Losing weight by eating fat

Boy, it has been a long time since I got to blog here. My life has taken me into a whirlwind of a tornado and, not surprisingly, the things that I do for myself are the first to go. Still, I have been having internal conversations with CaveKitchen, creating a monologue of posts inside my head. It has helped, kept me company, been my unspoken companion during a challenging time.

I am here now to pay it back. Thanks to those who made comments and started following me on NetworkedBlogs, giving me little nudges to quit being a stranger.

Throughout this time the topic that has been most on my mind is FAT. Fat, fat and more fat. A long time ago I wrote about the importance of adding fat to one's meals and shared some tips for doing so. Today I would like to share what focusing on fat has done for me.

One of the common complaints I see about Paleo is hunger. Switching to paleo leaves a lot of people constantly craving food. I gained 10 lbs in the first two weeks of trying it and sought advice about what to do. Reducing sugar, not surprisingly, turned out to be an important step. But I had not mastered paleo, nor reaped one of its biggest benefits till I focused on fat.

Today, I usually eat one meal per day, often supplementing it with a light breakfast, small snack or nothing at all. The most astounding result is - I don't think about food. I am not raiding the refrigerator to see what I can find, plainly forgetting my favorite habit - munching - in favor of focusing on values in my life.

Every now and then I get on a scale and I am not surprised to see the numbers going down as I see improvements in my body, the fit of my jeans and a general feeling of well-being.

So what's the deal? Basically, fat calories satiate you like nothing else. They do not cause an insulin spike, which leads to a crash later in the day. When hungry, I no longer feel light-headed, or craving food.  I just feel... well... hungry - no other side effects. Because I have to rely on Granny (my mother-in-law) to do most of the cooking, I have to make sure I add enough fat to the meal to retain the peace the freedom from cravings brings. Bacon, butter, avocados, coconut are staples that I add liberally to the dried out and often flavorless meals that lean meat creates. On those days that I get lazy and forget to do what is required, I become aware of the sudden need to stock up on fruit, unexpected contemplation of a quick fix a bagel would bring. I always keep several packages of uncured bacon Trader Joe's offers to put those cravings to rest. (If you haven't seen my post on perfect bacon - you should look; this easy method of preparing bacon has changed my life!)

When I have a good meal, I know it, as the satiation sets in, bringing a burst of energy that radiates like heat all over my body. On those days, I know, I won't be tempted to watch TV instead of working late at night, have bed time conflicts with kids or become depressed about having taken on too many things. On such nights, I just am - caught up in the joy of living, pursuing my productive endeavors and enjoying life.

Bacon wrapped smokies

I discovered this recipe a while ago and have made it twice.  It's fun to make with kids, fun to eat, makes great left-overs and works for lunch boxes.

Ingredients:

1 package of Lil' smokies (little tiny sausages from the grocery store)
1 lb bacon
1 tbs or so of brown sugar (you can try honey)

This would undoubtedly work without the brown sugar.  However, it cuts the intense flavor of sausages and that amount won't kill you, really! It doesn't really taste sweet, just a little hint of carmel-something. Of course, if you want to be strict, use honey instead.  Should do just as well. Come to think of it, I will do so next time!

The process:

Cut bacon in thirds. Wrap each individual sausage into a strip of bacon and slide the result onto a skewer. Arrange skewers on a baking pan and sprinkle with brown sugar. You will complete 6-8 skewers.  Stick 'em in the oven at 350 for 40 minutes or so. For extra crispiness, increase the temperature to 400F for the last five minutes.  Yum!

Cooking plans for the week

I am now pretty much over all the emotional turmoil associated with the lost pregnancy.  It really sucks that I am technically still carrying a fetus, so I still have to think about it all, and wait for a miscarriage, but I have, for the most part moved on. And the most important part to emotional recovery is: FOOD.  I can't tell you how many times I've lived through the vicious cycle: too depressed to cook, too malnourished to cheer up.  :-)

Thankfully, I found my stride pretty quickly this time. And here are some exciting plans for the week - I'll blog about the flips & flops as they happen:

• Paleo bread - YES! I am going to try this faxseed bread recipe, as soon as my flaxseed meal arrives from amazon.
• Honey-mustard rosemary pork roast. That one is marinading right now, waiting for dinner tonight!

Some tried-and-true favorites:

• Paleo muffins - I make those a lot as not only do they provide variety in breakfast, but they are also a wonderful topper for the kids' lunchboxes.
• Bacon, bacon and more bacon.  (Did you read about how I bake it, so it's quick and easy to make a bunch?) My favorite things to do with it: plain-old breakfast and garnish for soup, particularly the kids' favorite: tomato soup.  

I am seriously hoping, the pork roast turns out.  I tend to get a lot of meals out of roasts!  My best lunchbox solution is a roast/tomatoes salad.  Tomatoes create just the right amount of dressing for the cold meat. I sometimes add bell peppers or other favorites, and the tupperwear seems to come back licked every time.

An update: paleo pregnancy

I have not been able to post or do very much else in the last few weeks. Bad news on the pregnancy, see ParentingIs for the story. Bottom line, there is no heart beat, but I have not given up completely yet. Tomorrow is my appointment with my old and trusted obgyn. The weeks leading up to the bad news were extremely emotionally volatile (I tend to go insane in the first trimester) and I've been struggling.

I also have to admit, I have not done very well in Paleo in recent weeks.  Not badly, either. However, I've noticed time and again that it's not about what you avoid eating, but what you do have on the table.  Too many meals consisting primarily of dairy, or hot dogs, or even just vegetables, will drain you of energy, grains or no grains.  I am pretty sure that I am past the worst of it, though and am ready to face the world again.  Today, I enlisted granny in helping create a meal around a ham, one of my favorite lazy feast recipes.

A few observations on pregnancy and nausea are in order:

• I am pretty sure, that nausea is reduced with proper paleo. It is important not to overeat protein, though, as your body will quickly announce - no more! Stick with high fat meals with a reasonable portion of meat, but with lots of vegetable options. The more you have to choose from, the more likely, something will hit the spot.
• Weight gain is reduced when, unlike my first pregnancy in which I gained sixty lbs, half eating watermellon, what you are eating is directly involved in building the baby: healthy fat, protein, large variety of veggies.
• Variety is a must. You are foregoing a lot of fortification the government puts into wheat products: folic acid, magnesium and more. I have been trying to keep at least a dozen vegetable options in the fridge at any given time.  (See my Pantry page for a long list of vegetable option ideas.)
• Snacking is not a symptom of pregnancy. It is a symptom of your body demanding the right nutrients! Which, in turn, a symptom of pregnancy, of course.  Eat good healthy meals, and snacking is not so much of an issue.
• Prenatal vitamins can make you nauseous. Take them at bed time! But do take them. There is so little known about paleo pregnancy, be on the safe side and stick with your doctor's advice.

Obviously, take this with a grain of salt.  These are the things I have observed, thought about, deduced. I admit to complete ignorance with the possible exception of awareness of my own body. So, compare notes and figure out what feels right!

Cooking oils

Having written a small post on the dangers of improper choice of frying oils, I dug a bit deeper, then couldn't stop until I felt I got my head around the cooking oil pantry.


There are several factors when considering an oil:

1. Omega 6 / Omega 3 ratio - always watch out for that.  You won't get to your Omega 3 quota from your frying oils anyway, but we could at least stay away from things like Safflower: 75% PUFA (poly-unsaturated fatty acid), almost all omega 6.
2. PUFA's (were you paying attention? Poly-unsa) become rancid at high heat (see is frying bad for you? for a pretty good answer on the subject), generating trans-fat right in your pan. Yuck!  So minimize the total amount of PUFA's and pay attention to the smoke point.
3. As a corollary, look for an oil with a high amount of saturated and mono-unsaturated fat. Those are your friends.
4. Last but not least: The source of the oil needs to be examined for nutritional value/toxins.  Ever eaten a cottonseed?  No, really! It is not intended for food!

Great.  Now, let's look at that smoke point, using this wikipedia data as a base.

First thing to note: terms like virgin and unrefined sound great and will probably yield more flavor (and likely preserve more of the nutritional value), but they are the enemy of high heat cooking.  Save those for salad dressings.

Next, our friends: saturated fat-based oils:

• Ghee seems to be the winner. Clarified butter, it is devoid of the solids that cause all the burning problems with butter, its enviable (by other oils, I presume!) smoke point is at 482F. You just can't go wrong with ghee.  Check the label for purity and you are ready to roll.
• Lard has a substantial range based on its clarity, from 360 to as high as 420. Look for lard produced via the wet rendering process and avoid the stuff from the supermarket, opting in favor of small high quality operations.  Your grass-fed producer is likely your top choice.  Did you know, lard was used to produce French Fries for the first half of this century?  I am tempted!
• Avocado oil (I've never heard of it till now!) is a win all around.  520F should be enough to satisfy almost any cooking need.  The only oil that comes close is the nutritionally crooken safflower. Does it taste good?  Have you tried it?
• Coconut oil.  The refined kind goes as high as 450F.  The virgin is only good for 350F.  So be a little careful there. 

Note this guide when frying something in a pan: 

                 450-500° high
                 375-400° medium-high
                 325-350° medium
                 275-300° medium-low
                 225-250° low

This means, don't let your virgin coconut oil in a pan that will go above medium heat.  

The only oil I use outside of this family is olive oil.  Its smoke point has a wide range based on the clarity of the oil: 375 for extra-virgin to 468 for extra light. It has a healthy nutritional profile and even boasts tiny amounts of Omega 3's if you enjoy conversations with your conscience.

Still, there is no longer a need for rancid vegetable oils to make your sweet potato fries.

The next step for me is to try them out and decide which tastes better for what purpose.  My money is on ghee.  After all, what adds flavor to food quite like butter?

I included the links to amazon for these oils.  I have the olive oil on a regular subscription, have ordered the coconut oil in the past - and avocado is on the way!