Horton Hears a Who July 14, 2008

I want to share with you a wonderful comment I received from a reader, Craig, when I posted a while back on “Real French Fries” (French fries made with real grass-fed beef tallow).

Few people go back and read the comments — and I don’t blame you — life is busy! But this comment is so eloquent and so inspiring — it deserves to be read.

(Thanks, Craig!)

“I loved the taste of the “old” McDonalds fries, I think that was what they were really famous for. Never liked the vegetable oil substitute.

Sounds like you read the book “Real Food”. You have made correct assumptions about the history of saturated fats vs vegetable oils. Why change the way that people have been eating for thousands of years, to listen to a bunch of lined pockets tell us that our ancestors didn’t have a clue?

I wish there was a way to get the word out to the average joe about CAFOs, grass fed farming, raw products, the truth about organics in this country, saturated fat, processed foods, the true costs this country pays for what is sold as “groceries”, the farm bill and who really benefits (can you say Cargill etc…), the unhealthy information and practices put into place and supported by Congress and the FDA. Every citizen should be outraged at what has been forced onto the American people.

Our politicians fake their sympathy for the cost of health care, “food” and the price of gas, yet over 70% of all the costs of health care are related to industrial food sources, regulations and restrictions have forced local farmers out of business and dried up support for them in favor of industrial agricultural companies (same ones mentioned above, who now have the power and money to lobby for anything that they want), and 50% of the gasoline used in this country is used for fertilizing, growing and transporting industrial food (what’s wrong with locally grown food?). Doesn’t sound like our government has the American people’s interests in mind.

We need to have our voices heard!!!”

Thanks, Craig, for taking the time to post. It’s voices like yours we all need to hear.

Summer Fruit Pies July 8, 2008

“When you die, if you get a choice between going to regular heaven or pie heaven, choose pie heaven. It might be a trick, but if it’s not, mmmmmmmm, boy.” — Jack Handy

We had a few people over for a BBQ on Saturday, to celebrate my 40th birthday. My friend Steven came over on Friday to help me make some pies and cobblers.

This is what a good pie crust should look like. See those hunks of butter? That is what ensures a flaky crust.

The trick to a good pie crust is this: You don’t want to handle your pie crust too much and overincorporate your fats. Also, start with very cold (frozen even) fat. You don’t want it to melt while you are working the dough. The more the fats stay together, the more air pockets you will create — which creates the flakiness.

This pie crust is made with 1/2 cup of lard (Steven rendered it at home and brought it over) and 1 cup of butter (KerryGold Irish butter — from grass-fed cows). The only other ingredients are unbleached white flour, cold filtered water, a little salt and a little stevia.

It is essentially the recipe from Jeffrey Steingarten’s The Man Who Ate Everything. (Except I used stevia instead of sugar.) This is the recipe I have followed for years, and it comes out perfect — I mean perfect — every time. The first time you read the recipe, it is a little intimidating. It’s like 9 pages long! But once you learn how to do it, you will never use any other method.

We also brushed a little milk and egg yolk onto the tops of the pies to give them that nice golden brown tan.

Here’s the blueberry pie before we baked it:

And here’s the apple pie prior to baking:

Here’s the apple pie:

And here’s the apple cobbler:

Cobblers originated on the American frontier — when they were in the stage coaches traveling west — they could not roll out the pie dough so they had to be creative.

We used organic blueberries and organic Pink Lady apples (I prefer tart green Granny Smiths but I could not find any).

We used rapadura instead of sugar. For the apple pie, I added a little orange-flavored Armagnac that I smuggled back from my last trip to Paris. I did not add any cinnamon or nutmeg - just a little vanilla extract.

Here’s the blueberry pie out of the oven:

The blueberry pie was quite possibly the best pie I have ever tasted. I know, I’m being immodest. But it was!

We also made a cherry cobbler. Here it is before we baked it:

We used organic cherries, and rapadura instead of sugar. Plus some corn starch, a little lemon and vanilla extract. And a pinch of salt.

I didn’t make enough dough so this one’s a little short. But people ate it anyway.

It was really good with the rapadura. Not too sweet. You could really taste the fruit and it was not overpowered by sugar.

We also made raw homemade ice cream to go with the pies — made from Organic Pastures raw cream (from grass-fed cows), egg yolks, maple syrup, and vanilla extract. Because how can you eat pie without ice cream?

Here’s Seth feeding Kate ice cream at the party:

Baked Beans for Dinner July 6, 2008

Kate’s dinner: Leftover baked beans mixed with some organic grass-fed beef and beef liver.

I modifed the Nourishing Traditions baked beans recipe. I soaked the beans for 48 hours (just because I was busy and didn’t have time to make them sooner). I used chicken fat instead of butter and olive oil — just because that’s what I had on hand. Instead of water, I used homemade chicken stock to make the beans more nutrient dense. And I added ham hocks for extra flavor and nutrition.

She would have loved some sauerkraut with this dish — but I’m fresh out. I have a couple of quarts fermenting in the cupboard. I need to make more pickles soon, too. Kate loves pickles.

Three Meals for Baby Kate July 2, 2008

Some of you have expressed an interest in what I feed Kate — so I thought I’d document some recent meals.

1. Breakfast:

Two pastured eggs scrambled in butter, with raw organic grass-fed beef liver (frozen and grated) and sea salt. Plus organic cantaloupe and blueberries.

Since then, I’ve stopped giving her raw berries and other fruits with a lot of pectin. She always has runny stools when she eats them. I don’t think they are good for an immature digestive system.

2. Yesterday’s dinner:

Pastured, organic chicken livers sauteed in raw butter, with sea salt.

Organic peaches sauteed in raw butter (yum — tasted just like pie).

Homemade lacto-fermented sauerkraut (she absolutely loves this).

She’s waving and saying “Hi!” in this picture.

3. Dinner tonight — a “baby salad”:

Pastured chicken livers and organic strawberries and purslane.

I sauteed everything in raw butter (babies need a lot of fat!). Garnished with a little creme fraiche.

Here she is fingerpainting with her food:

Food Choices: Local vs. Nutrition vs. Cost June 8, 2008

I’ve been thinking about this question a lot lately. How do you choose the best food to buy when weighing local vs. nutrition vs. cost?

There are a lot of people these days who are trying to eat a local diet. Local means eating food that was produced within 100 miles of your home.

There are online challenges that people track on their blogs. There’s the One Local Summer Challenge going on right now. And there’s people eating a hyperlocal diet, as in the 100 Foot Diet (which is where you try to only eat foods that you have grown yourself).

I think the local food (locavore) movement is wonderful. Food in America is transported, on average, 1500 miles from farm to fork. That’s just crazy! Just think of all the oil it takes for one meal!

I also think it’s important to try to eat food in season as much as possible. It’s always better to enjoy cherries in the summertime and pumpkins in the fall. Not only are they tastier when they are in season, but to me there is something special — even sacred — about it: a bowl full of cherries on the kitchen counter on a hot summer day and a pumpkin pie at Thanksgiving. Who would want to eat a pumpkin pie in the middle of July?

That said, I think you can get a little extreme with all of these blog challenges and lose focus on what is really important. I’m focused on rebuilding our health right now, and making sure Kate is as healthy as she can be. This is why I chose not to do One Local Summer.

One Local Summer would be easy for me to do. The rules are just to eat one meal per week with all local ingredients (excluding spices). One dinner a week? That would be no problem for me.

We get all our beef, pork, poultry, and eggs from local farmers within 100 miles from our house. Our honey and most of our vegetables and fruits are also local.

But our olive oil comes from Adam’s Ranch — 150 miles away. And most of our dairy (milk, butter, cream and cheese) comes from Organic Pastures — 200 miles away.

And there are many supplements we are taking that are shipped from all over. Who knows where they are produced. We take cod liver oil and probiotics and dessicated adrenal gland, among other things. I also buy various ingredients via mail order for Kate’s homemade baby formula (lactose powder, powdered gelatin, nutritional yeast, coconut oil, etc.)

I’ve been drinking Dandy Blend lately. So instead of coffee from Mexico or Costa Rica, the Dandy Blend comes from Ohio. I suppose I could make my own Dandy Blend, once my dandelion seedlings get big enough — but that won’t be for months.

I also regularly order liverwurst and hot dogs from US Wellness Meats (the local grass fed beef farmers do not carry these items).

I’m choosing not to do One Local Summer because that’s not really my focus. My focus is nutrition and health for my family. And I don’t want to lose focus.

I agree that is important to try to eat locally as much as you can. But at the same time, I don’t believe in making sacrifices at the expense of nutrition. Of course if money is tight, you have to do the best you can. But, for example, I would never buy local milk that was pasteurized when I can get raw milk from grass-fed animals that is farther away. And I only buy wine made from organic grapes now — and it’s not local.

I would also never buy pasteurized milk because it’s cheaper. Raw dairy products are so vital for health. I would buy raw milk even if I had to pay $20/gallon and have it shipped from the other side of the country.

That said, it is important to save money where I can so I can spend more money on other things. So, while I do buy raw butter from Organic Pastures, I also buy Kerrygold butter (sold at Trader Joe’s and Whole Foods). Yeah, it comes from Ireland and that’s pretty far away. And it is pasteurized. But it’s cultured and it comes from grass-fed cows. And it’s a hell of a lot cheaper than the Organic Pastures raw butter. My compromise: I use the Kerry Gold for baking. For light sauteeing and spreading on toast, I eat the raw butter.

I’m also looking into joining Azure Standard, an organic food co-op. Not local, but the prices are very, very good. For me, it’s worth it to save money where I can so I can spend more money on things like raw milk and cream and butter.

It’s really hard when you’re weighing all of these things. Local vs. nutritious vs. inexpensive. I guess it just depends on what your priorities are. My number one priority is health for my family. Especially because Kate is a growing girl — she needs the best quality most nutrient dense foods I can give her.

I want to give her the best start I possibly can — especially because when she gets older, I’ll have a lot less influence on what she eats. Which means the time to build up those nutritional stores is now.

When you are feeding a child, the responsibility is awesome. Especially today. Fifty years ago, our food supply was a lot less contaminated (with genetically engineered foods, trans fats, pesticides, hormones, antibiotics, etc.) Up until the 1980s, McDonald’s was still using healthy fats (beef tallow instead of rancid vegetable and soybean oil like they use today). Fifty years ago, childhood autism, diabetes and allergies were rare. Today they are commonplace.

It’s not enough just to avoid those bad foods. Because physical degeneration due to malnutrition happens slowly over time — over generations. These days, I believe you have to do all you can to get healthy foods into your children — and you have to supplement.

Is it a coincidence that by the time I was 26, I had osteo-arthritis? I remember my mom’s reaction when I told her, “You’re too young to have arthritis!” It is no coincidence. Each generation is becoming weaker and more sickly on this fake and processed food.

Margarine instead of real butter, pasteurized milk instead of real raw milk, grain-fed beef and soy-fed chickens, high-fructose corn syrup or white sugar instead of honey or maple syrup, white flour instead of whole grains, genetically modified corn and soybeans in almost all processed foods, etc. etc. Just because you’re eating organic and/or local, doesn’t mean the cows ate grass or the chickens weren’t fed soy or the milk wasn’t boiled (which destroys all the enzymes and probiotics and many of the nutrients).

Seth and I are both recovering from 40 years of eating a SAD (standard American diet). We want to be healthy as long as humanly possible — so we can be around for our grandchildren!

If I have to choose between cost and location, the second priority is a tough call. But I’d have to say it’s cost. And not because I try to save money by buying cheap food. I don’t. But I do save where I can so I have more money to buy better quality.

Again, it comes back to nutrition. Kate’s over a year old now and I’m still feeding her homemade baby formula made with raw milk, raw cream, coconut oil, etc. I will continue to do so for quite some time. I wish I could breastfeed but I can’t (probably due to my own health challenges from eating SAD for so long). So this is the next best thing. And it’s not cheap. Nor is it local.

I also need to rebuild my nutritional stores for the next baby. So expensive superfoods and supplements are a must for me. And a must for Seth, with his health challenges past and present, also needs these as well.

I will always choose local over foods from a distance — but only if the nutritional quality is equal. With two exceptions: I will buy foods that come from far away if (a) we need them for our health (like coconut oil and cod liver oil) or (b) they are cheaper and allow me to buy other quality foods (like Kerry Gold butter for baking). If I save some money by buying KerryGold or buying in bulk from Azure Standard, that means I have more money for supplements.

Fast Food Nation June 2, 2008

“This isn’t about good people versus bad people. It’s about the machine that’s taken over this country. It’s like something out of science fiction. The land, the cattle, human beings. This machine don’t give a shit. Pennies a pound, pennies a pound. That’s all it cares about. A few more pennies a pound.”

“By the way, Don, you seem like a nice fella. But the food your company sells is crap. Total crap. Even when there isn’t manure in it.” — Fast Food Nation

I’m watching Fast Food Nation. I haven’t read the book yet — it’s on my shelf in the stack of To Be Read.

If you are still eating industrial meat, please watch this movie. It will take two hours of your time. I guarantee it will change your mind about eating meat from factory farms.

My only criticism of this movie (other than being a little too Hollywood for my taste) is that it doesn’t go far enough in showing the truth.

It’s not easy to switch to grass-fed meat. I go out of my way to get it. I only buy meat at the farmer’s market, or at my local organic buying club (Rawesome), or online. Only from farmers I trust.

I have bought meat at Whole Foods — but I don’t buy the chicken or the beef anymore because I don’t think it’s that good. The chicken they sell at Whole Foods, while it’s free-range, it’s still not good. They snip the birds’ beaks, they keep them indoors and they don’t get any sunlight. They feed them soy.

I feel much more comfortable buying meat from farmers I trust.

I will still buy some fish at Whole Foods (pole-caught canned tuna and frozen wild salmon, wild whole Thai snapper), and I do buy Applegate Farms turkey (only because Seth requires it).

Whole Foods is fine. For some things. I’m grateful for them — grateful that they have so many organic foods. But most of those organic foods come from great distances — which I do not like. I’d rather go to my local farmer’s market and get foods that are local and in season.

And just because something is “organic” does not mean it’s properly raised or responsibly produced. Just because the beef is organic, does not mean it’s good. If the animals are grain-fed — if they are not on pasture — it’s no good.

Stop the Insanity! March 8, 2008

It is insane to knowingly ingest poison. And yet, this has become normal in our world.

People think I am insane because I want to grow all my own organic vegetables from seed. The man at the gardening store yesterday thought I had snapped my cap.

“Why do you want to go to so much trouble?” he asked. “How will you have the time with a baby?”

“It doesn’t take that much time,” I said, smiling.

I wanted to tell him all about how Monsanto bought Seminis and how the plants and seeds we buy are now contaminated and genetically engineered and how seed saving and sharing is a political act — but eh, I figured we didn’t have all day.

Then this morning I read this story about a cat named Raisin.

A cat who used to spend his days cavorting outdoors in the Sonoma vineyards. A cat who almost died from the pesticides they sprayed on the grapes.

It is insane that we live in a world where a cat isn’t safe to go outside. A world where mother’s breast milk is contaminated with DDT. A world where babies and toddlers are so poisoned from their own mother’s milk that they lose the ability to speak or make eye contact.

Humans can be exposed to DDT and its metabolites in several ways. The principle route of exposure is the consumption of foods, particularly through leafy and root vegetables, fatty meat, fish, and poultry.[1] The levels of chemicals absorbed in food usually reflect the contamination present in the country of production. Although DDT contamination can occur in a variety of food products, the most serious contamination usually occurs in fish and other organisms high on the food chain that themselves have bioaccumulated DDT. Other less common routes of exposure that are considered minor are breathing contaminated air or drinking contaminated water, especially near waste sites and landfills or in recently treated homes; and breathing or swallowing dust or soil particles near waste sites and landfills or in recently treated homes.[1]

DDT’s elimination from the body can take some time; its half-life in humans has been estimated at four years. DDE’s half-life is estimated at approximately six years.[3] Because of these varying breakdown rates, the proportion of DDT and DDE detected in human tissues can be used as an indication of the length of time since exposure. In areas where DDT exposure has been recent, the DDE/DDT ratio is low, while in areas where substantial time since exposure has passed, the DDE/DDT value is higher. Because DDE is attracted to fat, levels in breast milk are often six to seven times higher in a mother’s milk than in her blood.[4]

Source

I buy all organic everything these days. Organic coffee, organic ketchup, organic personal care products (deodorant, soap, lotions, bath products). I’ve been trying to buy all organic wine (it’s not so easy). I get the organic stuff at Whole Foods — but sometimes I’m lazy and grab non-organic wines from Trader Joe’s.

But after this news about poor little Raisin, I’m stepping up that commitment. No more wine that has been sprayed. If I buy wine that has been sprayed, I am partly responsible for cats like Raisin who can’t go outside anymore.

Remember, if you are not part of the solution, you are part of the problem.

Stop using pesticides and herbicides on your lawn and your garden.

Stop buying vegetables and fruit sprayed with pesticides.

Stop buying meat and dairy made from animals given feed that was sprayed with pesticides.

Stop saying organic food is too expensive. Your health and the health of our planet is worth more than anything. Cut back on other things so you can buy organic.

Stop shopping at Wal-Mart or Safeway and go to your local farmer’s market.

I switched to all organic last year. Got a CSA subscription with a local organic farm (found ‘em on Local Harvest). Started buying my meat from Lindner’s Bison and Rawesome and North Star Bison and I also get some organic meats from Whole Foods. I buy all my eggs and chickens from Rawesome — they get it from a local farm where the chickens and turkeys are on pasture and are fed organic feed (and no soy). I buy all my milk and dairy products from Organic Pastures — their cows eat grass, not genetically modified pesticide-laden feed (what a concept!).

You can do it, too.

Here are some links where you can find local organic food:

http://www.localharvest.com

http://www.eatwild.com

http://www.realmilk.com/where.html

I recently found out about an organic food co-op called Azure Standard. Email them to see how you can start a co-op in your neighborhood.

If everyone stopped buying foods that have been contaminated by pesticides, they would stop doing it!

If not everyone did it, but more people stopped buying them, the price of organic food would drop.

So step up. Make the commitment. Stop buying contaminated food. And stop buying these chemicals to use on your lawn and garden.

You could be saving a cat’s life.

PS: To those of you who blog, please link to the story about Raisin on your blog. If you don’t blog, email it to your friends and family. Let’s get the word out about why it is so important to eat organic and stop supporting people and companies who use these deadly chemicals.

Snoring, Dentists, and Waldorf Schools February 11, 2008

We went to the dentist this morning. It was Seth’s appointment but Kate and I went along to meet him.

He is a WAPF (Weston A. Price Foundation) dentist. His name is Dr. Silkman and he wrote this fascinating article.

He had a shelf displaying herbal toothpastes and mouthwashes and cod liver oil for sale. And there was a copy of “Nourishing Traditions” on the bookshelf in the waiting room.

Seth and I are going to have all our metal fillings and crowns replaced. Dr. Silkman is also going to fit Seth for an “adjuster” to help with his snoring. Dr. Silkman believes that a narrow palette and high arch is what causes snoring, due to the fact that you can’t get enough air. So if you wear a special “adjuster” you get the air you need and you don’t snore.

Weston Price found that native peoples who ate nutrient-dense diets (grass-fed meat and dairy, seafood, whole grains, fermented foods) had very wide palettes and properly developed skeletal structure. He found that when they started eating “modern” foods like refined white flour and sugar, their palettes and faces became more narrow. (The women also had more narrow hips, and the men had more narrow shoulders.)

Hence, the cod liver oil in Dr. Silkman’s office. Not only does cod liver oil and nutrient dense diets help prevent cavities, it also promotes healthy development of skeletal structure. Proper skeletal structure prevents all kinds of problems, including snoring, sleep apnea, deviated septums, etc.

See Dr. Silkman’s article to read more.

After the appointment, I came home and put some turkey necks in the crock pot for turkey stock, took the dandelion out of the dehydrator (going to use it to make tea), and took the baby food out of the ice cube trays in the freezer and put them in ziploc bags.

Yensi and I made baby food this weekend. We froze lots of organic fruits and some vegetables (everything was stewed or boiled except for the mango, per WAPF guidelines):

Blueberries
Raspberries
Cherries
Blackberries
Mango
Peaches
Broccoli
Peas

I still need to do two more batches:

Strawberries
Kale

I’ve been working on planning my garden. I have GOT to get this done before we go on vacation next week.

I also found out some promising information about school for Kate. I got an email from one of the moms on one of my WAPF email lists, recommending Waldorf schools. I guess a lot of the WAPF moms are in favor of Waldorf education. She was responding to another mother who had concerns about the food her child was eating at daycare (sugary snacks, fruit juice with high fructose corn syrup, etc.).

She writes:

We go to a Waldorf school and love it. No concerns about food as they provide, nutritious, organic hot snacks - like veggie soup, lentils and rice, etc. Parents provide some of the food too, but we use all organic, local food mostly. When they have treats, which is on birthdays and some holidays, it’s usually made with flour they grind in class and they use only unrefined sugars. I don’t think I’ve ever seen candy in the classroom.

Regarding the education, she says:

Both my girls are still in kindergarten and they have lots of movement all day. Most of their ‘learning’ is through rhymes, stories, circle time, and such. They also have a great outdoor program so they are out in nature about 2 hours a day, just playing, hiking and being children. They teach to the hands, heart and head so although academics is taught it is not the only aspect of education they take into account. It is based much more on developmental appropriateness.

Apparently there is a Waldorf school right here in LA!

Here’s what one of the moms on my Peachhead list (an email list for LA moms) says about the local Westside Waldorf school:

“By the time they leave the said the average student can play 2-3 instruments, understand 3 languages, know how to do wood working and sewing. All of them get their #1 or #2 high school pick as well.”

YAY! Doesn’t that sound fantastic? I like the focus on nature, I like that they learn crafts and work with their hands, I like the focus on the arts, and it sounds like they eat really well. Sounds really good to me.

I’m going to look into doing a tour. Yes, it’s true, Kate’s not old enough for school yet but in LA, you have to start very early. All the moms here say you have to start touring when they are about 9 or 10 months old. And Kate will be 10 months on Wednesday. I gotta get cracking!

Back to my garden planning…

Lasagna Composting and Seed Starting January 17, 2008

So I’ve been thinking a lot about my garden. One of the New Year’s resolutions I have for this year is to vastly increase my vegetable and herb gardens. I also want to grow a lot more flowers.

I was pondering buying some fancy composting equipment but now I’m thinking maybe I don’t need it after all.

In mid-December, I buried a bucketfull of kitchen scraps in my vegetable garden and last week I went out to see how it was decomposing and IT WAS GONE. There was no evidence of scraps whatsoever. So it only took about 3 weeks.

Those worms eat fast!

So I guess I don’t need any fancy equipment. I still want some… because I like toys. But I’ll use the money to buy a water filtration system and grain mill instead.

But for now, considering the amount of worms in my garden beds, I am going to start layering my kitchen scraps “lasagna” style as recommended in the book “Lasagna Gardening” by Patricia Lanza (one of the best gardening books EVER).

She recommends laying wet newspaper or cardboard directly on the bed. You can even lay it directly on sod or hard ground — if you want to start a new bed. No digging required. Then on top of that you lay kitchen scraps, and various other components both brown and green, add some peat moss and manure if you can — and on top of that soil. Then cover with tarps or plastic trash bags so it can bake (like lasagna!).

This will get my beds ready for spring planting and no need for any equipment.

And it’s a great way to use up all these Wall St. Journals we have lying around.

I suppose if you didn’t have as many worms as I do, you could simply add worms to your beds and you’d do fine. You can tell if you have worms by using the shovel to dig up a bit of soil. You should see them immediately.

By the way, I did this in the last garden I had and it was staggering how big my plants got. They were absolutely mammoth. Tomato plants taller than me (I’m 5′5), a lemon grass bush as big as a 5-year-old. And I used no fertilizer and no pesticides. Just the lasagna gardening method.

Next on my list is to figure out what I’m going to plant, where to plant it, and then to buy the seeds and set up a place to start them. I’m going to do various vegetables and herbs. Now that I have my dehydrator, I can even dry my herbs for herb tea. Or make fresh mint tea straight from the garden — there is nothing better than that!

I want to buy only non-Monsanto, non-GMO (genetically modified) seeds. Just about every seed purveyor out there sells Monsanto seeds, however I have found three mail-order sources for real heirloom seeds that have not been tampered with:

Baker Creek Heirloom Seeds

Fedco Seeds

Seed Savers

There’s really no place in our house to put seed trays. However, I just read that I can set up some basic metal shelving in the garage and start my seeds out there. You just have to add some lighting. I can probably get everything I need at the hardware store.

Gotta get back to work now. I’ll post more about this when I decide what to plant!

Michael Pollan on Milk January 7, 2008

I was just listening to Michael Pollan on the Everyday Foods show on Martha Stewart’s channel on Sirius radio.

I am really loving his book The Omnivore’s Dilemma so I was excited to hear him on the radio.

However, I completely disagreed with him!

A woman called in and asked about feeding whole milk to children and what about obesity.

He said soda is the main cause of obesity.

I agree with that, because soda contains high fructose corn syrup.

However, it is not only soda that causes obesity in children. A lot of moms are feeding their children fruit juice and white bread products and crackers. Fruit juice is often loaded with high fructose corn syrup and/or sugar. And refined flour products and sugar also cause obesity.

He also said that giving children whole milk is preferable to giving them soda.

OK, yes, agreed. (Whole milk is also preferable to fruit juice, particularly fruit juice with added sugar and/or HFCS.)

Then he said that most milk has growth hormones in it so it is not safe to drink.

Agreed.

The caller asked, “Even organic?”

He said, “Yes. Even organic.”

I agree with that. Just because it’s organic doesn’t mean it’s healthy.

However, he didn’t talk about grain-fed vs. grass fed.

Most milk comes from grain-fed cows (even the organic milk) and is not safe to drink because those cows are not healthy — because eating such an unnatural diet makes them sick. I’m not sure why he didn’t mention this fact because he writes about it at length in The Omnivore’s Dilemma.

And why didn’t he mention the dairies out there that are producing HEALTHY milk from grass-fed cows? Cows that receive no growth hormones and no antibiotics and eat only green pasture and hay?

He made it sound like all milk is bad. Which is NOT true!

He went on to say that if you are going to give your children milk, you should give them low-fat milk because, while fat is not as bad as we thought it was, lots of saturated fat is not good for you.

Huh? He lost me. What is the basis for that statement?

Mothers around the world have been feeding babies and children milk — human milk as well as milk from cows, goats, and camels — for thousands of years. We have only recently — in the past few decades — seen a huge surge of obesity and diabetes.

Sure, it might be due to hormones in milk and meat but most likely it has a lot more to do with the sharp increase in other things we are now feeding our children for the first time in history: large amounts of refined grains, flours and sugar and high fructose corn syrup.

Weston Price studied many cultures all over the world that fed their children meat or fish and dairy almost exclusively (the Eskimos, many African tribes, people living in the Swiss Alps, Scottish fishermen, etc. etc. etc.).

They had no obesity, no diabetes. No degenerative diseases whatsoever.

You can read his entire book online here and see for yourself:

Nutrition and Physical Degeneration.

Just look at the pictures and tell me those kids aren’t healthy. And what were they eating? Whole raw milk, butter, cheese. Meat, seafood. Whole grains and some vegetables and fruits. Some nuts and seeds.

These are people who got over 50% of their nutrition from fat, much of it saturated fat. And they had no degenerative disease.

Anyway, back to Pollan. He went on to say that humans are not meant to drink milk and that they can get the same nutrients from broccoli. He made some point about cows only drinking milk for 6 months — and then the go on to eat grass and get all their nutrients from grass.

Um, Michael? Did you forget something?

Humans are not cows. Cows have 6 stomachs. We have one.

They have a completely different digestive system than humans.

Here’s an interesting article about the human digestive system compared to carnivorous animals like dogs versus herbivorous animals like sheep:

Comparison Between the Digestive Tracts of a Carnivore, a Herbivore and Man

Just look at that chart on that page and tell me we should be eating mostly plants.

We are not herbivores.

And yet Michael Pollan’s advice to us is, “Eat food. Not too much. Mostly plants.”

Why? Based on WHAT?

Feeding babies broccoli instead of milk. Sheesh!

What do you say about this, Michael:

Mother’s milk provides a higher proportion of cholesterol than almost any other food. It also contains over 50% of its calories as fat, much of it saturated fat. Both cholesterol and saturated fat are essential for growth in babies and children, especially the development of the brain. Yet, the American Heart Association is now recommending a low-cholesterol, lowfat diet for children! Commercial formulas are low in saturated fats and soy formulas are devoid of cholesterol. A recent study linked lowfat diets with failure to thrive in children.

The Skinny on Fats - WAPF

Somehow I can’t imagine myself rocking my baby to sleep with a broccoli floret instead of a bottle of milk.

Terressentials December 17, 2007

Oh my goodness! I am so excited about the new personal care products that just came in the mail.

I know, that’s a dorky thing to say. Who gets excited about personal care products?

The thing is, I’ve been researching all this stuff for a while and almost all of the personal care products we use are FILLED with nasty chemicals. That wouldn’t be a huge problem except for the fact that we absorb these chemicals — not only through our nose but through the pores in our skin.

I found a company called Terressentials. Apparently the founder of the company used to be very sick. She got cancer (she thinks it was from the DDT her father was unknowingly spraying when she was a kid) and had multiple rounds of chemo — which made her highly sensitive to chemicals. She kept having reactions to store-bought personal care products which were supposed to be healthy and organic — but had lots of hidden chemicals and pesticides.

Which is why she started making her own products. They are 100% organic and totally edible. The idea is, anything you put on your body you should also be able to eat. Doesn’t that make sense?

Anyway I just tried the body lotion and lip balm and they both smell and feel amazing and delicious.

The shampoo is another story. A good story…

Apparently shampoo, conditioner, and other styling products are not good for your hair. They are filled with toxic chemicals. They strip your hair of its natural oils and leave a nasty residue on your hair and scalp. They damage your hair.

But here’s the rub: the residue they leave makes your damaged hair look healthy. Which is why you have to keep using them. Your hair will look like crap if you stop. But the more you use these products, the more you damage your hair.

A fun little vicious cycle, eh? Kind of like high fructose corn syrup.

Anyway, there is a way to be free of commerical hair products. It’s called no poo.

I know, it’s a dorky name. No poo. Sounds like toilet talk (that’s what my mom used to call our childhood potty humor). But the idea is, if you can break yourself from using shampoo, conditioner, and other hair products long enough (takes a few weeks to a few months) your hair will be free of all the synthetic gunk and return to its natural state.

What is your hair’s natural state? You probably have no idea.

I bet you my natural hair state is magnificent.

I can’t wait to start using this Terresentials hair wash. By the way, it’s made out of mud. Aloe vera and bentonite clay and other natural junk. No detergents or chemicals or other nonsense.

Considering there is a detox period of at least a few weeks, I am going to wait until the new year to start. Still, I can’t wait!

More about how to detox and get back to your original hair: http://www.terressentials.com/hairhelp.html

More about the founders and the company: http://www.terressentials.com/greenstandard1.html

The Terressentials website: http://www.terressentials.com/

PS: For this to work, you also have to stop dying and highlighting your hair with chemicals. I have not highlighted my hair since last summer and plan to use lemon and sun from now on.

The Future of Food December 14, 2007

I just read my friend the latest post on my friend Louisa’s blog:

http://constantstateofflux.wordpress.com/2007/12/14/the-future-of-food-life-stuff-and-eveything-else/

After I read that, “coincidentally” (not), someone else on a newsgroup posted a link to this video about the history of genetically modified food:

This is just an intro; I want to buy the whole video.

The scary thing is that pretty much everything you buy in the grocery store is now manufactured by companies like Monsanto. Everything is sprayed with pesticides and most things are now genetically modified. Anything with soy oil or vegetable oil (which is mostly soy oil). Anything with industrial corn or soybeans. It’s hard to know what’s what because the way they label it, you can’t tell.

For example, did you know that when you buy a food product at the store and it lists “spices” as an ingredient, that can contain anything? It usually (almost always) contains MSG.

It’s disgusting that Monsanto is going out and suing small farmers for saving and reusing seeds. It’s disgusting that there are only FOUR varieties of potatoes grown today. It’s disgusting the way huge corporations have driven small farms out of business.

I’m not buying seeds from catalogs anymore. Why? Because it’s all seeds from Monsanto!

“Virtually every large mail-order garden company in the United States uses a seed broker to supply them with stock.”

“The American nursery trade is a 39.6 billion dollar a year industry. With the purchase of Seminis in January of 2005, Monsanto is now estimated to control between 85 and 90 percent of the U.S. nursery market. This includes the pesticide, herbicide and fertilizer markets. By merging with or buying up the competition, dominating genetic technology, and lobbying the government to make saving seeds illegal, this monolith has positioned itself as the largest player in the gardening game.”

“Monsanto holds over eleven thousand U.S. seed patents. When Americans buy garden seed and supplies, most of the time they are buying from Monsanto, regardless of who the retailer is.”

http://thedeliberateagrarian.blogspot.com/2006/02/garden-seed-monopoly.html

I’m going to step up what I’m doing to change the future of our food. I’m going to join a seed saver organization and start growing all my vegetables and herbs from seed.

http://www.seedsavers.org/membership.asp

Here’s another place to buy seeds:
http://www.rareseeds.com/

Of course everything I grow is organic. But I want truly organic non-Monsanto seeds in my garden. I’m going to rip out everything that’s in there — it all came from Home Depot. Which means it’s all from Monsanto. UGH! It makes me sick that even people who are growing their own food are still unknowingly buying seeds genetically modified by this evil corporation.

I don’t have a lot of land but I have some and we live in sunny southern California — I can grow food all year long.

This is my first New Year’s resolution! I’m excited to start planning my garden. It’s a small step to take, but if more of us do it, it will impact the planet.

Why you should buy organic and local December 6, 2007

A recent study in England reveals that organic food is a lot healthier than conventional food:

The Quality Low Input Food project, the biggest of its kind, took a 725-acre farm in north-east England, grew conventional produce (like cabbage, lettuce, potatoes and what) next to organic produce, and compared the results.

The biggest contrast was found for milk. The study found that levels of antioxidants in milk from organic cattle were between 50% and 80% higher than conventional milk (60% to 80% more nutrients in the summer than conventional milk, and 50% to 60% more in the winter). Organic milk also has higher levels of vitamin E, and 60 percent more antioxidants and desirable fatty acids. Antioxidants help with a healthy circulatory system and help keep cancer and heart disease away.

Other highlights:

1. Fruit and vegetables contain up to 40% more nutrients if they are grown without chemical fertilizers and pesticides.

2. Up to 40% more antioxidants could be found in organic fruit and vegetables than in those conventionally farmed.

3. Potatoes, kiwi fruit and carrots were among the organic produce found to be higher in vitamin C.

4. Higher levels of minerals and antioxidants were found in organically- farmed lettuce, spinach and cabbage. Organic spinach and cabbage have more minerals.

5. Organic produce also had higher levels of iron and zinc, vital nutrients lacking in many people’s diets.

6. Organic cheese can have up to twice as many nutrients than conventional varieties.

7. Organic tomatoes, wheat, potatoes, cabbage, onions and wheat have 20 to 40 percent more antioxidants than conventional fruit and vegetables.

(http://green.msn.com/articles/article.aspx?aid=295&GT1=10725)

I’m not surprised. I know this to be true for pastured eggs and grass-fed meat and dairy.

When they say “organic milk” in this study, I wonder how the cows were raised. Where they grass-fed? And I wonder if the milk was raw. Of course they didn’t go into all the other benefits of raw dairy like the probiotics.

Still, I think it’s great that people are realizing how much better organic food is. To me, it’s always been a no-brainer. I always knew organic was better — it just came down to money.

I know organic food is more expensive. I pay $12 for a gallon of organic raw milk. (See why I want to have my own cow?)

But it is worth it. I would never go back to the swill that they sell at Ralph’s. Not only is it extremely concentrated with pesticides (meat and dairy have the highest concentrations of pesticides), it is completely devoid of nutrition. It comes from sick cows who are eating grain and soybeans and corn instead of what they were born to eat: grass. The grain/soybean/corn melange makes them sick.

They are also sick because they are standing shoulder-to-shoulder in a cement-floor factory. They are then pumped with antibiotics to combat their illnesses. They are forced to produce up to 30 times the milk they would normally give each day (1.5 gallons is a normal amount for a cow).

The reason it is pasteurized is because it is so unhealthy they have to boil it to kill off all the nasty stuff. The reason it is homogenized is because they want it to last as long as possible on the shelf. Pasteurization kills the enzymes and probiotics. Homogenization is linked to heart disease.

Still want to drink milk from Ralph’s (or Safeway or Walmart)?

And as far as the cost — the more people buy a thing, the cheaper it gets. It’s all about supply and demand.

Besides, what is more important than your health? I can’t think of anything. The way I see it, I’d rather spend my money on good organic food now, instead of on drugs and doctors later.

Organic food can also be hard to find in stores. Not so easy to find in Ralph’s. Sure, they have a tiny section. But it’s much better to go to your local farmer’s market or, better yet, join a CSA program.

When you join a CSA, you are making a pledge to a local farm that you will be paying them every month to grow food for you. This helps them tremendously because they can plan their crops better knowing they have a regular source of income.

Plus this way you know the food is local. Just because you are buying organic food at a grocery store does not mean it is local.

Why does it need to be local? Well, it doesn’t NEED to be local but the more we can try to eat locally the better. It saves money and resources on trucking and shipping the food long distances so it’s better for the environment.

It’s also fresher. Why eat apples trucked in from the other side of the country when you can get them your own state? Why eat oranges in July or tomatoes in December when they are out of season?

Also, we want to support small, local farms, not big conglomerates.

It’s also truly farm-to-table eating. No grocery stores. No processing. No cans with bisphenol A linings (yes, a lot of them have it). No weird food additives that make you sick and fat.

We’re coming up on a new year. Isn’t it time to make a pledge to start eating local organic food as often as you can?

To find a farmers market or CSA near you: http://www.localharvest.org/

To find real raw milk near you: http://www.realmilk.com/where2.html

To find grass-fed meats and dairy near you: http://www.eatwild.com/

Lastly, not all organic milk is the same. The term “organic” has been co-opted by the conglomerates. For example, Horizon Organics (the carton with the happy cow) is a factory farm. You have to know the dairy.

To find out if that organic milk you’re drinking is from a good source: http://cornucopia.org/dairysurvey/index.html

Open Letter to Trader Joe's November 25, 2007

This is a great post about egg packaging:

Open Letter to Trader Joe’s

I agree! That is very fraudulent packaging. I used to feel so good buying my “free range” eggs at TJ's. Felt like I was doing something good. Little did I know I was being had.

I think it would be cool to make a t-shirt with both of the packages. Maybe I'll do that via Cafe Press.

I used to spend all my grocery money at TJ's but no longer. They don't sell pastured eggs so now I go to Rawesome. While there, I end up buying all my wild-caught fish and grass-fed beef. MUCH better than the mystery fish, grain-, corn-, and soy-fed beef, and “cage free” eggs Trader Joe's offers. (This is a lot of money, BTW, that is now not going to TJ's).

Trader Joe's also don't sell raw milk, raw butter, or raw cheese so now I get my dairy at Whole Foods and the Organic Pastures hub store. Although I will occasionally pick up a stick of KerryGold (pasteurized but cultured) at Trader Joe's in a pinch.

They have a lot of organic produce, it's true, but most of it comes from far away. And they don't list the names of farms. I'm not interested in produce that is trucked for hundreds and thousands of miles. I want local produce because it is fresher. I want to support local farms. So of course, now we are getting most of our produce from JR Organics, a farm in Escondido that offers CSA subscriptions. Anything I don't get in my box I pick up at Whole Foods, Rawesome, or at the farmer's market.

There is just no need to go to Trader Joe's anymore. I used to love Trader Joe's. Now not so much. They need to beef up their labeling practices and find better sources of food.

How I'd love to have my own chickens! One day…

Toxic milk, deceived customers November 16, 2007

The NY Times reports:

THE Pennsylvania Department of Agriculture has decided that consumers are too dim to make their own shopping decisions. Agriculture officials in Ohio are contemplating a similar decision.

As of Jan. 1, Pennsylvania is banning labels on milk and dairy products that say it comes from cows that haven’t been treated with artificial bovine growth hormone, which is sometimes known as rBGH or rBST. State officials say the labels are confusing and impossible to verify.

Farmers use artificial bovine growth hormone to increase a cow’s milk production by a gallon or more a day. The federal government maintains that it is perfectly safe, but it remains illegal in many other countries and critics continue to question its safety. Regardless, many American consumers buy rBGH-free milk because they are uncomfortable with the idea of milk that comes from cows that have been shot full of artificial hormones and because it’s cheaper than organic milk, which, of course, doesn’t allow use of the artificial hormones.

But the backlash against rBGH has unsettled its manufacturer, Monsanto, and the dairy farmers who have come to rely on it to raise production. They have spent more than a decade trying to persuade federal and state authorities to ban or restrict non-rBGH labels on the grounds that there is no difference in milk from cows that are treated with the hormone and those that are not.

Leslie Zuck, executive director of Pennsylvania Certified Organic, said she, too, was disappointed with the ruling. But she offers a sensible compromise. Instead of banning the labels, why couldn’t dairy farmers who use the artificial growth hormone use their own labels?

Ms. Zuck suggests this: “We use rBGH and it’s great stuff!”

Read the whole article here

Hahaha! I love it! The PA government is banning the “No rBGH” labels because farmers who use rBGH are complaining, saying that it is impossible to verify that the dairy products from dairy farmers not using rBGH absolutely do not have rBGH.

Sheesh! Are you confused? You should be. That is what labeling is designed to do — hide the truth and confuse you.

I think Leslie Zuck is right — the complaining farmers who use rBGH *should* have to put the label on their milk.

What's in the milk you are drinking? The cheese you are eating? The butter you put on your toast? You don't want to know. And they're going to make sure you don't find out.

The good thing is — stuff like this is exactly what is driving consumers away from food processed by factory farms. We are sick and tired of faux food, toxic food, carcinogenic food. We want real food that is healthy and natural. And we are willing to pay more for it. There is a demand — and it is creating a supply. Which is exactly what is scaring these factory farmers. So they want to deceive their customers — keep them from finding out the truth. Because if you knew the truth, you wouldn't buy their products.

Think you're safe because you're drinking “organic milk”? I used to think that. I paid almost double for “organic milk” for years. Did you know that Horizon Organics — one of the brands I used to buy — is just a big factory farm?

I think it's very clear that it is not safe to drink milk unless you KNOW THE DAIRY.

Here's a dairy score card: http://cornucopia.org/dairysurvey/index.html

Here's the full report on organic milk from the Cornucopia Institute: http://cornucopia.org/dairysurvey/OrganicDairyReport/cornucopia_milkintregrity.pdf

This Lady November 14, 2007

I'm exhausted! I just had an 11 1/2 hour day. Kate woke up at 5:30. I tried to put her back down but she didn't want to go back to bed so I just stayed up with her.

Which was, of course, very fun. Kate is very very fun. She plays in her exersaucer or with her toys on the floor, and squeals with delight and laughs uproariously while watching her signing DVD. You really can't do much of anything else when you're with her except enjoy her. Which is not such a bad thing. I'm a pretty lucky lady.

That is what Alla always calls Kate: “This Lady”. As in, “What are we going to do with this lady?” Say that with a thick Russian accent and you have our Alla. The other expressions she uses are equally adorable: “OK babies!” and “Mamma Mia!” (said with the requisite amount of Russian angst). And she calls a bottle a “sippy cup”.

I can't tell you how much we appreciate and love her. It goes very deep.

Anyway, by 5 pm, when I got her down for the night (I know, early — that's what time she likes to retire), I was wiped. I did the dishes and the laundry and cleaned up the kitchen and put all the groceries away. And sat down to rest and have a glass of wine and some raw goat cheese and whole wheat crackers and get on the internet. Finally. It's been out all day. Something is wrong with our AirPort.

I'm making some rice now in the rice cooker. Picked up some tuna at Whole Foods for dinner. I am going to marinate it in some rice wine vinegar and scallions and soy sauce and grated ginger, roll it in sesame seeds, then sear it in a cast iron skillet. With steamed kale and edamame.

In addition to Whole Foods, Kate (”This Lady”) and I went to Rawesome today. Rawesome is a “private buying club” in Venice. It's $25/year to join and they make you sign something that says you basically disagree with the government and it's rules about food (I guess about pasteurizing everything).

Anyway, it's kind of funny. I feel like I keep taking This Lady to all these back alley places to buy food. Organic Pastures Dairy with their truck pulled up into a parking lot, Rawesome with their railroad car next to the organic coffee shop in Venice — just several blocks from the beach.

Rawesome has all kinds of great stuff — tons of raw, organic produce (including fresh coconuts and pineapples) as well as organic pastured eggs, raw honey, ceviche, raw milk, cream, butter, yogurt, cheese, and a wide selection of organic pastured beef (bison and cow) and a fantastic array of wild-caught fish. It's very hard to find wild-caught fish even in Whole Foods — most of it is farm-raised.

Which, incidentally, you do NOT want — I heard they are now feeding CORN to farm-raised salmon. Yes, CORN! Can you imagine? Of course it is genetically modified industrial grade corn — ugh! At least Whole Foods tells you it is farm-raised — unlike most stores, where you typically have no idea where the fish came from.

There was this guy there at Rawesome, shirtless with long hippie hair, delivering food. I forget what he was delivering — something he raised or grew or made. Anyway, when he was done unloading his merchandise, he took out a coconut, stabbed it with an implement (some kind of large pointy steel thing), and poured the juice over a strainer into a mason jar. Then he stirred in some organic barley grass powder, and sat down to drink it.

He was super tan and in perfect health. He looked like he lived on an island.

This was in the middle of Los Angeles. On a warm Indian summer afternoon.

I love it. I love the diversity. Love that people feel free enough to be who they want to be.

I guess I am a bit of a hippie at heart. I did usher for the Grateful Dead at one point. And I lived in a clothing-optional vegetarian co-op in college.

I'm not a Deadhead anymore, nor am I a vegetarian. Nor am I a hippie. But I still appreciate people who strive to be better, closer to the earth, connected to community.

Like Alla. She could be back in Russia, but she chose to come here — seeking a better life. And of course she is totally into natural health, always lecturing me about opening the windows for fresh air and organic foods and exercise.

And I suppose if you added up all my various things — kombucha, beet kvass, organic vegetables, raw milk, homemade earth-friendly cleaning products, tooth soap (I haven't even told you about that yet!!!), cloth diapers, Crocs (which, except for the plastic, are basically Birkenstocks), — you very well could call me a hippie.

Eh. In the words of Albert Brooks, “Call me a hippie, send me to Hell.”

On the way home from Rawesome (where I picked up two dozen pastured eggs*, cultured raw butter, raw goat cheese, and some fresh ginger), I drove past Venice High School, also known as Rydell High (it's the set they used for Grease). There were all these kids in the front of the school — and all these seagulls flying around. It was an amazing sight. That, coupled with the coconut hippie guy — it just made me grateful to live such a different kind of life. I could be stuck in the suburbs somewhere.

Maybe one day I'll have my cow and some chicken and even a vineyard. For now, this is pretty fun.

* why you need pastured eggs instead of just “free range”: http://www.hbmag.com/story_eggs.html