I just received a cool list from frequent commenter GWhitney. This is his list of the best-of-the-best foods, which he calls High Velocity Super Warrior Foods. Here they are:
- Bone broth
- Liver and kidney
- Beef bone marrow (organic free-range)
- All truly wild animals (grouse, pheasant, pigeon, venison, etc.)
- Fish eggs (wild, fresh)
- Wild green herbs, lightly wilted spinach, borage, arugula, etc.
- Fermented vegetables Kimchi, sauerkraut, etc.
- Sweet potatoes
- Butternut squash
- Beet root
- Wild berries
- Organic free-range lard
- Eggs from wild birds
- Chestnuts wild, fresh
Fish Egg Sushi by Alexa Clark
I love this list. I absolutely would put beef liver, kimchi and bone broth as my top 3 foods. I’ve been meaning to add fish eggs to my diet and I think I’ve only had chestnuts once.
GWhitney and I are both well past the point of removing toxins, such as grains, sugar and seed oils. Once you’ve done that, it makes the most sense to embrace foods with the highest nutritional payoff and incorporate those foods on a regular basis.
chuck
Jun 1, 2011 — 8:57 am
I would concur about maximizing nutritional payoff and density. i can check a lot of those things off as stuff i eat frequently. liver is something i need to find a way to make more palatable. maybe add to hamburger or something.
never had fish eggs, wild animal eggs, or chestnuts. i am lucky enough to have a huge berry patch near my house and we can stock up on pounds of wild berries. as i moved away from industrial foods i embraced more natural, wild, and self made foods. i now hunt, now have a huge garden, and have always fished. the less hands that touch my food the better off i am. i wish i could afford to adhere to that philosophy 100% but i do it as much as i can and know i am much better off because of it.
Z
Jun 1, 2011 — 9:06 am
Roasted chestnuts are awesome, I used to have them as a kid, usually in winter. In the Seattle area, you can find them at Asian groceries and TJ.
Ed
Jun 1, 2011 — 9:36 am
If seeds are included in the paleo diet then why is seed oil such a bad thing?
MAS
Jun 1, 2011 — 10:22 am
@Ed – Seed oils go through high temperature processing. They are highly inflammatory. Seeds by themselves aren’t healthy, however with soaking overnight you can negate their anti-nutrient properties.
http://www.marksdailyapple.com/soaking-seeds-and-nuts/
Regarding the oils. This is from Dr. Mary Enig’s article on fats.
“High-temperature processing causes the weak carbon bonds of unsaturated fatty acids, especially triple unsaturated linolenic acid, to break apart, thereby creating dangerous free radicals. In addition, antioxidants, such as fat-soluble vitamin E, which protect the body from the ravages of free radicals, are neutralized or destroyed by high temperatures and pressures. BHT and BHA, both suspected of causing cancer and brain damage, are often added to these oils to replace vitamin E and other natural preservatives destroyed by heat.”
MAS
Jun 1, 2011 — 10:26 am
@Chuck – I love duck eggs.
Also, regarding organ meats, I found a new way to eat chicken hearts. On Monday I made a Thai curry with them. It was so creamy and spicy that it almost tasted like regular chicken.
I will often slip liver into my meatloaf. It is so nutrient dense, you really don’t need much to benefit.
chuck
Jun 1, 2011 — 10:30 am
@ ed
although i don’t have the definitive answer regarding seeds i can speculate. seed oils are densely packed with very bioavailable omega 6 fatty acids. these in excess cause a lot of health problems. seeds by themselves aren’t typically eaten in quantities that will cause as much omega 6 related problems. that just a guess though.
Ed
Jun 1, 2011 — 12:07 pm
Thanks buds. I was just curious as to why they were so bad, I quit using vegetable and other oils a long time ago and switched to coconut. The only other oil I ever use for everything else is olive, and that’s usually just for salads. The only nuts I buy are dry roasted almonds and walnuts from costco. I think the walnuts are raw. I haven’t bought seeds for a long time and probably never will now that I understand why.
chuck
Jun 1, 2011 — 12:45 pm
@MAS
I will have to get some duck eggs. the farm i get chicken eggs from has duck eggs. do they taste similar?
i will definitely try the meatloaf thing for liver.
thomas
Jun 1, 2011 — 1:22 pm
I am curious what you would recommend as a weekly grocery list to someone who doesn’t have access to unaccessible foods. What would the list look like for someone who may have to shop at Kroger or Costco?
Ed
Jun 1, 2011 — 3:24 pm
I need a good meatloaf recipe.
MAS
Jun 1, 2011 — 3:42 pm
@Chuck – Like a really good pastured jumbo chicken egg.
@Thomas – For organ meat, head to a farmers market. Beef Liver is $4.50/lb and I got chicken hearts for $3.50/pound. If you really can’t make it to a farmers market, get veal liver.
@Ed – My meatloaf recipe is a decent starting spot. You can use regular ground beef for the entire thing if you like. https://criticalmas.org/2010/09/making-meatloaf-using-pet-food/
MAS
Jun 1, 2011 — 4:22 pm
This excellent post on the evils of veggie oil just came out.
http://www.fitbomb.com/2011/05/your-vegetable-oil-is-killing-you.html
Ed
Jun 1, 2011 — 9:14 pm
@MAS – I like your recipe for meatloaf but I think I will call that company and find out about why they label their product for pet consumption. The only thing I can think of is that maybe there isn’t a big enough market for humans so they’ve passed it on to the dogs. Just my guess.
Good explanation for the veggie oil link.
MAS
Jun 1, 2011 — 9:33 pm
@Ed – That company no longer exists. The new company is Blue Valley Meats. I’m currently not using “pet food” in my meatloaf. I prefer the taste when it is regular ground beef. Since I like the taste of liver, I don’t personally need to hide it.
GWhitney
Jun 3, 2011 — 5:20 am
In general the younger the animal, the sweeter and more tender the liver. Suckling veal is probably the best, and that’s why it’s a lot more expensive than other kinds of liver.
One way to take the edge off of bitter liver is to make a mash out of liver and sweet potatoes. Add in a little beet root if you dare!
With liver – a little goes a long way. Think about the ancestral environment. Typically a huting group of 2-4 people would share the liver of a something like a deer between them. That’s probably only about 2 or 3 tablespoons each.
On duck eggs – as with everything else – how healthy they are depends what the ducks have been eating… Most of them are fed GMO corn…
On getting access to these super warrior foods – search around and have them delivered by mail to you. If you look carefully and buy the cheaper cuts in bulk, it’s not much more expensive than a supermarket.
MAS
Jun 3, 2011 — 10:39 am
@GWhitney – That mash sounds interesting. I’ll have to try that.
Dave T. Earth
Jun 3, 2011 — 11:50 am
Oh man! Reading these comments is making my head spin. Just when I thought I had a good working knowledge of Omega 3-6-9 balance for optimal health, I’m reading that seed oils are poison!?? What would the legendary Udo Erasmus have to say about this?? What would the companies that I have been led to believe make great products, Barleans, Sequel and Nutiva, who I use seed oils by (mainly hemp and flax) say about this?
As well, what would a super warrior food list look like for someone who does not eat meat of any kind?…. although I’ll eat wild caught fish every day if I could. I’ve recently started thinking about introducing meat back into my diet after 13 years without it. Hmmm…..
MAS
Jun 3, 2011 — 11:53 am
@Dave – I did a post on how to improve the vegetarian diet.
https://criticalmas.org/2010/09/if-i-were-still-a-vegetarian/
Adding fish to it only makes it better.
GWhitney
Jun 4, 2011 — 2:18 am
In the spirit of constructive provocation – All super warriors are meat eaters (but not all meat eater are super warriors).
BTW – I’m using the term “warrior” not only in the Ori Hofmekler sense, but also in the Carlos Castaneda/Don Juan sense…
Helen
Jun 14, 2011 — 8:28 pm
Thanks for the info! I’d eaten chicken liver in college when my older roommate from.Singapore was disgusted with my ramen based diet and made me add the liver and frozen vegetables to it. Antoinette was determined that I would not ruin my health even with a thrifty diet. I’d stopped eating liver when I found out that it concentrated chemicals. This was long before I’d heard of organic anything. So today when I went to the grocery I was thrilled to find veal liver available fresh and organic. It tastes much better than chicken, and has a pleasant texture. I sauteed it very lightly in coconut oil, and while it looked like meat on the outside the texture inside was soft and creamy almost like a mousse. So, yes, I ate quite a bit all on its own. The chicken liver had to be disguised and was always tough and in nodules. The veal liver was a delight.
GWhitney
Jun 15, 2011 — 12:50 am
Yes – veal and lamb liver are healthier than chicken liver – a better Omega 3 to 6 ratio.
Dan
Sep 20, 2011 — 5:44 am
That last bit hit home. That (beyond eating toxins, working on maximizing nutrients) is exactly where I’m at, and it’s definitely the most fun part of redoing your diet. NutritionData is great, just wish it had omega profiles for pastured meats (and mineral content of bone broth).
I used to eat an oz of beef liver a day – cured my dry scalp, but then I started noticing a little dry skin on my face (hypervitaminosis a?). That’s powerful stuff. Now I eat 3-4 oz a week, spread out. Duck/goose liver is better for iron (and a little easier on the A), but the only way to buy it around here is to buy the whole bird (and then you only get one).
You notice a few things when you really start looking up nutrients – for one, besides spinach, broccoli and kale, there aren’t many vegetables that deliver a lot of vitamins (fruit is miles behind). You can eat a ton as they’re low in calories, but veggies usually don’t have much impact on your vitamins & minerals. Surprisingly, potatoes are pretty nutritious (if you eat at least a half-pound). Of course, vegetables & fruits are sources of enzymes and antioxidants, so they’ll always be in my diet.
The huge ones for me are pastured beef and wild salmon. They don’t usually fall under the moniker of “superfoods” as people tend to assign that to foods that are more side dishes than main courses (something to “add” to your diet, like a supplement). As far as I’m concerned they’re better than superfoods – you’re not going to eat 12 oz of roe, but you’ll definitely eat a 12-oz steak. Less nutrients per calorie, but vastly more nutrients overall. Because of that they’re the two most important foods in my diet.
MAS
Sep 20, 2011 — 7:21 am
@Dan – I too used to have very dry skin. Adding the foods in this post has really cured that skin problem as well. Removing wheat cured my rosacea.