the whole30, day twenty-eight

At work today,  I was thinking about this process and realized the next time I'm at my desk, next Monday, I will have completed the thirty days of the Whole30. I have also realized that my body, while responding very nicely to this program, will take well over 30 days to heal. It is quite possible that the only concession I will make to completing these 30 days is to step on my scale.

I would be remiss to avoid mentioning missteps along the way to what I hope will be a successful conclusion of my first Whole30. Yesterday I stopped by Lassens, a local natural foods store, to pick up organic carrots for my soup. It always takes me by surprise when I run out of carrots, yet somehow they still don't replenish themselves. While there I picked up a package of Applegate bacon. I'd not tried it before but had read others' comments. People said nice things about it, and it's always mentioned when speaking of uncured, high-end products. Ridiculously, I didn't read the label, or if I did, nothing registered. Nothing as in the cane juice. I paid no attention either when I popped it into the oven this morning, happily congratulating myself on being all the way to Day 28 of the Whole30. Only later, after eating a few pieces and noticing my stomach was not feeling so happy, only then did I carefully look at that label.

Yikes! Not the end of the world maybe, but would this be the end of my Whole30? I stressed. I worried. I went to Whole9's site and searched "bacon." Jeez! They have a whole, nicely written section about why they don't routinely recommend it. They don't demonize it; they just don't sing its praises, and they recommend other options for regular protein sources. Of course, that is only IF you can find any pastured and well-cared for without sugar, nitrites, nitrates, and so forth. Why didn't I read this before? Why didn't I pay more attention to my rarely opened Survival Guide? What was I going to do now? Crap! I've been writing blog posts for almost four weeks, counting down my Whole30, no thought ever of slipping up.

Fortunately, I remembered how great Whole9 is about answering questions. I took a deep breath, clinched my fists once or twice, and wrote to them, publicly, in the comments of the newest Whole30 5.0 update. With two and a half days to go, was I about to start over? Melissa replied in less than five minutes. That was cool. The first time I read her response I misread the words and thought she said "the cane sugar in your bacon is going to mess up your 'reset' process." Somehow in my panic, I'd missed that little word "not" in her sentence. First I missed the stupid sugar on the bacon package and now possibly the most critical word in her response. Bottom line, I'm okay---feeling stupid, but okay with the healing process and the Whole30. Whew!

Thanks Melissa, thanks Whole9.

my newest food love: Beeler's bacon ends

Many, if not most, of us with health or dietary concerns end up paying more for our food than we would if we were throwing caution to the wind, as I must admit I have often done. We read labels, double check our reference guides for questionable ingredients, and stifle a low moan as we pay the tab. Our health is worth it, I have no doubt, but still...

I am always on the lookout for a more cost-effective way to stay healthy. I have, personally, made some major missteps trying to make sense of food over the years. Little is more frustrating for me than to eat or drink what I don't really like but expect to aid my health, only to find out those same products are hindering not helping. That is annoying!

Recently, I've added a little bacon back into my diet. Bacon does certainly not have to be from pork, though I am not really excited by the other options, personally. I know many who are. I like pork bacon but have rarely eaten it in recent years for a variety of reasons, not the least of which is all the scary additives. Many versions of uncured bacon are on the market, addressing one of my concerns, though in my opinion, they have two major drawbacks: price and flavor. It is never fun to spend more than you'd like on something, take the time to prepare it, and then have to choke it down or toss it. No, thank you.

I never thought of myself as a picky eater, but those close to me would probably beg to differ. I think we all want our food to taste good, and that is certainly a matter of personal preference. I don't care much at all for smoked anything; I don't even like walking into restaurants that specialize in BBQ because of the smokiness. So, with bacon, which I know is smoked, I have a very narrow window of acceptable taste these days. That adds to my hesitation to spend a lot on a new bacon.

Enter Beeler's bacon.

I'm not suggesting that Beeler's is new, just new to me. I love the flavor. Yes, it's smoked like almost all bacon, but somehow it doesn't have that super-smokey taste of many of the uncured bacons. I'm a bit of a purist with bacon and don't care for sweet or fruity tastes, though I know many love them, and the plain version works well for me. For those who do like it sweeter, they have that, too. Beeler's bacon is sliced fairly thick, which is not my personal preference, and it also tends to be a little pricey, I think. But, and this is a big but for me, they also make available a slightly larger package of bacon ends and pieces. These are cut irregularly as the name implies, though I find this a perk. It's like getting a variety pack for half the price of the plain version. I tend not to lay bacon out in neat and tidy strips for presentation on a plate, so the variation in shape and size does not bother me. That said, there are plently of lovely slices within the package that would be fine for that. There are also many very meaty portions with virtually no fat. It's a fun grab bag. The price is really about half that of their regular sliced bacon. Check them out http://www.beelerspurepork.com/index.htm .

Another bonus is that the rendered fat is considered one of the preferred fats for cooking when following a Paleo diet, so nothing is wasted. Since this bacon is free of added nitrates and nitrites, it is relatively pure. This applies, too, to uncured beef bacon, though I haven't tried it yet. It will take a bit of getting used to, this idea of cooking with animal fat, after all the years of avoiding it. I am carefully, cautiously approaching the concept.