What's Wrong with "Politically Correct" Nutrition?

A new way of thinking about nutrition
(or should I say an old way)
from the Weston A. Price Foundation

PC DIETARY GUIDELINES
PC DIETARY DANGERS

Avoid saturated fats Saturated fats play many important roles in the body. They provide integrity to the cell membrane, enhance the body's use of essential fatty acids, enhance the immune system, protect the liver and contribute to strong bones. Saturated fats do not cause heart disease. In fact, saturated fats are the preferred food for the heart. Your body makes saturated fats out of carbohydrates.

Limit cholesterol Dietary cholesterol contributes to the strength of the intestinal wall and helps babies and children develop a healthy brain and nervous system. Foods that contain cholesterol also provide many other important nutrients. Only oxidized cholesterol, found in powdered milk and eggs, contributes to heart disease. Powdered milk is added to 1% and 2% milk.

Use more polyunsaturated oils Polyunsaturates in more than small amounts contribute to cancer, heart disease, autoimmune diseases, learning disabilities, intestinal problems and premature aging. Large amounts of polyunsaturated fats are new to the human diet, due to the modern use of commercial liquid vegetable oils.

Avoid red meat Red meat is a rich source of nutrients that protect the heart and nervous system including vitamins B12 and B6, zinc, phosphorus, carnitine and Coenzyme Q10.

Cut back on eggs Eggs are nature's perfect food, providing excellent protein, the gamut of nutrients and important fatty acids that contribute to the health of the brain and nervous system. Americans had less heart disease when they ate more eggs. Egg substitutes cause rapid death in test animals.

Eat lean meat and drink lowfat milk Lean meat and lowfat milk lack fat soluble vitamins needed to assimilate protein and minerals in meat and milk. Consumption of low-fat foods can lead to depletion of vitamin A and D reserves.

Limit fat consumption to 30% of calories 30% calories as fat is too low for most people, leading to low blood sugar and fatigue. Traditional diets contained 40% to 80% of calories as healthy fats, mostly of animal origin.

Eat 6-11 servings of grains per day Most grain products are made from white flour, which is devoid of nutrients. Additives in white flour can cause vitamin deficiencies. Whole grain products can cause mineral deficiencies and intestinal problems unless properly prepared.

Restrict salt Salt is crucial to digestion and assimilation. Salt is also necessary for the development and functioning of the nervous system.

At least 5 servings of fruits and vegetables per day Fruits and vegetables receive an average of 10 applications of pesticides, from seed to storage. Consumers should seek out organic produce. Quality counts!

Eat more soy foods Modern soy foods block mineral absorption, inhibit protein digestion, depress thyroid function and contain potent carcinogens.

thanks to my friend J for putting this up on her blog...there are so many great articles on the Weston A. Price site, I could post them all!

Without Futher Ado - The Dairy Post!!!

OK, a tiny bit more ado - thank you everyone for all your well-wishes! I have been using the inhaler regularly today and I am feeling quite a lot better. So I guess it was probably the asthma after all, though I guess we will never be able to rule out anxiety...or medication issues either since I did stop taking it. We'll see what to do about that later I guess...all the more reason I need to stick to my good diet. That being said, I'm not even going to post my food intake today, but suffice to say, it involved Wendy's for lunch, and Boston Market for dinner. <<>>

OK, so here it is - I hope you learn a lot, and I welcome questions! I can definitely point you to more resources, if desired. :)

The Dairy Post

OK folks, I’ve been thinking about this for a long time! And I also went to an amazing seminar about dairy today, hosted by our local Weston A. Price Foundation Chapter, which reconfirmed everything I’ve been thinking about milk.

The bottom line: pasteurized dairy products are all really bad for you. Raw milk from pasture-fed cows is much better. Cultured dairy products made from raw milk from pasture-fed cows is the best.

I know, its blasphemy to some of you, I’m sure. Give me a chance to explain…

So here’s a little background on pasteurization that will tell you a) why virtually everyone in America thinks it’s a lifesaving miracle, and b) why its not.

Before the Industrial Revolution, most people either lived in the country and had their own milk cows, or had a dairyman deliver farm fresh milk to their doorstep every day. These people were very healthy and heart disease and cancer were virtually unheard of. Once people started moving into the cities to work in factories and such, it was no longer possible for the dairy farmers to produce enough milk for everyone in the city with the traditional methods of letting their cattle graze the pasture, etc. To solve this problem, they began to create mass-dairying farms where the cows were kept indoors in tiny stalls with concrete floors, fed grain instead of fresh grass, and milked very aggressively and continuously. Cows were bred to make more and more milk, which occurs because of an overactive pituitary gland that secretes extra growth hormone. So basically they were breeding a pituitary disease into the cows on purpose. Well, as you can imagine, the cows didn’t do so well being constantly confined, overmilked, fed poor quality, unnatural-for-them food, and having severe hormone imbalances. They got sick…among other things, they got tuberculosis and mastitis. Their milk would have infectious bacteria and pus and TB in it…and obviously it made people sick! Then people discovered that if you pasteurize the milk (heat it up really hot) you killed the bacteria and people could drink it and not get sick. TA-DA! "Raw milk can kill you, and pasteurization is a life-saving miracle!" (P.S. Louis Pasteur actually invented this process for preserving beer and wine, not milk!)

Today’s modern commercial Holstein cow is a daughter of these lines – she makes up to three times as much milk as the “old-fashioned” cows, and she depends on doctored feed and daily antibiotics to keep her alive because her immune system is genetically shot. Her pituitary is so whacked out that her milk contains high levels of growth hormone even if she isn’t injected with additional synthetic Bovine Growth Hormone (rBGH). She lives on average only 42 months, compared to 12-15 years for a pastured cow. You do not even want to know what they feed these cows – I am so serious! But if you really really do, you can look here.

You would think by now the dairy industry would have figured out that this is not good for cows. Well, they haven’t changed a darn thing since the Industrial Revolution, except make bigger, more crowded factory farms, and use every fabulous new antibiotic and synthetic hormone treatment that has been invented, to make those cows produce more and more milk! And they have continued to pasteurize, because hey, it covers up all their sins. In fact, now they even ULTRA-pasteurize, hotter and longer, because the bacteria have become resistant to the regular methods! That and it makes the shelf-life of the milk longer…

OK, so dairy cows lead a miserable existence and their milk is full of hormones, but why is pasteurization so bad? Heating the milk kills off the bad bacteria, to be sure, but it also kills off all the good bacteria! Did you know you have about 90 trillion bacteria in your intestinal tract, all working hard to help you digest your food, absorb nutrients, and fight off pathogens? We get that good bacteria from the food we eat – well, we’re supposed to, anyway… Pasteurization also denatures almost all the enzymes found in milk, like lipase, which breaks down fat and helps us absorb vitamin A and D. Lastly, it destroys most, if not all, of the vitamins and minerals found in fresh milk: A, D, E, C, B6 and B12. But milk still has all that good calcium in it right? Pasteurization not only destroys the vitamin D you need to absorb it, it also destroys the phosphatase enzyme, which is essential to the absorption of calcium. Have you ever wondered by the U.S. has one of the worst osteoporosis rates in the world, when we drink the most milk of any country in the world? Its true… What about homogenization? It speeds spoilage and has been linked to atherosclerosis and heart disease.

OH NO! We should all stop drinking milk and eating pasteurized dairy products right now! No, there is a better answer. Raw milk from pasture-fed healthy cows (ideally from older genetic lines) is truly a life-sustaining food, full of valuable nutrients, enzymes, and beneficial bacteria. Guess what, in places where they still eat only unpasteurized dairy products, the people actually are still free of heart disease - that is, until they begin to Westernize their diet – look it up in the anthropology journals. In our country, refrigeration, stainless steel, and an excellent understanding of hygiene ensures that today’s raw milk from farmers who treat their cows right will not be contaminated or make you sick.

With a tiny bit of extra effort (I mean really tiny, like pouring-milk-in-a-jar tiny), you can also make your own yogurt (kefir), sour cream, cream cheese, cottage cheese, butter, whey, and even ice cream, from your raw milk. This is what I learned to do today in the seminar. Apparently with a bit more effort you can even make your own cheeses, though I do not know how (yet!), but you can buy some cheeses made from raw milk from better cheese counters. Culturing your dairy products actually increases the nutritional value two to three fold – enzymes, vitamins, and beneficial bacteria! Not to mention, with raw dairy, you absorb the good stuff, like calcium, much better as well. Apparently almost all people who cannot tolerate conventional milk can drink fresh raw milk without difficulty, or at least can handle the cultured raw dairy products.

So, how do I find raw milk? You will want to make sure that you are buying raw milk that is being produced with the intention of drinking it raw. Don't just go get raw regular dairy milk that the farmer usually sells to the conventional dairy. If you are in CA, CT, or NM, you can buy it at Whole Foods Market or another natural foods store, but you still want to check out the source to make sure it’s the good quality stuff (see what to look for). Otherwise, check out this site to find local producers, or local groups that can help you find local producers. You can also check out your local farmer’s market and see if anyone there knows anything – sometimes these farmers will have their produce, eggs, or cheeses at the market, but you usually will have to go out to their farm to get their milk. Laws in different states may vary. There are also co-ops and cow-share programs. There are options if you are willing to look for them.

On a personal note, if you read my blog, you know that I love my cheese and other dairy. I don’t drink much milk because I usually have lactose intolerance problems. I have bought raw milk a couple of times in the past, but I haven’t fully committed, though you can bet I will now! I have been buying organic, unhomogenized whole milk. I don’t usually go through it all, though, because it still bothers my stomach a bit. I buy yogurt that is pasteurized but at least it is from a biodynamic dairy, and because its cultured, it does have some of its enzyme content restored. That never gives my stomach any issues. I buy organic cheese, but its definitely not raw… I buy organic butter and sour cream, but again, not raw. But since I went to this seminar today and saw how easy (and how much cheaper and more nutritious) it would be to get the raw milk and make all these other products myself, I am a changed woman. I’ll be darned if I ever buy pasteurized milk or dairy again. Except maybe some cheese – it might be a while before I figure out how to replace that, but until then, I’m going to be cutting back! I am really looking forward to the increased health my new raw milk habit is going to bring!

And if you are one of my dear loved ones, family, or friends, I am really begging you…please stop eating all the fake food I know you eat – the margarine, the skim milk, the fat-free stuff, the fake-sugar stuff, the Eggbeaters… It is killing you. I don’t care if your doctor said you have to eat that because of your cholesterol. I swear, it is making your problems worse. You need to quit all that fake stuff and eat real, undamaged food. I’m only saying this because I love you and I want to you live a long, healthy life! If I could, I would come and live with you for a month or two and cook for you and clean out your pantries and fridges! Unfortunately, I can't really do that for everyone, so I want you to go and find a smart doctor, chiropractor, naturopath, or nutritionist, who is well-versed in traditional diets, to help you change how you eat. Even if your insurance doesn't cover it. Go buy a copy of Nourishing Traditions by Sally Fallon. I will be writing more about heart disease and things soon...so stay tuned!

How to Eat Grains (and beans, seeds, and nuts)

Well we know we are supposed to eat "whole grains" and avoid white flour and other highly processed carbs, like commercial cereal and instant oatmeal, for example... A nutritionist who gave me dietary advice right after I got diagnosed with PCOS and IR recommended that I avoid all bread except "Ezekiel" bread and occasionally, sourdough. She said something about it being "sprouted" so it was easier to digest. OK, I like whole wheat bread anyway, and turns out, this Ezekiel stuff is basically just like a heavy whole grain bread. So I have stuck to her advice (when I have stuck to good eating habits) and have even discovered a whole line of baked Ezekiel products, like tortillas, cinnamon raisin bread, and even English muffins. Lately I have been wanting to know more about the theory of sprouted grains that is behind this Ezekiel thing. The following is what I have been able to surmise in a brief review of a couple of excellent sources, Nourishing Traditions, by Sally Fallon, and The Weston A. Price Foundation, www.westonaprice.org.

Refined grain products = BAD
Today’s modern white flour has a horror story to tell. The wheat is abused with chemicals from seed to harvest, then stored in warehouses where is it regularly fumigated with poison to kill insects. The germ and bran, which contain the fiber and essential fatty acids, are discarded before milling. High-speed mills reach over 400 degrees destroying any remaining nutrients. Commercially made whole wheat flour retains the germ and bran, but the high temperatures cause the oils to become rancid. This says nothing of the preservatives and conditioners that are added when making commercial baked goods, let alone the toxifying processing that gives us breakfast cereals. White flour is not only nutritionally void, it is actually toxic!

Whole grains = a little better
Organic or biodynamically grown grains will be free of the chemicals of standard processing. You can also buy 100% stone ground whole grain flour, which has not been exposed to the high temperatures – but because of the fatty acid content, it will go rancid. In fact, flour spoils in about the same time as milk, and should also be kept in the refrigerator or freezer. I have actually bought (on 2 different occasions)100% stone-ground whole wheat flour from the health food store before, and found it to be already rancid when I opened it at home. Good thing I don’t bake much! The bad thing about regular whole grains, though, is that they contain phytic acid, which binds with various minerals in the digestive tract and inhibits their absorption. This can lead to mineral deficiencies and even bone loss. Whole grains also have enzyme inhibitors, which keep the seed in a dormant state until germination, but also inhibit many of our enzymes, reducing digestion. Lastly, our guts just are not anatomically designed to be able to fully break down whole grains…animals that eat them have four stomachs and we only have one!

You have to watch out when buying “whole grain” baked goods because many of them will have white flour but call it “wheat flour,” which should not be confused for whole wheat flour. Also the flours are usually made with the traditional chemicals and high temperature milling practices, and contain hydrogenated oils, soy flour (which is loaded with antinutrients), and bad sugars like high fructose corn syrup.

Soaked and sprouted grains = the way to go
Studies of traditional societies who had good physical health showed that they ate all their grains after soaking, sprouting, and/or fermenting them with lactobacilli or other friendly microbes. These processes break down the phytic acid and neutralize the enzyme inhibitors. This also activates some enzymes in the grains, which increases the amounts of many vitamins, making them even more nutritious. Fermentation allows friendly microbes to help break down some of the difficult to digest parts, similar to the processes that occur in the first couple of stomachs of ruminant animals, making our job easier, as well. This is why old-fashioned, slow-rise breads from fermented starters, like organic sourdough, are also ok to eat. Likewise, the Ezekiel breads are actually a brand from a company called Food for Life, which makes all sprouted grain baked goods that are free of bad additives and chemicals as well.

Sprouting is the main thing that can increase the nutrient value in grains (and beans and seeds and nuts) – for example, Chinese sailors traditionally avoided scurvy by sprouting mung beans on their voyages, which produces vitamin C (and many other nutrients.) Many of the complex sugars that contribute to gas formation when eating beans and grains are broken down, and additional enzymes are produced in sprouting as well. Sprouting also inactivates aflotoxins, which are carcinogens found in grains.

Sprouted grains are best eaten cooked because when raw they do contain some irritating substances (which are intended to prevent animals from eating the young shoots). They can be ground and made into breads. Of course they can be steamed or put into soups, stews and casseroles as well. There are many different kinds of grains that can be nutritious when soaked, sprouted, and/or fermented, including wheat, oats, rye, barley, corn, rice, buckwheat, millet, spelt, kamut, teff, amaranth, and quinoa. Grains should be cooked slowly and for a long time, at relatively lower temperatures, to maintain nutrient content. Soaking can usually be completed overnight, sprouting can take 1 to 4 days, and fermenting can be achieved by soaking grains with fermented dairy products, or by creating starter dough, taking anywhere from a day to a week. Clearly, this kind of preparation takes a little planning ahead!

A last little note about sprouts, though, alfalfa sprouts are actually not good for you! I know, I know, you thought it was the ultimate health food! They actually contain canavanine, which is a toxic amino acid that can inhibit the immune system and contribute to the inflammation of arthritis and lupus, when eaten in quantity...so don't go chowing down on the alfalfa sprouts!

A word about soy
(It falls into this category because is it a bean, in other words, a seed, and much more like a grain than anything else…and should be treated as such.)

The nutritionist told me to avoid soy products because of the estrogen-like compounds they contain, since one of the problems in PCOS is an excess amount of estrogen. I don’t need any more from my food! However, I have uncovered a few other disturbing things about this food that has been marketed as a health food for as long as I can remember.

Soybeans are very high in phytic acid and contain potent enzyme inhibitors, neither of which are neutralized by standard cooking. Remember, these things cause mineral malabsorption and reduce digestive efficiency. These are actually concentrated in commercial soy milk, which also contains carcinogens that are formed during processing. (not to mention, it usually has added sugar too) Soy is totally evil for anyone who has thyroid issues – it can severely aggravate them, creating a debilitating condition. Giving babies soy artificial infant milk can cause changes in pubertal timing as well as thyroid problems and immune system dysfunction.

But what about the claim that soy is healthy because asian peoples have eaten them for centuries and have notorious longevity? They actually only eat relatively small portions of fermented soy products, such as miso, natto, and tempeh… Have a look here for a good article about soy.

Enchilada Sauce Recipe

About 1/4 cup of coconut oil warm up in a skillet - I like my cast iron skillet for this. Add about 2 tbs whole wheat flour. If you like spicy, you would also add chili powder to taste at this point. Stir and simmer until the flour is browned.

Puree one or two tomatoes and add water until you have 1 and 1/2 cups of liquid. Add to skillet along with one smaller can of tomato paste. (You could also just use plain water and a bigger can of tomato paste, or canned tomatoes...) Season with cumin, garlic, and onion powders, about 1/4 tsp each. Simmer and stir all until the sauce is slightly thickened.

I like to pour a little in the bottom of my rectangular glass dish and then line up my tortillas. I fill with whatever, ground beef, beans, cheese, etc., and then roll the tortillas and pour the rest of the sauce over the top. Cover the whole thing with cheese and bake uncovered at 375-ish until the cheese is melted and the sauce is a bit bubbly, maybe 20 minutes or so.

Proper Proportions

Well who doesn't struggle with portion control? Well actually, most of us have a big problem with proportion control as well! Here's a little trick you can use to make sure you are eating the right amounts of the right types of food. You can actually eat a lot more than you think, so you don't have to be hungry, you just need to eat more of the right things, less of the moderate things, and none of the bad things.

From Drop Box

So you can see that you need to make 1/2 your plate non-starchy vegetables, 1/4 protein, and 1/4 whole grain (this graphic shows a baked potato, but remember, white potatoes are not whole grains.) This was the problem I had with my dinner last night. I had 1/3 whole grain, 1/3 legume (starchy vegetable), and 1/3 protein. So on face value, my meal looked healthy, but it was not following the basic rule of proportions. I got too much starch between the rice and the peas.

Here's a description of starchy and non-starchy veggies to remind us which foods go where:

Starchy: Roots, tubers and plantains. Avoid: Potatoes, Parsnip, Pumpkin, Rutabaga, Sweet potatoes, Corn (actually a grain) In moderation: Beets, Carrots, Green beans, Eggplant, Jicima, Peas (actually a legume), Squashes, New potatoes, Taro, Yams

Non-Starchy: leafy greens such as lettuce and spinach; cruciferous vegetables like broccoli, cabbage and bok choy; and allium vegetables like onions, garlic and leeks. Cucumbers, squash, peppers and tomatoes – botanically classified as fruits – also fall into this category.