REAL Food by Dr. Sue

I found a new website, through www.hartkeisonline.com, and thought I'd share one of their statements about the difference between today's food and our great-grandmother's era.  Today, we need to say our great-grandmother, as opposed to grandmother, because all the dubious ingredients and odd happenings to food started creeping in even by the post-war era of the late 40's.  Seems pre-war is better in buildings...and food!

My desire to feed my family REAL food is so strong, that sometimes I avoid hanging out with other families for dinner because of it.  Sad to say that so many folks are still not aware of the garbage that is passed off as real food.  Even worse is the fact that most parents are packing this stuff for kid' lunches, having it for dinner, and serving it to guests.

It is an effort to find, cook, and make sure you eat REAL food; I feel it is an effort worth making.  Almost everything that today plagues our health can be traced back to this fake food most are ingesting every day, every day, every--DAY!  I hope you'll read that statement again...it's a big one.  You can deny it, ignore it, and reply with a "Happy Meal", but now it's in your head.  Glad I could put it there.

Here's the writings from Dr. Sue from her website www.nourishmd.com  Hope you'll flip through her other stuff....lots to learn.

Dr. Sue writes:  Your great-grandmother didn't have high fructose corn syrup, partially hydrogenated oils or enriched flour in her kitchen.  Nor did she have artificial colors, sweeteners or flavors.  Her family didn't eat food from animals that never saw the light of day, were overcrowded and caked in their own manure.  These animals didn't eat soy and corn, nor were  they medicated with steroids and antibiotics.  Your great-grandmother didn't prepare foods covered in pesticides or even worse,  foods filled with genetically-modified ingredients.  It wasn't available.  All of this fake food is relatively new, created in a lab by food companies who want foods that trick our taste buds, stay on shelves longer and cost them less.

You see, organic is a marketing term.  The reality is your great-grandmother fed her family organic foods and lots of local foods.  She didn't have to worry about navigating through all of the marketing lies, food labels, or grocery store aisles.  Food was REAL, unadulterated and nutrient dense.  She probably grew some of her own food and canned it for the winter months...imagine!

When we talk about REAL food, we're talking about the food our bodies were meant to eat and enjoy every day.  The food our bodies need to thrive at the cellular level.  The food our children deserve.  The food that will keep us and the planet healthy.

Remember, you vote with every bite!  What are you voting for?  Organic?  Local?  For a healthy family or planet?  You can change the world with every bite.  Choose REAL food!

Orange You Glad You Knew?

I'll be getting a book in the mail through Amazon in a day or two called "Squeezed".  I found in through www.hartkeisonline.com, who is run by Kimberly Hartke, the publisher for WAPF.  This is also where I got the link for the Raw Milk Symposium in Wisconsin.  "Squeezed" is all about the "fresh squeezed" orange juice you and my husband thinks they are drinking when they buy those "not from concentrate" juices.

Although, I'm already aware of the fact that it is neither fresh nor squeezed, I thought it would be advantageous to read up on it a bit more.  Not only is orange one of the most pesticide laden crops, but the juice is "squeezed" by grinding up the skin (full of pesticides) and all into the juice.  It is then boiled to death and soy protein is added to prevent the separation in the juice (ever notice how the solids never fall to the bottom?).

That's just a "taste" of what I'm aware of.  Can't wait to read more about it.  Blog to follow. Feel free to check it out yourself through link below.  In the meantime....drink your raw milk instead.

Raw Milk Symposium in WI

Check out the Raw Milk Symposium in Wisconsin add now on this page.  Lots of info about the show and a very important event for those interested in raw (real) milk.  Also, Sally Fallon Morell will be in NYC on the 27th of March discussing that exact subject.


AN EVENING LECTURE WITH SALLY FALLON MORELL
REAL MILK: WHAT’S THE REAL DEAL?
Saturday, March 27, 2010, 7:00-9:00 PM
Subud Chelsea Center
230 West 29th Street between 7th and 8th Avenues

Sally Fallon Morell, president of the Weston A. Price Foundation and leading
advocate in the real milk movement, will speak about the safety, health,
economic and legal issues surrounding milk.  Come learn why full-fat raw milk
from grass-fed cows on pasture is nature’s safest and healthiest food, and the
key to revitalizing small family farms and reclaiming our constitutional rights.


REGISTRATION
General Admission: $20
Weston A. Price Foundation or Traditional Nutrition Guild Member: $15


~Space is limited.  Pre-registration is strongly suggested~
Credit card registration: http://www.brownpapertickets. com/event/97887

Please send payments by check (made out to Weston A. Price Foundation NYC
chapter) to: Claudia Keel, One Union Square West suite 309, New York,
NY 10003.  Send an email to claudiakeel@earthlink.net to inform us of your
forthcoming  check.

Sponsored by the Weston A. Price Foundation NYC Chapters

Happy Spring!! Happy Cows!!

Yes!  Finally, the breath of Spring enters the air....and raw milk will once again be abundant.  I look forward to this time of year because, usually by now, our frozen milk supply has begun to dwindle.  I begin in the Fall to stock up on the raw milk I buy through our food coop, here in Riverhead.  By December, my freezer is so full, the thought of opening the door becomes a daunting thought.

Over the weekend, we had my in-laws over for an italian meal.  For desert, my son asked for some milk with the cookies they had brought; the milk with all the cream lying on top always elicits a look, a question, or both.  This time, however, the conversation wandered into reminiscing. They remembered when all milk was delivered like this--the cream on top (unhomogenized).  Raw milk was perhaps a rare occurance by the sixties, by un-homogenized was the norm.  They remembered fighting over the cap to lick the cream.  Yes, in those days people allowed children to eat fat....imagine that?!

I feel proud and a sense of safety for my family that we drink such amazing milk.  It is worth every funny look, fear-mongering comment, and misinformation that has ever been splashed at me.  I know this is how people have been drinking milk for millennia and it is how I would love to see all communities go back to drinking it.

For now, I'm just happy to be getting milk again from those happy cows from Upstate, New York.  They're happy because they are eating grass, as they were designed to eat; getting fresh air and sun, which helps every living creature; and living with dignity, because nature is the rule rather than the exception.  I hope you get to enjoy this milk...you'll never go back to that stuff that's labeled "milk" in your grocery store, again.  Moo!

Mighty Neighborly of You

I have a friend, here on the North Fork, who raises her own chickens and geese for the delicious eggs they so graciously supply daily.  It was a normal part of life for most citizens a few generations ago, especially in rural areas, to have chickens and other livestock of your own.  Today, most people simply stand on line at Waldbaum's for something that resembles real eggs.
 
If you have never had the good grace of having REAL pastured eggs, I suggest you seek them out.  The difference is quite marked.  The taste is much more flavorful, the color of the yolk (if the chickens are getting sunshine. insects, and greens)  is anywhere from a deep yellow to an incredible deep ORANGE--I mean orange, too!--and the nutritional value skyrockets!

I just read on Weston A. Price Foundation's facebook page that someone loves their raw milk so much that they are going to buy a Jersey cow!  Now, that my friend's is dedication.  I would love to raise my own animals, but to be frank:  I know exactly what goes into it.  Think taking care of a puppy is a lot of work?

I'm honest enough with myself to admit when something is over my head.  With three kids and a new puppy, raising Clarabelle and the chics is way over!!  I'm very fortunate to have friends who have the energy, time, and patience to put into raising their animals so I can simply make a donation to the food supply and share in the bounty.

It is too sad today that the food you buy from the supermarkets is so suspect that we must seek out other food sources.  However, even though most of America saw what's really going on in our modern day food industry on Oprah, I still doubt most people will put in the effort to seek out other food sources at all.  Not only does it take a great effort (or atleast going out of your way a bit more), but it takes knowing who and where to go to get this alternate food.  Food that is grown and raised properly and where you know the source personally.

 I lucked out with a husband who hunts (the best meats you'll find), and I live in an area where people have surplus property to raise animals.  I also joined a co-op to purchase other meats, raw milk, raw cheese, raw butter, and sprouted grains.  Looking back, I did think it all a bit strange and extremist when I first embarked on this journey....but once you taste REAL food and see the results in your family, I can't imagine any other way of eating.

I can imagine a world of people happily exchanging food the way they used to before the advent of the Super-market.  I can imagine going local for all foods:  To Jenny for your eggs, Steve for your milk and dairy products, and Ernie for your maple syrup and fermented products.  Perhaps you'd be coming to me for some fermented chutney's, or even some soaked and oven dried nuts.  With awareness, who knows where we're headed!  

The Cream Always Rises to the Top

There's been much to do about the movie, "Food, Inc.".  Leave it to the Oprah Effect to bring food awareness to the masses!  A million of these posts and a thousand more Sally Fallon's could never approach what being on the Oprah show can do in an 8 minute spot!
Michael Pollan, the creator of "Food, Inc.", has also written many books.  I read "Omnivore's Dilemma" and thought:  Others are finally becoming aware, writing books about it--and it's become a NYTimes bestseller!  Who woulda thunk it.
I loved all the information about the confinement cows, the corn industry, the soy, and biodynamic farmers, but put the book down once Michael started talking low-fat.  He sites Weston A. Price several times and uses the Weston A. Price Foundation website as a link (only as a farmers rights advocate group), but, sadly, he lost Weston's original message:  Indigenous peoples had less disease, perfect teeth and arches, and happy dispositions because their food was filled with amazing amounts of vitamins and minerals.  Foods that were full of fat from their meats, organ meats, seafood, eggs, butter, milk, and cream.
There are so many great sayings hinting at a time when fat was understood to be the best life could offer..."The fat of the land", "The land of milk and honey", "chew the fat", and, especially, "the cream always rises to the top"!  
Fat and cholesterol are so important to optimal health, and yet it is still demonized in our society.  Our children are especially at risk from all the low fat, no fat milks they drink.  You're stealing the intelligence right out of their brains if you're not giving them full fat, folks.  Sorry, but someone needed to say it.
This needs to be the next "ah-ha" moment in this country.  Keep reading, keep learning, and for your health's sake....eat your full fat foods!  Just like my favorite saying, this information will rise again to the top!

Site to Behold

I love this site from Chris Masterjohn!  If you have any doctor friends that spew out facts at an alarming speed at you about cholesterol and health.....send them to this site, and keep your own blood pressure down!  I'm not great at keeping a log of percentages and facts in my head.  I write about what I live, what I feel, and what I observe.  If you need the other stuff, see Mr. Masterjohn.  And tell him I sent you!


http://www.cholesterol-and-health.com/index.html

The Ten Best Things to Pack in a School Lunch for a Healthy Punch

The Ten Best Things to Pack in a School Lunch for a Healthy Punch

What Do We Feed Our Children For Lunch?

Making lunches every weeknight for my children is NOT the sweetest part of my day.  Usually, I'm getting tired from a long day, my kitchen is still a mess, and my kids are still not in their PJs.  Religiously, however, I perform this ritual to ensure that they are bringing something "nourishing" to school, because you can be certain the schools are not doing that for me!
Have you ever gone to the school and experienced the lunches?  Frankenstein meets Captain Crunch comes to mind.  Leaving the health of your children to the companies who supply this food is a really bad idea.  Unfortunately, since not many moms know what real food is, they don't know enough to tackle this issue.
Again, the "Nourishing Traditions" book has some wonderful ideas, and I wrote an article for www.naturalnews.com that outlines the whole thing.  I've included a link and hope you'll read and use some or all of the ideas.  Every little bit helps!
Well fed kids=happy, smart, well-mannered kids!

Diet Rebel Cookbook

Looking forward to seeing "The Diet Rebels Cookbook" in the bookstores, as it is from the same philosophy as Sally Fallon.  Great to see others informing the public about what TO eat...not just  what NOT to eat!  Kudos!  See the link below.

Get Real With Food: My Cookbook being printed! (aka a brag-ish manifesto)

Get Real With Food: My Cookbook being printed! (aka a brag-ish manifesto)

Where's The Beef....Coming From?

So, excuse me if there are a few typos this evening, as I'm home from Bryant and Cooper after a stiff Cosmo and tall glass of Cabernet.  Alright, it was Merlot....hard to admit after "Sideways".  Bryant and Cooper is a super high-end hotspot in Manhasset.  They serve steaks and steaks and--steaks.
I couldn't help thinking about where this steak was before it filled my plate.  If you've read "Omnivore's Dilemma", then you already know what confinement cows go through:  Standing in their own sea of feces,  constant need for antitbiotics due to eating grain, which a cow was not born to eat, infections, cancer....ugh.  Not what I kept in my mind whilst ruminating my tender piece of filet mignon.
Yes, sometimes even though you know what constitutes a truly healthful food, you either eat what's served or stay at home.  Most restaurants have not become enlightened about grass fed beef; it would have been sitting on my plate were it so.  A cross-my-heart, hope-to-die, honest opinion is that confinement cow beef is a very distant second to grass fed beef.
Now, mind you, this was a very upscale restaurant.  They offer the best of the best to their customers--they are, after all paying a high enough price for it.  However, their best is not as flavorful, as juicy, or, most certainly,  nutrient-dense as grass fed beef....or venison!  My husband, being the great white hunter, brought us an abundance of venison this year.  Every cut is full of flavor and just blows away the beef I had tonight.  Amazingly, I'd bet less than a handful of people in the restaurant would even know that.
Public awareness and demand must continue to rise to change what is sold in eateries and food stores.  That's where the WAPF and blogs like this come in.  Awareness, baby, an awakening!
Oh, and about those drinks I indulged on.....I drank my kefir to eat up some of the sugars when I returned home.  Thank the Goddess Saraswati  for spellcheck and.....DON'T tell Sally.

Sweet dreams of nutrient-dense foods!

Kefir in Waldbaums?

I felt a bit fashion forward the other day when carousing Waldbaums and saw kefir!  If  you aren't already familiar, kefir is a probiotic drink much like yogurt, only not as thick and a bit sweeter.  It's a real staple for me and my family when adding good bacteria into all of our guts.
When I first drank this and told friends and family about it they gave me a look like dogs do when their trying to figure you out.  It is pronounced Ke-Feer, by the way.  It's the way the Europeans pronounce it, and that's good enough for me.
Never expected to see this in Waldbaums, but I guess kefir has gone mainstream.  With it now being common knowledge that your intestinal tract is a major part of our immune system, corporate interest has spiked.  I'm glad to see this positive change, except-- watch what you're buying.  Buy the highest quality kefir you can find.  The corporate ones have dubious additives and who knows if it is active any longer.  The longer it's on the shelf, the less bang for the buck.
Now if you want the BEST kefir:  Get some pasture raised raw milk and ferment it yourself.  I have a friend I get it from occasionally.  I'm sometimes too busy or lazy to do it myself.  Perhaps I should have called my blog "The Lazy Nutritionist".
I will always defer to Sally Fallon and the "Nourishing Traditions" book for all recipes for fermenting loads of things.  With her recipes, I think you could ferment  my mom's old slippers and they'd be mighty tasty.  Fermentation increases the nutrient content of every food it interacts with.  So check out Sally's book; a book I can't recommend enough....or live without!
Eat Well--Live Well!

"Whole Foods Sucks"

Catchy name, I hope?! Nourishing, after "Nourishing Traditions", by Sally Fallon, and Nancy, after all it is my name. I was going to call this blog "Whole Foods Sucks" to get some immediate attention; not because I hate Whole Foods, other than their lowfat/vegetarian agenda, but because of another blog I read which is making a big stink about said agenda. I did use it in the title, forgive me.

The blog was by Raime Saunders, and she's on the Weston A. Price Foundation's team; Whole Foods is, for lack of a better analogy, playing offense. You can go onto www.agriculturesociety.com to read the whole (excuse the pun) article.
Whole Foods is, like Wild-by-Nature and countless other organizations, backing the ole' lowfat diet with limited or no animal products. The WAPF is trying to counterbalance that through information passed down from traditional peoples the world over. Raime is a very informed linebacker and scores several times. Raime also wrote a cool book on tooth decay called, "Cure Tooth Decay", which I read feverishly trying to fix my child's teeth that were rotting out when emerging from the gums (I can thank a vegetarian diet for that one).

I guess I'm thinking football due to all the aggression that sometimes comes with finding our way to ourselves. Everything we do, think, and act upon defines who we are and are becoming. Following the wise dietary advice of Weston A Price has been part of my journey and many others. Answering to others about that choice has always caused some hairs on my neck to bristle. There have been outright battles to stuffy feelings in my kitchen when others bring their own ideas of nutrition (or lack thereof) into my lair! And, yes, I have been known to turn into a fire breathing dragon when confronted.

I wrote on Raime's blog that we need to keep our focus on the positive, that so many people are unaware of...well, anything nutritious. Takeout IS their idea of a home cooked meal.

We tend to attract what we are focused on (some philosophy from Abraham-Hicks), I reminded Raime. You see, when this guy, named Chad, attacked Raime for "negative" comments about vegetarians, I saw the smoke venting through my nostrils. I could sense her frustration with this dude, too. Once I calmed my own ego down, I realized that that is where their conversation had gone (no offense meant to anyone here). Something I had been liable for many times before, and now could recognize in someone else--someone on "my team".

Yes, it's great to share our ideas and, hopefully, attract others to our playing field. It's fun and exhilarating to meet others whom we feel akin to, but equally exhausting to clash with others who do not greet our dietary beliefs with as much enthusiasm. It has become a "Religion of Foodies", with each group fighting for higher moral ground concerning what we eat for supper.

I feel warmly comforted by my knowledge that this diet is the diet of traditional, unmodernized people; that when America was a stronger, healthier nation, we ate pastured meats, eggs, whole unhomogenized milk (raw, as well), liver and other organ meats; and that soooo many people are turning on to this diet today. Deep down, I think most people truly are yearning for this type of diet--I know I was when I became a vegetarian and thought that was the answer. Let's face it, real food tastes like REAL food, because it is.

I have high hopes for this country, along with the rest of the world, coming back to traditional foods. I do think, though, that the path to people finding us must be won with love and patience. Seekers will always find us: We on the WAPF team. Rising above the name calling can be trying, but it must be done. Now, I sound like a pacifist with a bible in my hand....oh boy, I'll leave well enough alone.

www.westonaprice.org