I don’t remember how I found this site, maybe my wife pointed it out to me, but I found my answer over at Everyday Paleo:

Walnut Red Pepper Dip

2 cups shelled walnuts (soak them for at least 1 hour to soften them; it’ll be easier to process them this way)
1/2 tsp. ground cumin
1/2 tsp. salt
1 jar (12 oz.) roasted red peppers – drained
1 garlic clove, minced
2 tbsp. olive oil
2 tsp. lemon juice

In a food processor, pulse walnuts, cumin, and salt until walnuts are finely ground (like the consistency of Hummus). Add peppers, garlic, olive oil, and lemon juice.  Whirl until smooth.

I just made this today and I have to say, it’s not exactly like hummus, but it’s a damn good replacement! So, thank you, Sarah, for posting this recipe to your site.

Dan's Blended Ice Drink

Look at that! It tastes great and fits my diet goals (as far as fat, protein, and carb ratios) perfectly! And, honestly, if I had four of these in a day, I’m not sure I could make myself eat any more than that… yeah, they’re that filling.

Ingredients

• 2 scoops of 100% Whey Gold Standard, Vanilla Ice Cream
• 1 large egg, raw
• 2.5 fl oz of heavy cream (I normally use coconut milk, but I’m out so I used my wife’s heavy whipping cream instead.)
• 6 fl oz of espresso
• water and ice (I use 8 fl oz of water and enough ice to fill the magic bullet blender.)

Directions

1. Pull the espresso and place it in the freezer to start it cooling. It won’t get very cold like this, but I like my drink more watery so I add it later while it’s still warm. You could add it to the blender in lieu of some of the water and just use more ice.
2. Put protein powder, egg, cream, water, and ice in a blender and blend until mixed and desired consistency. You can always add more water or ice if needed.
3. Pour into a 24 fl oz cup and add espresso, if you didn’t do it above.

For me, with my amounts of water and ice, this fits perfectly into a 24 fl oz cup.

Last year, in mid-October, it took me out of the gym and lingered for two or three months until I went to the doctor for drugs. When I finally went in January 2009, as I had never been to that doctor before, they ordered blood tests. In addition to other issues, my serum 25(OH)D level was 8.3 ng/mL-i.e., seriously deficient. The doctor had me take 50,000 IUs of Vitamin D2 twice a week for 8 weeks. That got my level up to 35.3 ng/mL when I had a followup test in May.

Unfortunately, other than that 800,000 IUs and some time spent in the backyard pool over the summer, I did not supplement my Vitamin D at all until toward the end of September when I started taking 10,000 IUs of Vitamin D3. My blood test five days later showed that my 25(OH)D level had dropped back below the normal minimum of 32 ng/mL to 24.4. Much better than the 8.3 starting point, but still deficient.

After one week at 10,000 IUs, based upon a post from Dr. Kurt Harris over at PāNu (look down in the “Replacement, Not Supplementation” section), I dropped my supplementation to a normal level of 4,000 IUs daily. I remain at this level regardless of daily sun exposure, which these days in nil. However, based upon a ton of information I’ve been reading lately, I have been doubling my daily dose to 8,000 IUs when illness is nearby-i.e., when my wife or kids are sick.

My next blood test is scheduled for this coming Monday (November 2). In two weeks time, at the followup visit, I expect to see some nice improvements to my vitamin D level. Hopefully, my anti-streptolysin O level will be either reduced or, at the least, not increased… that’s the reason, you see, for the number of blood tests I’ve had recently.

Update 1/18/2010: Shortly after this post, I upped my supplementation back to 10,000 IUs for the winter. At my blood test January 18th, my 25(OH)D was up to 115 ng/mL. Woot! I’ve cut my supplementation back down to 4,000 IUs. I’ll keep it here until my next blood test in July. I can say that I’ve never felt healthier. My sinuses have been much clearer over the past few months than they have ever been.

Here are some great links to information on vitamin D:

A Compendium of Vitamin D Information There is a ton of useful information on this page. It certainly earns the “compendium” part of the title. Some of my favorite sections of the page are:

• Chronic Pain “Epidemiological studies indicate that 93% of people with chronic muscoskeletal pain are deficient in Vitamin D“

• Depression This really explains the seasonal blues for me. I had just assumed it was “cabin fever” or something mental. To know that it could be vitamin deficiency really gives me hope for future winters… bring it on!

• Vitamin D and Cancer This section really hits close to home… as a man, anything that “reduces the risk of prostate cancer” is high on my list of to-dos. And, having lost my grandmother to pancreatic cancer, knowing that “just 400 IU of Vitamin D per day reduced the risk of pancreatic cancer by 43%” gives me hope for myself and my kids.

• Vitamin D and the Immune System A couple of sentences in this section are what prompted me to write this post. “Increased incidence of respiratory infection is linked to Vitamin D deficiency. Epidemiological studies indicate that people with low levels of Vitamin D are 40% more likely to have a respiratory infection.” Alrighty then! That explains my last three years!!!

H1N1, Vitamin D3 and Innate Immunity is another post from Dr Harris over at PāNu. This post is part of the reason I double my supplementation when there is illness in the house. In short, “[i]t appears vitamin D is incredibly protective against H1N1.” This part is amazing to me: “0.73% of residents were affected, as compared to 7.5% of staff. This 10-fold difference was statistically significant (P<0.001). That is, the chance that this was a chance occurrence is one less than one in a thousand.” If you don’t want to read the post, know that residents of the long-term care facility receive daily supplementation of vitamin D based upon individual 25(OH)D levels.

Vitamin D supplements show anti-diabetes potential Dr Michael Eades posted a link to this article this morning on his twitter account DrEades. I promptly posted it to my Facebook page before I decided to write this post. In short, the article reports that a randomized, controlled trial has shown that vitamin D improves both insulin sensitivity and insulin resistance, two common risk factors for diabetes. Awesome!

Vitamin D Is DINOMIT Against Cancer is a post from Tom Naughton that links to a video from the UCSD School of Medicine and Moores Cancer Center titled “How Vitamin D Reduces Incidence of Cancer: DINOMIT Model.” I would link directly to the video, but you really need to start reading Tom’s stuff anyway so go… after you finish here! Also, you need to watch Tom’s documentary film Fat Head.

The Miracle of Vitamin D over at the Weston A. Price Foundation site. This page has a lot of information and a ton of references to follow… 82 of them!

That should get you started on your own research.

Well, the last time I had this, I was thinking of how good it would be to have some peppermint oil mixed in the coconut oil. Mix in some oil, chill the coconut oil, and-bam!-Primal Peppermint Patties! Heading out to Trader Joe’s tomorrow, so guess what I’m going to be buying….

I would link to the nutritional info, but it’s not on the Lindt website! They have the 85% bar and the 99% bar, but not the 90% bar.

Here’s the nutritional info from the 85% bar:

The 90% bar differs only slightly:

• Total Fat: 20g
• Sodium: 5mg
• Total Carbohydrates: 14g
  • Dietary Fiber: 5g
  • Sugar: 3g
• Protein: 5g
• The ingredient list is identical.

First of all, scotch eggs are good. I mean, hard-boiled eggs, covered in sausage and breadcrumbs and deep-fried. Um, yeah, they are really good. And, really, aside from the breadcrumbs, they are not all that bad for you… and, depending on the quality of the sausage, I’d say that they are downright good for you!

So, now I’ve got to find a primal replacement for the breadcrumbs that will keep the texture right. Time to confer with the Great and Powerful Google. A quick search for “primal scotch eggs” and there’s Mark’s Daily Apple rightthere at number one. Link one is to the forum where a few users have some great ideas: shredded coconut, almond flour, pork rinds. Link two is to a post from Mark called Primal Bloggers Around the Net. One commenter, Krys, points over to some scotch eggs at Caveman Cooking which is pretty simple in that it’s eggs wrapped just in sausage and then baked.

Now I’ve got a few options to try out. I love coconut and the idea of shredded coconut, sausage, and eggs deep-fried sounds really, really good. Then again, encasing eggs in sausage and baking them sounds really, really easy.

Adding these in with all of those recipes from over at This Primal Life, sounds like I have my work cut out for me in the kitchen.

Here are a few that caught my eye:

• Strawberry Picking and a Primal Pie
• Coconut-Orange Pound Cake Recipe
• Experiments with Primal Cookie Making
  • Sort of Almost Primal Chocolate Chip Cookies and Other Recipes
• Primal Coconut Blueberry Muffins
• Primal Cheddar Jalepeno Biscuit Rounds Recipe
• Primal Carrot Cake with Coconut and Walnuts Recipe

I’ll have to post pictures and reviews when I extensively test each and every recipe.

The Paleo Pyramid

I just recreated this version using the same design as my first. Though thinking on it a bit, I might have changed a couple things. Specifically, rather put vegetables and fruits on the same level, I think I should’ve put vegetables as its own level just above meat. Then I would’ve made nuts, berries, and fruits vertical groups of the same size to fill the rest of the space — you know how the “new” USDA MyPyramid looks with the vertical slices for each group? That’s what I have in mind. Also, if I had more accurately represented the calorie distribution I’m aiming for, the meat group should’ve been much larger. Oh well… this should still be better than what the USDA is pushing on society now.

Great all around post that you should read, but this line says a lot on its own:

If you condensed all of human history into a single year, we’d only have been eating grains since yesterday and processed vegetable oils since 10 minutes ago.

via Hey Fat Head, You’ve Been Fed a Load of Bologna!

My wife and I used to do this often when we were doing Atkins. I think that maybe it’s time to do it again… though, perhaps with less cheese. As I recall, it was typically just a beef crust, but I really like the idea of pork… oh, and maybe some turkey! Or, some chicken! Oh the possibilities… the yummy, yummy possibilities.

The Healthy Cooking Coach's Meatza

We’ll have to share pictures the next time we make it…