tombeej

Good to hear she's going to be OK. Well done to the chopper dude for displaying some mad skills to get her out.

Safe as houses. The only thing you need to keep in mind is that there's pretty much no cell signal out there, so go with a 'self supported' mindset. If you're on your own and you get into difficulty, only you will get yourself out. I ride there alone all the time, and have done so for years. Great place to ride.

One of the best articles I've read on the subject. This should go into the OP I think.

Fully agree with that sentiment HMT

I've just come across this homemade biltong drier (was driving behind his branded car so googled him). Reasonable price, and they deliver nationally. http://m.olx.co.za/item/show/327670503

Cream all the way. I put it in everything. I even keep a 1L bottle of fresh cream in the office fridge so that I don't run out .

Hi htone, to answer some questions: 1. The nitrate issue. Sounds interesting, will look it up. For now though, the vinegar is doing its job very well, so happy for now. 2. The fan: I've got one of those plastic PC fans - they're also very popular for home made boxes. But haven't seen a need to add yet (reluctant to spoil the look of my pretty box ). I'll wait for our humid KZN summer to kick in and see if it's needed then. It really is amazing how the light bulb and vents work so well by themselves. That system really does produce a surprising flow of warm, dry air over the meat. Works like a charm. If I had a second layer of racks in the top section I might add the PC fan, or just a 2nd bulb. I agree that we can't get away with hanging meat from the rafters in the garage here at the coast. It would rot before it dried. In terms of the commercial spices, yes Freddy Hirsch is the most popular. I tried to find locally but came up empty so just used another brand. It was excellent as well. I just have a small concern about those commercial recipes in terms of the sugary carbs that go into them. They are often sweet - to cater to the taste of the ave. joe. I prefer to have control over exactly what goes into my biltong. One other thing to mention: the soaking sauce can be used for 2 batches of biltong. Just decant your mix into a container when the first batch has been soaked and pop into the freezer. Folks are generally reluctant to use the mix more than twice though.

Here you go, sir. Spent the afternoon putting this together for you . Tombeej's Biltong box.pdf

I don’t see store-bought biltong as a viable option IMHO. First, the cost. My local Spar’s biltong is R270/kg. That’s an insane price to pay for a daily snack meal. My homemade biltong comes in at a more reasonable R80/kg or so. Second, the stuff you buy in the shops is lean. Almost no fat at all. So maybe a nice source of protein, but that’s it. Certainly not not going to win any awards as a fuel source to keep you going through the day. As I’ve said a few times before, I dish out the lean cuts of my homemade stuff to family and friends because they don’t have any value for me. The fat is what I’m after. Third, as an on-the-go snack: When done right it’s seriously delicious. And with a small packet in your desk drawer or in the cubby hole of your car, you can just go and go and go all day, with no energy dips or food cravings. It’s the energizer bunny snack. With my line of work, I am often on the road, sometimes all day. If I don’t have an effective means of fueling, the risk is that I end up at a garage buying a soft drink and a pie (well at least that’s what it was like in the old days). In the LCHF world, really fatty biltong should be the aim. And the only way to do that affordably is to make it yourself.

Sorry, I've been on the road all week. Will try to post something on this during the weekend.

Go fruit!

Milk has a very high insulin response, similar to white bread/pure sugar.

Ja, I've got it, and read it.

I find that more and more I'm heading away from most forms of plant oil and towards almost completely saturated animal fat. The more I read and research the subject, the more I realise this is my path. So I've been punting my very fatty homemade biltong for a little while now. Well, not to be too controversial, but my own personal conviction is becoming more certain that if you want to be serious about true Paleo/LCHF then you need to get yourself a homemade biltong maker. As I've posted before, my biltong is not the same as commercial types: mine is 70 - 90% fat and only relatively small slivers of actual meat included. The lean stuff is given to the lighty and the missus. Mostly I just have a couple of handfuls to snack on (like when out at sea all day on the boat), which easily take me through a few hours of the day. Better than anything I've come across so far in terms of sustained slow-burn energy. In terms of all-day exercise (like hiking in the Berg), my food of choice is v.fatty biltong mixed with coconut oil. Incredible stuff. My search is over, and I'm happy. A 750ml bottle of this mix will take me through an entire day of climbing/hiking. I was re-reading the old pdf that htone once posted on 'rabbit starvation' - see attached - and I was interested to read this: Normally , according to Stefansson, the diet consisted of dried or cured meat "eaten with fat," namely the highly saturated cavity and back slab fat that could be easily separated from the animal. Another Arctic explorer, Hugh Brody, reports that Eskimos ate raw liver mixed with small pieces of fat and that strips of dried or smoked meat were "spread with fat or lard." Pemmican, a highly concentrated travel food, was a mixture of lean dried buffalo meat and highly saturated buffalo fat. (Buffalo fat, by the way, is more saturated than beef fat.) Less than two pounds of pemmican per day could sustain a man doing hard physical labor. The ratio of fat to protein in pemmican was 80%-20%. As lean meat from game animals was often given to the dogs, there is no reason to suppose that everyday fare did not have the same proportions: 80% fat (mostly highly saturated fat) to 20% protein-in a population in which heart disease and cancer were nonexistent." So if you don't have a homemade biltong maker, best you seriously consider one today . Rabbit starvation.pdf

Sjoe, another topic that has been done to death on the Hub. My humble suggestion: read this pdf 'Everything you need to know about Bicycle Chains' before you do anything else. Because Johan Bornman is going to come across this thread sooner or later, and heaven help the poor soul who says something like "I need to lube my chain regularly on the trail to stop chain suck", or "wax lubes are the best".... He'll be all over you like a rash . Everything you need to know about Bicycle Chains.pdf

Ja I know, you bergies are the best

Fair enough, esp. considering the sizable bulk of many of our esteemed bureaucrats. But the fact that they're actively trying to push DBN towards being a bicycle-friendly city, and driving their own staff to be part of that change... well, that's more than just a gesture.

So the Ethekwini municipality have already done some great work trying to get bike lanes into the city area, the boardwalk and paved some new bikes paths along the Umgeni river. Now they have handed bicycles over to their exco team, and intend to dish out bikes to municipality staff to be deployed as 'pool vehicles'. They really are encouraging people to get on their bikes, and they're starting with themselves. It's a pleasure to see something good being done by politicians. Props to you and your team, Mayor James Nxumalo . Article here.

On the subject of coconut oil as a super food for athletes... For those of you who use ketostix, I have a favour to ask: From what I've read up, apparently coconut oil is one of the only (if not the only) food that stimulates the body to produce ketones almost immediately. People talk about coconut oil causing their ketostix reading go from trace straight into deep purple. I'd be interested to see one of you replicate this. From my limited understanding, that's an excellent outcome for someone on strict LCHF who wants to stay in ketosis, being fueled on ketones?

An earlier post - see below. I'm already using this formula. I actually cut away all the fatty sections off my homemade biltong, with only a small amount of actual meat. The lean cuts I dish out to my family - I don't really have much need for that stuff. Most of the time I just have a packet of biltong fat (cut into small pieces) in a packet. One small zip lock packet can last me the whole day out at sea. At home I do put some through a mixer and mix up with coconut oil to make a 'super food'. Delicious. But I haven't yet worked out an ideal 'dispenser' for taking this mix on the bike. Although, to be honest, if you have a couple of heaped tablespoons of this mix before a ride, you won't need to eat for hours to come. It's like cooking with hardekool - it's just burns for hours and hours. tombeej Ultimate Hubber Members 1 201 posts LocationBallito, KZN Posted 16 July 2013 - 09:35 HMT, don't be shy with your coconut oil as well (virgin & cold pressed). Lots of studies and data on how good MCTs are for athletes. For example, here's one: http://www.leanandmu...org/mct-oil.php I'm now making my own homemade biltong. I make it nice and fatty. I've been thinking about a super snack idea where I put fatty biltong through a mincer and mix it with coconut oil into a very thick paste. I'll experiment with how to keep it (like one of those plastic squeezy dispensers). Might potentially be a super paleo all-natural athletic endurance food...

The problem with many canned sardines & tuna is that they're drenched in vegetable oil - the cheap and nasty stuff packed full of Omega 6 PUFAs. Rather go to your local fishmonger and buy whole mackerel or pilchards/sardines. Take them home and fry them up in butter (or whatever way you choose) and serve like that. At least you know you're eating the good stuff without any of the bad stuff.

OK to come back to what I’ve posted before about the carb continuum and that one size doesn’t fit all (some benefit from VLCHF and others thrive with a more relaxed paleo lifestyle)… TLW has posted a few times how she’s not enjoying this diet, that she doesn't have energy or motivation to train, and that she’s missing fruit. So TLW, my question is: if you aren't medically required to be on strict LCHF, why continue to bang your head against this wall? You’re clearly unhappy – start making some changes! A suggestion would be to look at adding back more carbs bit by bit and see how that goes. Like an extra serving of salad a day, or an extra helping of broccoli with lunch, or (god forbid) a serving of citrus fruit or an apple every other day. This should be a lifestyle that allows you to thrive, not suck the life out of you. If you aren't enjoying it, there’s zero chance you’ll continue with it for the rest of your life. Good luck

Sure, certain fruit. But definitely not all fruit. There is a lot of fruit one can eat and still enjoy a very healthy paleo diet with a high daily fat intake. Example: I can easily maintain 80 - 100g daily carbs on average per week and I enjoy my fruit. I love fruit, I find it delicious but also very healthy and packed with nutrients. Having fruit in my diet adds huge value to my life. And it certainly doesn't cause me to crave sweet things. Beef has a higher insulin response than some fruit. We've been talking a lot recently about kefir on this site as a great paleo food. I agree. But it causes a very high insulin response. So does yoghurt. Higher than many fruits such as apples, grapefruit, etc. A lot of us seem to use whey protein. That causes an extraordinarily high insulin response, yet we don't see anything wrong with it. Apples cause about the same insulin response as fish does. Yet we all love fish. Again, what is the problem with fruit?

Can someone please tell me what is so wrong with fruit? If you are not diabetic and/or have any other medical reason not to eat fruit, what are you denying yourself this food source for?

Well, that pretty much sums up the paleo way, so we're hundred percent in agreement then