Mark's Daily Apple

The Red Scare

It’s a headline you’ve probably seen by now splashed all over the news sites and channels – “Eating More Red Meat Ups Mortality Risk.” (Red meat once again wears the black hat: surprise, surprise.) Actually, millions of readers/viewers have likely stumbled across the caption and unfortunately taken it at face value. But you know us by now. It’s just too much fun being the merry skeptics when it comes to these sound bites of misinformation.

Posted By: Mark Sisson

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Sodium Nitrite: Another Reason to Avoid Processed Meats

It’s lurking in breakfast meats, lunchboxes and carving stations across the country. Sodium nitrite, that is: preservative and coloring additive extraordinaire. It’s undeniable that we have a penchant for processed foods in this country, and meats are no exception. Bacon, sausages, hot dogs, cold cuts, ham, packaged smoked meats, pates, Slim Jims (everybody’s favorite, right?) – meats many would consider part and parcel of the quintessential American diet. Many of us crave their delectable saltiness and welcome convenience, but are we paying a price for their processing, specifically when sodium nitrite is on the label?

Posted By: Worker Bee

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The Wonderful, Pungent World of Sauerkraut

Although fermented cabbage has been around in some form or another since ancient times – Roman author Pliny the Elder wrote of the stuff in the first century A.D. – modern methods for making sauerkraut were developed sometime between the 16th and 18th centuries. It’s primarily known as a German staple, but most other European countries use it in their traditional dishes. It’s pretty easy to understand why it was so popular: it keeps for a long time without refrigeration. Dutch, German, and English sailors found that the vitamin C-rich kraut prevented scurvy on the open seas, and the fact that it was salted and fermented made it ideal for long voyages without other preservation methods.

Posted By: Worker Bee

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Are Microwave Ovens Safe?

To Nuke or Not to Nuke?

The verb itself suggests the unleashing of atomic destruction, but we wondered, “Is there a grain of truth behind the slang?” What’s the real story behind these boxes of convenience sitting in so many of our kitchens? Are microwaves a benign bastion of modern handiness or, as some claim, a sinister contributor to our physiological (at least nutritional) undoing?

It’s likely that we find ourselves in a variety of camps on this issue. Some of us swear them off. Others unapologetically swear by them to get through the normal course of a busy day. And then there are those of us in the dithering middle who routinely stare at each plate of leftovers or bowl of frozen vegetables, sometimes reaching for the pots and pans and other times giving into convenience but always questioning whether we’re paying for it.

Posted By: Worker Bee

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Everything But the Squeal

In light of the hunting post I wrote last week, I thought a brief discussion of Newsweek’s recent article on the growing interest in going “whole hog” might interest readers. The writer focuses on butcher Tom Mylan, a former Whole Foods worker who has become the “unlikely herald of meat morality” giving lessons in traditional butchery to Brooklyn hipsters and providing pasture-raised meat for local top-shelf restaurants. Meat morality, according to Mylan, is saying, “If you’re going to kill an animal, then it seems only polite to use the whole thing.” People seem to be responding to him. His butchery classes are constantly waitlisted, he’s become a bit of a celebrity among “foodies,” and – most importantly – people are beginning to purchase meat directly from the farms in bulk.

Posted By: Mark Sisson

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