The Wild Diet Read online

  Avery, an imprint of

  Penguin Random House LLC

  375 Hudson Street

  New York, New York 10014

  Copyright © 2015 by Abel James Bascom

  Penguin supports copyright. Copyright fuels creativity, encourages diverse voices, promotes free speech, and creates a vibrant culture. Thank you for buying an authorized edition of this book and for complying with copyright laws by not reproducing, scanning, or distributing any part of it in any form without permission. You are supporting writers and allowing Penguin to continue to publish books for every reader.

  Published simultaneously in Canada.

  Photographs © 2015 by Melinda Bryce

  Excerpt here: Originally published in the December 1965 Ladies’ Home Journal ® magazine

  Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

  James, Abel.

  The wild diet : get back to your roots, burn fat, and drop up to 20 pounds in 40 days/Abel James.

  p. cm.

  ISBN 978-0-698-18516-6

  1. High-protein diet—Recipes. 2. Reducing diets—Recipes. 3. Prehistoric peoples—Nutrition. 4. Cooking (Wild foods). I. Title

  RM237.65.J36 2015 2014047008

  641.5'638—dc23

  Neither the publisher nor the author is engaged in rendering professional advice or services to the individual reader. The ideas, procedures, and suggestions contained in this book are not intended as a substitute for consulting with your physician. All matters regarding your health require medical supervision. Neither the author nor the publisher shall be liable or responsible for any loss or damage allegedly arising from any information or suggestion in this book.

  The recipes contained in this book have been created for the ingredients and techniques indicated. The publisher is not responsible for your specific health or allergy needs that may require supervision. Nor is the publisher responsible for any adverse reactions you may have to the recipes contained in the book, whether you follow them as written or modify them to suit your personal dietary needs or tastes.

  Most Avery books are available at special quantity discounts for bulk purchase for sales promotions, premiums, fund-raising, and educational needs. Special books or book excerpts also can be created to fit specific needs. For details, write [email protected].

  Version_1

  DEDICATION AND A TOAST

  This book is dedicated to my grandparents Marion and Horace Bascom.

  From Our Family to Yours: Nan’s Favorite Toast

  “Here’s to thee and thy folks

  from me and my folks.

  sure there never was folks

  since folks was folks,

  ever loved any folks

  half as much as me and my folks

  love thee and thy folks!”

  Wild adjective (of an animal or plant)

  Living or growing in the natural environment; not domesticated or cultivated. Passionate, vehement, unrestrained. Untamed.

  “Wild with excitement.”

  Di • et noun

  The kinds of food that a person, animal, or community habitually eats.

  “The native human diet.”

  AUTHOR’S NOTE

  Earlier this year, my wife, Alyson, and I dined at a farm-to-table restaurant in Florida with twenty leaders in the health movement, a motley crew of bestselling authors, nutritionists, Olympians, cooks, and physicians. After a long week, we were ready for a feast.

  Our waiter scribbled furiously as Alyson, my cute-as-a-button, 105-pound wife, and I ordered:

  Bacon deviled eggs

  Two roasted marrow bones with local herbs and spices

  Two hearty farm-fresh salads with aged meat, nuts, and avocado

  Charcuterie board with a trio of duck, lamb, and pork pâtés; raw artisanal cheese; and a side of homemade sauerkraut

  Sautéed sweetbreads

  Wild sea bass with mushroom butter sauce

  Grass-fed sirloin steak (medium-rare, of course) with heirloom vegetables

  As others watched in awe, we polished off the lot, including more than our fair share of wine and champagne. One of the health experts said with a gasp, “How on earth do you two eat so much and stay so lean?”

  This book is the answer to that question.

  I hope you enjoy it.

  In health and happiness,

  Abel James Bascom

  August 23, 2014

  Contents

  TITLE PAGE

  COPYRIGHT

  DEDICATION

  EPIGRAPHS

  AUTHOR’S NOTE

  INTRODUCTION: BAND GONE WILD

  PART I

  How “Healthy” Food Made Us Fat and Sick

  PART II

  The Wild Body

  PART III

  Wild Movement

  PART IV

  The Wild Diet

  PART V

  Wild Cooking, Meals, and Recipes

  40 FEASTS: THE WILD DIET RECIPES

  CHICKEN AND PORK

  Chicken Parmesan with Mixed Greens

  Mustard-Roasted Chicken Legs with Peach Salad

  Spicy Chicken Thigh Stir-Fry and Cauliflower Fried Rice

  Mom’s Homemade Chicken Soup

  Curried Chicken and Onions with Butter-Fried Parsnips

  Lemon Kalamata Chicken Breasts with Caprese Salad

  Cornish Game Hens with Sautéed Green Beans

  Pulled Pork Sliders

  Low-and-Slow Rubbed Ribs with Whipped Cauliflower

  Slow-Cooker Chicken with Roasted Broccoli and Mushrooms

  BEEF, BISON, AND LAMB

  Chipotle Steak and Veggie Fajitas with Fresh Guacamole

  Bison Taco Salad with Avocado

  Ultimate Bacon Burger

  Beef Brisket with Balsamic Mustard Greens

  Wild Shepherd’s Pie

  Spicy Beef Chili with Mashed Sweet Potato

  Beef Tenderloin with Buttered Onions, Horseradish, and Arugula

  Chimichurri Steak and Roasted Brussels Sprouts

  Ginger Lamb Chops with Roasted Vegetables

  Sun-Dried Tomato Meatballs with Zucchini Noodles

  SEAFOOD

  Macadamia-Crusted Cod with Tender Greens

  Seared Ahi Tuna with Sesame-Ginger Asparagus

  Parmesan Shrimp Lettuce Wraps with Avocado

  Baked Pesto Salmon with Roasted Artichokes

  Bacon-Wrapped Scallops and Sweet Slaw

  Fish Tacos with Mango-Avocado Salsa

  King Prawns and Seared Garlic Zucchini Spears

  Lemon-Garlic Snapper

  Swordfish with Spicy Peach Salsa

  Smoked Salmon and Kale Salad

  MAINLY VEGETABLES

  Green Monster Frittata with Bruschetta

  Field Green Salad with Apples and Buttered Pecans

  Creamy Roasted Vegetable Soup

  Cashew Cream Alfredo with Zucchini Noodles

  Sweet Potato Hash

  Immune-Boosting Veggie-Full Soup

  Thai Carrot Curry Soup with Zucchini Chips

  Roasted Red Pepper Mini Pizzas

  Hearty Pancake Breakfast

  Farmer’s Omelets with Balsamic-Roasted Sweet Potatoes

  GREEN SMOOTHIES

  Minted Melon Smoothie

  Cucumber-Basil Smoothie

  Creamy Cilantro-Lime Smoothie

  Rosemary-Raspberry Smoothie

  Strawberry “Milk Shake”

  Spiced Blueberry
Smoothie

  Virgin Bloody Mary Smoothie

  Chocolate-Cherry Smoothie

  Peaches ’n’ Cream Smoothie

  DRINKS

  Ginger-Lemongrass Tea

  Ginger-Mint Tea

  Cucumber-Strawberry Spa Water

  Citrus Spa Water

  Pear, Apple, and Rosemary Spa Water

  Lemon Water

  Lime in the Coconut

  Green Juice Detox

  French-Pressed Fatty Coffee

  DESSERT

  Peanut Butter Chocolate “Cheesecake” with Hazelnut Crust

  Choco-nut Cookies

  Peanut Butter Chocolate Chunk Cookies

  Pumpkin Pie

  Apple Cider Donuts

  Alyson’s Coffee Cake

  Carrot Cake

  Birthday Cake with Whipped Chocolate Topping

  Mint Chip Ice Cream

  Old-Fashioned Apple Pie

  Nan’s Blueberry Salad

  Butter Pecan Ice Cream

  Pumpkin Bread

  Coconut Whipped Cream

  How to Soak and Dehydrate Nuts and Seeds

  How to Soak Beans and Legumes

  How to Make Sprouted Flours

  Grandma’s Oatmeal

  Brown Rice

  TASTY BITS AND BITES

  Simple Sauerkraut

  Roasted Bone Marrow

  Hard-Boiled Eggs

  Hot-as-the-Devil Eggs

  PART VI

  The Wild Diet Challenge

  PART VII

  The Wild Diet Survival Guide

  RECIPES FOR “WILD” DOGS

  Beef Supreme

  Half Chicken

  Raw Meaty Bones

  Dried Beef Liver Treats

  Eggshell Calcium Supplement

  Steak and Eggs

  Fast Sunday

  PARTING WORDS

  PHOTOGRAPHS

  NOTES

  ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

  INDEX

  ABOUT ABEL JAMES

  INTRODUCTION: BAND GONE WILD

  As we hop aboard Tim McGraw’s tour bus idling outside a Quality Inn in Austin, Texas, I suddenly realize that being healthy is cool again.

  Instead of smoking ashtrays, passed-out groupies, and stale beer, the smell of strong coffee wafts through the country superstar’s Zen-like tour bus. A veritable cornucopia of fresh produce, organic seaweed snacks, and an imposing 5-pound sack of Brazil nuts fill the mini-kitchen. Despite filming the Today show in New York City twenty-four hours earlier, these road warriors are bright-eyed and bushy-tailed. Denny, enjoying an unprecedented twenty-year reign as Tim’s guitarist and musical director, introduces us to the rest of the band.

  Fresh off his feature on the cover of Men’s Health after losing 40 pounds, forty-seven-year-old Tim McGraw is a specimen of health. He credits his pumped-up biceps and six-pack abs to his band’s new routine of clean eating and intense outdoor workouts on the road. His tour bus even pulls a trailer dedicated to unconventional exercise gear—hauling heavy chains, sledgehammers, and sandbags across the country.

  “Whoa, the Fat-Burning Man. . . . It’s so surreal you’re here!” Deano, the fiddle player, muses, somehow expressing precisely how I feel at that moment. I’m not sure exactly when it happened, but more people seem to know me as “Fat-Burning Man,” the tongue-in-cheek title of my hit health show, than as the road-weary musician I’ve been for most of my life. I’d taken time away from music to focus on inspiring others to live better by eating real food and breaking a good sweat. As far as I was concerned, I was just a regular guy babbling into a microphone on my computer and doing my best to make my show valuable to whoever happened to be tuning in. It wasn’t until I received my favorite thank-you note ever from a musician named Denny that I realized people were actually listening. Better yet, these newfound health nuts were actually getting results that blew my mind.

  A loyal listener of Fat-Burning Man, Denny has been following the Wild Diet for more than a year. Enjoying hearty meals that include plenty of butter, bacon, and eggs, he’s dropped 46 pounds. Impressed by Denny’s transformation, several bandmates came along for the ride.

  “Billy, our keyboard player, only decided to try the Wild Diet because he’s allowed to eat coffee cake.” Denny grins. “It really isn’t that complicated—you just listen to your body and eat when you’re hungry. It’s great. I’m full of energy and feel fifteen years younger.”

  “My kids love eating this way,” adds Deano. “They’re totally into organ meats and headcheese. Their friends think eating brains is cool.”

  After Deano convinces us to taste his latest culinary fascination, emu oil (it’s not bad, actually), we take Denny back to our place to play a few tunes. On the way, we grab two cups of fresh-roasted “fatty coffee” with butterfat and pure cocoa, our first “meal” of the day. To fuel an epic jam session, we polish off a few pints of green smoothie, sample asparagus and bacon quiche, and indulge in homemade blueberry muffins, pumpkin scones, and Alyson’s newest cheesecake recipe (Peanut Butter Chocolate “Cheesecake” with Hazelnut Crust) —try it yourself with our afternoon tea. A few hours later, our luxurious dinner includes bacon-wrapped sea scallops, wild Atlantic salmon, creamed spinach with toasted prosciutto, and a wee bit of wine. This ain’t no ordinary diet.

  Sound incredible? Well, the truth is that I haven’t always had the body of an underwear model while feasting like a rock star. Before people knew me as my fat-burning alter ego whose abs are plastered all over the Internet, I was the chubby kid with chipmunk cheeks.

  I’ve always loved food. As a toddler in the eighties, I discovered that the spiral cord on our kitchen phone didn’t quite reach the candy cupboard. So every time the phone rang, I sprinted to the candy and drooled like Pavlov’s dog. As soon as Mom picked up the phone, now safely out of reach, I’d stuff my face with as much chocolate, candy, and cookies as humanly possible.

  One night, still dressed in my suspenders and bow tie after playing clarinet at the local diner for pocket money, my dad took me aside for an important talk.

  “Abel, your body is about to go through some changes,” he explained with a gentle smile. “With our genes, you can grow up to be overweight . . . or strong and athletic. It all depends on how you eat and exercise in the next few years as you grow into a teenager.”

  An athletic strapping stonemason for most of his life, Dad had packed on nearly 30 pounds after he was forced into a desk job when the economy tanked. I listened closely and took heed. I didn’t want to be overweight, and for the first time in my life I realized I had a choice. And then I was off.

  I learned in one of Dad’s magazines that “fat makes you fat and clogs your arteries.” So I declared that I would switch to fat-free milk, shun red meat, and I even started to carry around extra napkins to sponge the grease off pizza in order to avoid excess cholesterol. I was eight years old.

  I took up every sport I could. A little too excited after watching Rocky for the first time, I choked down a full glass of raw eggs before my morning workout and chased chickens around the backyard. I cranked the brittle gears of my yard-sale Huffy to the summit of the legendary Piper Hill and trained like a Ninja Turtle to get my purple belt in karate. By seventh grade, my baby fat and chipmunk cheeks grew into a chiseled frame with a strong jaw to match. The girls even started calling me “Mr. Buff,” my first stupid nickname.

  I’d done it—the chubby kid who played clarinet at Christmas parties had transformed into a handsome, athletic teen. But getting fat doesn’t happen all at once. Sometimes it sneaks up on you.

  After speeding through Dartmouth College, studying brain science, music, and technology, it was time to pay off a few nasty student loans and chase the American Dream. Turning down offers from Wall Street and the CIA, I took a job as a strategy cons
ultant for Fortune 500s in Washington, D.C., moonlighting as a computer programmer. I quickly learned that spending nearly all of my waking hours under fluorescent lights takes its toll. But there was work to be done, loans to be paid, and no time for hikes in the woods.

  My fancy new office had a “Healthy Snacks” program to help us get through the long hours consulting with the bigwigs. I was pleased to find that many of the snacks lined up perfectly with the fat-free, low-calorie diet praised by the media and health magazines. I nibbled on fat-free whole-grain crackers, nonfat yogurt, and zero-calorie Jell-O, and I sipped cholesterol-free soy milk; cloudy, experimental diet soda; and other oddities provided by our Fortune 500 clients in the food and beverage industry.

  When I sat down with my new physician for my first checkup as an adult, he avoided eye contact at first, shuffling papers on his desk. His brow suddenly furrowed as he looked up at me with a wide-eyed grin.

  “You have great insurance!” he blurted.

  From that point on, I peed in a cup and had my blood drawn every time I set foot in the doctor’s office, which was often. My results didn’t look good. I had high blood pressure, high cholesterol, elevated triglycerides, thyroid problems, insomnia, and many other disorders and diseases of civilization that we’re somehow conditioned to “expect” as our youth evades us.

  “You have the body of a middle-aged man,” the doctor admitted grimly. “With your blood pressure and family history, you might be looking at heart disease, thyroid disorder, and even diabetes if you don’t cut out dietary fat and do more cardio starting right now.”

  Doc put me on a new painkiller for a running injury, a prescription-strength antiperspirant, several sleep meds, and even an antidepressant that he promised would “help me sleep.”

  Gritting my teeth, I followed the doc’s advice. I popped the pills, counted every last calorie, grew accustomed to constant hunger, nibbled on low-fat food that tasted like cardboard, and jogged five times a week.

  I proudly became a vegetarian, swapped real butter for zero-cholesterol vegetable oil spread, and replaced farm-fresh eggs with 100% whole wheat bagels with nonfat cream cheese and zero-calorie jam from the supermarket. Without fresh veggies from our family’s garden, I stocked up on bananas, 100% orange juice (with pulp, obviously), and reduced-sodium canned vegetable juice from the Safeway down the street.