Milk in Your Coffee?

Dairy’s a somewhat divisive issue within the Paleo community. Some say it’s not paleo after breast-feeding, while others believe it’s fine occasionally as long as it’s from fresh, local, pastured sources (even better if’s raw and unhomogenized).

For the most part, however, both sides tend to lean away from dairy if the goal is to lean down. This mainly is to do with the casein and lactates within milk which can trigger inflammation and heavy insulin responses. For this reason, butter and ghee are still good to eat, as these two are removed during the conversion process. Also, this is why some people still eat yogurts, cheeses, kefir and other fermented milk sources, as this fermentation process kills much of the lactates and casein.

It was honestly shocking to me how well I’ve physically responded to the recent lack of dairy in my system. But when my focus switches from fat loss to weight maintenance, I plan to slow reintroduce the dairy in the forms of whole milk (grass-fed), yogurt and the occasional cheddar (love cheddar). Also, I believe that while many are very sensitive to the effects of dairy, I handle it rather well. My ancestors must have adapted to it a long while back.

Anyways, what brought to think about milk this morning was milk in my coffee. Some allow the indulgence of a splash of two of organic cream in their morning joe, but not I. I said 30 days without and I meant it  🙂  So this morning, when making my espresso, I heated up a small pan of organic coconut milk. NOT GOOD! the idea sounded great in my thoughts, but it did not turn out well. Back to BLACK espresso for me, which is still great, but sometimes I just want a creamy hot beverage (that’s what she said).

Sept 21 – Fats and Lean Meat

After picking Steph up from the airport, I got home with little time to make dinner. So we stopped by Whole Foods to pick up some STEAK. Well, the steak was for me, while Steph grabbed a chicken pot pie. I literally cannot remember the last time I had a pot pie! Got home and let the buffalo top sirloin steak get some air. I simply added some S&P, then started preheating the cast-iron with some of my brand new, homemade beef tallow. Top sirloin is a cheap, lean piece of meat AND it was from grass-fed buffalo (from NY), so it can dry out pretty easily. That’s where the tallow comes in; extra fat for the extra lean.

The trick is to add plenty of S&P after having taken a paper towel to the steak to dry the surface out a bit. With a dry surface to cook with, the steak will brown nicely instead of resulting in that less attractive, gray-steamed meat. The whole thing took only a few minutes, and tasted great. Seasoning and rubs are GREAT, but a well-cooked piece of meat only needs salt, pepper and a little grease.

On the side, I boiled the remaining squash and mashed it with some extra tallow, cinnamon and salt. And a few brussel sprouts on the side. Good meal overall, though now I’m stuck typing all this down instead of sleeping (too much steak the belly to go to bed right away). This all with 3 fried eggs (with tallow), an apple and 2 tbsp of Almond Butter, and I’m still under calories, fat and protein (though right at 50g for carbs). Feel full though.