Hi all,
 
About 1.5 months ago I became concerned about worsening ADD like symptoms
and a perceived mental capacity (though that may just be aging).
So I started doing a lot of research on the internet. I started by looking
at the chemical pathway charts at (http://www.genome.ad.jp) and moved on to
doing searches at (www.neurology.org), (http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov) and
(http://www.ajcn.org). After doing a lot of reading I came to the conclusion
that the Paleolithic Diet was the way to go.
 
I’ve only been on the diet for about 2 weeks and have already lost 10
pounds. This isn’t really necessary because at 5’11” and (now) 145lbs, I
don’t need to loose weight.
When I was 25 I weighed 145 and I have been working out for 2 years so my
body fat percentage is probably lower than it was at 25.
 
I think the weight loss is due mainly to not getting enough calories. I’m
working on increasing my fat intake to correct this.
 
I’ve been trying to make Pemmican and my first attempt didn’t go to well. I
think I made two mistakes. First during my attempt at rendering, I think I
overheated the batch and this resulted in some minor smoking before I fixed
it. The other possible error is too much time in the dehydrator for the
meat.
 
To solve the first problem I’m using a double hulled pot, where water does
in the outside pot and the suet goes in the inside pot. This ensures that
the suet never goes above 212F. It is still rendering as I write this, but
it’s making progress and there is no unpleasant odor.
 
On to questions.
 
Has anyone else done rendering with a double hulled pot?
 
Is it possible to over dry meat when using a food dehydrator? Mine is a
“Back to Basics” model FD-600. There is no temperature control but the food
never got so hot that it was uncomfortable to handle.
 
When I eat food that contains a lot of tallow or lard I feel faintly
nauseous. I suspect this is because I spend the previous 2 yeas almost
living of of Zone Perfect bars. And so my digestive system may not be used
to the high fat content. Has anyone else experience this kind of transition
issue? BTW, when I say high fat content I’m talking about 2 tablespoons of
lard with 4 scrambled eggs, or 2 tablespoons of tallow added to a bowl of
chilli (NeanderThin style).
 
I found a local store that sells suet. It’s Central Market and the suet
probably comes from their grass fed corn finished beef. It’s not optimal but
it was the best I could find on short notice. Has anyone got comments on the
practice of “corn finishing” beef? I know it’s not optimal but how does it
compare to grain fed beef?
 
BTW, how many Seattle area Paleolithic eaters are there?
 
-Tad