My mum has cooked my entire life. She has also worked my entire life and was often at work late (she has a PhD in material science has worked for Oxford University as well as IBM in the past).
Despite her exhausting job, every night she would come home and cook an entire meal from scratch for me and my dad (he hates eating leftovers and loves to eat a ton of food). I think this made her amazingly good at cooking quick meals with whatever we had in the fridge.
This fish bake is a dish she’s been making recently – I love it because it’s an entire meal in one large casserole dish. You can double or triple the recipe easily depending on how many people you want to feed. And it takes just a few minutes to chop everything up – after that, you can put your feet up and relax.
If you’re looking for an easy Paleo side dish, then check out this Paleo cauliflower mash recipe. The curry powder and ground cumin in this recipe add a touch of heat to the dish. But feel free to spice it up differently.
I ate chocolate chips for a week. (Not just chocolate chips, but I had them pretty much every day.)
And I don’t eat chocolate (I know this is sacrilegious to many of you, but chocolate honestly makes me feel terrible – bloated, tired, and generally bad). But I did eat chocolate. Just over a week ago, for 7 or 8 days.
It wasn’t worth it. It never is, no matter what food I “cheat” with.
But we all cheat. Even superstar athletes whose job it is to be in incredible shape will cheat on bad food. Most of them, at least.
And bloggers? Let’s just say that I’ve hung out with a few of them. Some are better than others, but we all cheat. Continue reading
Cavemen clearly didn’t have microwaves but that isn’t necessarily a reason for us not to use microwaves.
Below, I judge microwaves using the same basic standards I judge foods: toxicity vs. nutrients.
Is Microwaving Toxic?
There are 2 main concerns here:
1. Is Microwave Radiation from a Microwave Oven Dangerous?
No.
Microwaves are a form of radio waves and are naturally occurring (it’s a part of the electromagnetic spectrum).
Unlike some other forms of radiation (like x-rays and gamma rays), microwaves are not ionizing and have not been linked to cancer in the same way that high doses of x-rays and gamma rays have been.
In addition, very tiny amounts of microwave radiation ever escape from your modern microwave oven.
The oven is made of metal, which reflects the microwaves rather than letting it pass through its walls (hence why it’s bad to put anything metal into microwave oven). Even if there are small gaps in the seal around the microwave oven door, microwaves are of such long wavelengths that it’s highly improbable any microwaves will escape through those tiny gaps.
2. Does microwaving introduce radiation into my food?
No.
Microwaves work by jiggling the water molecules in the food you’re heating. That’s why you shouldn’t ever microwave dry food (e.g., something that’s been dehydrated).
Cooking any food using any method will cause the nutrients available in the food to change. As I explained in this YouTube video:
cooking your food does decrease the amount of nutrients in your food a bit but also often makes the existing nutrients more bioavailable (i.e., it’s in a more available form) for your body than before you cooked it.
So, now that we’ve established that cooking food doesn’t necessarily make it less nutritious at all, how does microwaving compare with other forms of cooking in terms of decreasing nutrients in the food?
Actually, microwaving is pretty good for keeping nutrients in your food!
The studies are not conclusive on this yet, but this 1982 review concludes that: “no significant nutritional differences exist between foods prepared by conventional and microwave methods.”
As for why microwaving is so good at retaining nutrients in the food, both Mark and Chris point to the short cooking time and the fact that you typically don’t add any additional water to the food (which often carries away any water-soluble vitamins and minerals).
Is Microwaving Paleo?
Although not something used by our ancestors, there’s nothing to suggest that microwaving would be that bad for us.
And if microwaving helps you to stick to Paleo, then it’s probably very good for you!
How do you feel about cooking with the microwave? Is it healthy or toxic? Let us know in the comments below.
In New York City, your goal during the day is to get from A to B without any incidents.
So one of the first things you learn is to never stare at anyone and never to make eye contact! Only tourists and seriously curious people ever deviate and make that rookie mistake.
So why am I getting stares left and right as I walk down the crowded streets of New York? Am I so ugly that I merit the attention of self-obsessed New Yorkers? Continue reading
Kabocha is a squat looking green pumpkin with an inside that’s similar to butternut squash. This is a super simple stew that you can make to enjoy this cool looking vegetable. Continue reading
I hate focusing on unimportant questions and/or tasks.
Just because I hate it, though, doesn’t mean that I don’t do it. For instance, I own a couple businesses, and there are often days when I look back at night and realize that I got 10 unimportant things done rather than a single important task.
I think this is the case for everyone, but what can really set you apart is the ability to gradually and consistently get better at doing the important things more often.
Diet and Lifestyle are the Most Critical Parts of Your Life to Focus on the Important Things
When it comes to diet, nutrition, and lifestyle, it’s incredibly easy to get distracted by unimportant ideas.
For instance, you may not believe that there are magic pills that will make you thin or cure every disease. However, you might still get excited when you hear about a superfood or a supplement that will definitely make you a little bit healthier or leaner.
It’s almost impossible not to sometimes fall for those types of things. Louise and I recently bought some MCT oil because we had convinced ourselves that we really needed to get more medium chain triglycerides, and that it would really benefit our guts and our bodies in a lot of ways.
That’s a distraction. I don’t care if you think MCT oil is the best thing ever (it’s pretty healthy) – the point is that it really doesn’t matter in the bigger picture.
Maybe if you’re doing everything right, then MCT could make a very small difference. Otherwise, not something most of us need to be concerned with.
That’s just one example that leads me to this…
There are Zero Meaningful Differences Between Paleo and Primal
I actually made this as a refreshing non-alcoholic drink, but the idea of adding alcohol to this drink definitely crossed my mind while I was savoring it! And if you’re wondering whether alcohol is Paleo or not, then you should take a look at this great video.
I was actually really lucky growing up – my mum cooked a lot, and so I got to know common fruits and vegetables (and even some exotic ones) pretty well. However, I have to admit, I was was really confused when it came to celery. I had eat celery plenty as a kid, but I had always called it “celery.” So what the heck were hearts and roots?
<h3What’s the difference between Celery, Celery Heart, and Celery Root?
CAVEMEN DID NOT USE A MICROWAVE!
Yeah, I’m fully aware of the fact that microwaves were not around in prehistoric times. In fact, they were invented by Percy Spencer shortly afer WW2, and the first one was sold in 1947.
So, why is it ok (and in fact, really good) for us to use a microwave when our ancestors managed to live perfect fine without it?
Well, below are my 7 top reasons (I’ve tried to keep too much physics out of it, although the physics of how a microwave oven works is what will really open your eyes to just how OK using a microwave is). Continue reading
Juicing is all the rage, and it can be an excellent way to get a few more veggies into your day.
However, along with the gain in popularity comes a few risks. If you’re juicing – particularly if you’re buying juices from stores – be particularly careful about these 6 risks:
1. Juices You Buy in the Store are Almost Always Pasteurized. If you’re doing all of your juicing at home with fresh vegetables, then this probably doesn’t apply to you. Pretty much any juice that you buy, however, has been pasteurized.
What this means is the juice was subjected to very high heat in order to preserve it for longer. Unfortunately, the same high heat that preserves the juice also destroys pretty much all of the vitamins and minerals in the juice, along with all of the natural enzymes that would normally help you digest the juice.
Don’t buy juice unless you know it hasn’t been pasteurized, which means that it needs to be extremely fresh.
I’m not kidding! I’ve suffered from various mysterious allergic reactions for most of my life.
I’ve gone to school with random swollen knee joints, swollen eyes, half a swollen lip, rashes across my hands and back, red blotches on my face and neck, etc. It kinda sounds like I was beaten up a lot, but there was no bruising, just large red swollen patches.
For decades I tried to figure out the cause.
The doctors first thought I had chillblains when I was 11 years old and my knee and elbow joints kept swelling up. My mum threw away a brand new air-freshener from my bedroom because she thought that was the cause of it.
A friend told me that I had a very dire disease because my red blotches didn’t go away when they put a glass on it (I was terrified for a week!). During my first year of college, I stopped eating mushrooms for a year because I thought I was allergic to those (I wasn’t).
And recently, I went to 3 allergy specialists in New York City and had every pinprick test possible (I tested positive for just about everything)! Continue reading
A lot of paleo people love tamari sauce, but what is it and is it actually paleo?
What is tamari sauce?
Originating in Japan, Tamari sauce is just a form of soy sauce that has always been made without wheat or anything else containing gluten.
Soy sauce is often made by fermenting a mixture of half soybeans and half wheat, but tamari sauce is usually made by fermenting just soybeans.
(Note, however, that there are some brands of tamari that contains wheat, such as the Kikkoman tamari soy sauce, which has both wheat and glucose in the ingredients!).
Tamari sauce is typically darker in color and has a richer, less salty flavor than your average soy sauce. Sometimes a little bit of alcohol is also added to tamari sauce to help preserve it.
Despite its slightly different taste and color, tamari sauce can be used in any recipe in place of soy sauce.
The word tamari is derived from the Japanese word, tamaru, meaning “to accumulate.” This is because tamari sauce is actually the run-off liquid produced while making miso (think miso soup served in Japanese restaurants).
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I ate chocolate chips for a week. (Not just chocolate chips, but I had them pretty much every day.)
I hate focusing on unimportant questions and/or tasks.
