The Nostalgia of Christmas

 

Cookie making with grandma 

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This is an article I wrote as a guest writer for the Beef Initiative. I hope you enjoy! Be sure to check them out, sign up for the substack, order some beef. Go shake a ranchers hand and take control of your health. 

The lights, sounds, songs, smells of Christmas bring us back to our childhoods, memories of your children enjoying the magic of the season, good times had with family and friends, those special moments this season brings. Why is this?

Our sense of smell is connected to our memories. When we smell those fresh baked cookies, cakes, Christmas dinner, we are taken back to those times. This isn’t some trick from our bodies and senses. This is meant to help guide us to what real food is, deeply nourishing our bodies, spirit and heart.

When we take the time to connect to our ancestors through food, we are feeding our genes. Genes are passed down generationally and these genes remember. A part of this memory is to help us know what foods are deeply nourishing and which ones to avoid. When we nourish our genes they will express themselves optimally, creating all aspects of health. We not only need deeply nourishing foods for optimal gene expression, we also need to connect with our past through positive memories or those special treats brought to us by our ancestors. These foods are a connection to our pasts. This is a way to remember those who have gone before us, where we have come from. Holiday meals and traditions go beyond food. By skipping the cookies, cakes, grains, sugar, we are denying ourselves a piece of our past.

What are we to do during the Christmas, holiday season when we are striving to deeply nourish our bodies; maybe we have given up grains and sugar? Be miserable and not have anything at all, deny ourselves any joy and pleasure, forget the nostalgia of Christmas, the connections to our pasts, ancestors, heritage, where we came from, suck it up and push through? I think not. This is denying important aspects to what makes us who we are, where we came from, simple joys and pleasures in life.

Liquid Gold, Bone Broth

Pho, one of my favorite meals

One of my most requested recipes is my bone broth recipe. When friends and other see on my social media feed me posting pictures of drinking bone broth or eating pho, I have multiple requests for my recipe. I have posted it before, it needs to be updated.

Broth isn't difficult to make, it does take time to figure out the spices and combinations you like, cooking times, pressure cook or allow it to simmer on the stove for days. Once you have it figure out, the time you spend actually "making" the broth is minimal. Most of the time is the broth cooking and cooling. It is a labor or love in some ways, but so worth it. Some of the deepest nourishment you can give your body is bone broth. 

There are two ways you can cook bone broth, pressure cooking or long, low and slow on the stove, like 72 hours. I prefer my broth in the pressure cooker, Instant Pot. Once I used the Instant Pot and pressured cooked my broth, I didn't look back. It is more coinvent, safer, and I do truly like the taste better.

Ingredients:

variety of bones, I like to use beef, pork and if I have it on hand, chicken. I use pigs feet, knuckle bones for the collagen and bone with marrow, you can also use chicken feet, any bones work. I like the flavor better with a variety of animal bones.

2 cups white wine vinegar

half a large onion

4-5 cloves of garlic

3-4 inches of ginger

2-3 cinnamon sticks

small handful of whole pepper corns

7-8 whole cloves

2-3 star anise or 2 tsps anise seeds 

2-3 TBSP salt

2-3 TBSP sugar, I use raw sugar

5-7 whole all spice

small handful of fennel seeds

3-4 whole cardamom pods 

3-4 Bay leaves

Several shakes of fish sauce, if you like it saltier, add more

3-4 TBSP raw apple cider vinegar

glass of wine, optional

Into the Deep of Carnivore

                            Mug of bone broth in one of my favorite mugs from my sister-in-law

If you have been spending anytime around nutrition's latest trends, you have been hearing and seeing a lot about the carnivore diet. It is the new trend. Or, is is a new trend? This is how our ancestors ate.

What is the Carnivore diet?

In it's strictest sense, it is eating animal protein and fat, nothing else. 

Everyone who does carnivore is going to do it slightly different. If you are strict with carnivore, you will only eat meat and fat from animals, beef and eggs is pretty typical.

Others will add full fat dairy to their eating. 

Seasonal fruits, berries and melons, raw honey, bone broth, organs 

Some use carnivore as a base of their eating habits, eating 80% meat and fat, then having the other 20% for other foods. 

There are many ways of doing carnivore. To me, it is about what is right and best for your body and going forward with that. 

Some of the reported benefits of those who go carnivore:

• relief from pain, if not all of their pain is gone, there is a significant reduction in pain
• elimination of multiple types of arthritis, especially rheumatoid
• reversal of autoimmune struggles  
• gut issues, constipation, diarrhea, ulcerative colitis, Crohn's clears up
• reversal of all types of skin issues, eczema, psoriasis, acne, wrinkles, rough skin patches smooth out, skin clears up and is healthier
• Reversal of metabolic health issues, blood sugar, insulin stabilization 
• High blood pressure reversal
• Reduced inflammation throughout the body
• Effortless weight lose
• Improved sleep
• Stabilization of hormones
• Increase in energy
• More clear focus, elimination of brain fog, other mental health benefits 

I have decided to give this eating style a go for a time.

My Food Journey

As a general norm on the anniversary of the snow boarding accident that forever changed my life, I usually go out and do something crazy, PR a lift, try something new with one arm, give it all the middle finger and say, watch me live my life to the fullest despite you trying to destroy me. This year, for the big 13 years, I decided to do something different. Talk about my story and the power of food in my journey. 

To truly understand the power of food in my world, I have to talk about the accident, the CRPS, complex regional pain syndrome, let you into my world. I don't do this. I don't talk about it. I have become good at being able to nonchalantly say I have a disability, CRPS, very little use of my arm and go on. Watch me live my life. You would be hard pressed to know I have what I have by watching me live, that is intentional. Time to change this. I don't talk about my journey or what it has taken to survive these last 13 years. This is so much more difficult than PRing a lift.  

Here is my vulnerability. Putting myself out there, hoping to inspire others.

I went snow boarding 13 years ago trying to save the marriage I was in. In less than a year it had broken down and I set about to rebuild our friendship. This is the only reason I went snow boarding. I fell trying to figure out how to slide and move on the board. I landed on my hand and rolled over my wrist. Once I was no longer going to puke, pass out or both, knowing my wrist broken and I would end up the O.R., I got up and snow boarded the rest of the way down the mountain. NOT a smart choice. I made snow patrol and my doctors day by doing this, while changing my life forever. 

I had four different breaks, shatter my radius into a puzzle and a compressed fracture, put the bone into my joint. On my ulna, I had multiple fractures and a styloid fracture. I was in the O.R. the next day to have the shatter put back together, plated and screwed and the compressed fracture pulled out. It was decided to allow the styloid fracture to heal on it's own. Better idea than more hardware. No fault of anyone, my shattered radius did not heal properly, I lost a lot of bone and it moved because of this. 18 months after the accident, my wrist had to be fully reconstructed again. Bone grafting was taken out of my hip and placed in my radius, I have no clue how much hardware sits in my wrist any longer, enough that it has not moved in the years since, that was the only goal. They also found significant damage to my TFCC, shredded it along with all my joints, tears throughout my arm tissue from the fall, arthritis and other damage from losing so much bone in my radius. Let's just say, it was a big mess. 

Meat Balls, 2 Ways

The meatballs and marinara that made me "Italian"

Meatballs, such a great, simple food to batch cook and keep on hand. A true protein ball. 

Here are two recipes for meatballs. One is more labor intensive and will take longer to make. The other is a more basic recipe and comes together quick, easy and tasty. It is the second recipe. 

What you need:

ground beef

ground pork

eggs

chia seeds, ground, 1/4 cup

onion, diced

garlic, diced

fresh herbs, basil, thyme, oregano 

balsamic vinegar 

salt and pepper

butter

Tools needed:

baking sheet

parchment paper, makes clean up easy

bake at 400 degrees