Thanks Jen, I believe that is the article BTW, Nice avitar!

Arachidonic Acid (AA) - that's my word of the day. I'm beginning to suspect that I have a sensitivity to it. AA is an omega-6 polyunsaturated fatty acid found in animal foods, especially egg yolks and red meat/fat. Too much of it in sensitive people can cause inflammation and can contribute to high blood pressure, among other things. I don't understand the scientific specifics, but I think that basically, the body produces prostaglandins (and other substances) as a result of AA metabolism, and these substances are inflammatory and contribute to constriction.

I'm beginning to wonder if working to improve the Omega 3: Omega 6 fatty acid profile in the diet would substantially reduce the amount of AA. I'm going to do an experiment where I'm only going to eat fat, meat, and eggs from grass-fed, free-range sources, as well as partake of plenty of fish (salmon, tuna, macherel), fish oil, flax, hemp, walnut/olive oil, and anything else I can come up with to lower Omega 6 and boost Omega 3.

I have chronic, long-term muscle & joint pain, fatigue, and high blood pressure that have not much improved since I started faithful LCing over 7 months ago. I've discovered my candida overgrowth and am addressing that. Now I've recently got a hunch that too much AA in my diet may be the missing part of the puzzle that will help me realize a more noticeable improvement in these conditions.

Does anyone else have any experience or helpful input with any of this??

I don't have any experience with that Jen, but I sure hope you figure it out and feel better!

Well, I switched over to only grass-fed meat and free range eggs two days ago. I took my blood pressure yesterday and it was 125/75! I can live with that! It hasn't been that low since I did a 9-day water fast last summer. That is an amazing turn around from the 143/82 reading that I got after eating grain-fed roast beef and bacon on Friday.

It seems as though the decrease in arachidonic acid (AA) did the trick, after all these months of wondering why my blood pressure wouldn't go down! This seems to have lessened my pain level a little as well. It's amazing to me that such a simple change could be the magic button! But it looks like that's the case with me. I'm one of those persons the Eades (Protein Power) refer to as having nature throw them a curve ball with a sensitivity to AA! "Arachidonic Acid: Nature Throws Us a Curve"
http://www.opinions3.com/arachidonic_acid.htm

I'm finding out that this Omega essential fatty acid balance is a more complicated issue than I thought. There are more than one type of Omega-3 EFA. There's EPA & DHA, which comes from coldwater fish (salmon, tuna, mackerel), fish oils, and fresh seaweed. Then there's ALA, which comes from flax, hemp, green leafy vegetables, plant oils (olive and walnut oils are best). And then there's GLA, that comes from borage oil, black currant oil, and evening primrose oil. "GLA: The Missing Link" http://www.fatsforhealth.com/librar...issing_link.php

I'm currently using (1) Carlson's fish oil and eating fish for EPA & DHA, (2) flaxseeds, hemp protein powder, and olive and walnut oils for ALA, and (3) evening primrose oil for GLA. With my decrease of Omega-6 (and thus AA) by eating only grass-fed meat/eggs, I think I've finally got all the bases covered and my sensitivity addressed!! (I have followed the recommendations of Dr. Mercola on choosing Carlson's fish oil and evening primrose oil. I tend to value his opinion. www.mercola.com)

Enough talk of technicalities. Over the weekend, I made pemmican for the first time ever, out of grass-fed bison fat and grass-fed beef eye of round roast. I marinated the beef using my jerky recipe so it is nice and spicy, dried it really well, and pulverized it in the food processor. I rendered the fat for hours in the oven, and the cracklins were delicious and plentiful, so I froze them in 1-cup increments, hoping to come up with some way to use them up over time.

I mixed 2 parts meat to 1 part fat. I didn't use any dried berries or anything. The pemmican turned out fantastic! And I had fat left over, which I froze for another future batch. I've got my lunches ready-made now for a good week or two!

Also over the weekend, I tried a blender "eggnog." I have been wanting to incorporate raw eggs into my diet. Here's an article I thought was good about raw eggs: http://www.regenerativenutrition.com/content.asp?id=268. With 3 eggs, I blended a heaping spoon of coconut cream, a little cold water, some nutmeg, stevia, and some ice. It was delightfully tasty and frosty. And very filling. The satisfaction from all the fat lasted for a good three hours. I think I've got myself a new favorite breakfast. And the nutmeg has some nice health benefits as well.

Well, that's enough "fat talk" for one morning. Does anybody have any ideas how to use cracklins from fat rendering? (besides just eating them 'as is' )

I could have written this!

I still laugh when I read that....

Otherwise, great thread! Fat does not worry or scare me in the least. I don't think I have ever once worried about fat since starting Atkins. Honestly, I worry more about hormones, irradiation and pesticides than fat.

Also, I am moving more and more towards organic foods as the budget allows. I had not given much thought to the AA content of beef, though have to admit, it does not seem to trouble me.

However, as was pointed out here, once you eat organic, grass fed, hormone free beef you will want to go throw any beef from the supermarket in the bin!

In Little House in the Big Woods Laura Ingalls refers to her mother saving cracklings to use in baking.

I bet you could make some truely excellent 'cornbread' using almond flour and crackling!

Crumble/Crunch them up into scrambled eggs and spinnach..a little white (Mozerella, Brick, Monterey Jack...) cheese on top and........ yum!

I bought some local, grass-fed, hormone free rib-eye steaks a couple of weekends ago for our anniversary. They were unbelieveably good. Normally, in a rib-eye, I would end up cutting out most of the chunks of fat, because it was chewy and not that good. The fat in these was almost creamy and was wonderful. Seriously the best steak I have ever had.

I read somewhere today that Walmart's is going to open up organic food sections in their stores but darn if I can remember where I read it. Maybe organic produce and meat will be more affordable, although I don't know if this includes Canadian stores. Our walmarts are so huge they build them in areas that are hard to access by bus. So us poor folks who cannot afford cars can't shop there anyway. Ironic comes to mind.

edit: Mary Dan Eades website is where I read about it

I think the article linked below is a pretty comprehensive explanation of the different fatty acids, their sources, and the importance of a certain balance in the diet. I didn't know there was so much complexity to this EFA thing.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Omega-3_fatty_acid

The more I read, the more it becomes clear to me that the advent of grain in the "civilized" diet, and then the introduction of grain-fed livestock, poultry, and fish (farm-raised), has served to totally upset the EFA balance in many cultures around the world. The resulting widespread illness is the result.

I thought that removing grain from my diet and using supplementation took care of the EFA imbalance. Recently, I've found there's more to the equation, especially for someone like me who is sensitive to AA.

Eating only grass-fed meat has narrowed my food choices even more than they already were. Sometimes, I wish I didn't have to eat at all. It would make things so much simpler.

Yep, I have had to up my fat content on induction due to exercise and the problem of waking in the night hungry. I have added more butter and pecans to my diet and its helping. I am still in ketosis.

I want to add that I believe a focus on grass-fed meat/fat is very important. The Omega EFA imbalance in grain-fed products is unhealthy. I recently discovered that arachidonic acid (an Omega 6 fatty acid) is high in grain-fed meat/fat, some people are sensitive to this acid, and it can cause inflammation and constriction in the body. I'm one of those sensitive people. My troublesome blood pressure (previously 140s/80s) was lowered immediately (108/63, as of today) by lowering arachidonic acid by a switch to solely grass-fed food sources.

Jen, out of curiosity can you give some examples of symptoms you experience? I'm interested in this. I THINK my butcher is grassfed/organic, but as they get their meats from different local farmers I can't be sure all the time. Even if I were not sensitive I would want to eat grassfed anyway.

I have chronic musculoskeletal pain (inflammation) and chronic fatigue. And I had high blood pressure (constriction). Arachodonic acid can actually aggravate or cause any inflammation or constriction problem, like asthma, which is inflammation of the airways.

My pain and fatigue are less these days, and I'm hoping over time they'll disappear completely. The blood pressure corrected itself virtually overnight. I've got sciatica, and I think I'm going to try some acupuncture for that.