You may be more strict with your indulgences than I am, which is actually quite impressive, but I think you’d have a hard time out eating me. Although I rarely do it, I can eat a 24 ounce steak fairly easily!

I’d have to say that my favorite food is pizza, although for the past few years, I haven’t had it that often and have only eaten it gluten free. I also don’t like it quite as much as I used to now that I eat healthier and have a stronger appreciation and appetite for whole foods. The thought of a ribeye steak coated in butter with a sweet potato on the side is now just as exciting to me, if not more, than having pizza.

One of these days I plan on trying to make my own pizza with whole grain gluten free dough and cheese made from raw dairy.

Oh and I bet I could out eat you in a meat or fish eating contest… Ah ha ha, I adore grass-fed meats and wild fish, especially salmon! It’s so much fun exploring the healthy foods out there!

What is your favorite food?

Sounds like you already buy from US Wellness – their braunschweiger and liverwurst is great, and a great, easy way to get organ meat into your diet. My kids have it in sandwiches (I don’t enforce my paleo tendencies on the rest of my family, although we are all gluten free). And I eat it by itself or with coconut mayo on lettuce. It’s pretty yum.

Just because the USDA is biased and has misled us about what a healthy diet really is doesn’t mean that we should automatically disregard everything that they say. For example, although their organic certification program isn’t perfect, it’s one of the best standards that we currently have for organic food.

If there were to be a bias in regard to how long food could be left out at room temperature, I suspect that the food industry would push the USDA to make an excessively conservative recommendation that would encourage people to not eat leftovers and buy new food instead. In contrast, I can’t think of any incentive for the USDA to advise that food can sit out at room temperature for longer than it really should. If anything, I think it would create liability concerns, especially with the poor quality of conventional food.

Besides, we’re talking about letting food sit out for 15 minutes to let it warm up a bit. I really can’t imagine that being a problem. If you have any supporting evidence that suggests otherwise, please share it!

I do see your point, and based on what you’ve said, I’m being more conscious about how long I let my food sit out before eating it.

And the USDA is what? A governmental agency… wow, I guess we should trust them!!!

My supplement plan is to take as few of them as possible.

When I was going through treatment for chronic fatigue syndrome and Lyme disease, which I eventually decided to discontinue, I was taking over 60 pills per day. Perhaps this is why I am now biased in the opposite direction. Healthy habits did a lot more for me than any of those pills, and even from a conceptual perspective, I’d rather rely on my food as much as possible for nutrients. I know there are many aspects of modern life, such as increased stress, increased exposure to toxins, and poorer soil quality, that increase our need for supplements, but it’s my personal preference to do as well as I can without them.

For people who prefer supplements, I don’t think there’s anything wrong with taking them as long as a quality diet comes first and supplements that contain questionable additives and fillers are avoided. This latter aspect can be difficult to determine which is another reason why I prefer to avoid them as much as possible.

Currently I am only taking digestive enzymes and probiotics, and I don’t even take these all the time. Sometimes I take a fermented cod liver oil and butter oil blend as well.

The crock pot is a great way to cook at low temperatures and preserve the nutritional quality of the food. I’ve been tempted to try it myself.

If you’re going to consume dairy, I think raw is the best way to go since pasteurization and homogenization destroy a lot of the nutrients. It seems like you’re already aware of that which is nice to see and I’m glad to hear that your health is improving as a result.