Podcast Episode #164: Guest Co-Host Diana Rodgers, Coconut Oil for Appetite, Kombucha During Pregnancy & Cast Iron Care

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Topics: 
1. What’s new for you from Liz & Diana [4:39] 2. Shout Out: Real Food RN [16:13] 3. This week in the Paleosphere: the American gut project [16:49] 4. Listener Questions:
* How can I best help someone who does not want to be helped? [21:27] * Thoughts on using coconut oil to reduce appetite [35:18] * Kombucha during pregnancy [44:23] 5. An interview from our sponsor, Vital Choice’s Randy Hartnell [50:45] 6. Liz’s skin care tip of the week: combating winter skin [52:29] 7. Diana’s Kitchen tip: cast iron care [53:57] [smart_track_player url=”http://traffic.libsyn.com/balancedbites/BB_Podcast_164_final_2.mp3″ color=”00aeef” title=”#164: Guest Co-Host Diana Rodgers, Coconut Oil for Appetite, Kombucha During Pregnancy & Cast Iron Care ” artist=”Diane Sanfilippo & Liz Wolfe ” ]

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Liz Wolfe: Hey everyone! Welcome to Balanced Bites podcast number 164. I’m Liz, per usual, and I’m hanging out with henna slopped all over my head, so I’m looking pretty fly right now.

Diana Rodgers: {laughs}

Liz Wolfe: {laughs} Since Diane is currently all over the country touring for the Mediterranean Paleo Cookbook release, I’ve got a fabulous guest host with me. Diana Rodgers, of the Modern Farm Girl’s podcast, Sustainable Dish, and the upcoming Homegrown Paleo Cookbook. Hey Diana!

Diana Rodgers: Hey, how are you?

Liz Wolfe: I’m awesome. I’m really excited to have you on with me. It seems like we’ve gotten to hang out virtually a lot this week.

Diana Rodgers: I know. I’m psyched.

Liz Wolfe: If everybody doesn’t listen to the Modern Farm Girl’s podcast, you should. It’s where Diana and I talk all about homestead-y type stuff.

Diana Rodgers: That’s right, we’re taking over Balanced Bites! Watch out.

Liz Wolfe: {laughs}

Diana Rodgers: {laughs}

Liz Wolfe: Watch out everybody! This is not going to be all about farming and what not, we’re going to answer some questions, because Diana is also a nutritional therapy practitioner, just like me, and she’s also just about an RD at this point.

Diana Rodgers: Yeah. I’m just about the finish the course work, and then I’ve got to do my internship, but I’m pretty far along in the process, so it should be happening pretty soon, thank goodness.

Liz Wolfe: So, Diana’s a good person to know. Just FYI.

Diana Rodgers: {laughs}

Liz Wolfe: So, I’ll do the sponsors real quick, and then we’ll catch up on some other important stuff. This episode is sponsored by Vital Choice, your best choice for sustainably harvested wild seafood from Alaska and the Pacific Northwest. Wild Alaskan salmon is our planet’s richest source of healing omega-3 fatty acids from whole foods, everybody knows that’s how I like to get my omega-3s. It’s also a great source of vitamin D and the powerful antioxidant astaxanthin. Get the best of the wild delivered right to your door. Shop Vitalchoice.com, and start making healthier choices today. They’re offering our listeners 15% off any order using code BALANCEDBITES, and they always offer free shipping on orders over 99 bucks, so you can take advantage of that, as well.

We’re also sponsored by Pete’s Paleo. The 21-Day Sugar Detox is awesome for your body in so many ways, but it can be difficult for your life in just as many, let’s be honest. Pete’s Paleo makes delicious, seasonal, ready to eat meals that strictly follows the 21DSD program. They’re shipped directly to your door, ready to go. Let Pete’s Paleo help you with your 21DSD success. And don’t forget their bacon is also 21DSD approved, and sugar-free. We have some coupon codes; 5OFF21DSD, so that’s 5 like the number, OFF like the word, 21 like the number, DSD like the, what’s the word where you have the initials?

Diana Rodgers: {laughing}

Liz Wolfe: Well I can’t… acronym?

Diana Rodgers: Yeah.

Liz Wolfe: Yeah, ok. {laughs} Just check the blog post for this podcast to see it written out. And 5OFFPETESPALEO, 5 like the number, off Pete’s Paleo, which is a coupon code for $5 off regular Pete’s Paleo meals. I am obsessed with Pete’s Paleo bacon. I absolutely love it. But I also have been ordering their meals lately. It’s amazing stuff. It’s farm fresh, they live in California so everything they source, they source locally. And I don’t eat them every day because I think that for me personally that would be a little cost prohibitive, because you know right now all my money is wrapped up in cows.

Diana Rodgers: {laughs}

Liz Wolfe: {laughs} But I love having their meals just around for, I don’t know, breakfast, lunch or dinner, whenever I’m literally either not going to eat, or I’m going to do something good for myself and pop open a Pete’s Paleo meal. So, I love them. They’re wonderful.

Diana Rodgers: Awesome.

What’s new for you from Liz & Diana [4:39]

Liz Wolfe: So, here’s what’s new with me, Liz. I have released the meal plan and the shopping list for the Good Food for Bad Cooks Thanksgiving menu, so anybody who wants to do that can shop ahead of time, you’ve got the ingredients and everything. The actual recipe book will be emailed. As of this podcast coming out, it may have already been emailed. But anyone can have it, and you can still sign up to get it. So check the sidebar of my site, RealFoodLiz.com, to get all signed up for that. This is a Good Food for Bad Cooks menu. Folks don’t know, I also founded kind of a satellite website called Good Food for Bad Cooks, which is kind of a hub for crappy cooks like me. We’ve got a ton of really easy recipes. We’re adding to those pretty consistently.

One of the biggest pros about the site is we have a ton of guides, and lists, and Q&A coming up that we’re adding to all the time. WE took the summer off, and we are back with all kinds of new content. WE have a really good direction going now that we’ve had all kinds of feed back over the summer. It was wonderful that everybody gave us all these ideas. We’re just excited to add stuff. Beginning, really, with this menu kind of as a public outreach thing, like if you are a bad cook, you don’t have to make anything fancy for Thanksgiving. You can check out this menu, and you will literally not burn your kitchen down! Which is a huge plus.

Diana Rodgers: {laughs}

Liz Wolfe: {laughs} In my opinion. So, let’s see, there’s maybe one recipe out of maybe 10. There are probably more than 10 recipes on there that is members only, it’s just a suggested one, and it’s if people want to make biscuits. Good Food for Bad Cooks members can pop into the site and grab the biscuit recipe that’s going up. You could always join Good Food for Bad Cooks to grab that if you want, or you can just Google grain free biscuits. {laughs} and I know you’ll come up with something.

The other stuff we’re doing grain free stuffing, no bake pumpkin pie, which actually uses the same crust as we put on top of our really easy apple cobbler; green bean casserole, etc, etc, etc. It’s all free. It’s all super easy. It’s literally about as easy as Thanksgiving gets, unless you do what my family did for like 8 years, and just have bacon and eggs before you pass out on the couch.

Diana Rodgers: {laughs}

Liz Wolfe: Which is literally what we did, until that kind of made me sad, and I started cooking and realized that it didn’t have to be that hard. Other than that, still trucking away on the fertility program and the Balanced Bites online workshop, which is shaping up to be phenomenal.

Since Diane isn’t here, Diana, why don’t you tell us about what you’re working on these days, besides our spectacular Modern Farm Girls podcast that everybody listens to?

Diana Rodgers: {laughs} It’s been so much fun to do that with you.

Liz Wolfe: It has been fun.

Diana Rodgers: I really enjoy it.

Liz Wolfe: Me too.

Diana Rodgers: Yeah, so I have this blog called Sustainable Dish. I’m interested in not only nutrition, but also sustainability. So I happen to live on a working farm. I’m married to a farmer. We run a CSA, and we raise pasture-based meats. So our pigs running through the woods, we’ve got goats and sheep that are grazing grass, and chickens that run around outside eating lots of bugs and grass.

So we’ve got a CSA at our farm, which is called Clark Farm in Carlisle, Massachusetts, just outside of Boston. I also see nutrition clients, and I started this summer this YouTube series called Sustainable Dish, where I have little clips of my husband talking about rotational grazing, and then there’s clips of me in the kitchen, and then there’s some goofy things of my kids. I’m about to upload one of my daughter teaching you how to go frogging. {laughs}

Liz Wolfe: {laughs} Aww! No way!

Diana Rodgers: Super cute. She wants to be famous, and she thinks this is her ticket!

Liz Wolfe: Do you think she wants to be my friend? I would really like to be her friend.

Diana Rodgers: Yes, I remember her trying to {laughs}

Liz Wolfe: Sidle up.

Diana Rodgers: Get you to play cards with her when you guys were visiting.

Liz Wolfe: {laughs} That was really fun. What a sweetheart. So she’s all about all this stuff.

Diana Rodgers: She is. And she’s been showing a lot of interest in cooking lately, too, which is really fun for me. So she wants to peel the carrots, and set the table, and all that.

And then I’ve got this cookbook that’s coming out that actually has a lot of images of the farm and of my kids. It’s called the Homegrown Paleo Cookbook. It’s in its final edits now, and it comes out from Victory Belt, which is the publisher you guys all use too. That comes out March 10th, but it’s available for preorder now. And it’s a paleo cookbook, but it’s also a bonus homesteading guide. So its full guide learn how to grow your own food. Which is pretty cool, and even if you’re not in a position right now to grow your own food, it’s also just really cool to fully understand what goes into it. So when you go to visit your farmer, you can look around and be like, actually, that doesn’t look quite right, or no, this guy is totally doing it legit. So, I give everyone all the tools to understand sustainable food production.

And then we’ve got some bonus little gifts in there too for how to make beeswax candles, how to make goats milk soap, and things like that.

Liz Wolfe: Oh, I’m so excited.

Diana Rodgers: Anyway, I’ve been dropping little images on Instagram and Facebook here and there, so people can kind of get sneak peeks of that. And that’s all under my username, Sustainable Dish.

Liz Wolfe: This cookbook; it’s clearly not just a cookbook. It’s like, I know you have to kind of designate it as something.

Diana Rodgers: Yeah.

Liz Wolfe: So people know at least mostly either getting a cookbook, but they’re getting; I’ve seen glimpses of this book, and I’m so freaking excited. It’s not even one of those books that you get, and you put it on the shelf, and you whip it out when you need a recipe for whatever. It’s like, ugh, who writes those books Fat and Oddbits, Jennifer McLagan?

Diana Rodgers: I have no idea what you’re talking about! What is it?

Liz Wolfe: I probably got that wrong, but you have to Google the book Fat and the book Odd bits.

Diana Rodgers: Oh, I thought it was the same title. Like Fat and Odd Bits.

Liz Wolfe: Oh, no.

Diana Rodgers: I was like, wow, that’s really intriguing that that sells.

Liz Wolfe: That’s weird. They are beautiful books, and they’re books that you want to keep out. You want to put on the shelf that everybody walks by when they come over to your house. That kind of book. Where you just are proud to own it, it’s just so full of good stuff. I’m so excited for the Homegrown Paleo Cookbook.

And I think people should really preorder now, because having done this once before, this whole book thing, I can tell you with certainty that the first print run, or however many print runs that they do at the very beginning, is going to sell out fast. So it’s going to be get in while you can get in, so you don’t have to wait a week for your book.

Diana Rodgers: Cool.

Liz Wolfe: Get in there. Preorder it.

Diana Rodgers: I appreciate your enthusiasm. Thank you.

Liz Wolfe: Oh my gosh, you know I’m all about this stuff.

Diana Rodgers: I know.

Liz Wolfe: And I wasn’t for the longest time. I mean I had no; it was really interesting to me how this stuff all worked, and then all of a sudden we got these ants in our pants to maybe make a change in our lives, and we’re going to use all the information in your book, of course, for practical application like we’re actually going to do this stuff, hopefully. But I would have loved to have something like this when we were first moving out here. Because it’s all of the sustainability stuff from a paleo angle. And I didn’t have that.

Diana Rodgers: Yeah.

Liz Wolfe: It’s major.

Diana Rodgers: Yeah. Well, I’ve been thinking about writing this book for a really long time. I originally had the concept maybe 5 or 6 years ago? And from start until publish, it will be 2 full years in the making. So, that’s a lot of work. I’m really excited about it. And I have no idea what I’m going to do next for a book or for my next project after this, because I feel like I’m pouring my entire body and soul into this thing. But I’m excited about it.

Liz Wolfe: Please don’t do anything right after. You and Diane, jeeze! You’re like, what’s next? I’m like, I’m going to just relax for a year, two years.

Diana Rodgers: {laughs}

Liz Wolfe: I’m not going to do anything for a while. Just don’t do anything for a while!

Diana Rodgers: {laughs} You’re so funny. I was just talking to my husband. We were trying to figure out what kind of old people we’re going to be.

Liz Wolfe: {laughing}

Diana Rodgers: You know what I mean? {laughs}

Liz Wolfe: Is that a thing that I should be doing?

Diana Rodgers: {laughing} Well we have a lot of older friends who are just still completely mentally with it, really fit, and just working like crazy. And Andrew was like, I don’t know if I want to be an old person like that. Not that he doesn’t want to be fit or healthy, but he’s like, I think I’m just going to kick back. But I think you are going to be one of those maniac women who are on 15 different committees, and has 10 appointments every day.

Liz Wolfe: Oh, totally.

Diana Rodgers: I totally am going to be that lady.

Liz Wolfe: I see that. I completely see that.

Diana Rodgers: Yeah. With chicken earrings and egg yolk pants or something like that.

Liz Wolfe: You’re going to have like a scarf tucked into your power blouse, and it’s going to have a little brooch on it that’s a chicken.

Diana Rodgers: Yeah!

Liz Wolfe: That matches your chicken earrings.

Diana Rodgers: {laughing}

Liz Wolfe: Oh my gosh.

Diana Rodgers: I’m pretty excited for those days, actually.

Liz Wolfe: Well I think that’s awesome.

Diana Rodgers: {laughs}

Liz Wolfe: And you’ll have, of course the kids will take over. They’ll be supporting you since they’ll be famous. They’ll be super famous.

Diana Rodgers: Yes, exactly.

Liz Wolfe: Thanks to the Homegrown Paleo Cookbook.

Diana Rodgers: Phoebe’s dream will come true, and she’ll be a famous actress and my son will be a professional baseball player, and we’ll live happily ever after.

Liz Wolfe: Speaking of that. Professional baseball. So this is going to air at least a week after game 7 of the world series, but my Kansas city Royals are in the world series game 7 tonight.

Diana Rodgers: My husband is pretty excited. We were actually supposed to have some house guests tonight, and they cancelled, and I was kind of bummed that they canceled, and my husband was like, thank god, because I was worried you were going to make me talk.

Liz Wolfe: {laughing}

Diana Rodgers: {laughs}

Liz Wolfe: This is a big game. We’re going! We’re going to it.

Diana Rodgers: Yeah, congratulations. Oh, you’re physically going!

Liz Wolfe: We’re physically going.

Diana Rodgers: Oh, awesome. I’ll look for you on the teleprompt.

Liz Wolfe: Yeah, look for me. They’re terrible seats, and we literally drained our future spawn’s college fund to buy these tickets, but you cannot not. I mean, it’s been 29 years.

Diana Rodgers: I know.

Liz Wolfe: That the Royals have been, literally the butt of jokes since I was 2 years old, this has not happened. So we had to. When the Royals went up on the Giants yesterday, and this would have been a week plus a day. When they went up on the Giants 7 to 0 in the second inning, my husband was like, going on Stub-hub. Don’t care how much it costs.

Diana Rodgers: {laughing}

Liz Wolfe: Done. So that should be fun.

Diana Rodgers: Yet another reason why my husband has a man crush on your husband.

Liz Wolfe: Oh my gosh, they can go off and man crush together.

Diana Rodgers: {laughs}

Liz Wolfe: That sounded bad. I should probably delete that. Sorry everybody.

Diana Rodgers: {laughing}

Liz Wolfe: Sorry everybody! Because my husband wants to be a farmer.

Diana Rodgers: Right. And my husband had always dreamed of being a pilot, so perfect.

Liz Wolfe: There you go. It’s perfect.

Shout Out: Real Food RN [16:13]

Liz Wolfe: Alright, next segment. We’re doing a little shout out. And this week’s shout out is to Kate, the Real Food RN, who I know listens to the Balanced Bites podcast, and she added a new member to her family recently. 10 fingers, 10 toes, and an adorable little nose, seriously, Kate, adorable. So check out Kate’s stuff at RealFoodRN.com, and everybody just make a happy wish for the new member of the Real Food RN family. I just wanted to say congratulations.

This week in the Paleosphere: the American gut project [16:49]

Liz Wolfe: Alright, this week in the real food/paleosphere. Diana, I’m actually going to turn this one over to you, and have you talk about a project we recently shouted out on the Modern Farm Girls podcast about the gut microbiome.

Diana Rodgers: Right. So, I was contacted recently by some people that are actually going to be making a documentary about the American gut project, so they’re affiliated with this program, and they’re really looking at trying to learn more about the microbiome, so all the little bugs that live in our system basically {laughs}

Liz Wolfe: {laughing}

Diana Rodgers: I was trying {laughing} all of our bacteria, everything that is living in our intestines, which makes up more than we have cells in our body, and trying to connect that with disease and also at the same time learn how diet can impact our flora. So they are doing a kickstarter, and I’m going to be posting this on my blog called Sustainable Dish, and they’re looking for some funding. Of all the things out there, I know there’s a lot out there now, and everybody’s kind of getting bombarded with, oh, fund my little project! But this is legit. I know Rob Wolf is a huge supporter of them, as well. So they’re looking, again, at how diet and lifestyle can really be linked through our flora to allergies, obesity, IBD, Crohn's disease, diabetes, neurological issues, and many other illnesses. So, it’s a huge, huge project, and something that should definitely be funded.

Liz Wolfe: Sweet. So did you already say where we can find it? I kind of checked out there.

Diana Rodgers: Yes. I will have this up by next week, by when this podcast comes out. So I will have this on SustainableDish.com. And if they Google American Gut Project documentary, they’ll probably be able to find the kickstarter program that way as well.

Liz Wolfe: Perfect. So the reason I kind of checked out there for a second was because, I was trying to find, I know I had a window open somewhere, because one of the things we’re going to talk about in the fertility program is the gut microbiome and how we colonize good bacteria in our newborns and whatnot. Also, there’s a documentary called microbirth; have you seen that?

Diana Rodgers: No.

Liz Wolfe: Ok, microbirth, I’m just going to read this opening page. These great documentaries never come through Kansas City, so I always have to wait a long time to see them. Or I have to order then and pay $30, but like I said, all my money is wrapped up in livestock and Royals tickets right now.

Diana Rodgers: {laughs}

Liz Wolfe: So this is what it says on the website. “About Microbirth. Microbirth is a new 60-minute documentary investigating to latest scientific research about the microscopic events happening during childbirth.” And I believe they talk about the gut microbiome and things like that; I could be, let me see if I can. Yeah, man they’re so vague in these websites, because they want you to buy the stuff. But, this is supposed to be really cool. It won an award at the life sciences film festival, which is a nerdy gold medal. So we all think that’s pretty cool.

Diana Rodgers: Love the nerdy gold medals.

Liz Wolfe: I do too! What’s better than a nerdy gold medal?

Diana Rodgers: {laughs}

Liz Wolfe: So if anybody’s seen this, hop over to Real Food Liz Facebook page or the blog or whatever, and just let me know what you thought of it, and if it was something we should talk about more.

Diana Rodgers: Yeah, and I just found this, while you were talking there, Liz, I used my little keyboard here, but I don’t know if you heard me typing.

Liz Wolfe: I did not.

Diana Rodgers: Good. If you go to kickstarter.com, it is redefining human, the microbiome documentary series. And you can play a small clip, and learn more about their project there, as well.

Listener Questions:

Liz Wolfe: Ok, so we are onto the meat and potatoes. The question segment of the podcast. Diana is actually going to be the questioner, the question reader today, and I’ll be the first question answerer, and she’ll jump in as she sees fit. So, are you ready for this Diana?

Diana Rodgers: I am.

Liz Wolfe: Alright.

Diana Rodgers: Alright.

Liz Wolfe: Don’t be nervous.

Diana Rodgers: {laughs}

Liz Wolfe: Don’t screw up.

Diana Rodgers: This is a long question!

Liz Wolfe: I know.

Diana Rodgers: One, two… yeah. Ok.

Liz Wolfe: We like the background. So go for it.

How can I best help someone who does not want to be helped? [21:27]

Diana Rodgers: Alright. “Diane and Liz. I’m a longtime listener of the podcast, ever since episode one.”

Liz Wolfe: Dang!

Diana Rodgers: Yeah, I know. “And still looking for a salon that will do a charcuterie facial.”

Liz Wolfe: {laughing}

Diana Rodgers: Was that some weird reference to episode 1?

Liz Wolfe: Oh, this was way, way back, a long time ago. I’ll tell you later. {laughing}

Diana Rodgers: Alright. {laughs}

Liz Wolfe: She has definitely been listening a long time.

Diana Rodgers: “And we own every book that both of you have written. After switching to paleo 2.5 years ago, my health has improved dramatically, although I still have things to work on. I’ll be working with my naturopath to start the GAPS diet next month to address what we believe are severe leaky gut issues. But that’s an issue not related to today’s question.

My oldest daughter lost 50 pounds after switching from her SAD, standard American diet, to paleo. And while my youngest didn’t need to lose weight, her health has improved greatly, as well. My whole family has bought into this way of eating except my husband. I either need advice from the two of you, or a marriage counselor, but I don’t know any marriage counselors that offer”

Liz Wolfe: {laughs}

Diana Rodgers: {laughs} “free weekly podcasts, so I’ll start with you.” Alright, so now she’s going into her husband’s background. “My husband is in his early 50’s, and he has some of the worst health habits of anyone I know. And just to throw this in first, my concern nagging is because he’s a great guy, and I love him, and I want him to be around for a long time. He’s a shift worker, so he gets up at 2:30 a.m. half the days of the month, but he doesn’t get into bed until 9:30 or 10 p.m. He doesn’t exercise, and thinks the rest of us are wasting our time at the gym. While he likes paleo food very much, and enjoys eating it while I make it, the extent of his meal prep is to defrost premade pot pie or burrito if he’s making his own food. He buys a quick trip mocha.” Quick trip mocha, is that right?

Liz Wolfe: Yeah.

Diana Rodgers: “And a box of cookies to munch on during his drive to work, and buys Papa Murphy’s pizza, cuts them up, and depends on them for his work meals. He doesn’t bother to use bowls for his nightly ice cream.” {laughing}

Liz Wolfe: {laughs} Why make more dishes? I’m saying.

Diana Rodgers: “But eats right out of the half-gallon container. I could go on and on, but no need.” I think we get the picture.

Liz Wolfe: {laughs}

Diana Rodgers: “As you might imagine, he has gained a lot of weight. His doctor told him to lose 50 or 60 pounds, but he has difficulty walking for more than half a mile or so, and feels so lousy and tired. He suffers from kidney stones. Despite seeing the affects of a great diet and exercise program and sleep protocol on our parts, he refuses to believe that he could be the CEO of his own health. Rather, he’s convinced that he has a serious health condition that no doctors can find, and he’s tried them all.

He pushed doctors into the whole gamut of medical tests, plus forced them to do things like give him endoscopies, and remove his gallbladder.”

Liz Wolfe: Wow.

Diana Rodgers: “As he attempts to find this mystery disease. None of these things have helped. And he once, classically came home for an appointment, and ranted, ‘that doctor told me to change my diet, lose 60 pounds, start exercising, and get some sleep. Can you believe that, with all this modern medicine out there, that’s what he can come up with?’” {laughs}

Liz Wolfe: Oh wow.

Diana Rodgers: Yeah. “When we go out to dinner, I try to order a gluten free meal. He’ll ask the waitress to put extra gluten in his meal.”

Liz Wolfe: {snort} {laughs}

Diana Rodgers: “I tried many times to ask him to join the gym with me, try a whole 30, or just give up gluten for 2 weeks to see if he feels better, and he won’t. Once he said, I’ve been eating this way my whole life, why would I possibly change now? I responded, ‘how’s that working for you?’ He looked confused and changed the subject, but staunchly stuck to his mystery disease and genetics for explaining away his health issues.

He’s a truly wonderful man and husband, and I would dearly love to see him make some changes. Like I said, he’s seen the real life changes in us, and he won’t budge. Any suggestions for this? In one sense, I think a person has to decide on their own to change, but I know if I could get him to make a real effort, he’d see for himself how powerful nutrition and sleep are. Would love to hear your thoughts. Thanks ladies.” Ok.

Liz Wolfe: Wow. That was actually, that was an excellent question, really good background, very entertaining.

Diana Rodgers: Yes.

Liz Wolfe: And I don’t mean that in a mean way. That was really funny. So the question really was, the title of it was, how can I best help someone who does not want to be helped? So my notes on this was, number one, he probably feels so inconceivable terrible, thanks to chronic life choices, that he might actually really think there’s something uniquely wrong with him, that somebody is going to have to prescribe him something for. Because you know, when you’re so far down this path, and you’re not proud of it, and you don’t necessarily like living in your own body, but you don’t see a way out, it is so much easier to keep looking for something else to blame, whatever that might be. And this is how powerful our difficulty in taking responsibility for our own choices can become.

Diana Rodgers: Mm-hmm.

Liz Wolfe: Because it is so hard. I mean, this is anything. I remember, you know, there was a point in my life that I was making terrible lifestyle choices. I was partying way too much, I was just being all around dumb, and I knew that there was another way. It was actually right in front of me. It was actually my husband, who I kind of put on the shelf for a really long time after we met. And it can be as obvious as, you’re family is right there showing you the way, and yet you are so afraid to admit you were wrong and figure out how to change course, that you just keep wasting your time and spinning your wheels, and looking for someone else to blame.

For me, it was actually really powerful to go to therapy, just for a few sessions. So I don’t think it’s the worst idea to do a session of marriage counseling. Sometimes it helps when you can find somebody else to hold up the mirror, but I don’t know if there are any paleo-friendly marriage counselors out there. {laughs} You’d have to really get a good one, somebody that’s not going to just refer you to get prescribed something.

So, {sigh} I don’t know if you just need to keep doing your thing until he kind of comes around, because that sometimes happens. But, maybe you could also find a way to make it all his idea. I mean, I’m thinking of the movie My Big Fat Greek Wedding, where they’re like {laughs}, “we must make him think that he came up with this idea!” Like, “Tell me what to say, but don’t tell me what to say.” It’s like, they’re kind of orchestrating this whole deal so Gus will basically think Tula going back to school is his idea.

I don’t know how you could do that, but I don’t think trying to confront this person in any way is really going to be the way to go. I don’t know, I don’t know. You know your husband better than I do, but what in the past has stimulated some kind of change? What kind of outlook? What kind of mental shift? What kind of materials made available to him? But I do think, it’s possible that if you just continue to live this way, one day it will click. I mean, how could it not at some point when you live with somebody and love somebody, and see them being successful. My instinct is, maybe he needs to come around to it on his own so he can justify it and file it away mentally in a place that he’s comfortable with. And maybe hasn’t had to admit that he’s wrong.

I don’t want to say that you can’t change someone that doesn’t want to change but I think the easiest way to have an effect is more kind of try to clear a path for their own enlightenment versus trying to provide that moment of enlightenment for them. Do you have any thoughts, Diana?

Diana Rodgers: Yeah. I agree with you. I think you can’t make someone take care of themselves. You can only keep on doing your own thing. A lot of times with my clients I’ll suggest, because most of my clients are women, moms and wives, and they’ll come in asking me how to change their family’s eating, and I’m like, actually let’s put the mask on you first, and then you worry about everybody else later, kind of thing.

Liz Wolfe: Mm-hmm.

Diana Rodgers: But I actually think that maybe what she should do is lay off completely, and just not even worry about; not not worry, I don’t mean to say that. But, she needs to keep on worrying about herself, and if he’s going to be eating all this pizza and doing all this kind of thing, it’s too bad, but it’s also going to stress her out constantly worrying about him.

I know, with my dad, for example, so my sister is an acupuncturist, I am a nutritionist, and we were watching a very similar eating pattern with him. And, of course, we had many times suggested certain supplements, and ways of changing his diet, and he is now in his mid 70’s, and recently went to a, I don’t know what she was, a functional medicine doctor, and she suggested going gluten and he got a blood test that proved he was sensitive to gluten and dairy and a whole bunch of other things, and I think for him he needed to see that written down on paper.

Liz Wolfe: Mm-hmm.

Diana Rodgers: Like, there was a medical response, you know, number correlated with gluten and dairy for him. He gave it up in August, so now it’s late October, he’s lost 30 pounds.

Liz Wolfe: And he probably feels so proud of that.

Diana Rodgers: Yeah. And it’s his idea. {laughs}

Liz Wolfe: Yeah. Totally his idea.

Diana Rodgers: Yeah.

Liz Wolfe: I think that sometimes; I’m sorry, did I interrupt you? Did you have more?

Diana Rodgers: No, no, no, no, that’s all I was going to say, is that everyone is totally different, and will come around to it at some point, and you can’t force them. I think what you said, confronting might be one of the worst things you can do. But at the same time, if it’s putting a stress on their marriage, then I do think going to see a therapist might help, as well.

Liz Wolfe: Yeah. And I always feel like {laughs} here’s my fake marriage counselor T-shirt, putting my hat on.

Diana Rodgers: {laughs}

Liz Wolfe: I always feel like, when something’s really important to me, to pose something to my husband. And this is not, {laughs} I’m encouraging you to manipulate your husband, that’s not what it is. But, when I speak to my husband, taking the emotion out of it, and taking the implication that I feel that he has done something that’s unacceptable to me, and we need to figure that out together. We need to figure his problem out together.

So for me whenever I approach with something that’s bothered me, or anything like that, I have to take the emotion out, and take any kind of accusatory feelings out of it, and just say, hey I’ve been feeling this way. Do you mind hashing it out with me, because I’m just, I just want to talk it out. No, you did this, or none of that. Just really, a very objective discussion. And that helps me be more receptive and open to what kind of maybe going on. You know what I’m saying? I’m being vague because I can’t think of a concrete example right now.

Diana Rodgers: No, I think that’s a really good example, Liz.

Liz Wolfe: Yeah, I mean it’s always. You can always humble yourself, even in the face of someone that you feel is probably the problem.

Diana Rodgers: Mm-hmm.

Liz Wolfe: And also I find that maybe one come to Jesus talk is probably more powerful than constant nagging. I remember, really kind of being on my dad a lot about his diet Mt. Dew habit, and things like that, and just always kind of giving him crap, and he’s almost like he would shut down and give me the Heisman, just knee up, arm out.

Diana Rodgers: {laughs}

Liz Wolfe: And, then I stopped. I just stopped. And I kept doing what I was doing. And one day, he figured out a paleo cookie recipe. He figured out a new lemonade with lime juice thing that he could enjoy instead of diet Mt. Dew. And I don’t remember if we had a come to Jesus, but it certainly didn’t happen because I was reminding him constantly what I felt like he should be doing.

Diana Rodgers: Yeah. Right, and actually, what worked for my dad, just backing up to what she was describing where she thinks that he just keeps looking for some medical reason. If he’s a numbers guy, maybe he needs to go have some blood work done by someone who’s more like a functional medicine doctor.

Liz Wolfe: Mm-hmm.

Diana Rodgers: Who can point out how gluten is causing a lot of this inflammation. Because I can almost guarantee that it’s going to come back off the charts if he has this much weight that he’s carrying around, and he’s eating a diet like this. Right Liz?

Liz Wolfe: Yeah.

Diana Rodgers: It’s going to come back all the numbers are going to come back from any kind of functional blood work that he needs to stop eating that stuff.

Liz Wolfe: Yeah. Or, we could just make up a fake disease, and give him pirin tablets for it.

Diane Sanfilippo: {laughs}

Liz Wolfe: It’s aspirin with the A and S scratched off.

Diana Rodgers: {laughing}

Thoughts on using coconut oil to reduce appetite [35:18]

Liz Wolfe: Alright.

Diana Rodgers: Next one?

Liz Wolfe: Yeah.

Diana Rodgers: Ok. Thoughts on using coconut oil to reduce appetite. “Hi Diane and Liz.” So, today it’s Diana and Liz.

Liz Wolfe: {laughs}

Diana Rodgers: “First off, thanks and I love you. I’ve been listening to the podcast, and it’s one of my favorite ways to learn new information and relearn keep my head in the game nutritionally speaking. Anyway, I poured over the archives on BalancedBites.com to see if there was already an answer to this, and I didn’t find one, so here it goes. I switched jobs about two years ago after about a solid year of paleo eating, feeling awesome. The job required about 75% of my time on the road traveling, and I quickly found that too much of the time, I did not have “my head in the game”, and was spiraling back into the Standard American Diet way of eating too much of the time, like 75% of the time I was traveling for work.

I found a new job to limit travel, and have been trying to get back to a healthier lifestyle and my paleo way of eating, but my bad carb cravings are out of control. Maybe I’m searching for a quick fix here, and I need just to stay the course, and get through the hunger until things balance, but I came across an article discussing coconut oil for weight loss.” Should we give the?

Liz Wolfe: Yeah, yeah that’s fine.

Diana Rodgers: OK. “How to use coconut oil for weight loss at the HealthyHomeEconomist.com, and wanted your opinion. The recommendation of 1.5 tablespoons 20 minutes before each meal claims to significantly reduce appetite and help you feel full more quickly and be satisfied with smaller portions. Because these claimed benefits seemed like they could help with the difficulties I’m having right now, ravenous and eating huge portions, physically full but not satisfied after a meal, I thought I’d see if this was a reasonable thing to try.

I probably sound desperate, because I actually am desperate to get to that stable, not hungry all the time and craving bad carbs place that I distinctly remember. Weight loss could be an ancillary benefit, however not the main reason for using coconut oil this way.

I find that I am overloading on proteins at meals, even when I do have fats like avocado, EVOO, extra virgin olive oil, butter, etc as part of the meal. I’ve tried some of the supplement recommendations in Practical Paleo, Sugar Detox, to handle sugar cravings, but always seem to forget to take them on an empty stomach, between meals as recommended, though the coconut oil might be easier as I could take it right as I start to prepare my meal, and perhaps by the time I am planning my food, I won’t need to load up that much. Thanks again for all you do.”

Liz Wolfe: I completely understand the desire to have a thing that you kind of rest your expectations on, like a routine or something. I wasn’t very forgiving about things like this. I don’t want to say forgiving, but I remember kind of back in the day when I was like vehemently against 21-day challenges, or 30-day challenges, at least I kind of sounded like I was, because I was more against this kind of idea that there could be a list of rules that was going to fix everybody. I don’t know what my problem was, maybe I was detoxing from coffee or something. Who knows.

Anyway, a lot of people will probably remember who’ve been listening to this for a long time that I kind of issued a reversal and an apology for being a little bit harsh on paleo challenges and stuff like that. Because I understand now that sometimes you just need something to focus on. Something to be your, put it on the wall, tape it on the wall, look at it every day. And something like this is sure as hell healthier for your mind, I would think, than hanging a really tiny bikini on your closet door.

Diana Rodgers: {laughs}

Liz Wolfe: That says, you know, 50 more pounds until you can wear this, you disgusting slob!

Diana Rodgers: {laughing}

Liz Wolfe: You know, which is the type of thing I used to do to myself. Just terrible.

Diana Rodgers: Really?

Liz Wolfe: Oh, yeah. Oh my gosh, you have no idea. I have this post queued up that I’m going to write at some point. I dug up all this old stuff I used to do, like micromanaging my calories, my carb, my protein, my fiber, everything like in spreadsheets. Oh, it was so sad. I dug up that stuff a while back, and at some point I’m going to show everybody, if I ever get around to it.

But, to me, sometimes having those types of things, whether it’s a challenge that you commit to or some coconut oil before you eat can be as mentally powerful as they are physically powerful. I don’t think the whole coconut before a meal thing is a cure-all. I think it has helped a lot of people. I don’t know if it’s because of some kind of psychological change that it pushes, or if it’s because people feel like it’s doing something, and so it does. I don’t know, there’s certainly nothing wrong with eating some extra coconut oil for a period of time. I don’t see a problem with it, as long as it’s part of a greater lifestyle change.

But why not? If you need something to, as it may be a crutch or a life raft right now, do it. Do that, and put together a program for yourself. Put together something like, this is what I’m going to eat for breakfast, lunch, and dinner. It’s ok if your portions feel unreasonably large right now, as long as it’s real food. Because you need to keep your eye on quality before you worry about quantity. Because this is all going to settle down for you once you grab a hold of the life raft and start floating for a bit. Get your thoughts together and figure out how you’re going to get from one side of the lake to the other.

So, I don’t know. What do you think about this, Diana?

Diana Rodgers: Yeah, I think. Well, I think a lot of people are looking for those magic goji berries, or whatever the latest supplement is that’s going to help them lose all the weight. A little bit like the last question we had, where it’s just like, well you’ve just got to eat decent.

Liz Wolfe: Mm-hmm.

Diana Rodgers: So, I have not looked at the science of this coconut oil. I’m not sure that there’s any actual trials done using the coconut oil. However, she could give that a try, but I would also recommend, like you said, to actually have a plan. I actually kind of like the 21-day or 30-day plans, because it can feel really overwhelming if you’re like, I’m just going to do this forever. You know?

Liz Wolfe: Yeah.

Diana Rodgers: But, you can do anything for 3 weeks, or 4 weeks, or 6 weeks. You know, I wouldn’t recommend trying to commit to something kind of restrictive for more than 6 weeks without having some kind of plan of a little maybe a honeymoon at 6 weeks, and then having a new set of goals at 6 weeks, or implementing a new change in 6 weeks, just because it can seem a little long after that.

So definitely having kind of some type of system where you are doing the coconut oil, and you’re not eating a lot of sugar. And a lot of times, when people have gone paleo and they kind of revert back a little bit, they just need to just do that initial paleo thing again where they’re really strict, and they will get back into that space where they’re not as hungry again. They just kind of need to check in, basically.

Liz Wolfe: I think sometimes it’s the mental game more than anything. And it’s almost like, whatever you can do physically that’s going to give you some mental footing is good. So, whether that’s 21-days or a 30-day challenge. Or, you can do anything for one day. You can do anything for 3 weeks, 4 weeks, 6 weeks; you can do anything for one day.

Diana Rodgers: Mm-hmm.

Liz Wolfe: And if thinking about 30 days is way too much for you to handle, and you get anxiety, and you’re just waiting for yourself to backslide, screw it up, and ruin everything for yourself, just do it for one day. And then maybe the next day, you’re going to be like, that wasn’t so bad. I’ll do it another day. You know?

Diana Rodgers: Right. And also, at the same time, for me, when I’m sitting down to a meal, I’m always thinking, is this the best choice I can be making right now. You know? So that’s just another thing. Even just backing it up shorter than a day, and just looking at it meal by meal.

Liz Wolfe: Just don’t ask yourself that question when you’re sitting in the back booth of Taco Bell.

Diana Rodgers: {laughing}

Liz Wolfe: You know. Just don’t do that.

Diana Rodgers: Alright.

Liz Wolfe: I like it. Ok, I think we have time for this last one.

Kombucha during pregnancy [44:23]

Diana Rodgers: Ok, so the last one is a short question, and its kombucha and pregnancy, is it safe. So, Harmony says, “First off, I love you guys. I listen while I work in my little cubicle all day long, and it gets me through the day, and it makes me feel less crazy since I’m known as the crazy health nut, or hippy, at work. I’ve been paleo for just over one year.” Yay!

Liz Wolfe: Yay.

Diana Rodgers: Yay. “My question is in regards to kombucha and pregnancy. While I’m not pregnant, nor have I ever been pregnant, my husband and I would like to try within the next year or so, if possible, to conceive. Right now, I drink at least 8 ounces of kombucha, the GT’s enlightened, a day unless I haven’t stocked up, in which case I skip it sometimes and drink a full 16 ounces. Since kombucha has a trace amount of alcohol, is it safe to drink while pregnant, or even while trying to conceive or breastfeed? I ask particularly because I love this stuff, and I hope to be able to drink it during pregnancy, and beyond. See what I did there? Buzz Lightyear? No?”

Liz Wolfe: {laughing}

Diana Rodgers: Ok. Alright {laughs}

Liz Wolfe: Aww, Toy Story quotes are massively underused. I think, here’s what I think. And you have 2 little ones, so I’ll be interested in hearing your take on this. But this is what I’m discussing with Meg the midwife, my partner for the fertility program, Baby Making and Beyond, is what we’re calling it.

Diana Rodgers: {laughs}

Liz Wolfe: BMB. I say if you’ve been doing, if you’ve been doing kombucha. If you’ve been drinking kombucha for a good amount of time before you get pregnant, and when you’re getting ready to get pregnant. Especially if it’s something like GT’s, which is pretty weak. I mean, it’s good stuff, but to have kombucha that’s shipped that far and sits on a shelf for that long, you really can’t make it too explosive. I would say its fine. I know people get really freaked out about kombucha during pregnancy, because it can drive detox, etc, etc, but I think if you’ve been doing that for a while, I think personally that you’re fine. We’re looking for more information on that now, but that’s kind of my feel on things.

I would not start brewing your own and drinking that right when you get pregnant. I don’t think that’s a good idea. And I think probably limiting kombucha to a couple of glasses a week while you're pregnant is probably a good idea, when it’s GT’s. Well I guess any kombucha. But not going overboard on it. Because I get it; you’re drinking a bunch a day, and you haven’t had it for a couple of days, and so you’re going to drink the whole thing. That’s cool. But just don’t make a whole lot of changes to that. Don’t add to that when you’re pregnant. And probably pull back a little bit. It’s not going to hurt anything. You probably don’t want to do it when you're breastfeeding, but that’s my take right now. It might change once we’ve put together all the pieces for this fertility program and if it does, I’ll let you know. What’s your take, Diana?

Diana Rodgers: My thought on drinking kombucha in general is that a lot of people drink it like soda, and it’s not really soda.

Liz Wolfe: Yeah.

Diana Rodgers: It’s meant to be like a digestive aid. So, kind of 4 ounces with your meal is really the way kombucha was originally intended to be consumed. And it is a digestive aid. That being said I have seen my husband go on these kombucha benders.

Liz Wolfe: Mm-hmm.

Diana Rodgers: Oh my god.

Liz Wolfe: {laughing}

Diana Rodgers: First of all, kombucha is really expensive. Like GT’s kombucha, a case of it is like $40 bucks at my local Whole Foods.

Liz Wolfe: Yeah.

Diana Rodgers: And he, you know I write a little shopping list every week, because I don’t eat only everything from my farm, and so I do go to Whole Foods. And he wrote, you know people add things in, so my daughter will write like, candy, haha, or whatever on my little shopping list. And my husband wrote, a case of kombucha. And I went there, and I’m just, no. I’m not spending $40 on hippie soda, basically.

Liz Wolfe: Yeah. That costs pennies if you make it yourself, by the way.

Diana Rodgers: Right {laughs}

Liz Wolfe: It literally won’t go away if you’re trying to make it yourself. It’s like, I cannot get rid of this scoby.

Diana Rodgers: Yes. So, I think a little bit of kombucha is fine as far as the health benefits of it, the sustainability issues of shipping fermented water around the country in glass bottles, you know. If she can find one that’s maybe locally made. We’ve got some really great local products around here that I really like. So I think safety-wise, I’d probably not drink a full 16 ounces. Because I just don’t think, it’s usually on an empty stomach because it kind of fills you up in between meals. I’ve done it myself before I really thought about it, and I realized, well this is probably not a good idea.

Liz Wolfe: {laughs}

Diana Rodgers: So. That’s my thought on kombucha.

Liz Wolfe: So the thought is, don’t go crazy, it’s probably alright in moderate amounts if you’ve already been drinking kombucha, like long before that, but if it’s a slippery slope for you, probably best to just pull back entirely. And, the sustainability issue, I think that’s a great point.

Diana Rodgers: Yes.

Liz Wolfe: Great point. I tend to be a little more laissez faire about this stuff, I know some people are really, like kombucha and pregnancy not ok. But I think it depends on what you’re drinking; I mean, GT’s is not that strong, is it?

Diana Rodgers: No.

Liz Wolfe: But something you’d maybe find locally might be a little stronger. Anyway, I also understand the kombucha benders, because my husband does the same thing.

Diana Rodgers: I think there’s something else going on with it. I think it’s your little microbes in your body that are screaming for the kombucha to come back.

Liz Wolfe: Yeah. Could be.

Diana Rodgers: Yeah, I think there’s something.

Liz Wolfe: Yeast, proteins.

Diana Rodgers: Maybe there could be a follow-up documentary on the American Gut Project, and how we’re all just being trained by kombucha.

Liz Wolfe: {laughing} Alright. On that note, we’ll wrap up the questions.

An interview from our sponsor, Vital Choice’s Randy Hartnell [50:45]

Diane Sanfilippo: I recently sat down with Randy Hartnell, the president of Vital Choice, to have him answer some of the most frequently asked questions we get about seafood. Here’s a portion of my interview with Randy.

Diane Sanfilippo: So Randy, can you talk to me a little bit about purity level in seafood, and what folks should know about that?

Randy Hartnell: Hi Diane. Yes, I would love to address that. That’s one of the most common questions we get from our customers. A lot of headlines out there that are scary about mercury, and radiation, and really when you dig into the science, which we have for years. We’ve talked to some of the foremost experts in this field because we eat our own seafood as much as or more than anyone, and so we’re concerned for our own sakes, and of course for our customers, too.

What the science says is that, just to put it as succinctly as possible, if you go around the world, you look at populations that eat the most seafood, they tend to be the healthiest. No matter how you look at it, they have the lowest infant mortality, they have the best longevity, lower instances of chronic disease. So, generally seafood is a healthy food. There have been some industrial accidents that have caused methylmercury poisoning, but that is really irrelevant to the levels of mercury that are in seafood these days.

I think people can really eat seafood with a lot of confidence. Unless you're eating top of the food chain marine mammals, or giant tuna, or the big fish that really bioaccumulate a lot of contaminants, that live a long time, seafood is probably one of the safest, cleanest foods you can eat.

Diane Sanfilippo: Thanks so much!

Randy Hartnell: Sure.

Liz’s skin care tip of the week: combating winter skin [52:29]

Liz Wolfe: Alright, so we’re going to wrap up the episode with a skin care tip of the week, and this one’s really simple. We’re getting into the winter, the air outside is getting a little dryer, not so much moisture in the air. So when the moisture balance of the air is a little zapped, it’s going to suck the moisture out if your skin. So my skin care tip, when it gets into winter time, is get a humidifier, and run it in your bedtime at night so your skin can not be getting zapped 24/7 by dry air.

Diana Rodgers: That sounds like a good tip.

Liz Wolfe: It is a good tip. And you know, I just got one of those essential oil diffusers, and it humidifies as well as diffuses essential oil. Oh my gosh, it smells so good.

Diana Rodgers: But is it an actual humidifier too? Because I’ve been thinking about getting a humidifier for my room.

Liz Wolfe: Yeah, it’s one of those. It’s almost like a travel humidifier size, so it’s pretty small. But if you have it next to your bed, it’s great. My biggest problem with those, though, is that the diffuser ones and most of the travel humidifiers have these bright lights built into them.

Diana Rodgers: Ugh.

Liz Wolfe: And you can’t sleep with those on.

Diana Rodgers: So you just have to cover it with duct tape like every other.

Liz Wolfe: Yeah pretty much. Which is much less of a fire hazard than covering it with cloth.

Diana Rodgers: Yeah.

Liz Wolfe: So just keep that in mind.

Diana’s Kitchen tip: cast iron care [53:57]

Liz Wolfe: Ok, here’s where we’d ordinarily do Diane’s kitchen tip, but this is going to be Diana’s kitchen tip today.

Diana Rodgers: {laughs}

Liz Wolfe: So, what do you have for us?

Diana Rodgers: So, I actually was thinking, what are all my kitchen tips? I love cast iron pans.

Liz Wolfe: Me too.

Diana Rodgers: And I pretty much, do you use them?

Liz Wolfe: I do. I also collect them, and don’t use them, because I’ll buy these vintage ones and never actually bring them into working order. It’s terrible.

Diana Rodgers: Yeah, I have 3 that I use. So I have a little, almost a crepe pan, and that’s what I use for scrambling eggs in the morning. And then I have a preseasoned one that actually Lodge sent me to try out, which I love. And it’s got some sides on it. I guess you’d call that a skillet. And then I have a larger one that I picked up at a yard sale maybe 10 years ago that I’ve been using forever.

So, my tip I guess would be; love your cast iron. Don’t use soap when you’re cleaning it out. So what I do is I cook something, I use lots of cooking fat so that things don’t stick, and then I let it cool on the stove. If there’s something kind of built up on there, like some scrambled eggs stuck to the pan a little bit, I’ll soak it in the sink, and then wipe it out, and if it looks like some of the finish has come off a little bit, what I’ll do is put it back in the oven with just a coating of bacon fat or some lard or something, and just let the pores open. I’ll put it in the oven at like 200 for 3 or 4 hours, and that’s usually enough time to really let the pores of the pan open, let it soak in the fat a little bit, and then it’s good to go again. Do you have any secrets with your cast iron, Liz?

Liz Wolfe: No.

Diana Rodgers: {laughing}

Liz Wolfe: Not at all. No. Just don’t use soap. I’ve done that before, and I know you’re not supposed to do it. It’s very bad. But you talk about this in Homegrown Paleo Cookbook, yeah?

Diana Rodgers: Yes. I cook, in fact I shoot a lot of my photographs are shot a lot in cast iron. We didn’t do a whole lot of fussy styling, because that’s just not my style, actually, and in the back we have a whole section on cast iron care. I love the Lodge company, because they make everything right. I think they’re in Tennessee. It’s all US made, and they’re just a really great company, and they’ve been really supportive of what I’m doing. You can get those Lodge pans, I’ve seen them at Whole Foods, but you can get them at the hardware store, too.

Liz Wolfe: Mm-hmm.

Diana Rodgers: I love just going to the hardware store and just getting my cooking supplies right there when I’m picking up whatever else I need, nails, or whatever else I need.

Liz Wolfe: In 50 or 60 years, maybe we’ll all be buying Lodge cast iron on EBay instead of Wagner and Griswold and all the old stuff I’ve collected.

Diana Rodgers: {laughs}

Liz Wolfe: That’d be pretty cool. Yeah, they’re doing a good job. And, one of the things I’ve heard people talk about when it come to cast iron is, well what are they seasoning it with. What kind of oil? And I think at some point, I’ve talked about this, maybe on the podcast, maybe on my blog. But a lot of times folks, companies will season their preseasoned pans with vegetable oil, but it’s actually not a big deal, because the process is called polymerization, and that’s where you get the really smooth finish on the cast iron, the preseasoned ones. Which, of course, you season over and over, but when they come preseasoned, already nice, perfect, ready to use, a lot of times they will use vegetable oil, and that’s because the longer chain fatty acids, actually polymerize really, really well.

It’s not like you’re cooking on solidified vegetable oil, or something like that. It’s a chemical reaction that totally, like there’s nothing to worry about. You’re not going to react to it or anything like that. It’s just a means for making a cooking surface smooth, which I think is pretty cool.

Diana Rodgers: Yeah, and I think that the preseasoned ones are really fantastic and a lot easier to use, especially with dishes like eggs. So, I like them.

Liz Wolfe: Mm-hmm. Love them. Cool. Alright, we’re wrapping it up. We’re going to take the week off from listener hashtag fun, because I know that’s Diane’s favorite thing to do, and I just don’t want to take anything away from her. So we’ve still got all kinds of hashtags and stuff like that rolling in. We love seeing what you guys are doing, and we’ll catch up with all of that on next weeks’ episode. But just keep going with the last couple of weeks of hashtags.

That’s it for this week, friends. You can find Diane, my regular co-host at http://dianesanfilippo.com, and join me, Liz, at http://realfoodliz.com/, and join Diana at http://www.sustainabledish.com/ and preorder her book, the Homegrown Paleo Cookbook. Join our email lists! If you’re loving the new format with the segments, let us know in your iTunes review. And as usual, if you don’t like it, don’t say nothing at all. See you next week.