Food, Naturally: Articles VI

In case you are new to the series, you can start at the beginning or the introduction.

I found a couple articles today that I wanted to share with you, even though I am taking a break from writing new posts for the Food series.

1. Eater's, beware: Walmart is taking over our food system
A few tidbits from this article include:
* Walmart's share of the whole nations grocery market: 25%
* Walmart is short changing farmers and "charging consumers inflated prices" which has helped to drive up the food prices!
* Walmart's "local produce": "Walmart is doing industrial local," not buying from local small farmers.
* Walmart's low prices are supposed to help reduce the problems of poverty but,

"[n]eighborhoods that gain Walmart stores end up with more poverty and food-stamp usage than communities where the retailer does not open, a study published in Social Science Quarterly found. This increase in poverty may owe to the fact that Walmart's arrival leads to a net loss of jobs and lowers wages, according to research [PDF] by economists at the University of California-Irvine and Cornell."

If we had a distributist society, we wouldn't have this problem, but here in the US, capitalism is king, and along with it comes all these problems.


2. Asian Honey, Banned in Europe, Is Flooding US Grocery Shelves
Beward of Honey sold in US supermarkets. China is laundering honey and it's making its way to the US. Most of the honey is contaminated with antibiotics that are dangerous for children, heavy metals including lead, and some of the honey isn't even honey at all! Read the article to learn more.

Food, Naturally: Article V

In case you are new to the series, you can start at the beginning or the introduction.

Another good article to go along with my series: What's Eating Your Child?

Good information for everyone, not just children.

Food, Naturally: Know Your Ingredients, Read Your Labels

In case you are new to the series, you can start at the beginning or the introduction.

I talked last time about eliminating processed foods, but let’s face it; they are never going to be totally eliminated from our homes. As long as we eat real food 80% of the time, we can usually afford to compromise 20% of the time and hope our bodies will be forgiving. We should remember that the more “compromises” we make with food, the more strain we are putting on our bodies. As I briefly discussed here, the foods we eat are stressing our bodies to the point of exhaustion. But if you truly want to serve healthy, real food for your family and your budget is cutting you short, incorporating the meal blessing will give you the opportunity to ask and trust God to make up the difference.

So, what about those much talked about food labels? If I have not gotten the point across by now, I will repeat myself: do not trust them!

Here are just some of the many food label problems:
* Expiration dates: Use by, sell by, best by dates are only regulated by the USDA for infant formula. Only twenty states require dates (on some products) by law. Some dates are for store use only (such as sell-by dates) and are not an indicator of food safety. Other dates are given by the company to indicate peak freshness, not expiration and food safety.

* Trans fat: If the product has .49g or less trans fat per serving, the company is allowed to claim “no trans fat” on the box! Just a hint, you should read the serving sizes since they passed that law. Many are so small you would certainly be eating double or triple (or more) of the serving size in a normal meal/snack. So you could potentially be eating 1 - 1.5+ grams of trans fat with that one product. If the ingredient lists partially-hydrogenated oil, hydrogenated oil, and/or shortening, it contains trans fats no matter what the box and nutrition label says!

* “Raw” sugar (ex. Sugar in the Raw) is actually processed. Now how exactly do they get away with claiming “raw” on a processed food? Because there is no law that says otherwise, therefore the company can make any claim they wish to dupe you into buying their product.

* Health food claims: These are the worst. You think the product is healthy because they state all the vitamins and minerals in it, but do you stop to read the food label and ingredients as well? You should. Take children’s sugary cereals for example. They have always been marketed as “healthy” because of the added man-made vitamins and minerals (which are only added because of the poor quality of the original ingredients) and now for the “whole grains!”, but they have way too much sugar! And we all know now why we should limit sugar.

* “Wheat” products: The word “wheat” on a package does not mean anything unless the words “whole” or “100% whole” are accompanied with it. White flour, also known as enriched flour on food labels, is wheat flour. It has just been processed down to the endosperm only and bleached. Almost all the nutrients in wheat are found in the bran and germ. This is why white flour must be “enriched”!

* Multi-grain products: These are made to sound nutritious by claiming multiple grains, but usually these products are made with mostly white flour. Again, read the ingredient list.

Reading Nutrition Labels:
* Ingredients are listed according to weight, so the first ingredient is what makes up the majority of the product and so on.

* Look at the serving size. Because so many people are worried about nutrition anymore, many companies have lowered their serving sizes instead of lowering the sugar, sodium, or other content as claimed on the package. Also, many serving sizes are now much smaller than you would normally eat in one sitting (as stated above).

* Next look at the amount of sodium and sugar listed. For every 600 milligrams (mg) of sodium listed, there is ¼ teaspoon of salt per serving. For every 4 grams (g) of sugar listed, there is one teaspoon of sugar per serving. Most products include massive amounts of salt as a preservative so the product stays “fresh” longer. Sugar is included so often (especially when unnecessary as in the case of my crab) because our culture is now addicted to sugar.

Ingredients List: What to Look For
First, always look for partially-hydrogenated oil, hydrogenated oil, and/or shortening. If any of those words show up in the product list, don’t buy it! I promise, you can find crackers, tortillas, and other baked items without trans fats. You just have to look harder.

Next, how many types of sugar can you spot? Sugar may not be listed first, but that does not mean a product is not mostly sugar, or at least made up of too much sugar. If the company uses many types of sugar, they could all add up to being the main ingredient. Sugar words to look for include (in no particular order): sugar, fructose, sucrose, glucose, dextrose, maltose, corn syrup, high-fructose corn syrup, cane syrup, and honey.

One more thing to look for is monosodium glutamate or MSG. The only problem with this is it can be found among so many names. If you think you are ready to spot them out, read the article linked in the previous sentence and also this Truth in Labeling table.

There are many other ingredients to stay away from in processed foods such as food dyes, chemical additives and preservatives, nitrates and nitrites (in processed meats), and others. If you are ready to tackle all of those, one of the best things to do is start looking for products listed as “natural” or “organic” and read only those food labels. It will narrow down your search, making it a little faster. I will talk more about natural and organic products in my upcoming posts.

For more information on ingredients and food labels, please read the books and blogs listed here.

Food, Naturally: Eliminate Processed Foods

In case you are new to the series, you can start at the beginning or the introduction.

As I have discussed previously, processed foods are something we should avoid for the reasons listed below and many more!

What is Real Food?—processed food is not and cannot be real food!
Why Eat Real Food, Part I?—God made real food. Man made processed food. You decide!
Why Eat Real Food, Part II?—How can we trust experts and researchers to tell us the truth when they are worried only about their own interests?
Article I—The truth about the food industry. We all probably know it, but do not want to believe it.
Article II and More—Do you need more to convince you of the problems with the food industry?
Vegetable Oils and Bad Fats—What type of ingredients are found most often in processed foods (besides sugars)? Vegetable oils … man-made foods.
Article III and More—More about vegetable oils and their problems
Natural Sugars and Eating Less of Them!—The other most common ingredient in processed foods? Sugar, of course!

So, after all that information, I still have more to share, or elaborate on, about processed foods. Most of the links below (but not all) correspond to the pages already linked to above.

The word “processed” should steer us all away from these foods for the simple reason in Why Eat Real Food, Part I. But since some of us need more encouragement and reasoning than that, I will elaborate. Many of us (myself included) love convenience. We crave convenience because we have become so used to it, as our society has “progressed” (and I am using the word loosely here). The other reason we “need” convenience comes from the problem discussed a while back in this post about women. It basically comes down to priorities—what they currently are and what they should be.

Many processed foods can be made at home quickly, cheaply, and far more healthfully than what we would buy at the store. I will start putting links on my Recipes post (found at the top of every page) for “typically processed” foods so that you can see how quick and easy things such as salad dressings, cream of ____ soup, or even mayonnaise are to make yourself! I would also like to point out that breads, muffins, and pizza crust (things we would typically buy already made or mixes for in the store) are quick and simple. The rising time for breads can make them “time-consuming”, but the fact that you get to do other things while the yeast works by itself, equates to a simple, easy, cheap real food option! I already have links available for some of my favorite “bread” recipes.

The other problems with processed foods (on top of too many vegetable oils and sugars) are the chemicals, additives, preservatives, and food dyes found among the ingredients. Are these ingredients safe? Can we trust the people who say they are? Are they God-given? Have they been around for thousands of years, like real foods, or just the past few decades?

Like I discussed here, companies want to make a product cheaply. They do not care about the ingredients they put into the product. It is more profitable for them to use white flour and fortify their food with vitamins and minerals than to give you the whole wheat version because whole wheat is more expensive and will turn rancid faster giving it a shorter shelf-life and thus less profit (because they have to worry about the product being sold quickly). Look at the crackers the next time you are in the store. You will notice the ones with whole wheat expire a lot earlier than the others. Another example is the overuse of soybean and corn oil—two of the cheapest oils available, but both are recent, man-“made”, and can be hazardous.

The third problem is with labels and the distrust they create between consumers and the companies. I will talk next time about reading/deciphering ingredients and labels.

For more information on processed foods, please read the books and blogs listed here.

Food, Naturally: Natural Sugars and Eating Less of Them!

In case you are new to the series, you can start at the beginning or the introduction.

Some sugars are okay, others can be dangerous in large quantities. Care to know which ones you should choose?

Honey – A natural, God-given sweetener with anti-bacterial, anti-viral, anti-fungal properties. It treats cough and upper respiratory infections, may promote better blood sugar control, contains antioxidants, improves HDL, boosts immunity, and taking 1 T raw honey made from within 100 miles of your home fights seasonal allergies. Honey also contains trace amounts of vitamins and minerals. The most interesting thing about honey is it never spoils! It has been found in Egyptian pyramids still edible!

Maple syrup – Also a natural God-given sweetener that contains antioxidants, 100% DV of manganese in ¼ cup, and is high in zinc. It raises HDL, supports the immune system, has anti-inflammatory properties, helps with male reproductive health and prostate support, has potential benefits for Type II Diabetes, and more than 20 compounds in maple syrup are associated with human health and also believed to have anti-cancer, anti-diabetic, and antibacterial properties (source). Pour that 100% pure maple syrup on your pancakes!

Sucanat – This is dehydrated raw cane sugar. It is better than white sugar (but not much) because it is simply dehydrated cane juice – unrefined, unbleached, and molasses-retained (not added back in). Therefore, it also retains some (minute) amounts of actual nutrients and is metabolized a little slower than white sugar. “Raw sugar” in the store is not the same as sucanat. “Raw sugar” is actually processed. I will talk more about food labels in a future post.

White sugar (can also apply to sucanat) – Since she already did the research and wrote it out, you can read here the bad things about white sugar. Bottom Line: Sugar is an empty food devoid of any nutrient value. It only tastes good and is used far too often in processing today.

Artificial sweeteners – As with everything else, do we trust the research that says they are okay or listen to the research that says they are harmful? Remembering what God made and gave us on this earth will go a long way in using common sense on which sugars/sweeteners to avoid!

Why do we need to eat less sugar?

“Eating sugar depletes B vitamins, which leads to premenstrual symptoms and depression, and promotes Candida albicans, a systemic yeast infection. Sugar also causes bone loss, and of course tooth decay—but not for the reason you might think. Sugar upsets the balance of calcium and phosphorus, which causes teeth to rot from the inside out. … Last but not least, by raising blood sugar, triglycerides, and cholesterol, sugar leads to obesity, diabetes, and heart disease.” (Real Food, 216, emphasis original)

Sugar should never be a staple in your diet and does not even have to be included at all. If you want to include it regularly, at least choose honey and maple syrup over other types of sugar, but everyone’s sugar intake should be reduced overall. Try adding only a quarter or half the sugar called for in recipes and look for ways to reduce your dependence on processed foods (almost all of which contain too much sugar). Just for example, I bought artificial crab the other day for a meal—and what was included in the ingredients? Sugar! The generic brand also had almost twice as much sugar as the name brand so I opted to pay more for less sugar.

For more information on sugars, please read the books and blogs listed here.

Food, Naturally: Article III and More

In case you are new to the series, you can start at the beginning or the introduction.

I thought I would give you some additional information on vegetable oils, in case you are interested in reading about them.
**Are Polyunsaturated Oils Healthy? from Kitchen Stewardship

My Thoughts: I find all the information so fascinating that I have come across recently. And I am quickly learning that what we put into our bodies affects so much of everything else. If we all started eating healthy (the way people did a few hundred years ago and more) many of the diseases we see now would disappear. But the even bigger shocker is that, according to what I have read, this would not happen overnight. We have hurt our bodies so much through our food that our children and grandchildren will suffer, even if they eat right! I think, if that statement does not motivate you to research and change your eating habits, nothing will!

I also think that researchers today are sometimes blinded by the fact that "the government" or "experts" have said that particular foods are healthy or safe so they do not even look at food as a cause for so many of our diseases any more. From my reading, many modern diseases including many cancers, diabetes, cholesterol and blood pressure problems, obesity, and heart disease are soley caused from the food we eat. We need to change our eating habits. We need to eat real food. We must demand better for our children, our nation, and our world. Eat Food, Naturally.

Food, Naturally: Vegetable Oils and Bad Fats

In case you are new to the series, you can start at the beginning or the introduction.

Almost all vegetable oils today are recent foods. They are not found in traditional diets, and for good reason. What are these industrial fats? Soybean oil, corn oil, cottonseed oil, sunflower oil, safflower oil, and any oil or fat (including lard) that is hydrogenated. These fats can cause major problems when eaten in large or small amounts as stated below.

Both omega-6 fats (found mostly in vegetable oils) and omega-3 fats (found in fish) are essential to good health, but the problem is that we should be eating equal amounts of these two types. Instead our grocery stores are bombarded with “low-fat” vegetable oils in every processed food available and we are told to use vegetable oils in cooking instead of saturated fats so we end up eating too much of them.

Because of their properties, too many omega-6 fats cause inflammation, obesity, insulin resistance, premature labor, infertility, blood clots, and depression. They also constrict blood vessels and encourage platelet stickiness and clotting leading to heart disease.

On the other side, our diets are also lacking omega-3 fats found in seafood and fish. Not enough omega-3 fats can cause major problems such as dyslexia, poor motor skills, ADHD, even depression, bipolar disorder, and schizophrenia.

Because of the amount of vegetable oils we consume, consequences of imbalance can affect even breastfed babies as shown here in the quality of breast milk:

• Ideal ratio of omega-6 fats to omega-3 fats = 1 to 1
• 2 studies done in the US show ratios of 67.4 to 1 and 175.0 to 1

Another problem with vegetable oils is their fault with heating. Unsaturated fats are easily oxidized during cooking. Oxidized fats contribute to cancer and heart disease. They can also cause diarrhea, poor growth, loss of hair, skin lesions, anorexia, emaciation, and intestinal hemorrhages. The best fats to fry in are beef fat, butter, or coconut oil because they are highly saturated and therefore stable during heating.

We all know trans fats cause health problems. We should avoid them at all costs as they have no health benefits and are dangerous in any amount; even the government health agencies will admit that point, but have you ever looked at the processed food you buy from the store? You will quickly see how they are nowhere near eliminated from our diets as they should be. All hydrogenated and partially-hydrogenated oils ARE trans fats. (I will talk more about food labels later.) Most pretzels, tortillas, crackers, cookies, cakes, and other baked goods are full of hydrogenated oils. Go ahead, look at your labels. I’ll wait.

The problems with trans fats:

• Lower HDL
• Raise LDL
• Raise Lp(a), which promotes atherosclerosis and clotting
• Reduce blood vessel function
• Promote obesity, diabetes, and hypertension
• Alter fat cell size and number
• Reduce fat content of breast milk (a necessary nutrient for babies’ growth and brain development)
• Reduce fertility and correlate with low birth weight
• Increase asthma
• Reduce immune response
• Interfere with conversion and use of DHA and EPA (omega-3 fats)
• Disrupt enzymes that metabolize carcinogens and drugs
• Damage cell membranes
• Create free radicals

When we eat the foods we are supposed to, and avoid all these new man-made concoctions, we will avoid many of these debilitating diseases that now plague our society. It is only when other countries start incorporating the “American way” of eating that they begin to see problems in their health. So what do we do? Eat real food, naturally!

For more information on vegetable oils and other fats, please read the books listed here.

Food, Naturally: Meat, Eggs, and Good Fats

In case you are new to the series, you can start at the beginning or the introduction.

Because there is so much controversy and false information out there, I will again start my post with a reiteration (from the introduction):

“There are so many false sources out there that it can be hard to sift through them, but one of the most important things to remember is this. Do they have a political, financial, or other gain that may be obtained by making these remarks regarding what we eat?”

And I will also remind you to read this article talked about in my last post, if you haven’t already.

One of the most important things I learned through my reading is that all traditional fats are healthy in moderation. Not just neutral or “unharmful”, but rather beneficial.

What are traditional fats? (Fats that God gave us)
Lard, beef and pork fat, poultry fat, cream, butter, extra virgin olive oil, unrefined palm oil, and unrefined coconut oil

All these fats have been eaten for thousands of years and yet heart disease was rare before the 1900s and the first heart attack in the United States was not until 1912. Then by mid-century, heart disease became the number one killer! What did people start eating around that time? Trans fats (in the form of hydrogenated oils) and an excess of refined vegetable oils. Yes, these are the killers and I will talk more about them in the next post.

As talked about here, the so-called research evidence stating that saturated fats and cholesterol cause heart disease is false. Please read Real Food by Nina Planck (listed here) to discover more about this.

What are some benefits of saturated fats?
They are required for the absorption of calcium and other minerals. The body is better able to retain omega-3 fats when saturated fats are also eaten. Saturated fats build the immune system by fighting harmful pathogens. They lower blood levels of lipoprotein (a)—which leads to clotting and atherosclerosis. And when you eat too much saturated fat, the body converts it to monounsaturated fat which lowers LDL and does not affect HDL. How’s that for reasons to eat more bacon and butter?!

As always, for more information on good, traditional fats, please read the books listed here.

Food, Naturally: Raw Milk and Other Dairy

In case you are new to the series, you can start at the beginning or the introduction.

I have talked about the benefits of raw milk previously, so I did not want to repeat myself, but much of this is too important not to share again.

I feel like I should start off with a realization. Raw milk is almost a completely different product from pasteurized milk. In pasteurized milk, all the enzymes and beneficial bacteria and almost all the vitamins have been “scorched” out of the milk. The A and D vitamins found in store bought milk have been added back in. The enzymes found in raw milk help the body digest the sugars and proteins found in the milk. This is why many people who are lactose intolerant find they are able to drink raw milk without any issues. The bacteria found in raw milk help the digestive system and immune system similar to how yogurt works.

Many people think drinking raw milk is unsafe, but this is not true. When cows are fed a natural diet, (read: free-grazing, eating pasture) they rarely get sick compared to cows given a space not much bigger than they are, required to stand and lay in their own waste, and fed an unnatural “grain” diet (i.e. usually corn which a cow would rarely, if ever, eat in nature). This combined with other factors including small farms where the farmer takes care to make sure he does not contaminate the milk means that drinking a local source of raw milk is safe.

Drinking raw milk actually means drinking whole milk. We should be drinking the fat with the milk as this is where the fat-soluble vitamins are found and also because some vitamins require fat in order to be used in our bodies. I will talk more about fat in the next post.

Other dairy products that are good for you and should be eaten regularly (daily) include raw (or at least organic) cream, real butter (preferably made from raw cream or at least organic cream), yogurt or kefir, crème fraiche (sour cream), and raw milk cheese.

For more information on dairy please read the books listed here.

Food, Naturally: Why You Will Feel Better Eating It

In case you are new to the series, you can start at the beginning or the introduction.

The easiest answer goes back to what was stated in this post: “God made our bodies to function using the food that He gave us and people ate this way for thousands of years.” If God made cholesterol, saturated (and unsaturated) fat, natural vitamins and minerals, plants and animals, then our bodies will not only survive, but thrive from eating these things.

Some nutrients that our bodies need are found only in animal products. Even cultures that are traditionally vegetarian will eat dairy, eggs, or even bugs because of the necessary nutrients found there. No culture is traditionally vegan. That form of eating is unhealthy and even deadly without manmade supplements. With animal products, you cannot separate the necessary nutrients from the cholesterol; with dairy, you cannot separate them from the fat. Those are the places where the nutrients are found.

Let’s start out with a research example: “In 1996, researchers noted that Israeli Jews followed the recommended diet for preventing obesity, diabetes, and heart disease. They ate fewer calories, more carbohydrates, less fat, less saturated fat, and more polyunsaturated vegetable oils than Americans. Their diet closely resembled the USDA food pyramid, including generous amounts of fruits and vegetables” (Real Food, 206). We would assume, this being the recommended diet, that they lived longer and healthier than anyone in the world. “The reward for this dietary discipline? Higher rates of obesity and diabetes than Americans and similar rates of heart disease” (206).

So, if we shouldn’t eat the USDA recommended diet, what should we eat? And how do these things benefit our body? We should eat traditional foods, prepared in traditional ways. These are the foods God gave us. And this is the way it should be: Food, Naturally.


**I will elaborate on each food or group individually in their separate post.

Food, Naturally: What is Real Food?

In case you are new to the series, you can start at the beginning or the introduction.

Many people may tell you different things about what real food is to them. I will tell you my definition first and include some others as well.

My perfect definition of real food encompasses locally grown, seasonal fruits and vegetables; locally-raised, pastured beef, pork, and chicken and eggs; raw milk and raw milk cheese; and freshly milled whole wheat breads. Some people may include an emphasis on plant foods or one on animal foods. Others focus on raw foods and sprouted or soaked grains. And others worry about humanely raised animal products, no genetically modified organisms (GMOs), or simply just organic foods.

I believe the most important, yet simplest definition of real food is food in its whole form, as close to nature as possible and made into meals from scratch in our own kitchens instead of processed in a lab (literally, in some cases) and packaged in a factory.

My goal for my family is to eat as much:

• locally grown produce (from my own garden or bought from local farms/farmer’s markets)
• locally-raised, pastured beef, pork, and chicken and eggs
• raw milk from pasture-fed cows, which can be skimmed for cream and made into butter
• raw milk cheese or at least whole-milk cheese
• freshly milled whole wheat breads and other flour products
• canned (or possibly even lacto-fermented) fruits and veggies for use when out of season
• butter, cream, extra virgin olive oil, coconut and palm oil, lard, and meat fat as possible.

And eliminate as many:

• industrial fats (trans fats/hydrogenated fats, margarine, vegetable oils, and shortening)
• refined grains and sugars, and artificial sweeteners
• and even raw/natural sweeteners as possible.

I was working toward this in Washington, but am currently taking it slow during this transition in our lives. I still try to eat as many whole foods and traditional fats as possible while including as much organic as possible since we are not eating local.

Hopefully, I will help you achieve this with your family (if you so choose) and help you understand why this is important throughout this Food, Naturally series.

New Series Coming! Food, Naturally

I am finally getting around to posting about food which I stated as a topic when I first started writing again this year in May! The good thing is I have read more and know more about it now than I did when I mentioned it previously. This is going to be a short series about what I have learned regarding true nutrition and health. Like I mentioned previously, you might be shocked by what you find here, but I urge you to read and research for yourselves.

These are the books I have enjoyed reading thus far.

• Real Food: What to Eat and Why by Nina Planck
• Nourishing Traditions: The Cookbook that Challenges Politically Correct Nutrition and the Diet Dictocrats by Sally Fallon and Mary Enig

Other books that I would like to read on this topic include:

• The Untold Story of Milk, Revised and Updated: The History, Politics, and Science of Nature’s Perfect Food: Raw Milk from Pasture-Fed Cows by Ron Schmid
• Know Your Fats: The Complete Primer for Understanding the Nutrition of Fats, Oils, and Cholesterol by Mary Enig
• Eat Fat, Lose Fat: The Healthy Alternative to Trans Fats by Mary Enig and Sally Fallon
• Real Food for Mother and Baby: The Fertility Diet, Eating for Two, and Baby’s First Foods by Nina Planck
• The Omnivore’s Dilemma: A Natural History of Four Meals by Michael Pollan
• In Defense of Food: An Eater's Manifesto by Michael Pollan

Many of these books you may be able to find at your local library, but I would recommend buying Nourishing Traditions because of its depth of knowledge and recipes.

I have some topics that I am currently planning to write about, but I may add more as I go along, which is something I seem to do often with these series! Posts for the series are (currently):

• Introduction
• What is Real Food?
• Why Eat Real Food, Part I
• Why Eat Real Food, Part II
• Why You Will Feel Better Eating It
• Raw Milk* and Other Dairy
• Article I
• Meat, Eggs, and Good Fats
• Article II and More
• Vegetable Oils and Bad Fats
• Real Whole Wheat
• Article III and More
• Natural Sugars and Eating Less of Them!
• Eliminate Processed Foods
• Know Your Ingredients, Read Your Labels
• Article IV
• “Natural” Can Be Deceiving
• Why is Organic Better?
• Not all “Organic” is Good Food
• So What About Snacks and Dessert?!

* I previously wrote a post about raw milk, the first from my Back to Nature series, but I plan on writing another one to include the information I have read and learned since.

I wanted to add two links to my favorite blogs to read for nourishing, real food recipes: Heavenly Homemakers, and Kitchen Stewardship

Going Back to Nature: Fast Food

I've been running a weekly "column" called Going Back to Nature. This week, I wanted to talk about fast food, especially since I ate it like three times this past weekend!

Some say that fast food isn't all bad. -- Was that supposed to be a joke?! Even if it's "nutritionally" acceptable, it was still processed and includes tons of preservatives.

A few weeks ago I saw this post through Amy at The Finer Things. Please view this ... it's an eye opener. And you can even click on the pictures to see them larger - if you dare! Just look at the pictures. Really look at them. In case you didn't read the post that went along with the pictures - It is a five year old Happy Meal. It was not refrigerated, just left in the pantry. For five years. It did not rot. It did not attract ants or flies or maggots. And it looks almost the same as what you get now!

This is what we put in our bodies, some of us on a regular basis! In fact, over 25% of Americans consume fast food every day!

Many meals (sandwich, fries, and drink) in today's fast food restaurants have at least 1000 calories and more than 100% of your daily intake of saturated fat, plus the occasional trans fat. In fact, nine of Hardees'/Carl's Jr.'s burgers have more than 100% of your saturated fat in the burger alone!

Since McDonald's is the most popular fast food chain, I looked at the nutritional facts for the typical Happy Meal (cheeseburger, small fries, and child-size Coke): 640 calories, 24 g fat, 7 g sat. fat, and 1 g trans fat. Yes - the McDonald's website says the meal contains 1 g of trans fat even though they say they have eliminated them! (And just to note, the cheeseburger contains 0.5 g trans fat and the fries and Coke says 0 g trans fat but the total is 1 g!) Another shocker - the french fries are prepared in vegetable oil containing "natural beef flavor" -- no wonder we all think they're so good!

I was debating whether to use the milk and apple slices for the Happy Meal nutrition facts, but decided against. Because, let's face it, how many of us actually get a salad (or something similar) when we eat at a fast food restaurant? I was trying to go for the "best" sandwich and fries combo, but again, how many of us order a kid's meal either?!

Other interesting fast food facts:
1. Every month, approximately 9 out of 10 American children visit a McDonald's.¹
2. Today the average American child sees more than 10,000 food advertisements on TV each year.²
3. By 2000, one out of eight American workers had at some time been employed by McDonald's.³
4. 96% of Americans have visited McDonald's at least once.³
5. McDonald's is serving an estimated 22 million Americans every day and even more abroad.<sup>3

1</sup> Spurlock, Morgan. 2005. Fast Food and the Supersizing of America. New York, NY: Penguin Group (USA) Inc.
² Ritzer, George. 2008. The McDonaldization of Society 5. Los Angeles, CA: Pine Forge Press.
³ Smith, Andrew F. 2006. Encyclopedia of Junk Food and Fast Food. Westport, CT: Greenwood Press.

Going Back to Nature: Raw Milk

It took me days of research and writing to come up with the information here, but it's definitely worth reading. I tried to cut this as short as I possibly could while still including tons of valuable information!

Reasons NOT to Drink Pasteurized Milk:
--Pasteurization destroys vitamin B12, B6, beneficial bacteria (called probitics), damages fragile milk proteins, enzymes, and promotes pathogens (pathogens which cause pasteurized milk to rot quickly, rather than sour naturally). Pasteurization's main purpose today is to clean milk coming from dirty cows and to lengthen the shelf life of the product.

"Not only does pasteurization kill the friendly bacteria, it also greatly diminishes the nutrient content of the milk. Pasteurized milk has up to a 66 percent loss of vitamins A, D and E. Vitamin C loss usually exceeds 50 percent. Heat affects water soluble vitamins and can make them 38 percent to 80 percent less effective. Vitamins B6 and B12 are completely destroyed during pasteurization. Pasteurization also destroys beneficial enzymes, antibodies and hormones. Pasteurization destroys lipase (an enzyme that breaks down fat), which impairs fat metabolism and the ability to properly absorb fat soluble vitamins A and D. (The dairy industry is aware of the diminished vitamin D content in commercial milk, so they fortify it with a form of this vitamin.) (from Weston A. Price)

--Cows in almost all non-organic dairies are not fed grass. They are fed grain, animal by-products, and even waste materials which affects their health and the composition of their milk.

--It can cause allergies:

"After pasteurization, bacteria found naturally in milk are killed. During the high temperature heating process, cell bodies of these bacteria are ruptured and their contents are spilled, releasing intracellular proteins. This causes many milk drinkers to suffer histamine or allergic reactions. Almost all of these same consumers can drink raw milk and not have allergies. The high levels of bacteria permitted in milk intended for pasteurization are still found in pasteurized milk; they are just dead and not removed by the process." (from Organic Pastures)

--Homogenization is an unnecessary process that can result in heart disease and atherosclerosis.

"Homogenization is the process of destroying the natural butter fat cells found in raw natural milk. This process uses extreme pressure to break apart the soft buoyant fat cells, which cause the remaining small fat pieces to blend into milk and no longer float to the top making the cream line. Some European countries have studies that show that this process is dangerous and may strongly contribute to heart disease and arterial plaguing. Our FDA disputes these findings under pressure from the strong dairy lobby. Homogenization is not a required step, but rather a step of convenience to deny the consumer the ability to see how much cream is actually in the milk they buy." (from Organic Pastures)
"In its natural form, the fat in milk would normally be broken down and digested in the stomach, facilitating the absorption of the proteins and nutrients in the milk. But because homogenization has made it an abnormal, very small size, it is absorbed into the bloodstream instead. The fat globules now found in the bloodstream react negatively against arterial walls and a layer of cholesterol is then created as a protective lining." (from Vital Earth Minerals)

Reasons to Drink Raw Milk:
-- There is an immense amount of vitamins, minerals, probiotics (beneficial bacteria such as those found in yogurt), and enzymes found in raw milk. Most of these are destroyed in the process of pasteurization (as shown above).

--Enzymes (which are destroyed by pasteurization) make raw milk easier to digest and help in the absorption of minerals such as calcium.

--Many people who are allergic to milk or lactose intolerant find they are able to drink raw milk with no problems.

--Raw milk assists in maintaining a healthy balance of good bacteria in the intestines.

--Raw milk sours naturally but pasteurized milk will rot (as you've probably "smelled" before). Soured raw milk can still be consumed! Just put in some yogurt or kefir starter and let it sit for 24 hours at 80-85 degrees.

A few things you should know:
**Make sure you know where your milk comes from. Drinking raw milk can be dangerous (just as eating raw eggs or raw meat) if you don't know your source. But is completely safe and healthy from a clean source. In fact, pathogens can be killed by the living organisms in the milk:

"OPDC has demonstrated that even when high levels of pathogens were introduced into raw milk, they die off and do not grow (BSK tests). In fact, pathogen killing safety systems are hard at work, keeping raw milk safe even if it has been contaminated." (from Organic Pastures)

**A cow's diet, the seasons, and even the breed of the cow can all affect the flavor of raw milk.

**It is illegal for raw milk to be sold across state lines (therefore you will have to find a local source).

To Find Raw Milk sold in your area visit: Real Milk or Local Harvest

For more information: Campaign for Real Milk, Raw Milk Facts, Milk: It Does a Body Good?, Robinson's Farm, Organic Pastures