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Topics:
1. Diane’s updates [2:59]
2. Quick vitamin D interlude [10:08]
3. Liz’s updates [13:57]
4. Healthy suggestions for movie munchies [20:22]
5. What’s the scoop on nightshades [27:14]
6. Oral allergy syndrome – can it be reversed? [33:50]
7. Reversing side effects of taking hormonal birth control [39:15]
8. Ground beef, bacon, and sausage processed foods to avoid? [46:22]
Links:
Upcoming events
Oral allergy syndrome
Good Food for Bad Cooks
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Liz Wolfe: Hey everyone! Welcome to episode 141 of the Balanced Bites podcast. 141, is that a palindrome? Or is that only with letters.
Diane Sanfilippo: I have no idea.
Liz Wolfe: Ok.
Diane Sanfilippo: {laughs}
Liz Wolfe: Alright, sponsors. Pete’s Paleo, bringing fine dining to your cave. If you’d like to make eating paleo a little easier on yourself, check out Pete’s meal plans. They are perfect for nights when you’re on the run, or you just need real food fast. And, we’ve got a special announcement that Pete’s Paleo is now offering 21-Day Sugar Detox friendly meals, which is awesome, because again, it’s just going to make your life that much easier on the 21-Day Sugar Detox. Check out Petespaleo.com for all the details, and on other special diet-friendly meals. Up next, Chameleon Cold-Brew is our favorite organic, fair trade, smooth and rich cold-brewed coffee. We loved it iced or warmed up, but now that the weather is warm, I’m all about my iced Chameleon Cold-brew. And I don’t even add anything to it, I think it’s good all by itself. But of course, it’s great with coconut milk as well, almond milk; whatever you fancy. Chameleon Cold Brew is available at many grocery stores nationwide. Check the website for a store locator, and stay tuned for online ordering to come back. Don’t forget to tag us in your Instagram photos when you enjoy your Chameleon Cold Brew. And finally, our newest sponsor, Rickaroons. These delicious macaroons are made of high quality ingredients, like coconut, dark chocolate, cacao nibs, and almond butter. They taste amazing. They are perfect to keep on hand when you’re on the go and need a quick bite. They are great as a post workout snack. Check them out at Rickaroons.com and get 15% off your order with the code PODCAST. We’ve already seen lots of people posting pictures to Instagram and telling us how much they love their Rickaroons. Look, I mean, we’re selective here at the Balanced Bites podcast.
Diane Sanfilippo: {laughs}
Liz Wolfe: We just don’t let anybody sponsor this.
Diane Sanfilippo: Any hooligans.
Liz Wolfe: Yeah! Sponsor this mess.
Diane Sanfilippo: {laughs}
1. Diane’s updates [2:59]
Liz Wolfe: So, D. D-sizzle. What are your updates?
Diane Sanfilippo: What has everybody been up to?
Liz Wolfe: {laughing}
Diane Sanfilippo: {laughs}
Liz Wolfe: Mom! Diane! Will you go fix your hair?
Diane Sanfilippo: Could you leave us alone?
Liz Wolfe: {laughing}
Diane Sanfilippo: Could you go fix your hair, that’s right! Ok. So, hi! I’m back!
Liz Wolfe: Hey!
Diane Sanfilippo: Hey!
Liz Wolfe: Brat. You’ve been on the cruise.
Diane Sanfilippo: I was on a cruise. I was on a boat.
Liz Wolfe: Did you wear a nautical themed pashmina afghan? I’m going to ask you that every time.
Diane Sanfilippo: {laughs} No. I bet Hayley Mason is, though, right now on their Mediterranean cruise that they’re on.
Liz Wolfe: Were they in Italy during the Kim-Ye wedding?
Diane Sanfilippo: {laughs} Maybe.
Liz Wolfe: My friend Sally, by the way, my friend Sally is amazing. She runs a tour company called Slice of Tuscany, and she does Paleo tours of Italy.
Diane Sanfilippo: Ohh!
Liz Wolfe: Her friend just worked with Sarah Fragoso while they were out there. So.
Diane Sanfilippo: How fun.
Liz Wolfe: {clicks} There you go.
Diane Sanfilippo: Nice, little plug for them.
Liz Wolfe: Yeah.
Diane Sanfilippo: Well, I was on the Low Carb Cruise last week. And just to confirm any suspicions about the fact that the entire ship may have been low carb, that’s not the case. I’m pretty sure I talked about it last year, as well.
Liz Wolfe: Mm-hmm.
Diane Sanfilippo: So you could probably go back, oh roughly 52 episodes or so {laughs} and just kind of hear my down-low on the whole thing. But basically it’s a 3600 passenger ship, and I think our group is about 200 people. There’s 3 days whenever we’re at sea, the days at sea we have these conferences all day, so you can kind of roam in and out of them if you want to, or just stay all day. I think most people are there most of the time. Because once you have a few solid days in the sun in the ports, you’re basically ready to not be fried anymore. {laughs} So, yeah. The talks are all great, and you get to ask lots of questions. And it is low-carb focused, so if that’s something you’re totally not into, you could just not look into it, but there’s definitely a little bit more of a food quality slant going on and definitely lots of folks who are on the trip are paleo and kind of leaning in that direction, and everyone on the trip who has been low-carb for years is learning more about paleo and learning more about the whole food quality thing. So we’re definitely seeing a shift in that way.
Let’s see, what else did I want to update you on? So this podcast is going to air on May 29th, so just a couple of days ahead of when I’m going to be visiting Crossfit Hero’s Journey, which is here in New Jersey. Our buds, Robb Wolf, no relation to Liz.
Liz Wolfe: {laughs}
Diane Sanfilippo: And Chris Kresser are actually teaching a full day seminar there. So I think I’m going to pop in at lunchtime and say hey, and maybe I’ll stick around for the afternoon. So if you’re going to that event, definitely look for me. If you’re going and you have any of my books, feel free to bring them and I will scribble inside of them. I’m not probably going to be bringing any books to sell or anything, it’s not my event, but I’ll definitely sign them for you if you have them. So that’s that. What else? Oh! Super exciting. So this past weekend, in my subscriber only email which I took a hint from you on how to offer some great amazing content to our subscribers. I’ve been on your emailing list since you started it, and I’ve always loved it.
Liz Wolfe: Thanks friend!
Diane Sanfilippo: Yeah, I love reading your emails. It’s like, Liz pops into my inbox every Monday.
Liz Wolfe: {laughs}
Diane Sanfilippo: Hey friend! And so I send my emails usually on Fridays because {laughs} I can’t get my act together early enough in the week for that.
Liz Wolfe: {laughing}
Diane Sanfilippo: I don’t really know. It’s like Friday, oh yeah, I should probably send people something. So, I send just a little update on stuff that you may have missed over the course of the week. Obviously a little recap on what went on in the podcast, and if I posted any new recipes or any blog posts. But I’m also sending, almost every week, probably not every single week because it does take us a lot of time, myself and the girls on my team, by the way it just happens to be all females. I didn’t discriminate, it’s just kind of how the cards fell. But anyway, we’ve been working on lots of amazing content, and I sent out the Simplifying SIBO guide a couple of weeks ago, it’s a 50+ page eBook that’s totally free for my subscribers. This past weekend, I sent out shopping lists for 5 of all of y’alls favorite stores, so there’s one for Costco which of course I’m thrilled to offer because they’re selling Practical Paleo in all their stores. There’s one for Whole Foods, Trader Joe’s, Natural Grocers, and Sprouts. And we are working on lists for Sam’s Club, who is also carrying the book, BJs, perhaps Wegmans. A bunch of other either national or semi-national grocery chains. Also we’ll probably be working on a list for Target, since I do have a Target here and I can check that out and help you guys with that. People are loving them. They’re printing them out already, using them, finding products that they didn’t know existed. And feel free to shoot me an email through the website, through the contact page on my website if there’s a bunch of products that you normally find at these stores that you love that we just didn’t get on the list, because there are some that are regionally available. Please make sure to tell us where you are, and that way we can help other people out when we add to the list and update them. So, that’s that.
And the very last update I have for you. {laughs} So many updates! Because I’ve been away, so I have to tell you all the things. The 21-Day Sugar Detox, the online version of the program that used to be available through, I guess it was October, early October of last year right before the print version came out. That has not been available since then, and I’ve been talking about the Beyond Sugar Detox program, and how we were getting that online and all those things I’ve been talking about a lot in the podcast since last year. Well, I have some big changes coming to the online version of the program and I just want to give everyone a head’s up that it’s going to be as big and bad an amazing as possible. And by bad I mean good.
Liz Wolfe: {laughs}
Diane Sanfilippo: As amazing as possible. It’s not going to be called Beyond Sugar Detox. It’s just going to be the 21-Day Sugar Detox. There will be an online sort of toolkit that goes along with the printed books, and it will all be explained on the 21DaySugarDetox.com website, but I’ll update you guys on a few more details on that coming up in the next couple of weeks. I’m hoping that the whole thing is going to release at the end of June, but it may get pushed back a little bit because as I do, I end up holding things up when I think they’re just not exactly perfect, and I want things to be really perfect for you guys and get you the best information possible and kind of do it in the best way possible. So, that’s all of that. And if you did own the original online program, make sure you keep your eyes peeled because I always have information about something special that we offer to the folks who supported the program from the very beginning and all of that good stuff. So there’s that. I probably didn’t really say much about it, but I want to keep some things a little bit of a secret.
2. Quick vitamin D interlude [10:08]
Liz Wolfe: Yeah. So what do you think your serum vitamin D level is today?
Diane Sanfilippo: Like a thousand, right now.
Liz Wolfe: {laughs} You’re right now at 50 million. Yeah.
Diane Sanfilippo: 50 million, how does that get measured? Millimoles? No. I don’t know how it gets measured! {laughs}
Liz Wolfe: {laughs} Actually, not a clue.
Diane Sanfilippo: Mmm.
Liz Wolfe: That’s really sad.
Diane Sanfilippo: I forget. Well.
Liz Wolfe: I knew at some point.
Diane Sanfilippo: {laughs} Exactly what I was going to say. At one point when I was really paying attention to it. But I actually think we’re going to see, in the next few years, that while vitamin D levels are interesting, much like cholesterol; this is just my guess, my hypothesis. Much like cholesterol levels, I think they can tell us something, but I don’t think they’re a causative factor in anything. That’s my guess, because I think, and this is something I’ve heard Chris Kresser talking a bunch about on his podcast, just here and there, but research he’s been checking out, it’s really not showing as strong of a correlation as people originally thought to high vitamin D levels, and certain level of health or even supporting autoimmunity with just high levels of it. Because I even know, I have one very good friend who is a paradoxical responder. She does not respond well to excess vitamin D. So supplementing with vitamin D gives her really horrible reactions. And they’ve seen plenty of healthy people with low levels. And I think there’s something to be said for the seasonality of vitamin D exposure, especially for those of us with lighter skin tones where it’s probably pretty quick for us to develop the vitamin D levels under our skin with sun exposure versus someone with darker skin who may need a lot more exposure. So I think those of us with lighter skin who happen to live in climates where we don’t have sun all the time, that’s probably ok. And I think if you have darker skin and you live somewhere where it’s not sunny very often, you’re probably going to struggle a little bit more. That’s my guess. I just don’t think we need to just raise our vitamin D levels for the sake of raising them, the same way I don’t think we need to lower cholesterol just for the sake of lowering it. That’s my 2 cents.
Liz Wolfe: That’s an interesting parallel there. I think the whole skin tone and ancestry deal and individual variation, trying to establish one baseline recommendation and looking for that holy grail of what should our vitamin D levels be is ridiculous when we take into account the varying strains of ancestry where we’re all from, like you said, where we lived, our skin tone. Maybe what’s ideal for one person is completely not ideal for another. I think there are some people who need far less just period.
Diane Sanfilippo: Yeah.
Liz Wolfe: So I think you’re right. It was just a trendy nutrient for a while there.
Diane Sanfilippo: It’s one of the reasons too why I’m still ok with the fact that you and I both recommend fermented cod liver oil, because people get weird out by there not being a prescriptive dose of certain nutrients in fermented cod liver oil, and that’s because it’s not an industrialized, refined, single nutrient or double nutrient item. It’s a concentrated super food, so we don’t know exactly how much is in there, and I don’t think we should be so prescriptive in that way.
Liz Wolfe: Mm-hmm.
Diane Sanfilippo: I think it’s ok. People ask me all the time, do I need to take this all the time? I’m like, well I don’t’ take it all the time. It’s not something that I’m like, every day I have to take this! It’s just not how I operate. I’m terrible at taking supplements in general. So, I just think everyone’s got to figure out what’s kind of working for them and go from there.
Liz Wolfe: Totes McGoats.
Diane Sanfilippo: How are the goats, by the way.
3. Liz’s updates [13:57]
Liz Wolfe: Oh, you know. They’re being goats. The pigs are being pigs. They’re so; they’re really funny.
Diane Sanfilippo: I need to see more Instagram videos of these animals. Either I haven’t seen your postings or…
Liz Wolfe: No it’s just…
Diane Sanfilippo: I would like…
Liz Wolfe: My hands are always so dirty that I don’t want to touch my phone.
Diane Sanfilippo: Your iPhone 2?
Liz Wolfe: {laughing}
Diane Sanfilippo: {laughs} That doesn’t exist.
Liz Wolfe: I actually, yeah. It’s cracked and it’s broken. The camera still works. But I’ll work on that. I just don’t think about it! That’s bad, but I really don’t think about it anymore. I used to be like, oh my gosh I’m eating something? I have to take a picture of it. {laughs}
Diane Sanfilippo: Well we want to see videos. I can speak for everyone listening. We want to see videos of farm animals and they’re shenanigans.
Liz Wolfe: I’m only interesting because of my farm animals?
Diane Sanfilippo: Yeah.
Liz Wolfe: Pretty much.
Diane Sanfilippo: Yeah, basically.
Liz Wolfe: Yeah.
Diane Sanfilippo: Mm-hmm.
Liz Wolfe: I’m with ya.
Diane Sanfilippo: {laughs}
Liz Wolfe: Alright, I’ll work on that more. There’s only so many videos of guinea fowl screaming into the camera I can post. But, if you like them.
Diane Sanfilippo: No, not the chickens.
Liz Wolfe: Just the pigs and the goats.
Diane Sanfilippo: Mostly the goats, and then also pigs.
Liz Wolfe: Alright. I’ve got a video I’m going to put up.
Diane Sanfilippo: And the dogs.
Liz Wolfe: With a goat on my back, it’s pretty funny.
Diane Sanfilippo: I saw that one.
Liz Wolfe: No, it’s a new one.
Diane Sanfilippo: Oh a new one.
Liz Wolfe: I’m actually dressed really cute in this video.
Diane Sanfilippo: {laughing}
Liz Wolfe: Just so you can see how sassy and farmy I am with my hair down.
Diane Sanfilippo: Oh great.
Liz Wolfe: Ugh. Alright, so my updates, before we get into questions. First of all, Good Food for Bad Cooks. I’ve gotten some questions about this. It is launched, it’s open for business, but we are still adding content and figuring out our schedule for when we can actually do live Google hangouts and stuff like that. So, it’s open for business. You can go check it out at GoodFoodforBadCooks.com. And even if you’re not into the recipe part, it is a hub for all kinds of nutritional information. What I’ve pretty much done is put my nutritional therapy practice on the internet. It’s like, here’s what I would give a client. This is the why, the how, and all of the information you need to know about real food and why it matters. So, it’s more than just recipes. Those recipes and the meal planning and the shopping list capacity, those are there for added support to the real food lifestyle. So go and check it out. You can let us know what you think. We’re building it out every single day. So it’s just something that we’re really excited about. So, that’s that. And here’s the really exciting news that I was going to kind of hold out on for a while because it’s kind of way into the future, but as of yesterday, I’m so excited I’ve set the gears in motion for a Skintervention Skin Care line.
Diane Sanfilippo: What?!
Liz Wolfe: Oh my god! This has been in the works for like a year, and it’s only been in the last couple of weeks where I’ve really laid a foundation for developing it and developing it affordably but still making something that’s natural. And I think it’s really going to fill a gap between what’s already out there right now, which we have a really kind of high-end suite of products that are really amazing. People know I love Primal Life Organics, and there are a bunch of great, really amazing products. And then we also have the really kind of affordable, the tallow, like the water buffalo tallow that I was talking about from Buffalo Gal Grass-fed. Right in the middle there, I feel like there are people that want stuff that kind of looks like what they’re used to using, like the traditional shampoos that lather, safe soaps for the face, things like that. Stuff that will help with acne, still remaining natural, with maybe a few ingredients that people aren’t familiar with but that are totally safe, nonindustrial, but can kind of give a little bit of extra firepower to natural skin care. So we’re going to focus on acne and anti-aging first. Which, I hate the term anti-aging, but basically just keeping skin healthy over time.
Diane Sanfilippo: I don’t.
Liz Wolfe: {laughs} I don’t hate it. Yeah, so that’s where we’re starting.
Diane Sanfilippo: I am super excited about that.
Liz Wolfe: Yaaay! {laughs} I am too.
Diane Sanfilippo: I’m super excited. Yeah, I just remember when Skintervention came out, I’m like, ok, so, {laughs} can I just get the stuff you want me to get?
Liz Wolfe: {laughing}
Diane Sanfilippo: From you? Because I am totally, like, you’re the bad cook, I’m the bad skin care person.
Liz Wolfe: {laughs}
Diane Sanfilippo: People literally send me new skin care things every week. You probably encourage them to do so. I’m not kidding. They arrive, and probably much like random food products or gadgets will arrive to you, and you’re like, I don’t know what to do with this. I’ll put it in the pile.
Liz Wolfe: Pretty much. {laughs}
Diane Sanfilippo: I literally have piles of skin care stuff, and the only thing I know how to do anything with is beauty balm. I’m basically like the dad in My Big Fat Greek Wedding.
Liz Wolfe: {laughing}
Diane Sanfilippo: Who put the Windex on everything. And I put beauty balm on everything. Like, bug bite from the beach? I’ll just put some beauty balm on it. And much like our friend’s Bill and Hayley, I call it fish butt cream anyway, so.
Liz Wolfe: Oh my gosh. That’s a pretty solid approach, actually.
Diane Sanfilippo: Hmm?
Liz Wolfe: That’s a solid approach. I mean, that’s really all you need is one or two things. But, that’s not necessarily what makes people excited. And it’s fun to have fun with your skin care routine.
Diane Sanfilippo: Well I think people also have really unique situations with their skin where, you know, you’ve given people information about what should work in general, but then everyone’s got something a little different going on. I think there’s totally a place for a wider variety of products that people love and will help them. Everyone’s got different goals, too. Some people don’t want to wear any makeup; some people want to wear makeup.
Liz Wolfe: Mm-hmm.
Diane Sanfilippo: And that may mean different things for what other things they put on their skin. So, anyway. I’m excited!
Liz Wolfe: You’ll be my, I’ll add stuff to your pile to try.
Diane Sanfilippo: Ok, I’ll put yours on the top.
Liz Wolfe: Yeah, put mine at the top of the pile.
Diane Sanfilippo: {laughs}
Liz Wolfe: Thanks. So, that’s it for me, I think. That’s all I wanted to talk about.
Diane Sanfilippo: Ok.
Liz Wolfe: Anything else
Diane Sanfilippo: Uh-huh?
Liz Wolfe: Before we get questions?
Diane Sanfilippo: {laughs} Oh, just kidding.
Liz Wolfe: What did you say?
Diane Sanfilippo: Ok, can we go home now?
Liz Wolfe: Can we go home now. {laughs} Can you go fix your hair? Ok.
Diane Sanfilippo: {laughs}
Liz Wolfe: Alright.
Diane Sanfilippo: Oh, I love you so much.
Liz Wolfe: {laughing} You girls keep me young.
Diane Sanfilippo: {laughs}
Liz Wolfe: It’s never going to stop. Never.
Diane Sanfilippo: Never.
Liz Wolfe: Never.
4. Healthy suggestions for movie munchies [20:22]
Liz Wolfe: Alright, first question, from Christina. Healthy snacks? “I just discovered your podcast a few weeks ago, and I’m loving it. I’ve already adopted some of your advice and made some changes in my diet. However, there’s one thing I’m very curious about. When Diane sits down to enjoy a Portlandia marathon, or Liz is watching vampires, or you’re both having a 90s movie night, what do you snack on? I know that popcorn is a no-no when you’re paleo, and I’m trying really hard to stop the pop chip madness at my place, but what’s a snacker to do?”
Diane Sanfilippo: {laughs}
Liz Wolfe: {laughs} “I’m also not sure if it’s acceptable to take a” {laughing}
Diane Sanfilippo: {laughs}
Liz Wolfe: “to take a liver smoothie with some grass-fed beef to the movie theater, so could you please let me know what you lovely ladies do and give some healthy suggestions for movie munching? Thanks.” Oh geeze, I didn’t read this one ahead of time. I don’t know!
Diane Sanfilippo: Good thing I read it.
Liz Wolfe: Yeah.
Diane Sanfilippo: Ok. So, I’m going to tackle this very serious question in two parts.
Liz Wolfe: {laughs}
Diane Sanfilippo: {laughs} I’ll talk about what I might do in public, and what I might do at home, because that’s going to be pretty different. So, if I go to a movie theater, if I do want to bring a snack, I honestly {laughs} I don’t think I’ve brought a snack to the movies in a really long time. And, long ago, I used to totally bring the giant tote bag and put my own microwave popcorn in my bag and just not care at all that anybody might catch me. I’m one of those not scared of the rules people. So, that’s what I used to do back in the day. Now, I would probably bring foods that are not loud to chew on, or not loud to open and eat, and are not something that you could potentially drop in your lap and squish or melt. {laughs}
Liz Wolfe: You’ll eat sardines on a plane, but you won’t eat noisy food in a movie?
Diane Sanfilippo: Indeed.
Liz Wolfe: {laughs}
Diane Sanfilippo: No, I mean, I just mean don’t bring something that’s going to be super rustly as a bag to open, because…
Liz Wolfe: Yeah.
Diane Sanfilippo: They don’t sell stuff like that at the movie theater for a reason. I just think it’s obnoxious. If you’re going to eat your jerky, eat your jerky and just do so quietly. So, that’s some stuff I would think of like raspberries, or blueberries, something that are not too mushy. Grapes, I think if you want to do like frozen grapes, any kind of fruit like that would probably be fine. And, you know, I think jerky is fine. But I think fruit, like finger fruit, like the poppable kind would be good. I wouldn’t bring anything that’s going to get super messy, and that’s just kind of my take. Chocolate, as much as I love to eat it, inevitably a little crumb of chocolate, yes I said crumb, will land on you, and then melt into you or under you.
Liz Wolfe: {laughs}
Diane Sanfilippo: {laughs} If you are eating chocolate, so I would advise against that. I’m pretty sure Rickaroons would be a really good option at the movie theater. I think some of them have chocolate chips, but because they’re not just a full chocolate item, that would probably be good. I would probably seal a bottle of whatever I want to drink and put it in my purse. Yes, I do that. So maybe I would bring my Chameleon Cold-Brew. That’s stuff I would do at the movies. And at home, I really don’t have something super snacky around most of the time. The only thing that we really keep around right now are the plantain chips from Whole Foods because they are cooked in palm oil and Scott always needs more calories, so he ends up snacking on those sometimes. So, maybe we’d make some guac and eat that with the plantain chips. But, other than that, nothing so revolutionary. I mean, if I wanted to snack on jicama or something, but I honestly don’t usually just sit down with food and watch a marathon of TV, and that’s not because I’m better than anyone else.
Liz Wolfe: It’s definitely not because you’re better than anyone {laughs}
Diane Sanfilippo: I just eat enough all the time that I’m really out of the habit of bringing something to the TV to just snack on. I’ll eat a meal there, I’ll eat a salad and then that’s it. You know what I mean?
Liz Wolfe: Yeah.
Diane Sanfilippo: Do you still do the whole… I think the movie theater is a little different. I don’t know, I like having my little snacky thing.
Liz Wolfe: I don’t think I do snack. I mean, wine, but that’s not a snack. That’s more of a meal.
Diane Sanfilippo: {laughing}
Liz Wolfe: {laughs}
Diane Sanfilippo: Badum-bum.
Liz Wolfe: So, I just think at the movie theater you should just hold hands with somebody and then you don’t need to be doing something with your hands.
Diane Sanfilippo: Whether or not they are attending the movie with you.
Liz Wolfe: Right. Exactly.
Diane Sanfilippo: Just hold hands with your neighbor.
Liz Wolfe: Just reach out to your neighbor. Build that sense of community in the dark theater.
Diane Sanfilippo: {laughing}
Liz Wolfe: I would probably do, if it’s a treat, you know if we were sitting down to have a movie night or whatever, we might actually end up eating dinner in front of the TV, and that’s kind of like, date night in front of the TV!
Diane Sanfilippo: {laughs}
Liz Wolfe: I know that’s not something I encourage normally, but if we’re going to watch a movie, I guess we’d probably just eat dinner and watch the movie and just kind of chill out and take bites and drink wine.
Diane Sanfilippo: Yeah. I think that’s legit. You’re relaxed, and it’s not an endless supply of food that you’re just shoveling into your face.
Liz Wolfe: Yeah. That’s the rest of the time. Exactly.
Diane Sanfilippo: Right. Totally.
Liz Wolfe: That’s every other time I watch TV. Yeah, so I don’t think I do. You can find some certified non-GMO project organic corn chips that maybe you could make some good nachos out of.
Diane Sanfilippo: Mmm.
Liz Wolfe: The plantain chips. Freeze dried fruit, I guess, if you want that crunch. Nuts, seeds, little pieces of chocolate. But yeah, I don’t think about it too much anymore, so maybe Christina can just kind of take heart and know that that’s down the road.
Diane Sanfilippo: {laughs}
Liz Wolfe: I know. Never would do movie popcorn, though. Who knows what they drizzle on that stuff, where it comes from.
Diane Sanfilippo: It used to be good stuff back in the day, they used to pop it in coconut oil and palm oil, and they just don’t anymore.
Liz Wolfe: It’s sad.
Diane Sanfilippo: Yeah. I know there’s sort of a bunch of paleo people who do the corn or the non-GMO organic popcorn cooked in coconut oil or whatever. If you feel good doing that, I can’t stop you, but I just definitely think corn is one of those foods that just tears up your digestive system. We don’t digest it in those kernels. I just, I honestly don’t think they’re meant for us to eat in that kind of quantity. So I’m like, totally the Debbie Downer on some of that fun food, but that’s what I think.
Liz Wolfe: I think that I love corn on the cob, but I’ve never liked popcorn. I don’t like how it gets stuck in your teeth, I don’t like how it shrivels into a little sopping blob of nothing.
Diane Sanfilippo: I used to love it.
Liz Wolfe: Blech.
Diane Sanfilippo: But, yeah. I know too much about the colon {laughs}
Liz Wolfe: You know too much about corn.
Diane Sanfilippo: So anyway.
Liz Wolfe: It’s only nice if you see it twice. Literally, just made that song up.
Diane Sanfilippo: Wow. We’ve just taken the value of this podcast in a whole new direction. Ok.
5. What’s the scoop on nightshades [27:14]
Liz Wolfe: Standard. Next up. What’s the deal with nightshades. Camilla asks, and this is not, to my knowledge this is not Camilla Parker-Bowles. This is not the…
Diane Sanfilippo: {laughs}
Liz Wolfe: Ok. “what is the scoop on nightshades? Are they ok to eat? Ok only in moderation?”
Diane Sanfilippo: Ok. Well. I think I might read an excerpt from this volume of work I produced
Liz Wolfe: {laughs}
Diane Sanfilippo: A couple of years ago {laughs}. So, Camilla. If you own a copy of Practical Paleo, you can turn to page 116 where I cover, What are nightshades? Who should avoid them? If you don’t have a copy of Practical Paleo , might I suggest checking one out from the library, or your local Costco, or Barnes and Noble. No, seriously though, I covered a lot of frequently asked questions in the book, and sometimes I even forget the questions I’ve already answered in here, so I want to just go back to the book, check out what’s in here, and I will tell you what it says.
Nightshades are a family of plants that contain specific alkaloid compounds that can be irritating to those suffering from joint pain and inflammation. Tomatoes, white potatoes, peppers (all kinds, bell and hot), and eggplants are the most commonly consumed nightshades. Black pepper and sweet potatoes
are not nightshades, however. Note that if a packaged food contains “spices” without listing which are included, paprika is probably one of them. These items should be avoided since paprika is derived from peppers. I know a lot of people who have nightshade sensitivities, they are very, very aware when something just reads “spices”. The reason that food manufacturers will do that is because they want to keep their blend of which spices they use proprietary, but that doesn’t really help folks who are sensitive to nightshades. Again, check that out. Some other, less frequently consumed nightshades include tomatillos, tobacco, goji berries, cape gooseberries (not normal gooseberries), ground cherries (not regular bing or rainier cherries), garden huckleberries (not blueberries), and ashwagandha (an herb). Those can all be considered part of the nightshade family, and I think that’s important to note, because if somebody is reacting to something and they don’t even realize it, it could be these hidden nightshades. If you suffer from joint pain, joint inflammation, arthritis, cracking, or any other joint-related issues.
And I would add to this, this is not something that I really outlined in Practical Paleo , but it’s something I’ve learned a lot more about over the last couple of years. If you experience other skin irritation, whether that’s rosacea, eczema, or psoriasis, or any other type of skin irritation or redness, I would look into nightshades as a potential promoter of that issue. So, are they ok to eat? I think they’re ok to eat. I’ve talked to Dr. Terry Wahls about this on multiple occasions, because nightshades are some of the most nutrient dense, very rich in vitamin C. Bell peppers are super rich in vitamin C. Eggplant is not really; I don’t know what nutritive value we’re getting from eggplant. I’ve looked a million times for some redeeming quality of eggplant other than the taste if you like it, which I do. I don’t think you’re getting much nutrition from them. But tomatoes we’re getting tons of carotenoids, the beta-carotene, lycopene, lots of other micronutrients in tomatoes. We’re getting pretty good nutrients from white potatoes, contrary to what a lot of us maybe have believes about white potatoes in the past, rich in potassium. So, long story short, there’s a lot that can be gained from eating plants in the nightshade family if you feel good and you tolerate them well. So, tons of nutrition to have there. And I would say eat them as much as you feel good eating them, and I would only moderate them if you feel like you have some issues that you can’t quite figure out. Again, primarily related to joint pain and any other joint issues or skin issues. But truly, if you have an irritation going on from foods that you’re eating, it can affect anything. It can be an indirect inflammatory response. Something I would just pay attention to. I know there are lots of people out there who are pretty anti-nightshade when it comes to just general health, because they feel like there are just so many irritating components in them. But, I for the most part, and again, I’ve asked, I think it was on a podcast I asked Terry, Dr. Wahls about this, and she said for the most part she sees more benefit to people trying to get a lot of these foods in because of the deep nutrition that they get from them, more so than any irritation that they might experience. So, that’s my scoop on nightshades. Any thoughts?
Liz Wolfe: I’m very interested in this topic. I think there’s probably one or two people out there that are vehemently against nightshades in any and all forms. I just don’t know, I don’t know what to think. Very interesting.
Diane Sanfilippo: I think they people who have really strong reactions to them just become sort of wide-spread anti-nightshades. And I think that can happen with any food, you know? I’m pretty sure it’s one of the reasons why Robb Wolf, obviously, with tons of research on gluten, sensitivity, allergies, and all of the problems with gluten, but I think a lot of people who don’t react as strongly to gluten aren’t on the same soap box about it.
Liz Wolfe: Mm-hmm.
Diane Sanfilippo: That Robb may be. And I don’t say that in a negative way. I think if you have a specific issue with something that you see happening to other people, you want to get the information out there. But I think a lot of people just haven’t had the same strong response to it, so they don’t connect with that information as much though. I think that happens to the nightshades, too.
Liz Wolfe: Mm-hmm.
Diane Sanfilippo: I know our friend Stacy over at Paleo Parents definitely experiences a lot of skin issues with nightshades.
Liz Wolfe: Mm-hmm.
Diane Sanfilippo: I don’t know, I know Sarah Ballantyne, who wrote the Paleo Approach about autoimmunity, I don’t think she, I don’t know that she reacts to nightshades. I can’t remember if she does or does not.
Liz Wolfe: Not sure.
Diane Sanfilippo: I think she might react to nightshades, but not nuts and seeds, so anyway. I would check out their websites, also, for some more information on what might happen if you react to them.
6. Oral allergy syndrome – can it be reversed? [33:50]
Liz Wolfe: Very good. Alright, next up. Oral allergies. Can they be cured or healed? Amy says, “Hi Liz and Diane. Love the podcast. I’m telling all my friends to tune in and learn from you lovely ladies. My question is for Diane. I’m just curious about your tree nut and strawberry allergy. What do you think is causing you now to no longer tolerate these types of foods. When I heard about protocols like the GAPS diet, once you heal your gut, you should not experience issues with eating foods you may have had previous issues with. Based on your lifestyle, I can’t imagine you have leaky gut or would be in need of healing. What do you think is going on, and is this something that can be reversed. Thanks for allowing me to tap into your personal life. Inquiring minds want to know.”
Diane Sanfilippo: So, this sounds like one that we got not long ago, because somebody else asked about and I think I just talked about it at some point, but this one did come in very, very recently. So, I’m just going to cover this one more time pretty briefly. I have had an oral allergy to strawberries and walnuts for many years now, so I’ve had those allergies since before I was paleo. I know a lot of times people ask, well did eliminating these foods make you allergic to them, and that’s not the case here. An oral allergy, from what I’ve read and what I’ve researched, it’s something that you will have a genetic predisposition to, and it can be triggered, you know, turned on, most likely by your consumption of those foods in whatever quantity is going to hit the limit for you. So, I ate strawberries growing up in pretty good amounts. I mean, I would never say, I ate strawberries incessantly, but I probably brought them home almost every time I went to the grocery store, so I was probably eating them every week. Or, at least whenever they were in season, eating them very regularly, and I noticed one day, walking home from the farmers market eating just a pint of strawberries, like fresh from the farmers market, that my mouth started itching. Or just got this weird tingly feeling. And so that’s how I knew I was reacting to the strawberries. The same thing has happened with walnuts, pecans, almonds, hazelnuts, I think that might be it. Apparently pine nuts, macadamias, and pistachios are not a problem for me. I think they’re all just possibly in some different families, so they may have some different proteins going on. But I don’t think that an oral allergy is something that you can reverse. I may be totally wrong about that. It’s not a tolerance issue for me. It’s not I get gut irritation or a non-localized inflammatory response. Like, I eat nuts and then I have weird allergies that flare up. I eat nuts, and my mouth gets itchy. That’s what the oral allergy is. You can read about oral allergy syndrome all over the internet. It’s definitely not something that I’m looking to dabble with and just try and eat them now and then. It’s more of what’s considered a true allergy. It’s not an intolerance. So, this is something where, if I try to consume foods that I can’t consume because I’m allergic over time, it may get worse and worse, and it may lead to something that’s a lot more serious and could land me in the hospital. So I’m just not interested in trying to reverse that, honestly. Maybe if there’s some amazing protocol down the road that looks like it would really work and it could help, I would love to be able to eat strawberries and hazelnuts again. I think they’re some of the most delicious foods. But, lots of other foods out there, and it kind of doesn’t bother me. It keeps me away from a lot of the treats that are out there, that’s for sure. So, I don’t think there’s anything specific causing me not to be able to eat them anymore, but I do think on all counts, with strawberries, walnuts, and then almonds and other nuts, I do think that the shift in my diet away from grains, so then nuts was something that I maybe was consuming more often, definitely brought the allergy to the forefront a little faster than perhaps it would have had I not eaten nuts in higher quantities, if that makes sense. So, what happens with a lot of people is, you think, well I could always eat them before. And it’s like, well you could because your body hadn’t hit the specific limit for you of how much is too much to irritate this immune response. And so, once you’ve hit that point, I don’t know that you can totally reverse it. I don’t know. So, that’s kind of my though there.
Liz Wolfe: Okie dokie. {laughs}
Diane Sanfilippo: Ok. Are you allergic to any foods?
Liz Wolfe: Am I allergic to any foods? I don’t think so.
Diane Sanfilippo: That’s because you didn’t take a bazillion medications when you were younger like I did.
Liz Wolfe: That’s true, I didn’t. I can’t say that my diet was great when I was little. My parents were doing their best, but it was definitely conventional and maybe didn’t realize how important food is. I mean, I didn’t realize it until I was 25. But, I didn’t do any medications, I spent all my time outside, so I think. Like you always say, Diane, in our workshops, it’s a matter of your constitution,
Diane Sanfilippo: Mm-hmm.
Liz Wolfe: And lots of different factors that play into what’s going on in your body right then. So, I think that probably was helpful, for sure.
Diane Sanfilippo: Yeah. I think so too.
7. Reversing side effects of taking hormonal birth control [39:15]
Liz Wolfe: Yup, yup, yup. Ok. This one is for me, I believe. Birth control and dark skin spots. Alexandra says, “Hey Liz and Diane! First off, let me say thank you for creating such a fun, easy listening, and knowledgeable podcast to keep my brain on its toes when it comes to learning about food and nutrition.” Thanks Alexandra. “I just started taking the 21DSD.” I think she means doing the 21DSD.
Diane Sanfilippo: Totally.
Liz Wolfe: “And never thought I could appreciate food more than I already have, and wouldn’t have known about it in the first place if it wasn’t for your podcast. Anyway, about 4 years ago I took a birth control called Loestrin, and noted within the first two weeks of taking it dark spots started forming on my skin, mainly on my chest and shoulders. I read the fine print, and discovered one of the side effects was blotchy, dark areas on the skin, melasma. Sunlight may worsen this effect, use a sunscreen and wear protective clothing when outdoors. If I remember correctly, I think I also noticed it said that after taking this medication for the first 3 weeks, the dark spots should go away. Nope. After the first full month of taking it, the melasma only got worse, and I stopped taking it entirely and haven’t taken any form of birth control since. Now, like I said, it’s been 4 years, and I still have the melasma. I noticed my spots have gotten much lighter, where they used to be dark on my shoulders, neck, and the outside of my arms, but I still have the darker spots on the inside of my arms and my chest, especially between my breasts. They tend to be more prominent when I’m out in the sun for a length of time, and when I get red due to blushing, which sucks because I get red about a lot of things. Are there any particular kinds of food I can eat or supplements I can take, or even an all natural food-based skin care product to physically rub onto my skin to get it back to normal, if not even out the discoloration so they’re not as noticeable. I refuse to take any sort of whitening cream to clear up the dark spots, and I’d rather not take any medications, especially if that’s what caused the melasma in the first place. Before I let this slip my mind again, Liz, I did recently notice that you have something called the Skintervention Guide. By any chance is there something in there that could help me out. Thank you so much both of you wonderful, inspiring ladies, and I look forward to any sort of all natural advice you may have for me.”
Liz Wolfe: This just pisses me right off. I just, the more I learn about hormonal birth control, the more I’m just disgusted at this mass medication of girls beginning when they’re incredibly young that completely messes with our hormonal balance, our digestive health, our gut health. It’s crazy what we’re discovering that birth control can do. So, if I can, not a doctor, but if it were me, I would go straight back to condoms. Just, I think this is a really, really, really important topic. And I know we don’t address it a lot on the podcast, but man. I just have worked with way too many people that have endured damage much worse than this from birth control, and I’m one of those people. So, I mean, I’ve talked about it on the podcast before in addition to some of the other hormonal screwing that birth control did to me for many years. It also, basically, androgenized hair follicles on my chin and neck. For which I’ve gotten laser hair removal. It’s completely irreversible. It was a direct effect of the birth control that I was on. Not only that, but it was a listed side effect of the birth control, and I didn’t know that for a long time. So, anyway. Good on you.
Liz Wolfe: This is really, really common. The melasma is actually really common. And I talk about melasma a little bit in the Skintervention Guide. I don’t know that, you know, if Alexandra is already really dialed in on the diet, and the digestive health, and the nontoxic topical care, and things like that, it’s probably. Who knows, it could provide information that she doesn’t have already, but when it comes to melasma and the hormonal effects, I don’t have a mechanism for it. I don’t know if it has something to do with hormonal activation of melanocytes or what it is that causes this to happen. But I do believe, I think the best information that we have is that this is a consequence of pretty extreme hormonal imbalances. So, that’s kind of what I know about that. The best I can say is, work with your body to balance hormones naturally. There are a lot of unnatural ways to mess with hormones, birth control being one of them, and a lot of times we use other types of treatments to push back on the damage that birth control has done, and that’s not necessarily the way you have to go. It might be worth checking out Stefani Ruper’s book, Sexy By Nature. I know she has some good strategies for hormonal balance in there, as well. But that’s pretty much all I know. I mean, all I can say is this is common, it sucks, and I don’t have a great answer other than continuing to work to balance your hormones. And it may be a situation much like the hair follicle situation for me, where it’s not completely reversible. Maybe it can be halted, maybe it can get a little bit better like it looks like it may be doing. But if you do end up needing to do something, like I had laser hair removal. If you end up needing to do something just to get things back to kind of a baseline, don’t feel bad about that. It’s not the end of the world. Diane, do you have anything to say about this at all?
Diane Sanfilippo: I do not.
Liz Wolfe: You’re just like, Liz, I wish you didn’t talk about condoms.
Diane Sanfilippo: No, I don’t wish you didn’t talk about that.
Liz Wolfe: I was going to say what the brand, there’s like a vegan ethical condom company.
Diane Sanfilippo: Ummm.
Liz Wolfe: Glyde, I think is what it is.
Diane Sanfilippo: I’m with you, and I’m as frustrated as you are about what’s happening out there with hormonal birth control and, yeah I definitely think it’s a problem. I don’t have anything else that’s different to say about it, though.
Liz Wolfe: Yeah. I might have to dig into this a little bit more. I’ve had a few requests about this lately. I’ll see what I can do.
Diane Sanfilippo: Yeah. I mean, definitely, it screwed up a lot of things for me too over, you know, years of taking it first for cramps and just quickly being given hormonal birth control when I had really bad cramps when I was younger.
Liz Wolfe: Mm-hmm.
Diane Sanfilippo: It’s just another one of those medications that is just very quickly prescribed without any discussion of the backlash. And at this age now, I’m 36 and I have friends anywhere from, I don’t know 26-27 all the way up to probably their early 40s, and a lot of women around our age who have come off of birth control have had a very, very hard time getting their periods back, and a very, very hard time conceiving.
Liz Wolfe: Mm-hmm.
Diane Sanfilippo: And I don’t think that’s the truth that’s being shared with women who are taking hormonal birth control, just how hard it can be after. I don’t think they’re being told that, and I’m seeing that a lot.
Liz Wolfe: Yup.
Diane Sanfilippo: Very important. So anyway.
8. Ground beef, bacon, and sausage processed foods to avoid? [46:22]
Liz Wolfe: Alright. Did our ancestors eat ground beef, bacon, and sausage? Ashley says, “Hi lovely ladies! Your podcast rocks.” This is a very affirming suite of questions we have today, Diane.
Diane Sanfilippo: {laughs} Yeah. Awesome.
Liz Wolfe: “My boyfriend and I have been having an ongoing conversation about animal products. He believes that it is important to buy cuts that come from one animal with minimal processing and no additives. So we avoid organic bacon, smoked wild salmon, hot dogs, sausage, and ground beef. We often buy whole, organic, pasture-raised chicken, organic sirloin, non-GMO pork chops, organic pasture-raised eggs, organic brisket, wild sardines, and wild salmon. However, I miss the taste of ground beef, bacon, and sausage, yet I want to eat as clean as possible, and the only bacon or sausage I found had some added sugar. Did our ancestors eat ground beef or sausage? What’s your take on this? Thanks” There’s kind of a lot of questions in here, I feel like. And you know, one thing that I
Diane Sanfilippo: First…
Liz Wolfe: What’s that?
Diane Sanfilippo: Yeah, go ahead and talk about it first.
Liz Wolfe: Ok, one things that I’m excited about is that I’m finally getting a meat grinder from Westin products. I’m really excited about it, because I actually prefer ground meats, just because.
Diane Sanfilippo: That sounds fancy, by the way.
Liz Wolfe: It is fancy. I’m so excited. And it has a little sausage maker thingy on it. So, it sounds like, Ashley and her boyfriend are spending some pretty good money on organic, pasture-raised, blah, blah, blah, so maybe there’s room in the budget for a meat grinder. Who knows. But what you can do with that is take all the cuts you want, and you can kind of play with making them into ground meats. Which I know is like, sacrilege probably if Pete Servold was listening to this, he’d be like Noooo, Liz! But it’s easier for me to work with ground meat. So I’ve ground up almost everything. We got a whole half-hog, and I borrowed Amy, my assistant Amy, her meat grinder and ground up some stuff so we could make something or other. So you can grind up anything. You’re allowed to do whatever you want. So, that’s that question.
Diane Sanfilippo: {laughs} The sigh.
Liz Wolfe: So that’s that. Um, so there you go. You have one animal, minimal processing, no additives. You can make your own sausage. You can even cure your own meats, but that’s a little bit… a little bit the same but a little bit different. So, there’s that. And as far as eating clean, I think bacon and sausage is fine if it’s good stuff. The rule of thumb I go by is, if there’s sugar on the ingredients list but zero carbs or one carb listed on the nutrition facts, you’re good to go. There’s a difference between using sugar to make something sweet, and using sugar to cure the meat. And a lot of times, sugar is actually used to cure and, I don’t know, texturize? I don’t know what the word would be, texturize the meat, inhibit bacterial growth, that type of thing. So, when people all go bat crap crazy over the sugar on the ingredients list in their bacon, for the most part, it’s just used in the cure and it’s not that big of a deal. But just compare the ingredients list with the nutrition facts and see what it says.
Diane Sanfilippo: Yeah. I think the awareness of what the ingredients are, and I think the quality of the animal is a lot more important.
Liz Wolfe: Mm-hmm.
Diane Sanfilippo: Because you do find, I mean, I think there’s a pretty strong correlation between quality ingredients, low sugar, all of that, and the quality of the animal that you’re buying.
Liz Wolfe: Mm-hmm.
Diane Sanfilippo: Generally, I think you find you don’t find tons of strange preservatives and lots of sugar and all that stuff added when you’re buying higher quality meat. It just doesn’t generally happen. I don’t understand at all avoiding ground beef. I have no idea where that comes from. Minimal processing…
Liz Wolfe: I think the ground beef thing comes from, ground beef like, literally, they combine ground beef from all over the world and then sell it in chunks. That’s probably why.
Diane Sanfilippo: I mean, if you’re buying your own animal.
Liz Wolfe: Yeah.
Diane Sanfilippo: That’s not happening.
Liz Wolfe: Yeah.
Diane Sanfilippo: So, to me, I’m with you where I don’t want a roast, I want ground beef. I will cook ground beef every day. {laughs}
Liz Wolfe: Mm-hmm.
Diane Sanfilippo: So, I don’t get that. I think that’s taking it a little far. And especially if you’re buying your own animals. So, I think that is just one of those, everybody just breath and calm down for a second.
Liz Wolfe: {laughs}
Diane Sanfilippo: Think about what you’re saying there. Because I think that’s just a little extreme, and a little… I’m like, what? I don’t even understand that. I get what you’re saying. I think the further down this rabbit hole you go, the harder you’re going to make your life for yourself when you leave the house. So I would be really careful not to build so many rules about what you will and will not eat, and for what reasons. I get it, I think eating cleanly at home is great. I think doing what you can at home is great. I think convincing yourself that something is too processed and really unhealthy is, as I said, it’s going to become a problem when you leave the house, and so I just don’t want this to become like an orthorexic situation. And, you know, case in point, being on the cruise last week. There is not organic, grass-fed, any of that. Nothing is super high quality. When they’re feeding 3600 people on a cruise ship who most of them really don’t care about that stuff. I’m not being judgmental, it’s just that they don’t. It’s not what most people care about. We’re a small percentage of a growing, hopefully, population, but if you followed my Instagram feed at all, you can see, I made a lovely salad for l