Food

This page will collect fascinating and helpful links about food.  I’ve broken out many foods into their own pages already (see the menu). Others are below:

Weston A. Price

Why is going back to traditional foods so revolutionary? I began with the “Nourishing Traditions” cookbook, became a chapter leader in the Weston A. Price Foundation, and am learning so much about food and nutrition every day! For example: Weston A. Price Diet Means Strong Bones.

Raw Milk

I could go on forever about the benefits of raw milk and the absolute injustice of our government trying to prevent our access to it. Here’s a happy verdict: Jury finds Not Guilty in Raw Milk trial.  I get my milk from the dairy just up the road, The Art of Milk. (That’s a Facebook page.)

Fermented Foods are Fabulous

Having a healthy gut is CRITICAL to good health. More details here: Western Lifestyle Disturbing Key Bacterial Balance

The best way to have a healthy stomach is eating homemade fermented foods. Here is a site to get you started. Fermented drinks, in addition to milk kefir, include water kefir and kombucha. Here’s some good info: Water Kefir Vs. Kombucha

Environmental Meat-eaters

Can eating meat actually BENEFIT the environment? Lierre Kieth, author of a book called The Vegetarian Myth, says “Yes!” See her here: Yegetarian Myth. Also see these blogs: Chris Masterjohn and Denise Minger.

It is critical to remember that almost every study showing how unhealthy meat can be uses factory farmed, antibiotic-filled, pesticide-ridden meat. Organic grass-fed beef and other clean meat from small farms is a totally different story.

Eat Your Fat!

Ok, we’ve learned that eating the right fats is super healthy and helps you NOT store fat on your body. Lipase and Fat Metabolism talks about how to get the good stuff.

Soaking and Rinsing Your Beans before Cooking them

Here are some excellent articles about how and why to soak beans:

http://www.thehealthyhomeeconomist.com/why-you-must-soak-your-beans/
http://www.yogitrition.com/soaking-grains-beans-nuts-and-seeds-101/
http://www.phyticacid.org/soaking-beans/

Quick takeaway: soak beans for 8-18 hours starting in HOT (140 degrees F) water.  (Tap water is usually closer to 120 degrees and only rarely as high as 140 as that can cause burns very quickly.)

What is wrong with Wheat?

Some very special Super Foods!

Genetically Modified Foods

Finally, a long term, full product study is completed and the results published. Monsanto is not happy.  Hurrah for getting the word out! French GM rat study triggers furore

And here’s a new movie that explains why such studies are so rare, as well as detailing the many many health issues that seem to be associated with a genetically modified diet: Genetic Roulette: The Gamble of our Lives.

More reading: Russian halts Monsanto GMO Corn Imports

How GMOs Unleashed a Pesticide Gusher

A note about Rice

Waiter, There’s Arsenic in My Rice

What to do about it: Cooking rice with lots of water helps lower arsenic levels Takeaway: Rinse your rice before you cook it until the water is not colored, milky or clouded. Then cook your rice in a 6:1 (water:rice) ratio until the rice is at an eating texture; then drain the water from the rice. This will give you a 35 – 45% reduction as compared to the raw rice. The reduction comes from the draining off of the water that the rice was boiled in, so do not continue boiling until water evaporates. Boiling off the high volume of water will cause zero reduction of Arsenic.

Reading List

Here’s a great list of food and nutrition books from the Nutritional Therapy Association.

Michael Pollan’s take on Prop 37

What’s special about Vitamin D?

Did you know it is IMPOSSIBLE to get Vitamin D from the sun most of the year in Washington State. Flat out impossible. The sun must be at least 50 degrees above the horizon for the right wavelength of sunrays to penetrate. This and other fascinating facts: Little Sunshine Mistakes that Can Give You Cancer Instead of Vitamin D

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