What the Hell can I Eat?

Weston A. Price makes the News!

What the Hell Can I Eat? — Thu, 07 Aug 2008 20:22:49 +0000

I’ve turned family, friends and strangers alike on to this little known nutrition education group with a fast-growing following and it seems that great news is finally spreading to more mainstream media.

The Weston A. Price Foundation snagged the The Washington Post Food Section Front Page!!!
The feature story (which you can link to below) is about Sally Fallon-Morell, her cookbook, Nourishing Traditions and the grassroots movement it has spawned.

According to Sally’s publicist, Kimberly Hartke, her members are definitely an important part of the buy extremely local, support sustainable farmers crowd (Go Sally!). These are folks who actually put their money where their mouth is, says Kimberly, and are learning the lost art of home cooking, and converting their household food budgets to buying whole, unprocessed farm fresh foods.
Sally has launched a whole movement within the movement called farm-to-consumer direct sales, and even a Farm-to-Consumer Legal Defense Fund to protect the rights of farms and their direct sales customers.

For more information, see the link to Post article below.

http://tinyurl.com/5nvdhy

More on Honey, Soy and Local (pasture-raised) BEEF

What the Hell Can I Eat? — Tue, 05 Aug 2008 17:09:21 +0000

I’ve been getting some great comments from you lately and want to say Thanks so much for the input and for helping to finesse some of the information posted here.

As some of you pointed out, the lovely, dark BUCKWEAT honey has been very well-studied and has documented, proven antibacterial and antioxidant effects, and though many believe that similar effects can be applied to most honey, as with many foods where color is a key, darker is often better/stronger/faster, etc due to higher phenolics, organic acids, peptides, and the like. So if you love a dollop of clover honey in your tea don’t fret, but for a bad cough or nasty burn, try a spoonful of the heartier stuff.

Another commenter brought up that [if we're going to look at the environmental footprint of BEEF] the alternative to meat for many people, Soy, also produces ENORMOUS carbon dioxide emissions during processing (not to mention the MANY AWFUL NEUROTOXIC EFFECTS OF SHORT-FERMENTED SOY PRODUCTS SUCH AS SOY MILK, CHIPS, SOY CHEESE AND MORE).
For more information on Soy, see many of my earlier posts.

Good Point.

Processing almost anything has ecological consequences and the more something must be processed, the greater the toll in most cases. So again we must ask ourselves, “What the Hell can I EAT?!”

And I think this is a perfect place to stress an easy combination of things like:
1) Moderation. supplement your protein needs with some legumes like chick peas or Kidney beans, etc. As a meat eater (and I am), even I need to ask myself, “Do I really need to eat a steak that could choke a crocodile?
2) Think Local and Small. Huge commercial dairies and farms obviously leave a larger environmental “shadow” behind them, if you will, both in terms of volume and mass-processing practices.
3) Get Creative/Think Globally I often forget how many thousands of delicious and unique recipes there are using good fresh veggies and legumes and small amounts of meat, fish or chicken. Few nations besides the United States consume such enormous amounts of meat on a regular basis and many delightful tastes come from just touches of meat added to a dish with unusual and unexpected spices and ingredients. Thinks Curries, Stir Frys, Cassoulets, and soups.

Is Meat the biggest Eco-Fiend?

What the Hell Can I Eat? — Thu, 31 Jul 2008 17:04:51 +0000

Though I do enjoy my summer grilling I’m a strong advocate for humanely raised (and “processed”) livestock, allowed to live a free, outdoor life up until the very end. But there’s another point furiously entering the “To Meat, or Not to Meat” fracas and it’s one of global proportions: Is meat simply too costly to our planet for us to continue such mass consumption of it?

While much of the debate centers around the hideous practices of large-scale commercial farms, it seems that all livestock exacts a pretty heavy toll on our environment: One study last year by the National Institute of Livestock and Grassland Science in Japan estimated that 2.2 pounds of beef is responsible for the equivalent amount of carbon dioxide emitted by the average European car every 155 miles, and burns enough energy to light a 100-watt bulb for nearly 20 days.

Franken-sugar coming soon!

What the Hell Can I Eat? — Wed, 30 Jul 2008 16:21:46 +0000

So, you know that sweet stuff isn’t so healthy, but you figure “hey, at least I’ll stick to real sugar and not high fructose corn syrup if I’m gonna indulge”, right?

Guess what? Now there’s yet another thing to ask yourself: Do you know where your sugar came from???

The latest insult to our bodies comes from (oh surprise!), that clever devil Monsanto, which has somehow managed ($$$) to get the USDA to deregulate their genetically modified sugar beets.

*(Thanks for the tip Rebecca!)

Man, there really is NOTHING protecting us anymore, is there?

Read HERE

http://www.reuters.com/article/companyNews/idUSN2359954920080123

And HERE

http://www.foodnavigator-usa.com/news/ng.asp?n=82783-monsanto-gmo-sugar-beet-usda

Fast Food really does make you Fat Faster

What the Hell Can I Eat? — Fri, 25 Jul 2008 15:06:09 +0000

Does Fructose Make You Fatter?
High-fructose corn syrup, a thick, gloopy, man-made sweetener used in many processed foods ranging from sodas to baked goods, has dominated sugar as an ingredient in “convenience” foods in U.S. and is growing more ubiquitous due to the fact that it’s cheaper and sweeter than regular sugar.

Now, new research suggests that it can also make you fatter.

[Today's NYTs reported that] in a small study, Texas researchers showed that the body converts fructose to body fat with “surprising speed,’’ said Elizabeth Parks, associate professor of clinical nutrition at the University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center in Dallas.

The study, which appears in The Journal of Nutrition, shows how glucose and fructose, which are forms of sugar, are metabolized differently.

In humans, triglycerides, which are a type of fat in the blood, are mostly formed in the liver. Dr. Parks said the liver acts like “a traffic cop” who coordinates how the body uses dietary sugars. When the liver encounters glucose, it decides whether the body needs to store it, burn it for energy or turn it into triglycerides.

But when fructose enters the body, it bypasses the process and ends up being quickly converted to body fat.

Read the whole piece HERE:

http://well.blogs.nytimes.com/2008/07/24/does-fructose-make-you-fatter/?em&ex=1217131200&en=8138730285365927&ei=5087%0A

Read the STUDY HERE:

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/18492831?ordinalpos=1&itool=EntrezSystem2.PEntrez.Pubmed.Pubmed_ResultsPanel.Pubmed_RVDocSum

An Ancient cure-all proves it’s might

What the Hell Can I Eat? — Thu, 24 Jul 2008 19:40:47 +0000

For thousands of years, since Cleopatra and before, honey has been talked about as an ‘elixir’ of miraculous proportions.

It’s been said to settle coughs, aide digestion, treat burns, make skin glow and even help fight infections.

doe

A new product, called Medihoney, is said to kill resistant bacteria better than antibiotics.
Made from an absorbent material based on seaweed, and saturated with a variety of honey known as manuka, or Leptospermum, honey, the product is currently being used in hospitals, doctors’ offices and other medical settings in both North and South America. Similar products have been popular in Australia, New Zealand and Europe for more than 10 years.

The honey is produced by bees that have collected nectar from manuka and jelly bushes, which grow in Australia and New Zealand.

According to the New Jersey-based Derma Sciences, which manufactures Medihoney, it is “the first honey-based product cleared for use by Health Canada and also the first cleared for use by the FDA. These unique dressings contain Active Leptospermum Honey, indigenous to New Zealand (Manuka) and Australia (Jellybush). The dressings can be used in all phases of wound healing and could be considered a key dressing in any wound bed preparation protocol. These qualities can help to take much of the guesswork out of wound management.”

Manuka Honey Kills Resistant Superbug Bacteria that Antibiotics Can’t

Biochemist Peter Molan, who has researched natural antibiotics including honey for 25 years, has stated that manuka honey is effective at killing even the most antibiotic resistant bacteria even when it has been diluted to a tenth of its original concentration.

“There’s more evidence, clinical evidence, by far for honey in wound treatment than for any of the pharmaceutical products,” Molan has said. He recommends it in particular for people with weak immune systems.

“It’s been used on wounds where nothing else will work,”.

The honey-based dressings are effective at absorbing fluids and killing germs for up to a week, making them ideal in settings where it is difficult to change dressings regularly. They also reduce inflammation and foul wound odors better than traditional, pharmaceutical-based dressings.

Emergency physician Craig Lambrecht stated that he began using a manuka-honey based dressing to treat children with severe burns at a military clinic in Iraq last winter. The honey dressings soon became more popular with Iraqi families than conventional dressings because they were more natural and easier to use. In addition, Lambrecht found that the children treated with honey healed faster and experienced fewer complications than children treated with conventional dressings.

“I would use the Medihoney on burns on my children, as the first choice, without question,” Lambrecht has said.

For more infor, read here:
http://www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/48330.php

Also in the news:
Honey Better Than Cough Medicine For Soothing Kids’ Cough Symptoms

According to a new study conducted by researchers at the Penn State College of Medicine and published in the Archives of Pediatrics and Adolescent Medicine.

“Honey provided the greatest relief of symptoms compared with the other treatments,” lead researcher Ian Paul said.

Researchers studied 105 children between the ages of two and 18 who were having trouble sleeping due to cough. The participants were given either a small dose of buckwheat honey, honey-flavored dextromethorphan or no treatment at all a half-hour before bed.

Dextromethorphan is the primary cough-suppressant in most over-the-counter cough and cold medications.

Children who were given the honey had less frequent and severe nighttime coughing than either the children given dextromethorphan or those given no treatment at all. Honey appeared to induce a brief period of hyperactivity in the children, but even so both children and parents slept better after children were given honey compared with dextromethorphan or no treatment.

“The World Health Organization has cited honey as a potential therapy,” Paul said.

In contrast, the FDA recently advised against the use of over-the-counter cough and cold medications in children under the age of six, saying that such medications may cause dangerous side effects and have not been proven effective in that age group.

“With honey, parents now have a safe and effective alternative to use for children over age one who have cough and cold symptoms,” Paul said.

Paul warned that children under the age of one should not be given honey, as it may induce infant botulism in rare cases. He also noted that the experiment used dark honey, and it is not known if different varieties of honey would have the same effect.
HERE, a link to the Penn State press release:

Dreaming of that bouncing baby Boy?

What the Hell Can I Eat? — Mon, 21 Jul 2008 21:38:42 +0000

As if you needed one more reason to avoid PCBs! But here it is, from today’s NYT:

July 22, 2008
Vital Signs
Risks: High PCB Levels, Fewer Births of Boys

By NICHOLAS BAKALAR
Women exposed to high levels of polychlorinated biphenyls, or PCBs, are significantly less likely to give birth to boys, according to a new study.

PCBs, which have been associated with various negative health effects, have been banned in the United States since 1977, but they persist in meats, eggs, dairy products and fish. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention says everyone has detectable levels of the chemicals.

Researchers studied stored blood from 399 women who gave birth to single children from April 1964 to April 1967. After adjusting for age, race and other factors, they found that women in the 90th percentile for PCB blood levels were 33 percent less likely to have a boy than women in the 10th percentile.

The paper appeared online July 15 in Environmental Health.

“Most people’s levels of PCBs are considerably lower today than they were when these samples were taken,” said Irva Hertz-Picciotto, the lead author and a professor of epidemiology at the University of California, Davis. “The bigger significance of the paper is that compounds similar to PCBs are present in flame retardants used in many products today, and are increasing at a rapid rate.

“We should be concerned and looking at some of these similar chemicals,” Dr. Hertz-Picciotto added.

READ THE STUDY HERE
http://www.ehjournal.net/content/7/1/37/abstract

umm, WHAT?

What the Hell Can I Eat? — Tue, 15 Jul 2008 21:03:07 +0000

disgust.

FDA Is Urged to Ban Carbon-Monoxide-Treated Meat
By Rick Weiss
Washington Post Staff Writer
Monday, February 20, 2006; Page A01

Picture two steaks on a grocer’s shelf, each hermetically sealed in clear plastic wrap. One is bright pink, rimmed with a crescent of pearly white fat. The other is brown, its fat the color of a smoker’s teeth.

Which do you reach for?

The meat industry knows the answer, which is why it has quietly begun to spike meat packages with carbon monoxide.

From the Washingston Post

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/02/19/AR2006021901101.html

Buying the Farm (literally)

What the Hell Can I Eat? — Fri, 11 Jul 2008 15:23:29 +0000

In a trend that I wholeheartedly endorse and applaud, people are taking buying farm fresh one step further: they’re buying the farm!

In yesterday’s NYTs, an interesting piece about farm shares, (something that many raw milk drinkers have done for years with cows in order to get the product they want but can’t find in stores).

BELOW, FROM THE NYT

CAMPTON TOWNSHIP, Ill. — In an environmentally conscious tweak on the typical way of getting food to the table, growing numbers of people are skipping out on grocery stores and even farmers markets and instead going right to the source by buying shares of farms.

http://www.nytimes.com/2008/07/10/us/10farms.html?em&ex=1215921600&en=655d2d9570e156bb&ei=5087%0A

Wyeth wants to OWN your natural estrogen…

What the Hell Can I Eat? — Thu, 03 Jul 2008 14:34:24 +0000

Ok, technically not an “eat” topic but as you all know, I do expand to include other areas where our health and well-being are affected by government and greed.

The following newsletter is reprinted from Healthtips@healthiernews.com

Last month, I told you about House Concurrent Resolution 342, which calls for the FDA to reverse its new policy classifying estriol as an unapproved new drug (6/4/08 eTip, subject line: “Breaking news on your right to choose”). This resolution gets right to the heart of the matter, stating that “restricting women’s access to medications containing estriol does not serve the public interest.”
The interest it DOES serve is that of pharmaceutical giant Wyeth, which is responsible for setting los Federales’ misguided guard dogs loose on bio-identical hormone replacement therapy (BHRT). With the bad news that continues to be revealed about synthetic forms of HRT, more and more women are opting for safe, natural versions. Wyeth obviously has quite a lot to lose from BHRT’s rise in popularity. So it’s no surprise that it filed a “citizen’s petition” with the FDA, calling for a ban on estriol and other hormones involved in BHRT — clearing the way for its own patented (and profitable) versions.
Unfortunately, the FDA took action and cracked down on compounding pharmacies formulating BHRT. Today, access to this invaluable therapy is still in serious jeopardy. While House Concurrent Resolution 342 is a step in the right direction, it needs as much support as it can get, and the more citizens there are behind it, the better the chances of it being noticed — and passed — by los Federales.
The good news is, one organization has made it even easier for you to make your voice heard. The American Association for Health Freedom has taken this issue — and Wyeth — head on. Earlier this summer, it placed a full-page ad in Roll Call, the Congressional newspaper, with the headline “Shame on you, Wyeth.” The ad blows the whistle on the company’s self-serving role in the FDA’s restriction of estriol and BHRT. You see, while Wyeth is trying to have estriol removed from compounding pharmacies here in the U.S., at the same time, the company also has a European ad campaign touting estriol as “safe treatment for menopause symptoms.”
You can view the ad by visiting the American Association for Health Freedom’s website, www.healthfreedom.net. And while you’re there, check out the in-depth and disturbing look at the timeline of events leading to the current state of affairs. The website also features a frightening table outlining Wyeth’s financial ties to supposedly “unbiased” medical organizations and women’s groups.
But even more important than the inside scoop the American Association for Health Freedom website offers is the easy link you can use to send feedback supporting House Concurrent Resolution 342 directly to your Congressmen. Look for the “Take action” section of the homepage, and click on the “Strike while the iron is hot” link. From there, scroll down the page and click on the words “Now is the time to act.” Then, simply fill in the information at the right-hand side of the page and the American Association for Health Freedom will send a form letter supporting House Concurrent Resolution 342 directly to your Congressmen.
Once again, it’s imperative for you to make your voice heard right away (and continue to send frequent reminders), letting your representatives know that you support House Concurrent Resolution 342 and the freedom of health care choice that it represents—and that you expect them to do the same.