Health Foods. . . Part 2

Posted by  | Tuesday, September 15, 2009  at 3:44 PM  
Thanks Christina for filling in for me! Our internet has been out the past few days. . . but we are back online and I have a few minutes this evening to get my post up and running.

There's so much I'd like to talk about, but I'm going to stick to highlighting three things: milk, cod liver oil, and fat.

Raw Milk
Let me start by saying, it needs to be clean, raw milk. And this is the only milk we drink. (We don't have access to clean raw milk at this point so we simply don't use milk. Instead, I make kefir and we get dairy from plain yogurt, kefir smoothies, and sometimes cheese. I substitute coconut milk in desserts calling for milk and try to not make other recipes that call for milk where I can't substitute an alternative such as fermented dairy.)

Ultrapastuerized milk and cream (most of the cream you buy in grocery stores) is absolutely terrible for you (actually, you should really stear clear of all ultrapastuerized dairy). This is milk that has been heated to such a high temperature that it doesn't even have to be refrigerated until you open it - think about it, milk that can sit on a shelf for months?! Don't be fooled, most stores still put this milk in the cooler section so it will sell; you have to read the label carefully.
Clean, unpastuerized whole milk is really the only healthy source of dairy we can put in our bodies.


There is lots of evidence and resarch for this, however let me just leave you with these thoughts on skim milk, pastuerized milk, homogenized milk, and raw milk (from The Milk Book by William Douglas Campbell):


"When animals are placed on skim milk with the vitamins lost from the cream replaced, the animals develop very poorly. But when 4% butter fat is fed to similar animals, they develop normally. The vegetable oils now being pushed on the American people by organized medicine and self-styled nutrition experts will not work as a substitute for cream. Skim milk-fed animals develop testicular atrophy with complete sterility." pp. 36-7.


"Do you know how a pig farmer fattens his hogs? He feeds them skim milk." p.35.


"Steinman studied rats. The decay process in rats' teeth is biologically identical to that in human teeth. He divided his rats into several groups. The control group received a standard nutritious rat chow and averaged less than one cavity for their entire lifetime. The second group received a very heavy refined sugar diet. . . averaged 5.6 cavities per rat. The third group was fed homogenized grade A pasteurized milk and they had almost twice as many cavities as the sugar-fed group - 9.4 cavities per animal. (Add chocolate to this milk and the cavity rate quadruples over that of a sugar diet.) If processed milk does this to your teeth, what does it do to your other high-calcium organ - your bones? How does it affect calcium metabolism in the soft tissues of the body such as the blood vessels? Remember that your teeth are a window to your body's physical condition. " pp. 41-42.


"But with the increase in consumption of pastuerized milk came a dramatic and steady increase in arthritis, heart disease, crib death, and stroke." p. 43.


"Want to live to be a hundred? Eat mostly raw animal protein, and you may make it (if industrial pollutants, an 18-wheeler, or modern medicine don't get your first)." p.229


These are just a few quotes from one source. . . there is a plethora of information out there that is overwhelmingly in support of clean, raw milk. Even the reason we ever began pastuerizing milk will blow your mind (you can read about it in The Untold Story of Milk by Ron Schmid, M.D.). Also, here's a link for the real stats on clean, raw milk - it's true, more people get sick each year on pastuerized milk than clean, raw milk!


I really encourage you to read more on this topic, especially if you think it is simply crazy to drink unpastuerized milk. Your family's health is worth the extra research!


Cod Liver Oil
Is rich in fat-soluble vitamins A & D and helps with proper function of the brain and nervous system. It has been shown to improve brain function, memory, stress response, allergies, asthma, learning and behavior disorders, cancer, and heart health to name a few. It also strengthens bones. It's especially great for pregnant/nursing moms and young children. It improves breast milk to help brain development and helps to fight infections. For more information, and dosing information, check out the Weston A. Price Foundation.

Healthy Fats
These are healthy: butter; lard, beef and lamb tallow; chicken, goose, and duck fat; coconut, palm and sesame oils; cold pressed olive and flax oil; marine oils. These are not: all hydrogenated oils; soy, corn, and safflower oils; cottonseed oil; canola oil; all fats heated to very high temps in processing and frying. Here is an excellent resource to learn more about what oils to use. . . and how (for example, extra-virgin, cold-pressed olive oil is fine IF you don't heat it).

And a few more tidbits- with links for more research.

SOY is BAD for you!

Vegetarianism is NOT healthy. . . we need some animal protein in our diet!

Please, please stay away from anything with High Fructose Corn Syrup!

Want to know more about why MSG is so bad? (Seriously, it numbs your taste buds to healthy, God-given foods like the yummy sweetness of fresh fruit so that you have to have more and more JUNK!).

15 comments:

Check out The Webels said...

Well thanks for sharing about these things... I must admit, it was all rather discouraging to read... I live in China where the only milk you can buy is the box milk with a shelf life...
Soy is big here... although we don't eat too much - lots of people here that is the only milk they drink...
And don't even get me started about oils...
MSG - Chinese are all about that!
So yea - I guess we aren't doing very well with your list!

Anonymous said...

If I may attempt an answer to help you feel a little better about your choices in China...

Traditionally fermented soy can be very good for you. The problem is with the modern soy products which are chemically processed. Much of what you are getting in China is traditionally fermented soy.

Do you know the Chinese word for MSG? You can ask people to leave it out :) Wei(4) Jing(1)

I had some friends living there who found a source for fresh milk. I don't know if it was raw, but it wasn't ultra-pasturized. It was delivered to their doorstep every few days.

Also, remember that you have access to LOADS of delicious fresh fruits and veggies. Many of those poor farmers can't afford pesticides, so their produce is organic by default. If it is not, then you know it probably isn't irradiated.

Good Luck!

Krista said...

KC - Thanks for your reply - I couldn't have said it better myself.

Weston Price was a dentist who practiced in the 20s, 30s, and 40s. Over the course of his practice he saw a significant decline in the health of his patients' teeth and theorized it was related to some of the drastic changes in nutrition going on in our country during this time (milling of wheat, pastuerization of milk, processing of sugar, etc.). He decided to research peoples around the world and spent seven years living among various cultures on every continent, documenting everything. While he was mostly concerned with teeth, he documented health issues as well. What's fascinating is that he found entire cultures, on every continent, who had NO tooth decay, NO heart disease, NO cancer, NO infertility issues, NO diabetes, and on and on. The red thread if you will was not a one-size-fits all magic diet but eating the local, unprocessed, traditional foods of each land. As soon as western foods invaded there was an immediate correlation between food and a decline in health.

I write this to encourage you Erica and all of us living overseas. There is a way to eat healthy in all of our cultures - we just need to get back to the traditional diets of the local people - how did they cook 100 years ago? What were the staples? Refined foods weren't a part of the diet, just like our western exported junk hadn't made it there either (boxed foods, fast foods, etc.).

One more thing - SUGAR BLUES by William Duffy is a fascinating book about the history of sugar. For example, wars have been fought over it, as if it were a drug or something. . . hmmm, maybe there's something to the addictive power of sugar.

Amanda said...

Krista,

What do you use to make kefir?

Lauren said...

Thanks for your post and all your helpful links. I would love to really begin implementing ALL of these changes into our family's diet, but it can seem so overwhelming to think of all we're currently doing "wrong" and everything I need to fix and change. :)

Also, am I alone in feeling like making these changes is kind of cost prohibitive? We're on a very strict and tight grocery budget, and frankly, already going over by a pretty significant margin nearly every month. I try to buy as much whole food as I can, and make anything at home that I can, but where we live, there's just no competition for the 2 natural foods stores in town, and their prices are EXORBITANT at best. :/ I did find a local dairy who sells low-temperature pasteurized, non-homogenized milk...but it's nearly $5 a gallon (twice what we pay at kroger), and our family goes through at least 3 gallons a week.

Is there any way around the huge expense of changing over our pantry?

Christina said...

Lauren,
I agree that making all of these changes is very dependant on cost! My desire to cut our grocery bill in half came right about the time I started learning about all of these healthier ways...The bottom line is that the money I save by using coupons for non-grocery items (paper goods, toiletries, etc) frees up SO MUCH money to spend towards the more expensive items. Saving up for big purchases also helps when purchasing items in bulk (like my wheat and other baking supplies).

I currently pay 5.50/gallon for organic pasteurized milk (I'd LOOOOVE a source like you found - and maybe we have one, but I haven't done enough research I guess!) but we only drink 1.5 gallons/week in our family of four. Maybe try cutting back on the milk? I give my kids water at lunch and throughout the day- most kids get too much milk anyways! I was shocked when my doctor recommended only 12-15 ounces of milk for my 12 month old (who's 18 months now). But it definitely made me feel better about saving some money by only doing milk 2x a day. I know she gets plenty of protein and calcium from other sources anyways!

As far as other changes - just take one thing at a time. Even changing one thing is better than doing nothing! Remember - it doesn't have to be "all or nothing"!

I hope that helps some. I know how overwhelming it can all seem.

Meg said...

I agree, eating more healthily definitely costs more, but its not quite as big of a budget breaker as you might think. We spend 13.50 a week for two gallons of raw milk, which sounds outrageous, but I save at least that much (and probably more) now that I no longer buy all the chips, granola bars, cereals, bread, and other processed food that I used to buy. I buy my grain in bulk at a very inexpensive price and all of our snacks cost just nickels now. It might not work that way for everyone, but for us, eating more healthy foods kind of evens out in our grocery bill.

Krista said...

Amanda,
Pastuerized cow's milk.

ChezDeshotels said...

OKay LAdies that make your own bread i would love a recipe that works so if you have any to share I would love them and also what do you use or do for pasta. I have been dedicated to keeping my girls on the healthiest food possible and slacking some on me but that is changing in our whole family.

I had been sick for over 6 months and after the last 2 weeks of tests I was diagnosed with prolonged rocky mountain spotted fever ( tick fever) and after the horrible medicine i am on is gone I was told that recovery would be really slow and some of my issues could be permanant since it went untreated for so long but anyway the doctor said the better your diet the better I would recover. Okay long story to say all that but I would love any recipes and ideas As I try to mnake more healthy changes to our diet
AJ

Anonymous said...

AJ,
What were/are your symptoms?

ChezDeshotels said...

I have severe headaches muscle aches and joint sensitivity (somewhat like arthristis or fibromyaligia) tHIS IS WHAT COULD BE PERMANANT and paralysis/ weakness and exteme fatigue stuff like that

Krista said...

AJ,
For bread recipes, the Breadbeckers have a great cookbook ($5 I think) with all kinds of recipes using milled wheat. You can make your own pasta with milled wheat too. I don't. For us, I've just cut out pasta from our diet except on rare occassions and then I buy spelt or buckwheat noodles. For grains, we mostly eat oats, homemade bread, brown rice, quinoa, and occassionally sweet potatoes or mashed potatoes. This satisfies us to where we don't miss pasta (it was a transition to not cook pasta recipes though). But, I serve lots of things over brown rice that I use to put over pasta.

Anonymous said...

I hope these dietary changes produce BIG results for you AJ and that you don't have to deal with these things long term :)

Abigail said...

Krista,
I'm a few days behind - good post. I'm curious, do you mean Veganism is not good instead of Vegetarian? Because of diet issues I eat mostly vegetarian, but I still get healthy animal fats through other things (eg - eggs, butter).

Also, what milks would you recommend then for those who can't drink milk? My best friend is allergic to all animal milk (the protein, not the lactose), so what would you say for that if soy seems to be out? I'm still a little skeptical that soy is all bad, I'm going to do some more research to see. :-) I can't drink milk either, so I am curious since I've switched to Publix Greenwise Soy Milk about 2 years ago.

A lot for me to think about!

Anonymous said...

Abigail,
Check out this delicious alternative to milk. It satisfies that creamy taste I was looking for when I was abstaining from dairy while nursing.

http://www.thenourishinggourmet.com/2008/05/coconut-milk-tonic.html

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