I'll be riding my bike this summer!

I went to my asthma doctor today.  I have a mild asthma that wasn’t diagnosed until I was an adult, though my parents and I sometimes thought I might have it as a child.  It mostly manifests itself as a dry cough in cold weather or after physical exertion.

I finally got it “under control” with the use of a rescue inhaler as needed (rare, maybe once a month or so in the winter) and a puff of Advair on mornings when recovering from a cold or flu or an hour or two before doing exercise or heading out into the cold in winter.

That seemed ok, but I was not thrilled with the idea of taking medicine, especially asthma medicine which has a host of side effects.  I’d been interested in natural foods for a while, and believed that the right diet could improve health, but when I started getting involved with Weston A. Price’s research and raw milk and such, it sounded like really applying these principles could help me with my asthma (in addition to other health issues, but that is a topic for another day!).

See what changes I made and why I think that made me symptom free 6 months later, after the jump.*

It was January, 2009 when I started applying the Weston A. Price and Nourishing Traditions into my diet.  This includes:

• Raw dairy products whenever possible
• When raw dairy is not possible, then fermented and/or pasteurized at the lowest temperature and non homogenized
• Taking cod liver oil 3-7 days per week
• Reducing the amount of grains eaten – never going over the “food pyramid” guidelines and usually staying below it, some days well below it
• Soaking/fermenting/sprouting most whole grains before finishing their preparation
• Coconut oil – some days taking 1-3 tablespoons of it in a cup of warm water, and certainly cooking with it
• Butter – spreading liberally on toast, topping steamed vegetables with it, etc
• Eating plenty of traditional fats such as coconut oil, olive oil, and very importantly, butter fat, lard, and other animal fats
• Eating more seafood
• Eating more fermented foods such as water kefir, yogurt, sauerkraut, kvass, etc.
• Eliminating all soy except small amounts of fermented soy
• Eliminating when possibly and greatly reducing the amount of processed food in my diet (cereals, cookies, crackers, dinner-in-a-box, etc)
• Eliminating and greatly reducing the amount of non-traditional fats in my diet such as soybean oil, canola oil, corn oil, and safflower oil

Phew!  It is a lot of stuff, but it basically boils down eating traditional foods.  What my ancestors would have eaten between 150 to 150,000 years ago.  Now, I don’t follow it perfectly, but I think I do pretty awesome.  My food shopping habits have changed rather dramatically, as have my cooking habits.  This is a big change from even a year ago when I was getting all of my veggies from the CSA and eating mostly a whole foods diet.  It still wasn’t quite enough.  The few processed foods I ate back then were probably high in soy, and I wasn’t soaking grains or getting enough saturated fat.  I still had my unpleasant asthma symptoms.

Why would these things affect asthma?  Let’s break it down.

• Some studies show drinking raw milk is correlated with a lower incidence of asthma.  Of course, the article is quick to warn you that raw milk can be dangerous.  My answer to that is know your farmer and the condition the cows are kept in, as well as the cleanliness of the milking barn and milk storage area.  Also note that milk has vitamins A and D, both of which are important to the mucus membranes, and vitamin D in particular seems to help reduce asthma.  This could be due to how the muscles need vitamin D to function as well as the fact that vitamin D is a natural immune system boost.
• Cod Liver oil contains vitamins A and D, as discussed above.  It also contains a high amount of omega 3s, which are anti inflammatory.  And since inflamed airways causes many of the asthma symptoms, it makes sense that it would help.  By the way, milk from grass fed cows also contains a decent omega 3 to omega 6 ratio.  Don’t you love it when you are eating as nature intended and you find out how everything works together and has all the right nutrients for you?
• Grains, especially gluten containing grains, can cause an inflamitory response in many people.  By reducing the amount I eat, I’m reducing the possible inflammation in my airways.
• Soaking etc the grains before eating them helps release more of the minerals.  You can digest them and your body can use them.  Minerals play an important function in your lungs, so you want to be able to digest them and fully utilize them when you eat.
• Coconut oil is a saturated fat (along with butter fat found in dairy products).  Dr. Mary Enig says, “When it comes to our lungs, the very important phospholipid class called lung surfactant is a special phospholipid with 100 percent saturated fatty acids. It is called dipalmitoyl phosphatidylcholine and there are two saturated palmitic acid molecules attached to it.”
• The non-traditional fats I listed such as corn oil and canola oil are primarily polyunsaturated fats.  A study conducted in Australia found that, “a diet high in polyunsaturated fat, equating to margarine usually spread on bread and foods regularly fried in polyunsaturated vegetable oils more than doubled the risk [for asthma], accounting for up to 17 per cent of the cases studied.”  By the way, those oils are also high in omega 6 fatty acids which are sort of opposite to omega 3.  So if omega 3 reduces inflammation, omega 6 cause it.
• By the way, those non traditional fats are found in almost every processed food.  So are trans fats.  To revisit Dr. Mary Enig, she says, “When people consume a lot of partially hydrogenated fats and oils, the trans fatty acids are put into the phospholipids where the body normally wants to have saturated fatty acids and the lungs may not work effectively. Some research has suggested that trans fatty acids are causing asthma in children.”

So, there you have it.  Putting the proper foods in my body has completely gotten rid of my asthma symptoms.  6 months after starting eating this way in earnest, I rode my bike up a very steep hill and when I got to the top, I was a little winded, but I was NOT coughing or unable to have a conversation.  Before I adopted these eating principles, that was not the case.  I haven’t needed my rescue inhaler in months, nor have I taken the Advair in months.  I’m really pleased with how well I’m doing, and my doctor even said that he would like to see all of his patients make this kind of recovery.  Well, then what would he do for a job?

*Note that this is not medical advice, nor is this a cure.  This is simply what worked for me and why I believe it worked.  I recommend working with your doctor,  hopefully one open to eating traditional foods, as I did.

The Revolution Will Not Be Microwaved

I just read a great book called The Revolution Will Not Be Microwaved. It is by Sandor Katz – the author of Wild Fermentation. This post is part of Fight Back Fridays.  How appropriate!

This book is about food activism.  Some of it more radical than others, but virtually all of it taking place away from grocery stores stocked with cans and boxes full of food.  This book is about real food – whole ingredients, unadulterated ingredients, grown in a way that is traditional and sustainable.  Increasingly, eating outside of the industrialized food chain is becoming an act of defiance.

The Revolution Will Not Be Microwaved shows us how disconnected we are from our food and profiles several movements that in their own way are changing that and returning the connection between people and the food they eat.  And this book touched on everything.  From local foods vs packaged foods; the fight to save farmland and traditional hunting grounds; seed saving and GMOs; to raw foods such as unpasteurized fruit juice, almonds, and milk; the book covered it all.  It even dealt with issues of vegetarianism, people who butcher their own animals, and freegans.

Each topic was well researched and passionately discussed.  The author included many footnotes for each chapter, and each chapter ended with a list of books, periodicals, films, organizations and other resources.  That aspect is one of the best parts of the book and worth the price right there, if you are interested in any of the things he discussed.  There were also several recipes for each chapter.  I loved reading the recipes.  They were written in a highly narrative style, which made for entertaining reading even if you aren’t the type of person who reads cookbooks for fun!

Overall, the theme of the book was how these food movements are working to restore our eating habits to real food, in whatever form that takes.  A very noble cause indeed.  I can’t help feel alternately discouraged by how low we’ve sunk and energized by the work other pioneers have done.  I can’t help myself; I want to join them in whatever way I  can.

The great thing is, when I buy my produce from the farmer’s markets, CSAs, co-ops, and farm delivery services, I am fighting.  When I cook with whole ingredients instead of boxed ready-to-eat ingredients and help others do the same, I am fighting.  When you plant a garden and use non GMO seeds, you are fighting.  The small things do matter.  And there is more to be done if you can.

Get Involved

For more on food activism, visit this post from Agricultural Society I also recommend Food Renegade’s weekly Fight Back Fridays.  People share inspiring stories and recipes, all focused on real food.  For information on bill H.R. 2749 which is being promoted as a food safety bill, visit Natural Bias and learn about true food safety.  Write to your government representatives and let them know real food is important to you.  For information on NAIS and how it will harm small farms without even protecting the public, visit No NAIS.

Also by Sandor Katz:

Wild Fermentation: The Flavor, Nutrition, and Craft of Live-Culture Foods

]]> http://www.completelyedible.com/2009/07/the-revolution-will-not-be-microwaved/feed/ 4 http://www.completelyedible.com/2009/07/link-catch-up/ http://www.completelyedible.com/2009/07/link-catch-up/#comments Sun, 12 Jul 2009 15:25:52 +0000 Stacy http://www.completelyedible.com/?p=510

A field in Gettysburg

Yesterday morning, I got up a little late.  I considered not going to the farmer’s market since I still had some vegetables left over from the previous weekend.  But as I thought about it, I realized I could not go a week without quark, the creamy fresh cheese made from cultured buttermilk.  And so, I made the journey to the farmer’s market after all.  I ended up getting some sheep milk cheese, heavy cream, and berries in addition to the quark, so it was productive.   I’m preparing a post on quark.  It is something you can make at home, if you are so inclined.  In the meantime, here are a few links that I found interesting:  some local farms I love,  a coconut milk cooking contest, misconclusions drawn from studies, nutrient deficiencies,  supplies for preserving food, and why local food is awesome.  See below for all the links.

Valley Shepherd Creamery – This is where I got the sheep’s milk cheese from.    It was very tasty.  I don’t eat a lot of sheep’s milk cheese for some reason, sticking more with cow and goat.  But I should make regular stops at this farm’s stall to try the different sheep’s milk cheeses.  The sheep are grass fed, and they even offer some raw milk cheeses.  I see that they give farm tours, so I might try to go.  Their cheese can be purchased in the NYC/NJ area, but if you don’t live here, they do have an online store.

Hawthorn Valley Farm – I love this farm.  Someday I will figure out how I can go work there.  Grass fed cows, fermented foods, vegetables, they have it all.  If you are in the NY area, check them out.

Clean Your Plate – A cooking contest hosted by The Nourished Kitchen.  This month’s theme is coconut milk.  Submit your recipe by July 15th, or vote once she posts the entries!  Coconut milk is a wonderful ingredient, so this will be a great one to bookmark and make all of the recipes!

Warning: Bologna May Cause Cancer Headlines – There are a lot of studies out there that tell you eating meat is bad for you, fat is bad for you, etc.  Is that really true?  Here is a critical look at one such study.  Read it, and you will learn never to trust the headlines when someone tells you some new study shows X.  Instead, read into the study for more information.  How was the data collected?  What data did they look at, etc.  Here is another one debunking the Finnish Mental Hospital Trial.

ABC’s Big Meal Propaganda – A similar article, this one debunking a news report on ABC.  Here is a quick synopsis – A reporter eats 4 foods that are really bad for you – a deep fried appatizer, a hamburger, french fries, and one of those mega cookie ice cream desserts at popular restaurants.  Then a doctor gives her an exam and tells her how the food affected her, and she says how awful she feels after eating all that saturated fat.  What the report doesn’t tell you is all of the sugar and white flour in these foods.  That is what makes them so unhealthy!  Not the saturated fat.  Read the whole article the complete details.  Very interesting.  In general, that is what makes fast food unhealthy – the sugar (in the soda, in the bun) and the vegetable oils everything is fried in.  It isn’t the saturated fat that poses the biggest problem.

Supplies for Preserving Food – If you want to preserve your own food, here is some equipment you might want.  Look for them at garage sales. 

Are you Nutrient Starved? – I believe most of us aren’t getting enough proper nutrition.  Our lifestyle and diet just does not make it easy.  For example, vitamin D.  I work an office job and can’t go sunbathe for 30 minutes every day to get my requirement of sunlight for optimal vitamin D conversion.  And most people don’t eat enough dairy or eggs to make up for it.  The RDA only lists the bare minimum requirements of nutrients to prevent your body from getting deficiency related diseases, but less profound deficiencies can still affect you.  While I disagree with her assertion that answering “yes” to any of her list of symptoms means you have a deficiency, she still makes a good point that any of those things can mean you aren’t getting enough nutrients.  Here is another article on the RDA of vitamin D.

Why local food – A great post on why local food is so good for you and the community at large.

Healthy and unhealthy ingredients – What ingredients to avoid, and what you can substitute with.  A very helpful post for those of you just starting out on a more traditional, less processed foods way of life.

I think that is it for now.  That should keep you busy until I can regale you with tales of quark and lambs quarter.

Berry Breakfast

This post is part of Real Food Wednesday.  This breakfast just has 3 ingredients, all natural!

At the farmer’s market on July 4th, I purchased black raspberries and heavy cream.  Put them together and you have a wonderful breakfast!  It is also quite suitable for dessert.

It really couldn’t be more simple.  Take the organic, in season black raspberries, or any berry variety (raspberries, strawberries, blueberries, blackberries), pick through them and discard any ones that have gone bad, and put them in a bowl.  Pour heavy cream over the top and serve.  No sugar needed.  I rounded out the breakfast with 2 pieces of humanely raised, pastured pig bacon.  No nitrates.  (I also do variations with 2 pastured eggs instead of bacon, but that is a topic for another day!)

What makes this breakfast so good?  Let’s break it down.

No Sugar. Refined or even minimally refined sugar is one of the worst things you can eat.  I won’t tell you to never eat it because I’d be a hypocrite.  But sugar is not good for you, no matter what form you take it.  It leads to obesity and various metabolic disorders including diabetes as well as tooth decay.  I do try to limit how much sugar I eat, and I try to make sure it is a more natural kind of sugar, like honey, maple syrup, molasses, evaporated cane juice, etc so at least I can get a little bit of minerals or something with it.  Eating the berries and bacon for breakfast gets you started without the sugar.  A much better choice than a cereal with sugar.  Yes, even so-called “healthy” cereals frequently list a kind of sugar as the 2nd or 3rd ingredient.

Antioxidants – I don’t eat berries because they are good for me.  I eat them because they are delicious; that they are so healthy is a bonus!  One of the things they have is antioxidants and lots of them.  Blueberries and black raspberries are particularly good in this area.  Antioxidants help prevent the signs of aging and can help prevent against cancer and heart disease.

Vitamins – Vitamin K, vitamin E and vitamin C are all found in black raspberries in good amounts.  More vitamins and minerals are in them as well, but these three are particularly plentiful.   Cream has a lot of vitamin A and Calcium, and since cream is fat and those particular vitamins and minerals require fat to in order be metabolized by the body, you know that your body is processing that full amount of vitamins and minerals.

Protein – It is good to start out your day with some protein.  The protein in the cream and bacon combined is almost the same as a cup of skim milk.  Protein is needed for your body to help rebuild itself and it also helps fill you up better than carbs alone do.

Fat – We’ve all been trained fat is bad for you.  That isn’t really true.  Fat from traditional sources is very good for you and is necessary.  Natural sources include dairy and animals (such as cream and bacon) as well as coconut and olive oil.  Vegetable oils made from corn, canola, cottonseed, and soy, to name a few, are not traditional and should not be consumed.  Why is dairy fat so good for you?  Cream from grass fed cows contains CLA and Butyric Acid which help prevent cancer.  Grass fed cow milk also has a better ratio of omego 3s.  Our bodies run on fat as it is a preferred fuel source.  Did you know that our brain is about two-thirds fat?  The nervous system depends on fat.  Besides, it just tastes good!  This is why people love bacon and cream.  Fat is also great because it really fills you up.  It sends a message to your brain to stop being hungry.  Have you ever eaten breakfast of skim milk and cereal only to find yourself starving an hour later?  It has happened to me.  But not when you eat bacon or cream!  You don’t need a lot.  Just 2 slices of bacon and less than 1/2 of a cup of cream was enough to keep me well satiated for hours.

Now, here is where you forget all of that stuff – when I make breakfast, I don’t think about all of these things.  I don’t think about the RDA for vitamin D or how much calcium I’m getting.  I don’t think about antioxidants or other cancer fighting micronutrients.  I just think about a few simple things – Is the food from a traditional source and prepared in a traditional way?  Berries have been foraged for hundreds of thousands of years, I’d bet.  Cream has been around for about 10,000 years.  A short period of time in the grand scheme of thing, but enough time for my ancestors to develop the mutation to be able to drink milk into adulthood (lactose tolerance).  Pigs were also domesticated around 10,000 years ago, but I bet wild boars and related animals were hunted for tens of thousands of years before that.  Since those are the only 3 ingredients in this breakfast, I think that is pretty good.  I also think about taste.  Do these things taste good?  You betcha!  And finally, I think about will this fill me up and keep me full until my next meal or snack?  Fat and protein help keep me full, where carbs, especially refined carbs do the opposite.  I also think about my meals for the past 24 hours or so.  I try and make sure I eat plenty of vegetables and fruit, protein including animal protein found in meat and dairy, and fat from traditional sources.   I don’t count calories, carbs or RDA amounts, and yet, by following this basic outline, I’ve lost weight and maintained myself at my ideal weight.  I’ve been sick less and had improved energy.   I’ve also eaten the most delicious food.

Cobble Hill CSA Haul

I want the recipes I create and post to be recipes that can be made by anyone.  However, I realize that a lot of the ingredients I use might not be readily available.  I would recommend that you purchase them if you can.  I put them in the recipe because they are nutritionally superior or important to the taste/texture of the dish.   Many are available mail order (such as sprouted wheat flour and coconut oil).   Others can be found at organic specialty shops if you have one in your town.  But if your shipment hasn’t come in yet or you can’t get to an organic grocery store, here are some substitutions.

Ramps – Ramps are small bulbs and leaves of a plant in the onion family.  To me the taste is somewhere between a garlic and a leek.  Depending on if you want your food to be more garlic-y or more onion-y, you could substitute with a clove of garlic, a green onion, or a leek at about a 1:1 ratio.

Rapadura/Sucanat/Evaporated Cane Juice – These are just types of unrefined sugars.  Any one of them can be substituted for another.  You could also use “Sugar in the raw” or even regular white sugar.  I prefer not to use regular white sugar because of the extra refining that takes place.  The unrefined versions will have a slight molasses flavor, but other than that, there is really no difference for the recipe.  You can replace at a 1:1 ratio.

Fiddleheads - Fiidlehead ferms are highly seasonal and not available everywhere in the country, so don’t fret if you can’t find them.  Just replace with an equal amount of chopped asparagus.  The flavor and color is similar.  They even have a similar texture.

Stinging Nettles – Any green leafy vegetable such as kale, chard or spinach will achieve much of the same flavor and texture.

Sour Milk – You can only use sour milk if you buy raw milk and let it sour.  If you cannot or do not buy raw milk, you can substitute with an equal amount of buttermilk, plain yogurt, plain kefir (they sell it in some stores now – it is similar to a drinkable yogurt), or 1 cup of regular milk + 1 tablespoon of lemon juice or vinegar.

Sprouted Flour – I purchase this from the internet, so don’t worry if you can’t find it locally.  You can order it.  If you don’t have it, you can substitute for an equal amount of regular whole wheat flour.  You will not be receiving the superior nutrition of the sprouted grain, however.

Masa Harina - This is a traditional corn meal made by soaking the corn in an alkaline solution before grinding into flour.  This helps release more of the nutrients in corn to be bioavailable to you.  If you don’t have this, you can substitute for an equal amount of corn meal or corn flour.

Coconut Oil - This is an ingredient I would recommend you purchase, even if you don’t get anything else.  It has such wonderful health benefits and is so good to cook with since it can work even in high heat.  If you don’t have it, you can replace with butter.  However, you cannot cook butter on high heat like you can coconut oil.  You will either need to lower the heat or cook with ghee.

Ghee – many Asian grocery stores or organic/gourmet grocery stores will carry this.  It is clarified butter, so it can withstand higher temperatures.  If you know how to clarify your own butter (I do not) you can use that.  Otherwise, use butter (and keep the heat on medium) or use coconut oil.

Are there any other ingredients that I use that you don’t have? Let me know what other substitutions you need to know!

A quick thanks to Nourished Kitchen for featuring me a few days ago.  What a lovely surprise!  She also reviewed 6 other great real food blogs, so take a look at her post and add the rest of those great blogs to your reading list.

I have a couple of recipes queued up to share with you, but I wanted to write a review of the movie Food, Inc. I saw it this weekend and was impressed.  The movie is about the industrialization of our food supply.  It is a topic I’m quite passionate about, and the topic that lead me to create this blog.  I thought the movie did a great job of summing up many of the reasons I have chosen to remove myself from the industrial food chain. I even learned some new things! Though it won’t affect my own eating habits (because I’m already off the industrial food chain), it has made me more steadfast in my beliefs, and it is an excellent tool to open the minds of people who may not be aware of all of these issues.

The movie presented the following theses:

• Factory farming is bad for the animals, bad for the environment, and ultimately bad for us as well.
• Foodborne illnesses have not gotten any easier to prevent in this industrialized system, and in fact, the industrialization and centralization of our food supply has made it even easier to contaminate.
• Some food processing plants treat workers poorly and often exploit the poorest people or immigrants (legal or not) with unsafe working conditions, low wages, etc.  The food they produce costs less at the grocery store as a result.
• We spend less on food than we used to, but at the same time  health care costs have ballooned.  Instead of spending so little on food (and eating the worst quality food – junk food laden with high fructose corn syrup and/or trans fats for example) and spending so much on heart medications, diabetes medications, etc, we should eat properly in the first place to make those medications unnecessary.
• A lot of corn and soy are GMO – Genetically Engineered Organisms.  They are built to withstand spraying of pesticides and herbicides.  Farmers cannot save seeds and are forever beholden to the seed corporation.  GMOs are generally bad.
• Farm subsidies currently benefit large monoculture farms (farms that produce one product, such as soy or corn).  This is why soy and corn are ingredients in almost everything, and why the unhealthiest food is frequently the cheapest.

I’m sure there are a few points I’m forgetting.  But there was hope at the end of this seemingly bleak tunnel.  One of them was in the form of Joel Salatin of Polyface Farm – one of my personal heroes.  He described his farming methods that honor the animal;s biology.  Food produced this way is easier on the land, safer to eat, and healthier to boot.  He has a beautiful reason for respecting the animals biology that goes beyond the impact to the environment or nutritional value of the meat :

A society that views its plants and animals from that manipulative, egocentric, mechanistic mindset will soon come to view its citizens in the same way.  How we respect and honor the least of these is how we respect and honor the greatest of these.

The other was a case study of Stonyfield Farm, the yogurt company.  The (former) owner explained how consumers buying his yogurt propelled him to success.  The company was bought out by another multi-national yogurt company as a result.  Even the dairy buyer for Wal-Mart explained that if people demand a higher quality or different quality product, Wal-Mart will deliver.

All of the topics had excellent supporting material.  And in some cases, the audience was left to drawn their own conclusion.  For example, while large industrial slaughterhouses were shown, so was the slaughter of chickens on Polyface Farm.  Sure, there were gasps from the audience.  Killing an animal can’t be described as pleasant.  But it was done quickly and cleanly.  It was presented for anyone to make their own opinion.  Same with the piece on Stonyfield Farm.  Many people would say that it is just a part of the industrial food chain as Cheetos.  But it presented the organic industrial food chain in a way that let the audience decide of this was completely acceptable, just as bad as any non-organic major food corporation, or somewhere in the middle.

The movie left me feeling more empowered, more knowledgeable, and more passionate than ever before.  The movie is in limited release right now, but it will be made more broad as the month goes on.  Keep a watch out and see it when it comes out.  In the meantime, this passage from the companion book sums it up best.  This portion written by the aforementioned Joel Salatin:

Perhaps the most empowering concept in any paradigm-challenging movement is simply opting out.  The opt-out strategy can humble the mightiest forces because it declares to one and all, “You do not control me.”

Go plant a garden.  Join a CSA or visit your farmer’s market on a regular basis.  Read my blog (and many many more) for great recipes using real food.  Many even feature great real food on a budget.  Write to your local or federal government representatives to have them change the way we subsidize farms so that real food is more affordable.

If you want to read more about the film, I’ve linked to various interviews, reviews, and articles below.

• Official movie website
• Washington Post interview with the director
• NPR on Food, Inc
• The New York Times on Food, Inc.
• Serious Eats on Food, Inc.
• One of my favorite blogs, Food Renegade, discusses the film
• The blog Cheap Healthy Good reviews the movie – and their own eating habits
• Edible Aria with a link to an NPR radio interview with the director

This post is part of Real Food Wednesdays, hosted by the fabulous Cheeseslave.  Check out her post for links to many more posts about real food, including great recipes.

Hens on the farm

As much as I wish I did, I don’t live on a farm.  In fact most Americans don’t live on a farm and have become increasingly cut off from the food they consume.  Food comes in boxes or bags.  Meat comes deboned and deskinned.  Many cows are fed grain to fatten them up, and they live in crowded conditions.  Many chickens live their lives in windowless sheds.  They are packed beak to tail in this horrifying shed.  They never see the light of day.  And so on.  And because they are in so much emotional and physical stress from the unnatural diet and crowded conditions, they are more prone to infection, thus the standard feeding of antibiotics.  The products we buy from stores have gone through so much processing that they no longer resemble the food it comes from.  In fact, I’ve taken to calling much of the processed food you’ll find at a supermarket a Food Type Product.  It just doesn’t seem right to call something made with heavy machinery and chemicals food.  It makes me sick.  That stuff isn’t food.

I think we need to get that connection back to the farm.  We need to see vegetables growing in the garden.  We need to see cows out on pasture, and then connect that with the food we eat.  I also believe it is important so that we can know and approve of the conditions in which our food is made.  I want to make sure that the eggs I eat are from chickens who actually spend time foraging outdoors.  Partially because I believe that all animals have the right to be treated with some basic respect, but also because eggs that come from clean conditions, from hens who receive sunlight and are able to forage for bugs and grass and weeds in addition to chicken feed are so much healthier!

In my effort to get closer to the food I eat, I visited one of the farms that provides me with milk, milk, eggs and other homemade or farm grown products.  What I found was nothing short of delightful.

Milk cows on grass

The milk cows were munching on more than an acre of green grass.  They all looked happy and healthy doing what cows do best.  Milk that comes from grass fed cows contains more vitamins A, D and K as well as more omega 3s and a type of fat called CLA.  Vitamins A, D and K are important for bone health and immune system function in addition to other things.  Omega 3s help prevent inflammation, and CLA is an amazing fat, but not talked about much.  It has anti cancer and antioxidant properties.  I find it beautiful that when we treat animals as they are meant to be treated, they provide us with the nutrition we need in the right balances.

The Beef cows also seemed pretty happy munching on their own couple acres of gorgeous green grass.  The meat from grassfed cows also contains more omega 3s and CLA.  It is also a little leaner.  In addition, cows fed grass have the proper digestive track ph.  When cows are fed grain, the ph gets out of whack and nasty bugs, like e. coli which has caused so much sickness, can colonize and in turn, contaminate the meat.  With cows fed grass, what nature has designed them to eat, this does not happen.

The chickens raised for meat were out on pasture in these floorless pens.  I imagine they are similar to the ones Joel Salatin describes on his Polyface Farm.  They are open to the sun except a covered portion for shade or to get out of the rain.  The chickens get to peck at the grass and insects in addition to their feed.  They feel real earth beneath their feet and real sun on their back.  After a few days in any one location, the pens are moved to a new location on fresh grass.  These chickens looked like real chickens.  They didn’t grow too fast for their body to keep up.  They were healthy and able to run around in the pen, just like any natural chicken should.

The laying hens seemed about the happiest of them all.  I didn’t count how many there were, but they had a whole acre to themselves.  There were a few little sheds and converted houses for them to live in, and I saw some go in and out.  Mostly, I watched the hens out in the grass, foraging.  One would find a good spot and make some happy noises.  Each one has as much space to herself as she could possibly want.  Just like milk, pastured eggs contain more omega 3s and vitamins A and D.  You can tell by looking at the yolk – the yolk of a chicken allowed to forage for bugs and grass will be larger and a much deeper shade of orange.   Those hens were treated the way they were meant to be treated, and in return, they give us healthy, nourishing eggs.  What a beautiful relationship.

I also got a tour of the garden.  Rows and rows of rhubarb, broccoli, potatoes, lettuce, everything!  I learned when they planted, how they planted, and what organic tricks they use to discourage pests and weeds.

For lunch I was treated to an amazing meal of chicken, homemade pasta with a cream sauce, salad with ranch dressing, peas, corn, milk, and for dessert, rhubarb pie, cookies or ice cream.  All homemade!

Getting out to the farm was amazing.  I’m so glad I went and I plan on visiting as many of the farms I purchase from as possible.  When food and animals are treated with respect and honoring their biology, the way they were designed to live and eat, not only are we respecting them and giving them a good life, but the food they give to us will nourish us so much more than anything grown on an industrial scale.

I read quite a few blogs, and there were a lot of interesting posts waiting for me when I came back.  These are a few posts that I thought were full of good and interesting information I simply must pass on.

Sally Fallon Interviews on Hartke is Online! – I love Fallon’s books Nourishing Traditions and Eat Fat, Lose Fat.  I’ve cooked many of her recipes and had them all turn out, plus, she only uses whole foods and traditional ingredients.  She stresses the importance of traditional foods and especially traditional fats.  Give her a listen!

High Fructose Corn Syrup Warning on Hartke is Online! – As if I needed more reasons to get this stuff out of my food supply.  But just in case you or someone you know isn’t convinced, send them this link.

Big Corporations Dictate What We Eat at Agricultural Society – Title says it all.

Three Great Traditional Food Videos at  Nourished Kitchen – Videos on making Kombuchu and Fermented Vegetables, and Sally Fallon discusses diet and emotional health.

Fish at Whole Foods at The Slow Cook – If you eat fish (and it is a healthy choice to do so), we are often faced with the reality that what we are doing is not healthy for the planet.  Overfishing and poor fishing practices deplete ocean stock.  Here is a post listing some fish available at a local Whole Foods and if it is a good choice or poor choice.

Heartburn information from Natural Bias – A great article on heartburn.  What causes it, how to treat it, and how antacids and other pills for it are about the worse thing you should do.

Phew!  More later, but I hope this gives you something to read and think about as I get a post together about the farm I visited.  Also, tomorrow I will be seeing FOOD INC. I’m quite excited to see it and I’ll try and post a review.

Plus I made a versatile sauce using lovage that I’d love to share with you, and I’ll be trying to make chicken stock in the crockpot for the first time this weekend.  Lots going on, so stay tuned…

It would be devastating if those were lost to us forever, just as it would be if no future generations would be able to enjoy ramps or fiddleheads.

If you forage yourself, make sure to do so in a sustainable manner.  The article gives a few basic guidelines on how much of certain things you can safely take.  When harvesting ramps, for example, you take the entire plant, you must be sure to leave many more behind when you are finished foraging.  Fiddleheads can sustain more harvesting, but you still need to leave some behind for the plant.  Berries you can typically take a lot of.  I’m sure there are other books and websites that give more detailed information if you want to begin foraging for yourself.  There are also tours you can take with wildcrafters.  I’m sure many areas have these specialists, such as The Wild Man Steve Brill who offers tours in the New York and Connecticut areas.  His website also has great information about foraging, and he has written a few books as well.

If you purchase your wild crafted food from a vendor or farmer, talk to them.  Ask where it came from.  You don’t want something that was picked off the side of the freeway anyway, just for your own health!  After ascertaining it is safe for you, ask if it was safe for the plants.  Ask how many ramps they left behind, for example, and if this is an area many other people have access to.  Talk to them and see if they are knowledgeable about wildcrafting.  Hopefully if they are also farmers who use sustainable methods, they will apply that to wildcrafting as well.

Making Water Kefir

Everyone is talking about probiotics.  And with good reason!  Probiotics are good for us.  We depend on the beneficial microorganisms in our gut to help us digest food.  Popular name brand yogurt commercials tell us that yogurt helps regulate our digestive system and even is an important part of our immune system!  Healthy gut flora can prevent more dangerous strains of bacteria and viruses from multiplying and causing illness.  I’m sure you have all heard of yogurt as being probiotic.  Today I will discuss another one – water kefir.  Water kefir also serves other purposes – it contains vitamins and minerals, and since it tastes very similar to soda, it is a healthy way to satisfy your craving without all of the unhealthy ingredients of soda.

Water kefir is made by culturing water with water kefir grains – not grains like wheat or oats, but some sort of colony of beneficial bacteria and yeast that resemble small grains. There is also milk kefir (commonly just called kefir), which is made with similar grains put in milk.  I’ll discuss that at another time, but I wanted to mention them so you won’t be confused.

When you make water kefir, you get an effervescent drink that can be flavored with citrus, ginger, or vanilla, just like your favorite sodas. But instead of being full of sugar, high fructose corn syrup, and other nasty things, it is filled with probiotics. Soda that makes you healthier! The culture feeds off the sugar, so the resulting drink isn’t too sweet or sugary, and the process by which they do this creates carbonation. The benefits go beyond the probiotic benefits. The resulting drink is high in various minerals such as calcium and magnesium, B-vitamins and more.

The steps to make basic water kefir seem pretty easy:

1. Dissolve sugar into water.
2. Add kefir grains and whatever fruit for flavoring (certain fruits are typically used, others are best avoided. I will post more on this as I learn more and experiment more)
3. Let sit in room temperature for no more than 12-48 hours, depending on your preference.
4. Strain the grains, save your drink, and start again!

I’ve been trying to make water kefir unsuccessfully for a while, and I have finally learned a few tricks.  I’ve gotten quite a few delicious batches now!  I wanted to share with you my tips so you can learn from my mistakes as well as my successes.

• Don’t use filtered water. Water kefir grains like the little bits of minerals that are found in spring water and well water.
• Do make sure to use dechlorinated water. If your water is chlorinated (most municipal water), you can get rid of the chlorine with a few different methods:

1. Leave the water out in a bowl, uncovered overnight. Chlorine will evaporate. This is the best option if you have time.
2. If you need the water in a rush, you can boil it and then let it cool back down.
3. I’ve also been told that you can aerate it in a blender, though I’ve not tried this method.

• Heat the water up so that the sugar can fully dissolve in the water. Be sure to cool it back down to room temperature before adding the kefir grains.
• Do not use metal utensils. Use wooden spoons and a plastic strainer.
• Use evaporated cane juice crystals, rapadura, or sucanant. Or any similar less refined sugar. There are minerals in this unrefined sugar that the kefir grains need. Molasses may work, but I haven’t tried it. Regular refined sugar does not work well.
• Kefir grains can multiply.  Make sure you keep a ratio of 1/4 cup grains to 1 quart water to 1/4 cup sugar.

My process lately is to follow all of the above steps, let it sit out for 48 hours, then strain, add a few drops of either lemon juice or vanilla extract, bottle, and stick in the fridge.  When you add vanilla, you get a “Cream Soda” and when you add lemon juice you get something that tastes similar to a popular citrus flavored soda.  I can’t wait to experiment with more flavors!

If you think you’d like to give this a try, you need to acquire some water kefir grains.  I’ve ordered from Cultures for Health and have been very satisfied.  They also have a variety of other cultures you can order – milk kefir, yogurt, and sourdough to name a few.  You can also visit the Nourished Kitchen’s culture exchange to see if anyone is offering any grains.

Soda made from real foods, instead of overly processed, additive-laden beverages.  Sign me up!  This post is submitted to Real Food Wednesdays.