NYE Pro Tips

So you had a little too much last year and wanted ISIS to appear and behead you so your headache would go away. Swore up and down you wouldn't do the same thing ever again? Even if you didn't overdo it last time, your body needs a little help getting alcohol out of your system. Here's your playbook this New Years Eve.

The day of:

Drink 1/2 your bodyweight in oz. of H20 the entire day. 

Invest in a supplement like Party Smart (Whole Foods has it), and take a pill before or during your during your sloppy-drunk bad-decision-riddled evening. The ingredients help the body get rid of a byproduct of alcohol that makes you hurt and want to die when you are hung over.

The day after:

Drink 1/2 your bodyweight in oz. of H20 the entire day.

That morning, go ahead and take another Party Smart if you got super wasted the night before. 

Next, check your phone to see if you sent any regrettable pictures to anyone. Once you check your texts, you can start on your apology calls/texts/press releases.

The entire next week:

This one's for extra credit, but you can take milk thistle. It helps your liver detoxify through a mechanism I won't explain because it's boring.

Or you could just not drink. It's your life.

Easy Dry-Cured Salmon

Before refrigerators were a thing, people improvised delicious ways to keep their food fresh, like making sausages, curing bacon and fish, and fermenting vegetables (and sometimes meat!). Now humans are coddled by technology, and there's little need for preserving food the ways that we used to. Our refrigerators and smart phones have made us complacent eaters (I'm writing this on my iPhone) and as a result, we have settled for frost-bitten frozen pizzas and a boob tube sesh after a hard day at work.

A few years ago, I started curing salmon in the fridge with the easy method listed below. Although I'd like to find an alternative for plastic wrap (to avoid the xenoestrogens in plastic), I'm just mentally too lazy to find a better method. See what being pampered by technology does?

According to my research on Wikipedia, a dry cure without sugar is called a London cure. This is the kind I prefer, because sugar seems to be in just about everything else. Follow the steps below for tasty, dry-cured fish that keeps for a few weeks in your refrigerator.

You will need:

• 1 side of salmon or lake trout
• 1-2 T grated lemon
• 1/8 cup sea salt
• 1 T fennel or black pepper to taste 
• Pliers
• Plastic wrap
• A pan to catch the water that is pulled out of the fish during curing

Rinse and pat the fish dry

De-bone fish with pliers.

Rub the mixture onto both sides, but especially the  side without skin.

Wrap it in cling wrap and lay the fish in a pan.

Put it refrigerator, flipping once a day for 5 days.

Unrwap, rinse off mixture, pat dry with a towel, then slice on the diagonal.

Hot Cocoa do-over

My favorite thing about cold weather is hot chocolate. Every time I go outside, the crisp fall air nips at my face and hands like a friendly-but-not-so-friendly dog, reminding me that my hands need to be wrapped around a warm mug of sweet, rich chocolate and my face needs to be perched above the steam rising from my personal cauldron of liquid contentment. To most people, it means buying a bigger Christmas sweater and loosening your belt as you prepared to get Starbucked right in the bum by a sugary beverage of convenience.

But all that sugar just isn't good for you, and cocoa is easy to make. That's why I modified the recipe. If the Swiss miss drank as much low-grade by-the-packet cocoa as we are led to believe, she would not be on the cover of a cocoa box. So this year tell Swiss Miss and her friend the siren from Starbucks to suck it, and let's do this cocoa thing right.

2 tbsp. xylitol 

2 tbsp. Cocoa powder

12-14 oz flax/almond/coconut milk

Put the xylitol and cocoa in a pot together and turn the heat on medium. Add a splash of milk and continue stirring. Add a little more milk after a minute and continue stirring. Keep doing that till all the milk is in the pot. When steam starts to rise off your cocoa, it is time to turn off the heat and pour into mugs. Makes enough to for 2.

All the measurements are approximate, so you may have to adjust them a little.

In case you don't know, xylitol is a naturally occurring sugar alcohol found in plants, and even in fruit. It has been used in Scandinavia as a sweetener for years, and is very common in the rest of Europe. Don't let that fool you into eating it by the bag, though, xylitol has a laxative effect (Google sugar-free Haribo gummy bears Amazon review for a wonderfully-written description of one man's experience).

5 years ago, I posted a different recipe on my blog that used nonfat milk and agave nectar. Since then, I've learned that cow milk is something that most people are sensitive to, and that nonfat dairy is just a bad idea for so many reasons. Also in the last 5 years research has emerged that shows agave nectar working in the same way as high-fructose corn syrup in the body, so that's is interesting.

The world of nutrition is constantly changing, and I love looking through old blog posts and recipes to see how much has changed about the way my family cooks, eats and lives.

How to quit and stay off heroin

It's been ten years since the last time I got high. It seemed like something that could never be done, and living a day without heroin seemed like its own slow, painful death. So how did I change my life when change was so unthinkable? I'll tell you in a minute, my friend.

I have a confession to make. I don't believe that addiction is a disease. I think it is a symptom. It is the result of something else. Unhappiness, stress, disconnection, chemical or hormonal imbalances - a sort of silent trigger if you will. 

This trigger leads to the body's recognition of those things and the reactive urge to jolt itself back into something closer to its natural equilibrium. Seratonin low? Guess what helps you release it fast? Drugs, of course. Quickly and efficiently, serotonin levels are up, and everything is ok (for now). The body always takes the path of least resistance (like a river), and because drugs or alcohol or food or sex or something else help release what it needs, that is the go-to from now on. The body needs to survive moment to moment, there is no big-picture hard wired into the human survival instinct.

I was told I have a disease, and I tried to believe it. The idea of talking about a disease I had made me want to KILL myself so I wouldn't have it anymore. But I was aware of my human survival instinct, and the fact that being in rehab is what you do when you are trying to stay alive. So I decided not to attend any 12 step meetings after a while. But the rest of the rehab program I figured I'd roll with it and see what happened. Here are some of the things I did that helped me change my life.

Establish a support system

My support system was really small at first, just my girlfriend, my brother, my sister-in-law, my boss at work, and my band mates. Eventually it grew, but that core group of people had my best interests in mind and never let me out of their sight. The faces in my support system have changed over the years, with the only constant being my girlfriend, who is now my wife. But that network of people has grown drastically, and now includes many friends, relatives, clients and coworkers, all of whom have my back and my best interests at heart.

Get professional help

A history of many failed attempts at kicking the habit made me realize that I needed a crutch, and I entered an opioid replacement therapy program. It was not the first time I had been in a program like this, but somebody told me once that every time you quit something, you get that much better at quitting - even if you are unsuccessful.

While I was in treatment, I had a few different counsellors. Some were good, some were not so good. One in particular was great. I would come in with some outlandish story or a problem, and she always found a way to make me realize how each element of what I was talking about could relate back to my motivation for getting clean and the color behind my urges to self-sabotage. 

But even the not-so-great counsellors I had were helpful, even if the only purpose they served was to make me realize that I had to get a better counselor. Realizing something simple like that was proof that I wanted to fight for myself. 

Cut off contact

My brother took my phone, because duh. All calls to my house were screened by my brother and sister-in-law, who I lived with. There are a lot of people who I never spoke to again after I got clean. 

During the last year of my using drugs, I had accidentally become a drug dealer. I say accidentally because it was not a conscious decision. It was more like, "well since I'm headed to go get drugs, I might as well see if anybody needs anything while I'm there." After a while, I bought in bulk and kept some extra around that I sold for a small profit. It just made sense to make a little money. BTW, all of the money I made went back into drugs.

After I got my phone back, people would still call and ask for me, and I had to shut off my phone because of it. About a year into my treatment, one of my old junkie friends tried to reach out on MySpace, which was totally a narc move. I never responded.

Cut off cash flow

My girlfriend literally froze my check card in a plastic cup of water in her freezer. I also handed over any tips I got working at the coffee shop to her till we could go to the bank together and deposit them. Anything I needed to pay for was done with checks, which were kept under lock and key or by withdrawing money at the teller window.

Don't drive

I handed over the keys to my beloved Volvo, which was put up on blocks in the driveway of my brother's house. A few months later, I decided to sell it because I still didn't have a day free of cravings. After about a year, I got a bike to ride to and from work, with a check-in phone call as soon as I got there. 

That craving-free day day became a reality 4 years later. I finally bought a car again, only to discover that I didn't like driving anymore!

Don't ever be alone

I was not a social drug user, and being alone was a trigger for me, so we decided that I should be alone as little as possible. It was probably over a year into the process the first time I was alone without one of the people in my support system.

The only exception to the rule was if I rode my bike to work. It made it pretty much impossible for me to get drugs if I had a moment of weakness. It was one of the more extreme precautions we took, but also very practical. To this day, it is hard for me to be alone. 

Use small changes to cement big ones

My nutrition changes were gradual, but ended up being a big part of my recovery. It started with taking large doses of fish oil to help with brain function. My girlfriend knew a lot about supplements and suggested it. We figured it could help me resist cravings a little easier, by helping with mood regulation. My moods used to change so quickly it scared me, and I was constantly anxious. Fish oil helped, although it was not immediate or drastic. 

Later on I started a multivitamin, and after that started cutting out refined sugar in my diet. Over time I went from eating sour gummy Jolly Ranchers / chocolate chip cookies with whipped cream / a big nasty gooey calzone everyday to eating 3 balanced meals and a few snacks, including vegetables.

My counselor advised me to avoid alcohol, which I did the entire 3 years I was in treatment. 

Eventually I gave up cigarettes, because I needed the lung capacity for running a 5k races and recovering after heavy sets of weight lifting at the gym.

Get new surroundings

Less than a year after entering methadone treatment, I went from being a barista who played music in a punk band and lived in his brothers attic to a blacksmith who painted on the side and had art shows who lived with his girlfriend. It might not seem like much, but it took me one step further into my new life and away from my old one.

Reinvent yourself

Taking good care of myself became more and more of a habit that I decided I wanted to be around people who had the same values. I had learned so much about exercise that after a few years of living my new life, a natural next step was to become a personal trainer, which later turned into becoming a nutrition coach. I started using my writing skills to create educational content for my clients, and I started a blog. The other day I told someone about my past and the reaction was, "I never would have guessed that about you." Success.

Go public

The best way to make sure everyone is watching out for you is to ask them to. I have always let my employer know what I've been through, and asked them to help me stay clean. A few years ago, the local newspaper published a short piece on my recovery. Former addicts approach me and say things like "I could never be public about my past." Why not? Everyone has been touched by addiction, and it's nothing to be ashamed of. Why keep it a secret?

People sometimes say stupid things to me like, "I did mushrooms in college once" or, "Do you think weed is a drug?" But full disclosure has drawn everyone including coworkers and clients into my support system. Now I have my entire community holding me accountable.

Remember what's important

Each year near the anniversary of the day I got clean, I go to No Regrets Tattoo Emporium and add a tally mark to my left arm, the same arm that had been pocked with track marks, covered up with makeup from Walgreens. Every time I feel like using, I look at the tally mark tattoo on my arm and think how bad that would hurt to have to remove it, or have to explain to people what I'd lost.

I owe such a huge part of my success to the woman who has seen me at my worst, and still stuck with me. That woman is my wife, Elizabeth, and she is the best thing that ever happened to me. Every time I add to my tattoo, I think how grateful I am to have some of the most amazing people in the world in my corner. That tattoo might represent the years I've been clean, but it also shows how my support system has grown.

Recovery from addiction is hard, and there is not single way to do it right. My success was not linear, and it was not all mapped out from the start. There were a lot of failures that preceded my final, successful stab at it. While the methods used might be different than what is typical, it's working for me and I'm proud of what I've accomplished and who I accomplished it with. 

Don't get all grossed out, it's not made from human bones

Most people act a little squeamish when I mention bone broth. Understandable. To most people it usually brings to mind a human skeleton being boiled in a cauldron while witches dance around it cackling maniacally.

But bone broth is not as gross, wicked or wierd as the name might make it sound. It pretty much has the same taste and texture as any other broth or stock, although sometimes it might be a little darker in color.

Bone broth has been in western culture for a little over a thousand years (1), and in other cultures longer than historical records. For the most part, bone broth (especially from chicken) has well documented health benefits. 

In 2015, bone broth has become a little bit of a rockstar, with publications from Shape magazine to eater.com printing articles about it. Here are some things you should know about it.

Good for the joints

When cold, the liquid has a Jello-like quality because of its high gelatin content. Yes, there's a buttload of collagen in bone broth, but the truth is that it is actually hard for the body to break down and use. What's more important is the amino acids in the bone broth that the body uses to make its own collagen. There is also chondroitin and glucosamine, which are often sold by themselves as supplements, and help with bone and soft tissue formation and remodeling.

Good for the gut

Because of the high concentration of amino acids, specifically L-Glutamine, bone broth helps heal and seal the intestines, making them less permeable. Gut permeability has been shown to be the cause of (or a huge factor in) leaky gut disorders including fibromyalgia, lupus, rheumatoid arthritis, attention deficit and autism spectrum developmental disorders (3).

Good for you, but not a cure-all

If bone broth is the only healthy thing in your life, it won't do a lot for you. People get really excited about new things and  tend to single out this one thing as a game changer. We all tend to do it, it's human nature. That's why here are people who are really into fermenting their own food, but think nothing about diving into 3 servings of mashed potatoes while having just a garnish of green vegetables on their plate. The takeaway is that drinking bone broth will not change your life if you are still eating processed sugars, synthetic and packaged foods, and irresponsibly sourced food.

How to DIY

There are a lot of recipes for bone broth out there, and the most important thing to pay attention to is variables like time, temperature, type of animal bones, and proportion.

Time - most recipes fall between 6-12 hours. The reason for cooking so long is to allow the soft tissues to dissolve and for the mixture to pull minerals out of the bones.

Temperature - high heat destroys the amino acids, so a simmer is best.

Type of animal - there is a lot of evidence to suggest chicken has will benefit the immune system (the chicken soup effect). But personally, I will use any bones I have around based on the Native American belief in using every part of the animal in order to respect its life.

Proportions - how much vinegar and salt is added makes a big difference in taste as well as how well the vinegar pulls minerals out of the bones and soft tissue.

Add-ins - many recipes feature vegetables like garlic, onion, celery, carrots and kale stalks while others are (pun intended) bare bones.

My recipe

In a 7-quart stock pot, combine the following:

- 3 cleaned chicken carcasses or roughly 3 pounds of bones

- 1-2 tbsp unrefined sea salt

- 2 tbsp Bragg's apple cider vinegar

- if I have kale stalks or celery butts left over from meal prep, I add them in. Sometimes if I'm feeling chef-y I add garlic and onion (and maybe some herbs).

- fill to the top with reverse-osmosis filtered water.

Simmer for 10 hours.

Bottle and store in refrigerator for up to 2 weeks (it will actually last longer, but you should be drinking it within two weeks because that's what you are making it for, right?).

 

1. McGee, Harold. 2007. The Science and Lore of the Kitchen http://www.amazon.com/On-Food-Cooking-Science-Kitchen/dp/0684800012/ref=as_sl_pc_qf_sp_asin_til?tag=wethea-20&linkCode=w00&linkId=7SELN4NFPR4JABXY&creativeASIN=0684800012

2. Swarcki, Beth. 2013. Gut Bacteria May Cause Rheumatoid Arthritis http://news.sciencemag.org/biology/2013/11/gut-bacteria-may-cause-rheumatoid-arthritis

3. Campbell-McBride, Natasha. 2010. Gut and Psychology Syndrome http://www.amazon.com/Gut-Psychology-Syndrome-Depression-Schizophrenia/dp/0954852028

Parsnip Pancakes - vegan and paleo coexisting in your pie hole

Who says pancakes can't be savory? And who says something can't be vegan and paleo at the same time? These pancakes use no animal products (making them vegan) and contain only vegetables and seeds and no dairy (making them paleo). But really, veganism  and paleo are both ideologies that I consider to great for some, but not for all.  Keep that in mind as you read this, or you will think I'm a big fat hypocrite at the end of this recipe.

1/2 cup ground flaxseed

1 cup water

1/2 tsp salt

1 pound parsnips

1/2 cup carrots

1 jalapeño 

3/4 cup green onion

1/4 cup coconut oil

Optional: Heat your oven to a warm 215 degrees to keep your pancakes hot while you cook.

Mix the salt, flaxseed and water together until it becomes a gummy, sloppy goop. Let it sit while you do the next thing. 

Dice your jalapeño and slice the green onion. Do NOT rub your eyes. On second thought, maybe you should chop the green onions first!

Shred your parsnips and carrots in a food processor (I use a Cuisinart with a grater blade). Or you can use a cheese grater and hate life while you rub your knuckles raw and cuss. Once you are done, set it aside for a second while you start heating a pan over medium heat.

Mix your vegetables in with your flax goop. Put some of your coconut oil stash into the pan and wait for it to melt. Now you are ready to spoon in half-fist size portions of mixture. Cook until you feel like it is golden and crispy on the bottom, then flip and do the same thing on the other side. Keep extras hot in a warm oven.

Serve any way you like, but in the picture I used goat cheese and tossed arugula and hemp seeds in a Bragg's ACV and olive oil vinaigrette. I guess the pancakes I ate today were neither vegan nor paleo. But they were nutritious and delicious. So there's that.

Brussels Sprouts to Bacon: "I'm leaving you."

Now that bacon made Brussels sprouts cool, everybody and their hipster mom are eating them at trendy restaurants. But what if you don't have time or bacon to make them the new, cool way? Hold on to your handlebar mustache (and push your thick-rimmed glasses up your nose, passively showing off your cool outline-of-an-arrow forearm tatto) this recipe's for you. And it's damn tasty!

Ingredients

1 pound Brussels sprouts

1/4 cup sun-dried tomatoes, chopped

1/4 tsp or salt to taste

1 tbsp. ghee or coconut oil

1/2 teaspoon sage, chopped, crumbled, powdered or however you like.

Chop the butts off your Brussels sprouts.

Next, begin preheating a large skillet on the range at medium heat.

In a Cuisinart with the slicer blade, slice the Brussels sprouts. If you don't have a Cuisinart food processor, get married. People give you stuff. If you are already married but without the right kitchen stuff, how are all the crystal vases working out for you?

Add the ghee or coconut oil to the pan. When it is melted, add the Brussels sprouts.

Stir occasionally. When the color starts getting a little brighter, stir in the sun-dried tomatoes and sage. Salt at the very end of cooking, when the bright green color has started to fade a little. The Brussels sprouts should be tender and ready to be plated.

Enjoy your new life, Brussels sprouts. Bacon is delicious, but also kind of a douche.

Green smoothie with a kick in the pants

I'm not going to be wordy today, but here's a high-protein green smoothie that tastes halfway decent without using a crap-ton of fruit.

8 oz. flax milk

4-5 ice cubes

1 cup frozen organic kale

2 scoops vanilla Dairy Free FastFuel or 1 scoop Vega One

1 tsp. spirulina

1 tsp. Bragg's apple cider vinegar

1/4 cup sunflower seeds or hemp hearts

1 tsp. maca root

Blend. 

Drink and enjoy the fact that you have added protein, nutrients, and a hormonal boost to your day.

Meat Loaf: a memoir and a recipe

Meatloaf used to make me think about church potlucks, where some people bring foods that  they think should be in your belly. As a preacher's kid, I have forgotten more potluck dinners than you'll ever go to, but one thing I'll never forget is how much I hated meatloaf. As a PK, your job is to be diplomatic, and you literally feel the eyes of the congregation on your every move. I'm sure this was all in my head, but at potlucks I would feel like I had to try some of everything - at least the first time I saw it. So as you can imagine, I ate a lot of things, some strange and gross, some incredibly delicious. A good potluck would have a selection that ranged from Jell-O infused with God-knows-what to casseroles (there were so, so many of those) to fresh salmon plucked from a nearby river (amazeballs). But every potluck would invariably have a meatloaf.

Depending on the recipe and the execution, meatloaf can be quite delicious. But this was not usually the case. Most of the time, I would smell the melted ketchup on the top from halfway down the smorgasbord, mixed with the bland overtones of the dry beef/breadcrumb lump festering below the caramelized corn-syrup-tomato chimaera.

When there was no potluck at church, most Sundays our family would go to church member's houses for lunch. Sometimes people would surprise us by cooking something that was really delicious, but most of the time it was either a bucket KFC or a bland meat loaf with boring sides like slimy canned green beans and creamed corn. Oh, and boxed mashed potatoes. I remember hinting to my parents that I might kill myself at the dinner table at a church members house if a meat loaf were brought out as the entree to Sunday dinner. My brother, sister and I made games out of making fictitious church potluck recipes, guessing what was for lunch or which dishes we would see at the potluck. It must be true what they say about preacher's kids, but I wouldn't really know because everyone who has ever uttered that phrase in my presence just left it at that or said "Oh, you know." I think they meant we are all cynical assholes who make fun of people's food.

I don't know what possessed me to make a meatloaf in my late 20s, after years of shunning it like our congregation shunned members who were not following the rules. Actually, now that I think about it, it was my yoga practice that made me reconsider my belief in meatloaf like an agnostic having some sort of acid-trip epiphany about God actually being everywhere and everything all at the same time. During nap time at the end of class, I started thinking about practical, hearty recipes for protein. It made sense to make a meat loaf, but not like those gross church potluck abominations. I was happy the yoga teacher could not hear my thoughts, because my brain was supposed to be empty right then. But with a few changes, I thought, meatloaf might not be so bad.

Meat loaf with tomato-balsamic crust

Meat loaf

1 pound beef - let it get to room temperature if you don't want to hate your life

1/4 cup flaxseed

1/4 tsp salt

1/4 tsp red pepper flakes (more if you like to live a little)

1/2 cup diced zucchini (if you're classy you can sauté it)

1/2 cup diced bell pepper (you can sauté this, too)

1/2 cup diced onion (same thing, Liberace)

1 oven preheated to 400 f

Throw the beef, flaxseed, salt and crushed red pepper in a bowl. Smash everything together with your hands like a Neanderthal. Add the other stuff and smash some more. 

Put in the oven and cook for 35-45 minutes or to and internal temperature of 155.

While it is cooking, make the topping

Tomato-balsamic crust

1/4 cup balsamic vinegar

1/4 cup sun-dried tomatoes

Begin reducing the balsamic vinegar in a saucepan over low heat. Purée the tomatoes and add them to the vinegar stir for a few minutes until the tomatoes have soaked up a little moisture from the vinegar. Set aside.

When the meat loaf is ready, brush the tomato-balsamic paste on top. Broil on high for 2-3 minutes until the top is slightly caramelized. 

Let it sit and cool for about 5 minutes before you start cutting into it.

This guy.

WTF is a CSA?

What if you had a garden that grew seasonal vegetables that picked themselves? What if you had chickens that laid and packed their eggs for you? What if your animals butchered themselves for you? They'd be suicidal, I guess, but very conveniently so.

All the stuff I just described is a CSA, short for Community Supported Agriculture. The name says it all, with focus on local and seasonal foods, responsible growing practices, and an involved community looking to improve their health and well-being.

Isn't it a lot like having someone do your shopping? Slow your roll, fancypants! CSAs are not for the pampered and spoiled. The person doing your shopping is Mother Nature, and you get what you get, no bitching allowed.

Depending on the provider, CSAs come in many forms; dairy, meat, produce and combinations. Payment schedules vary, depending on the provider, but it is usually something you can subscribe to, like a wine-of-the-month club but healthier.

This is what a CSA looks like this week (this is actually 2 CSAs). This CSA is from Roots Memphis. 

In each of the bags is the following:

Spring mix for salads

1 head of lettuce

Sprouts

Oregano

1 bunch Russian kale

1 bunch collard greens

Before you are all like "what do I look like, a rabbit," keep in mind that everything is what's in season, so you probably won't get all that lettuce in the hot months. Here I would like to point out that nature intended nutrition to be cyclical and periodized, just like a good training program. If you eat the same things all the time, nutrient deficiencies can happen, and food sensitivities can develop in some cases. Trust me on this, you don't want either.

People sometimes assume that a CSA costs an arm and a leg. Not so, you will actually SAVE money by doing some of your grocery shopping this way, as long as you are not wasteful with what you get. Be sure to pickle or can extra veggies and cure or freeze meats that don't get used.

You can find out more about CSAs by visiting the farmers market (or doing an Internet search, duh). Below are a few links for Memphis CSAs.

http://www.westwindfarms.com/c-56-csas.aspx

http://www.rootsmemphis.org/product/summer-csa/

http://bringitfoodhub.com

http://www.truevinefarms.com/

http://www.whittonfarms.com

http://deltasolfarm.com

http://www.farmatfalconridge.com/market-at-falcon-ridge/csa/

http://farmtruckorganics.com

http://sweetgrassmemphis.com/csa/

Holy Balls Chili

This is a text from my wife.

Here's the recipe:

1 lb. ground beef

1 lb. ground turkey

4 pieces of bacon, chopped

45 oz. black beans, can or hydrated

30 oz. chopped tomatoes with diced chiles (like the kind from a can)

4 small zucchini, chopped

24 oz okra

1/2 onion, chopped

1-1/2 bell peppers, chopped

1 T chili powder

1 T Chesapeake bay spices

1 tsp sea salt

1/2 tsp red pepper flakes

Brown all the meat, adding spices at the end of browning. Next, set your slow cooker for 8 hours. You know what to do after that. 

My Favorite Health Nerd Websites

If you have read even just a few paragraphs of anything I have written, you will already know what a big fat nerd I am. If you didn't, well I guess you just found out.
What can I say? I love health and fitness. There's nothing quite like expanding your mind while on the internerd, although it's really tempting to get sucked into social media purgatory. Here are a few of my favorite health, nutrition and fitness websites. Enjoy.


Nutrition
http://www.chriskresser.com - Chris Kresser is an accupunturist and functional medicine practitioner. He is also an author, and writes this cool blog.

http://www.marksdailyapple.com - Mark Sisson is the sinewy blond genius who wrote The Primal Blueprint. He also write this bad-ass blog, which links to an interactive message board.

http://www.theeatingacademy.com - Peter Attia was insulin resistant. He was also a doctor, and didn't like the way insulin resistance usually goes for patients. So he decided to cure himself. Now he writes this awesome blog, does public speaking, and more. Smart guy. Still a doctor.

http://www.precisionnutrition.com - Practical, well-thought out information written in a down-to-earth style.

http://drhyman.com - this guy is a brain on wheels. Too bad every doctor is not just like this guy!

http://robbwolf.com - Author of The Paleo Solution. Covers nutrition to exercise and more.

Movement
http://www.katysays.com - an awesome blog about mindful movement.

http://ericbeard.com - infrequently updated (kind of like my blog), but valuable nonetheless.

Positivity
http://www.yeahdave.com/one-one-one/ - pure, unabashed positive energy.

Lifestyle
http://healthylivinghowto.com - One very smart and practical approach to the holistic lifestyle.

https://www.grassfedgirl.com - great recipes for the paleo and anti-inflammatory eater.

http://wellnessmama.com - all kinds of great stuff from this granola-hippie internet guru.

http://lifetime-weightloss.com/blog/ - Everthing from nutrition to exercise and more. Articles are short and don't take long to read at all.

http://experiencelife.com - One of the most awesome health magazines I have ever read. No kidding. All the articles are up on the website, free to peruse and share.

http://paleomagazine.com/ - Although most of the site is subscribers-only access, they always have a few great freebies. Great magazine, too.

Till next time! Namaste.