Healthy Recipes: meats must be nitrate-free

Healthy Recipes: meats must be nitrate-free

Nitrates are substances that are typically added to cured meat products—like bacon, turkey bacon, sausages, jerky, and packaged deli meats (including the stuff behind the meat counter)—to impede bacterial growth, so the food doesn’t spoil as quickly. Because nitrates do this by slowing down the breakdown of fat in the meat, they also slow down the breakdown of fat in the body, just when we’re trying to do the opposite: melt the fat faster.

Instead, eat meat that is cured and preserved naturally, with foods like celery juice and sea salt. These are perfectly safe and easy to find. Most supermarkets and all natural foods stores carry them, and several major food brands now make them, too. If you aren’t sure about a product, look at the ingredients label for words like “nitrate-free” and “naturally cured,” or ask the butcher if the meat is preserved with nitrates. Local organic meat producers also often have nitrate-free options. Just remember that these meats don’t last quite as long, so keep them frozen until the day before you are ready to eat.

There are so many delicious raw nut butters out there that you won’t even miss the absence of peanut butter on the Fast Metabolism Diet. I love peanut butter, but because it is one of the dirtiest products out there (it grows in the ground and contains so many agricultural chemicals) and because it is not typically sold raw (way too moldy), it’s not a part of your life for the next 28 days. If you have it again after the 28 days are over, choose organic peanut butter without added sweetener, but for now, stick to raw almond, cashew, hazelnut, sesame, and yummy raw sunflower butter. You won’t even miss the peanuts.

If you’ve already flipped ahead to check out the recipes, meal maps, and food lists, you might have noticed that a few things you’re used to eating aren’t on any of the lists. But I have very good reasons for why I’m temporarily taking them off the menu. These foods make it harder, if not impossible, to reset and repair the metabolism.

We’ve come together for a common goal, so let’s stick with it. You won’t be giving up these foods forever. For now, though, they’re out. But so you’re totally with me on this, let’s talk about why?

Wheat is a billion-dollar agricultural business. To increase the crop yield, and thus profits, farmers have hybridized wheat to make it sturdy enough to withstand the most extreme weather conditions (remember, I’m an aggie and I took many courses on this). As a result, it has become not just indestructible in the field but also nearly indestructible in your body—in other words, it’s very hard for your body to digest and extract its nutrients.

Think about it this way: If wheat can withstand a hailstorm and bug infestations, what chance has your body got to break it down? Among other things, it creates inflammation, gas, bloating, water retention, and fatigue. Going wheat-free might sound intimidating, but I promise you won’t miss it. You can eat so many better, 

carbs on this diet, like brown and wild rice, barley and quinoa, or breads and pastas made with sprouted grains or spelt.

You may not be used to eating these grains, but you can find any of them (or any other foods on the food list, for that matter) at any well-stocked supermarket or health food store. Wheat in a sprouted form is the exception to the no-wheat rule and sprouted wheat or wheat-free baked products like bread, bagels, and tortillas are usually found in the freezer section (so they stay fresh).