonize red meat and claim it increases cancer risk all have a huge flaw. Since all these studies are based on factory meat, they are not just testing meat. They are also testing the effect of the chemicals, growth hormones, and unnatural feed in the meat. Is the increased cancer risk found by these studies created by the meat, or by the chemical additives to the meat, or by the unnatural feed, or by the combination of some or all of these factors? No study has resolved this issue, and no study has addressed it. To the studies, red meat is all the same. A few recent studies have tried to differentiate between fresh red meat and processed meat. But even these studies do not distinguish between factory meat and grassfed meat.
The studies that have found that barbecuing red meat increases cancer risk also treat all meat the same. In addition, it appears that the meat was cooked by direct high heat, directly over the heat source, in all these studies. Most Americans use direct high heat when they barbecue.
So, in looking at these studies, we must ask—What causes the increased risk of cancer? Is it the meat? Or the chemical additives to the meat? Or the unnatural feed? Or the barbecuing methods? Or any combination of these?
There are no modern studies that address these questions directly. But there is an older study, one that I consider to be the most well researched, well reasoned, and valid nutritional study ever made—the research of Dr. Weston A. Price.
Dr. Price, a dentist and researcher, noticed that in each generation, his patients were sicker than their parents, and had worse teeth. Dr. Price suspected that the reason was nutritional, and spent many years traveling the world to study those peoples who were healthy and had great teeth. Dr. Price found that the peoples he studied, eating the diet of their ancestors, were free of the chronic diseases that plague modern cultures, and had perfect teeth. One of the diseases they did not have was cancer. And nearly all of these peoples barbecued grassfed meat. Some of them ate huge amounts of grassfed meat, often barbecued. So, based on Dr. Price’s research, eating barbecued grassfed and wild meat does not cause cancer.
In researching traditional barbecue methods, I learned that almost nobody barbecued meat directly over a very hot heat source, which is the most common barbecue method in the U.S., today. Our ancestors either cooked their food in front of, but never over a fire, or they placed their meat so high above a low fire that the meat would never get scorched or be touched by flames. This is completely consistent with modern studies that have found that substances believed to be carcinogenic are created by grilling meat directly over a hot heat source or by fat dripping directly over the heat source.
These risks can be avoided simply by barbecuing as our ancestors did, and never putting meat directly above a hot heat source. Interestingly enough, some of the experts also advise avoiding high heat when barbecuing. I trust the research of Dr. Price, which showed that people can eat large amounts of red, grassfed meat while remaining free of all cancer.
Should Meat Be Pre-Cooked Before Grilling?
Some of the experts advise that you partially cook all meats before barbecuing them. The theory is that the less time the meat is the barbecue, the safer it is. That conclusion is simply not supported by the studies which found that the substances believed to be carcinogenic were created by cooking over direct high heat. If you barbecue in a traditional manner, this problem is solved.
Our ancestors did not pre-cook meat and finish it on the barbecue. And they most certainly did not “nuke” the meat in a microwave, which some of the experts advise. In fact, I never use a microwave, not for any purpose. Microwaves heat food from the inside out, something that was never done in all the history of human cooking before. Some research has found that microwaving foods changes their very composition, in ways that have never occurred before. Not something that our ancestors ate and not something that I want to eat. And, to be honest, the very thought of “cooking” food with microwave radiation gives me the creeps. I would much rather stick with the kind of heat used by our ancestors.
Parboiling foods to be barbecued ruins the taste and texture, in my opinion. Properly barbecued grassfed meat is tender, with the savory wood smoke flavor that only real barbecue can give. The wood flavoring of barbecued meat takes time, and reducing this time by pre-cooking means less flavor.
Should Only Lean Meats Be Grilled?
The “safer barbecue” advice this year not only contains the traditional prohibition of all red meat, without differentiating between factory meat and grassfed meat, but also recommends what should be grilled. The selection does not excite me. They recommend skinless, boneless chicken breasts, and vegetables, and fish. All of these foods are low fat. It is true that some studies have found that fat dripping directly on the heat source is a factor in creating substances believed to be carcinogenic. But you do not need to eat low-fat meat to avoid this problem. All you have to do is not cook your food directly over the heat source.
The fat of grassfed animals is not only very different from the fat of factory animals—it adds enormous flavor, as well as vital nutrients. In fact, animal fat ranging from butter to suet to lard is a huge part of my barbecue cooking. Our ancestors used and cherished this natural fat, and used it extensively in every kind of cooking, including barbecue.
To me, barbecue means what it almost always has to our ancestors—meat. And I do not include boneless, skinless chicken breasts in my cooking, as they have been stripped of the very parts that give them the most flavor, namely, the skin and the bones. You can grill vegetables, if you like, but I have never done it. I would much rather barbecue grassfed meat.
Should Barbecued Meat Be Marinated?
Traditional peoples marinated the meat they barbecued, and/or basted it. The experts do advise marinating, and I agree with them—to a point. They emphasize marinades made almost entirely out of acidic ingredients such as wine, vinegar, or lemon juice, where my marinades, based on traditional combinations, always include a good amount of healthy fat. Too much acidic ingredients in a marinade will toughen grassfed meat. Our ancestors always used plenty of fat in their marinades and bastes—and so do I. This kind of marinade and/or baste not only may be beneficial, but makes the meat more tender and delicious.
I stopped barbecuing for awhile, being concerned with the studies connecting barbecue with the creation of carcinogens. I really missed it, so I started researching traditional barbecue. I was delighted to discover that the risk factors caused by the grilling process could be avoided by using traditional barbecue methods. I was also happy to discover that these methods worked perfectly with grassfed meats, being ideal for them. My research led to the discovery of many traditional and delicious marinades and flavor combinations. This research was the foundation of my cookbook, Tender Grassfed Barbecue, which is full of delicious recipes, based on tradition, and cooked with an easy method that avoids direct high heat.
This post is part of Monday Mania, Fat Tuesday, Real Food Wednesday, Fight Back Friday, and Freaky Friday blog carnivals.
Grassfed Meat Gives Strength and Recovery
By Stanley A. Fishman, author of Tender Grassfed Meat and Tender Grassfed Barbecue
Super-Tender Double Bison Chop, nicely browned on the outside, with a very rare interior.
When I was a child, I had an illustrated copy of an old story, Hans Brinker and the Silver Skates. The story tells of a young Dutch boy from a poor family, who is a great skater. More than anything, Hans wants to win a race that had a pair of silver skates as the grand prize. Hans wanted those skates more than anything. While Hans was preparing for the race, his father had a serious injury. The doctor (this was back in the days when doctors actually made house calls and treated poor people who could not afford them) said that only good food, including rich red meat, would enable Hans’ father to recover. But Hans’ family was too poor to afford meat. Hans won the race, and the silver skates. He then sold the skates he had wanted so much, and used the money to buy good food for his father, including beef. The father recovered from the good food and grassfed beef.
Most of the versions of the story today have the money used to pay for surgery, but in the version I had, meat was the key to healing. That story has always stuck with me.
The power of grassfed meat made an important change in my life recently. There was a very nasty illness going around, and I caught it a couple of weeks ago. Normally I do not catch anything, but I got this. I was not getting enough sleep at the time, and I am sure that was part of it. But I soon became sicker than I had been in thirteen years, with a very nasty, deep cough that fed on itself. There was one four-day period when I slept a total of seven hours. It was very difficult to eat. How can you use food to fight an illness if you have difficulty in eating?
I tried a number of things, various home remedies, sunbathing, sipping an ocean of broth, and prayer. The one thing I did not do was use doctors or medication. I have found them to be useless for this type of illness. Eventually I was able to stop the cough and the other symptoms. But I was totally, completely worn out. I was tired all the time, and did not want to do anything. My body ached all over, the way it used to feel after an afternoon of being pounded on a football field. Sleeping did not really seem to help. I was able to eat (though my appetite was greatly reduced), but I remained tired. This went on for day after day. Finally, my birthday came. We had a grassfed bison roast to celebrate, and I cooked it very rare, using the Super-Tender Double Bison Chop recipe in Tender Grassfed Meat. The meat was cooked so rare that the natural enzymes were not denatured. The very first bite I took of the tender red meat created a great hunger in me. My whole body was demanding more, more, more! I slowly and carefully ate slice after slice of the delicious, juicy meat. And I started to feel energy flowing back into my body. I started to feel good and energetic. By the time that meal was over, I was no longer tired. I awoke the next morning full of energy, and completely myself. I was totally well. I have since made sure to regularly eat some serving of very rare grassfed beef, and I am doing great.
So what happened? Almost all of the healthy peoples studied by Dr. Weston A. Price ate some of their meat raw. Raw meat has a number of enzymes that are deactivated if the meat is cooked beyond a certain temperature. There is an old saying in Germany that beef gives strength. And eating some raw meat is an old tradition in Germany. Many European and Native American cultures believed that eating meat would help healing. Based on these traditions, and my own experience, it is clear that there is something in raw or very rare grassfed bison and grassfed beef that can renew a tired and damaged body. I do not know exactly what it is. I just know that it worked a miracle for me.
What it actually did was give the natural functions of my body the nourishment they needed to restore my health and energy. Our bodies are amazing, and can heal almost anything if they get proper nutritional support.
Now, our government is totally against the eating of raw meat, and very rare meat, claiming it is unsafe. This is the same government that allows animals that are so sick that they cannot stand to be processed into meat, something no traditional society would ever do, unless they were starving. Obviously, the government intended these standards to apply to factory meat. I cannot stand to eat factory meat, anyway. But I personally feel fine if I am eating very rare beef or bison from healthy animals, raised and finished on grass. While I am not personally opposed to eating raw meat from healthy, grassfed beef, or bison, I have never been able to get myself to eat raw meat. But I love very rare grassfed beef and very rare grassfed bison. I am not advising anyone else to eat as I do, merely relating my experience. Everyone must decide for themselves.
And my experience was that eating very rare grassfed bison was exactly what my body needed to regain its normal energy and vitality.
This post is part of Monday Mania, Fat Tuesday, Real Food Wednesday, Freaky Friday, and Fight Back Friday blog carnivals.
The Most Paleo Food, Bone Marrow, Easy and Delicious
By Stanley A. Fishman, author of Tender Grassfed Meat and Tender Grassfed Barbecue
As interest in Paleo and Primal Diets continues to expand, one question continues to come up—what did our Paleo period ancestors actually eat? While there is no conclusive answer, we can be assured that one food was right at the top of their list—bone marrow.
Bone marrow is a soft, fatty substance found inside bones. It contains all the nutrients and substances that the body uses to build, repair, and maintain the living bones, from the inside out. There are a number of caves that show long evidence of human habitation, going all the way back to the Paleolithic period. All of these caves contained ancient fire pits. And all of these caves contained the remnants of large piles of bones. The bones that were found were animal bones. Almost without exception, they had been cracked open, and every trace of the marrow removed. This is the most direct evidence we have of what Paleo people actually ate.
Wild animals also value bone marrow. Large predators will crack open the bones of their prey, and eat the marrow. Hyenas, which are scavengers rather than hunters, have incredibly powerful jaws that are perfect for cracking even large bones open so they can get at the bone marrow.
The healthy peoples studied by Dr. Weston A. Price also valued bone marrow, when they could get it. Some would crack open the bones and eat it raw, most would simmer marrowbones in their broths, and others would extract the marrow and use it in all kinds of dishes. Bone marrow was an important component in traditional European cooking, with many different ways of preparing it, some of which were quite complicated. Marrow dumplings were a favorite throughout central Europe.
Dr. Price once designed a diet for a group of very poor children who went to school at a mission in Canada. These children were of native background, and usually ate modern, cheap, high-carbohydrate, high-sugar foods. They had terrible teeth, poor attention spans, stunted growth, and all kind of health problems. They did very poorly in their studies. The school did provide lunch. Dr Price devised a lunch plan for them that centered largely around a meat dish he designed. This dish contained a large amount of vegetables and meat broth, and a substantial amount of bone marrow. Broiled rare meat was finely chopped and added to other ingredients. Not only did the children’s teeth and health improve substantially, but they began to excel in their schoolwork. There is a recipe for my version of this dish on page 120 of Tender Grassfed Meat.
Old-time physicians would prescribe eating bone marrow to strengthen the teeth and bones, to recover from injury, and relieve rheumatism and other bone problems.
Most people are intimidated by the thought of cooking bone marrow, but there is an easy solution. My friend, Sarah Pope, of the Healthy Home Economist blog, has come up with a method of cooking bone marrow that is so easy and delicious that it defies belief. Here is a link to Sarah’s video that explains her easy method and demonstrates it. You will not believe how easy it is.
Video: Boost the Immune System with Bone Marrow
Sarah likes to serve it on toast, which is traditional in Europe, but you do not have to eat grains to enjoy this most nutritious and delicious of foods. You can eat it right out of the bone, with a small spoon (there used to be spoons designed specifically for this purpose), or you can spread it on a nice hot piece of grassfed steak or roast, which was also a tradition all over Europe. This is so delicious that I do not even know how to describe it. And bone marrow is one of those foods that really satisfies, being loaded with nutrients.
I only recommend bone marrow from the bones of grassfed animals. This was the kind of marrow our ancestors ate, and I have always found grassfed animals to be totally superior when it comes to nutrition and taste.
This post is part of Monday Mania, Fat Tuesday, Real Food Wednesday, and Freaky Friday blog carnivals.
Don’t Be Afraid of Real Food
By Stanley A. Fishman, author of Tender Grassfed Meat and Tender Grassfed Barbecue
Tender grassfed rib steak with pastured eggs.
Some years ago, I was going to lunch with two friends. The restaurant had a special, a brisket pot roast that smelled wonderful, and made us all hungry. One of my friends wanted to order the special, but he was afraid. He said “That looks so good, but it will clog my arteries and take years off my life. I cannot risk it.†He ordered a chicken salad he did not want and did not enjoy. He had no chronic disease, but he was afraid that one serving of meat would shorten his life.
Fear is the great convincer. Fear overwhelms reason, education, logical thinking, and common sense. Fear is used routinely by the government, the medical profession, the food industry, and large corporations to get us to do what they want.
Fear has been used very effectively in scaring people to change what they eat. We are told that we must have GMOs, or the world will starve. We are told that we must stop eating butter, or our arteries will be clogged. We are told not to eat cholesterol, or we will die from heart disease. We are told not to eat animal fats, or we will die from diabetes, cancer, heart disease, or all of the above. All of these lies are not true. Yet all of these lies are believed by most of the American people.
Ironically enough, the targeted “scientific study†has become the most effective way to spread fear. After all, everyone trusts science. But science has little to do with many such studies, which almost inevitably are full of holes and prove nothing.
Red meat, the oldest and most natural food of humankind, is often a target of these studies. The powers that be want to reduce or end the eating of red meat by the general population, something that ruling classes have tried to do since grains became plentiful. So, several times a year, almost every year, studies come out claiming that eating red meat will do something terrible to us. Usually they try to scare us with heart disease, or cancer, or diabetes, or all three. This year, the latest “meat is doom†study is trying to scare us with DEATH. We are told that we have a much higher chance of dying from all causes if we eat even a small amount of red meat. Of course this study makes no distinction between grassfed meat and factory meat. The study has already been debunked by Denise Minger, among others in this article: Will Eating Red Meat Kill You?
But here is the point—we have nothing to fear from real food. We have nothing to fear from grassfed meat, humankind’s oldest food. The foods of our ancestors, without chemicals or modern tampering, prepared in traditional ways, are good for us. It is that simple.
Our ancestors did not fear their food. On the contrary, they ENJOYED it. The only problem with food was getting enough of it. When real food was available, our ancestors prepared it in a myriad of delicious ways and joyfully ate their fill, relishing the taste, texture and satisfaction good food provides. Every great event was celebrated with food, with special foods served to celebrate special events. Throughout most of the world, the most special food was some form of red meat, served without fear or guilt, and enjoyed thoroughly.
Dr. Weston A. Price studied a number of peoples eating the diet of their ancestors. Though many of these people were considered “primitive,†none of them had cancer, or heart disease, or diabetes, or tooth decay, or any of the many diseases that plague modern humans. All of these peoples ate red meat. Some of them ate huge amounts of red meat, every day. One of them (the native people of the interior of Northern Canada) ate nothing but red meat, along with the fat and organs of the animal. They were healthy and vital in a way that few modern people are.
None of them feared their food, which was natural and real. Neither should we.
This post is part of Monday Marnia, Fat Tuesday, Real Food Wednesday and Fight Back Friday blog carnivals.
Related Posts
A Real Paleo Diet — Grassfed Meat, Fat, and Organ Meats
Aging in Reverse with Real Food—Then and Now
By Stanley A. Fishman, author of Tender Grassfed Meat and Tender Grassfed Barbecue
photo  credit: 4johnny5  The redwood tree gets stronger and more beautiful with age.
My wife gave me a wonderful gift for Christmas. A DVD showing photos of our son when he was a baby and a small child. He looked great, and it was amazing to see how tiny he used to be. But there was someone else in some of the photos. Someone who did not look great. Someone who looked sick and strained, even at the happy times when these photos were taken. That someone used to be me.
These photos were taken from twelve to seventeen years ago. The man in those photos looks so much older, weaker, and sicker than I look today. The difference is so remarkable that I think it is worth describing. It is a living testimony of the difference that switching to real food can make.
The Skin—Then and Now
Then. The man in the photos has pale, pasty skin, quite blotchy, with a very unhealthy pallor. I remember that it was often itchy and irritated, with small growths that would come and go.
Now. My skin is smooth, supple, and a healthy color. It is hardly ever itchy and never irritated. The growths are gone.
The Mouth and Breathing—Then and Now
Then. The man in the photos always had his mouth wide open, and often appeared to be gasping for breath. I remember that I was on many medications for asthma and the constant respiratory infections I was afflicted with. I saw doctors frequently and occasionally had to be rushed to the emergency room when I got an asthma attack that the medication could not control. I remember that I could never get enough air, and could only breathe through my mouth. Often breathing and gasping for air would end with a nasty, painful hacking cough.
Now. My mouth is shut unless I am talking, or eating, or laughing. I breathe easily through my nose at all times. I hardly ever notice my breathing, which is effortless. I do not cough, or gasp, or choke. I am on no medications (over-the-counter or otherwise), and have not seen a doctor for at least nine years.
The Hair—Then and Now
Then. The man in the photos had dull, damp, thin, coarse hair that looked like it was about to fall out. I remember that I was losing hair, with ever growing bald spots.
Now. My hair is lighter in color, with a fair mixture of gray. But it is very thick, and gleams. It is soft and full-bodied. It never falls out. In fact, the bald spots seem to be shrinking a bit.
The Eyes—Then and Now
Then. The man in the pictures often had a look of pain in his eyes, even at the happy times when those pictures were taken. I remember that I was almost always in pain, with all kinds of discomforts, aches, and soreness—all over my body.
Now. My eyes are calm and serene. Many people tell me I have “kind eyes.†I usually feel good, with no pain or discomfort of any kind. When there is an occasional bump or ache, it goes away very quickly.
Posture—Then and Now
Then. The man in the photos is always slumped, whether sitting or standing. I remember that it seemed hard to hold my head up, to sit or stand straight, as I was so tired all the time. It was so hard just to get out of bed in the morning.
Now. I sit and stand straight naturally, without even thinking about it. I am full of energy most of the day and much of the night. I am eager for the day, which is always full of good things. I leap out of bed without effort.
What Did I Do Differently?
I switched completely to real food, in particular, grassfed meat, and stopped eating processed and factory foods. I followed the dietary guidelines of the Weston A. Price Foundation, modifying them a bit to eat only meats that are grassfed and grass-finished. It took years, but all my many illnesses healed, and I have had no need for drugs or doctors.
This is what real food can do.
This post is part of Monday Mania, Fat Tuesday, and Real Food Wednesday blog carnivals.
Another Great Benefit from Grassfed Animal Fat
By Stanley A. Fishman, author of Tender Grassfed Meat and Tender Grassfed Barbecue
Pastured butter—one of the most delicious ways to get your cholesterol.
Anyone who reads my books or this blog will soon realize that I am a passionate advocate for the benefits of eating animal fat.
Anyone who has seen me in the kitchen knows that I practice what I preach, NEVER trimming off any fat from the meat, using large amounts of natural lard, pastured butter, grassfed beef tallow, lamb tallow, bison suet, uncured fatty bacon, and duck fat in my cooking.
Anyone who has seen me at the dinner table will know that I put my fork where my advocacy is, eating huge amounts of pastured butter, grassfed animal fat, well-marbled grassfed meat, chicken skin, turkey skin, duck skin, goose skin, pastured pork fat, and the crisp wonderful fat from all kinds of roasts.
When people learn about my fondness for animal fat, they almost always ask this question, in one form or another—“But what about the cholesterol? Doesn’t that fat contain plenty of cholesterol?â€
Yes, it does. And that is one of the reason I eat it—for the cholesterol.
The Blessings of Cholesterol
I recently had the pleasure of watching a DVD entitled “The Oiling of America.†This DVD was made during a lecture given by Sally Fallon Morell, the president of the Weston A. Price Foundation. The lecture was based on research done by Dr. Mary Enig, the renowned scientist who discovered the danger in artificial trans fats. I highly recommend this DVD to everyone, and it is my source for this column.
Some of the most important facts I learned from this superb DVD are as follows:
- Cholesterol is vital for life and the natural functions of the body.
- If you had no cholesterol, you would be dead. It is that simple.
- Cholesterol is used by the body to keep water out of our cells, so they can function properly.
- Cholesterol is used by the body to make Vitamin D, in combination with sunlight.
- Cholesterol is used by the body to make many vital hormones, including all the sex hormones.
- Cholesterol is what the body uses to repair damage. Cholesterol actually repairs tears in arteries, rather than clogging them. The body uses cholesterol to repair other wounds and damage as well.
- Cholesterol is used by the immune system to fight off infections and disease.
- Cholesterol is crucial for the proper functioning of our brains—much of the brain is made up of cholesterol.
- Cholesterol is used by the body to make serotonin, the chemical used by the body to prevent depression.
- Cholesterol is a powerful antioxidant, used by the natural functions of the body to protect itself from free radicals. Free radicals have been implicated in many diseases, such as cancer.
These are just some of the blessings of cholesterol, there are many others.
Some of the other facts I learned from The Oiling of America:
- Cholesterol does not cause heart disease.
- Cholesterol does not clog arteries. In fact, when arteries or damaged or clogged, the body sends cholesterol to fix the problem. That is why some cholesterol is found in clogged arteries, along with much larger amounts of other substances that actually clog the arteries. Blaming cholesterol for clogging arteries is like blaming firemen for the damage caused by a fire they fight.
- Women and all elderly people with higher cholesterol live longer and are healthier than women and elderly with low cholesterol.
- Eating cholesterol does not increase the cholesterol level, as the body will make the cholesterol it needs and does not get from food. Trouble comes when a weakened body cannot make enough cholesterol, and there is not enough cholesterol in the diet.
- All the cholesterol made by the body and included in natural foods is good, and is used by the body. The only bad cholesterol is an oxidized form found in some processed and refined foods.
But What about the Studies?
Yes, there are a number of studies that are interpreted to support the common belief that cholesterol is bad for health and causes heart disease. Most of these studies are funded by drug companies, or other organizations that have a direct financial interest in perpetuating the error that cholesterol is bad. Because of this conflict of interest, they do not persuade me.
Sally Fallon Morell and Dr. Mary Enig do a great job of exposing the statistical manipulation, cherry picking, tricks, and other misleading mechanisms used to misinterpret the results of these studies, going through this in great detail. After seeing the calm and convincing debunking of these studies, it is clear that they have been manipulated for a reason. And that reason is profit.
Finally, all of the healthy peoples studied by Dr. Weston A. Price ate foods rich in cholesterol, in amounts much greater than any modern people. None of them had heart disease.
My thanks to Sally Fallon Morell for giving me permission to use the information in The Oiling of America. You can purchase the DVD Oiling of America here.
I will continue to enjoy my delicious diet rich in natural animal fats, knowing it is great for the natural functions of my body.
This post is part of Monday Mania, Real Food Wednesday and Fight Back Friday blog carnivals.
My Real Food Plate
By Stanley A. Fishman, author of Tender Grassfed Meat and Tender Grassfed Barbecue
My Real Food Plate (clockwise from top): grassfed beef and fat; traditional sauerkraut; sourdough spelt bread with pastured grassfed butter and grassfed bison liver pâté; raw cheese; smoked wild salmon; and fermented vegetable salsa.
“MyPlate†is the new brainwashing concept introduced by the U.S. government, since the horrid “food pyramid†did not convince enough people to eat the way the diet dictocrats dictated. “MyPlate†has bothered me ever since Jimmy Moore exposed its many problems in this great blog post: Harvard’s ‘Healthy Eating Plate’ Only Marginally Better Than USDA’s MyPlate.
“MyPlate†has somehow managed to be even worse than the “food pyramid,†which is quite an accomplishment, being a true route to dietary disaster, severe malnutrition, and rampant disease. However, the dietary guidelines have been effectively debunked by many, including the Weston A. Price Foundation in Comments on the USDA Dietary Guidelines.
I have also been thinking about the Weston A. Price Foundation Conference, which will begin this Friday, November 11, 2011, all the wonderful real food they will serve, and wishing I could be there.
So I thought I would present “My Real Food Plate,†made up of what I actually eat, based on the research of Dr. Weston A. Price, the recommendations of the Weston A. Price Foundation, and what makes me feel good and healthy, while tasting wonderful. You can see “My Real Food Plate†in the above photo. After the photo was taken, I brought the plate to the table, and happily ate every bit of it. So you can see that I back my writing with my appetite, unlike the diet dictocrats. (You NEVER see them eating what they attempt to impose on the rest of us.)
These are the foods on “My Real Food Plate†(clockwise starting with the grassfed meat at the top):
- Grassfed beef and fat. This leftover roast beef, made from 100 percent grassfed and grass-finished beef (from U.S. Wellness Meats) has a perfect ratio of omega-3 to omega-6 fats, large amounts of CLA, and a wonderful range of vitamins, amino acids, and other valuable nutrients. I eat the little pieces of fat you see around the meat. The nutrition in grassfed fat is great fuel for our bodies. Grassfed meat is one of the oldest foods, going back to the Paleolithic Era and the very beginning, and our bodies welcome it. And it tastes so good!
- Traditional sauerkraut. This traditional lacto-fermented sauerkraut is made from nothing but cabbage and salt, and the fermentation process. It is also full of nutrients and enzymes, enhanced by the fermentation process. These enzymes help with digestion, and it is delicious. Sauerkraut is one of the oldest and most traditional foods in the world, going back to ancient China and beyond.
- Sourdough spelt bread. This bread contains only three ingredients: spelt, water, and salt. The grain is grown without the use of chemicals. A sourdough starter is used in making this bread, consisting of nothing but spelt and water. This bread is absolutely delicious, and easy to digest. It is covered with pastured grassfed butter, and bison liver pâté, as I always eat grains with plenty of good animal fat. This is one of the most traditional of breads, and is full of valuable minerals.
- Pastured grassfed butter. Real butter, full-fat, from grassfed animals, is one of the most nutrient-dense foods you can eat, and utterly delicious. Butter is full of fat-soluble vitamins such as Vitamin A and Vitamin D. Grassfed butter also is the best source of Vitamin K2, and contains many components that are great for our bodies. This kind of butter is one of the most valued and traditional foods in Europe, where people would eat it at every meal if they could get it.
- Homemade grassfed bison liver pâté. Liver is one of the most nutritious of foods, if it comes from healthy, grassfed animals. Liver is full of the perfect range of B vitamins, and many other vitamins and nutrients including Vitamin A and Vitamin D in a form that is easily absorbed by the body. Liver also has many amino acids and helpful substances, and high-quality fat and protein. Grassfed bison is one of the healthiest of animals, and its liver is a superfood. The large amount of pastured butter I use in the pâté helps make it delicious as well as even healthier. Liver pâté is yet another traditional food. Even people who hate the taste of liver can enjoy liver pâté.
- Raw cheese. This full-fat traditional cheese, made from unpasteurized, raw milk, is one of the most nutrient-dense foods you can eat. It is full of good fats, easily-absorbed quality protein, and many vitamins, nutrients, and enzymes. Since cheese is a fermented food, the nutritional value has been enhanced through the fermentation process. Raw cheese is one of the most traditional foods in Europe, and many other parts of the world.
- Organic apple wedges. “An apple a day keeps the doctor away†is ancient wisdom. Since I consider doctors and their poison drugs, radiation, and surgery to be the biggest single threat to my life and health, I do want them to be kept away from me. And I have not needed them for over eight years. In addition to protection from doctors, organic apples have many wonderful nutrients, including vitamins, minerals, and special substances that help reduce inflammation and fight the effect of free radicals on our bodies.
- Smoked wild raw salmon. The delicious meat of wild salmon has been traditionally cold smoked to preserve it, which gives it wonderful flavor. The beautiful orange color of the fish is real, unlike farmed salmon, and the raw fish is full of minerals and nutrients abundant in the sea such as iodine and magnesium, and helpful enzymes. Smoked wild fish is one of the most ancient of foods, going back thousands of years.
- Homemade fermented vegetable salsa. Chopping various organic vegetables into tiny shreds and lacto-fermenting them is a traditional way to enhance their nutritional value and digestibility. The traditional fermentation process makes the vegetables easier to digest, and increases the vitamin content, while adding beneficial probiotics. This kind of salsa not only provides great nutrition, but aids digestion.
My real food plate is 100 percent free of GMOs, soy, modern refined foods, modern vegetable oils, modern grains, and all the other factory foods that comprise the Standard American Diet, known as SAD. Instead, my real food plate makes me HAPPY.
This post is part of Monday Mania, Fat Tuesday, Real Food Wednesday and Fight Back Friday blog carnivals.
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Real Food, Real Taste, Real Appetite
By Stanley A. Fishman, author of Tender Grassfed Meat and Tender Grassfed Barbecue
Fermented Cilantro Salsa, part of our satisfying meal.
We had a wonderful dinner last night. Grassfed rib steak marinated with herbs, and sautéed in pastured butter. Organic potatoes roasted crisp and tender in a shallow lake of pastured pork lard. Carrots fresh from the farmers’ market, simmered in water so full of butter that the carrots caramelized when the water evaporated. Homemade fermented salsa, full of nutrients, and tangy, refreshing flavor. Everything was beyond delicious. But some food was left over. As wonderful as it was, all three of us stopped eating when we were satisfied.
One moment, I was hungry for more of these wonderful tastes. After I swallowed the next mouthful, it was enough. The hunger ended instantly, and I stopped eating. My desire to eat more was gone. Naturally enough, I stopped eating. I was satisfied. I was content.
I was not stuffed. I was not bloated. I felt great and renewed. I just was not hungry anymore.
What happened? My sense of taste and smell directed me to eat the food I needed by making me hungry for it. Since everything I ate was real food, with real tastes, my senses could accurately determine how much I needed to eat to get the nutrients I needed. When I had the nourishment I needed, the hunger ended naturally, at that moment.
Obesity was unknown to the healthy peoples studied by Dr. Weston A. Price, and was rare among people eating a real food diet. But obesity and overeating are an epidemic in the United States today. People eat and eat and eat, and eat some more, and are still hungry. It seems like their appetite is permanently on, and they can never get enough.
Why? I am convinced that the answer lies in the poor nutrient content of factory foods, and the deceptive stimulation of our appetites by chemical flavors made in a laboratory, along with the horrible nutritional guidelines pushed by industry and their servants in our government.
Factory foods lack the nutrients contained in real food, so we are not satisfied when we eat factory foods. Processed foods have no good taste of their own, so industry has developed chemicals to fool our bodies into thinking that we are actually eating tasty and nutritious food. The natural taste and appetite mechanism of our bodies is deceived by these chemicals, and can no longer accurately determine how much we need to eat.
These chemicals, created by chemists in a laboratory, never existed until the twentieth century. These chemicals can recreate almost any taste. I once saw a show on television that went to a lab that made these chemicals. Small glass bottles were labeled with various flavors, including “charcoal-grilled hamburger.†The visitor to the lab closed her eyes, and tasted a small piece of bread that had a tiny amount of the chemical added to it. She said it tasted just like a charcoal-grilled hamburger.
When you see the words “artificial flavors” or “natural flavors†on the long lists of ingredients on a food label, you can be almost certain that chemical flavors have been added to the food. These chemicals are added to almost all fast food. Not only do these flavors make food taste much better, they can make you very hungry for it.
This could be an explanation for why so many people overeat. A chemical deceives your senses into making you hungry for the food you are eating, but the food does not contain much of the nutrients you need. If not for the chemical, your natural senses of taste and smell would make the nutrient-poor food taste bad, and you would not eat it. But the chemical deceives your senses, as it was designed to do, and you want more and more of that food. But, no matter how much you eat of it, you will still be hungry, because it does not actually have much of the nutrients you need. This causes people to eat more and more of the factory food, which increases profits for the seller of this concoction. And the nation gets fatter and fatter.
I also believe that some of these chemicals are deliberately designed to make us hungry, so we will eat more of the product.
The food guidelines pushed by industry and the government ban saturated animal fat, a nutrient that is crucial for human nutrition, and one of the most satisfying of foods. A lack of this fat contributes to hunger. This results in hungry people devouring factory foods that can never satisfy their appetites because the needed nutrients are just not there. Great profits for the food industry, and great suffering for a malnourished, hungry people.
I tested this theory last week. There was a particular fast food I used to love, and could never get enough of. I had not tasted it for ten years, but I still remembered the taste, and still desired it. I went to the fast food place, and ordered a small portion. I had decided that I would eat one bite, and see how it made me feel. Well, I took that first bite. I was astonished to find out that the food tasted EXACTLY the way I remembered it, even though it had been ten years. I then found myself greedily wolfing down the rest of the food, even though I had intended to eat only one bite. I was ravenously hungry for it, and not at all satisfied. I wanted to buy more. Fortunately, I started to feel slightly sick and that helped me leave the fast food place before I bought and ate more.
After all that, I still crave that fast food, even though I felt sick after eating it.
What is the solution? For me, it is to eat no processed, artificial, or fast food, and to eat the most pure traditional foods I can find, cooked from scratch. Foods like organic (or the equivalent) fruits and vegetables; traditional full-fat milk, butter, and cheese; traditionally fermented foods like old fashioned sauerkraut; grassfed organ meats; and, of course, grassfed meat and fat, the most satisfying of all.
When I only eat these real foods, my taste and appetite mechanism functions perfectly, and I stop eating when I am satisfied, which happens with every meal. I eat all that I want to eat, letting my appetite control how much I eat. When I am satisfied, I stop eating. And I find that I am satisfied with smaller portions as time goes on, and the needs of my body are satisfied.
This post is part of Monday Mania, Fat Tuesday, Real Food Wednesday and Fight Back Friday blog carnivals.
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Three Great Reasons to Attend the Annual WAPF Conference
By Stanley A. Fishman, author of Tender Grassfed Meat and Tender Grassfed Barbecue
Anyone who reads my books or this blog will soon learn that I often refer to Dr. Weston A. Price and the Weston A. Price Foundation. There is a very good reason for that. The information presented by the Weston A. Price Foundation enabled me to save my life and restore my health. Much of the very same information that saved my life and restored my health, and more, will be presented at a wonderful conference in just a few weeks.
The Weston A. Price Foundation will be having its annual conference in Dallas, Texas, from Friday, November 11 through Sunday, November 13. There are also some activities on Monday, November 14. You can sign up for the conference and get more information here.
I recommend that everyone who can attend this conference do so. Here are the reasons for my recommendation:
Knowledge
It is said that the truth will make us free. Here, the truth can make us healthy. There will be more invaluable knowledge presented on human health and nutrition at this conference than anywhere else on earth. There will be many lectures and classes, presenting the best real food and alternative health information available anywhere. I believe that the key to human health is great nutrition. Most people suffer greatly from malnutrition. Most people know very little about good nutrition, as they have been misled by those who exploit them. The theme of this conference is “Mythbusters,†and the invaluable truth about nutrition will be presented along with the busting of nutritional myths. This is information you can use to make your life much, much better.
Many of the leading people in the real food and alternative health movements will be speaking, including famous alternative physicians like Dr. Natasha Campbell McBride, Dr. Thoman Cowan, and Dr. Joseph Mercola. Also speaking will be Sally Fallon Morell, the founder and president of the Weston A. Price Foundation, my friends Kimberly Hartke and Sarah Pope, and many, many others. The information they have to share is invaluable.
Food
This is probably the one time that you can not only trust that the food at a conference will be good and healthy, but something to really look forward to. All meals will be available at the conference, including special selections for those who are gluten-intolerant. Grassfed meat is featured in the menus in a big way, along with pastured pork and a multitude of healthy, delicious, real foods ranging from wonderful grassfed butter, to the finest fermented foods such as traditional sauerkraut, many wonderful cheeses, to all kinds of real vegetables, Most of this food is from some of the finest producers in the world, such as U.S. Wellness Meats, Pure Indian Foods, Miller Organic Farm, and many others.
It is usually so hard to find food worth eating when we travel. At the conference, not only will the food be well worth eating, it should be delicious!
People
The first time I attended the WAPF conference, I was astonished at how healthy most of the people looked. So many of them literally glowed with health and vitality. I will never forget the sight of babies and small children raised on a real food diet—they were so alert, so happy, so alive that they made most other children seem like sleepwalkers in comparison.
People were so friendly, so welcoming, so committed to helping others. We had so many wonderful conversations, and heard so many great stories about how people had use the Weston A. Price wisdom and real food to heal all kinds of illness and to improve the health of themselves and their families. It is such a joy to be in a place where just about everybody you talk to really understands about nutrition, and knows the truth about food and medicine. It is so inspiring to hear how people have restored their health and become healthy in natural ways, often by real food alone. It gave us a great sense of community, and confirmed once and for all that there are many other fine people on the same path, enjoying the same benefits.
If you go, you can expect a wonderful, delicious, inspiring experience that you may never forget.
This post is part of Monday Mania, Real Food Wednesday and Fight Back Friday Blog Carnivals.
Presenting Tender Grassfed Barbecue: Traditional, Primal, and Paleo
By Stanley A. Fishman, author of Tender Grassfed Meat
Tender Grassfed Barbecue: Traditional, Primal and Paleo
I am happy to announce the availability of my second book, Tender Grassfed Barbecue: Traditional, Primal and Paleo. It is now available at Amazon.
Traditional
This cookbook adapts traditional methods of barbecue to modern times, making it easy, yet so delicious. The recipes are specifically designed for grassfed beef, bison, lamb, and pastured pork, using a wide variety of traditional flavorings and marinades from all over the world.
Grassfed meat is different from factory meat, and should be cooked differently. This is even more true in barbecue than other cooking methods, because charring a grassfed steak over a very hot fire will ruin it. The methods in this book are adaptations of traditional methods of barbecue that work beautifully with grassfed meat, bringing out its naturally wonderful flavor and tenderness.
Traditional peoples cooked with fire very differently than modern Americans. Tender Grassfed Barbecue adapts some of their methods to modern times. These methods are actually safer and easier to use than modern techniques. The book explains how to use these simple methods in great detail, using clear illustrations to demonstrate exactly how the coals, meat, drip pan and grill should be arranged, and providing clear and precise instructions as to how to barbecue this way. Even if you have not barbecued before, the clearly presented methods used in this book will make it easy!
The recipes in this book use traditional flavors from many cultures, ranging from Ancient Rome and China to the Native Americans, Koreans, French, Italians, Sardinians, Romanians, and many more. This includes several “lost†barbecue secrets that have been rediscovered, and were used traditionally by many peoples. These wonderful flavors give a wonderful enhancement to the great natural taste of barbecued grassfed meat, resulting in tender meat that is absolutely delicious. The book also offers different traditional ways of preparing American barbecue favorites such as brisket and spareribs.
Primal
The flavor of meat cooked with fire is one of the oldest human flavors, enjoyed over countless thousands of years, stimulating our taste buds in a way no other food ever does. The traditional cooking techniques in Tender Grassfed Barbecue create this primal flavor, using lump and hardwood charcoal to awaken the primal taste memories, imbuing the meat with the unforgettable tang of wood flavor. Many of the recipes are simply seasoned to bring out the primal flavor of wood and charcoal. Methods for using herbs and wood to provide a deeper smoky flavor are also included.
Paleo
The meat of grass-eating animals cooked with fire is one of the oldest human foods, eaten widely in the Paleolithic period and earlier. In contrast, the grain-feeding of grass-eating animals was not adopted until the 20th century and created a meat that is very different in composition and content from the meat enjoyed by humanity over most of history. Most of the meat recipes in Tender Grassfed Barbecue are very useful for those on Paleo diets, as they are designed for barbecuing grassfed meat. The ingredients used for flavoring are very basic foods, and allowed on most Paleo-style diets.
Lower-Carb
While this is not a low-carb cookbook, most of the recipes are very low in carbohydrates. A section on low-carb side dishes is also included.
Weston A. Price Style Diet
The recipes in this cookbook are faithful to the teachings of Dr. Weston A. Price. Sugar and soy are not used in the recipes. Refined food ingredients are rare, and the benefits of using animal fats in cooking are not only discussed, but shown in a number of recipes. Butter is a key ingredient in a number of recipes, and modern vegetable oils are not used.
Safer Barbecue
There have been a number of studies that raise health concerns about barbecued meats. The traditional techniques used in Tender Grassfed Barbecue avoid the risk factors identified in the studies.
Compared with Tender Grassfed Meat
If you liked Tender Grassfed Meat, you will enjoy this book if you barbecue. All the recipes are brand new, as are the techniques and cooking methods. The marinades in this book could be used to cook indoors as well, using the timing for roasts and steaks contained in Tender Grassfed Meat. One major difference is the inclusion of recipes for pastured pork, which was not included in Tender Grassfed Meat.
I am very happy to present this book. You will find cooking and barbecuing tips here that are just not available elsewhere. The recipes are easy to prepare, nourishing, and delicious. My family and I have been enjoying the recipes in this book for most of the past two years, whenever the weather allowed barbecuing. I hope that you too will enjoy the wonderful flavors and tastes in Tender Grassfed Barbecue.
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This post is part of Fat Tuesday and Real Food Wednesday blog carnival.
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