A Big Fat Sacrifice

It has been close to ten years since I learned that liberal amounts of fat are a very important part of the human diet and that low- fat diets are a disaster. And not just any fats but it is the saturated fats that our bodies need and were designed to use. Fats like butter, lard, tallow, chicken fat, duck fat, coconut oil, and palm oil. So when I read an article called "Sacred Fat" on the Well Fed Family blog I was thrilled to finally read about what I  had suspected was true-that God's prohibition in Leviticus against eating the "fat of cattle, sheep or goats" was about God commanding his people to sacrifice something very good not something very bad. I have read many commentaries on this topic and they all say kind of the same thing: fat is bad. The commentary I have at home, Believer's Bible Commentary, says this:

Besides the spiritual reason for not eating fat there is also a medical reason, as Dr. S. I. McMillen points out:

In the past few years medical science has awakened to the fact that the eating of animal fat is an important cause of arteriosclerosis.  This fat forms the tiny, fatty, cholesterol tumors within the walls of the arteries, which hinder the flow of blood.  Now in this decade, magazines, radio and T.V. are broadcasting the good news that we can reduce the ravages from man's greatest killer by cutting down our intake of animal fats.  Happy as we are with the fact that medical science has arrived, we may be amazed to discover that our ultramodern research is about thirty-five hundred years behind the Book of books. 

Oh my. Fortunately this theory has been, since the last printing of this commentary in 1995, thoroughly debunked (see this article Diet-Heart Myth). God made a wonderful food for us in the form of the fat of all kinds of animals and I sincerely hope that more people will do a little of their own research (just Google "cholesterol myth") and experiment a bit with cooking the way our great-grandmothers did (try some potatoes cooked in lard!).  Here is a link to the article "Sacred Fat" and I'm sure you will find it very eye-opening!

Posted by Ginny

     After going on the GAPS diet (really a protocol) 4 years ago I began to fall under the mistaken idea that  "grains are bad" although I can't say that Dr. Campbell-McBride (the author of the book Gut and Psychology Syndrome a.k.a. GAPS) ever actually said that in her book or anywhere on her website. But slowly over time I realized I was wrong. This article  To Gluten or Not to Gluten? Rethinking the Gluten-Free Craze explains it better than I.  It had come in my Wise Traditions For Food, Farming and the Healing Arts magazine just the other day after I had (again) sworn off gluten. So I am trying it again but more carefully and thought-out than before and with a more positive attitude rather than one of fear and I must say that so far so good. I can see that if I eat a small amount like no more than two pancakes and not every day then I am able to digest it quite well. Also I am trying to eat just Einkorn wheat, freshly ground although sometimes I succumb to the lure of organic whole wheat sourdough (made with real starter and nothing else). Now if I would just get a grain grinder I could work on making my own long-fermented sourdough like this recipe here Our Daily Bread!

Posted by Ginny

 

Living Water

Ellie collecting living spring water

For the last month our family has been driving down Hwy 1 into Big Sur, which is along the very scenic California coast, to collect spring water from a spring that pours out of the base of a mountain. We have been going weekly with our trunk packed full of all kinds of bottles and jars for the almost hour-long drive.

When we learned recently that virtually all bottled water has been filtered and sterilized and that sewer water mixes with our tap water via pipes that are over 100 years old we knew we had to find an alternative. I think many people have now heard that pharmaceuticals are getting into our drinking water but maybe they do not understand how that happens. It turns out that most of the pipes that bring our water to us are very, very old and are in varying states of decay. The water company adds chemicals to the water in an attempt to manage the corrosion that has occurred over time but the fact remains that there has been corrosion and our drinking water gets mingled with the water from our toilets. That is how you get antidepressants, birth control, statins, blood pressure medications, Viagra, and many more drugs in your tap water. And don't forget the chlorine, fluoride, and other various chemicals that are added depending upon your local water district.

In an interview with Extreme Health Radio Daniel Vitalis says that water comes from the earth but very few people in this country get their water from the earth. Most people get their water from either a tap (a municipal water system) or from the store.  He explains that when we drink water it is immediately absorbed right into our bloodstream and within a couple of minutes it becomes our blood. So if you drink tap water then your blood is made of tap water. What this means, according to Daniel, is that most people buy their blood from the city or a store. As my favorite farmer Joel Salatin would say, "Folk's, this ain't normal".

Find a Spring Project to the rescue! Thank you to Daniel Vitalis for his website that allows you to search for a spring near you which is how we found the spring in Big Sur. You can also watch a video that explains why spring water is so good for you but the bottom line is that spring water straight from the ground is living water. God designed the Earth so that all living creatures can drink from it.

On our last trip to the spring a group of Santa Cruz folks stopped to see what we were doing and were very excited to fill their water bottles with the spring water and then another woman stopped just as we were finishing up and said she's been coming from Monterey for seven years to fill up 35 gallons worth of bottles, jugs, and jars. While she was there she painted her face with the beautiful grey clay that lines the mountain rock. Ellie collected a small jar-full.

45 minutes later and about 10 gallons heavier




Posted by Ginny

Sorry, MYO Frozen Yogurt Is Not a Healthy Treat

Now that summer is in full swing I see lots of people walking around with MYO frozen yogurts and it got me to wondering about the ingredients. I wasn't really expecting it to be real food but I was hopeful. Well, it's not good. Here is the list of ingredients for plain old non-fat vanilla:

Pasteurized and cultured skim milk, sugar, corn syrup, whey, non-fat dry milk, natural and artificial flavors, milk protein isolate, cellulose gum, guar gum, carrageenan, modified food starch, pectin, live cultures. 

If you choose Mint flavor you will also get Blue #1.
If you choose the no sugar versions you will get acesulfame potassium.
If you choose non-fat chocolate you will get polysorbate 80.

I am not going to go into detail about each of these industrially manufactured ingredients that are not food but I think you get the point. There is nothing in there that is real food with the exception of the live cultures (no, skim milk is not real food), although I'm not sure how the poor things could survive in that environment. Why don't you do yourself a favor and skip the MYO and make your own! It's easy and only takes a few ingredients: yogurt, raw honey or maple syrup, fresh or frozen organic fruit and perhaps some nuts (soaked and dehydrated of course!). If you like to have a treat on the go make it before leaving home (in reusable glass jars) and put it in an ice chest to take with you.

It is very important to read ingredient labels. If you see ingredients that your great-grandmother would not have eaten or recognized as food then maybe you shouldn't eat it either.

Posted by Ginny