Mushrooms!

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About a month ago I got an email, a newsletter, from a popular podcast host in his weekly "this is what I'm doing, this is what I'm buying" etc. He linked to a mushroom coffee that he had tried and liked... I was immediately curious. I come from a long line of mushroom hunters, in fact my paternal grandfather paid his way through college delivering 50 and 100lb blocks of ice and mushroom hunting. There's even a morel statue that is a family artifact. The company behind this curious creation is Four Sigmatic and they are some interesting Finns. 

 

The first product I tried was the Mushroom Coffee Mix in the above photo, pardon the less-than-professional photo but hey I wanted you to see that I really do buy and drink the stuff. Sadly my mug is empty as you can tell by the TARDIS being black instead of white (heat reactive!), but I'll probably make another mug here in a little bit. Mannnnnnn I LOVE this stuff. YES it tastes like mushrooms, it has a very very earthy taste so if you aren't a fan of mushrooms you aren't going to be a fan of this coffee.

The first thing I really like about Four Sigmatic's mushroom products is, some of the mushrooms are WILD CRAFTED! The rest are grown in mushroom farms that imitate natural conditions as much as possible. They then take the harvested fruiting bodies, dry them and then add them to tanks of boiling water for several hours to get a liquid. Once they have the liquid they move to using distilled alcohol to make the beneficial compounds more bioavailable and move along to evaporation tanks to get rid of the bulk of the water content before moving to a spray-dryer. Voila, you have a very pure mushroom extract powder which is then added to flavouring and/or other powders or herbs for their final products!

Yeah yeah, this sounds like an advertorial or something. Yeah yeah, I use an affiliate link when I link to their site. But no bull, I like this stuff. As I type this post I'm debating which products to order today that I haven't tried yet... I'm thinking I'll go for some of the evening/sleep/anti-stress blends. 

Go get your own mushroom coffee or other products at Four Sigmatic's web store!

Paleo friendly ketchup!

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So I know a lot of people love their ketchup (catsup) but hey, it's got a lot of sugar in it usually. Well, I went in search of a good sugar-free ketchup and I found one! I love it! I don't use a lot of it so a 13oz bottle lasts me about 2 months. What brand do you ask? Westbrae Natural Vegetarian Unsweetened Ketchup! 

Ingredients: Water, tomato paste (from red ripe tomatoes), apple cider vinegar, salt, onion, maltodextrin (from corn), spice, natural flavor.

Now, some of you are going to argue that maltodextrin is NOT paleo/sugar-free but I disagree.

Yes maltodextrin has a glycemic index of over 100, however it's in such small quantities in this ketchup that it's not even worth noting, a tbsp or two with your food is going to have a negligible effect on blood sugar levels and insulin activity, if you drink a bottle or two ok yes you might be getting enough to make a worthwhile difference bbbuuuttttttt if you are drinking 26 ounces of ketchup in a meal you have other issues. 

"Oh but maltodextrin from corn! Corn is a grain! Corn isn't paleo!" *facepalm* Maltodextrin can come from any number of sources, likening maltodextrin to corn is like saying "I can BBQ with diamonds instead of charcoal because they are both carbon!". 

Look, if you want ketchup that's sugar-free this is the best solution I've found that doesn't involve a lot of labor (try making your own, it's a giant time-suck). This stuff tastes wonderful, 2-tbsp takes care of a pound of hamburger for me (two 1/2lb patties) and adds a whopping 10kcals and 2g of carbohydrates (from the tomato paste) to a meal. If you are concerned about the maltodextrin, and just won't listen to me, buy some of the ketchup and get a blood-glucose meter and experiment with a bottle... for the vast majority of people you'll find a negligible change.

Stop saying sweet potatoes are more nutritious than white potatoes!

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I get tired of seeing the Paleo community go

white and sweet potatoes.jpg
“Oh sweet potatoes brah like they are way better than white potatoes, like grok man he only ate sweet potatoes and white potatoes are just the devil! Like uh I saw that they have more of them nutrient things and are healthier for you and just better, sweet potato with butter, sweet potato with cinnamon, sweet potato sweet potato sweet potato!”

I do not care for the taste of sweet potatoes at all, nor do I care for people making claims that have zero basis in reality. Yes, white potatoes are nightshades and a small portion of the population has negative reactions to nightshades... I suspect somewhere, somewhen an individual that had a legitimate nightshade issue found that when they switched to sweet potatoes from white potatoes they had some of their health issues vanish and then someone else saw it and was like "oh man sweet potatoes!" and then another and another and another... and this white potatoes developed a stigma.

The Paleo community is starting to come around to white potatoes with more and more people being adventurous and returning to them, finding they don't have issue with them as they suspected. Still, at least once a week I see someone on a forum or Reddit or a blog demonize white potatoes with comments like "sweet potatoes are more nutritious!" well... why don't we actually take a look at the numbers, because... you know... SCIENCE.

Sweet Potatoes 200g White Potatoes 200g
kcals 160 281
fat 0g 0g
cholesterol 0mg 0mg
carbohydrates 41g 64g
dietary fiber 7g 6g
sugars 13g 4g
protein 4g 6g
Vitamin A 38433IU 29.9IU
Vitamin C 39.2mg 37.7mg
Vitamin D - -
Vitamin E 1.4mg 0.1mg
Vitamin K 4.6mcg 8.1mcg
Thiamin 0.2mg .01mg
Riboflavin 0.2mg 0.1mg
Niacin 3mg 4.6mg
Vitamin B6 0.6mg 0.6mg
Folate 12mcg 114mcg
Vitamin B12 - -
Pantothenic Acid 1.8mg 1.1mg
Choline 26.2mg 43.1mg
Betaine 69.2mg 0.6mg
Calcium 76mg 29.9mg
Iron 1.4mg 1.9mg
Magnesium 54mg 80.7mg
Phosphorous 108mg 224mg
Potassium 950mg 1626mg
Sodium 72mg 20.39mg
Zinc 0.6mg 1mg
Copper 0.3mg 0.4mg
Manganese 1mg 0.6mg
Selenium 0.4mcg 1.5mcg
Fluoride -

Wait, what? I thought sweet potatoes were so much more nutritious than white potatoes?!?! You're telling me the only thing sweet potatoes has over white potatoes is considerably more vitamin A but white potatoes have more of several other minerals/nutrients/vitamins. Fancy that. Now stop saying sweet potatoes are more nutritious.