Category: Miscellaneous cooking tips

I talk a lot about ancestral nutrition and how far away we have moved away from it in our current society. I often make the point that instead of there being a “natural food” section in the grocery stores, there should be a section for “processed, unhealthy food” instead. The natural foods should take up the bulk of the store and the man-made, processed foods should be the smallest section. Real food, whole food, food that has not been altered by man should be the default! After all, at one point in time, ALL food was organic.

What do I mean by ancestral nutrition? If you look at the chart below, I have listed what ancestral or traditional diets typically look like and how it compares to today’s modern diets.

TRADITIONAL DIETS	MODERN DIETS
Food grown in fertile soil	Food grown in depleted soil
Natural, pollinated seeds	GMO/Hybridized Seeds
Pure, clean, spring or filtered water	Chlorinated, polluted, tap water
Organic, local fruits/vegetables	Pesticide-laden produce shipped from hundreds/thousands of miles
Whole, sprouted, cracked, or soaked/fermented grains	Refined grains
Fats extracted from natural plant and animal sources	Fats unnaturally extracted (vegetable oil, corn oil, canola oil, soybean oil, etc.)
Naturally raised animals (pastured, grass-fed beef, free range chicken, etc.)	Unnaturally raised animals (confinement, unnatural feed, vaccines, antibiotics, etc)
Full fat raw dairy (milk, cheese, butter)/ fermented dairy (kefir, amasai(	Skimmed, Industralized dairy (pasteurized, homogenized, antibiotics, steroids, hormones) + margarine (man-made, synthetic)
Vitamins/Minerals found naturally in food (Nutrient Communion)	Synthetic vitamins/minerals added to foods.
Minimal use of natural sweeteners	Overuse of all sweeteners, especially refined sweeteners/artificial sweeteners
Lacto-fermented vegetables (kimchi, sauerkraut, relish, etc)	Canned or frozen vegetables
Unrefined salt (sea salt, mined salt)	Refined, iodized salt
Natural herbs, spices	MSG, artificial flavors, additives
Generous amounts of raw, living foods	Overabundance of ultra-processed, non-nutritious, dead food
Cook with fire, oven, stove, smokehouse	Cook with microwave, fry in damaged oils
Food used for sustenance, little waste	Food overeaten, and overindulged in
Moderate to high physical activity	Little to no physical activity

I always mention the work of Weston Price – Nutrition Explorer  when discussing this topic. Weston Price was a dentist from Cleveland.  He embarked on a quest to investigate the health of isolated people, untouched by western civilization in the 1930’s.

He traveled for 10 years looking to discover the secrets to dental health. One of his discoveries was that nutritional deficiencies were the root cause of deformed dental arches and crowded, crooked teeth and not due to genetic defects.  He traveled to  villages in Switzerland, Gaelic communities in the Outer Hebrides, indigenous peoples of North and South America, Melanesian and Polynesian South Sea Islanders, African tribes, Australian Aborigines and New Zealand Maori. His observations were that these people had beautiful, white, straight teeth but there was more…they also had good physiques and were void of disease.

One of his most dramatic discoveries was that, when compared to the Standard American Diet, the diets of these groups of people provided at least four times the amount of water-soluble vitamins, calcium and other minerals, and at least TEN times the fat-soluble vitamins, from animal foods such as butter, fish eggs, organ meats, eggs and animal fats.  Remarkably, these are the very foods that are constantly under attack by many western nutrition “experts”.   As these people were acting innately, it has been proven that these fat-soluble vitamins, vitamins A, D, and K2 (Dr. Price called it “Activator X) act as catalysts with regard to mineral absorption and protein utilization. In other words, minerals cannot be absorbed properly without them.  Without them, we cannot absorb minerals, no matter how abundant they may be in our food.

Other observations:

• No refined sugars or corn syrup, white flour, canned foods, pasteurized, homogenized skim or lowfat milk, hydrogenated oils, or additives/colorings
• Consume animal protein and fats
• Some animal products are eaten raw
• Have a high enzyme content in food
• Seeds and grains are soaked, sprouted, fermented to neutralize naturally occurring anti-nutrients in these foods, such as phytic acid, enzyme inhibitors, tannins and complex carbohydrates.
• Fat content ranges from 30-80% and mostly saturated fats.
• Equal balance of omega-6 and omega-3 essential fatty acids.
• Diets contain some salt.
• Consume animal bones, usually in the form of gelatin-rich bone broths.

The Weston Price Foundation has been at the helm when it comes to promoting the consumption of saturated fats, raw milk and discouraging the use of soy products. 

 “Every creed today vaguely seeks a utopia; all have visualized a common controlling force or deity as the most potent force in all human affairs. Yes, man’s place is most exalted when he obeys Mother Nature’s laws.”  –Weston A. Price, DDS

I also have to refer to the work of Sally Fallon who wrote one of my favorite nutrition books of all time, Nourishing Traditions because it gives great insight into ancestral nutrition and contains a plethora of recipes. This book was my first motivation to write my own nutrition and recipe book, Maximized Living Nutrition Plans.

You will also find many recipes on this blog that contain the foods that our ancestors ate.

In her book, Sally Fallon states, “Twentieth-century men and women, faced with a dazzling array of modern food products, are naturally tempted by their convenience and glitz. They would prefer not to worry about how their foods are processed or what they contain; they would prefer not to spend time in food preparation the way their ancestors did. But the inevitable consequence of this insouciance is the host of the debilitating diseases now endemic in our society. With traditions forgotten, the tool that allows modern men and women to regain their health and vitality is knowledge-knowledge of the fruits of honest scientific inquiry as well as renewed familiarity with culinary customs of times past. The cook, the food provider and parents of young children can no longer afford to be misled by what passes for nutritional wisdom in the popular press, especially as so much orthodox advice-magnified, simplified and twisted by publicity for processed foods- is partially or totally wrong. We urge you to keep abreast of research conducted by independent researchers and holistic doctors, especially as it sheds light on the nourishing traditions of our ancestors”.

This excerpt is so full of wisdom and truth. It brings to mind another favorite quote of mine:

“Our ancestors had one invaluable aid in their diets: the absence of choice.”  S. Subramanian

It is time to take back our food supply, to take back our health and to glorify God by choosing to fuel our bodies which are the temple of the holy spirit. As my tagline on this blog states, “Start Eating to LIVE rather than Living to Eat” .

I do a monthly Nutrition 101. If interested, email me at kimroberto@comcast.net to be added to the next one.

Be well my friends.

I pulled up my blog the other day and saw that it consistently gets hundreds of viewers every day.  I was humbled and grateful to see this so I wanted to say a formal THANK YOU to all of you who use my blog as a resource and share it with people you know.

I have a passion for health and for cooking and love sharing the recipes I make in my own kitchen.  Like many of you, I have a very busy schedule so I am always looking for easy meals to make and time-saving tricks to make the job easier.  Here are some of my favorites:

Wet Chop – this is an amazing tip for chopping things like onions, celery, cauliflower (think cauliflower rice) or carrots when you need a lot of them.  I often cook for hundreds of people at a time so this trick is an absolute necessity.  Simply chop the vegetables into large chunks and put them in a Vitamix or high powered blender.  Fill the blender with water to cover the vegetables and start on low then increase the speed.  The higher the speed, the smaller the chop.  Typically, I will go to a 4 on the Vitamix to get a nice dice.  When done, simply drain the veggies into a strainer and they are ready for your recipe.  Here is a how-to video.

Freezer Staples – There are some things I always have on hand in the freezer.  I started doing this when I found I was having to throw away things because I wasn’t using them fast enough.  Peppers – bell peppers, jalepenos, poblanos, etc.  I slice them up and put them in a freezer bag to pop out for fajitas, stir frys, soups, and to add a bit of spice to my recipes.  Ginger – I will buy a giant piece of ginger and put it in a bag and right into the freezer.  When I need it, I pull it out, peel a portion, and microplane it. Another trick with ginger is to use a spoon to take the peel off. Berries- organic berries can go bad very quickly so before the do, I lay them out on a baking sheet and freeze them (if you try to put them all in a bag together while they are fresh, they clump together).  Once frozen, you can throw them into a bag together.  Bones – I will take the bones/carcasses of whole turkey, chicken, t-bones, etc and put them in the freezer.  When I have enough accumulated, I make bone broth. See recipe here.

DIY Money Savers – Many people say that eating healthy is too expensive so I am always looking for budget tips.  One of my favorites is to do things myself that the stores charge a premium for.  For example, you will pay extra to buy shredded cheese as opposed to shredding it yourself.  The other benefit to this is that you avoid the added ingredients they have to use to keep the cheese “separated”.  You can get grass-fed cheese and grate it yourself when you need it.  Another great example is to buy bone-in meats.  Again, when you buy boneless, skinless meats, you are paying for that service.  It is much cheaper and healthier to cook meats with the bones (plus you will have them to make bone broth with afterward).  If you must have a boneless cut, you can de-bone it yourself easily at home with a good knife.  Some grocery store butchers will even do it for you if you ask.  That way, you pay the lower price but still get what you want.  There are so many new and convenient products in the produce section as well.  Rather than picking up the riced cauliflower, the chopped lettuce, the chopped green beans, etc.  Buy the whole item and do it yourself.  You can save a lot of money this way.

Cook Once, Eat Twice – Cook with the intention of having leftovers.  Since you are spending time in the kitchen anyway, it is not any harder to make extra to have for another meal.  You can eat it for lunch the next day or have a second dinner.

Make Your Own Nut Butters and Nut Milks – If you have a Vitamix or high powered blender, it is simple to make your own nut butter.  Simply put the nuts in the Vitamix and blend until desired consistency.  To make your own nut milk, simply soak the nuts overnight and drain.  Put them in the blender with some water and then drain with a nut milk strainer to get rid of the skins. Both of these are quick, easy and will save you a ton of money.

Healthify Your Soups – You can blend cooked cauliflower to add to soups.  This makes a nice, creamy addition to any soup and adds an extra punch of nutrition.

Oven Turkey Bacon – I found that when cooking for a crowd or making multiple breakfast items, it can be labor intensive to stand over a skillet frying bacon.  I started putting it right into the oven.  For easy clean up, you can line a baking sheet with parchment paper and cook bacon at 350 degrees to desired doneness.  Be sure to flip it over when done on one side.

Oven Meatballs – Meatballs can be very labor intensive, from rolling the balls to standing over a pan making sure they don’t burn or fall apart, it is a process.  I started using the oven to my advantage when making meatballs.  I simply put the meatballs into a baking dish (ideally, you want them spaced a bit) and bake until done, turning them over a couple of times.  When done, you can either drain the drippings or use them to make a gravy.  My favorite meatball recipe is for Swedish Meatballs.

Tenderizing Grass-Fed Meats – I’ve had many people tell me that their grass-fed meats are tough.  Slow cooking things like roasts, oxtails, and short ribs make these cuts of meats very tender and juicy.  However, for steaks, I like to use a Jaccard Tenderizer.  It works perfectly every time and makes for a nice, tender steak.

Add an Omega-3 Punch – I have fallen in love with the little hairy guys I wouldn’t have touched with a 10-ft pole in the past – ANCHOVIES!  I can eat them right out of the can now but many people just can’t so here is my trick.  Heat a bit of oil (avocado is preferable but if you use olive oil- DO NOT let it smoke.  You should not heat olive oil very much at all).  Throw in some anchovies and stir for a few minutes.  They disintegrate into nothing and you are left with a salty, smoky infused oil that is LOADED with healthy omega-3’s.  You can then pour it over salad or veggies or use it in soup.

I hope these tips help you in your kitchen and again, thank you so much for your support!

Be blessed