In this edition of Deceptions in the Food Industry, I’m tackling Omega 3s. If you shop at the grocery store, you know there are thousands of products proclaiming their Omega 3 value, from cereals, crackers, chips, breads, bagels, and pretzels to fish and krill oil, flax and other seed oils, to vitamins and powders.

The latest offender I’ve seen is a bag of Ritz Toasted Chips, at a friend’s house. I think most people know crackers and chips aren’t healthy, but come on…do people really believe this product has Omega 3s?

On the front and back of the package, it says that this product contains “320 mg ALA Omega 3s essential fatty acids per serving from soybean oil”.  Not only is soybean oil highly processed and extremely high in Omega 6s, it is also goitrogenic and suppresses thyroid and hormonal function. The Standard American Diet is loaded with Omega 6s, the over-abundance of which are responsible for causing inflammation in the body – weight issues, auto-immune problems, osteoporosis, diabetes, heart disease, and so on.

Here’s the ingredient list:

Unbleached Enriched Flour (Wheat Flour, Niacin, Reduced Iron, Thiamine Mononitrate {Vitamin B1}, Riboflavin {Vitamin B2}, Folic Acid), Soybean Oil, Cornstarch, Sugar, High Fructose Corn Syrup, Potato Starch, Salt, Leavening (Calcium Phosphate And/Or Baking Soda), Sour Cream Powder* (Cultured Cream, Skim Milk), Monoglycerides (Emulsifier), Onion Powder, Dextrose, Monosodium Glutamate (Flavor Enhancer), Skim Milk, Natural Flavor, Spices, Whey, Disodium Inosinate And Disodium Guanylate (Flavor Enhancers), Citric Acid, Modified Corn Starch, Cultured Cream*, Milkfat*, Soy Lecithin. *Adds A Trivial Amount Of Cholesterol. Contains: Wheat, Milk, Soy.

Even if the Omega 3 claim wasn’t there, doesn’t this ingredient list send chills up your spine? Yikes!

I also found this other product, a “vegetarian” product called Life’s DHA, which is backed by “clinical research” to improve health.

The web site claims it is fish-free and made from “algae cell culture and results in a highly purified DHA oil”.  What the heck does that mean? Oh, and it also says it is used in “99% of all infant formulas” on the market, which means it’s full of toxic ingredients and no nutritional value. See my post on infant formulas.

Anything that starts off as natural and ends as a “purified” oil should immediately be suspect. Most oils on the market are far from pure, are highly processed, go through a chemical alkalinization process where a base is added to alter the chemical properties of the substance through heat and become oxidized, and are deodorized to remove any taste or odor issues with the product.

This processing alters the original chemical makeup of the food and renders it devoid of nutrients. And yet, millions and millions of consumers will read the claims on the label (which fails to provide this information) and think to themselves, “sounds good to me!”

There are endless products in the store which will claim to deliver Omega 3 health benefits. The bottom line is, these should be avoided. Real food is the only sure source of valuable, brain and heart supporting Omega 3 essential fatty acids.

Best sources of Omega 3s:

• Wild-caught fish such as salmon, sardines, anchovies, herring, mackerel, and mollusks like clams, oysters, mussels, squid and octopus
• Eggs from hens on pasture
• Grassfed meats and poultry
• Butter, ghee, cream, and milk from healthy cows on pasture – see sources
• Sprouted hazelnuts or walnuts
• Fermented cod liver oil – see sources

Enough of this nonsense already. Get your Omega 3s from real foods with real nutrients, not fake, processed foods in the store with a shelf life of several years, and which after sitting around that long will still look the same.
 
Read the other posts in the Deceptions in the Food Industry series: 

Lean meats

Low fat foods

All natural

For years, our government (FDA and USDA) and many other health sources have recommended not only consumption of grains, but that we increase our intake of grains, vegetables and fruits, and avoid eating saturated fat and cholesterol (that’s another topic entirely). And yet in spite of this “healthy” low-fat diet that we are told to consume, our disease and obesity rates continue to rise.

So what’s the truth? Are grains are okay to consume or not?  Unfortunately, the answer is not a simple yes or no. In this post I’ll explain the reasons grains are harmful to consume, and the conditions under which you could safely consume them.

Why grains make people sick

A lot of people talk about how their bodies are made irritated or diseased by grains. For many years, I was one of these people. I used to consume a lot of grains (wheat in particular), but didn’t understand the connection between just how much these substances caused many of my health issues. When I found out that wheat could be a problem, I eliminated it and immediately started experiencing better health. As time went on, I heard more stories about how others experienced the same issues.

From my research, I discovered that various issues in our food supply are causing these problems: farming methods, pesticides and other chemicals, GMOs, hybridization of grains, and industrial processing by food companies. When I realized I had issues with wheat, I tried substituting properly prepared gluten-free grains to see if I had any improvement. Sometimes I could eat these foods, and sometimes not.  My conclusion was that I largely needed to avoid gluten-containing AND gluten-free grains as well.

Then I heard that if I detoxed my digestive tract, I could eat grains again. Over the last 7 years, I’ve done various protocols such as a lengthy candida cleanse, detoxes such as liver/gallbladder cleanses, homeopathic detox, and healing strategies like GAPS (which I started in May of 2011 and am still doing) to heal my gut and allow my body able to normally digest food again. For the most part, I’ve avoided “offending” foods: wheat, corn and other grains, soy, refined sugar and carbohydrates. I only occasionally consume fermented soy, real sourdough bread, alcoholic beverages, caffeine, and starches like rice or potatoes.

I keep reading that once I finish GAPS, I’ll be able to consume grains again. Dr. McBride’s book Gut and Psychology Syndrome tells us that the healing period of GAPS can take anywhere from 1-3 years due to the extent of digestive and health damage most people have in their bodies. The reality is, because of our processed diets, most people in the world today living in developed countries have GAPS syndrome. It’s just a fact of modern life.

When you come off GAPS, it is not advised to eat the foods you ate once before since, doing so would inevitably put you back where we were before starting the protocol. This is where foods like whole, sprouted/soaked and fermented grains come in.

Grains, nuts, legumes, and other foods should be properly prepared and dairy should be raw. We should eat as many live foods with real enzymes and bacteria as possible including naturally cultured and fermented foods, and all foods should be unprocessed, just how our ancestors used to eat it.

Read about this great online course from Cheeseslave to understand how to get the most nutritional benefit out of the grains you eat, discover how to make all the grain foods you love at home, and avoid the processed grain foods from the store.

Grains contain nutrients like B vitamins and magnesium – important nutrients many people in this country are deficient in due to the over-processing of foods, poor gut health, and also because grains are usually not properly prepared. Like most nutrients, they don’t work in isolation. Taking supplements doesn’t often work well, and to absorb Vitamin D we need magnesium AND calcium (these work together in synergy), and also members of the Vitamin B family. Magnesium and B Vitamins are both found in grains as well as other foods.

Will I eat grains again someday? That all depends on my body. For years I have done better on a low or no-grain diet. But I’ve also been told by my naturopath that if I heal my digestion with healthy foods, mineral supplements, and digestive enzymes, I can then eat clean grains from a non-GMO source that are properly prepared.

Another problem she mentioned is that if a person has weak adrenals and/or blood sugar issues (which I’ve had for years), eating a high-carb diet can cause a great deal of problems. And ironically enough, weak adrenals and blood sugar issues are caused by years of eating processed foods with no nutritional value – including processed grains that come from GMO sources.  So when I resolve these issues, I may be able to eat grains again, in moderation. I can tell you one thing…if I do, it won’t be the way I used to eat them.

Now I’d like to set the record straight about why grains have gotten such a bad reputation and have wreaked so much havoc on our health. Grains are not necessarily “the bad guys” across the board, but here are some significant reasons/conditions which make them harmful to consume.

5 reasons grains are unhealthy to consume:

• People have never, in the history of the world consumed the volume of grains they do now. Up until recently, the FDA Food Pyramid recommended we eat 6-11 servings a day. Consuming that many grains daily led me to a variety of health problems: insulin-resistance, thyroid problems, irregular menstrual cycles, depression, and panic disorder. I ate plenty of commercial breads, bagels, crackers, English Muffins, pancakes, pita bread, muffins, croissants, pasta, rice, and other similar foods.  Although I ate other things, most of the animal products were commercial, lean, or low-fat, and my vegetable intake wasn’t very high.  The Food Pyramid has now become My Plate, but the emphasis continues to be eating more vegetables, fruits, and grains. My Plate entirely omits fats as a category, and uses the term “protein” which can include a variety of unhealthy, processed products which aren’t real, nourishing proteins; two grave nutritional mistakes. The foods recommended to us by the FDA and USDA are not natural, healthy foods. They are commercially processed, full of toxins, pesticides, GMOs, antibiotics, preservatives, fillers, MSG, and other undesirable substances, not soaked, sprouted, nor fermented, and largely devoid of nutrition, including grains. If you follow these recommendations, roughly half of your diet amounts to grains. The result is blood sugar highs and lows, which will negatively impact your weight, energy levels, and cause auto-immune disorders like thyroid and/or low adrenal function.  It’s no wonder the markers of metabolic disorder are so common in our popluation: heart disease, diabetes, hypoglycemia, high blood pressure, obesity, and others are so common.

• The way we process and consume grains is totally changed from how they were traditionally prepared and eaten.  It’s no secret that grains are a cheap, convenient food source.  However, since the Industrial Revolution, food companies and merchants have found ways to mass produce grain products, using the cheapest ingredients and most convenient processing. Grains are ground, extruded (subjected to high temperatures and pushed through holes in machinery which molds the grains into shape, rendering the nutrients in grains damaged and altered), and otherwise highly processed to make most foods found on the consumer market.  Many people don’t realize that throughout time, people have prepared grains properly by soaking, sprouting, and fermenting them to neutralize naturally-occurring phytic acid. Phytic acid is a nutrient inhibitor and not only prevents uptake of minerals zinc, magnesium, calcium, and others in the body, but also leeches many of these same elements from the stores your body keeps.

• Due to hybridization or selective-trait breeding in wheat, there is nearly 75 percent more gluten in wheat today than in the historical past. Although gluten is desirable because of its elasticity for baking, it is also highly indigestible and is responsible for contributing to many health issues in humans including food allergies, celiac, IBS, Crohn’s Disease, diverticulitis and colitis, among others. Like other foods, wheat has been engineered to increase crop yields, “improve” wheat quality, require less pesticides and herbicides (with other issues cropping up such as the creation of pathogenic bacteria in the soil which encourages the growth of disease and pesticide resistant super-weed).  The result has contributed to many health and environmental issues. Last week I talked to a naturopathic doctor who said she didn’t think it was the fact that people were eating grains, she thinks it’s from the fact that many of these grains are from GMOs (genetically modified substances). Although I think this is definitely a factor that affects our health, I don’t think it’s the only reason.

• Over-consumption of grains and gluten in particular, due to the reasons I described above, has caused many people to have compromised digestive tracts.  A person with a sick digestive tract cannot properly digest grains – even properly prepared ones that are soaked and sprouted, and/or fermented – or any other food for that matter. People with compromised digestion often experience a variety of symptoms such as:  gas, bloating, indigestion, diarrhea, constipation, or chronic problems like IBS, Crohn’s Disease, colitis, food allergies, asthma, eczema, physiological disorders, auto-immune problems, and more. The intestinal tract becomes permeable and undigested foods pass through, entering the blood stream causing distress on the whole body.

• If you have a gluten intolerance or celiac disease, it is now possible to buy the same things you once ate in just about every gluten-free variety you can imagine on the consumer market. It’s a big mistake to trade your gluten-consuming habits of 3-4 times a day into gluten-free consuming habits of the same frequency. Most of those products are just as highly processed and cause the same type of gut damage, nutrient loss in the body, weight problems, metabolic syndrome, and auto-immune disorders. Read here about the big gluten-free lie.

So, if:

But wait, maybe you’ve also heard that grains cause health problems. The refined, processed grains surely do – even the whole grains. These cause nutrient deficiencies which bring on a variety of health problems like crooked teeth, allergies, weight gain, cavities, and osteoporosis. That’s because grains are full of phytic acid, a nutrient inhibitor, which prevents the body from uptaking many important nutrients like minerals magnesium, iron, and zinc, fiber, B-complex vitamins and also Vitamin E.

Phytic acid occurs primarily in the seed coats and germ of plant seeds. It forms insoluble or nearly insoluble compounds with minerals including calcium, iron, magnesium and zinc, such that they cannot be effectively absorbed into the blood. Diets high in phytic acid and poor in these minerals produce mineral deficiency symptoms in experimental animals (Gontzea and Sutzescu, 1958, as cited in Chavan and Kadam, 1989).

Most nutrients found in grains are located in the germ, and those are removed when they are not whole. That’s why eating processed grains – which is most of what you’ll find on the market – actually harms your health. Packages might even say “whole grains”, but usually those grains really aren’t whole at all.  That’s why when you eat these products, you can’t actually absorb these important nutrients…even though the “experts” tell us otherwise.

So what can you do? The key is to prepare grains properly through soaking, sprouting, and fermentation.  When we soak or ferment grains, it pre-digests or breaks down the phytic acid in grains, so our bodies can absorb the nutrients.  Our ancestors knew that properly prepared grains were better for human health, and these practices sustained the human race for thousands upon thousands of years. These ideas were abandoned around the time of the Industrial Revolution because of the need for mass production and convenience…so it’s no surprise that many people today hear about these practices and  have no idea where to begin.

With Ann Marie Michael’s (from Cheeseslave) great new online course, Healthy Whole Grains, you’ll discover how to make all the healthy, properly prepared grains as others all over the world have done throughout time…and from the comfort and privacy of your own home. You’ll learn how to easily make delicious recipes and still retain valuable nutritional elements in what you are eating. In no time, you’ll be making your own pizza crusts, crackers, real sourdough bread, chips, and more

Right now I’m on GAPS (I’ve been on it since May of 2011) which means I’ve been avoiding grains until my digestive tract is healed. However, I’m looking forward to being able to eat grains when I’m finished, and you can bet I’ll be preparing mine properly through soaking, sprouting, and fermenting. If I consume grains the way I used to, my health issues will go right back where I started.

If you are someone who has struggled with eating grains during any part of your life, and suspect you might have health issues because of it…it’s time to learn just how easy it is to prepare your own whole grains at home to increase nutrient-content, avoid health issues, and eat all the foods you love.

This class will help you save money on buying your own whole grains and preparing them yourself. Buying processed grains at the store is expensive not only at the checkout, but in what you’ll save on health issues down the road.

Watch this video which talks about what you’ll get out of this great online course:

• 12 weeks of online classes
• 50 video tutorials
• Over 100 recipes

To save money on making you own breads and other grain foods, and also health costs in the future, sign up for Healthy, Whole Grains now.

Healthy, Whole Grains Online Course:

Original class price: $199

Sale price: $149

What you will pay when you use the SPROUT20 coupon: just $129.00 — that’s less than $11.00 per class!

Sign up before February 14th, and use coupon code SPROUT20 to save at checkout and pay just $129 for a $20.00 discount from the sale price.

That’s less than $11 per class! And, you’ll have lifetime access to all the videos, recipes, and class materials. This is the ONLY coupon being made available to the public, and to take advantage of this price, you must sign up ON OR BEFORE February 14th.

Photo credit, Ann Marie Michaels

There really are natural ways to improve your health and well-being with real, traditional foods. You can reverse food allergies, reduce your incidence of colds, flus, infections, asthma, bone and joint pain, headaches, blood sugar issues, weak immunity, weight gain, and digestive problems. And these bloggers will show you how!

Check out the 30% off sale is now extended through Friday, January 6, 2012.   Use the coupon SUPERSALE when checking out to take advantage of these great holiday savings.

This is a fantastic way to choose healthy for the new year, whether you are interested in finding out more about Nourishing Traditions-style cooking and food preparation or want to embark on a healing, health journey to eliminate symptoms or allergies you’ve been dealing with such as Dr. Natasha Campbell McBride’s GAPS protocol (from Gut and Psychology Syndrome) or SCD (Specific Carbohydrate Diet). Save 30% now on courses, meal planners, and books for yourself or someone you love. Giving the gift of health is priceless!

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Cheeseslave

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Want to reverse food allergies and eliminate fibromyalgia, chronic infections, and auto-immune problems? Take the Reversing Food Allergies e-course and learn how easy it is to cook real, nutrient-dense foods that will nourish and heal your body!

Cheeseslave Meal Plans
Save time and money with these nutritious, delicious meal plans sent to your inbox!

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Real Food Nutrition and Health e-course
Kristen will show you and your kids ways fun ways to discover wholesome, traditional foods you read about in Sally Fallon’s cookbook Nourishing Traditions as well as the work of Weston A. Price’s book Nutrition and Physical Degeneration. Learn the basics of  nutrition from a decidedly Real Food perspective, the way food was meant to be consumed.

Real Food Nutrition and Health e-book
Kristen’s companion book to the Real Food and Nutrition e-course book, with detailed information to help you learn about nutrition and real food, and how it impacts yours and your child’s health.

Health, Home, and Happiness

Grain-free Meal Plans
GAPS and SCD-friendly meal plans to make meal preparation easy for your family.

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Real Food for Rookies e-course
Confused and overwhelmed about where to start with real food in your family? Kelly will guide you through the basics of where to buy, ingredients to watch out for, questions to ask your farmer, and more!

Real Food Ingredient Guide and Party Planning Guide
Finding the right ingredients to make your meals healthy can be confusing and overwhelming…that’s where the Real Food Ingredient Guide and Party Planning Guide come in! Find out which ingredients to avoid and  how to know what’s healthy and what’s not!

Mommypotamus

Nourished Baby
Did you know feeding kids nutrient-dense foods can prevent the need for braces, as well as increase intellectual capacity and improve their moods? Learn insights about what you need to make healthy choices for your infant. In this online e-book, discover why you have certain cravings during nursing, why you should skip rice cereal and what the latest research says about introducing peanuts, eggs and other “allergenic” foods. Plus, enjoy over thirty nutrient rich recipes that are specifically designed for the little tummies, but also meant for the whole family to share and enjoy!

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Wondering where to start in the kitchen with making real, healthy foods for yourself or your family? Take the How to Cook Real Food e-course with great recipes, tips, and information about where to source your food and how to prepare it!

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Overwhelmed about preparing real food for your family? You need these great meal plans to help you make simple dinners, each and every day.
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Learn how to prepare cultured and fermented foods in the comfort and privacy of your own home, which have superior health benefits to anything you’d buy in the store (yogurt, kefir, sauerkraut, etc.) with nutrients and probiotics to support your health.

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Make all your holiday favorites, but with nourishing ingredients, and forget the guilt and weight-gain commonly associated with holiday meals and desserts! Enjoy and indulge!

Hope you all had a wonderful Christmas holiday and are enjoying time with loved ones this week. Happy New Year, and I wish you all the best in health!

This week Wal-Mart announced that baby formula was being pulled from the shelf  because it was consumed by a newborn infant which developed a fatal infection and died.

When a person dies from eating a commercial product, it’s certainly a terrible tragedy. But especially a child; not only because of the loss, but because the death could have easily been prevented if safe practices were actually used in producing food.

This story should get the attention of all parents. I’m pretty sure many will notice this story, but I don’t know that the majority will realize what’s really going on.

There’s one thing this story should tell everyone loud and clear:

Processed foods are not only unhealthy to consume, but downright deadly.

The FDA should take notice too, but I know for a fact they won’t do the responsible or ethical measure in this instance, which would be to fine and shut down the offending company who produced this product.

According to Reuters, ”U.S. health regulators said on Friday they are looking at several types of baby formula that could be linked to the death of an infant, expanding an investigation beyond Mead Johnson’s market-leading Enfamil.” So what actually needs to happen is that multiple companies need to be fined and shut down.

Sadly, what will happen is that this company or companies will likely get a slap on the hand with a fine which they can easily absorb, and be allowed to continue selling products. Because that’s how the FDA rolls: they protect their own. The FDA will make an official statement about the safety of FDA-approved products on their web site and in press releases, saying that this was just a fluke, is being “taken care of”, and that other products are healthy and safe to consume.

For awhile, some parents might avoid the offending company or companies, but will continue to trust other big food companies who produce toxic formulas, and will keep buying them to feed to their babies. Until, that is, the next recall or death comes along.

Folks, this is not the first time this has happened, and I’m sorry to say it isn’t likely to be the last. In 2008, there was an incident in China with tainted baby formula. How many more incidents do we have to have before our government officials, food companies, and general public wake up to this inconvenient fact that processed foods are full of deadly ingredients that make many people sick and sometimes kill them too?

I’m here to tell you that food recall lists are miles and miles long, and they happen all the time. Don’t believe me? See for yourself. Doesn’t this speak volumes about the “safest food system in the world” (quote from the FDA web site)? If, even after looking at the recall list, you still believe our food system is safe, here’s some startling statistics that will blow your socks off:

Every year there are 76 million cases of foodborne illness in the United States, resulting in 325,000 hospitalizations and 5,000 deaths. 

So, I ask this important question: are you really able to trust your health with these foods? How about your helpless, newborn baby?

What’s wrong with commercial formulas?

Commercial formulas are highly processed, subjected to high heat temperatures during manufacturing which corrupt fragile proteins, contain oxidized cholesterol and synthetic nutrients produced in a laboratory that your baby’s body cannot properly use, and are most often packed in cans lined in BPA – a known endocrine (hormone) disruptor.

Many so-called “hypoallergenic” formulas are made with processed soy – not traditionally fermented and contain estrogen – which are known endocrine disruptor and goitrogen (meaning it suppresses the thyroid), and contain anti-nutrients known as phytic acid which block mineral uptake and also leach minerals out of the body. Even organic formulas have some of these same issues. There has also been a chemical used to produce rocket fuel (percholate) found in baby formula!

Home made baby formula is nutritionally superior to commercial

Parents, please: if you are unable to breastfeed for any reason, and you want to be certain your infant gets what he or she really needs in the way of nutrients and support to be healthy during growth and development, take the time to make this nutrient-dense, home-made baby formula.  It includes nourishing ingredients that are comparable to or superior to breast milk in nutritional value.

When using nourishing ingredients such as raw milk, yogurt, or kefir from healthy grassfed cows or foraging goats, fermented cod liver oil, this formula is nutritionally superior to anything you can buy on the market.  Composition of the mother’s diet has a definitive effect on the nutritional profile of her breastmilk.  If mother is not eating a traditional foods diet replete with healthy fats and proteins, her milk will be nutritionally-lacking.

If you want the hard, nutritional facts, here is a side-by-side comparison of nutrient content of the original home-made formula to breast milk, as well as goat’s formula and hypo-allergenic (liver-based) formulas. Foods like raw milk and dairy products such as yogurt, kefir, sour cream, butter, and other dairy foods, grassfed meats and poultry, eggs from hens on pasture, animal fats such as tallow and lard, seafood, organ meats, cod liver oil, and fish roe (eggs) have been traditionally consumed all over the world by many cultures to improve chances of conceiving, maintaining a healthy pregnancy, and during breast-feeding.

The Weston A. Price Foundation offers recommendations on dietary choices for pregnant or nursing mothers. These recommendations are based on the work of Dr. Weston A. Price who traveled the world in the 1930s to learn why his patients were experiencing degenerative disease as well as dental deformations and tooth decay. His findings indicated that those eating the most traditional diets including the foods mentioned above were not only the healthiest populations, but also had the highest fertility and carrying-to-term pregnancy rates.

These diets provided some of the most important nutrients necessary for life and keeping disease away: fat soluble Vitamins A, D, E, and K2, and Omega 3 essential fatty acids. These nutrients are in short supply in their natural, unadulterated forms in our modern food system. For more information, read Nutrition and Physical Degeneration by Dr. Weston A. Price.

“But”, you may protest, “the FDA says home-made formula isn’t safe!” Right. The FDA, who are so trustworthy.

Here’s what the FDA has to say about home made formula: 

Homemade formulas should not be used.” says Nick Duy, assistant to the director in FDA ‘s division of regulatory guidance. ”Homemade formulas based on whole cow’s milk don’t meet all of an infant’s vitamin and mineral needs. In addition, the high protein content of cow’s milk makes it difficult for an infant to digest and may put a strain on the baby’s immature kidneys. Substituting evaporated milk for whole milk may make formula easier to digest, but it is still nutritionally inadequate when compared to commercially prepared formula. Use of soy drinks as an infant formula can actually be life-threatening.”

Here’s the flaw in this argument:  The FDA does not mention the fact that many children are born with inadequate gut flora to properly digest and absorb the foods they eat, nor the fact those children have a dairy intolerance not because milk is inherently harmful, but because of this gut deficiency and also the fact that the majority of milk used is pasteurized and from cows on feedlots eating the worst imaginable diets, and is the most unnatural and unhealthy milk to consume.

So even if those same children consumed the “all-safe and nutritious” commercial formulas…guess what? They are still going to have problems with digesting those as well because they are not even made with real ingredients, and are loaded with toxic chemicals.

When my son was born, he was 9 weeks premature. Back then, I knew almost nothing about nutrition and I had no idea how harmful commercial formula was. My breast milk didn’t come in because of the birth being premature due to a ruptured appendix. I was incredibly sick and resorted to store-bought formula. We went through every brand you could imagine, including soy because my son was always discontent, fussy, and had terrible colic.

Looking back, I now know his issues were due to poor gut flora and the fact that he was severely malnourished.  People kept telling me he was getting what he needed, despite the fact that he didn’t eat well and had picky eating habits. It wasn’t because he had “colic”, a term frequently used by conventional doctors who usually don’t understand what causes colic in the first place. It was abnormal gut flora which caused him to want the very foods which he shouldn’t have, and reject those which were healthy.

Remarks made about evaporated milk and soy milk are true – they are most definitely inadequate nutritionally – but as far as saying they are not as nutritious as commercial formula, they are actually just as bad or worse.

“But”, you may protest yet again, “the FDA says raw milk isn’t safe for babies to consume!”

Here’s the flaw in this argument: there is no basis for this statement. People drank raw milk for thousands upon thousands of years, and fed it to their babies. Raw milk from healthy cows on pasture has always been and still is a life-giving food, and contains many nutrients, probiotics, enzymes, and proteins which prevent disease and illness. These are nutrients and elements which we are sorely lacking in our “safe” commercial and industrial food system. It’s a system which kills nutrients in food by its very practices each and every day due to filthy conditions, the use of antibiotics, high-heat, deodorization, alkalinization, sanitizing, irradiation, and many other harsh, chemical, and toxic practices.

Using government statistics which reveal that there is only an average of 42 illnesses per year (not deaths) by those who consume raw milk, you are “about 35,000 times more likely to become ill from other foods than you are from raw milk.”  Once again, remember that statistic I posted earlier:

Every year there are 76 million cases of foodborne illness in the United States, resulting in 325,000 hospitalizations and 5,000 deaths. 

These and other sicknesses and deaths are not coming from raw milk from healthy cows on pasture. They are from cows on feedlots, and our industrial food system! Don’t believe me? Just reference the food recall list and you’ll find these are from larger, commercial facilities…not small, sustainable, family farms.

What’s the bottom line?

Don’t put your trust in big food companies, and don’t believe the marketing or studies paid for by these companies to say their products are healthy, nor the corrupt medical establishment and government which backs them up.  Cheap, toxic foods are never a good substitute for real, whole foods that deliver nutrition and heal our health, and our children’s future depends on this safe, reliable food system. Buy local, sustainable foods from farmers you trust, and be willing to cook and make meals from scratch.

More information about our food system: 

Food recalls – why they could mean the end of real food as we know it

Is cheap food really cheap? The hidden costs of  industrial food

1 in 4 meat packages tainted with pathogenic bacteria 

If you have been dutifully drinking your 8 eight-ounce glasses of water daily, here’s why you aren’t getting the benefits you believe you are:

Tap water and bottled water are purported to contain some minerals, varying in content from source to source.

However, most bottled water is expensive and may not be any better than tap water, which can have dangerous substances in it such as remnants of pharmaceutical drugs and other chemicals, heavy metals like chromium, lead, and arsenic, plus the added chemicals fluoride and chlorine.

According to this report from ABC News:

“20/20″ took five bottles of national brands of bottled water and a sample of tap water from a drinking fountain in the middle of New York City and sent them to microbiologist Aaron Margolin of the University of New Hampshire to test for bacteria that can make you sick, like e. coli. “There was actually no difference between the New York City tap water and the bottled waters that we evaluated,” he said.

According to Body Ecology:

• Tap water is municipal water that comes out of the faucets and has been treated, processed and disinfected. It is purified with chlorine and generally has added flouride. But one of the byproducts from using chlorine in our drinking water is linked to cancer¹.
• Distilled water can be any kind of water that has been vaporized and collected, leaving behind any solid residues, including minerals. Distilled water has no minerals in it at all.
• Reverse osmosis water has been forced through membranes that remove larger particles, pollutants and minerals. Reverse osmosis water is usually acidic².
• Deionized water has had ionized impurities and minerals removed from it but not bacteria or pathogens.

In general, most of the water available is lacking in essential minerals we need for health. Mineral deficiencies can cause just about every major disease and symptom known to humankind including rapid heartbeat, headaches (including migraines), 

If you are chronically dehydrated, you may be suffering from symptoms of adrenal exhaustion:

• Sugar cravings
• Salt cravings
• Fatigue
• Feeling thirsty or dehydrated, and need to drink a lot of water at one time
• Sleep issues: falling asleep, wake in the night or wake early in the morning
• Tension, nervousness, anxiety or panic

• Drink nettles infusions
• Make and consume bone broths from the bones of pastured animals and birds (cattle, bison, lamb, poultry, etc.)
• Eat foods from pastured animals and birds – meat, eggs, poultry, dairy, raw milk
• Eat cultured foods – yogurt, kefir, sour cream, cultured vegetables made from home
• Use cell salts homeopathic tablets or liquid minerals – add the liquid minerals to your filtered water and stocks and soups you make at home. I have been using Best Process Trace Minerals as recommended by my Naturopath, and I’m noticing a huge difference in the way I feel.
• Drink mineral water or filtered water with added minerals, fresh squeezed lemon or lime juice, or unsweetened cranberry juice

13 more ways to rehydrate and nourish your adrenal glands:

1. Make sure to consume plenty of liquid gradually throughout the day, and  don’t wait until you feel thirsty to drink a large amount.  If you drink too fast, you risk diluting your blood, which may cause faster excretion of water by the kidneys. Everyone needs different amounts of liquid, but a good rule of thumb is to drink half your weight in ounces. If you weigh 150, drink 75 ounces. This can be mineral water or water with minerals added. Fulvic acid is an excellent substance to add to water.
2. During meals, consume 4 ounces of liquid or less. Drinking more than this dilutes the hydrochloric acid and other stomach juuices your body produces to properly digest your food.  Small amounts of warm or hot liquid such as bone broths, or cultured vegetable juices, or other fermented drinks like water kefir or kombucha will help you to digest your food better.
3. Avoid processed, packaged, and junk foods. Make sure you are eating a healthy diet with real food with plenty of healthy fats and proteins.
4. During and after you exercise, make sure you replace lost fluids with water. When we exert ourselves and sweat, our bodies lose salt and minerals, so replacing them is critical.
5. Avoid beverages and chemicals such as alcohol, soda, and coffee. These substances cause mineral depletion.  Coffee, tea, soda, and alcohol are diuretics and cause the body to release liquid and minerals.  The kidneys are triggered to excrete water but  by triggering the kidneys to excrete pure water without releasing toxins stored in the body.
6. Consume kelp, dulse, nori, or other sea vegetables. These foods are a good source of minerals. Kelp flakes are a very good addition to your diet and are extremely versatile for adding to soups, stews, casseroles, and many other meals as they don’t change the taste of your food.
7. Consume safe-source seafood.  As well as being a rich source of Vitamins like A and E and Omega 3 essential fatty acids, these foods are some of the best sources of important minerals available: especially iodine, selenium, and zinc.
8. Consume plenty of proteins and fats from animals and birds on pasture. Grassfed meats and poultry, eggs, raw dairy foods like butter, milk, yogurt, and kefir, pork, lamb, bison, and other meats and animal products from healthy animals raised on pasture or range. These foods are naturally higher in minerals than their conventional counterparts, as well as Omega 3 essential fatty acids, fat-soluble vitamins A, D, E, and K, and CLA (conjugated linoleic acid, an important antioxidant).
9. Take a good quality, bioavailable mineral supplement. Dr. Ron Schmid, ND, recommends Cal 1000 – Mag 500 Hydroxapatite Plus. This supplement is made of the bones of grass-fed animals from New Zealand and is one of the most highly-absorbable forms of minerals available. Another good supplement from a plant-derived source is Morningstar Minerals Energy Boost 70 Supplement. Plant sources are another bioavailable source of minerals since we get our minerals directly from plants as well as animals.
10. Use topical magnesium oil, gel, bath flakes, or lotion.  This transdermal oil is a great way to obtain enough magnesium, especially if you have compromised digestion. It bypasses your digestive system by soaking directly into the skin and into the bloodstream, and can help you avoid one of the main side-effects of magnesium supplements – mal-absorption and diarrhea.
11. Use a good water filter.  Avoid distilled as most of the minerals are removed in those processes. If you have a reverse osmosis filter add minerals. Fulvic minerals or liquid ionic minerals are excellent additions.
12. Control blood sugar levels by eating regularly throughout the day. Elevated blood sugar causes osmotic diuresis, where the sugar exits through your kidneys and carries water out with it into the urine. As a result, your kidneys are unable to reabsorb the water. Body Ecology once again provides you with an excellent solution. Fermented foods and beverages that are naturally sour take away cravings for sugars. You’ll find yourself feeling quite satisfied with the natural sugars in foods like carrots and fruit.
13. Manage stress and get to bed at an early hour. Sleep gives your body a chance to repair and is critical for nourishing the adrenal glands and allows for repair and restoration.

Drinking water to support your adrenal glands is only part of the whole equation.  Everyone needs adequate amounts of water to live, and we need healthy adrenals to maintain fluid and mineral balance in our bodies, but a healthy diet and lifestyle are also essential to keeping the mineral levels in your body to help you stay hydrated too. If you are drinking a lot of water and still feeling dehydrated, or if you have symptoms of adrenal exhaustion, replenish your adrenals with these recommendations.

Winter is here, and if you get sick a lot this time of year, there are many natural ways you can improve your body’s ability to stay healthy – especially with the foods you eat and lifestyle you maintain.

Many people believe that hand-washing is one of the best ways to keep illnesses away. In the last two decades we’ve seen a huge increase of the use of anti-bacterial substances which are supposed to keep our bodies healthier. But actually, these substances are toxic and don’t help our bodies to maintain health. They wipe out all bacteria, and our bodies need good bacteria to function optimally.

There are also many other factors which come into play toward keeping healthy. If your body doesn’t have the right nutrients every day – especially during times of stress, when you consume processed foods and especially those with sugar, exposure to illness from others, and days where sunlight is in short supply – your body will weaken and succumb to sickness and disease.

Whether you are a person who tends to catch every cold or flu that comes along or you just get sick once in awhile, here are some tips that really work for keeping away bacteria, illnesses, and viruses:

• Avoid eating processed foods and refined sugars   Fall and winter months are times when people tend to eat more sugary and processed foods due to holiday activities and gatherings. Sugar is a poison to your body and lowers immune system function. This includes foods such as crackers, chips, most breads, bagels, pastas, cookies, desserts, candy, juice, soda pop, and other related items. All of these items contribute to lowered immune system function and poor health. A good rule of thumb to follow – if it is not a whole food, avoid eating it regularly. Load up on real, raw, whole foods for snacks and meals alike.
• Consume plenty of healthy oils and fats   Real, organic butter (grass-fed and raw is a plus), ghee, extra-virgin, cold-pressed olive oils, coconut oils, sustainably-produced palm oil, and healthy animal fats from organic, grass-fed sources such as lard, tallow, and drippings from those same types of animal meats.
• Be certain to obtain essential fatty acids and CLA (conjugated linoleic acid) in your diet Take fish oil daily (good source of Vitamin D), eat grass-fed meats, pasture-raised eggs, raw dairy, and safe-source fish. Green Pasture Products sells the only fermented cod liver oil in the world and is the best source for fish oil nutrients like Omega 3s, Vitamins A & D, and other trace nutrients. Good sources of other EFAs include healthy oils like cold-pressed organic flax seed oil and coconut oil. A good brand is Udo’s Organic 3-6-9.  Read this FAQ about why people need good essential fatty acid support.
• Continue to eat plenty of organic, pesticide-free fresh fruits and vegetables   Especially those in season in your local area. Vegetables and fruits are high in nutrients and antioxidants which help thwart the development of disease and illness when properly prepared such as cultured or eaten with healthy fats like butter, lard, tallow, coconut oil, or olive oil.
• Drink plenty of mineral water, or add liquid minerals or fulvic acid   There is some controversy about whether filtered water with added minerals is actually healthy for us to drink because it’s not much different than a lot of processed foods which have been stripped of nutrients and have synthetic added back in. Keep a glass container with you throughout the day and sip frequently rather than trying to gulp down many ounces at a time spread farther apart. Avoid plastic containers, tap water, and bottled water. Tap water contains toxins and plastic contains pthalates – both of which supress immune system and health.
• Drink bone broths and incorporate them into your meals as well    Bone broths made from the bones of healthy animals and birds on pasture are full of easily-digested and essential nutrients which can help your body stay healthy such as magnesium, calcium, phosphorus, zinc, amino acids, and glucosamine (for bone health), and gelatin (muscles, metabolism, weight, skin, digestion, hair, fingernails, joint health). Read this post for more information on health benefits and recipes for making your own bone broths at home.
• Eat real, fermented foods like home-made yogurt, kefir, and sauerkraut Making your own at home is best for optimal preservation of nutrients and beneficial bacteria, as well as immune supporting and digestive enhancing. Commercial yogurts, sour cream, kefir, sauerkraut, pickles, and other foods do not have the health benefits or probiotic activity of home-made cultured foods. See this post for more information.
• Be certain to take a good probiotic each day – especially if you are lacking fermented foods Good brands include Biotics Research, Nature’s Life liquid probiotics (great for kids), Bio Kult, and Prescript-Assist for especially low immune function. Also, try the great recommendations by Rockwell Nutrition including a great line of HLC Probiotics by Pharmax.
• Use digestive enyzmes If you have maintained the Standard American Diet at any time in your life, your digestion is likely compromised.  Altered digestive function is one of the cornerstones of disease and illness. Digestive enzymes can help you to digest foods – proteins, fats, and carbohydrates. Try Dr. Ron Schmid’s Pancreatic enzymes.
• Watch intake of alcoholic beverages, which tend to increase during holiday months     Drinking excess alcohol can have adverse affects on appetite, blood sugar, blood pressure and cardiovascular function, metabolic processes, and weight. If you are a binge drinker during special occasions, cut yourself off after two drinks and make certain you are eating healthy foods and drinking plenty of water at the same time. Consider unpasteurized beer and wine.
• Make sure you are getting adequate rest and not overextending yourself    If necessary, say no to extra tasks that you know you really won’t have time or energy to accomplish. Stay home on a night where you might normally go out and rest, relax, catch up, and go to bed early. Go to bed by 10 p.m.
• Set aside time for some regular exercise, preferably outdoors   In the colder months people tend to go to health clubs more. Many more germs and toxins lurk indoors during colder months, so bundle up and go for a walk, hike, or bike ride. You’ll be pleased with how exhilarated you feel afterward. If you are a winter sport enthusiast, get out on the slopes and go skiing, snowshoeing, or snowboarding. If you are an equine enthusiast, make time to get out on your horse or a friend’s mount during weather that is not icy.
• Set aside time for contemplation, stress reduction, and relaxation   Whether that is a hot bath, a massage, tai chi, yoga, stretching, meditation or some other method you prefer, make sure you give yourself this time to recharge.
• If you do get sick, load up on probiotics, foods with healthy fats, and everything else mentioned above   Take time to pamper yourself (but not with toxic products that contain harmful chemicals – remember -read labels and if you cannot pronounce something or don’t know what it is, avoid!), rest, and put off things that aren’t necessary so you can get back to a state of health quicker and easier.  Read this informative post about my home medicine cabinet and things you can do to remedy illness and other health issues.
• Avoid taking pharmaceutical drugs and antibiotics   These substances rarely help your body to heal sooner, are over-prescribed, and actually cause nutrient depletion and lowered immune system function by wiping out friendly bacteria that is vital to health. For information on nutrient depletion caused by drugs, read Supplement Your Prescription: What Your Doctor Doesn’t Know About Nutrition by Dr. Hyla Cass, M.D.
• If you cannot shake a cold, flu, or illness, consider visiting an alternative health care practitioner such as  a chiropractor, naturopathic physician, or other qualified individual   These practitioners are often very successful in alleviating health issues and perform treatment based on the cause of the problem rather than just treating symptoms.

If you maintain a good schedule of eating healthy, avoiding processed foods and beverages, take proper supplementation, obtain moderate activity, exercise, rest, and relaxation, you will notice an enormous improvement in the way your health responds. You will have more energy, feel more productive, and avoid catching flus and colds.

This post is part of Real Food Forager’s Fat Tuesday blog hop.

I received this message in my e-mail box today from The Center for Food Safety, and I wanted to share it with my readers. Holiday time means people are buying more food and other products than any other time of year.

This year, I want to challenge my readers to commit to going GMO-free for the holidays (next step, make it a part of your regular habits after the holidays too). Please read this valuable information from CFS and my commentary in italics.  

Then, please take a few minutes and watch me being interviewed by my friend Leslie Stoddard who co-founded GMO-free Idaho with Jenny Easley. I am so excited about the important work these two women are doing, and I’ll do everything I can to support their efforts and work alongside them. Happy Thanksgiving to everyone, and may it be filled with blessings, health, real food, and lots of time with friends and family.
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Thanksgiving is the time of year when we gather with friends and family and reflect upon all the things we are thankful for in our lives. Of course, no good celebration is complete without sharing it over a good meal. But many popular Thanksgiving dishes may use ingredients that have been genetically engineered. Here are 5 simple tips to try to avoid these unlabeled, unwanted guests:

1. If you’re eating turkey, try to buy it organic so it hasn’t been given genetically engineered feed. For you Tofurky fans, Tofurky sources non-GMO ingredients.
    
   Go one step further and buy your turkey locally from a sustainable farmer that pasture-raises their turkeys and if they supplement, make sure the feed is non-GMO and soy and corn-free. Soy and corn in feed can diminish the nutritional value of poultry meat, and cause food allergies, organic or not, and interfere with hormones in those who eat the meat. See the section below on soy. Tofurky is not real food, its an engineered product that the body doesn’t know how to absorb – organic or not. AVOID at all costs. Real meat and fat is important for health.
2. Look out for the Big 5. These are the ingredients most likely to be genetically-engineered. You’ll find them primarily in prepared, packaged and canned foods like stuffing mix, oils, prepared desserts, and canned cranberry sauces.

   Corn

   • Corn flour, meal, oil, starch, gluten, and syrup
   • Sweeteners such as fructose, dextrose, and glucose
   • Modified food starch

   Soy

   • Soy flour, lecithin, protein, isolate, and isoflavone
   • Vegetable oil and vegetable protein
   From a real food standpoint, soy is unhealthy to consume unless traditionally prepared through fermentation. So I avoid soy as much as possible unless it’s naturally fermented soy sauce or miso soup. I don’t care for tofu, so I don’t ever buy it. I might eat it if I know it’s been properly fermented, but I avoid all products with soy in them like the plague, and especially since it is hormone altering (thyroid, thymus, hypothalamus), contains phytic acid which inhibits the uptake of various nutrients including minerals, and contains phytoestrogens which also alter our hormonal state. 

   Canola

   • Canola oil (also called rapeseed oil)

   Cotton
   Cottonseed oil

   There is never any reason to consume vegetable oil, organic or not. These are modern oils our body cannot process. They are created by the food industry, are fragile and become denatured during the cooking process, and even before they are stocked on the grocery store shelf, they have been deodorized and subjected to high-heat temperatures. Read this post about how cottonseed oil was originally created, and just how pervasive it is in our food supply. These oils also contain Omega 6s, one of the elements our Standard American Diet is too plentiful in, and which contribute to inflammation and disease in the body (i.e., heart disease, cancer, and obesity). 

   Sugar

   • Unless 100% cane sugar or evaporated cane sugar, sugar may be produced from sugar beets which may be genetically engineered.
   Instead of sugar, opt for healthy, unrefined sweeteners such as Rapadura, sucanat, coconut date sugar, maple sugar, real maple syrup – B grade, real Stevia (the green variety, not white powdered), and raw honey.  These sweeteners, especially if organic, are non-GMO and contain important trace nutrients and minerals, left intact due to their low-processed state. 
3. Look for products labeled “USDA Organic,” or labeled as “Non-GMO.” Certified organic products are not allowed to be produced using GMOs.

   Go one step further and buy as much as you can from local, sustainable farmers. Here’s a post about what types of questions to ask your farmer when buying food. USDA organic labels are not always reliable, and because of labeling laws becoming less stringent more “fuzzy”, you may end up buying something containing something you don’t want that’s not even showing on the label. 

4. Look for dairy products (milk, cream, butter) labeled “rbGH-free,” “rbST-free” or “USDA Organic,” as they are not produced with genetically-engineered, artificial growth hormones.
    
   Go several steps further and buy local, sustainable milk – raw is best because it retains all the important beneficial bacteria (probiotics), enzymes, and nutritional value since the milk is not heated – from healthy cows on pasture. Many commercial milks, even organic, still come from cows in confinement and from animals fed a large majority of their diets in soy, corn, and grain. Cattle are ruminants and are meant to consume grass as they have long digestive tracts designed to process grass. When they are fed other substances like corn, soy, and grain, the result is an acidic digestive tract and overall health. They become sick and then farmers administer antibiotics and other harmful drugs which alter their health and the quality of the milk. 
5. Look for products in our True Food Shoppers Guide. You can download a .pdf for free, or as a free app for your iPhone or Android mobile phone.

Other action steps to take: 

1. Tell FDA to label GE foods! The Center for Food Safety recently filed a formal legal petition with FDA demanding that the agency require the labeling of genetically engineered foods. Now, we are spearheading a drive with over 350 other organizations and businesses in the Just Label It! Campaign, to direct one million comments to the FDA in support of our petition.
    
   An ABC News poll found that 93 percent of the American public wants the federal government to require mandatory labeling of genetically engineered foods. As ABC News stated, “Such near-unanimity in public opinion is rare.” Yet the United States is one of the only countries in the world that doesn’t require labeling of GE food!

   In my opinion, mandatory labeling doesn’t solve the inherent problem of GMOs polluting our earth, but it gets consumer awareness up. We need this because currently, most people I have talked to about GMOs either have no idea or don’t think it’s an issue. This is scary. Once mandatory labeling becomes a law, we can work toward the next goal which is banning GMOs from our food supply all together – what many European countries have already done and what we should have done years ago. 

   In the U.S., we pride ourselves on having choices and making informed decisions. Under current FDA regulations, we don’t have that choice when it comes to GE ingredients in the foods we purchase and feed our families. Send your comment to FDA demanding mandatory labeling of GE foods today!

2. If you are fortunate enough to be able to share the holiday abundance, please consider donating to a local Food bank, or volunteering some time on Thanksgiving to help those less fortunate. If you don’t know where your local food bank or soup kitchen program is check Volunteer Match by typing in your zip code and “Thanksgiving” for a list of Thanksgiving volunteer opportunities near you.

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Here’s the video interview with Leslie Stoddard of GMO-free Idaho. The purpose of this interview was to spread the news about GMOs to our community and beyond, and to help people understand that avoiding GMOs is not only possible but critical to our health and the environment, and the success of the sustainable food community – an effort that may well be one of the most important things you’ll ever do. Here’s Part I and Part II:

GMO-Free Idaho Interview Part 1

GMO-Free Idaho Interview Part 2

Busting myths about GMOs
Stop the use of GMOs in our food supply
The Institute for Responsible Technology – providing research and education to consumers who want to make educated decisions about what they eat

Do you feel overwhelmed with the coming holiday season and meal planning? Want to make delicious, healthy, dishes, desserts, and appetizers but your’re unsure where to begin?

The perfect solution is Nourished Kitchen’s Happy & Healthy Holidays Cooking Course – specifically designed to help you prepare real, wholesome food for family and friends.

Most of us associate holiday meals, gatherings, and events with a lot of planning, added stress, and gaining weight from eating foods that aren’t healthy for us. Put all your worries to rest with Jenny’s online, multi-media cooking course. She will help you to create the same healthy meals grandmothers from generations ago used to make, and avoid the issues of food intolerances and putting on pounds. You can’t go wrong with real food and great recipes to help you celebrate the season!

Real foods and wholesome ingredients are not only delicious, but they satisfy in a way that processed foods do not. Re-discover all the joys of eating real food while enjoying all your most beloved holiday meals and desserts when you sign up for this cooking course, and also learn new ways to enjoy them as well.

Personally, I’m incredibly excited to learn how to make a pie crust – I made my first pie crust last year with real lard and butter, but now I want master creating a pie crust from scratch with these wholesome ingredients. Imagine just how delicious a pie crust can taste when it’s made with real ingredients and is also healthy to eat!  Until just a few years ago, my whole life was spent feeling guilty when eating desserts. With these wholesome recipes, now I can eat my dessert and feel good about eating it!

Preparing healthy meals also means you can make gifts for friends and family and stay on budget. Almost everyone loves receiving something to eat that is home-made – and it’s even better when it’s healthy AND delicious!

Enjoy all your favorites:

• delicious roasted turkey
• succulent gravies and sauces
• pies & sugar cookies
• roast tenderloin, and more!

Want to make Desserts and treats a snap? Learn how to make mouth-watering pecan pie and gingerbread that is HEALTHY.

Wheat sensitivities or food allergies? Want to make gluten-free meals? This is the cooking course for you. Learn how to make special holiday meals not only with healthy, delicious ingredients, but using foods that won’t cause issues for your body.

Hurry, classes start December 1st, deadline is November 30th!

Here’s what you’ll get for your Thanksgiving, Hanukkah, Christmas, Yule and New Year’s celebrations this year.  Jenny is offering this entire 10-part series devoted to healthy holiday cooking including:

• 10 comprehensive online video lessons
• video tutorials
• over 30 holiday menus
• 175 wholesome, traditional recipes
• exclusive online forum discussion membership
• downloadable print materials
• tips for where to shop for your ingredients

Use this coupon code NK20 to receive 20% off the total price. Hurry, enrollment ends on November 30th, 2011.  You will receive LIFETIME access to all classes in this series, and if you sign up today you’ll pay less than $97 for your enrollment – less than $10 per class!

I want to thank all of my readers for their continued support. When you sign up for this course, I earn a small commission and you are helping out a real food blogger and her family, and enabling me to continue to post the information I do here, as well as supporting the real food community at large.

Click here to sign up for a free mini-lesson on how to make cultured dairy.

Last week, some children in the state of CA became sickened and three were admitted to the hospital. On Tuesday, Novmember 15th, the State of CA issued a recall on all products from Organic Pastures Dairy in Fresno, CA.  The California Department of Public Health reported that no E. Coli 0157:H7 was found in any of the products taken from the homes of these five children who became ill.

By law, Organic Pastures performs weekly tests on their milk before sale, and continue to receive clean test results. However, because all these children reported drinking raw milk, the State of California maintains that the culprit must be from the milk and that Organic Pastures may not sell dairy products until further notice.  According to Mercury News, “California State Veterinarian Annette Whiteford ordered all Organic Pastures’ raw dairy products, except for cheese aged at least 60 days, to be pulled immediately from retail shelves. She strongly urged consumers to dispose of any such products in their refrigerators.”

On the heels of this incident, just two days later, Ready Pac Foods Inc., based in Irwindale, CA was asked to recall 5,379 cases of their bagged salad products due to possible E. coli bacteria contamination.  Just last month, another recall of bagged lettuce was issued from Taylor Farms of CA (same state).  These are not isolated incidents nor coincidences.  The reality is, recalls from bagged produce and other products happen all the time.

Where is the E. coli coming from? Answer: runoff water from factory farms, where E. coli and other pathogenic bacteria like Salmonella are rampant due to unsanitary and unhealthful practices. This is why I don’t buy any bagged lettuce. I buy local, whole heads of lettuce when they are in season, and whole lettuce heads at the health food store, organic when I can.

During the time when my family first started drinking raw milk, for nearly two years we had no raw milk access here in Boise, ID. So I ordered packages of raw dairy products to be shipped to our home every 6-7 weeks. We consumed milk, butter, cheese, and colostrum and it was a delicious and nutritious part of our family meals. Then, the State of CA decided that raw dairy foods could no longer be shipped beyond the borders of their state, so we had to start finding raw dairy sources here in ID.

What’s all the fuss about raw milk, anyway?

Raw milk receives a great deal of criticism by mainstream health communities and the media. But raw milk from healthy cows on pasture is a safe and natural food, no different than farm-fresh produce from sustainable farmers using healthy practices. It’s important to note that thousands upon thousands of food products are recalled in our food system regularly – including many types of fruits and vegetables which have been found to contain the E. coli bacteria. And yet you won’t hear medical and health authorities telling the consumer public to stop buying and eating these foods.

When milk is pasteurized, the heating process destroys healthy bacteria which prevents the pathogenic from becoming a problem. The beneficial bacteria, found in raw milk, are largely unavailable in the food supply due to processing, irradiation, and pasteurization. We need these bacteria to keep our digestive and immune systems, and health in optimal condition.  Dr. Joseph Mercola, M.D., a leading authority in health, discusses the importance of probiotics in maintaining our health. Pasteurization also destroys necessary enzymes which allow us to absorb the nutrients found in milk.

Raw milk is not the same

Of course, authorities claim raw milk is different than fruits and vegetables.  They say it isn’t the same as consuming raw vegetables or other agricultural products containing pathogenic bacteria because milk is not cooked, such as vegetables, or washed and that if contamination exists there is really no method of destroying it. Public health officials contend that pasteurization was developed to kill these harmful bacteria, since before it was used milk contained harmful bacteria that regularly made people sick or killed them.

Commercial dairies use unsafe and unsanitary practices

In her book, Real Food: What to Eat and Why, Nina Planck tells us that pasteurization came along as a response to slop dairies in the 1800s, which started to spring up in urban cities in the eastern U.S.  These dairies were located next to whiskey distilleries for convenience – they used cheap feed from the distilleries in order to control costs. Some of the dairy owners even added molasses, burned sugar, starch, flour, or chalk to impart more texture and body. Some dairies added water to their milk to stretch the milk farther and save more money.

Cows also lived in the most horrific, unsanitary conditions as well, and were often found crammed together in close quarters, having open sores on their bodies, and ulcerated gums with teeth falling out. It’s no surprise that when the cows consumed this feed and lived in this manner, they became sick. Then, the milk consumed from the cows in these dairies made humans sick – causing all the diseases which have been reported by public health officials for many years and bringing the justification for pasteurization to surface – tuberculosis and brucellosis (also known as undulant fever), and many others.

Cattle are ruminants and their digestive systems are intended to process grass – not grain, corn, soy, flour, sugar, or any other substance. When you take the cow out of its natural environment of pasture and sunshine, and force feed it substances it was not meant to ingest, problems occur. In the case of slop dairies, regulations and laws for keeping cows healthy and clean were not in place; and the advent of pasteurization did not improve conditions, it only allowed them to continue.

So when public health officials made the statement about pasteurization being developed to destroy harmful bacteria – they were only partially right. The pathogens were indeed there due to the horrific conditions present in dairies, but pasteurization doesn’t always solve the problem.  Nina Planck also mentions the fact that certain bacteria such as Listeria, are not impervious to pasteurization.  Also, in large dairies, pasteurization “allows less scrupulous dairy farmers to be lax with cow health and milk handling because they count on pasteurization to destroy pathogens – at least the heat-sensitive ones – that may taint milk.”  This is as true today as it was over a hundred or more years ago.

Watch highlights from the video conference given by Mark McAfee about the recall:

Read the official press release from Organic Pastures. And, please take action and make your voice heard about this matter!

Contact:

California Department of Food and Agriculture, Office of Public Affairs, Steve Lyle:

(916) 654-0462
slyle@cdfa.ca.gov

Leave your comments on the California Department of Food and Agriculture Facebook page.

Keep up with the latest developments on this case via Organic Pastures Facebook page.

What’s the bottom line?

Raw milk from healthy cows on pasture eating grass is the obvious choice for health – it is full of important beneficial bacteria, enzymes, and brimming with nutrients that simply are difficult to obtain in most of what’s available in our food supply. Milk that is pasteurized is sure to contain harmful bacteria that will make you sick, and as we’ve reviewed, pasteurized milk is not always “safe” to consume.

Why our family chooses raw over pasteurized milk

Is cheap food really cheap? The hidden costs of industrial food

The truth about raw milk, Part I

The truth about raw milk, Part II

This post is part of Sarah The Healthy Home Economist’s Monday Mania.