Just last night while lying in bed I got thinking about making my own homemade "jello" to have with whipped cream, since I don't care for gelatinous broths or broths of any sort. Does he recommend any other juices besides OJ? It's never been a fave of mine, though maybe ok as a jello.

Hi Debbie,
If you follow that link above that I gave you to Lita Lee's article on Thyroid Resistance, and you scroll down to the Pro-Thyroid Diet section, you will find a whole paragraph about recommended fruit juices, fruit juices to avoid, etc. As I said, she is a colleague of Ray Peat, she has a Ph.D. in chemistry, and much of her nutrition advice is based on Peat's recommendations. I find her writing a lot easier to follow!

When I make orange "Jello", I boil the orange juice in order to concentrate the flavor, and also I skim off the yellow foam, which I believe is acid. And I add about a tablespoon of sugar per cup of OJ. Tastes quite nice. Also, I have bought cherry juice (100% pure cherry juice) at the health food store and made that into jello, sometimes adding some frozen tart cherries to it. I add sugar to taste as I boil the juice. You want to avoid things with additives, like citric acid and ascorbic acid, or juice that is sweetened with apple juice, so unless you are using orange juice, you will pretty much have to stick to juices found in the all natural or health food section of the store. Ceres is a brand of juice, comes in aseptic boxes, and they make some nice combinations of juice. Peat and Lita Lee say tropical fruits are best and Ceres makes some nice tropical fruit juice combinations that can be turned into "jello".

Ice cream! I love it so much I'd have a big problem trying to limit my portions I'm afraid. Eating an entire pint at one sitting would be nothing for me.

I'm not a fan of milk drinking either - but could see making milk custards perhaps, and I *adore* cream and cheese - among my fave foods. I get bootleg raw heavy cream every couple weeks and it's wonderful stuff.

As for ice cream, pretty much the only brand that does not have additives like carageenan or gums (both Peat no-no's) is Haagen Dazs. And many of the H.D. flavors have corn syrup or other non Peat recommended things in them, so basically you are limited to Haagen Dazs vanilla, coffee, chocolate, or strawberry. You can buy those flavors now in small, 3 oz. servings, so that helps a lot with portion control. I have been known to down a whole pint of Haagen Dazs in one sitting, on occasion, so I know what you mean about how tempting that can be! But MOST of the time, I find I am satisfied with just half of a pint. (WHICH, by the way, is no longer a pint, but only 14 oz.!)

Also, I always toss some Enjoy Life chocolate chips (no soy or other "bad stuff") in with the ice cream. Ray Peat said that dark chocolate can lower blood sugar so that is good, plus I find sometimes I feel a little "wired" from eating the ice cream without the dark chocolate chips mixed in.

I just bought some masa harina yesterday, though I'm still not totally sure what I might do with it.

LOL. Same here. I keep it "in reserve". The only thing I know to do with it is to combine it with warm water and some coconut oil or butter and salt, make it into a dough, roll it out very thin, and make corn tortillas on a cast iron skillet. Then you can make soft tacos or enchiladas, if so inclined, or if you are REALLY feeling industrious, you can take those tortillas and fry them in coconut oil for a Peat friendly snack.

I always have problems with portion control when it comes to eating ANY grains, even masa, and I find it stimulates my appetite and makes me want to eat again a short time later. The potatoes, fried or mashed with butter, however, really fill me up and hold me for 4 or 5 hours. I sometimes mash them with butter and heavy cream and cheese. Yummo! Now THAT will stick to your ribs! :-)

As a birdwatcher, you will be interested to know I saw a beautiful pileated woodpecker right outside my cabin door this morning. What a beautiful bird!

Cathy