This has been a staple since I located this recipe.  I must admit, I'm not all about the prep side, and I leave the skins on.  I believe there are a lot of vitamins lost when we peel off those skins.  

So it takes minutes to wash and cut up these delights then stick them in the air fryer.  They are done in a matter of minutes and have a crispy, delightful flavor.

2 pounds of red potatoes
1 tab. olive oil
1 tsp. salt
1/2 tsp of pepper
1 tsp. of dried rosemary or oregano

Halve or quarter the potatoes depending on size.  Place them in a large bowl.

Toss with remaining ingredients.

Place in air fryer on "potato" or at 400 until cooked through and crispy.  Takes about 10-15 minutes.
​

IS USING AN AIR FRYER HEALTHY?

• 
  
• Yes, it’s healthier that deep frying because you use less oil.
• An air fryer is an excellent way to reduce a massive amount of fat and calories without sacrificing taste.
• 
  
• Since air fryers use air to cook food, it doesn’t require the extra calories that submerging food in oil would add.

nonstick spray
1 medium potatoes, 6 oz, Yukon gold or russet, washed and dried
1 teaspoon olive oil
1/8 teaspoon kosher salt
1/8 teaspoon garlic powder
fresh cracked black pepper, to taste
grated Parmesan cheese, optional

Preheat the air fryer 380°F.

Cut the potato lengthwise into 1/4 inch thin slices; then cut each slice into 1/4 inch fries. (A mandolin is helpful here).

Soak potatoes in ice water for one hour.  Drain and dry with paper towels.
 
In a  medium bowl toss the potatoes and oil. Season with salt, garlic powder and black pepper to taste; toss to coat.

Place the potatoes in the basket in an even layer without overlapping or crowding, cook the potatoes 12 to 15 minutes, turning halfway until crisp.
​

I made and astonishing correlation recently during the last hurricane that donned our path.  I had always known that sugar creates irrefutable pain in the joints of those who suffer from fibromyalgia.  It's a never ending cycle, you experience pain, you suffer fatigue, you grab a sweet or candy for a quick uplift to get on with your day.

But recently I've been plagued with back pain.  On and off it comes and rears its ugly head when least expected.  One recent epiphany was when I was at the beach.  I stood up to walk gingerly to the ocean and was immediately sliced with intense pain as I stood fully erect.  It pinched so severely in my lower vertebrates that I stood crooked allowing other muscles in my body to take on my skeletal impact.  This pain consumed me for eight days making it difficult to preform my usual duties.  To bed I went and stayed there until my spine had a chance to regroup and redirect.  

It was the day I returned after being evacuated during the hurricane.  I went to the beach for a reprieve.  But during our stay at the hotel previously my mother brought her favorite treat, sugar.  There were several boxes of Reese's adorning her stand.  As you can imagine, the days of preparation reduce one's ability to think correctly when your planning on bringing enough supplies to last for a few days in cramped quarters.  I was tired, I ached, I reached for Reese's.

Several Reese's as a matter of fact.  In fact over the two days we succumbed to the storm, I was indulging  a rounded cup a few times daily.  I knew better.  My body's cravings weren't helping though, and so I did what any hurricane evacuee would do, I ate sugar and slept a lot.  

What I didn't realize is how much this was affecting my back and how much I'd pay in the future week ahead. 

We all know that eating a well-balanced diet is important for health and longevity. But did you know that studies have actually linked some forms of back pain with consuming certain types of food? Sugar is one of the major culprits.

Unfortunately, it’s too easy to overdo the sugar intake because it’s added to many everyday processed foods, including bread, yogurt, juices, and sauces. The average American consumes around 19.5 teaspoons (82g) of added sugar every day, which comes out to 66 pounds every year – the recommended daily allowance is about 6 teaspoons (25g) per day for women and 9 teaspoons (38g) for men!

Since it’s so easy to overconsume with our modern lifestyle, it’s important to understand the basics of how sugar affects your body and choices you can make for regulating your blood sugar levels.

Most people are aware that consuming too much sugar contributes to weight gain and a higher risk of diabetes, heart disease, and depression, but in recent years researchers have also found it can contribute to back and joint pain. When we consume too much of it, our body releases insulin and stress hormones. Those, in turn, trigger the inflammation process. Inflammation leads to chronic pain. The places where we have the least amount of blood circulation are at greatest risk of inflammation – that is why our joints and back can be so dramatically impacted by sugar consumption.

Here are 6 simple tips you can follow to help regulate blood sugar and keep painful inflammation at bay:

1. Choose foods with a low glycemic index
Every food item is rated by the percentage that the blood sugar level rises when that food item is consumed. Avoiding things that have a high glycemic index reduces sugar intake and helps stabilizes blood sugar levels.

2. Choose good carbs, avoid bad carbs
Good carbs contain lots of fiber and are absorbed slowly into our systems: whole grains, vegetables, fruits, and beans.

Bad cards spike blood sugar levels: processed foods, white bread, white rice, sugary beverages, and sweets.

3. Drink water
Keeping hydrated helps your kidneys flush out excess blood sugar.

4. Stay active
Maintaining a healthy weight helps to ensure that your body can process insulin effectively. Not to mention that a good walk can reduce stress and help avoid caving in to cravings.

5. Manage your stress
Stress can actually stimulate the release of hormones that cause blood sugar levels to rise. Hang out on your Teeter at least a few minutes a day for some mindful relaxation.
​
6. Get enough sleep!
Sleep deprivation can also impact your hormones which play an important role in controlling blood sugar, which is just one more reason to hit the hay early.

​We live in a remarkable time. Anyone with an internet connection or smartphone can access a staggering amount of information in just moments.

Although much of the time spent on the internet is devoted to watching cat videos on YouTube (my personal favorite), many people are using this wealth of knowledge to take their health education into their own hands. They’re investigating a host of nutrition and lifestyle options, including the paleo diet and one of the most searched diets in 2016, the keto (ketogenic) diet.

Over the past 20 years, I’ve explored variations of these two dietary approaches. I’ve found them to be remarkably effective for a variety of needs—ranging from fat loss to reducing inflammation to improving athletic performance.

Paleo Diet vs. Keto Diet

Based on questions I’ve gotten, there’s clearly a lot of confusion on what constitutes a paleo vs keto diet.
This article should help put both approaches in proper context and help you decide which might be a good option for you.

The Paleo Diet

HISTORY:
Unlike most dietary approaches the Paleo diet was not “thought up” by any given person (although there certainly have been researchers who have championed the approach).

The Paleo diet concept was born through the observations of dozens, if not hundreds, of anthropologists and medical explorers. They realized that hunter-gatherer groups were largely free of modern degenerative diseases.

Yes, these people were remarkably healthy even despite an almost complete lack of modern medical interventions.

While these groups suffered from high rates of infectious disease, injury, and childbirth complications (all areas where modern medicine excels), even those who lived into advanced age were largely free of obesity, type 2 diabetes, autoimmunity, heart disease and neurodegeneration. (This may be a bit more history than what you were looking for but I think it’s valuable to understand this dietary approach was an outgrowth of observing remarkably healthy human populations living as hunter-gatherers.)

Modern researchers and medical professionals who learned about the paleo approach asked a simple question:

“What if features of our modern world are at odds with our ancient genetics?”

If this is the case, perhaps eating in a way that better reflects our ancestors might save us from a host of modern degenerative diseases.

SO, WHAT DO YOU EAT ON PALEO?

Ok, history aside, what is a paleo diet in practice? I look at this in two ways:

1. What foods are generally excluded?
2. What foods are included?

By exclusion the paleo diet suggests one should generally minimize or avoid: grains, legumes and dairy.

Why?

Because these foods are “evolutionarily novel.” This means they’re relatively new to our species and therefore may present problems for some people.

This makes sense if you think about the most common allergens, they generally fit into the grains and dairy category. For example, I do not do well with most grains, especially ones containing gluten, like wheat.

All of this is highly individual, but many people find they feel, look, and perform better when eliminating at least some of these foods.

A limitation of this perspective is there HAS been genetic adaptation to the consumption of some of these foods in various populations. Additionally, there are examples of populations who are remarkably healthy who consume any or all of these foods.

Perhaps the one consistency is general health begins to decline when highly processed foods (sugar, refined grains, seed oils) displace traditional diets.

By inclusion this means the diet is comprised of lean meats, seafood, fruits, vegetables, roots, shoots, tubers, nuts, and seeds.

The scientific literature on the paleo diet is impressive, but honestly the cultural evolution of the “paleo diet” has been a bit painful for me. As helpful as this template has been for helping to address modern disease, the personal inquiry into the paleo diet has largely devolved to asking the following question “Is this food/activity paleo?”

This has created an almost religious process for many people instead of one of critical self-discovery.

A paleo diet can mean quite a few things for protein, fat, and carb percentages.

It’s been documented that cultures like the Inuit eat a high fat, low carb diet (perhaps 90% of calories coming from animal products) while the Kitavans consume a diet north of 70% carbohydrate. Both populations are quite healthy, at least until they displace their traditional diet with modern refined foods.

It’s my strong belief that a paleo diet should focus on food quality and generally be “macronutrient agnostic.”
In other words: focus on nutrient dense foods (while avoiding or minimizing immunogenic foods which lead to allergies and intolerances) and “tinker” to find the protein, fat, and carbohydrate levels that work best for you.

Also, it should be clear that these needs likely change over time based on activity level, stress, and a host of factors. Ideally, you don’t tackle diet as being set in stone, but rather a flexible way to continue to optimize your health with nutrition.

The ketogenic diet

HISTORY:

If you’re interested in an exhausting history of the ketogenic diet, check out this 3-part series by Travis Christopherson.

The long-story-short version is that researchers in the early 1900’s noticed that patients with severe epilepsy had remarkably fewer seizures when they were fasting.

What? Why? How? 

When fasting we deplete liver glycogen (a stored carbohydrate) and the body tends to shift into a state of ketosis. In this state ketone bodies (produced from fat) are used in place of glucose for most energy needs, but in particular by the brain.

Your brain can shift nearly ⅔ of its normal glucose dependent metabolism to one fueled by ketones which provide a much more stable energy source.

So, although fasting proved to be a remarkably effective tool against epilepsy (in a time when there were no pharmaceutical options) one can only fast for so long.

Generally what people ate kicked them out of the ketogenic state, causing the seizures to start again. So how do you solve this ‘starving with no seizures’ vs ‘fed with seizures’ situation? A diet that mimicked many of the features of fasting.

By dramatically reducing carbohydrates, increasing fat, and keeping protein at moderate levels one could enter a state of “nutritional ketosis” which could be adhered to long term.

Although the ketogenic diet was born of a need to help epilepsy, many people observed that low carb diets were exceptionally effective for fat loss. Names like Banting, Atkins, and others have popped up over the years, offering both effective weight loss strategies and controversy.

A low carb, high fat diet has generally contradicted the recommendations of many health authorities and governmental agencies.

On top of all this, recently the ketogenic diet has been studied as a therapy for conditions ranging from type 2 diabetes to cancer and even performance enhancements in endurance athletes.

SO, WHAT DO YOU EAT ON KETO?

The most fundamental part of the ketogenic diet focuses on carbohydrate restriction—we’re talking 20-30g of effective carbohydrates per day (composed ideally of low glycemic load, nutrient dense vegetables). One then makes sure to get adequate protein, and then add fat based on needs and goals.

If your goal is to lose bodyfat, your M.O. is “fat for flavor” but not overdo fat as one can in fact overeat fat on this plan.

On the opposite end of the keto diet spectrum, if you’re a keto-adapted athlete who is training many hours per week, you may eat as much as 70-80% of your calories from fat.

Take Aways

Alright, that was a lot in a little text. So, what does it all mean? Keep these things in mind as you continue to explore or embark on a new way of eating:

1. Regardless of the dietary approach (paleo, keto, vegan etc.) your #1 focus is eating whole, unprocessed foods with an eye towards nutrient density.
2. You could easily eat a paleo diet with ketogenic ratios—and many people do! It helps guide you to eat with optimal nutrient density.
3. As powerful as both a paleo and keto diet may be, they are tools and as such are best used to address specific needs. No need to try and turn them into one-size-fits-all solutions.
4. Although I’m tightly associated with the paleo diet concept, I’ve found the overarching message to be as problematic as it is helpful. I’ve opted for the following process:
   • Assess an individual for carbohydrate tolerance and set daily carb intake to support this situation.
   • Recommend an elimination of the commonly immunogenic foods (typically grains, legumes, and dairy). Folks remove these foods for 30 days, reintroduce and assess for things like mental clarity, physical performance, sleep quality, and ability to go extended periods between meals without suffering cognitive impairment or performance problems.

I hope this helps you better understand what the paleo and ketogenic diets are (and are not) and how they can work together (or not).

While this is a fairly lengthy article, it’s really just scratching the surface of what a ketogenic diet is.
Keto can be such an effective tool for losing loads of body fat, having more energy and more mental clarity, or even just as a good ‘reset’ every few months.

I believe so strongly in the benefits of the keto diet that I wanted to help others get into ketosis—the right way.
While there’s a ton of information out there on keto (and so much of it conflicting…), I wanted you to be able to do it easily, without stress, and wasting time in the confusing rabbit holes online. So I created the Keto Masterclass.

Keto Masterclass is a 45-day program that walks you step-by-step through everything you need to get started and get results with keto.
​
Not sure if you should go keto? Take this quiz and find out if the keto diet is the right fit for you. -Shared by Robb Wolf

​Although most of us rarely eat offal — aka organ meats — this nutritious ingredient is actually jam-packed with important vitamins, minerals and micronutrients that can have a huge impact on your health.

Interestingly enough, organ meats are far higher in nutrients than the muscle meats we’re used to eating.

For instance, beef liver contains 50 times as much vitamin B12 as steak and more folate and B vitamins than any other food on the planet. In fact, it’s more densely packed with vitamins and minerals than kale, spinach and broccoli.

So how can you start incorporating this superfood into your diet? Keep reading for everything you need to know.

What Is Offal?

Types of Organ Meats
According to Merriam-Webster, the official offal definition is “the viscera and trimmings of a butchered animal removed in preparing it for market or for consumption.”

Also known as organ meats or variety meats, offal is not commonly consumed in most of the western world. In many cases, we think of offal for dogs or animals rather than a nutritious addition to our diets.

However, organ meats are loaded with important vitamins and minerals, often in much higher concentrations than many other foods.

Furthermore, offal has been highly valued in Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM) for more than 3,000 years. In fact, a basic tenet of TCM is that consuming organ meats from animals will support the same organ in your own body.

There are dozens of “accepted” types of offal, depending on where you live. Here are a few of the most common types of offal:

Liver
Often hailed as a nutritious superfood, chicken liver has only 116 calories but contains more than double the daily recommended value for vitamin A and vitamin B12 in each serving.

In addition, the folate and riboflavin in chicken liver equal out to over 100 percent of what the average person needs each day.

Chicken liver also contains high amounts of vitamin B6, niacin, pantothenic acid, iron, phosphorus, selenium and copper.

Heart
While it may not contain as many nutrients as liver, the heart (and especially cow heart) provides you with the most CoQ10 of any of the offal meats.

It still has a ton of important vitamins too — over 100 percent daily value of the vitamin B12 you need and over half the riboflavin, along with significant amounts of niacin, iron, phosphorus, copper and selenium.

Kidneys
Eating kidneys is a concept you may need a bit of time to wrap your head around, but a cow kidney has over five times the amount of B12 you need each day, as well as almost two times your value for riboflavin.

Cow kidney also contains 228 percent of the daily value recommended for selenium. This trace mineral is associated with a number of powerful health benefits, including the prevention of certain cancer types, decreased oxidative stress and enhanced immune function.

Tongue
As variety meats in the offal family go, tongue is a popular but slightly less nutritious option than other organ meats.

This tough-surfaced organ is rich in vitamin B12, along with other micronutrients like niacin, riboflavin and zinc.

Another factor making this offal less of a home run is that it has over 250 calories in just one serving. That’s not an astronomical figure by any means, but it is higher than many other organ meats.

Sweetbreads
Wondering what are sweetbreads? This deceptive name refers to the organ meat found in two separate areas of the body: the thymus and pancreas.

While they aren’t sweet, nor made from bread, these meats are not high on the nutrient winner list.

They do, however, contain a large amount of dietary cholesterol and fat. We’re slowly learning that eating foods high in fat is actually not that bad for you at all, but it’s still worth noting.

This is also the first offal meat in which vitamin C wins the top spot on the nutrient profile, making it ideal for those looking to boost immunity and decrease cancer risk.

Brain
Surprisingly, brain may not be the smartest choice when selecting offal.

While it has somewhat significant amounts of several nutrients, it also contains over 800 percent of the daily recommended value for cholesterol intake.

Tripe
What is tripe? Tripe is another common organ meat, which is made from the lining of the stomach of various animals.

Although it does contain almost 14 grams of protein, the other nutrients that it offers aren’t found in very high amounts per serving.

Gizzard
Ranking above tripe for a few nutrients and carrying an astounding 44 grams of protein per serving, gizzard is a  worthwhile offal meat to add to your list.

What are gizzards exactly? Gizzards are a type of organ found in the digestive system of some animals like chickens, which are used to grind up food.

It does contain quite a bit of cholesterol in each serving but also includes 85 percent of the selenium you need each day.

Oxtail
What is oxtail? This big-name variety meat is, quite literally, the tail of a cow or an ox.

There are recipes galore available for it all over the internet, but its nutritional value hovers somewhere around worthless. Avoid this one if you’re aiming for high-nutrient offal.

Liverwurst
Liverwurst, also sometimes called liver sausage, contains a similar profile nutritionally to liver, including a massive amount of vitamins A and B12. Its selenium content is also incredible, and it’s also not lacking in the riboflavin arena.

Benefits of Offal
​
1. High in Vitamin A
Vitamin A, one of the most powerful antioxidants known to man, is found in massive quantities in most organ meats.

Two types of vitamin A exist in food: active vitamin A — or “retinol” — and beta-carotene. Retinol is the vitamin A found in meats, meaning the body doesn’t have to first convert it to anything in order to use it.

Because it functions as an antioxidant to fight free radical damage, vitamin A provides your body with protection against several diseases associated with oxidative stress and inflammation.

Vitamin A is also an important component in maintaining optimal eye health. When consumed on a regular basis, it’s associated with a lower risk of macular degeneration, which is an age-related disorder that can cause blindness.

Vitamin A also offers plenty of immune support. Eating vitamin A foods can help your body deal with everything from the common cold to autoimmune disease and more.

Not only that, but vitamin A also helps maintain skin health to keep your skin elastic, supple and smooth.

2. Good Source of B Vitamins
All B vitamins found in organ meats (vitamin B12, niacin, vitamin B6, riboflavin) are associated with a cardioprotective effect. This means that, in one way or another, all of them help protect you against heart disease.

One way these B vitamins do it is by lowering levels of homocysteine, an amino acid found in the blood that is associated with the development of heart problems.

They’re also known to help maintain healthy blood pressure levels, decrease high cholesterol, lower blood triglycerides and aid in the formation of healthy blood vessels.

Consuming offal high in B vitamins can also help keep your brain healthy. These nutrients help reduce your risk of Alzheimer’s disease and dementia, boost learning and memory, improve your mood, and protect against disorders like depression or anxiety.

​3. Supplies CoQ10
Another important nutrient found in many organ meats is coenzyme Q10, also known as CoQ10.

While not considered a vitamin because it’s produced by the body in small quantities, CoQ10 functions as an antioxidant and has been used for some time as a natural method to prevent and treat certain diseases.
Present in its highest concentration in the heart of all the organ meats, CoQ10 has some benefits similar to that of the B-complex vitamins.

Supplementing your diet with synthetic or dietary CoQ10 may help support heart health, optimize brain function, slow down the natural aging process and boost energy levels.

4. Protects Against Anemia
Many of the nutrients found in organ meats work together to fight anemia.
This condition occurs when your body is unable to create and deliver enough oxygen-rich, hemoglobin-filled blood cells.

Hemoglobin is what makes your blood red, and it’s full of iron. Many of the treatments for anemia involve increasing iron intake by consuming more iron-rich foods like organ meats.

B-complex vitamins also help fight anemia. Vitamin B12 is required for the formation of more blood cells, and a deficit in this important vitamin can lead to megaloblastic anemia.

Other B vitamins like riboflavin are also necessary for the production of healthy blood cells, which is why filling up on nutrient-rich organ meats can be incredibly beneficial.

5. Supports Healthy Pregnancy
Several of the vitamins found in offal are crucial for promoting a healthy pregnancy.
Vitamin B6, for example, decreases pain responses to menstrual cramps and may also help eliminate some nausea usually experienced in the “morning sickness” phase of pregnancy.
Folate is also crucial to fetal growth and development, which is why it’s found in almost all prenatal supplements and diet plans.

Low folate levels during pregnancy are specifically associated with neural tube defects like spina bifida, anencephalus and heart complications.

However, keep in mind that most types of offal are also very high in vitamin A, which can also cause birth defects when consumed in excess. Therefore, it’s best to moderate your intake, especially if you are taking other supplements that also contain vitamin A.

6. Promotes Muscle-Building
Organ meats are a great source of protein, an essential nutrient that plays a central role in tissue growth and repair.

Getting enough protein in your diet is especially important when it comes to building and preserving muscle mass.

For instance, one study published in the Journal of Nutrition, Health & Aging showed that higher protein intake, from animal sources in particular, was linked to increased preservation of muscle.

Organ Meats vs. Traditional Meats

Until recently, organ meats had fallen out of fashion and were often seen as unacceptable or lower-quality meats than traditional muscle meats. Western culture, though, is slowly shifting, and more types of offal have made their way onto the menus of local restaurants.

Ultimately, the difference between traditional meats and organ meats is that organ meats serve a different purpose during the life cycle of an animal. These particularly special types of offal, such as liver, kidneys, bone marrow and heart, are especially high in nutrients that are essential to bodily functions.

When you actually examine the numbers, many organ meats boast much more colorful nutritional profiles than the same weight in their muscle meat counterparts. Of course, this is not always true and must be considered by the individual ingredient.

An obvious reason offal is less popular than traditional meals often has to do with the unappealing ways much of it is packaged and delivered.

Few people desire to eat the entire face of animal or overlook the fact that they’re eating marrow out of an actual bone of a creature that once lived.

However, if you can get past that, enjoying organ meats from time to time can be a great way to add some variety to your diet and squeeze in some extra nutrients.

How to Find and Use (Plus Offal Recipes)Unlike traditional meats, offal is not readily available without a little digging.

Try your local farmers market, or look for butchers that practice ethical methods of raising and butchering meat. You’ll probably have to ask for the specific type of organ or variety meat you’re searching for, but these can often come at fairly low prices for the amount of meat you receive.

Depending on what meat you get, there are dozens of different preparation methods for home-cooked meals.

You can also look for restaurants, whether nearby or abroad, that prepare meals with offal and experiment with their different international cuisines.

Try, for instance, the Russian shredded tongue, the anticuchos of Peru (a popular street food made from beef heart) or the parilladas of Argentina (a dish including cow small intestines, blood sausages and sweetbreads).

Need some inspiration? Here are a few examples of offal recipes that you can try out to get started:

• Giblet Gravy
• Grilled Beef Heart
• Chicken Liver Pate
• Sauteed Beef Kidneys

Precautions/Side EffectsMost organ and variety meats contain purines, which are an organic molecule linked with increased gout flare-ups. There’s no current evidence that suggests, however, that eating offal causes gout to develop in the first place, but you should moderate your intake if you do have gout.

Another minor consideration in eating offal is the amount of dietary cholesterol you’re consuming. While eating cholesterol in your foods is actually not nearly as scary and dangerous as many believe, it’s not something you should do to excess.

Try to keep an eye on the nutrition of what you eat, and don’t go overboard with dietary cholesterol too often.
Women who are pregnant should also monitor their intake carefully to avoid going overboard of vitamin A. This is especially important if you’re taking any other medications or supplements that may contain vitamin A as well, as high levels can cause birth defects.