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It’s hard to believe it’s been a year since our last event, but it has.
And Wednesday the 16th of this month is your chance to once again converge on the Hill and remind your Representatives and Senators that they do indeed work for us. The Farm Food Voices Feast this year is from 12-2p.
The lobbying aspect of the day takes place before and after the mixer.
This year, the region’s best Chef’s have joined their voices with ours and our local farmers’ to present for Congress and us a catered affair that would make a Kennedy envious.
Poste Brasserie is returning, along with Coppi’s, Restaurant 3, Nora’s, Food Matters, Lavender Moon and Krishon Chocolates. Making their debuts this year are Level Small Plates Lounge, Equinox, Ivy Inn, Maple Avenue. Plus two of Top Chef’s finalists will be representing their kitchens—Volt and Alchemy by Carla Hall. Main Event, just awarded Best Caterer in the Country, has graciously agreed to organize the load in, setup and load out. Oh yeah, they’ll be roasting a whole pig from a local farm again this year.
We know how difficult it is to make time for these headaches, but most of the work has already been done. For the rest of the year you can buy from local farms. This is your opportunity to add your voice to the growing chorus; it is the day that your presence on the Hill and inside your elected representatives’ offices gives form to your statement.
By overcoming our differences and linking up, we become the connected links of a chain: strong, efficacious and flexible.
Liz Reitzig is a certified Liberation Wellness Nutritionist and a regular contributor to Liberation Wellness (www.LiberationWellnessBlog.com) She serves as President of the Maryland Independent Consumers and Farmers Association and Secretary of the National Independent Consumers and Farmers Association. As a champion for real foods and farm freedom, Liz is the co-founder and partner in a farm fresh buying club and raises her own family on real foods from local farms. She is also a Chapter Leader for the Weston A Price Foundation.
Today I’m gonna hit on one of my biggest pet peeves about the modern-day health culture we live in that absolutely drives me bonkers. Have you noticed just how brazen so many food companies have become in recent years in an attempt to improve their much-deserved “junk food” image by making blatant health claims about their products that are completely meaningless? It’s as if they are pulling out all the stops in their efforts to pull the wool over the eyes of common sense thinking so they can bamboozle the consumer into making a purchase under false pretenses. My wife Christine and I exposed this dastardly marketing agenda of the food manufacturers last summer with our 10-part “Health Claims Gone Wild” YouTube video series. And yet major food manufacturers like Frito-Lay have stepped up their efforts in 2011 to help boost the sales of their chips which have seen a decline in sales in recent years (ostensibly because people are being more mindful of their carbohydrate intake–thank you Dr. Atkins).
Frito-Lay pledged in 2010 to make over half of their product line “healthier” by removing the MSG, artificial colors and flavors, as well as most of the salt in their products which include Lay’s potato chips, Sun Chips, Tostido’s, and more. Additionally, they’re cutting the fat in these products by 40 percent with a goal of making the saturated fat content of all of their products less than 1 gram per serving. The president and CEO of Frito-Lay Al Carey made the following statement at this news conference that exemplifies why I’m so jaded about the future of health in the United States: “My objective is in three years that all of our products will be either ‘better for you’ or ‘good for you.’”
Now I’m sure Mr. Carey was well-meaning when he said this, but can anyone else see the irony of it all? We’re talking about potato chips here and the way they propose to make them “better for you” or “good for you” has everything to do with reducing the salt and fat in them. But does this make them healthier for the consumer? I think not. In fact, I remember back in the 1980s when Lay’s had a famous television commercial featuring NBA legends Kareem Abdul-Jabbar and Larry Bird making a bet that “you can’t eat just one.”
The theme song of the marketing back then was, “No one can eat just one.” Man how times have changed! In 2011, the consumer is attempting to be more health-conscious and Frito-Lay is now transitioning their efforts in this regard to meet that growing demand with a brand new series of television commercials attempting to paint the picture that their chip products are somehow “better” by featuring the voiceover acting skills of Kyle Chandler (Friday Night Lights, Early Edition). If you’ve been watching television at all in the past couple of months, then surely you’ve seen these:
“We make them natural…you make them fun.” Cutesy tagline, right? But did anyone else catch the slick marketing slight-of-hand in these ads? I guess because my life is so dedicated to the subject of health and nutrition that this stuff is more obvious to me than most people. But the average Joe and Jane sitting at home watching the boob tube might watch any of those commercials and say, “Hey, they’re making those ‘all-natural’ chips healthier and by hand. I need to go get me some of them there chips the next time I go to the grocery store since I’m trying to lose weight and be healthy.” Sound preposterous? Maybe to you and me, but not to the people who still think salt and dietary fat are the problem with weight and health. And that’s why this new campaign from Frito-Lay is so insidious. Just because these chips are “all-natural,” that doesn’t mean they’re necessarily good or healthy for you. BAMBOOZLED!
Admittedly, back in my low-fat dieting days I happily went to my local Subway restaurant to get my low-fat turkey sub without mayonnaise and made it a combo meal with a bag of Sun Chips and a Diet Coke. The Sun Chips were and are still promoted as healthy because they have whole grains in them and are low in fat. And I even tried some of the now infamous Lay’s WOW potato chips with the fake fat olestra which resulted in some not-so-desirable gastrointestinal side effects. I fell for the low-fat marketing scheme that is now befalling a whole new wave of consumers with this effort by Frito-Lay to move towards the “natural” branding of their products. Here’s a CBS News story about the dramatic change in focus by Frito-Lay in 2011.
Did you catch that in the CBS story? They can’t make Cheetos or Doritos without artificial ingredients! Sheez, that’s quite telling…but they’re working on it. Oh joy! And I don’t mean to sound ugly or anything, but did you see what that Chief Marketing Officer for Frito-Lay Ann Mukherjee looked like?
I’m empathetic with anyone who struggles with their weight, but it does appear that the person directly responsible for marketing at Frito-Lay desperately needs to find better information about what is causing her own weight struggles. Unfortunately, if they think it’s the fat and salt causing the problems then they are sorely mistaken. But that’s EXACTLY what they’re doing as Frito-Lay Registered Dietitian and Nutrition Scientist Danielle Dalheim brags about in this promo video pushing “sensible snacking” with Frito-Lay chips:
Our chips are not cooked in saturated fats–”the bad fats”–and instead we use monounsaturated vegetable oil fats. Incredible! Again, the average consumer doesn’t know any better that these “choices” aren’t even close to being ideal for anyone attempting to eat a healthy diet. And yet that’s how they’re being marketed with this new “Naturally Delicious” advertising push. You’ll get a better feel for what Frito-Lay thinks “healthy” snacking is all about in this Q&A section on their web site dedicated to explaining it all in great detail. From demonizing saturated fats, promoting the “calories in, calories out” mantra, claiming their products are real food, worrying about salt as if it’s some health hazard, pushing MORE snacking as a means for losing weight, and finding a reason for virtually everyone to buy their chips. Well, after taking a look at the nutritional info on some of their new “All Natural” branded chips that are supposed to be the healthiest, I’ll never be buying this stuff again for the rest of my life:
TOSTIDOS ALL NATURAL SCOOPS What’s bad about it: Made with starchy corn (maybe genetically modified, too!) and cooked in omega-6 loaded vegetable fats with a whopping 19g carbohydrate for the one-ounce serving size of chips. Who do you know that just eats ONE ounce of potato chips? Me neither! Betcha can’t eat just one serving!
LAY’S ALL NATURAL GARDEN TOMATO & BASIL What’s bad about it: Besides being made with the very starchy potato and then cooked in omega-6-rich vegetable oils, the seasoning has sugar, brown sugar and dextrose in it and the ingredients show there’s also nonfat milk in this chip. Sugar, sugar and more sugar–OH MY! So is that supposed to be part of what makes it “all-natural?”
LAY’S ALL NATURAL BARBECUE What’s bad about it: In addition to the potatoes and vegetable oils, did you catch what they put in the BBQ seasoning that’s anything but “all-natural?” It’s this innocent-sounding ingredient called “corn sugar” that you might know better as high-fructose corn syrup (HFCS). They can change the name of the ingredient, but that doesn’t change what it is!
LAY’S ALL NATURAL CLASSIC What’s bad about it: This one passes the Michael Pollan “5 ingredients or less” test since it only has three ingredients in it. But look at what those three ingredients are: potatoes (starchy carbs), vegetable oils (inflammatory omega-6 fats), and salt (probably man-made and not the more natural sea salt). This gives you a one-ounce snack that provides a total of 15g carbohydrate and not much nutritionally for you. How can they sucker people into thinking this is “healthy” with a straight face?
I could go on with Tostidos All Natural Multigrain, Rold Gold All Natural Everything Bagel Pretzels, Sun Chips All Natural Garden Salsa, Sun Chips All Natural Original, and Sun Chips All Natural Harvest Cheddar. No matter what Frito-Lay tries to say about their revamped potato chip line-up, I’ve gotta call a spade a spade–this stuff is pure unadulterated junk garbage that doesn’t even deserve to be called “food.” Anyone who buys into this ploy by them that they’re eating “better” or “healthier” with these new products is merely fooling themselves. There’s nothing redeeming about consuming this as sustenance for your body and the sooner you stop eating them the better. That’s the cold hard truth and something people need to hear. You cannot be healthy when you make Frito-Lay chips a regular part of your diet. Period.
I don’t expect food companies like Frito-Lay to stop attempting to fool the general public into thinking they actually care about the health of their consumers. That’s not their job. Their job is to sell more products and they’ll pretend to care about your health just to get into your pocketbook for your hard-earned cash. But people who genuinely care about health should vote with that same pocketbook by NOT buying this junk food and instead opting to funnel your food budget dollars towards more genuinely nutritious real foods such as grass-fed beef, pastured eggs, and organic, locally-grown non-starchy vegetables, for example. Think about all the money that’s been wasted on Frito-Lay chips over the years at $3 per bag. For the price of two bags, you could have gotten at least a pound of grass-fed beef or a couple dozen fresh local eggs from a farmer.
We make choices every single day about how we feed ourselves and our family. Isn’t it time we chose better rather than being fooled into thinking the big food companies care about your health? For more information on locating a local farmer near you, visit EatWild.com. Let’s send food companies like Frito-Lay a message that rings loud and clear: WE DON’T WANT WHAT YOU’RE SELLING IF IT’S GONNA KEEP UP FAT AND UNHEALTHY! Now let’s put words into action.
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 four crazy cats!
In Episode 446 of “The Livin’ La Vida Low-Carb Show with Jimmy Moore,” we welcome to the show two very special guests to share about the work they are doing to promote health living. First up is a mini-interview with a former guest named Adam Kosloff who has written a new e-book entitled The Low-Carber’s Survival Guide. He’ll go into further detail about why he wrote this e-book and what he hopes people will get out of it. Then in the primary interview, we’ll hear from David Gumpert talking about his fantastic book The Raw Milk Revolution: Behind America’s Emerging Battle Over Food Rights (read my review here). What you’ll quickly realize as you listen to David speak is that this ongoing debate over raw milk goes much deeper than milk!
Listen to David Gumpert describe his vantage point in the raw milk debate:
Why he got interested in the intersection between health and business
How all the raids on small farms over unpasteurized milk caught his attention
How he became so jaded by the actions of the Food & Drug Administration (FDA)
What the possible motivation is for the FDA opposing real foods like raw milk
The tremendous growth in the raw milk market share in recent years
What the pasteurization and homogenization process does to the milk
The extreme processing that goes into creating grocery store milk
Why whole milk sold in stores isn’t the same as whole raw milk from the cow
Why milk in stores usually comes from a mixture of 100 cows
The dramatic difference in the taste and look of real food
His interaction with the famous real foods farmer Joel Salatin
Why raw milk is more of a “proxy issue” for the overall food rights debate
Some of the most horrific stories of the raids on farms in the middle of the night
The outrageous comments made by judges regarding raw milk/real food rights
How the raw milk movement is continuing to grow despite opposition
The health benefits of consuming raw vs. pasteurized dairy
Why there is a lack of research in the United States conducted on raw milk
What average people can do to make a real difference with this issue
Why people need to get involved politically to bring about change
The importance of buying more food from local farmers than the grocery store
How raw milk cheese is the next front in the battle over raw milk
There are three ways you can listen to Episode 446:
THANK YOU SO MUCH FOR FINANCIALLY SUPPORTING THIS PODCAST! If these twice-weekly podcast interviews from the most provocative and thought-provoking diet, fitness, and health experts have helped you in any way over the past few months and years, then help us keep it going by clicking on the DONATE button on the official podcast web site. We love making these exclusive interviews available to you at no charge so that the positive low-carb message can get out there to the people who need to hear it the most. We are so grateful for your generous donations of any amount so we can keep this going all throughout 2011 and well beyond. I have a fantastic group of fresh new expert interview guests lined up for your listening enjoyment and can’t wait for you to hear them in the coming months! Go to PayPal.com and you can give your gift to the e-mail address livinlowcarbman@charter.net. Your continued financial support and listenership is essential and we THANK YOU so very much for your support!
What did you think about what you heard from David Gumpert regarding the fight over real food rights in America centered around raw milk? Tell us how this interview impacted you in the show notes section of Episode 446. Pick up your own copy of The Raw Milk Revolution, check out the official web site of David Gumpert, and get engaged in his “The Complete Patient” blog. Coming up on Thursday, I’m so excited to share with you a special episode highlighting a double-feature with two of the most prominent rising young stars in the real food/low-carb world who are seeking to bring healthy eating to the peers and the rest of the world. Birke Baehr, who will turn 12 years old on Thursday when this podcast airs, will be here to share about how he got so interested in real food living–including his awesome TEDx NextGeneration Asheville speech in 2010. Then we’ll hear from high school senior Sarah Czipowski who you’ll find to be one of the most articulate and outspoken 17-year olds you’ll ever hear on the subject of nutrition and health! I am so thrilled to be able to bring you Birke and Sarah later this week.
If you have something to share about what you heard on “The Livin’ La Vida Low-Carb Show,” then drop us an e-mail at our dedicated podcast e-mail address–LLVLCShow@gmail.com. We’d love to hear from you about what you think about the show, interview guest suggestions (although keep in mind I’m fully booked up through October 2011), show topics, and anything else you want to share!
If you love this podcast, then we personally invite you to become a member of “The Livin’ La Vida Low-Carb Show Fan Club!” Get special behind-the-scenes access to your favorite podcast, including the highly-coveted transcripts of past interviews, audio snippets of upcoming podcasts, see who I have scheduled for interviews and the ability to have me ask them YOUR questions, and so much more! It’s exclusive material for you uber-fans of “The Livin’ La Vida Low-Carb Show” and I appreciate your support of my work. In fact, we just uploaded a whole bunch of PREVIEW audio of the upcoming interviews in the coming months, including a special full-length episode of my upcoming new podcast “Low-Carb Conversations With Jimmy Moore & Friends.” And my very heavy recording schedule for March will be posted later this week with the interviews that will air during the summer (get your questions in early for these guests). SIGN UP TODAY!
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 four crazy cats!
I had a craving for something dessert-like last week, so I pulled out my Internal Bliss Gut and Psychology Syndrome (GAPS) cookbook and found a recipe for Acorn Custard (which I had begun to prepare 3 weeks ago by making Dijon Mustard). I’m a huge fan of a good smooth pudding or custard texture. When my hubbles and I took that first bite… mmm! It was so smooth and so sweet and so rich!
I used to think vegetables were just vegetables: you steam ‘em, bake ‘em, roast ‘em, flatten ‘em with a fork, add lots of butter and slide ‘em down. In the last few months though, my concept of what vegetables can be and taste like has altered drastically! I’m turning vegetables into pancakes and custards! What’s next?!
Bake Time A: 1 hour Prep Time: 20 minutes Bake Time B: 50 minutes
SERVES 6 – 8
HARDWARE
6 – 8 Ramekins
INGREDIENTS
1 Acorn Squash
1/2 cup Ghee (see my Shopping Websites page)
1/2 cup Honey
3 farm fresh, organic, free range Eggs
1 Tb Dijon Mustard (I made it here)
1/4 tsp Cinnamon
1/4 tsp Allspice
1/4 tsp Nutmeg
DIRECTIONS
1. Preheat oven to 350 F. Place squash on a baking tray in the oven for approximately 1 hour or until a fork can easily break the skin
2. Twenty minutes before the squash is finished, blend the remaining ingredients together (I used a food processor).
3. When the squash is out of the oven, cut it in half, deseed and deskin it.
4. Blend the squash with the ingredients and pour into ramekin dishes.
5. Bake the custard in the oven at 350 F. for 40 – 50 minutes or until a toothpick (or knife) comes out clean. Let cool.
SUPPLEMENTS
Garnish with a sprinkle of nutmeg or cinnamon. Add a scoop of ice cream over the top.
OPTIONS
Bake just enough for your household, freeze the mixture and save the rest for another day.
Beck Anderson, RYT200 is a Certified Nutritionist and Registered Yoga teacher in the Menominee, Michigan and Green Bay, Wisconsin area. Via phone, she has been able to help clients achieve their personal health goals. Visit Wellness Hammock for more information. Twitter. Facebook.
Kennedy Caucus Room--Site of the Farm Food Voices DC 2011 Legisaltive reception
It’s that time of year again…time to get those political gears working and come to DC for the National Independent Consumers and Farmers Association 5th annual small farm and ranch grassroots Lobby day and Legislative Reception. Come sharpen your lobbying skills and add your voice to the ever increasing voices speaking out about real foods!
As always, we are planning a very special reception for our legislators where we will show them the beauty andbounty of what America’s farms have to offer with local tops chefs involved in the preparation and serving of these dishes. It is a fabulous feast of real foods provided by local farms lovingly producing real foods!
Don’t forget to invite your Senators, Representatives and their staffers to the LOCAL FOODS reception!
Farm Food Voices DC 2011
National Small Farm and Ranch Grassroots Lobby Day and Legislative Reception
Mark your calendars for March 16, 2011 and plan to make your voice heard at the 5th annual National Small Farm and Ranch Grassroots Lobby Day and Legislative Reception (Farm Food Voices 2011) on Capitol Hill.
Join a coalition of organizations, local food advocates, and small family farmers from across the country as we lobby our legislators in support of local food and food sovereignty. This is a terrific opportunity to educate our elected officials on how real food is raised and practical ways people can eat better and support local growers.
Never lobbied? No experience needed. We’ll host a training call prior to the event. Sign up for alerts at www.NICFA.com.
When: March 16, 2011
9:00 am – 4:00 pm
Meet with members of Congress and their staff
12:00-2:00 Local foods reception Russell Senate Office Building
Where: Capitol Hill, Congressional office buildings
A local foods reception will highlight the day. Chefs and caterers from some of the finest restaurants in our region will serve dishes showcasing locally produced food.
Emceed by Joel Salatin, the reception will feature a number of distinguished speakers including:
Jonathan Emord, Esq., Author of The Rise of Tyranny and Global Censorship of Health Information, has defeated the FDA 6 times in federal court.
Bryan Voltaggio, chef/owner of acclaimed VOLT restaurant and season six runner-up of the TV series Top Chef
Kristin Canty, producer and director of Farmageddon, the movie that depicts dwindling food sovereignty in America and the extreme measures the state uses to attack farmers growing healthy food
Mark Lilly, founder and owner of Farm to Family bus,bringing fresh produce and farm food to people in central Virginia and transforming the American food landscape
Volunteer or donate– Donations and volunteers always welcome! Contact Liz Reitzig 301-807-5063
Plan to attend – Sign-up for NICFAAlerts to take part in the lobby day training and take the message directly to your legislators!
Spread the word – Blog, tweet, or share details of this event with your social network.
www.NICFA.com
Liz Reitzig is a certified Liberation Wellness Nutritionist and a regular contributor to Liberation Wellness (www.LiberationWellnessBlog.com) She serves as President of the Maryland Independent Consumers and Farmers Association and Secretary of the National Independent Consumers and Farmers Association. As a champion for real foods and farm freedom, Liz is the co-founder and partner in a farm fresh buying club and raises her own family on real foods from local farms. She is also a Chapter Leader for the Weston A Price Foundation.
This holiday season Whole Foods Market is offering gift boxes and certificates brightly printed with the wish “Soy to the World.”
Whole Foods Market, of course, perceives soy foods and soy milk — particularly modern packaged and processed soy products — as a major profit center. Soy also fits nicely within CEO John Mackey’s vegan agenda and his promotion of soy as the ticket to personal and planetary health. Sadly, soy to the world will not bring joy to the world this holiday season or any other.
The word “soy,” however, fits Whole Foods Market very well. I am pleased to report that your Naughty Nutritionist™ learned something most curious last month. Seems “soy” is urban slang for something false, of poor value or just not what it seems. That pretty much sums up a whole lot of the phoney baloney, pseudo-organic products Whole Foods sells. Indeed a whole lot of what this chain preaches is out of integrity with what it practices.
Greenwashing
Heard of whitewashing? The variant found at Whole Foods is known as “greenwashing.” The chain put green leaves on its logo, prominently displays environmentally correct “core values,” and gives mouth service to sustainability yet engages in numerous practices that are environmentally unfriendly.
Bagging It, for example. Whole Foods encourages us to bring our own bags to save the environment and gives bag credits to local charities. Eco consumers feel good about this, but what about all those highly processed and overly packaged foods toted home in them? Soy good to know that not one of those pricey crackers or cookies will crack or crumble. As for those sturdy packages, they’ll survive for years in the landfills.
Soy Local or Soy Loco
Whole Foods talks the good talk about supporting local farmers. It’s one of its conspicuously displayed “core values.” But walk down the aisles and most everything comes from somewhere else. Where were all those little soybeans milked to produce soymilk? Where did they catch those tofurkies? Where did those fruits and vegetables grow? California, Mexico, Chili, India? Not soy often in our own backyard.
How do local farmers feel about Whole Foods Market? Many mutter “soy loco” (“I am crazy”) under their breath whenever they give in and sell to Whole Foods. Farmers who expect a fair wage for their hard work rarely sell there given the chain’s aim to buy dirt cheap and sell sky high.
Soy Green
More acres of the Rain Forest are destroyed for soybean crops than for beef cattle yet soy is touted as green for the environment. Most of the Midwest has been destroyed by the monocropping of three vegan staples — corn, wheat and soy.
Soy Generous
“Soy to the World” means planeloads of soy products given to survivors of famines and natural disasters. Seems benevolent, but there’s more to this than good PR.Disaster relief builds global business by making the world’s people dependent upon imported soy and other industrially grown, processed and packaged products. Such “charitable” practices undermine local farmers and cottage industries and wipe out indigenous crops.
Soy Egalitarian
Equal opportunity poor health. Yuppie vegans at one end of the spectrum pay premium prices for health-destroying soy foods. Poor people eat donated soy from relief packages. The results for both are malnutrition, digestive distress, thyroid disorders, reproductive problems, ADD/ADHD, allergies, even heart disease and cancer. Soy to the world.
Meanwhile, John Mackey, the CEO of Whole Foods, likes to be seen as just a regular Joe. He earns only fourteen times the salary of his average ”team member,” after all. While other corporate executives doubtless take home far bigger paychecks, Mackey’s “talking tofurky” here. If he were an executive who “talks turkey,” he would admit to also earning millions in stock options. He might also be sensitive to the fact that his store is widely mocked as “Whole Paycheck Market” because its extreme markups make it soy overpriced for the average consumer.
Soy Organic
Whole Foods sells only organic soybeans, right? That’s what they say, but it took months — and an embarrassing expose by the Cornucopia Institute –before just some of the Silk products made with commercial soybeans was removed from the shelves. Similarly, Whole Foods has sold a whole lot of veggie burgers, energy bars and other “organic” products made with soy protein isolate and other ingredients processed using hexane solvents. Cornucopia also exposed that, but you read it first in The Whole Soy Story.
Elsewhere in the store, pseudo organic reigns. Consider factory-farmed “organic” Horizon brand milk and butter. As for produce, the artful displays conflate organic and commercial. And if the internet postings of disgruntled Whole Foods “team members” can be trusted, much — if not all — of it is cleaned with non-organic cleaners. Seems the organic cleaners come out, when the inspectors come in.
Shoppers who aren’t careful may go home with commercial produce just like that found at the supermarket down the block but at a substantially higher price Whole Foods Market carefully crafts the illusion it sells organic, but far more of what it sells is “natural”– whatever that means — or even commercial.
Soyled Health Claims
Is soy the “miracle bean” that can cure everything from cancer to ingrown toe nails? Whole Foods would certainly like us to think so. Similarly, consumers who buy baked and deli goods at Whole Foods are almost always con-oiled, though canola is increasingly replaced by soy oil, which if anything is even worse.
Hemp, chocolate, agave anyone? Health claims for any of these are very “soy” — i.e. not what they seem. Agave, for instance, is tricked out high fructose corn syrup. Chocolate-covered soy nuts are surely the “tofurky” of snacks. Most sanctimonious of all is Whole Foods’ promotion of vegan goods with a green smiley face and the words “I’m vegan!”
Stepford Foods
All the onions are exactly the same size. Big, round and heavy! All the apples, too.
Never saw anything like that in my own garden or orchard. Yet Whole Foods gives us row after perfectly presented row of produce. Bland but pretty-faced, immaculately clean, blemish free, perfectly made up and not one strand of hair out of place, these are the Stepford Wives of the fruit and vegetable kingdom. Guess Whole Foods thinks Stepford goods provide a stress-free shopping experience. No need to choose. Perfect for the shopper in Calvin Klone jeans.
Soy Latte
The Urban Dictionary defines “soy latte” as something overpriced and pretentious, especially something that tastes good initially but leaves a bad taste in one’s mouth. Seems to me that sums up Whole Foods Market awfully well.
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.
This morning as I was preparing breakfast for my family I got to thinking of just how different our breakfasts are in comparison to the typical American family’s meal. Please understand that I am not writing this to elevate my own family or myself in the eyes others, but rather my intention is to draw our minds to what our first meal of the day perhaps should look like.
Often we hear breakfast referred to as, “The most important meal of the day”, and for many this is certainly true. As my kids begin a day of learning and my husband his many hours of physical labor, I want them all to be well nourished; their brains and bodies need the proper fuel to function well. For those who do not have the real need for food early in the day, however, why bother; wait until you are actually hungry! But for most of us, breakfast is truly an important meal. It is of the utmost importance, then, that we give our bodies what they really need, not what the television and magazine ads want to sell us, or what the medical “experts” deem wise and good. Toss aside the notion of breakfast cereals, bagels and orange juice as providing a healthy start, and certainly forget about doughnuts or Pop Tarts!
I get up early each morning to do the barn chores and milk our cow. Before I head out the door I enjoy a mug of hot Irish Breakfast tea with creamy milk, vanilla and stevia. A spoonful of coconut oil is often downed with the tea for extra energy and to stimulate my metabolism. This daily ritual, enjoyed usually over a chapter of a good book or while reading emails, is what gets me feeling ready for the day. But I have no desire to eat early and so put it off for a couple more hours. Perhaps if more of us took the time to enjoy such pleasures we might find ourselves in a better state of health, both mentally and physically?
Once I am back inside and have taken care of the morning’s milk and cleaned everything up I begin focusing on my family’s needs, starting with breakfast. Most days this will consist of eggs with cheese, fried potatoes, muffins or pancakes. While I don’t personally wish to be taking in the carbohydrate-rich foods, my growing family and hard working husband require some complex carbohydrate. I am wishing to reduce, not grow, and don’t work as physically hard as my husband, so I avoid these foods. Instead, before the family breakfast is started I have usually downed a glass of fresh, raw milk & cream. Also, I try to have some yogurt or kefir (our family prefers yogurt) as well, often mixed into a smoothy with frozen berries from our orchard. We do not incorporate juice into our breakfast meal as juice is simply liquified sugar, so who needs it? We prefer to have a piece of fruit instead, or enjoy the berries in the afore-mentioned smoothy.
Today being a Saturday I chose to take a little extra time and make breakfast special. The first thing I did was grab a grater to make some potato pancakes which were fried up in a combination of butter and unrefined palm oil. Knowing that the potatoes would be a temptation for me, I made certain to have a homemade eggnog, sweetened with whole stevia, before beginning (it worked, by the way ). While the potato pancakes were cooking I sautéed chopped onions, garlic, and fresh mushrooms and grated up some (raw) Monterey Jack cheese. Next I mixed up eggs & cream for omelets and started cooking, after transferring the yummy filling from the same skillet into a bowl. I use an old cast iron skillet for most of our cooking, and this works beautifully for omelets-it’s the original “non-stick” after all!
My family awoke this morning to the heavenly smells of a delicious breakfast, and were well nourished for the first part of their day. I was satisfied both in their delight, and in a few bites of omelet and the eggnog which I had previously downed. But further satisfaction comes in the knowledge that instead of a brain-fog inducing, diabetes-promoting, nutrient deficient and hyper start to our day, we are instead well supplied with everything our bodies need to thrive in this day with which God has blessed us!
Potato Pancakes
1 medium sized yellow or red potato
1 egg
2 Tbsp. brown rice flour
1/2 tsp. unrefined salt
dash pepper
Grate the potato. Add the remaining ingredients, fry in hot fat (butter, lard, bacon fat, etc.) Top with a dollop of sour cream. Mmm!
Egg Nog
1 1/2 cups fresh, raw cream (part of which may be cultured, such as sour cream)
2 fresh, raw pastured eggs
1/2 cup whole raw milk or yogurt
1/4 tsp. powdered whole leaf stevia
1/2 tsp vanilla extract
1/4 tsp ground nutmeg
Whisk everything together in a glass and enjoy!
MaureenDiaz is a certified Liberation Wellness Nutritionist, Educator, and Cooking Instructor. She works from home where she oversees the education and daily life of her large family. Maureen has also produced 3 cooking DVD’s including her latest available now, the Liberation Wellness Cooking DVD. For purchasing information email Maureen at: mamasfollies@gmail.com or visit her website, NourishingTraditionalCook.com.
Our family has recently acquired another family cow, a lovely lass we named, “Lady”. It had been several years since we had owned a milking cow, and we were truly ready for the responsibility and abundance of blessings this would bring.
We purchased “303″, a Jersey, from an area seasonal, grass-based dairy owned by friends from our local WAPF group. “303″ didn’t quite fit in with their herd, but we thought she would suit us just fine.
Lady and I saying, "Good morning".
After the initial “getting to know you” period, Lady settled in just fine. She learned to enjoy her quiet mornings with just the two of us, a few chickens, and the “swish, swish” of her warm milk hitting the bucket. On occassion Smokey, our pretty grey kitty, will make his way to the barn to join us, something which I am sure he will begin to do with some regularity once he realizes the benefits of patiently sitting by my side as I milk
Owning a family cow means lots of responsibility, but also an abundance of goodness from cream to yogurt, ice cream and butter! It means getting up often before you feel ready, to greet the beauty of a brand new day. It is snuggling into the warmth of a gentle beast when all around the blustery wind blows cold and snow. It brings a calf each year, an extra to nurse in between, and thus plenty of meat for the family freezer. With all the uncertainties of the current economic times as well as the dilemma of a government-controlled and questionable food supply, I know that my family can face these problems with confidence; we have the security of a steady supply of milk, cream, butter, and even cheese, as well as meat.
For those of you who have just a few acres, you might want to consider the possibility of acquiring a cow for your own family. Or a few goats. One cow and a calf can thrive on as little as 2-3 acres of properly grazed pasture. Several goats can fit on the same amount of space and are easy to care for and enjoyable to watch, but they don’t produce quite the same amount of meat and the cream is a bit more difficult to separate from their milk, if cream is as important to you as it is to me
Beyond the cost of purchasing our cow, expenses are few. Winter time hay costs can be covered by the grateful friends with whom we share our abundance. Hand milking requires no special equipment, and milking sheds can be put up with relatively low costs. Fencing need not be expensive, but must be sound.
So maybe a cow should be in your family’s future? They are truly a blessing to any family who is so fortunate as to acquire one!
MaureenDiaz is a certified Liberation Wellness Nutritionist, Educator, and Cooking Instructor. She works from home where she oversees the education and daily life of her large family. Maureen has also produced 3 cooking DVD’s including her latest available now, the Liberation Wellness Cooking DVD. For purchasing information email Maureen at: mamasfollies@gmail.com or visit her website, NourishingTraditionalCook.com.
The Senate “Food Safety Bill” (also known as the “Farmageddon bill”) is scheduled for a vote this Wednesday. Please call your Senators and ask them to OPPOSE this bill on all levels. Senator Coburn from Oklahoma has taken a strong stand against this bill. With his leadership and the support of your senator, there is a chance we can help defeat this bill. The National Independent Consumers and Farmers Association has posted an excellent article about S510 and how and why it would be terrible for America’s farmers if this bill were to pass. Campaign for Liberty does a tremendous job articulating the assault on our freedoms this bill would impose. They include all the contact info for how to find and reach your senators. Please act on this immediately.
About Liz Reitzig
Liz Reitzig is a certified Liberation Wellness Nutritionist and a regular contributor to Liberation Wellness (www.LiberationWellnessBlog.com) She serves as President of the Maryland Independent Consumers and Farmers Association and Secretary of the National Independent Consumers and Farmers Association. As a champion for real foods and farm freedom, Liz is the co-founder and partner in a farm fresh buying club and raises her own family on real foods from local farms. She is also a Chapter Leader for the Weston A Price Foundation.
Thank you for taking the time to call me back at the time that you did! I know you are VERY BUSY & I hope you know how that made me feel that you took the time to call me!
After only two short weeks of following your instructions, I lost a total of 7 pounds! Being a 41 year old male with M. S.. I know this is something that I NEED TO DO, Something I want to do and it is SO VERY ACHIEVABLE! It’s funny but I NEVER thought I could eat only twice a day and be satisfied ALL DAY LONG. I will keep you updated and here is a picture of me right after I started my new way of life. I started at 271 lbs and as of right now I am 264 lbs. PS: LOVE THE EGGS & BACON w/ the “REAL MILK!” It’s NOT JUST FOR BREAKFAST ANYMORE!
Kevin Brown
Sadiqua Hamdan
Debbie Wysocki
Paul Ericson
Maureen Diaz
Janet Demeter
Liz Reitzig
Lauren Snyder Grosz
Kaayla T. Daniel, PhD, CCN
let'spoon
Morley Robbins
Janet Stuck, ND, CNC, MH, CNHP, CWE, LE
John Chisholm
Dr. Richard Walicki
Nicole Rice
Margie King
emotionalyoga
truthinthepublicinterest
Beck Anderson, RYT 200
Jimmy Moore
rawmilk95
meljoy96
fromprocessedtopure
Joette Calabrese
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Today I’m gonna hit on one of my biggest pet peeves about the modern-day health culture we live in that absolutely drives me bonkers. Have you noticed just how brazen so many food companies have become in recent years in an attempt to improve their much-deserved “junk food” image by making blatant health claims about their products that are completely meaningless? It’s as if they are pulling out all the stops in their efforts to pull the wool over the eyes of common sense thinking so they can bamboozle the consumer into making a purchase under false pretenses. My wife Christine and I exposed this dastardly marketing agenda of the food manufacturers last summer with our 
In 
This holiday season Whole Foods Market is offering gift boxes and certificates brightly printed with the wish “Soy to the World.”
). While the potato pancakes were cooking I sautéed chopped onions, garlic, and fresh mushrooms and grated up some (raw) Monterey Jack cheese. Next I mixed up eggs & cream for omelets and started cooking, after transferring the yummy filling from the same skillet into a bowl. I use an old cast iron skillet for most of our cooking, and this works beautifully for omelets-it’s the original “non-stick” after all!
