Tip Tuesday: Save Your Fat
My family was never one that did this...but I distinctly remember my aunt pulling out her jar of lard in the kitchen when she was cooking. I remember that I thought it was disgusting...and terribly unhealthy...and I wondered how one collected that much lard. How could they eat like that and not care about their health?! The horror!!!
Fast forward 25 years or more and I am a fat saver. For some of you, this may be something that you already do. I, honestly, did not think about it until my sister-in-law, who went to culinary arts school and also eats keto, told me that she always saves her bacon grease. It does not need to be refrigerated...and can be used for up to 2 weeks. (Mine never lasts that long.) I keep a mason jar by my stove...and every time I cook bacon, I drain the fat into this jar.
Bacon grease is perfect for frying eggs. Nothing seems to stick to the pan when I use it. I even use it to add to a dish when I don't think there is enough fat in it. Furthermore, I use it in my cooking when I know that I have a long run coming up when I may need a little extra pep-in-my-step. Just last night, I made a salad using ground venison as my protein. Because venison is extremely lean, I added the bacon grease to it...and I had a fulfilling salad for my lunch the next day.
As I write this, I can't help but laugh at myself. If you told me this would be my idea of healthy one day, I would have laughed out loud. I still sometimes struggle because eating so much fat....I mean, BACON GREASE!...is counter-intuitive. The thought that "fat is bad" has been a nutritional message that we have had ingrained in our psyches for so long...that deciding to eat keto takes a little bit of a leap of faith.
When I was in my first year or so of school counseling, I worked with two teachers who drove very old Mercedes. They would sit at lunch and talk ad-nauseum about how they were going to convert their old diesel cars to "greasels" with a converter kit that you could buy online. They planned to get grease from local fast food restaurants to fuel their commutes to work. Oh my goodness....how we laughed at them and made fun of them. As an adult, looking back, I have had two realizations:
1) I would, one day, be a mother of three who would understand the need to save money any way that is possible, and, therefore, a greasel, running on cheap, alternative fuel, sounded like a great idea.
2) I was one day going to switch the fuel that I use for my body the same way that they wanted to do for their cars. Maybe their out-of-the-box thinking wasn't so crazy.
While their cars were obviously NOT what inspired me to learn about and eat keto, I often think of myself as a greasel. Learning that I would lose weight and feel better than I have all my life by switching my fuel source from carbs to fat was the key to my health. My teacher friends thought out of the box...and living a keto lifestyle is living outside of the box. Maybe that is what is needed to happen. Maybe that is how health will be reclaimed. You have to have the guts to question the "normal" health advice. I am so grateful that it is in my nature to challenge all thinking...and to make sure that I become educated enough to make my own choices...no matter the subject matter.
This way of challenging may very well have saved my life. Debilitating MS symptoms disappeared when I changed my fuel source. I also feel melodramatic when I say or write that....but it is no less dramatic than that. Health problems are typically treated with very bitter pills to swallow...why not see if a change in fuel source is what you really need to keep your car, your body, efficiently running? Maybe my aunt really had it right all along....way back in the 80's.
KetoRunningMama
Fast forward 25 years or more and I am a fat saver. For some of you, this may be something that you already do. I, honestly, did not think about it until my sister-in-law, who went to culinary arts school and also eats keto, told me that she always saves her bacon grease. It does not need to be refrigerated...and can be used for up to 2 weeks. (Mine never lasts that long.) I keep a mason jar by my stove...and every time I cook bacon, I drain the fat into this jar.
Bacon grease is perfect for frying eggs. Nothing seems to stick to the pan when I use it. I even use it to add to a dish when I don't think there is enough fat in it. Furthermore, I use it in my cooking when I know that I have a long run coming up when I may need a little extra pep-in-my-step. Just last night, I made a salad using ground venison as my protein. Because venison is extremely lean, I added the bacon grease to it...and I had a fulfilling salad for my lunch the next day.
As I write this, I can't help but laugh at myself. If you told me this would be my idea of healthy one day, I would have laughed out loud. I still sometimes struggle because eating so much fat....I mean, BACON GREASE!...is counter-intuitive. The thought that "fat is bad" has been a nutritional message that we have had ingrained in our psyches for so long...that deciding to eat keto takes a little bit of a leap of faith.
When I was in my first year or so of school counseling, I worked with two teachers who drove very old Mercedes. They would sit at lunch and talk ad-nauseum about how they were going to convert their old diesel cars to "greasels" with a converter kit that you could buy online. They planned to get grease from local fast food restaurants to fuel their commutes to work. Oh my goodness....how we laughed at them and made fun of them. As an adult, looking back, I have had two realizations:
1) I would, one day, be a mother of three who would understand the need to save money any way that is possible, and, therefore, a greasel, running on cheap, alternative fuel, sounded like a great idea.
2) I was one day going to switch the fuel that I use for my body the same way that they wanted to do for their cars. Maybe their out-of-the-box thinking wasn't so crazy.
While their cars were obviously NOT what inspired me to learn about and eat keto, I often think of myself as a greasel. Learning that I would lose weight and feel better than I have all my life by switching my fuel source from carbs to fat was the key to my health. My teacher friends thought out of the box...and living a keto lifestyle is living outside of the box. Maybe that is what is needed to happen. Maybe that is how health will be reclaimed. You have to have the guts to question the "normal" health advice. I am so grateful that it is in my nature to challenge all thinking...and to make sure that I become educated enough to make my own choices...no matter the subject matter.
This way of challenging may very well have saved my life. Debilitating MS symptoms disappeared when I changed my fuel source. I also feel melodramatic when I say or write that....but it is no less dramatic than that. Health problems are typically treated with very bitter pills to swallow...why not see if a change in fuel source is what you really need to keep your car, your body, efficiently running? Maybe my aunt really had it right all along....way back in the 80's.
KetoRunningMama
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