Re: Getting restarted

[Guest guest]

Jo,

I understand exactly what you are feeling, but please have some patience with

yourself. I would suggest that you start with nuts. Soaking nuts overnight

and then slow drying them in your oven no more than 150 degrees. This is a nice

snack and the nuts can then be used to make cookies or other treats, which I'm

sure you would not throw out, unless of course you do not like nuts. After

seeing how easy this is, you can then go to soaking some grains, like rolled

oats for morning oatmeal. Making whey by straining some good quality yogurt is

also very easy if you have not already done this. Then soaking beans overnight

is somewhat simple planning if you are going to be around the house the

following day in order to cook them. Again, a big pot of beans is a nice,

convenient

thing to have in the fridge for meal accompaniment, or as a light lunch made

into a burrito and such. The meatloaf recipe in NT is one I often make for

convenience. Doesn't require any planning and can make good sandwiches for the

next couple of days. Hope this helps, but don't give up!

Theresa

[Guest guest]

,

I have NT first edition, but mine includes rolled oats in the recipe for

porridge. I know steel cut or whole are better than rolled, but my 4 year-old

won't eat them, so I stick to rolled. I have only tried steel cut, not whole, so

I

can't comment on the results, but steel cut are good as well.

Theresa

[Guest guest]

Hi Jo,

one possible answer to your question " How do you get restarted " : " How do

you eat an elephant? .... Answer: One piece at a time! "

With other words, start with small changes and pick what you like ... don't

do everything at once. Try this and that and stick to what you like,

abandon the rest, at least for the time being.

I did the following to my life style:

- add more fibre to my diet

- drink more water

- started drinking kombucha

- started drinking kefir (and enjoy it)

- practice yoga (love it)

And I did one thing at a time. Don't get me wrong, I still have my

occasional hamburger and fries and drinbk a beer or some wine but 95% of

the time, I stick to the healthier stuff. And there are more things I am

working on. You have been living so many years without doing all this, so

don't expect you can witch over night .... give it some time, no need to

rush, you have all life in front of you to get it accomplished.

Best regards

[Guest guest]

>So, do you have any suggestions how I can get restarted? Is there a

>recipe that changed your approach to diet to make you take up NT full

>time? How do you get yourself organised (keeping food in the cellar

>just doesn't work for me - out of sight out of mind!)? how do you

>keep youself motivated? how do you fit it into the rest of your

>life - your hobbies, work, family etc - as it seems to take up soooo

>much time.

Jo:

For me, the best motivation is TASTE. I.e., my NT food just

tastes better. Digests better too. If you don't like something,

you just won't eat it.

I'm motivated, however, basically because I *can't* eat

supermarket food so I have to cook anyway. That said,

we started small. One change at a time.

First change: I ditched the wheat. This wasn't voluntary,

or simple, got me very depressed. But it made a BIG difference,

so it's been easy to stick to.

Second change: we chucked the Canola oil. It wasn't getting

along with our stomachs (made me a little quesy after

a Canola meal). So we ordered a gallon of coconut oil,

did the same cooking as before.

Third change: experimenting with fermented vegies. Most

of my first batches we just didn't like. Kraut we DO like,

cooked with potatoes and sausage! Kimchi I've gotten

to like.

Fourth change: experimenting with kefir. We tried 4 different

cultures til we decided we liked kefiili.

Anyway, you get the idea. There were 2-3 months between

changes, I think. I cook for 5 people, not much choice there,

so making shopping easier (like, buying half a cow at a time)

just makes sense. But you need to ask yourself: Why am I

doing this? What is my goal? For me it's about *good* food --

taste is a big part of it. Watching Emeril live or the Naked Chef

is GREAT motivation!

-- Heidi

[Guest guest]

In a message dated 8/28/03 7:38:44 PM Eastern Daylight Time,

bberg@... writes:

> Whole or steel-cut oats. Rolled oats are recommended against in NT, I

> think.

>

Funny, Sally said she prefers rolled oats at a conference. The rolling does

decrease some of the nutritive value though. There are stone ground oats

available too.

Chris

[Guest guest]

Quoting Polyclean@...:

> After seeing how easy this is, you can then go to soaking some

> grains, like rolled oats for morning oatmeal.

Whole or steel-cut oats. Rolled oats are recommended against in NT, I think.

--

Berg

bberg@...

[Guest guest]

> For me, the best motivation is TASTE. I.e., my NT food just

> tastes better. Digests better too. If you don't like something,

> you just won't eat it.

My number one saying: Pain is a great motivator. After that company

picnic it'll be a very long time before I eat that much crap (and it

really wasn't that much) all at once. Listen to your body.

You're getting lots of very good advice. Start out slow and make one

change at a time. Try to change too much at once and the whole thing

falls apart. We had already started avoiding transfats as much as

possible and had switched to butter years ago. With NT, we started with

fermented veggies because we already liked them but had been warned off

them by doctors worried about my blood pressure (from the salt). How

thrilled we were to discover they were good for you.

From there we started adding in a lot more animal protein and fat, then

we started making kombucha. I'm working now on getting raw dairy,

better eggs and better meat (we're really hoping we can get our life

sorted out to the point we can keep a couple of chickens). I was making

sourdough rye bread too, but my culture died (my fault) and we're

getting ready to move and the realtor has asked that I not have big

vats of weird goopy stuff lying around. When I get my act together

and have some raw dairy to put them in, I'll be placing an order at GEM

for kefir grains.

Lynn S.

-----

Lynn Siprelle * Writer, Mother, Programmer, Fiber Artisan

The New Homemaker: http://www.newhomemaker.com/

Siprelle & Associates: http://www.siprelle.com/

People-Powered ! http://www.deanforamerica.com/

[Guest guest]

Quoting Polyclean@...:

> I have NT first edition, but mine includes rolled oats in the recipe for

> porridge.

Really? I could have sworn she said to avoid them. I have the second

edition, though.

> I know steel cut or whole are better than rolled, but my 4

> year-old won't eat them, so I stick to rolled.

That's odd. I haven't noticed a difference when they're cooked.

--

Berg

bberg@...

[Guest guest]

jo, i just got back from an nt potluck and recommend hosting one as a way to

get inspired, u get to try lots of nt recipes and talk about soaking,

fermenting, etc. great food and a lot of fun.

elaine

--

[Guest guest]

I've just joined this group, and have only recently gotten the NT

book. I bought it because it was recommended in a book called

Patient Heal Thyself by Jordan Rubin, which is about

supplements by Garden of Life that are based on the same

principles as NT. I started out taking Goatein, a fermented goat

protein powder dried at low temps, in a shake with raw honey

and strawberries, and Perfect Food, a green drink with

fermented veggies. I also bough grassfed beef hamburgers

from americangrassfedbeef.com.

I started eating the NT way when I was very ill from chronic

fatigue and a year on high doses of steroids, so I had little

energy for cooking. Thus the supplements. I also bought foods

that required little preparation. Ezekiel 4:9 bread is sprouted and

the only grain product I can tolerate (and it's yummy toasted).

Whole Foods carries Rejuvenative Foods delicious (though

expensive) almond butter , and their fermented veggies (though I

never knew what to eat them with so they went to waste).

Another food I started with was a free range chicken soup recipe

in PHT that was adapted from recipes in NT. It's so easy to

make, and it's enough soup to last weeks if you freeze some. I

didn't like the flavor of the coconut oil and ginger in it, so I leave it

out now.

Recently I've been doing a cleanse adapted from The Milk Cure,

using the recipe in NT for a yoghurt drink (dosa?), with whole

goat milk yoghurt, raw honey and organic lemon juice. I drank

nothing but this for 7 days, and it was surprisingly easy. I also

shed 7 lbs of stubborn steroid swelling that is still hanging

around after 7 months. Back to solid food today, but I'm going to

do it again soon.

I recommend starting with the easy stuff you can buy in stores

and online. Then gradually adding in gelatin rich chicken soups

with the bones and feet. Then add a fermented drink or some

pickles. And I can personally vouch for the Garden of Life

Supplements. I honestly believe they, and not the steroids,

saved my vision. Good Luck!

[Guest guest]

----- Original Message -----

From: " Berg " <bberg@...>

> Quoting Polyclean@...:

> > After seeing how easy this is, you can then go to soaking some

> > grains, like rolled oats for morning oatmeal.

>

> Whole or steel-cut oats. Rolled oats are recommended against in NT, I

think.

Okay, I've checked my copy, and I take that back. I have no idea where I

got that idea.

[Guest guest]

Hi Elaine

I love the idea, but.... I don't know a single NTer in the UK! THe

Native Nutritions list for the UK has only 100 people. As far as I

know none of them are within 100 miles from me. Plus it is a quiet

list without the camaraderie of this list (only 70-odd posts per

month).

My friends think I eat odd anyway, with my low carb diet, because I

don't eat refined foods or junk. So there's no way they would

participate.

Jo

--- In , " Elaine " <itchyink@s...>

wrote:

> jo, i just got back from an nt potluck and recommend hosting one as

a way to

> get inspired, u get to try lots of nt recipes and talk about

soaking,

> fermenting, etc. great food and a lot of fun.

> elaine

> --

[Guest guest]

Jo, I know all too well where you are coming from. It's easy to fall

into 'analysis paralysis' with all this information. A big problem

for me is I'm rather shy and dislike asking food purveyors about the

quality of their foods. It is such an unconventional thing to ask

'how much time did that animal spend on pasture', people give you

funny looks. But I do my best.

Anyway, here is my hunch from your post. It seems you're focusing on

plant foods, sometimes not eating things you've put effort into.

Maybe your body really wants you to focus on animal foods. Fermented

foods are great but I tend to want them with meat.

You said you can't get organic meat for a reasonable price. I'm on a

tight budget too. I don't know about UK but here in CA it's not

impossible to get good quality meat for reasonable prices. I'm buying

my meat at Whole Foods which has these standards:

http://www.wholefoodsmarket.com/products/meat_standards.html

Someone said this before... If I can spend money on one type of food,

it's good meat and dairy, that's most important in my book. And even

psychologicaly it's much better eating to know the animal was treated

humanely in its lifetime.

As for the raw question, if you're not ready for that, very rare

should do. You can take ground beef and make a hamburger in a cast

iron pan, so it looks cooked on the inside and is practically raw on

the inside. Put some ketchup on it and it's one of the most delicious

things to eat in the world.

Some of my other favorites are roast leg of lamb and chicken soup,

both of which produce many meals from one cooking session. Other

benefits: It's socially acceptible to eat lamb very rare, and lamb is

usually grassfed (esp from new zealand). And chicken soup is a nice

easy way to eat broth and a meal at the same time.

Roast leg of lamb:. Get a meat rack (I got an iron one from a used

cookery store and put it in a cheap stainless pan just large enough to

catch all the drippings.) Cut slits all over the meat on your leg of

lamb. Take a small pot and melt butter and oil (coconut or olive).

Add some spoonfuls of dijon mustard to the butter/oil and mix up well.

Take a pastry brush and slather the lamb with the butter/oil/mustard.

Have the lamb on the rack and slather both sides. Now, if you have

them, take fresh chopped herbs like rosemary, sage, marjoram. " Paste "

them all over the now-sticky leg of lamb, sticking some in the slits

you've cut. Stick the lamb (which is on the rack, in the pan) in a

preheated oven, about 325 F. (Make the heat lower if you have more

time.) Check temp with a meat thermometer within in hour. Cook to

about 130 F. The inside pieces should be nice and red. The outside

will be browner for those who prefer it. The drippings in the pan are

delicious. If you have broth make a sauce with drippings, wine and

broth. If not, just mix the drippings with melted butter and swirl

around and use as sauce.

Chicken soup, this is based on the basic Jewish recipie. (Not my

mother's, she uses bullion with MSG. I got it from a friend's mom.)

Take a nice big pot and put in an organic chicken. Fill with water

to about 1/4 inch from the top. Bring temp up so to a very light boil

(try not to go to a rapid boil). Skim the gunk off the top (with a

skimmer if you have one, otherwise a spoon will do). Lower heat to a

simmer. Keep skimming 'til gunk is gone. White meat cooks faster

than dark so in less than an hour the white meat should be cooked. I

like to take out the white so it doesn't overcook. Take out the whole

chicken, careful not to lose broth, and put on a cutting board with a

crevice around the edge. Cut up the chicken. Put the big bones and

dark meat back in the soup. Throw away the little rib bones. Reserve

the white meat for another use. (I throw most of the skin back in the

soup because I love fat.) Keep simmering the soup on low heat as long

as you can stand it, to get more benefit from those bones. Toward the

end, throw in a chopped onion, a chopped turnip (very important) and 3

carrots. Simmer some more. At the end throw in salt, pepper and

chopped parsely. You will be satisfied for days and it's so healing

and soothing.

Hope these ideas help,

Daphne

> I have been a member of this group for 8 months. In that time I have

> made 2 batches of sauer kraut (the remains of the second batch are

> still in the cellar) 1 batch pickled onion (uneaten after 3 months)

> and 1 batch giner carrots (chucked away with mold on). I also soaked

> some sunflower seed and I think they sprouted, but I didn't like them

> so chucked them away.

>

> I started making kefir too, but it didn't agree with me, so now I

> just keep the grains in the fridge and change the milk once per month.

>

> I have bought barley, wild rice, lentils, oats, but never get round

> to preparing them in advance (eg soaking). I'm really not a planner

> at all.

>

> I have no idea where to get suitable meat for eating raw (or even

> reasonably priced organic) nor do I have a source for raw dairy.

>

> I have read the intro to the book, and started reading the recipes.

> And then sort of gave up. I'm finding it very very hard to get into,

> despite the enjoyment I get out of reading the list. A lot of the

> recipes use things that I wouldn't know where to buy, and many are

> too high carb for me.

>

> So, do you have any suggestions how I can get restarted? Is there a

> recipe that changed your approach to diet to make you take up NT full

> time? How do you get yourself organised (keeping food in the cellar

> just doesn't work for me - out of sight out of mind!)? how do you

> keep youself motivated? how do you fit it into the rest of your

> life - your hobbies, work, family etc - as it seems to take up soooo

> much time.

>

> Thanks for any support, inspiration and motivation

>

> Jo