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Raw Milk Is A-Okay!

Posted by Kevin Brown on May 4, 2012

FDA Concedes Raw Milk Across State Lines OK for Personal Consumption

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FDA CONCEDES RAW MILK ACROSS STATE LINES OK FOR PERSONAL CONSUMPTION

But continues to broadcast misinformation about unpasteurized dairy

Washington, DC ( November 17, 2011)—In a statement issued on November 1, concurrent with a raw milk freedom rally held outside FDA headquarters in Silver Spring, Maryland, the agency conceded that it “has never taken, nor does it intend to take, enforcement action against an individual who purchased and transported raw milk across state lines solely for his or her own personal consumption” [www.fda.gov/Food/FoodSafety/Product-SpecificInformation/MilkSafety/ucm277854.htm].  This statement reverses FDA’s prior position in which the agency reserved the option of taking action against individual consumers crossing state lines with raw milk. Federal regulation 21 CFR § 1240.61 prohibits the introduction of raw milk for human consumption into interstate commerce.

A caravan of moms brought raw milk across state lines on November 1 and served it to rally participants in front of FDA headquarters.

“Unfortunately, FDA’s announcement allowing individuals to transport raw milk across state lines is filled with the same misinformation that the agency has spread in the past,” says Sally Fallon Morell, president of the Weston A. Price Foundation, an organization that sponsors A Campaign for Real Milk, aimed at universal access to clean raw milk. “FDA continues to insist that raw milk is dangerous, when even the agency’s own exaggerated list of outbreaks shows that raw milk is safer than other foods.”

“FDA lists outbreaks associated with raw cheese, produced in less than sanitary conditions, as ‘outbreaks caused by raw milk,’ thereby inflating the number of illnesses associated with raw milk,” says Fallon Morell. “The actual number of illnesses associated (but not necessarily proved) with raw milk is about forty-two per year, which makes raw milk a very safe food given the large number of raw milk consumers.  No deaths have been associated with raw milk during the past twelve years, but three people have died from tainted pasteurized milk.”

FDA insists that raw milk drinkers constitute less than 1 percent of the population. Yet a 2007 government survey found that about 3 percent of the population consumes raw milk, or about nine million people.  This number is likely to be higher today as raw milk consumption is growing rapidly. Even in the state of Maryland, where raw milk sales are illegal, over 3 percent of respondents stated that they drank raw milk.  “This milk is coming from Pennsylvania, where raw milk sales are legal,” says Pete Kennedy, president of the Farm-to-Consumer Legal Defense Fund, “to the great detriment of Maryland farmers.”  According to Kennedy, hundreds of thousands of dollars of farm sales each year flow from Maryland to Pennsylvania.

The Farm-to-Consumer Legal Defense Fund is currently representing citizens challenging the interstate ban on raw milk in an Iowa federal district court .

According to Fallon Morell, “FDA continues to insist that no science exists to substantiate the nutritional and health benefits of raw milk, yet we now have five European studies, published in peer reviewed journals, showing that raw milk provides powerful protection against asthma and allergies. And there is copious scientific research showing that pasteurization of milk denatures and diminishes the effectiveness of enzymes and vitamins in the milk.”

Moreover, raw milk is designed to build the immune system—the components that do this are denatured by the heat process of pasteurization.  FDA claims that the elderly, the immune-compromised, children and pregnant women especially should avoid raw milk. “These are the very people who need it the most,” says Fallon Morell.

The Weston A. Price Foundation is a nutrition education non-profit with 550 local chapters worldwide, and close to 13,000 members. The organization works to educate the public about the health benefits of unprocessed milk from grass-based dairies through its Campaign for Real Milk, http://realmilk.com.

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Raw Milk Freedom Riders Take Action!

Posted by Maureen Diaz on November 5, 2011

     

Raw Milk Freedom Riders after crossing into Maryland. Photo, David Gumpert

On Tuesday, Nov. 1st, a caravan of moms (and a few dads, grandmas & grandpas) picked up unprocessed (raw) milk from a farm located in Pennsylvania. These folks came from all over the US and even Ontario, Canada, all to partake in a defiant act of civil disobedience. What was this terrible activity for which they risked arrest? Transporting that same milk across the state line into Maryland.

You might wonder what the big deal is, so I’ll tell you. Well, way back in 1987 a bill was passed into law which made it illegal to transport raw milk across state lines when intended for “human consumption”. This meant that for every mom out there wanting to provide the very best in nourishing foods for her family, she would either have to live in a state where raw dairy was available, own her own dairy animal(s), or become a criminal. For most, the latter is the only option.

So here we stand now faced with a real dilemma due to our government’s belief that it knows best. As well we see through almost weekly headlines, this “Big Brother” attitude and government controls have not protected the public at all judging by the number of deaths and illness caused by our industrial food supply.

Furthermore, I am not the “public”, nor are you, unless you decide to shop where thousands of others shop for their family’s food. When purchasing food in a supermarket I would expect the government to have oversight to protect the safety of the publicly accessible food. But when we choose to purchase farm-fresh foods locally and privately, we do not fall under the “public” domain.  And we do not subject ourselves to the inherent problems with an industrial food supply. Instead, we assume the risk ourselves, accepting the consequences if and when a problem should occur.

The funny thing is, in my family’s experience we have never, ever experienced any problem with our locally produced foods, but we have in fact become quite ill from eating foods purchased at a local store and a restaurant or two. How effective was “Big Brother” then?

There is also the question of the constitutionality of these laws which deny private citizens the access to not only raw milk, but also many other farm products. Furthermore, we are being denied freedom of choice in health care, education, birthing options, etc.

Our founding fathers must be rolling in their graves, for they never could have conceived of such government control of the people, or protection of corporate profits and bureaucratic charge.  Was this not a part of what they were trying to avoid-government tyranny?!

John Adams, Thomas Jefferson, George Washington, and many others of our early fathers were farmers. They expected to produce foods on their farms and to have the freedom, without government restraint, to earn an honest income from their product. They bought and sold freely within their communities and yet today not only is this not allowed, but our uber-intelligent governing bodies also try to control how our food is produced. But there-in lies yet another problem…

So here we are in 2011, wondering where we are headed. Like thousands, if not millions, of others like ourselves, my husband & I have decided that we must do something. Thus I write, teach, and do everything possible to educate and motivate others towards reforming our laws, reforming our government towards what it was originally intended to be: a protector of the people, and of the private citizenry.

I urge you to do the same. Consider these thoughts and, whether you wish to consume fresh milk direct from the farm or make other important decisions for yourself and your family, stay informed about what is happening within our nation and communities. Establish contact with your local politicians. Speak up at “Town Meetings” and other public forums. Let your law and policy makers know how you feel and demand to be heard, and have your concerns considered; this we must do, or we sink in apathy.

Michael Schmidt addresses the crowd. Photo courtesy Kimberly Hartke

On Tuesday our caravan of moms was met at FDA headquarters by dozens of police officers and denial of access to the bureaucrats within, but also about 150 additional protesters. Cookies and (raw) milk were served to everyone in attendance including law enforcement, and many voices were heard. Amongst those speaking to the crowd were David Gumpert, Joel Salatin, Mark McAfee, Sally Fallon Morell, Max Kane, Liz Reitzig (one of the organizers of the event), Kristin Canty, Jonas Stoltzfus, and my own personal hero, Michael Schmidt (on day 33 of his hunger fast). We all understand the importance of personal responsibility both for our families and our government, and were encouraged by the wise words of each of these passionate people. And that very day the effectiveness of our efforts was confirmed when the FDA issued a clarification of their policy, stating that they will not enforce the law when it involves an individual transporting raw milk for their own personal use. While this is encouraging, affirming that our efforts are not in vain, it is not enough. We must continue to work towards real change. Our farmers should not be raided by our government agencies, but should be free to profit from their hard work, and consumers should not be denied the right of freedom

Please don’t sit back in apathy, relying on others to fight your battles for you; each of us involved in the activities of November 1st are very busy, with many responsibilities. We have jobs, take care of our children, participate in churches and communities, etc. But we set aside a little time throughout our days and weeks to write letters, make phone calls, and show up at a rally now and then to show support for our causes. Without this we can not expect any changes for the better but can instead expect more control, more prosecution and farm raids, further loss of freedom.

Now go take charge of your and your children’s future; they depend on it!

Maureen Diaz is a homeschooling mother of 9, a WAPF chapter leader, and a certified LW Nutritionist. She also has produced 3 cooking DVD’s including her latest, Liberation Wellness Home Cooking. Check out & order her DVD’s on her website, www.nourishingtraditionalcook.com  and at FilmBaby.com

Posted in Big Agriculture, Events, farm fresh, FDA, Fear, Food freedom, Food Safety, fresh and local, government, liz reitzig, lobbying, Local Foods, Maureen Diaz, Politics, raw milk, sally fallon, Sally Fallon Morell, Weston A. Price Foundation | Tagged: , , , , , , , , , | Leave a Comment »

8 Reasons Raw Foodies Are Dangerous Extremists (Satire)

Posted by Dr. Richard Walicki on October 4, 2011

I enjoy a good piece of satire.  Here is one I think many LiberationWellness Blog readers may appreciate:

by
Eric Blair
Activist Post

This week, the United States government, working closely with local authorities, heroically raided and arrested raw-food terror kingpin James Stewart in Venice, California. Stewart, who runs the private healthfood cartel, Rawesome Foods, “posed a major threat to the establishment,” claimed an unnamed but armed, undercover double-agent involved in the arrest.

After two SWAT-style stings in one year, Stewart now faces several felony charges including: conspiracy to sell milk to minors; conspiracy to operate a private club without paying protection money to the authorities; conspiracy to educate the masses; and conspiracy to make people healthy and independent.

The authorities warn that the news of Stewart’s arrest and pending environmental tribunal may awaken his cult of followers, called foodies. These extremists typically come from the political left, once believing that boisterous regulations were actually for the public’s safety. They are generally a peace-loving group, but with their bright smiles, chiseled bodies and fully-functional minds, they may prove to be a formidable threat in the war of ideas against the establishment. These foodies, hopped up on natural vitamins, minerals and antioxidants, no longer believe the FDA or the government is there to protect them. For our safety, such nonconformity must not be tolerated.

The establishment must do everything it can to make an example of Stewart and his accomplices before the contagion of natural health awareness spreads to critical mass. Food choice is a privilege that must be fully enforced with more firearms and badges in order to maintain the corporate-government monopoly over food. Anyone who demands food freedom should be considered a threat — not just to themselves, but to society as a whole. And like animals backed into a corner, foodies who lose their rights should be considered dangerous extremists and monitored like al-Qaeda.

“Without the corporate-state food monopoly, we would all starve,” warned Michael Taylor, former Monsanto executive and current head of the FDA food safety division. He added, “Therefore, these foodies are a direct threat to national and international security, and their freedom must be smoked out. You’re either with us or against us.”

Furthermore, so-called natural health experts challenging the State’s health recommendations should be taken to re-education camps, or have their assets seized for intent to commit crimes against humanity. Likewise, normal citizens growing food for neighborly trade should face felony charges of “intent to sell.” The loss of food freedom is a small price to pay for the safety and rule by the genetically modified majority.

Here are eight reasons why raw foods should be illegal, and foodies should peacefully give up their rights:

1. Big Brother knows best: Citizens aren’t smart enough to make proper health choices. That’s why they gave their rights and authority over to the State in the first place. The FDA protects them from their neighbor’s eggs that come from chickens that eat bugs and worms, not the genetically-approved feed. Gross!

2. Amish farmers have pitchforks: Given the sordid history of peasants fighting their masters with pitchforks, Amish farmers should be considered armed and dangerous if a food revolution takes root.

3. Health Effects: Raw milk, like many other raw foods, is a “superfood,” loaded with vital antioxidants. Healthy food makes strong independent humans who are difficult to control.

4. Economic Threat: The sick-care industry is about 20% of the U.S. economy. Big Ag and Big Pharma are utterly dependent on keeping the public away from healthy foods. Supporting underground organic food cartels is a risk to economic recovery.

5. BGH and GMO: Bovine Growth Hormone and GMO-fed milk creates more patients for Big Pharma than grass-fed raw milk. Dairy farmers that use BGH and subsidized GM feed maximize profits the American way. Natural dairy farmers hate technology and advancement.

6. Contagion: If more people are allowed to discover the benefits of raw milk, they may get addicted to other natural health foods and remedies not offered by central controllers. As such, raw milk should be treated as a gateway food.

7. Black Markets: Some food cooperatives operate as private clubs, or through barter systems. In other words, they operate outside of the reach of the corporate government. This is a shadowy world where illegal currencies are traded and tax revenues are difficult to extort for the public good.

8. Regulators: The staff of the FDA and CDC are people too. They need to pay mortgages and put processed food on the table. They wouldn’t have such a generous budget without taking away the rights of small farmers and foodies. Naturally, this angers foodies and may cause them to revolt.

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Known as the Doctor of Dental Wellness, Dr. Richard Walicki is a graduate of the Temple University School of Dentistry. Dr. Walicki is a general dentist with a focus on wellness and has maintained an active private practice in Philadelphia for over twenty years.  His mission is to help people attain practical solutions for their dental health problems through education, prevention and nutrition. Dr. Walicki is a contributor to the LiberationWellnessBlog and a supporter of real food. Additional articles of related interest can be located on his website.  A free newsletter and bonus report are also available.

Posted in big pharma, Dr. Richard Walicki, farm fresh, FDA, Food freedom, fresh and local, gmo, government, liberation wellness, Politics, processed food, raw milk, real food, real foods, Uncategorized, Vitamin D | Leave a Comment »

A Sampling Of My Recent Gourmet Low-Carb Paleo Meals

Posted by Jimmy Moore on September 16, 2011

It’s been just under a month since Christine and I decided to give a low-carb version of Paleo a try and we’ve loved it. Armed with deliciously healthy real whole foods (including the occasional “odd bit”), we’re enjoying the incredible flavor of the foods we’re eating with the best quality of grass-fed meats, pastured eggs, wild-caught fish, organic and local veggies, healthy oils, and spices galore. I’m excited to jump in the kitchen each day to whip up a gourmet low-carb Paleo meal for my sweetheart Christine. Here’s a sampling of the kind of food we’ve been having lately:

These are all recipes I’ve made up myself, but I’m looking forward to trying two new AMAZING Paleo cookbooks soon: Paleo Comfort Foods: Homestyle Cooking in a Gluten-Free Kitchen by Charles & Julia Mayfield (with a foreword by The Paleo Solution author Robb Wolf) and Make it Paleo: Over 200 Grain Free Recipes For Any Occasion by Bill Staley & Hayley Mason (with a foreword by The Primal Blueprint author Mark Sisson). Paleo IS mainstream now and it continues to grow in popularity! I’ll keep updating you on how my low-carb version of Paleo is working. We’re certainly eating mouthwatering meals fit for a king.

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Jimmy Moore is the popular blogger, podcaster and author of Livin’ La Vida Low-Carb who lost 180 pounds on the Atkins diet in 2004 and quickly established himself as a highly influential layperson in the field of health and nutrition. His wildly successful Livin’ La Vida Low-Carb Blog has been educating, encouraging and inspiring readers since 2005 and his accompanying iTunes podcast The Livin’ La Vida Low-Carb Show with Jimmy Moore is one of the most listened to health broadcasts online today featuring hundreds of enchanting interviews with the leading voices in the world of diet and healthy living! Jimmy’s latest book compiling all the knowledge he has learned along his journey is called 21 Life Lessons From Livin’ La Vida Low-Carb: How The Health Low-Carb Lifestyle Changed Everything I Thought I Knew. He lives in Spartanburg, SC with his beautiful wife Christine and their three cats!

Posted in fresh and local, grass fed beef, health, jimmy moore, livin lavida lo-carb, Paleo | 1 Comment »

Jimmy Moore’s Adventures In ‘Odd Bits’: Cow Tongue

Posted by Jimmy Moore on September 3, 2011

It’s been almost two weeks since my wife Christine and I went full-fledged low-carb Paleo with our nutrition and I can’t say anything bad about the experience so far. Surely I’d have some cravings. Nope. But what about finding good quality food to consume? No problem between my local farm, farmer’s market and the Internet. In fact, take a gander at all the delicious and nutritious food we are consuming now!

I’ve been cooking a couple of times daily since this started and have rekindled my long lost love for experimenting with food again. It’s been a revival of my low-carb lifestyle of sorts that has been sorely needed for a long while. Christine is certainly loving all the fresh, homemade Paleo food (and doesn’t mind cleaning up the dirty dishes I pile up in the sink) and is thrilled to be walking this journey at this time.

However, if you watched that video of me showing you what is in my refrigerator, then you may have noticed a rather strange food I mentioned was lurking in there. Did you catch it? No? WATCH IT AGAIN HERE–FAST FORWARD TO THE 1:39 MARK.

Yes, you heard me right. I’ve got beef tongue. As in the tongue from a cow. It’s not just any cow, mind you–grass-fed all the way baby! But I know the first thought so many of you are having right now if you’ve never consumed tongue in your diet is “EWWWWW, gross!” Believe me, I got a lot of that from my Facebook friends. Take a look at what some of them had to say about this:

“I cannot get over that’s it is a tongue. I’m sure it’s delicious, but I have a serious mental block that prevents me from eating tongue. lol”

“Can’t get over the mental hurdle. I’d feel like I was french kissing my food :P “

“I just can’t get by the thought and would gag….lol”

“I’m for organ meats per se, I’ll eat pate like a princess, but I’m not going to look at a huge beef tongue.”

“I think I am going to pass on that dinner invitation. I remember being served tongue in grade school. I did not get to go to recess on those days cause I did not clean my plate.”

Funny? Yes! In fact, I probably would have been cracking the same kind of jokes not that long ago if I had read about one of my friends on Facebook talking about cooking up a tongue…that is, until I started being more adventurous with my food thanks to the influence over the years of The Weston A. Price Foundation and my newfound Paleo diet. The fact is the tongue of a cow is nothing more than another muscle in the body. And we already eat much of the other muscle on a cow–so why not the tongue?

Coincidentally, as I was beginning to become gung ho about trying beef tongue for the first time in nearly four decades of life, I heard from my friend Jennifer McLagan, a James Beard Award-winning author of Fat: An Appreciation Of A Misunderstood Ingredient, With Recipes which was named the “Cookbook of the Year” by the Beard Foundation in 2009 (I even had the privilege of interviewing Jennifer on my podcast in December 2008 about this awesome book). Well, she’s back in 2011 with a brand spankin’ new book that deals with–what else?–all the “odd bits” of meat that aren’t usually consumed but can be a critical part of the animals we consume. The book is called Odd Bits: How to Cook the Rest of the Animal and I look forward to interviewing Jennifer about this later this year.

Jennifer has a section in her book on animal tongues beginning on page 49 where she acknowledges how some people get grossed out by the thought of eating a tongue. She recalled having “ox tongue” at Christmas each year that was potted tongue meat with jelly which she admitted was “not my favorite part of Christmas dinner.” She later grew to appreciate tongue more without the jelly and on a sandwich with sharp mustard instead. Jennifer says it’s time for people to give tongue a second chance to be explored. She encourages making sandwiches, salads, or just about anything that goes with tender, melts-in-your-mouth meat. My new friends from the Ancestral Health Symposium last month named Bill Staley and Hayley Mason (authors of an upcoming new cookbook in October 2011 I’ll be sharing more about soon called Make It Paleo: Over 200 Grain Free Recipes For Any Occasion) have an awesome Beef Tongue Taco Bites recipe. The sky truly is the limit!

Other than the novelty of eating a tongue, are there any nutritional benefits to consuming tongue? Absolutely! A 3-ounce serving has 19g fat and 16g protein with zero carbs. The protein in the cow tongue specifically helps to produce vital hormones and enzymes for your body as well as build lean muscle. Cow tongue is also and excellent source of Vitamin B-12 and other B vitamins. Zinc is another valuable mineral provided by the cow tongue which is merely a bonus on top of all the delicious meat you get to enjoy. So what was my first experience with cooking and preparing a cow tongue like? I took lots of pictures so you can relive it with me.

I can’t say I wasn’t a little creeped out by what I placed on my cutting board. My local farmer who I purchased the tongue from actually had TWO tongues processed and wrapped for me (at an affordable cost of around $11) and they were frozen solid. That required me to refrigerate them so I could get one of them defrosted to cook. When they were frozen together, everything was hard as a rock. But pulling out one of the tongues after being thawed was a bit surreal. Here’s what it looked like:

OMG, this a TONGUE! After getting over the heebie jeebies of that coarse tongue and blob of what would ostensibly be the meat I’d be consuming, it wasn’t so bad. But here’s a close-up of the tongue itself where you can see the prickliness of it:

I put the tongue in my crock pot, filled it up with water to submerge the tongue, and added in some Celtic salt, fresh garlic cloves and other spices. The broth this created by the next morning after letting it cook on low overnight (about 8-9 hours) actually looked pretty good:

Pulling the tongue out of the broth and placing it in a bowl, it really wasn’t much to look at. What is that alien creature in my kitchen:

Taking a sharp knife out of my drawer, I carefully started slitting down the middle of the tongue which peeled away surprisingly easily to reveal some luscious and tender meat that had been cooking in my crock pot overnight:

Using a fork, I was able to get most of the meat gathered and put into a container for me to use in a recipe. Here’s the good stuff:

I was tempted to try to follow some recipe, but instead I took on the continued adventure of seeing what I could come up with. I mixed in some cumin, garlic, peppercorns, Celtic salt and other spices as well as some macadamia nut oil to the meat to see how it would taste. Because that combination brought a lot of heat to the dish, I attempted to temper that by adding in some fresh blueberries and country-scrambled eggs:

The meal was delicious and satisfying! All in all, my first experience with cow tongue was pretty good. Christine still hasn’t taken the plunge to eat it yet. She’s got the whole mental block that some of my Facebook friends above expressed. I wonder if I just served it to her and she didn’t know it was a tongue if she’d eat it like she would a pot roast. No doubt about it because the taste and texture is virtually identical. Oh well, if she doesn’t have any, that just means more for me. And I’ve got another beef tongue waiting to be cooked. Maybe this next one I’ll pop in the Sous Vide Supreme. We shall see.

How about you? Have you eaten a cow’s tongue before? Why or why not? If you haven’t, then what is holding you back? If you have, what were your impressions of it. I’d love to hear what you think! Share your thoughts in the comments section below. This is but the first of my adventures in “odd bits” that I’ll be blogging about. I’m not sure what I’ll take on next, but you can be certain I’ll blog about it when I do.

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Jimmy Moore is the popular blogger, podcaster and author of Livin’ La Vida Low-Carb who lost 180 pounds on the Atkins diet in 2004 and quickly established himself as a highly influential layperson in the field of health and nutrition. His wildly successful Livin’ La Vida Low-Carb Blog has been educating, encouraging and inspiring readers since 2005 and his accompanying iTunes podcast The Livin’ La Vida Low-Carb Show with Jimmy Moore is one of the most listened to health broadcasts online today featuring hundreds of enchanting interviews with the leading voices in the world of diet and healthy living! Jimmy’s latest book compiling all the knowledge he has learned along his journey is called 21 Life Lessons From Livin’ La Vida Low-Carb: How The Health Low-Carb Lifestyle Changed Everything I Thought I Knew. He lives in Spartanburg, SC with his beautiful wife Christine and their three cats!

Posted in farm fresh, fresh and local, grass fed beef, health, jimmy moore, livin lavida lo-carb, Nutrition, Paleo, real food, real foods, red meat, saturated fat, wapf, Weston A. Price Foundation | 1 Comment »

Thanks To #AHS11, I’ve Shifted My Diet To A Low-Carb Paleo Approach

Posted by Jimmy Moore on August 29, 2011

I’ve got some BIG NEWS to share below that I can’t wait to tell you about. But more on that in a moment. It’s been just over three weeks since the inaugural Ancestral Health Symposium (aka hashtag #AHS11 on Twitter) took place on the campus of UCLA in Los Angeles, California on August 5-6, 2011. And I’m sure I speak for many of the 600 people who were in attendance at this glorious event when I say I’m still on Cloud 9 from it! In case you missed any of the lectures (39 of them have been posted as of writing this blog post) that were presented at #AHS11, they are now online for your viewing pleasure. And I HIGHLY recommend you watch them to learn more about what was shared there. There were some prominent low-carb speakers, including Gary Taubes, Tom Naughton, Dr. Richard Feinman, Dr. Mike Eades and Dr. Andreas Eenfelt (Who I gave up my speaking slot for so he could have a chance to talk about the LCHF movement in Sweden. Video of his lecture has not yet been posted online but he’ll be on my podcast on Thursday.) as well as many friends of low-carb living such as Nora Gedgaudas, Dr. Emily Deans and Jamie Scott, Robb Wolf, Doug McGuff, John Durant and Mark Sisson. Having interviewed a great majority of the speakers at #AHS11 on my “Livin’ La Vida Low-Carb Show” podcast over the years, it was surreal seeing them all in one place and in the flesh.

My favorite encounter with someone I’ve interviewed twice was with none other than Dr. Robert Lustig (from “Sugar: The Bitter Truth” fame) who was, in all honesty, one of my toughest challenges to get “loose” on my podcast. He’s a very formal guy when it comes to public speaking and it was on full display at #AHS11. Most people I talked to there instantly recognized me and had no trouble coming up to me to say hello. But Dr. Lustig was different. I had seen his AHS lecture and watched him speaking with various people between speaking sessions as people huddled around him. He glanced at me once like he thought he knew me, but then looked away. During lunchtime, I saw Dr. Lustig and walked up to him with the greeting, “Hey Robert!” He offered a very short “hello” and then I shared who I was. “This is Jimmy Moore.” The look on his face was priceless. He immediately changed his demeanor and tone with me stating “Hi, Mr. Moore.” He noted that he thought he recognized me earlier. We had a fabulous conversation where he said he wasn’t against a low-carb diet but that there needs to be more research done on it for him to embrace the concept. Dr. Feinman also got into some one-on-one discussions with him about carbohydrate restriction. Oh to be a fly on the wall during those chats!

Christine and I were grateful to John and Rossana Forzanti from Viva Low-Carb for providing us transportation to and from the airport as well as a fabulous dinner while were were in LA. John is a big fan of the science of low-carb living and attended #AHS11 with us. On the way from the airport to our hotel, we got into a conversation about Paleo diets and how not everyone at this conference believes low-carb and Paleo go together. “But aren’t they synonymous?” John asked. I went on to explain that there are people in the Paleo community who eat more carbohydrates than what we would consider “low-carb” and there are others who consume a WHOLE LOT MORE carbs on their Paleo diet. This falls right in line with Chris Kresser’s “Paleo template” concept which we discussed on Episode 20 of “Low-Carb Conversations with Jimmy Moore & Friends.” It was a mish-mash of all sorts of people across the Paleo spectrum at #AHS11 which made for an interesting conversation piece throughout the conference.

I did sense there was some tension between the low-carb attendees and those Paleo peeps who call for more carbohydrates in their ancestral diet. Most of the attention has been given to the squabble between Gary Taubes and Stephan Guyenet which prompted the latter to write a blog post entitled “The Carbohydrate Hypothesis of Obesity: a Critical Examination” where he attempts to dismantle the “carbohydrates raise insulin which leads to obesity” theory promoted by Taubes. You can see video of Taubes’ question to Guyenet during the Q&A session following Guyenet’s lecture here. Many in the audience felt Taubes was rude for the “you should pay attention…” comment he made at the end of his question to Guyenet. And quite honestly, it was. Taubes later apologized to Guyenet privately (probably should have been public), but the gauntlet had been lowered. Guyenet has since posted another column called “A Roadmap To Obesity” where he outlines the case for his “food reward” theory which he thinks is the underlying culprit in people getting fat. Taubes is working on a blog post of his own at GaryTaubes.com which he tells me is forthcoming soon (could be a few days…might be a few weeks) after which both he and Guyenet have agreed to come on my podcast to talk about their respective theories regarding what leads to obesity. I see this kind of open discussion as a very good thing because it allows for us to hash out all the pros and cons of what we believe and why we believe. The moment we stop trying to learn is when we become mindless robots making what we believe is true into a nutritional religious belief (Robb Wolf addressed this in his talk). And if we get the science wrong, we also become a laughingstock which doesn’t help our cause (Mat “The Kracken” Lalonde made this point during his lecture).

Honestly, though, most of the people who attended #AHS11 were under the age of 30, looked very healthy and fit, and are super-enthusiastic about this way of eating that has helped them get there. But as someone over the age of 30 (I’m turning 40 in December), once weighing in at 410 pounds but now with stellar health markers despite some extra weight, and equally gung-ho about the low-carb lifestyle and what it has done for me, I found all this inter-dietary-squabbling about the slight differences we have between us just a bit odd. Aren’t we all on the same page trying to help people who are mindlessly eating the Standard American Diet (SAD) find a pathway to improved health by making better choices in their diets? That has been a major reason why I have been active at my blog, podcasts, YouTube videos and all the other work online for over the past six years to help educate, encourage and inspire others to make this change for themselves. Must we get so caught up in the minutia of how much carbohydrate someone must eat in our diet that we forget the average Joe and Jane are downing Coca-Cola, Twinkies, McDonald’s French Fries and Doritos like they’re going out of style? None of us thinks this is healthy and yet this is the typical fare for more Americans than we probably know.

While I can appreciate (and even actively promote) an exuberant passion for sharing what you have learned in your own personal nutritional journey, it’s important to remember that we are not all the same. For some of us who aren’t as young and fit as the average #AHS11 attendee, perhaps people who are “metabolically deranged” require a more restrictive diet that is lower in carbohydrates to help them attain optimal health. This is an ongoing discussion that I am pleased to see continue as long as we keep our eyes on the big picture of what all of this means regarding the impact ancestral/Paleo/low-carb living has on public health. All of this leads me to the main point of why I’m writing this blog post. For all the so-called “controversy” of #AHS11, in the end it was a fabulous meeting that I highly recommend for anyone interested in their health. #AHS12 is already planned for August 9-11, 2012 in Boston, Massachusetts at Harvard University in association with the Harvard Food Law Society. If you missed out on #AHS11 and are kicking yourself for it, then be sure to keep your eyes peeled closely to AncestryFoundation.org for all the details about this event moving to the East Coast in 2012! Listen to my podcast interview with the creators of The Ancestral Health Symposium–Brent Pottenger and Aaron Blaisdell–coming up on Thursday, September 9, 2011.

Okay, so here’s the big news I alluded to at the beginning of this post: Christine and I have decided to try a high-fat, low-carb version of the Paleo diet. We started last Sunday, August 21, 2011 and have been enjoying it immensely so far. I’m so proud of Christine for making the choice to do this after years of dibble-dabbling with low-carb just kinda sorta. She’s never had a weight problem so it wasn’t as evident to her about why she needed to eat this way. But thanks to the heaps of inspiration coming out of #AHS11, it has caused her to shift her personal diet to a low-carb Paleo approach. And she’s even letting me train her with weights now to add some muscle to her body too. If you know my wife Christine, both of these moves are HUGE for her. It’s been a long time coming for me too since I had allowed some bad habits to creep into my low-carb lifestyle. From diet sodas to artificial sweeteners and even the “low-carb” products, I had grown lackadaisical and sloppy in my livin’ la vida low-carb journey. Although I had included some elements of Paleo into my routine (grass-fed meats, coconut oil, etc.), I’d never jumped in all the way–until now.

When I announced this on Twitter and Facebook, some people thought I had “left” low-carb (whatever that means). Uhhh, no, I haven’t departed from the diet that helped me shed triple digit weight and attain some of the most incredible health numbers of my entire life. High-fat, low-carb principles still apply with what I’m doing now. The major differences are I have decided to cut out dairy (we’ll see if it makes a difference in me), grains and vegetable oils (haven’t been consuming these anyway), no artificial sweeteners at all, choosing only grass-fed, pastured, and organic foods whenever possible, and even dabbling in some various “other” parts of the animal to try (just got me some beef tongue from my local farmer). Guess what? So far, so good. This has rekindled my love for cooking again and here’s just a sampling of the kind of dishes I’ve been serving up in the Moore household over the past week:

Using fresh garlic, spices, fresh locally-grown and raised foods, and the best quality ingredients I can find, this has been an amazing ride so far (and we can’t wait to try so many new foods in the coming months)! We cleaned out our refrigerator and cupboards so that all that’s left is Paleo-friendly (I’ll likely do a video of the food I have in my house now). Plus, I’ve needed to adjust my n=1 experiments to reflect these changes and I’ll be testing the so-called “safe” carbs as espoused by people like Paul Jaminet (his #AHS11 lecture has not yet been posted) later this year. I’m also skipping to every other month with these experiments to limit the impact on my weight and health. Since I’d already started the Atkins products with the shakes in July, I’ll do the Atkins bars in September to complete that circle. However, I don’t see that I’d eat those bars as part of my low-carb Paleo lifestyle.

So many of my readers have already been making these kind of changes in their low-carb lifestyle as I discovered in my blog survey earlier this year. A real, whole foods approach is the goal of livin’ la vida low-carb anyway. I think too many people get hung up on trying to find a “low-carb” version of cakes, cookies, pizza, bread, pasta, and other such foods that they forget to just eat real food (JERF as my buddy Sean Croxton calls it). So that’s where I am with the full support and participation of my wife right now and I look forward to seeing what if any impact this will make. I’ll let you know in the coming months what is happening. I’d love to know what you think about these changes. Feel free to leave your comments below.

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Jimmy Moore is the popular blogger, podcaster and author of Livin’ La Vida Low-Carb who lost 180 pounds on the Atkins diet in 2004 and quickly established himself as a highly influential layperson in the field of health and nutrition. His wildly successful Livin’ La Vida Low-Carb Blog has been educating, encouraging and inspiring readers since 2005 and his accompanying iTunes podcast The Livin’ La Vida Low-Carb Show with Jimmy Moore is one of the most listened to health broadcasts online today featuring hundreds of enchanting interviews with the leading voices in the world of diet and healthy living! Jimmy’s latest book compiling all the knowledge he has learned along his journey is called 21 Life Lessons From Livin’ La Vida Low-Carb: How The Health Low-Carb Lifestyle Changed Everything I Thought I Knew. He lives in Spartanburg, SC with his beautiful wife Christine and their three cats!

Posted in fresh and local, grass fed beef, health, jimmy moore, livin lavida lo-carb, Paleo | Leave a Comment »

Not Taking the EWG Pledge

Posted by Kaayla T. Daniel, PhD, CCN on August 2, 2011

The Environmental Working Group has asked Americans to go meatless once per week and “Take the pledge to eat less and greener meat!”   Chef Mario Batali and other celebrities have gone on board to help EWG enlist 100,000 people who will sign the pledge, commit to eating a more “veg centric” diet, and “build awareness” of how much our food choices impact the planet.

I personally am not about to take that pledge though EWG’s slogan “Reduce your impact, improve your health” sounds like a “win/win.”    EWG tells us, for example, that Americans who skip meat and cheese just one day a week — such as with a “Meatless Monday” –  can cut carbon emissions equal to taking 7.6 million cars off the road.   And it promises that reducing meat consumption will lower our risk of obesity, heart disease, stroke and cancer.

Sadly, EWG’s proposal will do very little for the environment.   Worse, it will encourage people to feel “feel good” about their growing green consciousness while distracting them from exploring and adopting genuine, sustainable solutions.  While it is certainly good that EWG recommends “greener” meat and not just “less meat” or even “no meat,” the catchy “Meatless Monday” slogan perpetuates the myth that meat is evil and that  plant-based diets are the key to personal and planetary health.

Here’s why I’m not taking the EWG pledge:

  • The true threat to our environment is not animals — which have been covering the earth with manure and emissions for tens of thousands of years — but the globalization and industrialization of agriculture with its unconscionable, factory-farming practices, toxic use of pesticides, herbicides and commercial fertilizers, plundering of natural resources, draining of the water table, and bankrupting of small farmers and cottage industries.  EWG’s nod to “greener meat”  suggests they actually understand this, but the overriding message  is to stop eating meat of any type.   As for all that climate-warming gas,  animals emit far less when they eat natural, grass-based diets and not unnatural, hard-to-digest feeds manufactured from soybeans, corn and other grains.
  • Plowing pastures and rangeland in order to plant crops is not sustainable and won’t do much to feed the hungry or save the environment.    Only about eleven percent of the land on planet earth can be farmed, a percentage that cannot be increased without deforestation, irrigation, chemical fertilizers, and other destructive ecological practices.  Old-fashioned organic mixed-use farms are the answer.   And animals are essential, not optional, for healthy farms.
  • America’s top soil has been devastated by mono cropping, lawns and other unsustainable practices.   While mixing, rotating and composting plants is a start, land cannot be restored without the help of animals.  They are needed not only for their rich manure but for rotational grazing.   Animal waste is truly a horrific problem with factory farming but is valuable and collectible on small, mixed-use farms.  Overgrazing has certainly damaged much of America’s land, but the solution is sustainable grazing practices.   And that solution, properly handled, serves the land far better than leaving it alone for “conservation.”    As Joel Salatin has described so well in The Sheer Ecstasy of Being a Lunatic Farmer, Everything I Want to Do is Illegal and other books, diversity, interdependence and layering are the keys to honoring and restoring our land.  Salatin also argues cogently for putting our trust in local farmers and not in the official certification programs EWG recommends.   How many more exposes of pseudo organic does the Cornucopia Institute need to make before EWG comprehends that certification can — and often has been –  co-opted and corrupted.?  As Salatin explains so well, “transparency” between consumers and farmers is the answer.  That means thinking globally and acting locally by getting “up front and personal” with your food source.
  • EWG blames animal foods for the diseases of modern civilization, including cancer and heart disease.  But the 20th century saw a decline in the consumption of meat, dairy and butter consumption, but a sharp increase in the consumption of sugar, corn syrup, white flour, liquid and partially hydrogenated vegetable oils, artificial flavorings, preservatives and other known health hazard of processed, packaged and fast foods.   Contrary to popular belief, science does not support the idea that saturated fat and cholesterol found in animal products contribute to obesity, diabetes, heart disease and cancer.   All health problems associated with animal products lie with factory farming and other commercial and non-sustainable farming and food processing practices.   As for plant-based diets,  vegan diets especially can lead to vitamin, mineral, fatty acid and amino acid deficiencies and imbalances, contributing to myriad health problems, including cancer and heart disease.
  • EWG recommends low-fat dairy because “less fat will mean fewer cancer causing toxins in the body.”  That’s nonsense, of course, when we are talking about the health-giving fat found in the milk of cows and goats who spend their lives out in the sun on pasture.  This recommendation further fails to recognize that not all toxins are fat- soluble, many are water-soluble, and commercially grown fruits, vegetables, grains, beans and seeds are often loaded with toxins, including the dioxins that EWG erroneously states are found “entirely” in animal products.
  • The idea that eating lowfat could be eco-conscious also defies common sense.   The lowfat gospel is a key reason why factory farms — including so-called organic factory farms — grow freakish hens with size DD breasts.  Big Agra’s goal with such chickens is to minimize the less-profitable dark meat and maximize the lowfat white meat preferred by “health conscious” consumers.   The lowfat message pleases Big Pfood immensely because it profits mightily when whole foods are divided into several different products — which is to say multiple profit centers.   All of these, of course, will require manufacturing, packaging and long distance hauling   As for the skim milk recommended by EWG, nature put fat in milk for a reason, and that reason was not to kill us.  When people drink skim milk, their bodies need and crave that missing cream, leading to compensatory bingeing on ice cream and other unhealthy treats high in both fat and sugar.   Lowfat thus leads to increased consumption, more packages, more products, higher profits,  ill health and environmental destruction.
  • Yet another problem with EWG’s lowfat recommendation is it encourages people not to cook.  How so?   Because fat is what gives food flavor.    Cooks who choose lean cuts and prepare vegetables without butter or other tasty fats, often think they are lousy cooks.   Making lowfat foods tasty, after all, requires complicated spicings and other gourmet tricks.   This drives people to eat out often or to dine at home on lowfat packaged foods.   Out or in, the manufacturers have ramped up flavors with with MSG and other additives.
  • EWG’s tips for eco-conscious consumers include reducing food waste by buying “right size portions.”    What’s wrong with that?   It buys into the idea that meat comes in little packages.   Boneless, skinless chicken breast, for example, instead of the entire chicken — white meat and dark, tough cuts and tender, organ meats like liver, and skins, bones, tendons and cartilage in old-fashioned broth.   EWG is right to point out the cost to the environment of food that goes bad and ends up in landfills, but recommends a “solution” that means more packaging, not less.  How about some emphasis on old-fashioned thrift?   Using leftovers, freezing and, most important of all, valuing and using the entire animal?
  • EWG reports that buying vegetables locally helps the environment, but buying eggs, milk, fish, poultry and meat locally has only a minimal effect.  This is one of the primary reasons EWG recommends we cut back on all meat and adopt a more “veg centric” diet.   Such a bizarre finding could only be the case if the researchers evaluated the environmental impact of buying animal products from factory farms — including “Big Organic” operations — located close to home.  It furthermore fails to take into account the role animals play in restoring our soil and growing nutrient-dense vegetables and fruits.  Without animals nearby, farmers must use fossil fuel fertilizers and/or compost and manure transported from far away.   Not good for the environment!
  • Finally, if  people give up or minimize meat, what will they eat instead?    EWG suggests grains, beans and tofu.   In other words, vegetarian foods that are most likely grown and transported from a distance.   Furthermore,  the mistaken goal of eating less meat  will drive many consumers to buy processed and packaged vegetarian entrees full of soy protein isolate, corn syrup, MSG and other excitotoxins, “natural” or artificial colorings and flavorings as well as other dubious and non-green ingredients.   Clearly not an option for wellness seekers or environmentalists.

What to do instead?   How about committing to one day a week  in which the menu includes nothing that comes in a package?   How about eating nothing with a label or a barcode?   How about 100 percent local, preferably from farmers who use only locally obtained feeds, fertilizers and workers?   In other words, boycott supermarkets and Join the ranks of the Non Barcode People.

Kaayla T. Daniel, PhD, CCN, is The Naughty NutritionistTM because of her ability to outrageously and humorously debunk nutritional myths. A popular guest on radio and television, she has appeared on The Dr Oz Show, ABC’s View from the Bay, NPR’s People’s Pharmacy and numerous other shows. Her own radio show, “Naughty Nutrition with Dr. Kaayla Daniel,” launched recently on World of Women (WOW) Radio. Dr Daniel is the author of The Whole Soy Story: The Dark Side of America’s Favorite Health Food, a popular speaker at Wise Traditions and other conferences, a Board Member of the Weston A. Price Foundation and recipient of its 2005 Integrity in Science Award. Her website is www.naughtynutritionist.com and she can be reached at Kaayla@DrKaaylaDaniel.com.

Posted in Big Agriculture, Dr. Kaayla Daniels, fresh and local, grass fed beef, Kaayla T. Daniel, Naughty Nutritionist, soy | Tagged: , , , , , | 7 Comments »

A Summer Lunch

Posted by Maureen Diaz on July 27, 2011

Chilled Tomato-Basil with Cucumber Soup

With all the bounty coming in from the garden and orchard, I thought I would quickly share today’s lunch menu with you; perhaps it will prove inspiring.

First, a fresh tomato-basil with cucumber soup, raw, made in my Vita Mix (an indispensable tool). Everything from the garden, except the garlic (sadly, we haven’t managed to fit that in yet).

Sopprasetta Salami, aged cheddar.

Gingered Carrots and Sauerkraut with garlic & jalapeno.

Organic, un-cured sausage sautéed with butter, olive oil, onions, garlic, tomatoes & green pepper and topped with raw Monterey Jack farmstead cheese. Served over a bed of buttered brown rice spaghetti, for the men in the family (I pass on the grains for now).

And for dessert a smoothy (which, actually, was served first :P ): raw, whole milk yogurt made yesterday/overnight with our own fresh milk, just-picked blackberries from the orchard, a hint of vanilla & a touch of honey.

How difficult is that? Not at all, I assure you, and everyone seems quite satisfied :)

Now go ahead-toss a tasty, but simple, meal together for your family with farm-fresh foods and produce from your garden, patio, or local farmers’ market!

Maureen Diaz is a homeschooling mother of 9, a WAPF chapter leader, and a certified LW Nutritionist. She also has produced 3 cooking DVD’s including her latest, Liberation Wellness Home Cooking. Check out & order her DVD’s on her website, www.nourishingtraditionalcook.com 

Posted in Butter, Cheese, Family Wellness, farm fresh, Fermented Foods, fresh and local, LCHF, liberation diet, liberation wellness, Local Foods, Maureen Diaz, raw milk, real food, real foods, Uncategorized | Tagged: , , | 1 Comment »

Enjoying the Bounty of the Season

Posted by Maureen Diaz on July 25, 2011

Garden Produce

A portion of what a 5 minute foray into the garden yielded

You may have wondered where I have been lately. It isn’t that there has been nothing to write about, nor that I’ve no longer an interest in this blog. But rather, we have been busy as beavers around this place, working hard and enjoying the bounty of the season!

Our family has a lovely 10 acre parcel in a mountain valley of South Central Pennsylvania. And on that piece of ground we raise much of our family’s food, something which I think most families could actually do so long as they have at least 2 or 3 acres of dirt and a little determination :)

For years we have raised a family cow for fresh milk, yogurt, butter, cheese, kefir, and meat (the annual calf or two). This year our “Lady” blessed us with 2 calves-quite a delightful surprise! We will have plentiful beef in the coming years and for now have lots of good, rich milk, abundant manure for the garden and pastures, as well as enjoyment as we all work together in the care of these animals.

It doesn’t take a lot of land to raise chickens, and we have about 160 of them growing right now, some for eggs and most for meat. We started butchering 2 weeks ago and have already enjoyed our first delicious chicken dinner, with more in the freezer- mmm! There is nothing like a meal of roasted chicken stuffed with fresh herbs and homemade butter! We look forward to many such meals, accompanied by vegetables still warm from the sun and fruit from our orchard!

Years ago a variety of fruit trees were planted and an orchard formed. Were we to do it all over again, I believe it would have been lovely to simply incorporate these beautiful trees into the landscape. However as it is, we now have a beautiful, mature orchard which bears much fruit. The peaches are just on the brink of being ripe, and the blackberries will also be  coming in by the bushel: I feel some blackberry/peach smoothies coming on, made with our own creamy yogurt and a touch of local, raw honey. What could be better?!

While we still could do far more with the land we have, I am grateful for what we have accomplished and what it brings to the table: milk, meat, eggs, vegetables, fruit, and perhaps next year there will again be honey, lamb and pork. I want to encourage you to see what you can do where you are. Much of our salad greens & a few tomatoes were grown in a container on a porch, as are bountiful herbs. Chickens don’t take up much space at all, and are easy to raise (fun, too!). And all it takes is about 1-2 acres per large animal for meat and milk (for goats and sheep, even less), when managed properly. With today’s uncertain times and our government making it difficult at best to obtain good quality, nutrient-dense, and clean food, maybe it’s time we all think about what we can do to provide for our own?

Maureen Diaz is a homeschooling mother of 9, a WAPF chapter leader, and a certified LW Nutritionist. She also has produced 3 cooking DVD’s including her latest, Liberation Wellness Home Cooking. Check out & order her DVD’s on her website, www.nourishingtraditionalcook.com 

Togetherness makes this job fun!

When the day’s chores are done, it’s time to go fishin’!

An assortment of chickens growing in a portable pen

Posted in Family Wellness, farm fresh, Food freedom, Food Politics, Food Safety, fresh and local, grass fed beef, liberation wellness, Local Foods, Maureen Diaz, Nutrition, raw milk, real food, real foods, Total Wellness, vegetables, wellness | Tagged: , , , , | 4 Comments »

Eating Well on a Near-Zero Budget

Posted by Maureen Diaz on May 12, 2011

One of the most common excuses I hear from those considering a truly healthy diet is that, “It is so expensive!”. I completely understand this sentiment, but have found ways for my family to eat a nutrient-dense diet even in the face of real financial hardship.

Before I go on it must be said that, while good food does cost more in the short term, a diet rife with processed, devitalized “food” is far more expensive in the long run when one considers where it leads in terms of poor health, disease, and loss of production due to low energy and illness. It is for this reason that our family is committed to a healthy diet, no matter what!

This past winter is an excellent case in point. My husband is a very talented, self-employed high-end designer and carpenter who does not always get paid on time. In fact, when facing unexpected obstacles on a job, he may not get paid for weeks or months at a time, which is exactly where we found ourselves this year. We had very little money trickling in and found ourselves falling way behind on everything. Week after week we would have only a few dollars, if any, that we could spend on food, and so we had to be very frugal and creative to make every penny and every morsel count!

The main thing that got is through this tough period was bone broth. Do you have any idea how much you can do with this wonderful food?! By itself it is a wonderful, warming breakfast with a little egg mixed in. Add vegetables that are past their prime (CHEAP!) or leftover and you have an endless variety of soups! A little rice or brown rice pasta, beans (soaked for 24 hours with a little vinegar, of course) and you have a filling meal. I was able to empty my freezer of garden leftovers as well as purchase wilting or scarred organic produce, slice it up, toss it in the pot, and then puree everything into one delicious concoction, meal after meal. No need to throw away any veggie peels (nutrients!)  as my Kitcehn Aide stick blender works wonders for this. Add a little potato, or arrow root flour if you want your soup to be thicker. Sometimes I would even pour in souring cream or milk. Nothing need go to waste!

It is of the utmost priority to us that we have raw dairy daily in the form of fresh, raw milk, yogurt, and cheese. Thankfully at this point in time we have our own family cow to supply most of this, but even in times past when things have been rough we

"Lady" gives us plenty of fresh milk, cream and butter

have always made sure to have enough raw milk on hand to make yogurt and kefir, as well as for drinking. We might have a limit as to how much is available for general consumption, but we will have our raw, grass-fed milk, even if it means searching for pennies in the sofa! And raw milk cheese is a relatively inexpensive, filling source of nutrients that we always keep on hand. As with the fresh milk, quantity may be limited, but it is always available.

We can make a big pot of chili and really stretch it out by using a lot of beans (I prefer pinto) and less meat. Top it off with some of that cheese and some homemade sour cream and you have another cheap but nutritious and filling meal. I just made a stock pot full yesterday as a matter of fact, and it has already fed my large brood 3 times with still more left for later!

Making your own bread using whole grains is a great way to stretch the food dollar. I also make biscuits and muffins for my crew often, which helps them feel satisfied and pleased with their meal.

Eggs are a relatively cheap source of protein, and I work our supply into quiche, frittata, and scrambled eggs daily. By varying the form in which I serve eggs my kids don’t often get bored with the same old thing. Cheese of course helps with this as well, and having several varieties on hand changes flavors dramatically. We almost always keep Montery Jack and Cheddar on hand, but also Blue and Parmesan. The Blue & hard, Italian cheeses I find at the supermarket or Trader Joe’s in the specialty cheese aisle, where I always look for lack of the word “pasteurized” in the ingredient list. These are more expensive and so I can’t always purchase them, but a little goes a long way so a 1/2 lb. block can actually last for several weeks if I’m careful (and the kids don’t raid the fridge :) ).

I make stock pots full of pinto beans about once a month and keep them in quart jars to pull out for an easy, and cheap!, meal. They may go with Mexican-seasoned ground beef and be served over rice; or stuff a tortilla, along with cheese, to make quesadillas. Filling, quick, nutritious, and inexpensive! We enjoyed many such meals this past winter and never grew weary of them!

Potatoes are nourishing and cheap, so once the supply from our own garden ran out I sought organic potatoes in bulk direct from the farm. Appearance does not matter once food is pureed, put in a casserole, or simply in your mouth, so seconds are fine and again a money saver.

Don’t forget to have lots of butter and other good fats on hand, as I did, to help satiate and nourish. We will not be without butter or olive & coconut oils, but I take advantage of sales and “Bent-and-Dent” stores to load up on these important foods.

Buying all of these ingredients in bulk always saves you money, often lots of it, and stocking up in times of plenty helps pull you through the lean months. Because this is how we normally buy food, we did have quite a lot of staples in storage to see us through most of the winter.

We are currently working on a very full garden and plan to dehydrate, ferment, and freeze large quantities of vegetables to see us through next year. Even if all you have is a patio there is much that you can grow in containers which helps to stretch the food budget immensely, so go for it! Otherwise produce such as cabbage and potatoes are penny savers and can be fermented and/or stored for long periods of time with no loss of value.

Also, even in the city one can often raise a few chickens for eggs and/or meat. You can check your local regulations and may be surprised to find that it is perfectly legal to raise hens, at the least! But even if it is not technically legal, with understanding and friendly neighbors you may be able to get away with more than you think… We are raising the majority of our own poultry this year, both for meat and eggs.

One method of acquiring food not to be overlooked is by barter. At one point when we were without two pennies to rub together, quite literally, I was able to trade some of my home made goods for meat and bones with a farmer friend (Thanks so much, Jonas and Judy!). If you have a product or service to offer you may be happy to find a farmer who would be thrilled to make a swap!

Also, because we try to treat our farmers well, they have become our friends. Our family has a great deal of respect, admiration, and love for these fine, hard working people! And so from time to time when one has known we are struggling, or because they also know that I am willing to take what others reject and make something good of it, we will be sometimes be offered extras or freezer overload. This winter we were blessed with more good beef bones, dried beans, rice and a few other things which added up to a lot. It pays to treat people well! I am so grateful for our farmers and friends!

One thing which I haven’t addressed is the fact that much of what I mention is rather high-carb. This was problematic for me over the winter months, and I am still working on taking off a few of those extra pounds which I picked up from too much rice and beans. I will say that, generally speaking, I was able to avoid much of the carb-rich foods by just eating everything else, but at times this just could not be helped. So for those of you needing to restrict your carbohydrate intake for one reason another, bear in mind that if you can load up more on non-starchy vegetables and plenty of fat, along with the bone broth, you will fare much better. I am making sure to have far more vegetables, bones, and inexpensive cuts of meat in the freezer for next year. (We would have had much more meat in the freezer this past winter, had it not wondered off on four legs shortly before time to butcher :P )

Our family can not thank the Weston A Price Foundation and Sally Fallon Morell enough for the education which we have received that has helped get our family through this very rough time. Without Nourishing Traditions, Wise Traditions, or the opportunity to learn from others at events such as the annual conference, I would not have known the virtues of bone broth, real milk, fermented foods, or pastured eggs! How would I have known to replace soda with kombucha, or “whole grain” bread with sourdough? And would I have realized the importance of nutrient-dense, sacred foods, even when it was most difficult to acquire them? No, all of this information was acquired from hours spent with Sally and others in books, lectures, workshops, videos, and one-on-one. These lessons are far beyond any tangible value I could assess, and we are grateful!

Now don’t let money, or lack-there-of, be an issue in how you feed your family or yourself; if our family can survive and thrive on a tiny food budget, so can yours. I say, “Go for it!”!

Maureen Diaz is a homeschooling mother of 9, a WAPF chapter leader, and a certified LW Nutritionist. She also has produced 3 cooking DVD’s including her latest, Liberation Wellness Home Cooking. Check out & order her DVD’s on her website, www.nourishingtraditionalcook.com 

Posted in Butter, Cheese, coconut oil, Family Wellness, farm fresh, Fermented Foods, fresh and local, grains, grass fed beef, health, Local Foods, Maureen Diaz, Nutrition, processed food, raw milk, real food, real foods, sally fallon, Sally Fallon Morell, saturated fat, vegetables, Weston A. Price Foundation, weston price | 4 Comments »

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