There are some "commercial" brands that, while not using perfectly good ingredients, are still better than most conventional brands and importantly actually work. These include:
- seventh generation unscented dish soap
- method unscented dishwasher detergent
- tide "free and clear" unscented washing detergent
However, if you really want to be hardcore about it, then you could check out tallow or coconut oil based soaps. For an all purpose cleaner, mix white vinegar with some rubbing alcohol and put in a spray bottle. And for laundry detergent, you could find some castile soap based cleaner
1. Should one use a tongue scraper after brushing one's teeth?
2. Does temperature of beverages matter? I've seen Ayur Veda people say one should only drink hot/warm beverages and I've seen other people swear by cold beverages, water specifically.
3. What (kind of) toilet paper is safe to use?
Forgive me for asking this many questions, I'll stop now for this AMA.
Nov 2, 2023·edited Nov 2, 2023Liked by Really Tan Man
Hi Tan Man,
Hope your day is going well. Big fan of your work!
1. How do you fix Carpal Tunnel Syndrome (CTS)?
2. You give very good health advice but if you die, that is it (no more great advice :( Is there anyone else online that gives very good health advice like you?
3. Likewise, anyone online that gives good advice on escaping the 9-5?
Should one wear dry selvedge jeans? These aren't pre-washed and so it's dye will leak a bit more, especially during the first months of wear (and in the rain).
Any idea if it's natural indigo dye? If so I probably wouldn't stress, but synthetic dye on my legs for months on end doesn't sound like a good time. I know you're supposed to rarely wash them but doing so first might be a reasonable idea
1. Yes, moderate amounts of liquid are important to make sure food in the stomach is wet enough to mix properly. Too much and you dilute stomach acid
2. Ideally, yes. V few people in the modern world will do that 100%, so up to you on what else to incorporate. Personally, the only two from that list that I might consume with some frequency are coffee and chocolate. I am not a big coconut or avocado fan
3. Sauna more, less stress, and find a woman who likes your pheremones and doesn't mind your natural smell (which will never go away)
Hello. I'm blessed to live near a few organic Amish farms in Lancaster. But I've not been able to source nutrient dense, seed oil free scrapple. My kiddo loves scrapple, so it's a no-brainer for organ meats, but it seems like all of the scrapple producers around here feed their hogs garbage. Anyone have suggestions for a supplier? Thanks!
You might just have to make it yourself tbh... the pork industry is in such a sorry state in this country. You either find a producer with good value added products (like sausage) and horrbile meat quality, or a good meat quality with poorly prepared products
Anyway, you could potentially find good pork from here:
Hi, I apologize if this is too many questions or if you’ve addressed them previously! For some background, I was raised vegetarian and have been vegetarian for my entire life. I am about to turn 22 and have been considering eating meat for the first time because of listening to you on podcasts and reading your articles. It makes sense to me that I should be eating what my ancestors ate, which certainly included meat (I am of northern European and German ancestry).
1. Because I’ve been vegetarian my whole life, I’ve eaten a lot of beans, lentils, and tofu. I’ve heard you say that we can eat anything as long as it’s real food, but would beans and lentils not count as being “real” foods? Or is it just that there are way better alternatives, like meat and animal products?
2. Do you have any opinions regarding weight/fat loss and the best way to go about losing body fat?
3. Do you know anything about diet-related causes of eczema?
4. Do you have any recommendations for non-toxic cleaning products? I know a lot of people use white vinegar and baking soda, just curious if you use anything specific.
5. Everyone says that I should be eating whole grains, but are they actually important to eat? Can I go without eating them?
Thank you so much! I am really scared by the idea of eating meat (it's given me a bit of an identity crisis because I NEVER thought I would consider eating it), but I just want to be as happy and healthy as possible :) Also if you have any resources about what the traditional German/Northern European diet consisted of I would love to have them!
1. All food can be made reasonably healthy provided it is both natural and traditionally prepared. In the case of legumes, they all have to be prepared via soaking/sprouting/fermenting to deactivate most of their anti-nutrients. If that's done, they likely aren't *bad* for you, but at the same time that does not mean they will provide all the nutrients you need. I recommend this video to learn about the differences in protein quality between animal foods and plant foods specifically; but there are many other nutrients available in animals that are not present in plants https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hJNF2_dCWkg
2. Starving yourself along with intensive exercise is definitely not the right way to approach fat loss. A high metabolism is required to burn body fat, along with detoxification of all the toxins stored in your fat tissues. So aside from eating nutrient dense foods (meat, dairy, eggs, seafood, fruit, honey, etc.) and eating only 3x/day, it's a good idea to do a few things that target increased metabolism and detoxification. This would primarily involve sauna and vitamin E, but red light therapy, sleep improvement methods, and stress reduction broadly are all important too.
3. Vitamin A deficiency, read my article on skin health
4. My wife just uses vinegar with rubbing alcohol, sometimes she throws orange peels in there. Seventh generation dish soap is not the worst thing in the world, and I have yet to find a "natural" dish soap that actually works
5. You don't *need* to eat grains at all. But if you do, these are the best ones (for most):
6. The oldest ethnographic source on the german peoples says that they ate a diet rich in "meat and milk", they did not farm much and they did not drink much
That being said, German cuisine as it developed prior to the industrial revolution was one of the healthiest cuisines on earth, full of dairy, organs, meats, and fermented foods. I'd try to find a traditional german cookbook and play around with that, but just make sure that you're doing everything the "real way" (e.g. no seed oils or fake sauerkraut).
If you can find a cookbook from before the 1930s that would be ideal
I second wanting to hear about cleaning products! Do you exclusively use traditional ingredients like lemons and vinegar? Do you use any brand of wipes/cleaning spray?
And speaking of MASA, where exactly do you get the corn and the tallow, and how did you find those sources?
Cleaning spray is vinegar with rubbing alcohol and sometimes my wife throws orange peels in there. We don't use any sort of antibacterial wipes; if the above is not enough, then we'll just use some dishsoap and water (the best way to clean granite countertops anyway)
Corn comes from organic farms in new england, and grass fed tallow is mostly from the midwest. How I sourced them is a trade secret lol
What are some good cleaning products like dish soap,dishwashing detergent,laundry detergent,etc?
There are some "commercial" brands that, while not using perfectly good ingredients, are still better than most conventional brands and importantly actually work. These include:
- seventh generation unscented dish soap
- method unscented dishwasher detergent
- tide "free and clear" unscented washing detergent
However, if you really want to be hardcore about it, then you could check out tallow or coconut oil based soaps. For an all purpose cleaner, mix white vinegar with some rubbing alcohol and put in a spray bottle. And for laundry detergent, you could find some castile soap based cleaner
I've got some more, if you don't mind:
1. Should one use a tongue scraper after brushing one's teeth?
2. Does temperature of beverages matter? I've seen Ayur Veda people say one should only drink hot/warm beverages and I've seen other people swear by cold beverages, water specifically.
3. What (kind of) toilet paper is safe to use?
Forgive me for asking this many questions, I'll stop now for this AMA.
1. I don't see why not, if your mouth is that dirty though it's likely coming from the inside (same w bo)
2. Whatever you like, room temperature to cool makes the most sense historically. Ice water probably bad idea
3. Unscented, unbleached, we have one from whole foods that works
Hi Tan Man,
Hope your day is going well. Big fan of your work!
1. How do you fix Carpal Tunnel Syndrome (CTS)?
2. You give very good health advice but if you die, that is it (no more great advice :( Is there anyone else online that gives very good health advice like you?
3. Likewise, anyone online that gives good advice on escaping the 9-5?
Thanks again for your time.
With Gratitude,
Useronline129
I have one more:
Should one wear dry selvedge jeans? These aren't pre-washed and so it's dye will leak a bit more, especially during the first months of wear (and in the rain).
Any idea if it's natural indigo dye? If so I probably wouldn't stress, but synthetic dye on my legs for months on end doesn't sound like a good time. I know you're supposed to rarely wash them but doing so first might be a reasonable idea
Appreciate you sir. I have a few questions:
1. Should one consume a beverage (like water, milk, OJ, red wine, etc.) during meals?
2. Should one only/mostly eat locally produced food? For me this would mean no coffee, chocolate, avocado, coconut and more.
3. How to fix stinky armpits?
1. Yes, moderate amounts of liquid are important to make sure food in the stomach is wet enough to mix properly. Too much and you dilute stomach acid
2. Ideally, yes. V few people in the modern world will do that 100%, so up to you on what else to incorporate. Personally, the only two from that list that I might consume with some frequency are coffee and chocolate. I am not a big coconut or avocado fan
3. Sauna more, less stress, and find a woman who likes your pheremones and doesn't mind your natural smell (which will never go away)
Hello. I'm blessed to live near a few organic Amish farms in Lancaster. But I've not been able to source nutrient dense, seed oil free scrapple. My kiddo loves scrapple, so it's a no-brainer for organ meats, but it seems like all of the scrapple producers around here feed their hogs garbage. Anyone have suggestions for a supplier? Thanks!
You might just have to make it yourself tbh... the pork industry is in such a sorry state in this country. You either find a producer with good value added products (like sausage) and horrbile meat quality, or a good meat quality with poorly prepared products
Anyway, you could potentially find good pork from here:
https://firebrandmeats.com/why-low-pufa-pork/
https://nosetotail.org/products/low-pufa-fed-pork-primal-ground-1
Hi, I apologize if this is too many questions or if you’ve addressed them previously! For some background, I was raised vegetarian and have been vegetarian for my entire life. I am about to turn 22 and have been considering eating meat for the first time because of listening to you on podcasts and reading your articles. It makes sense to me that I should be eating what my ancestors ate, which certainly included meat (I am of northern European and German ancestry).
1. Because I’ve been vegetarian my whole life, I’ve eaten a lot of beans, lentils, and tofu. I’ve heard you say that we can eat anything as long as it’s real food, but would beans and lentils not count as being “real” foods? Or is it just that there are way better alternatives, like meat and animal products?
2. Do you have any opinions regarding weight/fat loss and the best way to go about losing body fat?
3. Do you know anything about diet-related causes of eczema?
4. Do you have any recommendations for non-toxic cleaning products? I know a lot of people use white vinegar and baking soda, just curious if you use anything specific.
5. Everyone says that I should be eating whole grains, but are they actually important to eat? Can I go without eating them?
Thank you so much! I am really scared by the idea of eating meat (it's given me a bit of an identity crisis because I NEVER thought I would consider eating it), but I just want to be as happy and healthy as possible :) Also if you have any resources about what the traditional German/Northern European diet consisted of I would love to have them!
1. All food can be made reasonably healthy provided it is both natural and traditionally prepared. In the case of legumes, they all have to be prepared via soaking/sprouting/fermenting to deactivate most of their anti-nutrients. If that's done, they likely aren't *bad* for you, but at the same time that does not mean they will provide all the nutrients you need. I recommend this video to learn about the differences in protein quality between animal foods and plant foods specifically; but there are many other nutrients available in animals that are not present in plants https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hJNF2_dCWkg
2. Starving yourself along with intensive exercise is definitely not the right way to approach fat loss. A high metabolism is required to burn body fat, along with detoxification of all the toxins stored in your fat tissues. So aside from eating nutrient dense foods (meat, dairy, eggs, seafood, fruit, honey, etc.) and eating only 3x/day, it's a good idea to do a few things that target increased metabolism and detoxification. This would primarily involve sauna and vitamin E, but red light therapy, sleep improvement methods, and stress reduction broadly are all important too.
3. Vitamin A deficiency, read my article on skin health
4. My wife just uses vinegar with rubbing alcohol, sometimes she throws orange peels in there. Seventh generation dish soap is not the worst thing in the world, and I have yet to find a "natural" dish soap that actually works
5. You don't *need* to eat grains at all. But if you do, these are the best ones (for most):
- freshly milled fermented wheat (aka sourdough bread)
- nixtamalized corn (aka masa chips)
- white rice (pure indian foods has the best one)
Read more here:
https://reallytanman.substack.com/p/what-makes-healthy-bread
https://reallytanman.substack.com/p/the-decadent-diet-part-2
6. The oldest ethnographic source on the german peoples says that they ate a diet rich in "meat and milk", they did not farm much and they did not drink much
That being said, German cuisine as it developed prior to the industrial revolution was one of the healthiest cuisines on earth, full of dairy, organs, meats, and fermented foods. I'd try to find a traditional german cookbook and play around with that, but just make sure that you're doing everything the "real way" (e.g. no seed oils or fake sauerkraut).
If you can find a cookbook from before the 1930s that would be ideal
Thank you so much! I've always struggled with not feeling satisfied eating "healthy" foods, so you've been super helpful
I second wanting to hear about cleaning products! Do you exclusively use traditional ingredients like lemons and vinegar? Do you use any brand of wipes/cleaning spray?
And speaking of MASA, where exactly do you get the corn and the tallow, and how did you find those sources?
Cleaning spray is vinegar with rubbing alcohol and sometimes my wife throws orange peels in there. We don't use any sort of antibacterial wipes; if the above is not enough, then we'll just use some dishsoap and water (the best way to clean granite countertops anyway)
Corn comes from organic farms in new england, and grass fed tallow is mostly from the midwest. How I sourced them is a trade secret lol