Traditional food preparation

I have run into a blog and e-course fairly recently which I have come to enjoy. The website is http://gnowfglins.com/
The good thing about this website and their e-course is that they teach traditional food preparation, which is what is the only road to keep people healthy.
I do think the emphasize on grains is too high as I do consider grain consumption somehow that must be kept to a minimum. However, the way the lessons teach how to prepare the grain dishes is really really good. They are sourdough, cakes and cookies and also pancakes, which is basically the only way to eat grains, as else the anti-nutrients will wreck havoc on your system and will leave you with deficiencies.
Anyway have a read and see what you think, I like it

Independent thinking

Today I had quite a few thoughts on how independent the majority of people really are. I noticed that the majority is actually following "the crowd" or "a guru" or "an expert". In general people do not read up on the research themselves.
This is something most people were taught as children. We were shown that adults were right, teachers were right, doctors were right, experts were right. We were taught not to question the people who were right. But were they always right?
I am teaching my children not to take my word of it, or anybody else's word for it. I want them to think for themselves. If the topic is not very easily thought through I want them do their own research and make up their own minds.
I offer them books and internet pages on the topic from different angles.
I myself dig through things that way as well.
One thing that recently came up in our family was veganism or vegetarianism. We know quite a few families who eat that way. The kids wanted to know why and whether it was in the best interest of the environment and whether it was possible to eat that way without jeopardizing their health.
So together we went on a search. I have my mind made up based on my reading, but it never hurts to dig through things again to see if I could change my mind on it.
There were some news books on the market on the topic, so we read them and discussed them.
We also found some interesting new research had been done.
Anyway after reading together, and also looking at traditional way tribal communities ate we came to a couple of conclusions:
1. We need animal foods to stay health, to have a normal dental arch, to have healthy teeth and bones. No indigenous community is without animal products in their diet. Some take mainly milk products, others take mainly meat products, some take milk, meat and blood products. We therefore think that vegetarianism might work for some people, but it requires very serious thought and very serious work.
2. An abundant supply of fruits and vegetables are not necessary for good health, as various tribal communities in Africa have shown. Those communities live (have lived) mainly on meat, milk products and blood and they are (were) very strong and healthy and have no dental caries.
3. Environmentally speaking its not helpful to only eat plant based foods. There is no use in it for the following reasons: plants need to be "fed" animal based foods, else they will not grow well. Pure compost from only plants will in the end exhaust the soil. There is quite a need for bone and blood meal, if you want to do it environmentally friendly. Though there is always artificial fertilizer which is made of fossil oils, we all know that is not the best of "foods" for our soil and plants. So nobody can really truly be a vegan, when you start looking at where the plant foods come from.
We found more reasons which make it clear that animal foods are really necessary for humans.

Another interesting one is dog food, most people buy the rubbish in the shop, but that is food that is plant based. The main component of commercial dog food is grains, then some vegetables and then to make it taste a bit some meat like bits. But when you look at what a wolf - the ancestor of a dog - eats, that has nothing to do with commercial dog food. A wolf eats raw meaty bones. A wolf does not cook its food, nor does it go out and eat grains or vegetables or fruit. A wolf may get a bit of predigested plant based foods from the stomach of his / her prey, but that is really where it ends. Oddly enough even VET's are often convinced that commercial dog food is better, but why then are so many dogs suffering from degenerative diseases? That would not happen if they were eating biologically appropriate food.
Its all propaganda.

Next on my list of thoughts is Gardasil.
People send their daughters to get vaccinated, but how many of these people are read the insert leaflet of Gardasil? How many people have followed the money trail to see who benefits? How many people have read up on the studies done with Gardasil? How many people actually really know that Gardasil was fast tracked through and there is no evidence at all it is safe?
But most will just be good sheep and simply follow the guidelines they have been told to follow and get their daughter that very dangerous shot.
And I personally have not found a vaccine yet that is safe and that is really doing what it promises to do.

Another one of those topics is birth. We are told that birth is painful. We all believe it and therefore are frightened and stressed beforehand and of course, then it does become painful. Stress hormones interfere with the birth process, that process needs a relaxed woman, under those circumstances dilation happens smooth and easy. But we are all told birth is dangerous so we "need" to be in a hospital. But a hospital is usually the place where people get stressed, as they are monitored and all has to go to the minute that is prescribed. Pity that the female body has not "read the book with the schedules" that are used by doctors.
So a lot of women simply end up with a C-section, purely because they are stressed out as they cannot think of birth as a pleasant experience or it being a normal human process that is in itself safe.
So what if a woman does know its safe and does know it can be pleasant.
Well.... then that woman would feel secure enough to stay home, where she feels comfortable and safe. That woman may have a midwife, if she feels like it, but if she doesn't, she has educated herself on the topic and knows what the variations of normal are and will act upon those.
The baby will not be drugged, nor will the mother and in most of the cases all will be smooth and painless (when you know its not supposed to hurt it won't), breastfeeding happens easy and mother recovers quickly.
In the other cases mother knows something is not completely right and gets herself some help quickly. Even in those cases a normal birth is in most cases still possible.

And then we get pregnancy. How many women know that pregnancy is a normal physical state of being for the female body. Very few, most feel they need medical assistence. That is a shame as with that you set yourself up for intervention which is really not necessary most of the time.
There has actually been a study done which shows that prenatal care does not change the outcome.
With knowing that, why bother with all the stress of prenatal (s)care.

And then to my last topic. Education.
Kids are really not taught to think for themselves. Its amazing that some people do end up being independent thinkers as that is really not what they are taught.
At university they start expecting you to be independent and do your work and studies and research. I have however seen that there are people who are completely incapable of doing so at that time. Their education has consisted of being kept busy and being told what to do. How on earth are you going to do stuff independently then.

Well... that is all for now.

Dog health

Today we were watching tv. We saw how a dog had bone problems and because of that they were going to cut the nerves, so that it wouldn't have pain anymore, sounds quite nice doesn't it.
But then I was thinking, since our dog doesn't eat kibble (processed foods!) anymore she has become much healthier, is like a puppy again, is totally fit, has more energy than the average 3yo dog. Her bone structure became much better etc.
So why isn't there a vet recommending a change of diet.

Next piece was about a dog which had lots of teeth and gum problems. They were polishing and cleaning and burning way fleshy area's.
Funny, since our dog is on the Raw Meaty Bones or the BARF or the evolutionary correct diet, which ever you want to call it, she doesn't have any gum or teeth problems anymore, all is clean and strong.
Hmmmm.... why is there no vet recommending that then.
Hardly any vet I've found out. The vet here actually came with the comment that our dog was overweight, yeah a bit, in winter, always. Doesn't bother me. It goes away in spring, she obviously needs a bit of keeping warm layer, who cares.
So the vet comes up with the luminous idea that we have to change her diet as she will be getting way way way way too much protein when she is fed meat daily..... :???: meat daily - we said raw meaty bones daily, which is pretty different. Tried to explain this to the guy and the vet woman working with him. Didn't hit base. So we just nodded and let it slide, not worth the effort.

And then with all this on tv and this vet telling us to change to a 4th best diet I got thinking bad thoughts. What if those people are all doing this just so they keep filling their pockets. Maybe a lot of medicos don't even know it anymore, but I am quite sure that with all the diet recommendations for animals and humans which are - to my opinion - all wrong, there are quite some people nicely filling their pockets who would have to look for another job otherwise.

dental health

So my 5yo has a few cavities in her milk teeth. That was quite a shocker for me, as she has brushed her teeth daily, we make sure that we eat healthy. Obviously not healthy enough. She did have the odd bit of white flour product and sugar when we visited friends or family or when she was playing at another childs house. I had figured it wouldn't be that bad. Obviously it was.
So then the dentist comes with the luminous idea to drill and fill. With 1 it worked out. With the next it did't. My daughter was scared and didn't want to co-operate. Obviously the first time had been difficult on her.
The dentist wanted to refer us to a specialist dentist who would do it with anaesthesia. Somehow that just didn't sound right. There had to be a better way.
Besides the whole drilling and filling thing left a bad taste in my mouth.
And then my brain went onto the rollercoaster of thinking. How could it be that our teeth, the ones we depend on our whole life, go down the drain that fast and how come so many people are dependent on replacements, especially when so many people brush daily and do all they have been told.
It didn't make sense. There had to be more to it.
And there was.
After a nice search in information online and offline I found what was "the more to it".
The human diet has changed dramatically over the last 100 plus years. We have lots and lots and lots of processed foods, lots of junk food. Just immense amount of dead food.
And the it seriously hit me. How can food that is totally devoid of nutritients help you keep your body healthy and how can it help a 5-yo grow???
Obviously that is not going to work very well.
So after I have already been into thinking the WAPF way of nutrition I realized that we had gone downhill in our nutrition the weeks before our move. We had speed meals in stead of slow meals, which contain much more nutrients.
Other than that she had had a massive growth spurt, which means she needed even more nutritients, which we basically weren't using.
So then my thinking got me to realize that when the body is growing the building blocks have to come from somewhere and that would be the bones and the teeth.
And then it also hit me that this can be healed, contrary to popular belief.
Nothing in our body is dead, and our body's are very well capable or repairing, our bones can repair, so why not our teeth.
Well... also our teeth can heal. So I got myself a nice little book which explains it all and also explains in lots of detail which foods take nutritients out of your body and which foods give you a nice amount of it.
So we are going to use that now to build up the body's of our little ones to make sure they are healthy.
Will be interesting with family visits with loads of cookies, crips, syrups and all that stuff, as we won't be doing that anymore :-)

Fast food, why is it soooo irresistable

I have wondered about that time and again. Somehow it keeps being an attraction, though we know its not good. One of the reasons why its so bad is that the fries are fried in vegetable oil, which no doubt contains a lot of soy oil, which is really really unhealthy.
So I ran into this, through a friends blog and it all makes a lot more sense now :-(

Have a read: McDonalds fries

Thoughts on fat and obesity by Jess Boulette Frazier

We are told that we are getting fatter in this society because we eat a high fat diet. But the truth is that we do not eat a diet that is necessarily higher in fat than what was eaten 100 years ago (and beyond). In fact, low-fat and non-fat products (especially dairy products) are promoted heavily in our society and many people eat these products. Conversely, 100+ years ago, people were drinking whole milk, eating real butter, using cream in their porridges, valuing eggs for their life-giving properties, relishing the fat from meats, etc.

When you look at diets from about 100 years ago, the big difference that you do see is that we eat a lot more refined sugar (and products that contain them) and a lot more refined processed grain products. We eat refined sliced breads, crackers, cookies, breakfast cereals, refined pastas and rices, etc. In fact, the bulk of most peoples' diets are such refined and processed simple starch grain products.

Refined grains cause our blood sugar to be imbalanced, and they affect the hormones that cause you to feel full after eating. As a consequence, we eat these foods and still feel hungry, so we eat more and more of these nutrient-devoid foods, more and more empty calories. And this is a big part of why we are getting fat.

When you limit fat, your body wants to horde that fat. So if you are limiting fat and eating lots of starchy carbs instead, your body will hang on to the fat and gladly use the carbs as fuel instead. If you eat fat regularly, your body will not be in "starvation mode", and consequently eating more fat will actually help you burn more fat. If you look at primitive societies you will see that they valued animal fats for health and survival. They freely ate full-fat dairy products, animals fats, and organ meats as well as whatever plant fats they could find. They knew they needed fat to live, and since they were not eating an abundance of refined starches, their bodies used the fat as fuel during their daily activities, and hence their bodyfat was regulated and kept in balance. They had the amount of bodyfat they needed for health and survival and optimal functioning, without storing an unhealthy excess.

Eating fat, such as full-fat dairy products, also makes us feel more full and helps us reduce our cravings for refined starchy grain products. In addition, if you do eat whole grain products, eating healthy fats (such as full-fat minimally processed butter and cream) along with the grains actually helps you digest, absorb, and utilize the vitamins and minerals in the whole grain products. Dairy products and other animal fat products contain fat-soluble vitamins, which are necessary for the absorption and utilization of the minerals and water-soluble vitamins found in grains, vegetables, and meat. When our ancestors ate their porridge with cream, and their bread with butter, they probably weren't just doing it to make it taste better! Without these fats we are not getting the most out of the other foods in our diet, leaving us in a constant state of nutrient starvation.

When we consider these facts, it becomes abundantly clear that it is not fat per se that is making us fat. It is processed and refined sugars and starchy grains.

A simple comparison of today's typical diet (and products available on grocery store shelves) with that of 100 years ago will clearly show that the most dramatic difference in diet is the greatly increased consumption of processed, refined, prepackaged grain products (often laden with refined sugar and high fructose corn syrup), and the simultaneous decrease in the consumption of healthy fats. This fact alone should lead us to look at these sugary nutrient-devoid grains as one of the main culprits of our obesity problems.

[As a personal testament of sorts, I have lost 20 lbs. (and maintained that loss) just by switching from low-fat dairy products to whole organic (preferably non-homogenized) milk, butter from grass-fed cows, and whole cream-top yogurt. I have also incorporated extra virgin coconut oil (a healthy tropical fat) into my cooking whenever possible. My consumption of refined grain products has not changed much, though that is one of my major dietary goals, and I still lead a life that is much too sedentary. I am just astonished that increasing my intake of healthy fats alone has had such an effect on me.]

Dessert first :-)

Recently someone told me that letting a child eat dessert first will promote obesity and unhealthy eating habits, but that highly depends on what dessert consists of doesn't it
Our desserts are usually yoghurt or fruit or so. With that I really do not think there is any problem when fruit or yoghurt are eaten first, or even only the dessert.

Furthermore I do remember that as a child I had to first finish my main course before I could eat dessert, result I never ate dessert, because by then I was totally stuffed. I won't do that to my kids. They eat what is available and pick from it.
And as I do not make any fuzz over what they eat, they eat a bit of everything in general as there is no pressure at all on which food is eaten first or last or just. I do not expect them to eat anything they do not like either.

What I think the main thing is, is that dinner is fun, making it and eating it. There should be no stress at the dining table, because that doesn't make anyone feel any better or eat any better.

Quick soup recipes

Today I read about a tomato soup recipe that was quick and healthy. So I followed the link and indeed a great healthy recipe.

Here it is : Quick creamy tomato soup

Have fun making it.

Our nutrition

What we do nutritionally is follow the ways described by Weston A. Price, Sally Fallon & Mary Enig.
Here is a little overview of how we implement it.

1. We only use whole foods with as little processing as possible. If they are processed, I usually do it myself. I'm a busy home schooling mom with 4 children, so I try to keep it as simple as possible. For now we don't grind our own flour, this will happen in the future, because I do want a flour grinder. For now we will have somewhat stale flour unfortunately.

2. I try to get most of our shopping delivered so I can fully think about what we need for the coming 2 weeks. I let Tesco come buy 1x every 2 weeks. I go to the farm 1x every 2 weeks as well.

3. My goal is 50% of our food raw, so far I haven't fully fixed it yet, but its an ongoing process.

4. I am working towards including a cultured food each day (sometimes every meal). These include sauerkraut, yoghurt, cheese, etc.

5. I make nutrient dense meals. Empty calories will make you gain weight and undermine your health. So we try to keep them out as much as possible. This means that we even fry our own french fries from organic potatoes.

6. We do not use multivitamins as they undermine your the health body usually, as they tend to be synthetic vitamins. When they are natural, you can use them. I haven't felt the need to use them during my last pregnancy, I felt perfectly healthy. We do use cod-liver oil regularly, especially in the winter.
I do use local raw honey, 1 teaspoon daily, against hayfever, it works like a charm. This year I have been feeling so much better.

7. Most of our food is organic. But I have to stay within budget, so sometimes I have to make concessions.

8. I buy milk, cream, eggs & local raw honey at Meadow Cottage, Churt Road, Churt, Headly. They have pedigree Jersey cows. Their milk is wonderful.

9. We use healthy fats. Butter, cream, coconut oil, flax oil and olive oil. We work on using less carbs than the standard diet has, as we have found this to be less healthy.

Junk food

I have found that in our world junk food and soft drinks are part of life, everybody uses them to some extend. This has resulted in me having had some thought on it. I found that it is important to educate my girls on the ins and outs, rather than bluntly forbidding it. In tribal cultures they use things like alcohol and (soft) drugs as well. Therefore it has become crucial to me to not withold them any, and in that way make it much more interesting for them to get junk food and soft drinks, but rather explain to them what it is doing to their bodies and let them have a go at it here and there.
I have come to the conclusion that the same goes for alcohol, smoking and soft drugs, they are relatively easy to obtain, so education goes further than forbidding as far as I am concerned.