It's taken me a while to get the hang of my cast iron too. I think there's a bit of a learning curve. Definitely not the easiest cookware to use, but...
I hate prunes and pumpkin, so not ideal options. Even a spoonful of bran makes me, uh... Run to the bathroom. I do take magnesium in small doses and...
I've found a source of high quality beef, but unfortunately ALL of it is grain finished. Some of it 100 days, some 260 days. I'm really stuck between...
You'll have to google it, but there was some report about crock pots / slow cookers coming out of China (of course) glazed with some nasty chemicals....