Have you ever tried to lose weight by eating low-fat?
I did.
Back when I was a teenager, I dutifully watched the grams of fat that I ate and tried to eliminate as much as possible. A lot of the fat that I did consume was vegetable oils. Many of the low-fat foods I ate were high in carbs and sugar. I didn't give food chemicals like preservatives, emulsifiers, dyes and thickeners a second thought.
I was the heaviest during that time that I have ever been.
Since I began incorporating plenty of healthy fats in my diet (especially pasture raised animal fats), among other holistic choices, I have easily maintained a healthy weight.
Now that I eat lots of animal fat I feel full and satisfied. I'm no longer hungry all the time. I think I eat less calories than I used to. I am living proof that a low-fat diet is not the way to achieve a narrow waistline.
Lard is a local, affordable ingredient you can feel good about using.
What Causes Obesity?
The low fat craze was an unfortunate blip in history. Over the past few decades, as people moved away from traditional sources of fat like lard and moved toward processed vegetable oils, our population has seen an increase in obesity and chronic disease.
The good thing about that is, you can't blame America's obesity on lard! The fact is, we were skinnier when we ate lots of animal fats. Researchers are beginning to recognize that “Saturated fats raise HDL (the “good”) cholesterol and change LDL from small, dense (bad) to Large LDL, which is mostly benign. Overall, saturated fats do not harm the blood lipid profile like previously believed.” (see https://www.healthline.com/nutrition/saturated-fat#what-is-it, emphasis added)
For thousands of years, lard has been regarded as a valuable resource--not just a by-product of pork, but indeed some pigs were bred to be lard breeds, just like some cows were bred to be dairy breeds. That is the origin of mangalitsa pigs.
A mangalitsa pig.
The full cause of obesity is a deep rabbit hole that is beyond the scope of this blog post, but to be brief, I believe that America's obesity epidemic is caused by consumption of sugary, processed foods laden with preservatives and other chemicals. Most Americans have inflamed guts because the food they eat feeds bad microbes in the gut, and the chemicals in that food irritates the gut lining.
I learned the hard way that you cannot be healthy if your gut is unhealthy.
We have been taught that eating fat makes you fat. Perhaps that is because 1 gram of fat has almost twice as many calories as 1 gram of carbs or protein. But viewing fat as bad for you, simply based on the number of calories per gram, is woefully simplistic and short sighted.
Fat IS bad for you if it is refined vegetable oil which had to be descented because it is rancid (which is the case with most oils like canola, corn, and soy). If that oil was hydrogenated to make it thick, like shortening or peanut butter, that makes it even worse for you. Pesticides are fat soluble, so any pesticides sprayed on the crops will be found in their oil (particularly cottonseed).
Fat is GOOD for you if it comes from animals raised on pasture. Your body knows what to do with it.
Lard from my pigs is not inflammatory. It is healing. Because my pigs live year round outside in the sunshine, it is one of the highest dietary sources of natural vitamin D.
Populations that eat whole, unprocessed foods, high in animal fats, do not have weight problems like America.
My own rendered lard. You can see slight variations in color from different batches as I collected it from different meals I was cooking. Sometimes I specifically render fat for lard, other times I collect it as I cook.
What If You Have No Idea What to Do With Lard?
Nowadays most people wouldn't know what to do with lard if you handed them a beautiful, snowy white jar of rendered fluff.
For starters, you cook with it. You can fry eggs in it, make delicious fried rice, you can even make mayonnaise with it!! There's nothing that can't be cooked in lard rather than vegetable oil. Don't be afraid to substitute lard anywhere that you normally use another oil.
I love to use it as lotion on my hands when they get dry in the extreme Vermont winter, and even as lip balm. You can buy expensive oils from around the world to rub on your skin, but I'm here to tell you that locally grown lard is just as good for you. If the pig was raised on pasture, its lard is packed with vitamins and nutrients that your skin craves, without all the chemicals that so many skin care products are laced with. Infuse herbs or add essential oils to it for even better healing qualities.
Lard can:
reduce fine lines and wrinkles,
help treat rosacea,
soften dry skin,
treat eczema,
improve scar tissue,
and reduce acne. (Skin health is often indictive of what's going on inside of you. It is important to approach skin care holistically, allowing lard salve to be one facet of your health care routine. Healing your gut should be your highest priority if you have skin trouble.)
Lard is the classic base ingredient for old fashioned lye soap. If you want to take your natural skin care routine to the next level, make your own soap that is free of toxins and watch your family's skin problems melt away.
If you buy a whole or half hog, you can ask your butcher to set aside leaf lard and back fat for you to render into your own lard. And there will be lots of cuts that naturally render fat as they cook. Don't waste that lard! Collect it into a jar and it will store in the fridge for months.
I usually have leaf fat and back fat available retail, as well. It's much less expensive than my retail meat. Please reach out and see if I have any available!
How to Render Lard
Be aware that there are two types of fat on a pig: leaf lard, and back fat. Leaf lard is harder when rendered, and it is prized for pastry cooking. Leaf lard has less "porky flavor." There is less leaf lard on a typical pig than back fat. Rendered back fat is more typical of the texture of bacon grease. It is great for cooking (although maybe not quite as good in pastries as leaf lard), soap, and skin care. Both types of lard are good for you, and the process for rendering them is the same.
If you have ever cooked bacon, you have rendered lard.
Rendering is nothing more than cooking so that the fat melts out. The smaller the pieces, the more surface area it has and therefore the faster the fat can render. If you have the ability to put the fat through a grinder, you can cook it in a low oven and the fat will gently sigh out. If you slice the fat by hand, slice it as thin as possible and cook it over low heat. It will render similar to bacon.
After rendering in the oven or stove top, you will be left with liquid fat and crispy chunks called "cracklins." Put a small sieve over a jar and spoon the liquid fat through the sieve to strain out impurities. Put a lid on it, stick it in the fridge, and that lard will last many, many months. The cracklins are delicious with a little salt sprinkled on them, like paleo popcorn, or you can put them in cornbread for the classic, cracklin cornbread.
Sometimes people put cut up fat pieces in a pot with an inch of water and boil it, rather dry baking or frying it. As the fat melts, it rises to the surface of the water and the impurities stay down in the water. When it is done rendering, you skim the pure fat off the surface, and the broth below can be used as soup base or fed to the dog. No cracklins, though, if you use water.
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