A Typical Breakfast and Fat

 

This is a typical carnivore breakfast for me. Sometimes it's 3 poached eggs with less meat. Today it's 2 soft poached eggs, done in the cups with lard, with some bacon, beef and cheese. Today the cheese is gouda. Sometimes it 's havarti, or cheddar or edam. Last week I had a small piece of smoked gruyere. Its was okay but not as good as many others. My favourite is garlic and herb harvarti, although this gouda is very good and creamy! I often melt the cheese over the eggs, not today. I have been enjoying this creamy gouda lately, as is. 

The beef is about 1/4 of a steak, grilled on cast iron on the stove in lard. Not a lot of fat in this one. I might consider adding a lot of butter to the top of low fat beef (and licking the plate. I always lick my plate when there's lots of melted fat on it. Like I said in an earlier post... I don't eat out much. lol) I have lately been eating butter by itself. It's delicious cold and hard, not so much at room temperature. I also put quite a large chunk of butter in my coffee now. It's also delicious! I don't know if I could go back to drinking it with just cream. I've gotten so used to the great, melted butter on top. I wonder if salted lard would be good, cold and hard... hmmmm... probably not so much, but worth a try. It's a LOT cheaper than butter.

I'm being creative about ways to eat more fat, but it's hard. It's probably the hardest thing about the carnivore diet, trying to eat enough fat. I prefer to eat hard cheeses as the fat content is higher, with less water. I do occasionally eat cream cheese with a high fat content and 14% fat sour cream. I also eat high fat greek yogurt, 10-11% fat when I can get it. I sometimes drain the high fat yogurt to condense it down thicker and dryer. That condenses the fat even more.

I eat more dairy now than I used to. I'm wondering if that's a good thing with North American dairy containing so many growth hormones given to the cows. I have read that eating an over abundance of non-organic dairy could result in cancer in reproductive organs, male and female. Oh well, I'm too old now to worry about long term health concerns from diet and I like my dairy too much to cut it out. It's a good source of fat too.

Making Your Own Soap from Scratch

 

Making pure, healthy soap for your family from scratch is not that difficult. It's no harder than making clothes detergent or a different recipe for dinner. You can do it in your kitchen with utensils you have on hand. It's a simple process and doesn't take that long to make, if you keep it simple.  

Plain, healthy soap with no special scent and colour for family use, is quick and easy to make. You don't need the fancy oils and butters and creams that some soap makers add to soap they plan to sell. Plain tallow or lard makes a good, very hard soap. It's important to use hard fats for at least half the fat in the soap. This keeps the bars hard enough that they don't disappear too quickly. A bar of soap make with all oil will be gone very quickly. I like to use half and half, oil that I have infused with herbs and hard fat, but I have made soap with all hard fat and I like it too. Shortening, like Crisco, makes good soap, as well. The palm oil in it makes good lather. Using a little coconut oil will make good lather, but only use up to 5% of the total fat. Too much coconut oil will make it drying. 

The next thing you need is the lye. No lye, no soap. When you mix the lye with the animal fats or oils, in a specific temperature range, and emulsify it well with a blender, it changes the molecules of both the lye and the fat into one, the soap molecule. There's no more lye in the soap, provided you have used the right amount of fat to "saponify" all the lye. "Saponification" is the act of turning fat and lye into soap.  

While making soap is not difficult, or that time consuming, you do have to follow a specific recipe exactly. You will need a digital scale to make soap. Nothing else it specific enough. You will also need a good thermometer, as the fat and the lye both have to be a specific temperature when mixed together. (I use a temperature gun but you can use a meat thermometer too.) Most of the time spent in making soap is spent in trying to get both parts to the same, exact temperature. If you mix the lye crystals with water (which is part of the process, a specific weight of water) in a plastic container, it's easier to adjust the temperature. You can use the microwave to warm it or set it in icy cold water to cool it off. If you melt the fats in a stainless pot, you can cool it down in a sink of icy cold water or heat it up on the stove top. Glass is not recommended for the lye as it will, over time, scratch and weaken it. DO NOT put lye in an aluminum pot. It will react with it immediately and you will have a problem. You can use most plastic containers or stainless steel for either.

There are a lot of soap recipes on the internet but I find that most of them include some fancy oils and butters and other ingredients that you don't need. All you need to make plain, healthy soap is animal fat and/or vegetable oils, water, lye. You can, of course, add a variety of other things to it, but none of them are necessary. If you want moisturizing soap, add a bit more fat than the recipe calls for. This way not all of the fat will be turned into soap by the lye, so there will be a little left in the soap to moisturize.

I use an online soap calculator to make the recipes that I use. I simply fill in the weight of the various fats I have and it tells me how much lye and water I will need to go with the fats. There are a few online soap calculators. I have used this one for about 20 years and have never had a problem: https://www.the-sage.com/lyecalc/ 

It's important to include all the fats you have and not to change them after you get the recipe. They are NOT interchangeable. Each type of fat will saponify a different amount of lye. If you want to change the fat used, you will need a new recipe. 

Once you have your fats, lye, water and recipe, you are ready to make soap!

I mix the lye and water in a small plastic container first, before doing the fats. Then I sit it in icy cold water in the sink. Make sure it's securely sitting on the bottom and not floating around. 

Then I measure each fat carefully and add them to the large stainless pot on the stove. Turn it to LOW and watch them melt together. Keep stirring it so they don't scorch. There's no way to rescue burned soap.  I cut the hard fat into little pieces and use the hand blender to make it all liquid, so it heats evenly. 

Use the thermometer to measure the temperature of the fats and the temperature of the lye. I like a temperature gun because I don't need to clean it between the lye and the fat. If you use a thermometer that you stick into the fat, you will need to wipe it off clean before you put it into the lye/water mix. Also, the lye will, eventually ruin it. Both the fats and the lye should be 110-112 when mixed together. If the mix is too cool, it won't make into soap. You will check it the next day and it will be solid, but that will be the hard fat solidifying and you will have pockets of liquid lye in it. It won't be soap. If this happens, you can always put it all into the pot again and heat it up to 110, blender it and mold it again. Make sure both reach 110F before using the blender and pouring it into the mold. If its too warm, it will make soap but it might separate. It will come back together as it cools down to about 110. You will have to keep stirring it and watching it to get it into the mold before it gets too hard in the pot. 

All said, it's always better to bring each of the two containers to 110-112F before you mix them together. At that point you will need to blender it for a few minutes. Then pour it into a mold. 

A mold can be any container, even a small cardboard box, if it's lined with parchment or waxed paper. If it's silicone, you won't need to line it. You will, however, need to grease it a little. Use either mineral oil or vaseline to grease a mold. If you use animal or veg fats, the soap will absorb it and be soft on the outside edges. You can wipe off the block of soap before cutting it, if necessary. I also very lightly grease the paper I'm lining the mold with so it doesn't stick to the soap and have to be scraped off. If you don't use a pliable mold and you don't line it with paper, you will never get the hard soap out of it. 

After it's been in the mold for about 24 hours, it should be hard enough to take out and slice into bars. After it's cut, put it out of the way in a place where the bars can get some air circulation. They will need to age and dry for about 3-4 weeks. It's fine to use after about three weeks, but it will be better soap, drier with better lather, if you wait 4 weeks before using it. 

Essential oils and other additives are not necessary to make a healthy soap, however, when you put the lye/water and the fat together and blend them for a minute or so, you can add essential oils that you like, especially ones with healing properties. The scent won't last, unfortunately. It usually fades over time. 

If you want to make soap with milk or goat's milk, use it for half the water you mix with the lye. Mix the lye in only the half amount of water. Put the milk in with the fat. If you put lye in the milk, it will cook it immediately, turning it a bright orange and the soap brown. It will still be good soap to use but the colour will be brown and it may have a bit of an unpleasant smell. 

If you want to add fancy butters, like shea, and other oils and moisturizers, you will need to use those as part of the fats in the recipe. You have to put them into the online soap calculator along with your main fat, to make your recipe. They need to be counted. You can add a little extra of any fat to make your soap more moisturizing. Tallow is very good for your skin. A little more tallow than the recipe calls for will make a healthy, moisturizing soap. 

It sounds complicated, but it's not really. If all goes well and you are careful to follow the guidelines exactly, it only takes a few minutes to put it together. It will be much healthier for your family than using commercial detergent "soap" bars!  

 

My Favourite Meal

 

Meatloaf is my favourite meal! I make it with ground beef but I add lard, chopped bacon, and cheese for the extra fat. I put in a lot of eggs, as well, since there are no carbs in it. The bacon adds a lot of flavour too and it's so tender and juicy with the added fat! It has the added benefit of making a good sandwich for hubby, who doesn't eat strictly carnivore. It also makes great meatballs! 

 

 

Cooking Bacon

 

I cut the entire package of bacon in half with the scissors before I cook it. It makes cooking evenly so much easier and makes the pieces easier to handle in the pot too.

I have recently started cooking my bacon in a little water to start with, just a couple of inches, enough to boil it for about 5 mins. This removes a lot of the salt and nitrates in the bacon. After boiling it, I drain off the water. I keep this, let it cool and remove the fat from the top. Bacon fat is prime stuff! None of it gets wasted and the boiled fat has less nitrates and salts in it. I know this because I can taste the difference. I don't have anything against salt but I like my pink Himalayan salt, not the curing salt. I'm more concerned with the nitrates.

After the water is drained off, the bacon keeps frying in the pan normally until it's nice and brown. I fish out all the bacon pieces and scrape the bottom of the pan. Then I pour off the grease with all the little pieces in it. That's great stuff too but, because it has the little bacon pieces in it and is not clean rendered fat, it needs to be kept in the fridge. I usually separate it into little pieces and freeze it. I have a bag in the freezer full of bacon fat pieces for cooking. It gets used all the time, for everything. 

 

 

Boiled Pork Buttons

This morning, while cooking bacon, I also boiled a package of pre-seasoned pork buttons. I boil these for about 15 minutes. I find the seasoning a bit too strong for my taste. Boiling removed a lot of it and tenderizes the buttons. I drain off that water too, cool it and skim off the rendered fat. Today I have three bowls of fat to cool. The boiled bacon water, frying bacon fat and water from the pork buttons. I am considering combining the three into one pot, boiling it again to render the fat again. Then cooling and removing one chunk of seasoned pork fat. I could render it a few times, cleaning it thoroughly but I don't see any reason to do that. I'll probably freeze it in pieces and add it all to my bag of pieces in the freezer. No reason to just make more work for myself unnecessarily.  

I like to cook ahead like this, so I always have choices in the fridge, ready to go. It makes this diet so much easier to do. It makes any lifestyle easier  to have the food cooked ahead of time, ready to eat.

 

 

Carnivore Chicken Nuggets

 

 

These are my carnivore chicken nuggets. They turned out very well, I think. These are made with three ingredients: cooked chicken, eggs, grated hard cheese. I also coated them with finely ground pork rinds. 

 

 

 

I made way too much of the mix, so I froze some of it uncooked, in small batches. I can take out enough to make just a few when I want them. I could have made them into nuggets, then froze, but I was tired of working in the kitchen and so just froze them like this. I took the frozen squares and put them all into a freezer bag. 

 

 

 

These were good but very "eggy". I have read that using mostly egg whites will take away that "eggy" flavour. I used the yolks too for the nutrition. These are excellent dipped in sour cream!  

I didn't eat all of these, so I froze a few of the cooked ones for another future meal, too.   

My Favourite Way To Eat A Roast

 

My roast beef slices

I bought a small slicer at the thrift store a few weeks ago. It has been a great asset! It made a good job of slicing this beef roast. This is my favourite way to eat roasts of any kind - sliced and grilled on the barbecue. It's about -25c outside with around two feet of snow. We still barbecue, a lot! 

I slice pork roasts and barbecue too. If weather just doesn't let me barbecue, then I grill them on a cast iron skillet. I cook pork thoroughly, although it's no longer necessary in Canada, as all the pork sold here commercially is radiated now. I don't know if that's a good thing or not, but that's the way it is. At least I don't have to worry about getting parasites from pork anymore. 

I like the beef roasts and steaks very rare on the inside and seared crisp on the outside, so that takes high heat. I barbecue the beef slices on high for about 2-3 minutes on each side. I use my own spice mix on them with the pink salt. They are delicious! 

My spice mix is pepper, thyme, oregano, parsley, garlic powder. I also use fresh diced garlic when I have it. I never eat onion. I like onion but it doesn't like me. 

 

How to Keep Long Hair Healthy

 

Everyone likes long, healthy, shining hair full of body, but few people want to do what it takes to achieve that. I am talking about long hair here, not mid or shoulder length. If you can’t pull it altogether up into a pony tail, its not long. Long hair is considerably less trouble than anything other than very, very short and sheared off. If it is long enough to clip up or braid, it is no trouble at all and needs to be washed a lot less.This is a picture (above) of Crystal Gayle.

I am growing long hair now, really really long, down to my waist and all one length, eventually, when it gets there. I have done a lot of research over the years on growing long hair and have been at this length a few times. Listed below are a few sensible things I have learned to get it there and keep it healthy.

The first key to healthy hair is eating right and drinking lots of water. We all know how to eat right, whether we do it or not. Leave the sugar and saturated fats alone. Ideally you should eat only natural things, REAL food (but who does that?) and drink enough water 

When you have that under control  here are other things you can do that make a big difference:

 

a) Don’t use a brush of any kind. Use only a very large toothed comb and be gentle. File off any rough spots on it. There is a wooden pin brush and a boar brush out there that are suppose to be good for long hair but its a new thing. Try it at your own risk.

b) Keep all chemicals away from your hair, including stripping or harsh shampoo, peroxide, perms, straighteners and hairspray.

c) Wash only when absolutely necessary using shampoo as little as possible. You can get away with a little shampooing at the scalp only, but very little and not often. Let it gently rinse through the length of your hair and out. A healthier alternative is to use cornmeal on your scalp when you need to remove oil and rinsing it out. It helps to remove dirt and oils if you massage your scalp for a few minutes, breaking up the deposits there, then rinse. Conditioner alone can be used to remove contaminants, especially if you have dry hair. Use a conditioner for your hair type to also remove tangles so you can comb it carefully and gently. There is a large movement out there to do away with shampoo altogether and these people have clean, healthy hair. Do some research if you are interested.

d) Keep it as tangle free as possible at all times to make the combing less damaging. It helps to comb your hair before you wash it and keep it straight while washing it. Don’t pile it on your head, let it hang down long while you gently clean it. When you wash it, treat it gently. Very gently remove any tangles with your fingers. If you have something in your hair that you carefully cannot comb out with your big comb or work loose with fingers, cut it out. Never, ever tear tangles out of your hair with a brush, better yet, don’t use a brush at all.

e) Use a slight acid rinse at each wash, after everything else, to restore the correct ph balance to your hair and help remove shampoo residues. Any vinegar mixed with a little water will work well. Lemon juice and water also works but might lighten your hair slightly. Strong tea works well but will darken your hair.

f) Rinse out the vinegar with clear icy cold water when you are finished, as cold as you can stand it. The icy cold water will make the cuticles lie flat helping to keep it from breaking. It will make it shinier too.

g) If you have dry and/or damaged hair, deep condition it once a month with a natural oil. Olive oil works well. Warm it up and apply to hair. Wrap your hair in a towel or a plastic shower cap and leave it on all day or over night. You will probably need to use a little shampoo in the wash to remove it. Follow the guidelines in “c” above.

h) Keep all electric appliances away from your hair. This includes curling irons, flat irons, hot rollers and crimpers. Never, ever put that kind of heat on the ends of your hair, no matter what kind of stuff you put on them to protect them. If you want curls, use gentle pin curls or roll it up in a rag and tie it. You can actually go to the store with your hair rolled up on top of your head in a rag and tied. It looks cute. It’s quite curly and wavy when you let it down. NEVER USE VELCRO ROLLERS! and don’t sleep on rollers, crushing your hair against them (see “d” below). Put soft ones on the very top of your head where you won’t be sleeping on them.

 i) Lesson any friction on your hair. When it gets long enough for you to lean back on, don’t. Rubbing the ends between your back and a chair is a good way to damage the ends. Pull it over your shoulder when you sit down or clip the ends up or braid it. Don’t sleep with it loose. A long braid will hold it tight to keep it from the friction of moving around between your head and the pillow case in the night. Use a slippery satin pillowcase. Don’t wring it out tight when drying or scrub the ends vigorously in a towel. Avoid all friction between your hair and another surface.

j) Do not put anything elastic in it to hold it, including cloth scrungies. Don’t tie it tight in the
same spot over and over again. That’s weakens the hair there. Clip it up or braid it. Braiding is the style of choice for me, when I can get it all in a braid.

k) Constantly trimming the ends will not make it grow any faster. If you are maintaining a healthy length, trim it 1/2″ every month just to remove the damaged ends. That is the normal rate of growth for the average, fairly healthy individual. If you think you hair never grows, it could be because your damaged ends are breaking off that much every month or you are getting a “trim”. It will never get any longer if you lose it off the ends. If you think the ends look bad and need a trim, take off the damage and resolve not to need a trim again until it is the length that you want it. If you already have very damaged ends, you will have to eventually cut them off. You can wait to do this when it gets longer or you can do it before you start to grow it long.

 l) Never cut your hair with anything other than very sharp scissor made specifically for that purpose. If you are going to be trimming your hair or bangs yourself, invest in a good pair of hair cutting shears. If you take care of them and never use them for anything else, they will last you a lifetime.

m) Avoid hairstylists. Don’t let anyone near your hair with scissors that you don’t trust to do EXACTLY what you request. If you must have someone else trim the damaged ends off your hair, ask to see what she is going to cut off before she does it. Remember, it is not in the best interest of most salons or hairdressers if you don’t spend money there regularly. If someone tries to convince you that your long, healthy hair should be cut, run screaming from the salon immediately! Otherwise smile politely and ignore every word they say.

YOU ARE ABSOLUTELY NOT TOO OLD OR TOO GRAY TO HAVE LONG HAIR !!!

The only way to really fix damaged hair is to cut it off, so minimize the damage in the first place.

Do Poached Eggs Have Enough Fat?

 

 

My poached eggs have lots of fat! I like them poached as I time them exactly and have perfect control over how well done they are. I like them medium, soft but not so runny that I lose a lot of yolk all over the plate. If not done enough, I  can always like the plate. lol. (I try not to do that in public.)

 

Lunch

Two no-batter, pan fried chicken thighs and two soft poached eggs. Yum! Chicken and eggs go really well together!

The chicken pieces are left over from dinner last night. They were fried in bacon grease and lard, with salt, pepper, dried Parmesan cheese and garlic. I added half a dozen slices of Gouda cheese to the plate for dinner last night, not today. Just the chicken and eggs. It was delicious! 

 

Weight Loss on the Carnivore Diet

There are so many posts out there about the large amount of weight lost on the carnivore diet. I also say, in my first post in this "Carnivore Diet" blog, that the weight comes off fast, however, "fast" is open to interpretation. You may not lose 10 pounds in two weeks. You probably won't lose much weight in the first couple of weeks at all, but it does go faster after that, after your body adapts to the changes. I see posts from people that are disappointed because they haven't lost 10 pounds in the first two weeks. 

First of all, don't use the scale as your guide to loss in size. You will develop a lot more muscle on the carnivore diet and muscle weighs quite a bit more than fat, so you will probably lose size and not so much actual weight, at first anyway. Isn't a smaller size the goal, after all. Weight is just a number that reflects the size. I lost almost two sizes in clothing in the first six weeks, but only around 5 lbs on the scale. Keep in mind that I also started going for very long walks, 2-3 x weekly. The new exercise routine is also responsible for the loss in size and the gain in muscle. It's a combination of diet and exercise. I only walk for exercise, long walks. Hard workouts, like I did in my 30s-40s, is simply not necessary. 

Five pounds a month is still "fast". Please keep that in mind. Unreal expectations is one reason people quit the carnivore diet. If they had just stuck to it, the weight would have come off, quickly too, just not as fast as some people hope it will from reading these extreme claims on the internet. You may lose more than that and faster, but please don't be disappointed if it takes awhile to get off. It took a lot longer than that to put it on. 

Also remember that there are so many other reasons to eat this way! Carbohydrates make any inflammation in your body so much worse than it should be. Carbs aggravate it. My arthritis is a lot better on the carnivore diet. The difference after a month is amazing! But that's a month, not one week.

From the research I have done, there are a lot of other great benefits, as well, but these take time. It can be healing for a lot of people. I am so much better, physically, when I cut out ALL carbs. My mental clarity is improved. My digestion is quiet, smooth and works a lot better. I don't have the severe headaches I used to get from eating sugar and white flour, either. 

Foraging and Drying Natural Herbs for Food, Healing and Soap

First gather the herbs you want to use for cooking, teas or medicine. This is what grows here that I use: plantain, dandelion leaves, horsetail, sow thistle leaves, yarrow leaves, calendula whole blossoms, lavender, rose, spruce, lemongrass, rosemary, peppermint, clover (white and red flowers and leaves), goldenrod, fireweed, stinging nettle, thyme, oregano, ground ivy (also called creeping Charlie), usnea (also called "old mans beard" lichen, grows hanging from trees at the river, has elastic thread inside), chamomile (I use wild, also called pineapple weed. It grows all over my driveway.) I'm sure there are many more up here that I haven't listed.

 

Many of these are great for cooking and teas, all have healing properties. Please test them for allergic reactions before using. Some, like usnea, are best used topically only. Usnea is not toxic, but it's so acidic as to cause digestive problems. Stinging nettle stings! So be careful picking it. The stinging is gone once it has dried or cooked, and it makes a great tea or spice for soup. Horsetail is very high in silica, great for hair and nails and other areas. Rosemary and usnea are antifungal, and as such will help more your hair grow faster is applied topically in a tea or oil. These are just some of the benefits to using these herbs. Please do your own research and consult a doctor for any health issues you have and any medication they may react with.  

You don't need to use all of these herbs. Try whatever mix you have handy and can forage. All of these have healing, anti-inflammatory and anti-bacterial healing properties. I also use purslane and feverfew, which I grow myself. Both are powerful herbs that I use regularly but they don't grow up here. I consider the plantain important, but it's everywhere.  If you are unsure of something growing, google it or take a close clear photo and ask online what it is. If not sure, it's best to leave it alone. 

 

I enjoy gathering, drying and working with herbs. I like handling them, smelling them, sitting outside in the sun picking them. To me, it's fun. It's relaxing and my house smells wonderful with all these herbs drying everywhere. I try to leave long stems on the leaves or cut whole small branches so I can gather at the ends and hang somewhere. 

I dry small pieces in a single layer on a paper towel, turning every few days. You can dry them quickly in your car on a sunny day and your car will smell marvellous. You can dry them in the oven on a very low setting. Some people dry them in the microwave, however, they need to be half dry before microwaving or it will spark and start a fire. I guess some strong herbs have too much iron and mineral content for the microwave. (Believe me, it can happen, I know...) I think it's best to just leave them out of the microwave altogether. I usually use tin ties to tie bunches to a clothes hanger and hang it up. (No, I didn't put tin ties in the microwave, lol.) 

Stick a small piece of paper on the hanger with the herbs to label then. Sometimes it's hard to tell what they are when they are dry. I have hung herbs from hooks on the wall, on the ceiling fan, from curtain rods, from wires strung under the porch roof, from lamps, shelves, just about everywhere I could hang them. 

 

If you have herbs hanging, you will need to tighten the ties every day. As they dry, they shrink and fall out. If your floor is clean and you don't have cats and dogs that like to eat everything green, you can just tie them up again, but I think it's probably best to just tighten them daily at first. Also hang them high enough that your dogs and cats can't reach them. My cats LOVE horsetail. You can also tie them in paper bags with holes cut in them, to keep out dust and insects and the bags will catch them as they shrink and fall out of the ties. The bags also help keep dust and insect off, if outside.

If you can score large screens, you can make screen shelves on the deck with bricks and screens. That has worked well for me in the past but squirrels and mice can get them. You can also dry them on, and wrap them in, curtain sheers instead of screens and paper bags. They catch even the tiniest pieces. Good for drying seeds, as well. 

I usually give herbs about two weeks to dry very, very well and that's important. Everything that goes into a salve has to be completely dry, no moisture at all! If there's one drop of moisture in it, it will grow mold and go bad quickly. When the herbs are very dry, I crumble and grind in my spice grinder, if they need it. Some, like usnea. are so fine that they don't need it. I then put them in labelled glass jars. Any clean and very dry glass jar will do. Pickle jars work well. They will keep dry like this for years, until you are ready to make the salve. Safety Tip: Wear a mask to grind dry herbs. You don't want to breathe in the dust from the grinder. 

You can spend your summer collecting and processing the herbs, then make the salves and soaps in the winter.

Beef and Butter Eggdrop Soup

 

 

Its delicious! I cooked a small beef roast in the slow cooker, in water, for about 12-13 hours. It was falling apart, so tender and the broth was fantastic! I poured a bowl full into a small pot and added two eggs, in the "egg-drop" fashion, then added chopped beef. 

It's my breakfast. Delicious! Lots of pink Himalayan salt and pepper. No garlic or any herbs this time, just beef, butter and egg. It.is.so.good!!  

Making Herbal Salve

The first step is to infuse oil with the dried herbs. You can use any kind of oil that comes from plants or animals, (olive, almond, sunflower, canola, coconut - although coconut oil melts at 72 degrees F - warm room temperature, so I don't use it for salve. It would be constantly melted unless you kept it in the fridge.) - no mineral oil or petroleum products. 

There are several ways to do this. The easiest way is to fill a glass jar 1/3-1/2 full with dried, ground herbs. Fill to the top of the jar with oil, stir it well, use a tight lid, put in a warm place like a south facing windowsill, on top of your fridge, etc. and shake whenever you walk by. Open daily to stir and let some air in. Leave this for 4-6 weeks. If you want to do this faster you can use a slow cooker. Use jars that fit in your slow cooker with the lid on. Set the jars with lids on, full of herbs and oil, into the slow cooker and fill it 3/4 full with hot water. Cook on low for minimum 5 days, 7 days is better. Take the jars out every day, set on a towel, remove lid and stir. Put the lid back on and return them to the slow cooker. When all jars are out of the slow cooker, add more very hot water so it doesn't dry out. You will have to keep adding water to the slow cooker as the days go by. Just make sure the jars are out of it and it's hot water you are adding. You can turn it off over night so it's not cooking when no one is there to keep an eye on it. Mine goes off and on during the days when I'm cooking herbs. Be very careful handling the jars. They are HOT. Don't handle them with your bare hands. For faster infusion, you can use a steamer. I use the slow cooker method most of the time. When the 5-7 days are finished, strain the herbs. Toss out the cooked herbs. There is nothing left in them of any use. I use a little metal strainer with a coffee filter in it, set on a bowl or a wide mouth jar, to strain the oil. When you have clear, strained, herb infused oil, it's time to add the wax. 

 

You can use beeswax, soy wax or paraffin. All work equally well. I prefer to use soya wax for this purpose. Beeswax is becoming a non sustainable resource. I save my beeswax for lip balm. After straining the oil, you will need to reheat it to melt the wax. I reheat the herb infused oils in the microwave, without the metal lid. A small jar of oil takes about 2-3 minutes to get hot enough in the microwave. You can also set the jars in a double boiler on the stove to heat. If the wax is just not melting, the oil is not hot enough. Do not leave oil heating unattended and do not over heat it. It should be just hot enough to melt the wax within a few minutes of stirring. When the oil is hot enough, add the wax and stir until dissolved. I use 100g of wax added to 400g of oil for salve. You can adjust this for your own preferences. Less wax makes a softer, oilier salve. When the wax is fully melted in the oil, pour it into your clean permanent containers and put the lid on. Leave them sitting still for a few hours as the salve cools and hardens.

I have a slow cooker that I use only for infusing herbal oil. The oils leak out slightly and the slow cooker will get a coating of cooked oil with little use. I wouldn't use it for food. You can often pick up an old slow cooker at the thrift store. I have three, one for herbal oil infusion, one for making soap and one for food. 

My Bug Bite Salve herbs: purslane that I grow myself, plantain, yarrow, calendula, sow thistle. 

 

My Pain Salve herbs: willow bark, wild lettuce, peppermint, lavender, chamomile, spruce, cloves, cayenne 

My Healing Salve herbs: calendula, cayenne, cedarwood, chamomile, clover, lavender, rose, feverfew, horsetail, lemongrass, peppermint, rosemary, sage, spruce, sow thistle, yarrow (You don't need all of these herbs. Use what you can get where you are.) 

My Anti-Fungal Salve herbs: Usnea, Lavender, Spruce, Tea Tree, Peppermint My Nail and Cuticle Salve Recipe: Horsetail, usnea, lavender

My Carnivore Diet

I am on the carnivore diet. I have done this a few times. I lose weight FAST when sticking to it. It's not a hard diet to stick to, for me anyway. I tend to eat that way most of the time, avoiding white flour and sugar. Either of these things can give me a bad migraine headache if I eat too much in a day or on an empty stomach. Switching to full carnivore wasn't that much of a change. I have also been avoiding vegetables and fruit, as much as possible for a long time, as either of these are hard to digest. I find my entire digestion system works so much better, calmer, on the carnivore diet, no gas, bloating, constipation. So, in addition to losing weight, it's better for me.  

 

Another benefit of cutting out carbs is the difference it makes in my arthritis. My arthritis is so much better without the carbs. Carbs aggravate any inflammation you have in your body, including arthritis. Its getting better now, and it's only been a few weeks. It should get even better as the months go by.

Then there's the Roundup (glyphosate) issue. All wheat farmers in North America finish their wheat with glyphosate so it's ready to harvest all at the same time, one harvest. It stays on the wheat and is never washed off, so you get the full impact of it in the flour. (I think this is one of the main causes of the greatly increased gluten sensitivity on this continent.) Here's something to think about. Using glyphosate to finish the wheat all at the same time, saves the farmer a lot of work, time and money. If it's outlawed (which I hope it will be) wheat and wheat products will become more expensive, more in line with the cost of organic bread now. There's also the issue with bleaching white flour. It leaves a chemical in the flour that causes headaches. Yet another reason to quit eating baked goods. 

I stopped eating seed oils a long time ago, since they have been proven to be toxic, especially when heated, but are contained in most commercial baked goods and some processed meats. Animal fats are so much better for you - lard, tallow and real butter. (Some butter brands are faking it now, adding powdered milk and culture, less cream. Some have seed oils in them. Read the labels. Eat real high fat cream butter)

All this to say: I'm on the carnivore diet, probably for the long haul this time. I do occasionally take a few bites of something sweet, but right now, with about 20 lbs to lose, I won't be. When I get to my perfect weight, I'll loosen up a bit on the absolutely no carb rule... maybe. I'm getting adjusted to eating just carnivore now and might not want to go back to something that's going to give me indigestion and bloating every single day. I still eat a couple of small squares of very dark (85-90%) chocolate once a day. It stimulates stem cell growth, which helps heal damaged cells. This little bit of chocolate still gives me a bit of gas, so it will only last as long as I have the chocolate here. When it's gone, I won't buy more. 

My version of the carnivore diet is this: Most fatty meats, eggs, and some dairy. The dairy has to be high fat and very low carb. It necessary to read the labels. I use whole milk to make my own high fat yogurt, with cream added. Otherwise it doesn't get used. This diet also requires eggs, almost daily, so eggs and some dairy are allowed, although I know I will lose the weight faster if I cut out all dairy and I may do so. Eggs are actually recommended, lots of them, daily. I eat soft poached eggs at least every other day and try to put them in a lot of what I make. The carnivore soup I eat is always "egg-drop" for noodles. 

Another thing the carnivore diet recommends is a serving of beef liver and a serving of  salmon weekly. I aim for that, although I don't always get it. Beef liver is best. I like Pillars herb liverworst (pate). It's good mixed with sour cream and used as a dip for pork rinds, but it does contain potato starch, nitrates and onion powder, so I may drop it in favour of pure beef liver. Wild caught pink salmon does come in a can, so it's easy to get. The fresh flanks work too, but are very expensive. I try to eat about a quarter of a can of salmon a week, but I don't always make that. I love fresh salmon baked in foil with salt, pepper and garlic. 

Another thing the carnivore diet recommends is Himalayan pink salt, always, on everything. It's the only salt I use now. It has a nice flavour and contains a lot of the minerals and trace elements we need. 

Because I don't always follow the perfect carnivore diet rules, I take vitamins with minerals. I also take extra vitamin D3, since I live in the far north and it's winter. We get very little sun up here now and I don't drink milk.  

The key to not being hungry while dieting is the fat, eating as much fat as I can. When I feel hungry or get a carb craving, I eat fat. It's my primary energy source on the carnivore diet, not sugar. It will also keep the digestion working properly. I have developed a taste for bites of pure, cold, hard butter and butter in my coffee. It is so good! 

Drinking a lot of water helps the digestion as well, and we need it with the increased protein, but the fat is the important thing. I drink a large glass of warm water every morning as soon as I get up. It helps to keep things working properly too.

Lots of fat is very important. It's the most important thing to eat on the carnivore diet. It prevents a lot of the problems that cause people to quit the carnivore diet. Not enough fat is the main cause of digestion problems on this diet, or so I have read.

I only drink coffee and water; no sodas, teas, juices or drinks of any kind, but I have always done this. Tea, without sugar, would also be acceptable, but ordinary black tea has too much acid for me. I don't tolerate it well, so I don't drink it. Fruit juice is so full of fructose sugar and it causes me a lot of indigestion. Herbal teas are ok, without sugar. "Sugar" includes honey, molasses, natural sugar, sweeteners, anything high on the simple glycemic index. No sugar, period! Anything that's not animal based and high in fat is restricted, including "healthy" fruits and veggies. Dried spices are ok. I use a lot of garlic, some parsley, thyme, etc. in cooking. Pepper has a lot of oxalate so I'm working on cutting it back. Ditto for the fresh garlic. A purist would not even eat the spices, but I do a little.  

The variety in the diet comes in the types of meat available.  Mixing it up at every meal keeps me happy. Hot dogs are allowed, the ones with low sugar, and bacon also without a lot of sugar used in curing. 

I eat a lot of pork. I especially like pork belly, sliced thin and fried in lard until they are crispy dark brown, then salted. They aren't cured so don't have any sugar or nitrates from curing. They are a delicious crispy snack, and cheap! Pork ribs and buttons are also good, done in the slow cooker until they fall apart. Mix these meats on a plate with a little of the expensive ones, beef and fish, and it makes a nice meal. A little of each on the plate. A couple of pork ribs, one small piece of chicken, and a few bites of beef, and some cheese slices on the plate, make a nice meal. I don't usually have that much of a variety together. I'm good with a bowl of ground beef - bacon meat loaf, topped with sour cream! Yum! Everything on the above sample plate could have sour cream on it. I put sour cream on everything (high fat, of course).

I avoid processed meat when possible, but I do eat some bacon and occasionally hot dogs (no bun). I have begun to cook bacon by boiling in water first. I find this removes a lot of the sugars and salts used in curing. I keep all bacon fat for cooking but usually use clean lard. I buy pure lard in the 50lb box from the Wholesale Store. It's a lot cheaper than buying it in one pound packs at the grocery store and it last a long, long time. We use lard for all our cooking and I add it to things like meat loaf and ground turkey meatballs, to get the extra fat I need. 

I save real butter for special things since its so expensive and many brands of butter are fake, made with powdered milk and culture for the flavour, mixed with some cream. It would not have the high fat content of real butter. Again, read the label. I put butter in my coffee. It's delicious! I will occasionally eat just a clump of cold, hard butter. It's good, but takes getting used to. I'm beginning to love it as a quick snack!

Bacon grease adds amazing flavour to everything. I now put finely chopped bacon in my meat loaf too, which I make without carbs. Extra eggs keep it together well and help give me the eggs I need. It's important when making meatloaf to let it sit and cool in the pan. It will absorb all that fat and juice as it cools. Don't drain if off! 

All said, I'm happy on the carnivore diet. It takes some adjustment for the first few weeks. Knowing this, I gradually removed the carbs from my diet and increased the fat gradually. I did this for several weeks. I think I have avoided all the negative digestion issues I had when going on the carnivore diet previously. It was much easier this time. 

I know from previous experience that the weight will come off fast. It's not the fat that puts on weight, it's the carbs. I do still get a few carbs in the fresh garlic that goes on everything, and all the dairy that I eat and the coffee. I drink about 4-6 cups of coffee a day, all with real cream and butter. (That much coffee is not a recommendation on the carnivore diet, it's just what I do.) Coffee depletes the magnesium in your body, so I'm working on cutting it down to two cups a day, early morning and late afternoon, when I need the pick-me-up.

Doing without coffee would be the thing that would sink me. I can easily not eat carbs. It's not hard to stay on the carnivore diet, since fat and protein keep you full longer. If I eat a lot at every meal and snacks, lots of fat and no carbs of course, then I'm not hungry for anything else, but I do love my coffee!

I find, in the long run, that the carnivore diet is cheaper on the grocery bill. It can be done cheaply. I know meat is expensive, but so are all those "other" things. I don't buy bread, crackers, buns, desserts, cookies, jam, relish, pickles, veg oil, vegetables, fruits, drinks, frozen pizza, any convenience foods, soups, tomato sauce, potatoes, rice, pasta, tacos, burger buns, fries, ice cream and so many other things that I would otherwise be eating. If I find I need a snack to keep my energy up when I'm out, I'll get a small coffee with 2-3 creams. I can also buy pork rinds at any grocery store. It's a great lunch if I have to grab lunch out somewhere. I rarely buy cooked foods out, usually only when travelling.

All in all, I like the carnivore diet and it works! It takes the weight off fast and helps reduce my arthritis pain. And it's so easy to follow. I'm not hungry and with all this great meat to eat, I don't feel like I'm deprived of anything. Using a barbecue for a lot of the meat helps too. It makes everything delicious! I also use my slow cooker frequently and quick fry a lot of things in the cast iron skillet.

If you are planning on undertaking the carnivore diet, be warned. There is a transition period. Your body will take a few weeks to rid itself of all the toxins it has built up through a continuous intake of flour and sugar, to dump the oxalate from vegetables and to adapt to the intake of extra fat and protein. That is why a commitment of three months, minimum, is usually asked before making a judgment. It takes that long for you to start reaping the true benefits of eating this way. Weight loss comes fast and early, but there are so many other things to be gained when you drop all sugar and flour from your diet. 

The first common downside of a quickly changed diet to carnivore is this: severe, explosive diarrhea, but it doesn't last long and is controlled with the diarrhea pills, so go gradual into full fat-no carb. It's the intake of a lot of meat and fat all at once that causes it. Going slow and gradually changing is the key to avoiding this common side effect. If you suddenly dump all carbs and add a lot of fat and meat to your diet, you will probably experience this late in the second or the third day. I have read that it's common, so go slow. 

Another side effect of starting the carnivore diet is called the "Carnivore flu". You feel like you have the flu - achy all over, drained of all energy. It's common and usually occurs in the first few weeks and will possibly last for a couple of  weeks. Its withdrawal from sugar. This is what I have learned from my studies, but I have not experienced much of this. Fatigue, yes, but not the flu symptoms, however, as I said, I started gradually and didn't eat much sugar or white flour to begin with. 

Losing weight quickly will drain you of your energy, no matter how you do it. It's just the way it works. It's a good time of year to start this, when things are slow. 

After looking at these photos, anyone who asked me what I eat or don't I ever get bored, hasn't been paying attention to the photos. The list is endless and these things are all delicious!  

The photos on this page are not my own but come from a free photo site of which I am a member.