It's that time of year again - colds and flu

Last winter a high percentage of children's cold medicines were taken off the market or restricted for use only in older children. Here's an article on garlic which tells a few of the things I try when I or my children have a cold before I resort to cold medicines: "Garlic, Again". We also take some immune booster, which I make with this herb mix and vodka. I steep the herbs in the vodka for several weeks, strain it, then it's ready to go. For children, I add boiling water to evaporate the alcohol then add some raw honey. Add a little lemon juice to that mix for coughs. This is best when we can catch a virus right when it first starts to make itself known. The moment we start to feel like we're coming down with "something". After you've been sick already for a day or two it is not quite so effective.

And here's the best recipe for avoiding seasonal colds and flu:
1. No sugar
2. Raw milk
3. Cod liver oil

Based on my experience, this works. "No sugar" is easier said than done I know, but it's really worth the trouble if you can manage it. A little raw honey or pure maple syrup now and then doesn't seem to hurt, though. Best wishes for a healthful winter! And happy Thanksgiving to you and your family.

How I Came to Really Love Real Food, Part Five

One matter that has complicated things considerably has been my health. Following a miscarriage in the fall of 2005, I found that my health began to change in other ways as well. The first thing I noticed was a burning rash on my toes. It didn't itch, but it was uncomfortable and somewhat painful. I also noticed my hair falling out in bunches, and I was extremely cold all the time. In the winter particularly, I was also very easily fatigued, and often tired even right after having slept all night. It seemed strange to me that these things started happening rather suddenly. My family doctor ruled out a hypothyroid through blood tests, and sent me to a dermatologist who told me I had Raynaud's Syndrome. Later, I developed an extremely itchy, sensitive patch of skin on the palm of my right hand. Having been educating myself on health issues for a while by this time, and knowing myself better than any doctor, it was my opinion that I was beginning to slide towards an autoimmune type of dysfunction. This is the type of disease seen in patients with chronic fatigue syndrome, lupus, and fibromyalgia, for example.

At this point, I could have relied on the knowledge of my "regular" doctors. If I had done so, I would probably be taking a number of pharmaceutical drugs by now, and my health would not be any better. In fact, I believe it would be much worse. Not that drugs are entirely bad; however, many times they do nothing but mask symptoms. They do not get to the bottom of the problem that is causing the symptoms. They may bring temporary relief (which can be very valuable), but other than that, I believe their worth is debatable.

It took me a while to really research things and to try out various hypotheses as far as what might help my health to turn around. But the one thing I kept coming across in all of my research for chronic health problems of almost any kind was to dramatically decrease carbohydrate consumption, including eliminating all grains, and to increase intake of good fats like butter, cream, coconut oil, and fish oils. The more I studied, the more convinced I became that this was the answer for me. But it took me a while to get up the nerve to get started. I was chicken. The very idea of attempting to eliminate grains was intimidating. It sounded almost impossible. But I did it.

Beginning February first of last year (2007), I cut out all grains, including corn, wheat, rice, and oats. I also cut out potatoes and all sweeteners, including nutritive sweeteners like honey and maple syrup. The first few weeks it was extremely difficult. Extremely. After that it got much easier. I had a lot of homemade soup, which is what really got me through. It is extremely nourishing and filling. I have to clarify here that I do not believe this is a "normal" diet for people in good health. God made grains, potatoes, and honey. I think they are good for food. However, when our health becomes compromised, sometimes we have to narrow our diets in order to correct our bodies' balance.

It has been over a year since I made these changes. I have had breaks where I have had potatoes and ice cream for treats. But those have been brief "vacations". Overall, my carb intake has remained low for the last year. I had a small slice of cake last fall. The next day I was sick the whole day. That's how I found that my body is no longer able to tolerate wheat. I believe this is because of the damage previous diet and antibiotics had done to my digestive tract. You've probably noticed that the number of people with food sensitivities/allergies like this has skyrocketed in the recent past. Antibiotics can severely damage your digestive tract. Other drugs that also cause this type of damage are steroids, NSAIDS (Tylenol, for example), and birth control pills.

The difference this diet has made in my health has been amazing. My energy improved, the patch of eczema on the palm of my hand disappeared, my hair stopped falling out, and my body temperature increased. I am still easily chilled, but I think there is a possibility that this will improve as well with time. I am also still sensitive to wheat, but that is just a consequence I will probably have to live with for the rest of my life. It has also been helpful for me to take a number of whole food-based supplements (including iodine and organ extracts). So it hasn't been completely diet-only changes that I have made. But most of the improvement I feel has been as a result of the diet changes.

Next time, I will wrap things up and present a conclusion.

How I Came to Really Love Real Food: Part Four

I "met" two very important books that summer of 2005: Jordan Rubin's Maker's Diet, and Sally Fallon's (with Dr. Mary Enig) Nourishing Traditions. These two books have completely changed the way I see food. A bit overwhelming at first, these books contain so much good information, I still refer to them heavily, especially Nourishing Traditions. Nourishing Traditions was also my introduction to the Weston A. Price Foundation, an organization that encourages people to exclude modern processed food products from their diets and rely on the "old ways".

Through the Weston A. Price Foundation (WAPF), we have found a great pulling-together of dietary guidelines, old-ways lifestyle tips, and the busting of politically-correct nutritional myths. All of this in one package. I have heard people criticize WAPF because they do not accept all "scientific" studies as valid science. For me, there is no reason to trust these studies in the first place because they are so contradictory. For example, years ago the fats of choice were lard and other animal fats, butter, and tropical oils. Then "science" says no, these are bad. Switch to Crisco and margarine. Then a few years ago, "science" tells us no Crisco and margarine, switch to liquid vegetable oils (canola, corn, soybean, etc.). This is the kind of nutritional information we receive from "science". In a word: unreliable.

Here's what seems like a more reliable method of determining good nutrition information: find healthy people groups and see what they eat. And that is precisely what Weston Price did. He traveled the world looking for people with superb health, good physical structure (bones, teeth, etc.), and long life. He found a number of these native people groups and compared their diets and lifestyles. Here are just a few of the things he found:

The diets of healthy primitive and nonindustrialized peoples contain no refined or denatured foods such as refined sugar or corn syrup; white flour; canned foods; pasteurized, homogenized, skim or low-fat milk; refined or hydrogenated vegetable oils; protein powders; artificial vitamins or toxic additives and colorings.

All traditional cultures consume some sort of animal protein and fat from fish and other seafood; water and land fowl; land animals; eggs; milk and milk products; reptiles; and insects.

Primitive diets contain at least four times the calcium and other minerals and TEN times the fat soluble vitamins from animal fats (vitamin A, vitamin D and the Price Factor--now believed to be vitamin K2) as the average American diet.

In all traditional cultures, some animal products are eaten raw.

Primitive and traditional diets have a high food-enzyme content from raw dairy products, raw meat and fish; raw honey; tropical fruits; cold-pressed oils; wine and unpasteurized beer; and naturally preserved, lacto-fermented vegetables, fruits, beverages, meats and condiments.

Seeds, grains and nuts are soaked, sprouted, fermented or naturally leavened in order to neutralize naturally occurring antinutrients in these foods, such as phytic acid, enzyme inhibitors, tannins and complex carbohydrates.

Total fat content of traditional diets varies from 30% to 80% but only about 4% of calories come from polyunsaturated oils naturally occurring in grains, pulses, nuts, fish, animal fats and vegetables. The balance of fat calories is in the form of saturated and monounsaturated fatty acids.

Traditional diets contain nearly equal amounts of omega-6 and omega-3 essential fatty acids.

All primitive diets contain some salt.

Traditional cultures consume animal bones, usually in the form of gelatin-rich bone broths.

Traditional cultures make provisions for the health of future generations by providing special nutrient-rich foods for parents-to-be, pregnant women and growing children; by proper spacing of children; and by teaching the principles of right diet to the young.

source: http://www.westonaprice.org/basicnutrition/characteristics.html

We've made lots of little changes in the last three years. Just one at a time. It didn't take long before I realized we rarely got sick anymore. When we did get sick, it was usually following a holiday or birthday party (someplace where something sugary was the treat), and the illness was relatively mild. My husband's late-summer ragweed allergies became manageable without any medication, and our doctor visits very rare. It quickly became obvious that there was value in eating the old-fashioned way, and equally obvious that the types of food we were now interested in eating were not ones found at "normal" grocery stores. This was when we began our foray into farming as a way of obtaining high-quality food.

If you are suffering from any type of health issue, I would highly recommend reading The Maker's Diet, by Jordan Rubin. This book's information is well-organized for beginning readers of topics related to good health. I also highly recommend Nourishing Traditions, but I would definitely call this a more advanced text, and maybe not so "user-friendly" as the Maker's Diet. This is a book you have to "build up to".

Next time I will talk about complications such as auto-immune problems and other issues caused primarily by antibiotic usage.

How I Came to Really Love Real Food: Part Three

At this point, it might be good to talk about sources and how to know who to trust. My husband has been the one who's opinion I really value on all of these matters. So if I'm unsure of something I have read, I go to him. He did a lot of health research back in his 20's, and he has always seemed to have a sixth sense about whether some information was phony or not. And when he was unsure himself, he always referred back to the Bible. For example, artificially engineered fats. Like margarine. Can a man-made food "product" compare to the fats God made - especially butter? If God brought the Israelites to the land of "milk and honey", how can butter be bad? A lot of what I have learned has been a result of my faith in God and my faith in my husband. When I would bring up something new I had learned from the internet, we would talk together to work out whether it made sense or not.

I know not everyone has that same advantage of having a husband like mine, but having someone to talk things through with is very important. It helps to get your ideas out in the open so that someone else can shoot holes in your theories if they're not completely logical. (sidenote: It is also a good humility-building exercise. You talk about your idea, and someone else shoots it down! Fun!)

Another thing to remember when considering your sources is money. Can you trust organizations and companies that have a financial interest in the outcome of the research they fund? Personally, I find that the research results coming from pharmaceutical companies, food companies, the federal government, and even supposedly good community organizations like the American Cancer Society to be suspect. Those without a financial interest in the outcome are the ones most able to make a clear, logical assessment of study results. Unfortunately, those studies are rare, because who can pay for them? Most people have been led to believe that scientific studies are objective assessments of truth. However, as human beings, all scientific studies are biased in some way. Some more than others, but there is always an element of subjectivity in any study you might come across.

Another way to look at it is to think of the creation/evolution debate. People's views on this important topic depend upon their underlying presuppositions. If you don't believe there is a God, obviously any scientific proof for creation will not mean a thing to you. You will believe in evolution because of your presuppositions. It is similar in the world of health. People will mold just about any health-related study into something that matches what they already believe. Take a look at cholesterol for example. There is really not much evidence that keeping your cholesterol levels low means good health. In fact, in some instances higher cholesterol can actually be protective. But since the theory that high cholesterol = heart disease is so entrenched within the medical community, almost any study concerning cholesterol levels either is based on (possibly false) assumptions or it is twisted to fit the theory.

We must think things through for ourselves. Consider whether something is logical or not. Talk with others who have thought about this themselves. The important thing is not that you come out agreeing with everything I think. The important thing is to take responsibility for your own health and the health of your family and not delegate that important duty to people you really don't even know that well. Not that doctors and nurses are ill-intentioned. In fact, I don't really know anyone in the medical profession that doesn't want to help people. But their sources for information are many times biased, and a good percentage of their training is paid for by corporations and government organizations. It is my opinion that we can't always trust the information they give us.

Next time I will talk about two books (other than the Bible) that changed the way I think about food and the way I live.

How I Came to Really Love Real Food: Part Two

It didn't take long for dietary change number two to come into the picture. Faced with issues of infertility, and having the recent ability to access the internet for research purposes, I became aware of the side-effects of antibiotic usage in causing an infinite number of health problems by wiping out the "good" bacteria in our digestive tracts and allowing yeast and fungus to proliferate. This is when I first learned of the work of Doug Kauffman, who many people probably know from his television show "Know the Cause". His main point is that many if not most of the health issues people face today are a result of an imbalance of gut bacteria. The fungus gains an upper hand and begins to wreak havoc on any or all of the body's systems - digestive, circulatory, urinary, reproductive, neurological, etc. What does fungus feed on? Sugars. Once I learned this, I began to realize how dangerous sugar can be for a person. It can precipitate a huge number of physical and even mental/emotional ailments by feeding antibiotic-induced fungus. I knew right away that this was likely an issue for me since I took some serious broad-spectrum antibiotics as a young adult in an effort to get rid of acne.

I went sugar-free based on this new information, and eventually was able to have three great kids. After the first baby, though, I became a sugar-free backslider. I had what I wanted (a baby), so I really got careless with my diet. My downfall was chocolate. My motto was (still is!): any sugar without chocolate in it is a waste of sugar (ain't it the truth).

After several winters with children in the house, the one thing that became really discouraging to me was the numbers of colds and flu that we all experienced. There's almost nothing worse than being constantly sick between October and May. Around February 2005, I just started thinking this should not be normal. Certainly it's not normal.

This is what began my interest in internet health research. It didn't take long for me to discover the work of Dr. Mercola (link in the sidebar) and his internet articles and blog. I found out that there actually existed people with young children who didn't catch every single bug that was going around. Rarely did they ever get sick. And if they did get sick, it was minor. And it seemed the biggest contributing factor to sickness in general was sugar consumption. Well, I sort of knew that already, but things finally began to click for real. I found out all the other awful health effects of sugar, and the first real permanent change was made in our diets. We cut out refined sugar.

In all honesty, after three years of gradual diet changes, cutting out sugar was the most difficult thing we ever did. We started out very strictly, but decided it wasn't too big of a deal to have ice cream occasionally in the summer. We found it more advantageous to be especially strict in the winter, when viruses are at their worst. But the cravings you have when you first cut out sugar are incredibly strong. Especially if you are used to having it every single day. Fortunately, I found that using honey, maple syrup, and Rapadura or Sucanat (natural unrefined sugar) makes things taste just as good as refined sugar.

There were several changes we could have made to begin with on this "good health odyssey". I chose sugar because it seemed to be the greatest hurdle to me. I felt that good health would always be elusive so long as refined sugar was on the menu. There are many other good changes you could start with, but it seemed that once we cut out the sugar, I was able relax a little and enjoy the trip. While cutting out the sugar was a stressful thing for me, the rest has truly been a joy. You might think me crazy to think that, but it's true.

We still struggle from time to time with getting off-track (too much ice cream!). All we need to do is read this list again, and we remember how important it is to cut out white sugar all together. Many people would say that sugar is not that big of a deal, but I have found that for myself anyway, it is difficult to have something with sugar just once or twice a week. Once it gets to be habit, I have to have some every day. Better to avoid it altogether!

If you have ever been on antibiotics of any sort, chances are, cutting out sugar is probably one of the most beneficial (and difficult) things you could ever do.

In part three I will talk about how I determine what sources of health information to trust.

How I Came to Really Love Real Food: My Food Story (Part One)

It can be helpful sometimes to step back from life and gather your thoughts on various subjects. As you may have noticed, there have been big changes in our family over the last few years in the way we view food, diet, and health. Now I want to write about my "food story", with the hope it might be helpful for someone else thinking of beginning a similar journey.

Thinking back over the years before I became interested in nutrition and health issues in general, I never really considered the impact the foods I ate and the medicines I took had on my physical well-being. I just did what seemed "normal" to me, without much thinking whether or not "normal" was what was best. It is easier to do things that way, so naturally, that was my default mode. Now that I am still only approximately ten years past the "default mode", I certainly do not claim to be an expert on all things dietary. I am learning new things all the time and hope to remain a learner my entire life.

The first time I recall being confronted with a major dietary change came shortly after I got married. My husband was interested in the pies I enjoyed making, but he was not interested in the Crisco I used to make them. Could I make them without the Crisco. Maybe with butter in the crust? I figured any pie crust made with something other than Crisco was doomed to failure. But in an effort to humor him, I gave it a try. To my great surprise, it turned out great! The crust tasted like some kind of fancy French pastry. Go figure. Apparently, cooking with transfats (which is what Crisco is made of) was not necessary to enjoying good food. I still didn't know much about why transfats are dangerous, and I honestly didn't much care. All I knew was my husband wanted to avoid them, and it wasn't all that difficult to do that, so I gladly made the necessary changes. Real butter only, and read the labels on packaged foods - anything with hydrogenated oil of any sort got put back on the shelf. No problem.

Next time I will talk about our second big change - the biggest change of all: going sugar-free.

My Sentiments Exactly

No one has yet really decided that controversy about whether the hen or the egg came first. If it was the hen, there must surely have been a bleak period before the first eggs were laid. -Cooking with Mrs. Appleyard

That conveys my sentiments exactly. I think that eggs are pretty much the perfect food. About a month ago our chickens went from laying nine or ten eggs a day to one or two eggs a day. That didn't scare me, though. I had stockpiled my eggs because I knew this was coming. Hens will moult in the fall (they don't lay eggs while moulting) and laying also will significantly decrease due to the smaller amount of sunlight we get so close to the shortest day of the year. I had six or seven dozen eggs taking up space in my already crammed refrigerator. How long do you suppose it took for us to use up that stockpile with an input of only one or two eggs a day? Less than three weeks.

I told myself not to panic. I put eggs right up there on a pedestal along with breathable air and potable water. Air, water, eggs. Three substances necessary for life. So, you will all be relieved (but not as much as me) to know that our pullets (a.k.a. the teenage chickens) started laying this week! Now we are up to an input of six eggs a day, which is still a little low (especially considering they are quite small eggs), but I do believe we can scrape by on that. So, praise the Lord, and pass the salt and butter.

How To Get Skinny

I’m skinny now! Jumpers are my wardrobe staple, so believe it or not, I had no idea I was losing so much weight until I noticed my chores jeans were getting too loose and I went to try on some new ones at the oh-so-fashion-trendy local Tractor Supply Company (aka TSC). I had to keep going out in the store to find the next smaller size to try on until I finally got to the right size. We don’t have a scale here at home but I eventually discovered that I had lost 25 pounds. That doesn’t sound like very much to me, but I guess it made quite a difference.

People who diet to lose weight are probably thinking what a great problem it must be to be able to get skinny without even knowing it, so I will tell you how I did it.

First of all, as I mentioned earlier, I don’t have a scale. This is a psychological thing, I think. Just remember: a watched pot never boils. If you have a scale, you might try wrapping it up and putting it in the attic or basement or garage, or wherever you put your junk that you might use someday but you don’t want to give away.

Secondly, and this is the most important thing, realize that if you don’t feel comfortable with your weight, this is only a symptom of poor health. It’s more important to fix the underlying health problems than to be concerned with your weight. If you are a healthy individual, your weight will be just right. My weight loss came about as I worked on straightening out some health issues. While I was concerned with eating right in order to find optimal health, I also lost weight in the process. That was just a secondary benefit. I think that a focus on simply losing weight is misguided. When you initiate some sort of drastic weight loss diet that doesn’t take health into account, it’s easy to get discouraged with the results and you just go back to your old way of eating. Which is what got you where you were in the first place. Getting healthy is a long-term choice. It’s not something you do for a while and then stop once you’ve reached your goals. So, first things first: concentrate on good health - eat right, be active, and get plenty of sunshine.

Next, consider taking a few months off from grains: breads, rice, potatoes, oatmeal, other cereals, and sugar. I know this sounds impossible, but that’s what I did and I LIVED to tell about it! Doing this will help reset your metabolism as far as regulating insulin, and it will also help your gut to heal if you have fungal issues (most people do have fungal issues due to the widespread use of antibiotics). This is the part that makes you lose weight. But there is one caveat: don’t skimp on the fat! Coconut oil, butter, olive oil, and the fat from grass-fed animals are the best fats there are. Don’t make the mistake of thinking that a low-fat diet is good. Your body needs fat! Enjoy it! A low-carb diet won’t help much without plenty of good fat.

And lastly, remember that changing your habits to encourage good health will not result in a joyless life. I think sometimes we resist change for the better because we think that if we cannot eat Reese cups at least 5 times a week then our life will no longer be worth living. There will be nothing “fun” to look forward to. Let me just say: GET A LIFE! Ha ha. No, but seriously, folks, good health increases your capacity for joy. It increases your ability to fulfill God’s will for your life. And after adjusting your taste buds to healthful foods, you come to understand how delicious these foods are. This is not a concession to say this. I don’t just say it to talk people out of their Coca-cola. Really. Have you ever lost your sweet tooth and then discovered how sweet and delicious fresh home-grown vegetables can be? And as far as treats go: do you know how sweet raw honey is? Dates? Maple syrup?

So, what did I do after I lost all this weight? So glad you asked. I went on a shopping spree. I had to find some clothes that actually fit.

Hooray for Vitamin K!

I just read a great article on Vitamin K2! I can't help it that I am so enthusiastic about health articles like this. It just happens. It sounds like a lot of people in the U.S. are Vitamin K2 deficient. One reason is use of antibiotics. Our digestive tract can actually manufacture K2, but after taking antibiotics, your body loses the ability to make this important vitamin. The more antibiotics you take, the more Vitamin K2 deficiency. Also, some people are genetically prone to having low Vitamin K levels. Along with phosphotase (an enzyme in raw milk), K2 helps your body store calcium in the right places (bones), as opposed to the wrong places (arteries, soft tissues, organs, etc.). Anyone who has taken coumadin or has any kind of calcification issues should read this article: Vitamin K2 Controls Removal of Calcium from Arteries, by Dr. James Howenstine. Here's another good article on this topic. K2 is different from the Vitamin K you usually hear about that comes from leafy green vegetables. Some nutritional sources of Vitamin K2 are: gouda cheese, butter and other fats from grass-fed animals, natto, sauerkraut, and other lacto-fermented vegetables. There are also some recently developed K2 supplements. I think Dr. Mercola carries some in his on-line store, and apparently this Dr. Howenstine has a source for them. Another thing you can do to help K2 deficiency is to get your gut back into good shape if you've ever been on antibiotics (isn't that almost everyone?) - cut out sugar, cut back on grains, eat lots of (sugarless) yogurt and/or kefir, and take a good, high-quality probiotic. This is great information! Let me know if you have any questions. I enjoy finding out about this stuff!

Happy Birthday Beanie Jeanie

It's my daughter's birthday today. She was born four years ago today at the end of four hellish days of kidney stone pain for me. But hey, that's not important, who cares about that! It's HER day, not mine! After just four years of living, she has become a connoisseur of fine ponies. You probably didn't know that this is a picture of Rainbow Dash. See, you are just as ignorant on ponies as I am. I didn't know either until I just now looked it up on Google images. Happy birthday daughter! (note: of course she can't read this, but I will tell her about it.)

I also wanted to post a link to a milk article. "Scientists breed cows that give skimmed milk". This "progressive" feat is nutso. The article says scientists have found a cow that gives skimmed milk, then talks about the properties of its butter. Huh? What butter? Skimmed milk means no cream. Butter comes from cream, yes? Hopefully this won't "catch on". Milk comes with fat because you need the fat to properly utilize the natural vitamins A and D that are also (hopefully) in milk. So this new cow is actually a step backward in nutritional science.

I haven't posted much lately because I have been so busy. But I have been able to get some reading done while at my boys' ball practices. I've been reading Nina Planck and Wendell Berry. Both good authors. Maybe I'll write some more about them sometime in the future. In the meantime, pick up a copy of Planck's Real Food at your library. Great "food" for thought.

Milk Causes Brain Damage?

I just read an article called "Scientists point to link between dairy foods and dementia". Here's the general idea behind the article:

CALCIUM and vitamin D in dairy products may be contributing to brain damage and dementia in older men and women, new research suggests.

Scientists believe too much calcium can narrow blood vessels in the brain, leading to neural damage. The effect may be compounded by vitamin D, which regulates calcium retention and activity.

I just wanted to point out some big problems with this study: the vitamin D that is in store-bought milk is synthetic. It is not the same thing as the natural vitamin D we get from the sun and from raw milk. First of all, conventional milk from the store comes from raw milk that is low in vitamin D to begin with. This is becaues the cows do not get much sunshine, and they are fed grain rather than grass. Secondly, pasteurization destroys a good percentage of the vitamins that are there. This is why they have to fortify it with synthetic vitamin D. But synthetic vitamin D is NOT the same as natural vitamin D, it is actually quite different.

The reason that getting your calcium from store-bought milk is not a good idea is because pasteurization renders the enzyme phosphatase ineffective. In fact, one of the ways they test milk to see if it has been pasteurized is to see if there is any phosphatase left in it. No phosphatase: it's pasteurized. Some phosphatase: it's not yet pasteurized. This is important because your body needs phosphatase to utilize calcium correctly. Without it, the calcium from milk is not doing your body any good. In fact, that extra calcium floating through your body unused could become deposited in unfortunate places, and that can cause many different problems related to calcification, such as hardening of the arteries.

If the scientists recreated this research study using grass-fed raw milk rather than cooked milk, they would likely get entirely different results. My theory is that it is actually the synthetic vitamin D and a lack of phosphatase that can be linked to dementia.

Dangers of Genetically Modified Food

As a follow-up to this previous post, I'd like to write about the dangers of genetically modified food. This is important because nearly 1/3 of agricultural land in the United States is now being planted in gene-altered crops, and 70% of processed foods at your local grocery store have GM foods in them. And there are no requirements for these processed foods to be labeled as such. Likely everyone reading this has already consumed a fair amount of this kind of food. It is hard to avoid, even if you don't buy processed food. That's because it is also prevalent in any kind of restaurant food as well (particularly soy, corn, and canola).

Here are just a few reasons that GM foods are dangerous:

• They create "super-weeds" that cannot be controlled.
• The FDA assumes these foods are the same as the originals without even testing them; there have never been any studies on the effects of GM foods on humans.
• In animal testing, GM foods have caused numerous health problems, including lung damage, cancer, and death.
  
• GM foods have an inherently higher risk for children.

This is such a small sampling of the number of problems with GM anything. I didn't even mention rBGH (genetically modified hormone given to cows), terminator technology, the Star-Link corn fiasco, etc., ad nauseam. This information can be found easily over the internet. Dr. Mercola is an excellent trustworthy source for this kind of information if you find conflicting information and don't know who to trust. Naturally, any kind of information written by or paid for by any big seed/chemical/GM corporations is likely untrustworthy. This site has a list of 50 Harmful Effects of Genetically Modified Foods. I don't know anything about the rest of the site, but this page has some good information.

Next week I'll write about how you can avoid genetically modified food.

Unhappy Meals

I just read a great article by Michael Pollan called "Unhappy meals". He talks about how modern nutritionists have done us all a disservice by telling us that everything we need from food can be reduced to a small number of nutrients and vitamins (this is called "nutritionism"). Untrue. There are necessary components of real food that have not yet been "discovered", but that our bodies need. We cannot get them from fortified, refined food products. They only come in the form of real food. Here's a great quote from the article:

No one likes to admit that his or her best efforts at understanding and solving a problem have actually made the problem worse, but that's exactly what has happened in the case of nutritionism. Scientists operating with the best of intentions, using the best tools at their disposal, have taught us to look at food in a way that has diminished our pleasure in eating it while doing little or nothing to improve our health. Perhaps what we need now is a broader, less reductive view of what food is, one that is at once more ecological and cultural. What would happen, for example, if we were to start thinking about food as less of a thing and more of a relationship?

Although it is long, I highly recommend this article, but disagree with the author on the following points:

• He recommends a mostly vegetarian diet. I believe that at least most people need some meat in their diets, and some people need a fair amount of meat in their diet.
• The role of evolution in humans' ability to digest certain foods is debatable. I wouldn't follow that line of thought too far. How can we know for sure if people originally had the proper enzymes to digest milk? How could we possibly "evolve" to benefit from high fructose corn syrup?

He includes some great tips for eating well, including eating food your ancestors would recognize, avoid foods with any sort of "health claim" (New! Fortified with Omega 3's!), and get out of the supermarket as often as possible (as in, go to the farmer's market or grow some of your own). His advice is all good, and this guy is a great writer. I put his book on hold at the library (The Omnivore's Dilemma) some time ago, but apparently I'm not the only one who wants to read it. The New York Times Book Review editors chose it as one of the top ten books of 2006.

Salt

There are two kinds of salt: mined salt and sea salt.

Regular table salt is made from mined salt. Table salt has been refined at high temperatures and has several additives, including anti-caking agents and iodine. The high temperatures it is subjected to totally changes its chemical structure. Most processed/packaged foods are high in this refined salt, and it is really not good for you. If your doctor tells you to cut back on salt, then cut out all of this kind of salt.

Kosher salt can come from either mined or sea salt. It is called kosher salt because it is used to draw blood out of kosher meats. There are also not many (if any) additives in kosher salt. A lot of chefs like to use kosher salt because it distributes more evenly in food, is lighter (somewhat flaky), and gives a better flavor.

There are many different kinds of sea salts. I like sea salt because it is possible to have a good salt without a lot of processing, additives, and heat-refining. Here are a couple of good sea salts that we use at our house:

• Redmond Real Salt - This is a sea salt that has actually been mined (a little confusing, there, I know). It comes from Utah, which the makers of this salt claim used to be covered in salt water. Whatever. I don't know much about geology, but I do know that their salt is not bleached, dried at high heat, or polluted with additives.
• Celtic Sea Salt - This is an unrefined salt farmed on the coast of France. It is high in various trace minerals. The link is to a PDF file for a brochure for this company in which you can find the website and a toll-free phone number to call. They will send you a free sample if you ask nicely.
  

Most sea salts have natural iodine in them (unlike the unnatural iodine added to plain table salt), but if you decide to make the switch to sea salt and you have thyroid/goiter issues, you can always add some kelp to your diet to make up the difference. Real Salt and Celtic Sea Salt are also both certified kosher, but are not exactly the same as most kosher salt (not flaky).

Having a low-salt diet can actually be harmful to your health. If you like to salt your food, I think you can do it without ill effects if you simply choose your salt wisely. Dr. Mercola has some good articles on his site. He recommends some sort of Himalayan salt, which I am sure is also very good. If your doctor tells you to cut back on salt due to high blood pressure or whatever, I would definitely do some independent research. Here's a good place to start.

It is true that sea salt is more expensive than table salt, but if you think about how much salt you go through, say in a month, you know that the extra expense will not be that much.

Organic Produce

Now that regular grocery stores are carrying more organic products, you might be wondering what produce is the best to buy if you can only get a few organic items. Buying organically can be more expensive than buying conventionally grown produce, so here's a list of conventionally grown produce that have been found to have high pesticide levels:

Fruit

1. Peaches
2. Apples
3. Strawberries
4. Nectarines
5. Pears
6. Cherries
7. Red Raspberries
8. Imported Grapes

Vegetables

1. Spinach
2. Bell Peppers
3. Celery
4. Potatoes
5. Hot Peppers

So these are the items you will want to buy organically if at all possible. And here's a list of items that have been tested to be fairly low in pesticide levels:

Fruits

1. Pineapples
2. Plantains
3. Mangoes
4. Bananas
5. Watermelon
6. Plums
7. Kiwi Fruit
8. Blueberries
9. Papaya
10. Grapefruit
11. Avocado

Vegetables

1. Cauliflower
2. Brussels Sprouts
3. Asparagus
4. Radishes
5. Broccoli
6. Onions
7. Okra
8. Cabbage
9. Eggplant

It's best to always buy organic and/or local produce. But when that's not possible, these are the items that will be your best bet.

HT: Dr. Mercola

The Organic Myth

For anyone following the organics industry, there's an interesting article in the most recent Business Week magazine, called "The Organic Myth". Many good points were made in this article, although the author doesn't really stop to explain why small and local is better than huge and distant when it comes to growing food on the farm. I'm still processing the whole "local is better" thing myself, but I do think it is better, and one of these days, I'll explain why on my blog. But I'm still mulling things over...

Ode to Cod Liver Oil

I wanted to compose a little poem to sing the praises of cod liver oil in this post, but as it is inching towards midnight it will just have to be in prose. It couldn't be too hard to come up with something. It would probably have rhymes like "true - flu" and "sold - cold". I'll let you know if I come up with something, maybe in the morning whilst I'm doing my chores (by the way, when I say chores, it is always with a hillbilly accent, as for some reason I find the word chores to be hilarious). Anyway, the purpose of this post, as I mentioned earlier, is to sing the praises of cod liver oil.

You may be thinking right about now that you wouldn't touch cod liver oil with a ten foot pole because everyone knows it tastes awful and doesn't do a bit of good. But AH HAH! You would be wrong. Personally, I credit cod liver oil for getting us through the winter last year with a minimal number of colds and flus. We still got sick occasionally, but nothing even remotely close to what it was like the year before. And when we did get sick, it was very mild.

This is because of three things in the cod liver oil: omega 3 essential fatty acids, vitamin D, and vitamin A. Regarding the avoidance of viruses, the vitamin D is the most important. It's also called the "sunshine vitamin". This is why people tend to get sick more often in the winter - less sun exposure. It's also (partially) why some people are more prone to the winter blahs.

Our whole family takes cod liver oil now, even the kids. Believe it or not, they line up to take theirs. I can't say that it tastes great, but it's not awful either. It's more...neutral in taste. In the old days, it used to taste like, well, cod liver oil. Now you can get flavored oil (lemon, mint, cinnamon, etc.). It's actually not bad.

It's important to get cod liver oil that has been verified toxin-free. It is possible that some of the cheaper cod liver oil could be contaminated with mercury. Also, some brands have more vitamin D than others. You might want to compare the amounts if you're looking to buy some.

Cod liver oil also has health benefits other than avoiding colds. It helps with: arthritis, attention deficit, heart disease, high cholesterol, cancer, depression, Alzheimer's, diabetes, and more.

So I say: Praise the Lord for cod liver oil.