Hold the (Old School) Mayo

Yes you can make mayonnaise at home!

I cannot say enough about mayo. It's a love story for me. I mean egg salad, tuna salad, tomato sandwiches, egg sandwiches, deviled eggs...need I go on? Sadly, all that mayonnaise in my past was apparently not doing me any favors.  After reading Deep Nutrition by Dr. Cate Shanahan, commercial mayonnaise is simply no longer an option. It is loaded with unhealthy oils such as canola oil. So now, it's a thing of the past for me.

Fortunately, we have options.  Primal Kitchen makes a great avocado mayonnaise that you can buy-- for a price. The price might take your breath away... though it offers convenience.  It's not easy to find the Primal Kitchen Mayo, at least on the East Coast, so I buy it online through The One Stop Paleo Shop. You can also find it on the The Primal Kitchen website. I have found it on Amazon, but the last time I looked it was nearly double the price of other sites.

Even better? Make your own mayo.
It's pretty easy.

Ingredients:

• 2 egg yolks
• 3/4 cup avocado oil
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• 1/4 teaspoon mustard powder (or yellow mustard)
• 1 teaspoon Braggs apple cider vinegar
• 1 teaspoon lemon juice

Directions:

I start by washing the eggs as I use regular eggs. You can choose to buy pasteurized eggs if you are concerned about food contamination. Separate the egg yolks using an egg separator. I avoid using the egg shell to separate the egg as the yolk and avoiding touching the yolk to the shell is best.

Put the yolks and all ingredients except the oil into a food processor and blend. Then while it is blending you will SLOWLY drizzle the oil to the mixture. I spend three to five minutes adding the oil. Usually a start a timer on my phone to remind myself to slow down. As you are adding the oil it will slowly start to thicken up and before you know it, it resembles mayo!   This particular recipe comes out a bit yellow and tastes a little tangy.

Put into jars and refrigerate. Jelly jars work great! I label the expiration date to be the same as the date on the eggs. I use a Sharpie and write directly on the jar or the lid. Later you can take it off with a little olive oil.

Now go back to enjoying all those old favorites without all those nasty oils!

Read Up!

My new favorite book is Grain Brain by Dr. David Perlmutter. It is rather eye opening in terms of brain health in relation to the foods we eat. I find the recommendations in this book to be compatible with The Body Ecology Diet (BED). Dr. Perlmutter recommends eliminating grains and concentrated sugars.  In terms of differences it involves limiting carbohydrates more than BED and does not mention probiotic foods. I read the Kindle version of this book on a Kindle app on my smart phone - it was a good way to read this book

I recently watched a PBS special featuring Dr. William Davis, the author of Wheat Belly. In his talk he discussed the reasons that modern day wheat is the culprit in so many modern disorders. It was very interesting. Dr. Davis recommends eliminating grains and concentrated sugars and does recommend taking probiotic supplements. Again I believe BED is compatible with Dr. Davis's recommendations.

The Paleo Diet is another diet that is essentially compatible with BED, Dr. Perlmutter and Dr. Davis. In Paleo grains, sugars and other processed foods are avoided. Because each of these approaches to food come at the problem from a slightly different perspective the recommendations are also slightly different. On balance I find the essence of each to be in line with each other.

To purchase on Amazon, see links below: