E-Mail 'Dietary Change To Fit A Post Collapse World- Part 2, By J.L. Augusta' To A Friend

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1. I’m working on learning to be entirely self sufficient on our own land. This means dealing with all the ramifications of mineral restoration. I am well on my way. It is possible! One day, I may write an article about it, when I get it all figured out. Haha. To do it, it is critical to have animals to help you. I am right now learning how to feed chickens without grain. It isn’t easy, but it’s possible. I haven’t figured out how to have high fat content from a milk cow without grain/cottonseed meal. I’d love to get there. The old timers, according to accounts from actual farmers, always bought grain for their cow, or else grew some cotton and corn for her. She feeds everything else, so she gets the primo ration. I don’t have a source on my land for DE. I can grow onions and garlic and hot peppers. And the need for worming cows and goats goes wayyyyyyy down when you run chickens and guineas along with them. I live in the Deep South, where there is lots of bugs. Actually most folks around here spend lots of money on insecticides. I actually need to start growing bugs to feed my birds. The geese and ducks are amazing weeders. I pull weeds to keep them fed. And they do very well on the ant population too.

2. Keto flu is actually a result of mineral depletion, sodium in particular. The body needs more water in ketosis for optimal function. Fluids flushing through the kidneys deplete sodium and potassium. The simple option is to increase salt intake. Pickle juice is highly recommended as an immediate relief from symptoms. I use a mix of salt, and Nosalt on my foods. I salt all food to taste, and believe me, food tastes better with salt. My symptoms of Keto flu lasted exactly one day because I increased my salt intake at the onset of symptoms. I still find that if I am working hard outside I may need additional sodium. I carry salt packets in my gear, just in case.

3. Interesting JLA. Certainly, some food for thought.

4. JL. I have nothing against the ketogenic diet if health issues permit it. My daughter is on it and is experiencing really positive results. But i have to wonder if you’ve raised meat animals or gardened much. Also what kind of climate you live in. Animals need food, year round. If you have an acre of fertile land it supposedly will sustain 5 of the pigs. They will take approximately 5 months to achieve maturity. That means after 5 months (IF all goes well) you could potentially have 5 pigs to last for 5 months (of course you ll need to keep a sow and boar for rebreeding so that leaves 4 to eat). Then how long do you think that acre of land will sustain constantly having pigs on it? Pork is quite fatty so may not dehydrate well. Canning will work. Canning lard isn’t currently recommended (although i have done it. ☺) but in warm climates you would have to be careful. If living in a colder climate like I do, food has to be put up for winter feeding. I could continue but I really don’t think this type of diet would be a good one to count on . Especially if you expect extra people to live with you.

   1. I liked and benefited from this 2 part, and yet wondered about the choice of livestock or the author’s context too. I live in oak/madrone woods, and if Appalachians getting through hard times was my example I think I would be better served by American Guinea Hogs mostly because I’d feed them kitchen scraps and silvopasture. Not that I’ve tried it, but I’ve read they were the homestead pig.

      Sheep for me would be a bad fit due to parasite build up during the 3 rainy seasons. People around here suceed with goats, and cattle so that is the climate for this reader.

      I do have chickens. They make amazing compost (100x faster than the forest) with their scratching and reduce our tick population. I can catch them when I need to, it’s very easy to get them to go where they want to go. Which is ussually the same place I want them at least on a good day. But they have that opsec issue. Well the pecker-headed males do. So if things really went sideways cotournix quail and rabbits would be way more discreet.

      I’m inclined to start quail (for the higher fat) and get that learning curve humped next. While times are good and embodied energy is hardly considered by the markets.

      Before I start this; can anyone advise me on a downside to texas a&m cotournix quail compared to rabbits for a sustainable homestead-scale meat source?

5. I was looking forward to reading about fats that store well and would be useful. From the article, I got pigs and chickens out of it. I have read about coconut oil last a long time. peanut butter would be a useful item for fat. other ideas?

   1. Peanut butter does not store well, at least not if you are talking several years. It will eventually go rancid.

      Related specifically to keto, peanut butter is not a good option, in my opinion. Too many carbs, even if you get the natural stuff with no added sugar.

      Coconut oil, on the other hand, is ideal for both keto and long term storage. I have read that virgin or extra virgin coconut oil can be safely stored 3 to 5 years, and I have also read that it is good indefinitely. One family in our survival group has 5-gallon buckets of it stored away, so we’ll have to hope for the latter!

      For storage fats, you can buy ghee in jars, canned butter — or can your own — and even sometimes you will find canned cheese. But for any stored fat, rotate to keep your stocks relatively fresh.

6. The only realistic diet after TSHTF is a whatever is available diet. Fad diets will be in the dust bin of history. You will eat whatever you can find and you will be happy/lucky to get it.

   IMHO fad diets are the hobby of the rich and indolent. Not many “workers” choose these fad diets.

7. Getting calories from animals is always less efficient than getting them from plants. Depending on the animal you need to feed it from 3 to 6 times the amount of calories than you get from it when you eat it.

   IE if you can get x calories one acre as plant calories you would need 3 to 6 acres to get an equivalent amount of animal calories.

   Getting calories from animals is just less efficient. Of course there can be other circumstances that make it more worhwhile. For example, marginal grassland that can support a limited number of animals but isn’t very productive for farming.

   (Note as I’ve already stated, I do keto, plus intermittent fasting already for the health benefits because I’m sedentary. I think if you are active all day the benefits are less).

   1. That is true but it misses the point. I’m not to crazy about hay and grass but cattle are. I like beef and you can’t grow beef in your garden. So if you like eat the grass and will asparagus but I will continue to prefer animal protein.

8. My husband and I have been on and off the keto diet for several months and have lost 20+ pounds. My only concern with it is the constipation, which I already have a problem with. Not enough fiber.

   1. Broccoli, cauliflower, cabbage, green beans, a salad of lettuce, celery, green onion, and ham dressed with olive oil and herbs. Prepare the vegetables with butter, salt and pepper, garlic, paprika etc. Eat reasonable portions of one of these with every meal, these are low carb, plenty of fiber, will solve constipation problem and keep your test stick in the middle range if you are otherwise “being good”. And don’t go on and off the diet, it will be your friend for life.

9. Never heard of Keto Flu, I think I can trace exact time and place when it happened to me. Now know why I can so easily transition to keto diet when economical

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