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Coconut Milk, Kale, Karate, and Macadamia Nuts: Fails and Wins

Coconut in a Can

This can of Natural Value coconut milk from Natural Grocers (fka Vitamin Cottage)...


...looked like this...


...and made a gloppy, eggy mess out of a custard dish I've made successfully many times. (I added 3T lime juice to the custard, which I hadn't tried before, but I don't think that would have ruined it.)

From now on, it's Thai Kitchen coconut milk or Sprouts premium organic.

Thai Kitchen coconut milk (full fat). Sprouts premium organic is similar.

Kale Chips

Today I ruined a bunch of lacinato kale making kale chips. 500 Paleo Recipes says to cook the chips at 375; some recipes on the web call for 300 degrees when using lacinato kale. They're probably right; at 375, the chips filled the kitchen with smoke and tasted exactly like you'd expect burnt leaves to taste. Red Russian kale has worked well at at the higher temperature, though. With some salt and dip made of mayonnaise, chives and lemon juice, they were way better than the kind from the grocery store.

Karate

I thought karate would be easier than it's been. I've used the taekwondo that I remember, but something I never expected has been a hindrance: dancing. Certain habits from dancing don't work in karate: turning clockwise on your right foot, following your partner, moving gracefully not forcefully, avoiding putting your hands at chest height to avoid accidental boob grabs (ABG--the class thought that was very funny), and cooperating with your partner. Grabbing your partner's clothes and hair are out. This is the way I've moved and dealt with partners for 11 years, and learning new habits has been hard.

Kicking out Macadamia Nuts

One thing that's been successful, though, has been getting rid of macadamia nuts. I feel better and have more energy without them, so much so that I actually need less sleep. 
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Comments

Galina L. said…
May be I should try coconut milk in a custard too. Thank you for such idea!
May 25, 2014
Anonymous said…
"Natural Coconut Milk" doesn't look very natural.

What was it about Macadamias, do you think, that made a difference?

Cheers.
May 25, 2014
tess said…
more energy on no nuts -- interesting! do you also see less energy when you increase olive oil? (if so, it may support the mouse study that shows the more saturated your fats, the better thyroid gets into your cells.)
May 26, 2014
Lori Miller said…
I think you can use coconut milk anyplace you'd use regular milk or cream.
May 26, 2014
Lori Miller said…
It looked even worse than the photo. Without an detachable flash, I couldn't get side lighting to emphasize the lumpy texture.

I don't know what it is about macadamia nuts that doesn't agree with me. After I'd been getting them for a few weeks, it felt like there was something sitting in my stomach not digesting. I got some acid reflux now and then; normally, I don't have any at all. All of that is gone now. They're a plant seed that my ancestors wouldn't have had any contact with until a few decades ago; maybe that has something to do with it.

I just read that macadamia nuts are toxic to dogs for unknown reasons.
May 26, 2014
Lori Miller said…
I've never tried decreasing olive oil. It would mean no mayonnaise or finding another way to make it. I'm not sure if such an experiment would mean anything if I did it since my thyroid is rock solid normal.
May 26, 2014
tess said…
i'm just curious.... thyroid levels NATURALLY ebb and flow in normal people all the time, depending on diet, illness, stresses ... all kinds of things, but people rarely make a big deal out of it unless they're trying to trash low-carb. ;-)
May 26, 2014
Lowcarb team member said…
Interesting to read your fails and wins.

Have you tried yoga instead of karate - different entirely I know but just wondered?

Thanks ...take care

All the best Jan
May 26, 2014
Lori Miller said…
This comment has been removed by the author.
May 26, 2014
Lori Miller said…
I've never had any thyroid problems since started LC, and I eat cauliflower and nightshades. My energy, cold tolerance, skin and mood all improved and I still have enough hair for two people. Peter at Hyperlipid mentioned that someone whose blood sugars were suddenly normal (which is one thing LC brings about) meant that they'd suddenly have a functioning immune system, and any autoimmune problems would flare up. I also wonder if people who go through this are eating "tons of veggies." They're calorie-poor and many of them can interfere with the thyroid.
May 26, 2014
Lori Miller said…
I was doing a challenging yoga class that I really liked, but decided to go to karate more often so that I could learn it better and quit making a fool of myself in class. I plan to take up yoga again.
May 26, 2014
Galina L. said…
I don't like it in my coffee
May 26, 2014
Galina L. said…
On the anty-LC blogs it gets mentioned regularly that there are rumors that Dr.Eades gave T3 to his patients to alleviate their low-thyroid symptoms from their weight loss. IT is usually considered as the LC conspiracy to brush under the rug the truth that LC causes damage of thyroid. For me it is the proof that Dr.Eades understood how body reacts on a weight loss. He couldn't give them leptine , but used what was available - T3.
May 26, 2014
Lori Miller said…
From an evolutionary perspective, human ancestors for the most part lived through a long ice age without access to year-round fruit nor any grains or milk. They ate once or twice a day and went through regular periods of starvation, as shown by Harris lines. All of this points to a carb-poor diet. If LC damages the thyroid, they'd have had thyroid problems left and right.

However, my educated guess is that few if any of our ancestors would have seen a loss of fifty pounds or more of excess fat or have incurred damage to their immune systems through novel foods or suppression of it through long-term high blood sugars. Babies with congenital problems probably didn't live long.

Maybe thyroid problems are a little like gallstones: LC doesn't cause them, but if you have an underlying problem, it might bring it out.

I'm curious about Dr. Eades giving his patients T3. Is there any evidence that he did so?
May 26, 2014
Almond said…
Kale chips are delicious.
May 26, 2014
Galina L. said…
I just don't know. I don't see why not to do it when somebody it struggling with a post-weight-loss syndrome. I have never been 100lb+ overweight, and I do think the people who have to loose a lot of weight may need some extra support beyond just eating the right diet. Sure, ketosis kills hunger, and people are less cold when they eat more fat, especially coconut oil (just from my experience), but they should be more sluggish and cold sensitive anyway because for a body a weight loss is a weight loss regardless of a diet.
May 26, 2014
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