Question: In the book NT Sally cautions on eating pork meat, yet says lard is high in vitamin D, there are no recipes for pork in NT so I assumed it should be avoided. When I read Eat fat Lose FAT there is no mention of pork and its ability to feed cancer cells and effect blood chemistry and it does have recipes for pork meat in it? This seems to be a conflict between these two books?
I noticed that in Eat FAT Lose FAT these pork recipes say to marinate in vinegar, is this to neutralize the negative effects of pork meat?, there is no mention to why this is is done or reference to pork as being a problem at all? There are many recipes in both books that use lard for cooking,
if pork has been proven to cause cancer surely this theme needs to covered more in-depth and clarified. What is the current recommendation, is pork meat safe or not?
if it is not safe, is the fat safe and has this been verified via any research?
Answer: There are definitely two sides to this story. As I explained in Nourishing Traditions, blood tests have shown undesirable results after people eat pork; however many traditional long-lived cultures consume pork as a principle food (e.g. Soviet Georgia) so I kind of straddle the fence here, and put pork as a compromise food, fine for those who are healthy but maybe should be avoided if you are battling health problems.
My Chinese friends tell me that in China, pork is prepared by cutting up small and marinating in vinegar first–a kind of fermentation. Then it is cooked in pork fat. I am guessing that this type of preparation takes care of some of the problems. I did not include pork recipes in Nourishing Traditions, but having learned of the proper preparation technique, I did include a few recipes in Eat Fat Lose Fat. By the way, the traditional way of preparing ham and even some types of sausage was a fermentation process, so these products are probably OK also.
If anything is wrong with pork, the problem would be with the proteins or glyco-proteins in the meat, not the fat. Pork fat is very healthy and stable, a good source of vitamin D, so would be fine in all diets.
It really would be good to do some studies on pork, because the raising of pigs is so synergistic with dairy cows–pigs do very well just on whey and/or skim milk and pasture–no outside food required. A big financial bonus for the farmer.
Question: In both books Sally recommends not eating egg whites raw because of nutrient inhibitors, there are a lot of recipes that
call for egg yolks only. for example in smoothies. There is only one recipe for egg whites(Macaroons) that I have found so far. It seems a waste to throw away good Quality protein, and it does not seem practical to be eating Macaroons as staple. What is the best way to utilise these left over whites and are they safe to eat isolated from the yolk?
Answer: The yolks are more important than the whites and too many whites can deplete biotin and also interfere with digestion–see the article by Chris Masterjohn in the upcoming Winter Wise Traditions journal (members of the Weston A Price Foundation receive a monthly journal - Ed). He is quite emphatic not to overdo on the whites.
That does leave the problem of all those egg whites–what to do with them. Here are some suggestions:
- Feed to your farm animals–pigs and chickens.
- Use to roll up your hair
- Use to clarify stock.
Obviously #1 in not an option for most of us and 2 and 3 are not going to use up all those whites. We need to find a commercial use for them–maybe plastic production? But in the meantime, I think you just need to resign yourself to throwing some of them away.
Question: Sally, I am losing weight, slowly but surely. Just as importantly, my thinking is more clear and my mood swings are minor through menopause.
All this talk of “good fat” is still new to me. I’m often swayed by my old “low fat thoughts.” Shifting has been a 360 degree turn. Can you give me your experience: what you’ve seen work in the way of “how much is too much” and how to move along this weight loss process?! - Karen Fergusen
Answer: The amount of fat a person eats depends on the individual. I need a lot of fat in my diet because I tend to hypoglycemia. Also, I don’t seem to have any problem digesting fats (taking Swedish bitters every morning and evening and also lots of fermented foods helps with fat digestion)
Others might feel really unwell eating as much fat as I do. So each person needs to determine how much fat he or she eats. But as long as you are not having problems with fat digestion, you can eat as much as you want.
Question: I have been given a pasta maker as a present and I was wondering how I can make pasta dough following the NT principles - I couldn’t find anything about pasta mentioned in the NT book. Also I would like to know if you can reuse the (whey) brine from pickled onions after the onions have been eaten, it seems such a waste to throw it out! - Louisa Wood
Answer: Here’s a recipe for sourdough pasta at westonaprice.org
Yes, you can save the pickle juice–either drink it or add it as an innoculant to a new batch.
About the Author...
Sally Fallon is founding president of the Weston A Price Foundation, a non-profit nutrition education foundation with over 400 local chapters and 9000 members. She is also the founder of A Campaign for Real Milk, which has as its goal universal access to clean raw milk from pasture-fed animals. Author of the best-selling cookbook Nourishing Traditions and also of Eat Fat Lose Fat (Penguin), both with Mary G. Enig, Phd, Sally has a encyclopedic knowledge of modern nutritional science as well as ancient food ways. Her grasp on the work of Weston Price is breath taking and her passion for health freedom, inspiring. In each edition of Nourished Magazine Sally answers your questions about nutrition, health, food and medical politics. Send us an email with your question and we'll put it to her.
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