Roots and Shoots

[sabertooth]

Ive experimented with different plant foods over the years, and for the most part most plants don't work well with my high fat whole animal approach.

Recently I have discovered Burdock Root growing in my yard and have harvested some and eaten it raw, in small amounts it feels real refreshing, and seems to have an overall beneficial effect. If I eat more than a small root at a time I will feel a little bloated, but no where near the negative symptoms I would get from other vegetables.

The main inquiry here would be to ask others what raw roots, shoots, and tubers might go best in moderation along with a raw meat based diet? I am also interested in tonic roots that may not work as a primary food source, but could be used from time to time for their interesting and  adaptogenic effects....such as Ginseng or Sassafras?

It seems that there are many roots which have much less oxalates and other anti nutrient profiles, than many leafy greens . Perhaps there are minerals, resistance starch, and undiscovered synergistic factors contained in some roots that could be complementary a raw paleo diet?

I have built a large freshwater pond, and am currently planting some edible roots and shoots around the yard. I already have Burdock, lotus, jerusalem artichoke, bamboo....and am planning on adding in some cattail and horsetail.


Does anyone else have any insights or recommendation for additions to my raw root garden?

[surfsteve]

When an animal gets sick they don't eat an entire plate of salad. My dogs used to eat a few shoots of grass. Often they would vomit up the grass along with all kinds of mucus. I think wheatgrass juice is a good substitute for eating grass like a dog or the huge amount of starchy vegetables most people tend to eat.

[TylerDurden]

I tried wheatgrass juice in my raw vegan days, it tasted so disgusting, I never tried it again. As regards condiments, I often add some raw garlic cloves and raw basil leaves and raw eggs to my raw meats/raw organ-meats.  Sometimes I even add raw sage leaves or raw pepper instead when available. When I go hiking in the Vienna woods, I tend to stuff myself with wild garlic leaves as they are almost everywhere there. Ideally, I should greatly widen the variety of raw herbs that I normally eat, and likely not eat too much of them at a time with raw animal foods.


I personally do not have any issues with raw fruit, well, except for some raw tropical fruits like mangos, papayas and coconuts.  I do get some good effects initially with 100% raw animal foods, but effects turn very negative after  c. 3 weeks. My view is that a LC/VLC RPD diet was the norm for most RPDers, as, while food was often abundant in palaeo times, there were also times when raw animal foods were scarce due to issues like migrating herds etc., so that palaeo HGs had to turn to raw herbs. The other point is that medicine was minimal in those days so that palaeo HGs had to turn to raw herbs for medicinal purposes such as removing internal parasites, for example.

I really admire your effort to  be self-sustaining. The freshwater pond might be even more useful if you added the right reeds around the edge of the ponds in order to filter the water and some fish as well.

[surfsteve]

Tyler.

You must have tried tray grown wheatgrass juice. I agree that stuff is disgusting. The taste and nutrition of wheatgrass juice grown for 6 months in the winter on glacial soil has no comparison because the roots go down many feet and extract the nutrition from deep in the soil. Unless you meet those conditions, it is only available in powder form. This powder form was what was tested and found to have miraculous properties in animal experiments. Not the stuff grown in plastic trays. The difference in taste is like night and day. Way more drastic than the taste between grass fed and  feed lot beef.

I spent the last week or so on a strict raw meat and wild caught fish diet with no spices but have been using salt, pepper, garlic, dill weed and apple cider vinegar or lemons over the weekend, which makes it much more palatable.

What a drastic difference returning to raw carnivore has made. Both mentally and physically.

Though they are better than beans I've seen a drastic decline since I started eating natto, which when I got tired of it led to consuming all kinds of stuff. Oh well. I guess I needed to go there to realize just how good I feel on the proper diet. I may go back to eating some raw vegetables and maybe even some fruits down the road; but not starchy carbs which require cooking. At least I hope not. I'm also considering 100% raw carnivore with no salt or spices but not sure if I have the will power to do that for an extended period of time. I've also been using my sous vide cooker to warm my food up but have never gone over 112.5 degrees. I find I love ice cold raw grass fed hamburger and it's pretty cheap when it goes on sale and stock up my freezer. I was adding a little butter because it is so low in fat but have switched to coconut oil. I've also started using olive oil to make home made mayonnaise to put on my fish. I wish I was lucky enough to find grass fed tallow but I think the virgin coconut oil is better than conventional butter and feel pretty good on it. I think this is a diet I can afford as well as have the will power to stick to. In other words sustainable. I'll miss using spices like paprika but being nightshade free seems to work for me.

 

[Fat of the land]

Burdock was traditionally used to treat digestive disorders and rheumatism, the root is a blood-purifier which cleans toxins that cause skin disorders and rheumatism. It's also been used to treat cystitis and urinary stones. From what I've read it has some anti-carcinogenic properties.

Oregon Grape/Mountain Grape (Mahonia aquifolium) is one which you might be interested to try. The root was used by native Americans as a blood tonic. It's useful for treating skin disorders such as eczema, acne, psoriasis and cold sores. It also acts as a digestive and liver tonic and was used to improve appetite, suppress nausea and reduce rheumatic inflammation.

Evening Primrose (Oenotheria biennis); The blackfoot tribe used this one, they boiled the the leaf and stem and dried the roots to use in winter. The seeds contain fatty acids such as gamma-linoleic acid which reduces PMS, lowers blood pressure and is said to restore red blood mobility in sufferers of MS. Some research has shown potential benefits for hyperactivity, schizophrenia, arthritis and Parkinson's disease.

Dandelion is another useful one, the leaves have diuretic properties useful for treating urinary disorders and fluid retention without depleting body potassium. They detoxify the blood so are used for acne and eczema. The white sap is used for warts, corns and verrucas. The root is an anti-inflammatory used as a liver stimulant for jaundice, gall stones and rheumatism.

Silverweed - The native Americans and Celts would cook the root stock as food. The flowering tops are antiseptic and astringent, they can be taken as a tea for gastritis, catarrh, sort throats and diarrhea. Steeped in water and used as a wash they reduce skin redness, freckles and sunburn. If you apply the fresh plant to sore areas it relieves pain and was used as a wash to treat saddle sores on horses.


I'm sure I could find a whole bunch of others if I dug through my herbal books, let me know if you want some more ideas and I'll compile a more comprehensive list.

Regards,

David

[Sol^Sa]

In northern Georgia and neighboring north Caucasian people's have a high meat/animal food consumption and eat a lot of wild garlic but before they turn to leaves they say is the best time to harvest. Another highly praised food is stinging nettle it is usually "blanched"? Also normal garlic is eaten quite a lot. And spring onion is quite popular among long, healthy living populations.

[kelpguy]

Another highly praised food is stinging nettle it is usually "blanched"? Also normal garlic is eaten quite a lot.

fwiw... there are ''hairs'' on the stem and the underside of the leaves of a nettle leaf that do the stinging.  for a party trick; pick a nettle leaf by only touching the top of the leaf, then roll it up like a cigarette, with the top side of the leaf out.   once rolled, roll it hard and it's ready to consume raw... 

[madnomad]

I find myself eating less and less vegetables these days, they have become unappealing when there is plentiful raw meat and animal fat. However I do steam zucchini once in a while but much prefer fruits for food from the plant kingdom.

[PaganGoy]

Mushrooms, especially white button but also cremini are great adaptogens and pretty hydrating.
White buttons have been shown to reset hormonal levels both testosterone and estrogen and one is very nice to have raw if you ever feel you have a stress headache coming on.

Also pine pollen when in season has alot of research behind it, maybe nice to sprinkle on meat.
I got a nice 500 edible herb book I bought a while a go which talks about the edibles here in Canada and what the natives here used to use them for.

Not exactly a shoot but white wintergreen are very pleasent wild berries, an almost indescribable sort of mint vanilla taste