@Jennifer Indeed. I think that is a great perspective, being proactive. There is so much value to simply doing something, when the mind is in a quandary.
I used to eat yogurt quite a bit, and cottage cheese, but it's been a while for both. Greek yogurt does really help make a soft, but semi-structured white bread. Maybe it could be used in other breads, but I'm still learning. Wow, that is quite a cheese inspired sandwich. My brain is trying to section and place all the adjectives and descriptors to envision it....haha. Yes, I can see my brother adding back in more balance, beyond the carnivore.
No doubt, stress is the enemy. How much we'd remedy if we dealt with that better. But I think that's called life, and growing. Really, there's no such thing as no stress. Though, I do think we can make life harder than it is, and incur more stress than is necessary. Part of the growing, at least for me, is avoiding the unnecessary, self-imposed, burdens. Your experience with thyroid, and Peats quote you mention, is enough to forever keep me away from thyroid...haha. The one positive I'll hold to, is your good experience with standardized NDT. If I do try it, I'll keep that in mind, to use that first.
Funny, and I get it. I had a friend growing up who lived without street lights, and I liked the country feel, and he liked coming to town to my house. And, for sure, the burden of rural life, is fighting nature to make life more comfortable. When I come to my senses, I realize the country life is only romantic for the few who can afford only to live the good parts and pay others to live the bad for them. In youth, the romance of it may be more prominent, as your energy carries you along, e.g., Jennifer of the Corn ; ), but I can see how that could give way to the desire for an easier existence. Ticks would be a challenge. I could guess ticks are most anywhere, but likely more where there are more tress. Coincidentally, just recently, I read that an opossum eats up to 5,000 ticks a year. In general, I know people tend to kill opossums, but maybe they wouldn't if they realized their worth. In the smallish town I live in, they are prevalent, to the point of being a nuisance at times.
I have a good childhood friend who was born in Massachusetts, I think Boston, which is my only very small connection to that region, apart of course from it being the foundation of our nation. (That little fact.)
Ok, I'm seeing a common thread here...cinnamon. All roads lead to cinnamon. I can't blame you, who doesn't like cinnamon? I make a cinnamon raisin bread for my dad and I, and use quite a bit. At least it seems a lot to me, 7 grams. I am truly breading out these days, which is totally anti-Peat from my understanding, but as I cook for my dad, it's too easy to partake. I'm currently making hotdog and hamburger buns, raisin bread, white bread, rye bread, flour tortillas, corn tortillas, and next up, English muffins. Due to the heavy load, I've already had to cut back on my flour snobbery, due to cost and the inconsistency of the heritage flour. I can't afford, time, energy, and money wise, to have a recipe fail, so until I can really fine tune how to get the best results with the heritage, I'll use King Arthur, organic for now. Though, my goal is to have the heritage be the main flour. I'm convinced the quality of flour in our "first-world" country is, ironically, quite poor. The heritage I'm using is Sunrise bread flour and all-purpose flour, and have just purchased Doudlah Farms rye. I believe Einkorn is even costlier than heritage flour, being considered an ancient grain, much older than just the 1930s. From memory, I've read that Einkorn is a 14 chromosome flour, where the lower number signifies a more pure strain, so to speak, untainted, where today's modern flours are hybrid, cross-breed (if that's the right word), having over 40 chromosomes. I used to buy spelt bread, I just wasn't a huge fan of the texture. But I have considered trying it again, now that I'm in control of the bread making. I'm guessing there's a way to make it better.
