finally got to try cooking with tallow; i've never been allowed to buy it before because "the parents / sisters will complain about the smell". well actually it just smells like beef or something, nothing bad (to me anyway — and i absolutely hate the smell of real beef).

it's expensive on first glance but you get a big chunk of it, a little goes a LONG way, and you can constantly re-use the leftovers after you've cooked something. i tried making french fries and now i'm just done with french fry attempts: takes WAY too long, never turns out all that great (too undercooked, too overcooked, whatever), but i've kept trying until now because my wife is still mentally addicted to crap food and still complains about not getting to eat fries and chocolate. her family, unlike mine, is full of obese people who comfort eat and use EVERYTHING as an excuse to eat "good food" (= junk food) so it's actually an emotional attachment that she's been raised to have, that she has to try and break. but anyway, i poured the leftover melted tallow into a cup, let it cool down and it turned all white (from a yellow liquid), and put it in the fridge. and will reuse it.

the first thing i noticed was that full-fat bacon (it's not called "bacon" anymore if it's full-fat) helps my eyes out in a similar way as coconut oil only seemingly not as potently. now it's the same with the tallow. i only ate a few (like 4) of these french fries and already noticed it. it makes sense, from what i remember coconut oil is like the only vegetable fat that mimics animal fat in your body... also i noticed that after eating it i felt warm, like the fat was actually giving me body heat. i don't know yet if the tallow is weaker or stronger in effect than the coconut oil; normally i take 3-4 spoonfuls of coconut oil and i haven't tried to pour 3 spoonfuls of tallow over any of my food yet...

apparently tallow is fantastic as moisturizer for your skin because it's made up of almost exactly the same stuff as healthy human cells. i don't know how good it is when it's "oil" i've been frying potato slices in for like 3 hours but i'm trying it tonight anyway — took a shower, put some on afterwards, and it's definitely softened up my skin.

it's also clearly helping my teeth. when you eat healthy your teeth are shiny and smooth/slick, and your plaque disappears and/or comes off in "sheets" from your teeth (you don't need a toothbrush, you can simply push all the plaque off with a swipe of dental floss, or by eating a carrot, etc). so for example, you can have some plaque in the morning, eat some super nutritious food and by evening will have noticed that your plaque is less. i don't know why it happens (other than that healthy spit is antibacterial?) but it happens. anyway, if i eat kombucha or something else fermented it has a similar effect, so tallow seems pretty good so far...

i even read that tons of americans are getting huge amounts of tallow completely for free. they just go to the butcher and he gives it away because otherwise he'd have to toss it. or a friend gives a ton to them. etc. this is probably the only advantage americans have over other people (besides speaking english): no one there eats offal so all the most nutritious parts of the animal are cheap and/or free lol.

in sad news, i can't for the life of me figure out how to make nuts edible. after i quit all processed foods i lost my tolerance to nuts as well, and i though all i had to do was soak them — i think (think: i haven't kept good track) that soaking and then baking is fine if it's squash/pumpkin seeds but cashew, peanut, hazelnut, poppy etc i just can't get to work. i always get stressful dreams or worse after i eat them, even if i've soaked them. it's annoying...