Food prices have risen. I sound like my mother now, talking about the days when I could buy a dozen eggs for $3.50. This last month I have been trimming the fat in our budget to be sure we are ahead of the game in the next few years of uncertain economic times. If you are following the markets and have a critical mind, you’ve already realized that the US’s governments addiction to printing money is going to be a painful blow to all of us in the coming years.

I’m hesitant to say how much I spend on groceries. It’s easily been over $1000/month….?!*&^%

As a champion for health, I feel quality food is vital but as I look at my budget I am beginning to feel how challenging eating healthy on a budget can be when, especially when we are talking about a budget of $500 or less each month.

But I am always up for a challenge.

Here are some of my tips for reigning in your food costs without sacrificing your health or quality of meals.

1. Get a binder with sleeves. Put an envelope into each sleeve with your allocated budget in each department in cash.When you shop, take cash, no more debit or credit cards! I have a sleeve for food, clothing, personal care, gas, gifts…etc. Only my recurring bills for essential home operation get automatically debited from my account. The rest is organized into my binder.

2. Budget for each week of meals. I was notorious for buying up 7 cans of beans when they were on sale. This month, we’ve simply been eating up stored food to get back to a TRUE EAT and USE UP philosophy. I do have an emergency kit though, filled with about two weeks of food stored. I will leave this alone for now.

3. Eliminate junk food If you have family members who love to snack, start doing shopping on your own. Choose your vice and stick to it. We love bean chips. They are about $3.50/bag. So instead of eating 2-3/week, we opt for 1/week as long as the budget allows. We save $14/month on “snacks” alone. Eat frozen blueberries or other fruits in the evenings if the craving strikes. Make home made apple crisp anytime by freezing chopped peeled apples now that they are in season. Get creative so that the ice cream and treats are slowly eliminated for more healthy treats.

4.  Buy food in quantity when they are end of season

Heading into winter, we have budget for some end of season tomatoes and fruit for canning that will take us through the winter. This means I will be spending half of what I would normally spend on imported fruit that has been picked to early. Organic tomatoes are a healthy option when used from glass jars rather than buying cans from the store.

5. Quinoa and Brown Rice

Most people think that quinoa is expensive, but I have been getting large bags for about $7 that easily last one month. We make tabouleh, bean salads, mix into miso soup, puree quinoa with other soups or eat plain with olive oil and Sea Salt.

6. BeansBeans…

…The magical fruit….never mind. Beans are one of the best sources for protein and go a long way on a budget. I LOVE beans and we eat them often. I only buy one brand and I would gladly give up other items on my list for Eden Beans. They are packed with sea veggie that breaks down the exterior coating on the beans which helps us digest them easily. We never have “bean issues” from these beans. They also have put in place  “NO BPA” practices. I’ve tried soaking and sprouting many times now, but life as a stay at home mom and entrepreneur? Something had to give.  Eden is my best choice. Eat a large variety of beans. Add then to rice, pasta sauce, soups, salad’s etc.

7.  More Salads

A general practice in my family since I was a child is to have a salad with every meal, or at the very least, with dinner. Most health issues stem from being overly acidic. Our bodies increase in acidity when we consume processed foods, drinks, meat, alcohol etc. Even stress and negativity in our life creates acidity in our bodies. All disease is born an acidic environment. On the flip side, even raw vegans can have issues with being too alkaline, as I was a few years back. The point is to strive for balance and for most people today, eat more alkaline foods. Salads boost your health and your meals without taxing your budget. Sorry, iceberg lettuce does not qualify as a real salad!

8.  Drop Take Out and Restaurants

If you do take out or restaurants, have a look at your monthly bank statement and tally it up. Starbucks here, Macdonald’s there…it really adds up the food costs and unfortunately adds nothing to your health. But I know, when we are out for the day and the kids get hungry, it’s always a dilemma about what to do? I look at nearly all food establishments with disdain since we switched to a wheat free lifestyle. There are very few places that provide a “home meal away from home” so over time I have lost my affinity with feeling that Restaurants are “special”. On occasion we do eat out, but we carefully select where we go. I always take food snacks with me in a cooler when we had out so that we can avoid being in a hunger craze with the children.

9. Choose to drink MORE WATER!

Milk is highly overrated. Juice as well. Let’s not discuss soda because there are no health benefits from adding this to your budget. The fact is that we are chronically dehydrated. Water, from the purest source available is the best choice. It’s all we drink now. My latest passion is learning about REAL WATER and the effects it has on our blood. WOW, how many of us even realize that the water we drink is actually processed? Milk is not the best choice for calcium, and it causes more problems that it solves. This week we will be heading up to a local spring to collect pure water in glass bottles to hydrate ourselves on a cellular level. Check if you have a spring near you?

10.  Set Eating Times

There are times when I have felt like a short order cook for my family. It does not help when I cook 3 meals a day either plus snacks! This particular advice is really most beneficial for stay at home mom’s or dad’s. I have set times with my children for food. The know that at 8am the breakfast table is cleared and that a snack will not appear until 10am. This has eliminated (almost!) the whining and provides them with the responsibility and power to manage their own hunger. This also helps us with eating constantly and draining and dipping into the food budget by eating up things I have allocated for meals. The other option is to set plates of fruit and veggies out for your children to snack on. Once it is gone, they must wait until meal time.

11. Build a garden!

I have been canning up a storm this year, compliments of the bounty from our garden. If you wait till the end of the season, even organic foods like tomatoes are quite cheap. This is the only exception I make with my budget. I won’t drop $4 for a can of tomatoes, organic or not when BPA is still an issue. I prefer mine in hoe canned glass jars.

These are some of the ways we have been able to cut our food budget in half while eating healthy.

Other special recommendations would be eating towards a more vegetarian diet and meal planning.

How do you eat healthy on a budget?

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11 Ways to Eat Healthy on a Budget

One of the most satisfying things to come about since embarking on the “traditional foods or real foods” movement is that I have been able to source nearly all our food from the farmer, in a 100 mile radius. Although we were eating mostly local already,  many of these items were bought at our local health food store rather than directly from the farmer. Not only have I found that our food bill has decreased from “bar code free’ shopping, we also are consuming foods exactly as nature intended. This has been incredibly satisfying. So far, we know the farmers for our pasture raised eggs, grass fed/pasture raised meat, raw cheese, veggies and fruit, pasture raised turkeys, duck and chicken and even the farm where our milk comes from. Yup, even our milk.

One of the common factors in the healthy societies Weston Price studied was the consumption of whole raw milk. This has been a hard point for me to ignore. I have said before that I am not a milk drinker. I don’t feed my kids milk either because it would take a lot to convince me that milk, as it is sold in stores,  is a healthy choice for my family due to the excessive processing and heat applied to milk , not to mention ultra-pasteurizing to make milk last longer on the shelves. Any benefit conventional milk may have is lost and the result is a product that the body finds hard to digest. I would argue that conventional milk is derived from such appalling living conditions (hormones, constant lactation, lack of pasture and grain fed) I wonder if there really is any health benefit in the first place. Even “organic milk” does not guarantee that the animal is pasture raised, feeding on grass instead of grains. This whole traditional foods journey has really taught me a lot about the flaws in the “organic” brand and the importance of grass raised food.

The common argument for milk is the calcium and vitamin D factor but raw milk enthusiasts would argue that vitamin D and calcium in any digestible and abundant fashion only exists in milk from cows that have been properly raised; on a pasture and eating grass for the majority of their lives – not grain. Plus, I’m not in favor of consuming any products that have been synthetically fortified, as in the case with conventional milk. Although my vegetarian days would argue that only humans drink milk past infancy, many regard raw milk as health promoting especially in the areas of asthma and allergies, as well as regarding raw milk as sacred food. I recently read about a mother who created her own formula using raw goat milk and nourished her “failure to thrive” son back to health.

Dr. G. Z. Pitskhelauri, famous Russian gerontologist, based his book The Long Living of Soviet Georgia on underlying reasons for the super longevity of residents of Georgia, supposedly the home of more 100 year olds (and older) than any other area of the world…Startling is the word for their typical diet, which contains two main items that are almost taboo in this country: fatty meats and whole milk products, as well as native sauces, herbs, various vegetable greens and a moderate amount of natural wines (nonsulphured) James F. Scheer – Health Freedom News and quoted in Nourishing Traditions

I have sat on the fence for a few years on whether we should begin drinking raw milk. Much of my hesitation is due to the lingering fear (due to effective marketing I might add) that raw milk is “dangerous” (FDA PowerPoint) to consume. But lets remember for a moment that thousands of generations have been consuming raw milk from their own cows or the local farmer. So who stands to gain by convincing us that raw milk is inherently unsafe?

There is no way I would consider raw milk from a conventional source. You bet it should be pasteurized due to living in a degrading environment, but raw milk from pasture raised grass eating cows that I can meet myself? Although there may be risk with raw milk, there also is risk with other foods such as deli meats, spinach and peanut butter (cough cough…ahem!) In fact, according to a Point-by-Point Rebuttal to the FDA,  much of the food recalls and illnesses occur with food that has been pasteurized!

We have decided to bet our money on the healthy benefits of drinking raw milk. Is raw milk sustainable for the majority of the population? Probably not, but I resent the fact that the government is at my kitchen table, infringing on my rights by telling me what I cannot eat plus making small credible farmers criminals. The sale of raw milk is currently illegal in Canada and why I referred to the current fight over food.

In The Untold Story of Milk, Ron Schmid, a Naturopathic physician and raw-milk advocate, writes that as city populations skyrocketed in the mid-1800s and pasture for cows in urban areas became scarce, dairies began feeding their cows waste grain from local distilleries. The cows quickly became diseased and emaciated, producing poor-quality milk that, coupled with inadequate sanitation and refrigeration, caused a host of health problems, mostly in young children, and created a scandal around the milk industry. Pasteurization was seen as a solution to what was known as the “milk problem.

A few weeks ago we finally bought shares in our very own cows! We searched for real milk in our area and thankfully found a farm nearby. Then we went to the farm to meet our new Jersey cows. Each week the milk from our cow is delivered on rotation by the members in the cow share program so we deliver about once every 8-9 weeks. Blossom and Daisey now provide us with delicious rich milk from which I can make butter, whey, yogurt and Kefir (recipes to follow). Pretty nice to have fresh milk delivered to our door! I have been lactose intolerant my whole life, probably another reason I chose to stay away all these years. Amazingly I have no lactose issues from our fresh milk or raw cheese (world class Gouda!).

I spoke recently with a former employee at a popular Canadian dairy. While they worked at the dairy, they never drank the  milk “because of the unsanitary conditions” they witnessed. Many conventional dairy farmers would say that milking a cow into a clean open bucket is unsanitary but this person brought up the point that conventional milk is milked into miles and miles of pipes. They often saw the caked interior of the tubing, the udders not being washed, and cows standing in piles of their own feces because they are hooked up all the time. I can’t think of anything more unsanitary. I can’t think of anything harder to clean than mile and miles of pipes! I’ll take a clean bucket and glass jar like my grandparents did.

Kelly the Kitchen Kop has written some great posts regarding raw/fresh milk for those of you who are interested. She is a seasoned traditional/real foods activist who I refer to often while we are getting used to eating the Weston Price way.

Raw Milk Benefits and Raw Milk Safety- Even if drinking raw milk is not for you, this is a good read to familiarize yourself with the industry of milk in general

Image credit: kthread

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Raw Milk: Bringing The Farm To The City

One thing that has become painfully clear (or at least a big reminder) in the last month is that the industrialization of food is killing us . The studies by Weston Price, including photos that are hard to deny, make it obvious of the need to eat nutrient-dense foods. He found that foods that have been stripped even partially of their nutrition cause physical and mental degeneration within one generation of eating poor quality food.

In the name of trying to be “master” over our environment we have abandoned nature for science and technology. These days I can barely walk through any grocery store, let alone a health food store, without looking at all the boxes and cans and muttering…crap, crap and more crap. Who cares if the puffy cereal is organic and made with kamut if it is highly refined and practically indigestible anyways? Besides, even the most “natural” products are injected with synthetic hormones these days.

To add to the excitement, we watched Food Inc on the weekend. Ugg, this film represents all the reasons why I became vegetarian so many years ago, in utter protest of what we do in the name of food. But being a vegetarian is not the answer. The massive industrialization of food is the problem – meat, grains, veggies and fruit. I dream of the day people stick it to “big food” by consuming traditional foods again and supporting the local farmer who, interestingly enough, has the lowest profit margin of all! Yup, Doritos turn a hefty profit for nutritionally void crap that they are.

Each time I follow the rabbit trail down to why it’s all gone wrong, it comes back to the control of money and the control of food. I urge you to watch the film. We are slowly watching our food rights slip away. Even the beloved “organic” industry is on the radar of the multi-national food corporations, all happening behind the scenes of coarse. If you want to imagine the fight of your life, imagine fighting for the right to consume food produced by honorable farmers in your local community. The fight has already started. People really need to take a stand by reevaluating the food they eat – or we might find the availability of real food is hard to come by.

Food Inc featured Joel Saltin, farmer and owner of Polyface Farm.  The following is written by Joel as a foreword to The Raw Milk Revolution: Behind America’s Emerging Battle Over Food Rights by David Gumpert.

**(bold sections are mine)

The Raw Milk Revolution book cover I drink raw milk, sold illegally on the underground black market. I grew up on raw milk from our own Guernsey cows that our family hand-milked twice a day. We made yogurt, ice cream, butter, and cottage cheese. All through high school in the early 1970s, I sold our homemade yogurt, butter, buttermilk, and cottage cheese at the Curb Market on Saturday mornings. This was a precursor to today’s farmer’s markets.

In those days, the Virginia Department of Agriculture had a memorandum of agreement with the Curb Market that as long as vendors belonged to an Agricultural Extension organization such as Extension Homemaker’s Clubs or 4-H, producers could bring value-added products to market without inspection and visits from the food police. The government agents assumed that anyone participating in the extension programs would be getting the latest, greatest food science and therefore conform to the most modern procedural protocols, which created its own protection.

As the Virginia Slims commercial says, “We’ve come a long way, baby.” These conciliatory overtures to maintain healthy and vibrant local food economies exist no more. Today I can’t sell any of those things at a farmer’s market, and even if I take eggs some bureaucrat will come along with a pocket thermometer and, without warrant or warning, reach over and poke it through my display eggs to see if they are at the proper temperature. If they aren’t, no amount of pleading that those are for display only can dissuade the petulant public servant from demanding that I dump those display eggs in a trash can on the spot. I don’t sell at farmer’s markets anymore.

In 1975, when I graduated from high school and began plotting my farming career, I figured out that I could hand-milk ten cows, sell the milk to neighbors at regular retail prices, and be a full-time farmer. This was before most people had ever heard the word organic. But selling milk was illegal. In those days, we didn’t know about herd shares or Community Supported Agriculture or even limited liability corporations.

As a result, I went to work for a local newspaper and became the proverbial part-time farmer—working in town to support the farming passion. I don’t think I’ve ever gotten over the fact that the government arbitrarily determined to make it very difficult for me to become a farmer. That seems un-American, doesn’t it?

Isn’t it curious that at this juncture in our culture’s evolution, we collectively believe Twinkies, Lucky Charms, and Coca-Cola are safe foods, but compost-grown tomatoes and raw milk are not? With legislation moving through Congress demanding that all agricultural practices be “science-based,” I believe our food system is at Wounded Knee. I do not believe that is an overstatement.

Make no mistake, as the local, heritage, humane, ecological, sustainable—call it what you will (anything but organic since the government now owns that word)—food system takes flight, the industrial food system is fighting back. With a vengeance. By demonizing, criminalizing, and marginalizing the integrity food movement, the entrenched powers that be hope to derail this revolution.

This industrial food experiment, historically speaking, is completely abnormal. It’s not normal to eat things you can’t spell or pronounce. It’s not normal to eat things you can’t make in your kitchen. Indeed, if everything in today’s science-based supermarket that was unavailable before 1900 were removed, hardly anything would be left. And as more people realize that this grand experiment in ingesting material totally foreign to our three-trillion-member internal community of intestinal microflora and -fauna is really biologically aberrant behavior, they are opting out of industrial fare. Indeed, to call it a food revolution is accurate.

But revolutions are always met with prejudice and entrenched paradigms from the about-to-be-unseated lords of the status quo. The realignment of power, trust, money, and commerce that the local heritage-based food movement represents inherently gives birth to a backlash. By the time of Wounded Knee, Native Americans no longer jeopardized the American reality.

But to many Americans, these Natives had to be crushed, extinguished, put on reservations. Would America have been stronger if European leaders had listened to wisdom about herbal remedies and consensus building? The answer is yes. But to Americans, the red man was just a barbarian because he didn’t govern by parliamentary procedure or ride in horse-drawn stagecoaches along cobblestone streets. In fact, he was considered a threat to America. Just like giving slaves their freedom in 1850. Just like imbibing alcohol in 1925. Just like homeschooling in 1980.

The ultimate test of a tyrannical society or a free society is how it responds to its lunatic fringe. A strong, self-confident, free society tolerates and enjoys the fringe people who come up with zany notions. Indeed, most people later labeled geniuses were dubbed whacko by their contemporary mainstream society. So what does a culture do with weirdos who actually believe they have a right to choose what to feed their internal three-trillion-member community?

The only reason the right to food choice was not guaranteed in the Bill of Rights is because the Founders of America could not have envisioned a day when selling a glass of raw milk or homemade pickles to a neighbor would be outlawed. At the time, such a thought was as strange as levitation.

Indeed, what good is the freedom to own guns, worship, or assemble if we don’t have the freedom to eat the proper fuel to energize us to shoot, pray, and preach? Is not freedom to choose our food at least as fundamental a right as the freedom to worship?

How would we feel if we had to get a license from bureaucrats to start a church? After all, beliefs can be pretty damaging things. And charlatans certainly do exist. Better protect people from those charlatans—bad preachers and raw milk advocates.

But what does a society do when the charlatans are in charge? In charge of the regulating government agencies. In charge of the research institutions. In charge of the food system.

That is a real conundrum, because if health depends on opting out of what the charlatans think is safe, we are forced into civil disobedience. When the public no longer trusts its public servants, people begin taking charge of their own health and welfare. And that is exactly what is driving the local heritage food movement.

Lots of folks realize they don’t want industrialists fooling around with something as basic as food. People like me don’t trust Monsanto. We don’t trust the Food and Drug Administration. We don’t trust the Department of Agriculture. We don’t trust Tyson. And we don’t think it’s safe to be dependent on food that sits for a month in the belly of a Chinese merchant marine vessel.

This clash of choice versus prohibition brings us to today’s Wounded Knee of food. The local heritage-based food movement represents everything that is good and noble about farming and food culture. It is about decentralized farms. Pastoral livestock systems. Symbiotic multi-speciation. Companion planting. Earthworms. It is about community-appropriate techniques and scale. Aesthetically and aromatically sensual romantic farming. Re-embedding the butcher, baker, and candlestick maker in the village. And ultimately about health-giving food grown more productively on less land than industrial models.

Certainly some of this clash represents the difference between nurturing and dominating. The local heritage food movement—the raw milk movement—is all about respecting and honoring indigenous wisdom. The industrial mind-set worships techno-glitzy gadgetry and views heritage food advocates as simpletons and Luddites. Or dangerous criminals.

In this wonderful exposé The Raw Milk Revolution, David Gumpert employs the best journalistic investigative techniques to examine this clash from the raw milk battlefront. Be assured that the same mentality exists toward homemade pickles, home-cured meats, and cottage industry in general. The entrepreneurial spirit is alive and well in the food system, but it is harassed out of existence by capricious, malicious, and prejudiced government agents who really do believe they are doing society a favor by denying food choice to Americans.

The same curative properties espoused by raw milk advocates exist in a host of other food products, from homemade pound cake and potpies to pepperoni and pastured chicken. Real food is what developed our internal intestinal community. And it sure didn’t develop on food from Concentrated Animal Feeding Operations and genetically modified potatoes that are partly human and partly tomato. Long after human cleverness has run its course, compost piles will still grow the best tomatoes and grazing cows will still yield one of nature’s perfect foods: raw milk.

One of our former apprentices has just started a ten-cow herd-share arrangement with our customers. Here is a young, entrepreneurial, go-get-‘em farmer embarking on his dream, serving people who are enjoying their dream of acquiring unadulterated milk. Can any arrangement, any relationship-between farmer and cow, cow and pasture, customer and producer be more honorable, respectable, open, and trusting? Everything about this is righteous, including respecting the individual enough to let her decide what to eat and what to feed her children.

Let the revolution continue.

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The Fight Over Food

One of the first changes we have made since reading Nourishing Traditions is making  a homemade stock each week. Now I understand why my Grandma always made the best soups, forget that, the best everything! The secret was in her stocks made from chicken, beef and fish. Stocks not only help create dishes that are talked about, there is much health wisdom in this centuries old practice.

Why is chicken soup superior to all the things we have, even more relaxing than Tylenol? It is because chicken soup has a natural ingredient which repairs and calms the mucous lining in the small intestine. This inner lining is the beginning or ending of the nervous system. It is easily pulled away from the intestine through too many laxatives, too many food additives…and parasites. Chicken soup…heals the nerves, improves digestion, reduces allergies, relaxes and gives strength. Hanna Kroeger – Ageless Remedies From Mother’s Kitchen.

I think homemade stocks are a lost art in many modern families. Although I observed a simmering pot of stock many times while growing up, the wisdom of why they are so beneficial unfortunately did not get passed down. And perhaps even if it did, I overlooked stocks simply because whole grains and legumes (as opposed to a meat dominant diet) have made the majority of our meals up until this point.

I mentioned that I was vegetarian for almost 10 years so another roadblock in making stocks is simply due to my lack of knowledge and experience in handling meat. I am now relearning how to cook with meat and making some big changes in the type of meat we eat – but I’ll save that for another article.

The basic stock recipe I am using is from Nourishing Traditions which advises to use vinegar to the broth to help pull the nutrients form the bones. Read Broth is Beautiful for additional information about the health benefits of stocks as well as the clincher for me - the benefits of gelatin . One interesting tidbit is the ancient use of stocks to help prevent infectious disease. I admit to feeling reassured by having homemade stock on hand should we get rundown with a virus.

In folk wisdom, rich chicken broth-the famous Jewish penicillin-is a valued remedy for the flu. The 12th-century physician Moses Maimonides prescribed chicken broth as a treatment for colds and asthma. Modern research has confirmed that broth helps prevent and mitigate infectious diseases. The wise food provider, who uses gelatin-rich broth on a daily or frequent basis, provides continuous protection from many health problems. Nourishing Traditions

Each Sunday we now roast a whole locally raised free range chicken. After feasting, I gently simmer the stock pot overnight. In the morning, after the stock has cooled I measure out 2 and 4 cup increments into shallow containers for freezing. Later, I unmold and label, storing the disks in zippered bags stacked vertically in the freezer. I also freeze extra baby cubes to blend with Evan’s homemade baby puree – one of a few important changes to his diet. Thankfully, I am not alone in my concerns that introducing the nasty refined baby cereal as a first food is not a healthy way to get started. If I didn’t know better, I’d swear it’s a sick plot to get our children addicted to refined foods from the get go!

From Nourishing Traditions:

Chicken Stock

1 whole free-range chicken or 2 to 3 pounds of bony chicken parts, such as necks, backs, breastbones and wings*
gizzards from one chicken (optional)
2-4 chicken feet (optional)
4 quarts cold filtered water
2 tablespoons vinegar
1 large onion, coarsely chopped
2 carrots, peeled and coarsely chopped
3 celery stalks, coarsely chopped
1 bunch parsley

*Note: Farm-raised, free-range chickens give the best results. Many battery-raised chickens will not produce stock that gels.

If you are using a whole chicken, cut off the wings and remove the neck, fat glands and the gizzards from the cavity. Cut chicken parts into several pieces. (If you are using a whole chicken, remove the neck and wings and cut them into several pieces.) Place chicken or chicken pieces in a large stainless steel pot with water, vinegar and all vegetables except parsley. Let stand 30 minutes to 1 hour. Bring to a boil, and remove scum that rises to the top. Reduce heat, cover and simmer for 6 to 8 hours. The longer you cook the stock, the richer and more flavorful it will be. About 10 minutes before finishing the stock, add parsley. This will impart additional mineral ions to the broth.

Remove whole chicken or pieces with a slotted spoon. If you are using a whole chicken, let cool and remove chicken meat from the carcass. Reserve for other uses, such as chicken salads, enchiladas, sandwiches or curries. Strain the stock into a large bowl and reserve in your refrigerator until the fat rises to the top and congeals. Skim off this fat and reserve the stock in covered containers in your refrigerator or freezer.

Image credit: Muffet

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Wise Cooks Use Homemade Stocks

At times our own light goes out and is rekindled by a spark from another person.
 Each of us has cause to think with deep gratitude of those who have lighted the flame within us. Albert Schwietzer

I came back to blogging with a lot of new inspiration. With over 41 articles in my drafts that are almost ready to go, I had no intention of taking a break any time soon. But that was ten days ago. Remember times in your life when you’ve come across something or someone who ignites you so much that you alter your course in a new direction? 

Some life altering events that stand out are going to Europe by myself at 18, hitting rock bottom in my twenties which turned me towards self discovery, reading This Light In Oneself by J Krishnamurti, taking a one year Yoga Teacher training which deepened my understanding of the mind body connection, watching The Secret which led us to amazing mentors and a new business which helped us climb out of financial ruin, becoming a Mom to two amazing children – no explanation needed, having a peaceful and pain free water birth at home and most recently, the day I was given Nourishing Traditions.

I wrote about how essential it is that you take the time to lacto-ferment your whole grains in order to “pre-digest” them (otherwise losing out on nutrients and possibly creating other health issues) but this book has inspired many more changes in our family nutrition. Healthy Green Dad is in shock at my sudden philosophical change, he’s like, where did you put my wife?

I am always questioning our modern culture – way we do things and the impact it has on our health and the health of future generations. I am in continuous pursuit of optimal health. I don’t accept that disease, illness, and decay are the natural states of being a human and I have always believed that is possible to reverse all of it, so that each family is independently healthy.  Independently healthy often means critically examining advise from those we trust and Nourishing Traditions does exactly this.

Everyone’s life is under someone’s control – it might as well be under your own so that you can direct your destiny. Harry Tucker

Nourishing Traditions challenges nearly every modern dietary trend, including the “healthy” ones. The book is based on extensive research by Weston A Price on traditional cultures. The why and how disease exists in some cultures but not in others. From Price’s findings, she makes a convincing case as to why humans continue to suffer ill health at epidemic proportions despite major advances in science and medicine.

Quite simply, the modern diet – from every end of the spectrum – is responsible for all disease in it’s various forms.

It has been an inspiring week while I digest the information. Where to begin? I have had so many ah-ha moments when it comes to my understanding of what healthy family nutrition is.

It has also been humbling. Although I have created a very healthy environment for my family, I have missed some key factors in our nutrition that are essential to health. I understand why, although I cured Liv’s eczema, I have not been able to resolve her dry skin issue. Now I can fix this. I also know why my chemical sensitivities linger on regardless of how good I am to my liver.

Continuous effort — not strength or intelligence — is the key to unlocking our potential. Liane Cardes

I will write about our adjustments in bits sized pieces – but lets just say that our grandmothers knew what they were doing. The wisdom in a traditional diet has sadly been lost in our culture, instead replaced with a dependence on trendy misguided health tips that defy the way nature intended food to be prepared and consumed.

I know I have not referred to any specific suggestions from the book. This is on purpose. It’s better that you digest the information for yourself. This includes vegetarians and vegans. As a former veg/vegan for ten years, I wasn’t too interested in reading pro-meat (just so you know) books, however all vegetarians need to understand the best possible way to stay healthy in the absence of meat -  especially after the three-five year mark when mineral and vitamin supplies are crucial.

Perhaps the most valuable result of all education is the ability to make yourself do the thing you have to do, when it ought to be done, whether you like it or not. Thomas Huxley

If you are already passionate about health I know you will love Nourishing Traditions. If you have already taken steps to reduce your exposure to refined and processed foods but also have health and weight concerns, I suggest getting a copy! Any way you slice it, this is a must read for all modern families who are interested in how to achieve health that will last for generations.

Who knows? Maybe this will be  a time in your life where your philosophy about things is so transformed that you are forever changed – and healthy because of it.

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Humbled and Inspired by Nourishing Traditions

image credit: anyalogic

The longer I study health and nutrition the more I find that I am adopting a simple and traditional approach to the way I take care of myself. I am continually making adjustments to reflect my philosophy in all areas. For nutrition, I believe that foods we eat and the supplements we take must be as close as possible to the way nature created. In other words, whole.

In her book Nourishing Traditions, Sally Fallon cites extensive research on the health and nutrition of traditional cultures – who is healthiest, who lives the longest and the reasons why. She discusses at length our modern obsession with augmenting foods from their natural form, trendy diets, and the poor nutritional advice from the “establishment.” She is also a valuable author for vegetarians and vegans, although her suggestions for optimal health may create a dilemma as her argument for a balanced diet from all food sources is hefty and worth consideration.

I have been eating a whole food diet for about 10 years, believing that this is superior to the standard American fare of overly refined and processed foods. I was surprised to read that  aspects of my whole food diet may be as detrimental to my health as a diet rich in sugar and refined foods!

Huh?

Sally Fallon points out that those who cook with whole grains and pulses such a quinoa, millet, rolled oats, bulgur, and lentils plus baking with kamut, spelt and whole wheat flours etc are wasting money and losing out on nutrients simply because they do not prepare the grains in a way that the body can absorb all the nutrients.

In fact, consuming grains that are refined or not prepared properly is now being recognized as a contributor to illness and disease. It would be good practice to be kind to your grains by learning the proper preparation methods in order to take full advantage of all the nutrients available.

Modern Cooking Methods Are Failing Us

Fallon states: All grains contain phytic acid in the outer layer or bran. Untreated phytic acid can combine with calcium, magnesium, copper, iron and especially zinc in the intestinal tract and block their absorption. This is why a diet high in unfermented whole grains can lead to serious mineral deficiencies and bone loss. The modern misguided practice of consuming large amounts of unprocessed bran often improves colon transit at first may lead to irritable bowel syndrome and other adverse effects. (italics mine)

The proteins in grain, such as gluten, are also very hard to digest. Strain on the digestive system to break down diets high in wheat can lead to the eventual development of allergies, celiac disease, mental illness, chronic indigestion, and candida.

The Power of Soaking and Fermentation

The simple practice of soaking or fermenting your grains and legumes in warm acidulated water for 12-24 hours will neutralize a large portion of the phytic acid. Soaking encourages the production of numerous enzymes which increases the amounts of many vitamins, especially B vitamins, vastly improving the nutritional benefits. Soaking also partially breaks down gluten and other difficult to digest proteins so that they are more readily absorbed.

All grains with gluten should be soaked or fermented. This includes oats, rye, barley, and wheat. All flour products used for baking including kamut, spelt and wheat should also be soaked in an acidic medium for 12 to 24 hours.

The soaking mixture is generally warm water with about 2Tbs of yogurt, Kefir or whey. It’s really quite amazing to see the difference in the grain after this process.

image credit: WordRidden

Really…It’s Easy!

Before you get overwhelmed at the though of spending even more time on your meals, I have found that soaking and fermenting has been pretty simple to implement. While I’m not ready to get into fermenting veggies and fruits just yet, adjusting how I prepare grains has been fairly simple.

Here are few ideas to consider:

• Fermentation is practical, frugal, healthy and timeless.
• If you are eating “quick oats” because you are short on time in the morning, soaking is the answer for you. Not only can you switch to healthier oats such as rolled or steel cut oats, but now your cooking time has been cut in half!
• Consider slowly eliminating all boxed cereals out of your pantry. Even the granola, spelt and other fancy “whole grain” cereals! They are highly refined, expensive and of little benefit to your health.
• Get a couple of bowls soaking each week and slowly eliminate canned beans from your pantry, saving you even more money.
• Source out great recipes using whole grains (I will slowly be adding them here as well) and create a simple meal plan so you know what to have soaking 12-24 hours in advance.

Nourishing Traditions is a great read. Fermentation is just one part of the 700 page cookbook that will totally transform the way you think about food (and what is “healthy”). We have made numerous changes at home that I’ll continue to blog about in the days to follow.

Looking for more information on fermentation?

The Nourishing Gourmet, inspired from Nourishing Traditions is a great place to start. Kimi is an experienced gourmet of frugal and traditional cooking and she shares her tried and true methods on her blog.

Wild Fermentation website and book brings back the lost art of fermentation with an impressive list of recipes and links.

National Center for Home Food Preservation

Are you a “fermenting” family?! Share your thoughts and experience in the comments below.

Hey, come visit the me and leave a comment! I'd love to hear from you. If you enjoyed this article, thank you for giving it a boost on social media. © All rights reserved. This post is from HealthyGreenMoms and cannot be republished without express written permission.

Why Your Whole Food Diet May Be Unhealthy