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Wild Meat Gaining Market Share

Saturday, March 10th, 2012

THOSE brought up on Beatrix Potter, the author of “Squirrel Nutkin” and other long-loved nursery tales, may flinch; but Andrew Thornton, manager of the Budgens supermarket in the north London suburb of Crouch End, says sales of squirrel meat have soared since he started selling it in 2010.

The bushy-tailed tree-dwellers are just one category in a burgeoning market. Osgrow, a British-based firm, exports bison, crocodile (“ideal for barbecues”) and kudu meat (“juicy and low-fat”) to customers in countries where controls on wild meat are tighter. One such market is Germany, where hygiene laws forbid the eating of “cat and doglike flesh”. The German environment ministry confirms that this includes squirrel; the country’s media mock English rat-eaters. Australia sent quantities of kangaroo meat to Russia until an import ban in 2009, ostensibly on hygiene grounds (it is now being reconsidered).

Importing meat such as grouse can get around America’s fiddly laws on game farming. Zebra and wildebeest are popular too. Squirrel meat, though, is already an established delicacy in Ozark country and Tennessee; eating species farmed for fur (such as beaver) is also allowed.

No legal obstacle exists to eating the king of beasts, but roars of opposition prevented a restaurant in Tucson, Arizona, from selling lion flesh in tacos. The practicalities are daunting, too. Dave Arnold, an American campaigner, recommends braising it at 54° centigrade for fully 24 hours. The muscle content is so tough that the meat bunches up when it hits the pan; “Hold it down,” he advises.

Born Free USA, a lion-loving charity, decries the trade as a “cruel promotional gimmick”. Viva, a British animal-welfare group, believes that the squirrel-eating vogue represents a “wildlife massacre”.

Yet massacres are not always wrong. The “Save Our Squirrels” campaign urges diners to gobble the North American grey squirrel. Introduced into Britain in 1870, it has largely driven out the indigenous red squirrel (such as the fictional Nutkin). This “eat them to beat them” approach already helps keep down the population of lion fish, a rapacious stripy sea-beast which devours protected fish stocks off America’s west coast.

Wild meat is not always tasty. Mr Arnold says black bear is “bloody and a bit metallic”. Nor is it always healthy. Doctors in Kentucky say eating squirrel brains is linked to Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease (better known as mad-cow disease). Squirrels are now mainly sold headless. Some think those who eat them need their heads examined, too.

Source: The Economist

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For The Love Of Lard

Monday, March 5th, 2012

In all the uproar over Paula Deen cashing in on her diabetes with a drug deal, one ingredient has gotten unfairly trashed. Countless headline and opinion writers have been throwing around the word lard as if it were a bad thing. But kitchen cognoscenti these days understand what cooks and bakers did a century ago B.C. (Before Crisco): The other white fat is infinitely better than the product manufactured and marketed to replace it.

Not only does lard produce superior pie crusts, crispier fried chicken, and crunchier cookies than vegetable shortenings like Crisco, which was introduced by Procter & Gamble in 1911, but its fat is mostly monounsaturated, like olive oil’s. Sourced properly (ideally from a farmers’ market), or made from scratch, lard is the ultimate natural food.

And whatever the butter-guzzling Deen was peddling, lard did nothing to earn such scorn. If anything is to blame for the diabetes epidemic, it would not be an ingredient that fell so out of favor that NPR’s Planet Money recently devoted an episode to “Who killed lard?” Last time I looked, fast food and soda contained no lard.

As it turns out, that recent report of its death was premature. Lard has gone through decades of shame thanks to heavy marketing of the unnatural alternative and also to what I call nutrition nuttiness—in the fat-fearing ’90s even olive oil came under siege. But now this time-proven ingredient is on the ascendancy in a nose-to-tail world, where every part of the heritage pig has value. More and more restaurants and bakeries are not just using lard but bragging about it, and more home cooks are coming around, too. In April they will even have a fresh cookbook to try: Lard: The Lost Art of Cooking with Your Grandmother’s Secret Ingredient from the editors of Grit magazine, has recipes for everything from predictable pie to potato chips and brownies.

Steven Gedra, chef and co-owner of Bistro Europa in Buffalo, actually serves house-rendered lard instead of butter with his bread basket. He learned to make it in Italy from the Tuscan celebrity butcher Dario Cecchini, seasoning it with lemon zest, red wine vinegar, salt, and black pepper, and dubbing it “burro del Chianti” after Cecchini’s version. Gedra admits, “We kind of force it on our clientele,” but adds: “It’s like with kids—they think they don’t like it and then they try it. You gotta educate ’em.” Gedra’s wife and co-owner, Ellen, has an easier job using lard in her bread and pie doughs. Like more and more restaurants, theirs brings in a pig every other week and makes the most of it, even selling the roasted head.

Paul Fehribach, executive chef and co-owner of Big Jones in Chicago, says he’s built a following for his flaky biscuits and pies made with lard. At first he was only rendering lard in-house “to be true in our whole-animal commitment,” he says, but now he has to buy extra to meet the demand. Asked how his diners deal, he shrugs: “I’ve been very outspoken about both the culinary and health benefits of lard in particular and whole-hog cooking in general, so I think our core client base has been relatively enthusiastic.”

Gwin Grimes, owner of Artisan Baking Co. in Fort Worth, Texas, also uses lard that she renders herself, and many customers now actually ask to be certain they’re getting pies with lard-based crusts rather than those made with butter or vegan shortening.

Nathan Sears, chef du cuisine of Vie in Chicago—and another proponent of whole-animal cookery—renders lard to cook vegetables with instead of butter, which, he notes, has more saturated fat. And at Americano in Cleveland, co-owner Cole Davis says the deep-fryer is filled with lard because “we believe it is the healthiest and most durable” fat for frites.

Lard is still saddled with a debased name (although when you add one extra letter it sounds more seductive—lardo is everywhere thanks to the salumi craze). No wonder some chefs say it sells better as “pork fat.”

But when I jokingly Tweeted “Lard: What is it good for?” the other day, the responses were surprisingly nearly all positive, with only one crack about grandparents cooking with it and living to tell the tale. Whoever is monitoring D’Artagnan’s account picked up on the music reference and responded: “Absolutely everything.” From food and nonfood followers came such raves as this one from Los Angeles restaurant critic Jonathan Gold: “Biscuits, pie crusts, tamales, French fries, confit, goulash, bizcochos, and dim sum.” Lori Ferro, of Cafe Aroma in Idyllwild, California, put it succinctly: “Lard beats Crisco any day, no matter what ‘The Help’ says,” alluding to a controversial scene in the movie in which one of the characters rhapsodizes about shortening for more than just frying chicken.

There’s lard and then there’s lard, though. What’s sold in supermarkets, often labeled with the Spanish name, manteca, is almost as bad as shortening was before the trans fats were eliminated, because it’s been processed in the same way—hydrogenated so that it will stay solid at room temperature and need no refrigeration. (Note: This is the kind used in Pillsbury roll-and-fill pie crusts.) The real deal can be found mostly at farmers’ markets or some butcher shops, especially by special order. As is the case with restaurants, butchers who specialize in whole animals are likely to have lard or at least fat to render for it.

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Olive Oil – You Might Not Be Getting What The Label Says

Wednesday, December 21st, 2011

Extra-virgin olive oil is a ubiquitous ingredient in Italian recipes, religious rituals and beauty products. But many of the bottles labeled “extra-virgin olive oil” on supermarket shelves have been adulterated and shouldn’t be classified as extra-virgin, says New Yorker contributor Tom Mueller.

Mueller’s new book, Extra Virginity: The Sublime and Scandalous World of Olive Oil, chronicles how resellers have added lower-priced, lower-grade oils and artificial coloring to extra-virgin olive oil, before passing the new adulterated substance along the supply chain. (One olive oil producer told Mueller that 50 percent of the olive oil sold in the United States is, in some ways, adulterated.)

The term “extra-virgin olive oil” means the olive oil has been made from crushed olives and is not refined in any way by chemical solvents or high heat.

“The legal definition simply says it has to pass certain chemical tests, and in a sensory way it has to taste and smell vaguely of fresh olives, because it’s a fruit, and have no faults,” he tells Fresh Air‘s Terry Gross. “But many of the extra-virgin olive oils on our shelves today in America don’t clear [the legal definition].”

Extra-virgin olive oil wasn’t created until stainless steel milling techniques were introduced in the 1960s and ’70s. The technology allowed people to make much more refined olive oil.

“In the past, the technology that had been used had been used really by the Romans,” says Mueller. “You grounded the olives with stone mills [and] you crushed them with presses.”

The introduction of stainless steel milling techniques has allowed manufacturers to make more complex and flavorful extra-virgin olive oils, he says. But the process is also incredibly expensive — it costs a lot to properly store and mill extra-virgin olive oil. Mueller says that’s why some people blend extra-virgin olive oil with lower-grade, lower-priced products.

“Naturally the honest people are getting terribly undercut,” he says. “There’s a huge unfair advantage in favor of the bad stuff. At the same time, consumers are being defrauded of the health and culinary benefits of great olive oil.”

Bad or rancid olive oil loses the antioxidant and anti-inflammatory properties of olive oil, says Mueller. “What [good olive oil] gets you from a health perspective is a cocktail of 200+ highly beneficial ingredients that explain why olive oil has been the heart of the Mediterranean diet,” he says. “Bad olives have free radicals and impurities, and then you’ve lost that wonderful cocktail … that you get from fresh fruit, from real extra-virgin olive oil.”

Interview Highlights

On why 4 out of 10 bottles that say Italian olive oil are not actually Italian olive oil

“A lot of those oils have been packed in Italy or have been transited through Italy just long enough to get the Italian flag on them. That’s not, strictly speaking, illegal — but I find it a legal fraud, if you will.”

On extra light olive oil

“Extra light is just as caloric as any other oil — 120 calories per tablespoon, but the average person looking at it might say, ‘Oh, well, I’ve heard olive oil is a fat, so I will try extra light olive oil.’ … It’s highly, highly refined. It has almost no flavor and no color. And it is, in fact, extra-light in the technical sense of being clear.”

On which oil to use while frying or sauteing

“From a health point of view, olive oil is wonderful [for frying]. From a taste point of view, there are times when at really, really high temperatures, an extra-virgin with really bitter flavors and pungency can become a little unbalanced. And the bitterness can become overbearing. And obviously, from an economic point of view, if you’re spending a lot of money for an extra-virgin, maybe high-heat cooking in some circumstances really isn’t the best thing. But for lower heat, every extra-virgin olive oil is good — it really depends on the dish you’re putting together.”

On using olive oil as a dressing for ice cream

“Get a bottle of really, really powerful, bitter and pungent oil, and pour it over some really good ice cream. And it is like an injection of liquid sunshine. It’s quite a treat.”

Source: NPR

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Most Honey Sold In Stores Isn’t “Honey”

Sunday, November 13th, 2011

More than three-fourths of the honey sold in U.S. grocery stores isn’t exactly what the bees produce, according to testing done exclusively for Food Safety News.

The results show that the pollen frequently has been filtered out of products labeled “honey.”

The removal of these microscopic particles from deep within a flower would make the nectar flunk the quality standards set by most of the world’s food safety agencies.

The food safety divisions of the World Health Organization, the European Commission and dozens of others also have ruled that without pollen there is no way to determine whether the honey came from legitimate and safe sources.

In the U.S., the Food and Drug Administration says that any product that’s been ultra-filtered and no longer contains pollen isn’t honey. However, the FDA isn’t checking honey sold here to see if it contains pollen.

Ultra filtering is a high-tech procedure where honey is heated, sometimes watered down and then forced at high pressure through extremely small filters to remove pollen, which is the only foolproof sign identifying the source of the honey. It is a spin-off of a technique refined by the Chinese, who have illegally dumped tons of their honey – some containing illegal antibiotics – on the U.S. market for years.

Food Safety News decided to test honey sold in various outlets after its earlier investigation found U.S. groceries flooded with Indian honey banned in Europe as unsafe because of contamination with antibiotics, heavy metal and a total lack of pollen which prevented tracking its origin.

Food Safety News purchased more than 60 jars, jugs and plastic bears of honey in 10 states and the District of Columbia.

The contents were analyzed for pollen by Vaughn Bryant, a professor at Texas A&M University and one of the nation’s premier melissopalynologists, or investigators of pollen in honey.

Bryant, who is director of the Palynology Research Laboratory, found that among the containers of honey provided by Food Safety News:

• 76 percent of samples bought at groceries had all the pollen removed, These were stores like TOP Food, Safeway, Giant Eagle, QFC, Kroger, Metro Market, Harris Teeter, A&P, Stop & Shop and King Soopers.

• 100 percent of the honey sampled from drugstores like Walgreens, Rite-Aid and CVS Pharmacy had no pollen.

• 77 percent of the honey sampled from big box stores like Costco, Sam’s Club, Walmart, Target and H-E-B had the pollen filtered out.

• 100 percent of the honey packaged in the small individual service portions from Smucker, McDonald’s and KFC had the pollen removed.

• Bryant found that every one of the samples Food Safety News bought at farmers markets, co-ops and “natural” stores like PCC and Trader Joe’s had the full, anticipated, amount of pollen.

And if you have to buy at major grocery chains, the analysis found that your odds are somewhat better of getting honey that wasn’t ultra-filtered if you buy brands labeled as organic. Out of seven samples tested, five (71 percent) were heavy with pollen. All of the organic honey was produced in Brazil, according to the labels.

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Maine Town Declares Food Sovereignty

Wednesday, March 23rd, 2011

The town of Sedgwick, Maine, population 1,012 (according to the 2000 census), has become the first town in the United States to pass a Food Sovereignty ordinance. In doing so, the town declared their right to produce and sell local foods of their choosing, without the oversight of State or federal regulation.

What does this mean? In the debate over raw milk, for example, the law opens the gate for consumer and producer to enter a purchasing agreement without interference from state or federal health regulators. According to the Mayo Clinic, a 1987 FDA regulation required that all milk be pasteurized to kill pathogens such as salmonella and E. coli. The Sedgwick ordinance declares that:

Producers or processors of local foods in the Town of Sedgwick are exempt from licensure and inspection provided that the transaction is only between the producer or processor and a patron when the food is sold for home consumption. This includes any producer or processor who sells his or her products at farmers’ markets or roadside stands; sells his or her products through farm-based sales directly to a patron; or delivers his or her products directly to patrons.

In short, the ordinance allows buyer and seller to enter their own agreement which overrides the regulation of government when dealing with transactions involving local foods.

This four page ordinance, which can be read in its entirety here, is revolutionary in that it relies on the consumer to educate themselves on the risk of consuming products (such as raw milks, cheeses, meats and vegetables), and shifts the power away from regulation, which prevents people from eating food of their choosing.

How does the ordinance accomplish this? It references three key documents:

The United States Constitution, which declares that the government derives its power from the consent of the governed (in this case, the governed want their raw milk and local meat!)
The Maine Constitution, and in particular Article I, § 2, which declares that all power of government is inherent in the people, who may alter, change or reform it if their happiness requires (again, raw milk = happy people!) and;
The Maine Revised Statutes and in particular §3001 of Title 30-A which grants municipalities the right to regulate health, safety, and welfare (which will sound familiar to urban planners) and §211 of Title 7 which states “it is the policy of the State to encourage food self-sufficiency for the State.”

Source: Grown in the City

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Ban On Free-Range Eggs Shutters Bed And Breakfast

Saturday, March 19th, 2011

Paul Offer gather eggs from his 75 hens twice a day, but he won't be able to serve them at his bed and breakfast any longer.

A Prince Edward Island bed and breakfast that has been operating for decades has decided to close down next year rather than stop serving eggs from its own hens because of a government order.

The Doctor’s Inn in Tyne Valley, northwest of Summerside, also operates an organic farm. Paul and Jean Offer sell their organic vegetables and free-range eggs at the Charlottetown Farmers Market, and offer the produce to customers at the Doctor’s Inn at breakfast and dinner time.

But after years of serving their own eggs, the provincial Department of Health has told them they have to stop. The department said it’s a long-standing policy that food service operations can only use federally inspected eggs.

The idea of having to buy eggs from the supermarket, rather than use their own from the 75 hens in the coop out back, was too much for the Offers. They will operate this season, and then close the business down.

“When the Department of Health came around and said, ‘No, you’re not allowed to use your own eggs, you have to use store bought ones, or inspected ones,’ we just turned around,” said Paul Offer.

“Jean and I are getting older, we just looked at one another and said, ‘OK, that’s it, we’re out of business.’”

Joe Bradley, manager of environmental health for the Department of Health, said the main issue with eggs that aren’t federally inspected is the risk of salmonella contamination.

“The problem is that there’s the potential for handling a contaminated product,” said Bradley.

“You contaminate your hands, and the hands aren’t washed. A food preparation surface may be contaminated.”

No crackdown

Bradley said the rule has been the same for close to 20 years, and there’s no crackdown.

But the Doctor’s Inn is not the only well-established business to recently learn of this rule. Six weeks ago, the By the River Bakery and Café in Hunter River was told it had to stop using free-range, uninspected eggs.

“Our work is always prevention,” said Bradley.

“Why take the chance when you have the ability to purchase a product from a government-approved source?”

Offer said he inspects all his eggs and believes they are safe. He and his wife Jean eat the eggs, and have never been sick. He has never had a complaint in many years of selling them at the Charlottetown Farmers Market.

And, in his opinion, they taste better too.

Source: CBC

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Eco-Farming Could Double Food Output Of Poor Countries

Wednesday, March 9th, 2011

Via: Pasture Land Co-op

A new study by the United Nations says sustainable farming practices could double food output of poor countries.

We have had several conversations at PastureLand, and on our Facebook page recently about how to feed the Earth’s growing population, and whether organic and sustainable farming methods are up to the task. University of Minnesota professor Bud Markart has a presentation called “Can organic feed the world?” and the short answer from his perspective is that meta studies (studies of studies) show that there is no data saying organic can feed the world on its own, but there is no data showing that it can’t.

Now, a new study and recommendation by the United Nations Right To Food report shows that diversification and sustainable farming methods can double food production on poor countries. Simple things like planting species that attract pests away from important crops, or planting certain trees near maize crops increased available nitrogen for the grain provide long term sustainable ways to increase food production in troubled areas.

The new term used by this study is “agroecology” and some of the techniques identified “could make farms more resilient to extreme weather conditions associated with climate change, including floods, droughts and a rise in sea levels that the report said was already making fresh water near some coasts too salty for use in irrigation.”

Recent projects in 20 African countries resulted in a doubling of crop yields within three to 10 years. Powerful information, especially when some of the most dire predictions for food crises say that “the world is only one poor harvest away from chaos.”

Read the text of the full study below, or click here to read the report from the Guardian UK. You can also download a pdf of the UN report summary at the bottom of this article. Let us know what you think.

Eco-farming could double food output of poor countries, says UN, from The Guardian UK.

A move by farmers in developing countries to ecological agriculture, away from chemical fertilisers and pesticides, could double food production within a decade, a UN report says.

Insect-trapping plants in Kenya and ducks eating weeds in Bangladesh’s rice paddies are among examples of recommendations for feeding the world’s 7 million people, which the UN says will become about 9 billion by 2050.

“Agriculture is at a crossroads,” says the study by Olivier de Schutter, the UN special reporter on the right to food, in a drive to depress record food prices and avoid the costly oil-dependent model of industrial farming.

So far, eco-farming projects in 57 nations demonstrated average crop yield gains of 80 per cent by tapping natural methods for enhancing soil and protecting against pests, it says.

Recent projects in 20 African countries resulted in a doubling of crop yields within three to 10 years. Those lessons could be widely mimicked elsewhere, it adds.

“Sound ecological farming can significantly boost production and in the long term be more effective than conventional farming,” De Schutter said of steps such as more use of natural compost or high-canopy trees to shade coffee groves.

It is also believed “agroecology” could make farms more resilient to extreme weather conditions associated with climate change, including floods, droughts and a rise in sea levels that the report said was already making fresh water near some coasts too salty for use in irrigation.

Benefits would be greatest in “regions where too few efforts have been put in to agriculture, particularly sub-Saharan Africa,” he said. “There are also a number of very promising experiences in parts of Latin America and parts of Asia.

“The cost of food production has been very closely following the cost of oil,” he said. Upheavals in Egypt and Tunisia have been partly linked to discontent at soaring food prices. Oil prices were around $115 a barrel on Tuesday.

“If food prices are not kept under control and populations are unable to feed themselves … we will increasingly have states being disrupted and failed states developing,” De Schutter said.

Examples of successful agroecology in Africa include the thousands of Kenyan farmers who planted insect-repelling desmodium or tick clover, used as animal fodder, within corn fields to keep damaging insects away and sowed small plots of napier grass nearby that excretes a sticky gum to trap pests.

The study also called for better research, training and use of local knowledge. “Farmer field schools” by rice growers in Indonesia, Vietnam and Bangladesh had led to cuts in insecticide use by between 35 and 92 percent, it said.

De Schutter also recommended a diversification in global farm output, from reliance on rice, wheat and maize.

Developed nations, however, would be unable to make a quick shift to agroecology because of what he called an “addiction” to an industrial, oil-based model of farming – but a global long-term effort to shift to agroecology was needed.

It cited Cuba as an example of how change was possible, as the collapse of the Soviet Union in 1991 led to supplies of cheap pesticides and fertilisers being cut off. Yields had risen after a downturn in the 1990s as farmers adopted more eco-friendly methods.

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In New Food Culture, a Young Generation of Farmers Emerges

Monday, March 7th, 2011

For years, Tyler Jones, a livestock farmer here, avoided telling his grandfather how disillusioned he had become with industrial farming.

After all, his grandfather had worked closely with Earl L. Butz, the former federal secretary of agriculture who was known for saying, “Get big or get out.”

But several weeks before his grandfather died, Mr. Jones broached the subject. His grandfather surprised him. “You have to fix what Earl and I messed up,” Mr. Jones said his grandfather told him.

Now, Mr. Jones, 30, and his wife, Alicia, 27, are among an emerging group of people in their 20s and 30s who have chosen farming as a career. Many shun industrial, mechanized farming and list punk rock, Karl Marx and the food journalist Michael Pollan as their influences. The Joneses say they and their peers are succeeding because of Oregon’s farmer-foodie culture, which demands grass-fed and pasture-raised meats.

“People want to connect more than they can at their grocery store,” Ms. Jones said. “We had a couple who came down from Portland and asked if they could collect their own eggs. We said, ‘O.K., sure.’ They want to trust their producer, because there’s so little trust in food these days.”

Garry Stephenson, coordinator of the Small Farms Program at Oregon State University, said he had not seen so much interest among young people in decades. “It’s kind of exciting,” Mr. Stephenson said. “They’re young, they’re energetic and idealist, and they’re willing to make the sacrifices.”

Though the number of young farmers is increasing, the average age of farmers nationwide continues to creep toward 60, according to the 2007 Census of Agriculture. That census, administered by the Department of Agriculture, found that farmers over 55 own more than half of the country’s farmland.

In response, the 2008 Farm Bill included a program for new farmers and ranchers. Last year, the department distributed $18 million to educate young growers across the country.

Tom Vilsack, the secretary of agriculture, said he hoped some beginning farmers would graduate to midsize and large farms as older farmers retired. “I think there needs to be more work in this area,” he said. “It’s great to invest $18 million to reach out to several thousand to get them interested, but the need here is pretty significant. We need to be even more creative than we’ve been to create strategies so that young people can access operations of all sizes.”

The problem, the young farmers say, is access to land and money to buy equipment. Many new to farming also struggle with the basics.

In Eugene, Ore., Kasey White and Jeff Broadie of Lonesome Whistle Farm are finishing their third season of cultivating heirloom beans with names like Calypso, Jacob’s Cattle and Dutch Ballet.

They have been lauded — and even consulted — by older farmers nearby for figuring out how to grow beans in a valley dominated by grass seed farmers.

But finding mentors has been difficult. There is a knowledge gap that has been referred to as “the lost generation” — people their parents’ age may farm but do not know how to grow food. The grandparent generation is no longer around to teach them.

So Ms. White and Mr. Broadie turned to YouTube for farming tips. They scoured the antiques section of Craigslist for small-scale farming equipment.

“When we started, we didn’t even know what we needed,” said Ms. White, 35. “We found out that a tractor built in the 1950s would drive over our beds and weed them.”

She said that they farmed because they felt like part of a broader movement, but that the farmer’s life was not always romantic. Last year, their garlic crop rotted in the ground. Mr. Broadie, 36, is unable to repay his student loans. They do not have health insurance, or know when they will be able to afford to buy land.

On a recent Saturday, Ms. White and Mr. Broadie moved to a farm owned by a couple that wants to support local agriculture. They hope it is their last stop.

That evening in Corvallis, the Joneses prepared for a party at Mary’s River Grange Hall with friends.

Among them, Jenni and Scott Timms, both 28, had quit their engineering jobs in Houston the month before. They would like to own their own farm someday.

“We see people like Tyler and Alicia doing it, and we thought, ‘If they can do it, so can we,’ ” Mr. Timms said.

The Timmses had arrived at the Joneses’ 106-acre farm the day before and were staying in a run-down Victorian house on the property. As they waited for their hosts, they sipped a microbrew in a kitchen overlooking wooded farmland. They said they were drawn by the state’s beauty and its 120 farmers’ markets.

And it seemed that other beginning farmers in Oregon shared their values. At the Grange hall later that evening, the gravel lot was lined with Subarus with bumper stickers that read “Buy locally,” “Who’s Your Farmer?” and “Let’s Get Dirty.” One farmer arrived by bicycle.

Inside, women in woolen sweaters and hats danced to the music of a bluegrass band. There was no formal speech, just the Grange master’s yell that food was ready.

The Grange master, Hank Keogh, is a 26-year-old who, with his multiple piercings and severe sideburns, looks more indie rock star than seed farmer. Mr. Keogh took over the Grange two years ago.

He increased membership by signing up dozens of young farmers and others in the region. He had the floorboards refinished, introduced weekly yoga classes and reduced the average age of Grange members to 35 from 65.

The young farmers crowded around a table brimming with food they had produced — delicata squash, beet salad, potato leek soup and sparkling mead. On a separate table were two pony kegs of India pale ale.

It was the first time the Joneses had been to the Grange, and Ms. Jones said they would probably join. She had already told the mead makers that she would connect them with Portland restaurants that wanted local honey.

“Literally, four years ago, this was not happening,” Ms. Jones said, gesturing to the 30 farmers who congregated at the hall. “Now, everywhere you turn, someone’s a farmer.”

Source: New York Times

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Hippocrates Prescription: Eat Low-Carb

Thursday, March 3rd, 2011

Dr. Robert Atkins is credited (or blamed) for creating the low-carb diet. But Dr. Atkins was not the first to advocate a high-fat, high-protein, low-carb diet for losing weight.

The father of medicine was also the father of low-carb. Hippocrates of Kos, the most famous and honored doctor of all time, known as the “Father of Medicine” was the first to advocate a low-carb diet for losing weight.

Who Was Hippocrates?
Hippocrates was born in the middle of the fifth century before Christ. He revolutionized the practice of medicine in ancient Greece. At that time, there was a conflict in Greek medicine. There was a division between those doctors who relied on aggressive, dangerous treatments like drugs and surgery (yes, the ancient Greeks used both), and those who saw illness as a punishment from the gods and advocated religious means for healing. Hippocrates created a new path for healing.

Hippocrates studied his patients by observing them, taking careful notes, and using his experience to diagnose their conditions. His approach was centered on strengthening the patient through food, exercise, and rest, so the patient’s body could heal itself. Some other techniques used to strengthen the body included massage, inhaling various fragrances, soft music, relaxation, even gentle conversation designed to help calm the patient, and other similar techniques.

Hippocrates taught that it was more important to know the patient’s body and how to strengthen it, than to know the disease the patient had. Hippocrates taught that the body had the power to heal any illness, if the natural processes were properly supported.

The Hippocratic way of healing always started with diet and exercise. Only if those did not work was medication used. The use of medication was stopped when the patient was well enough to respond to diet and exercise. Surgery was the last resort. The doctor was instructed that every patient was a unique individual, and treatment had to be designed for each particular patient. This was the total opposite of today’s “same treatment for the same disease for everybody” approach.

Hippocrates taught that the patient should be treated with kindness, respect, love, and understanding, and knew that a person’s mental attitude had a great deal to do with the healing process.

Hippocrates believed that aggressive medical treatment could do great harm to the patient, and said that the most important rule for the physician was, “First, do no harm.”

Why Was Hippocrates Considered the Greatest Doctor of All Time?
Hippocrates was considered the greatest doctor of all time, because he was so successful in treating illness. While he did not cure everybody, he cured so many that he became recognized as the greatest and most successful doctor of antiquity, perhaps of all time.

Hippocrates became particularly famous when he was credited with stopping the great plague that hit Athens during the Peloponnesian War. Athens was under siege, with large numbers of people and animals crowded together. All food had to be brought in by sea, and there was a shortage of fresh food. A terrible plague broke out, killing thousands. The drugs and treatments of the conventional doctors proved useless, as did trying to appease the Greek gods. Hippocrates and his followers came to Athens to try to cure the plague, as it was feared that this terrible disease would wipe out Athens and threaten the very survival of the rest of Greece.

Diet and exercise would not work here, as the victims of the plague were too sick to keep food down, or to exercise. Hippocrates carefully observed the situation. He noticed that the only group of people not affected by the plague were the blacksmiths and their workers. Hippocrates noted that the blacksmiths spent a great deal of time around burning fires, and often drank warm water that had been brought to a boil, since they were always around hot fires. Hippocrates gave these instructions to the people of Athens:

They were to light large fires in every home, and keep them burning.
All corpses were to be burned completely.
All water was to be boiled before drinking.
The people of Athens followed his prescription, and the plague soon ended.

I should mention that modern doctors and historians call this a legend, refusing to believe that an ancient physician could cure the plague. After all, he had no modern drugs or antibiotics. Any end to the plague must have been a coincidence that had nothing to do with Hippocrates. But the people who were actually there gave credit to Hippocrates, and considered him the greatest doctor in the world.

How to Lose Weight—“Let the Foods Be Rich”
Hippocrates lived in a time when many people were fat, and wanted to lose weight. He said: “People who wish to become thin should let the foods be rich.”

Hippocrates believed that a diet consisting of rich foods would satisfy the appetite, giving the body what it needed so the patient would not eat too much. “Rich food” in his day meant the fat from grassfed animals and pigs, fatty cheeses, and fatty meats. By limiting his patients to the rich foods, he was putting them on a low-carb diet, a diet that was very similar to the one advocated by Dr. Atkins, 2500 years later!

Hippocrates also cautioned doctors to avoid a “one size fits all” approach to weight loss. He stated that each patient had a natural weight that was ideal for that person. The goal was to reach the degree of thinness that the patient’s body would support, and maintain naturally with a good diet.

By advocating that each patient reach the level of thinness that was right for them, Hippocrates rejected the idea that every person must reach the same degree of thinness. The modern idea of identical thinness for everyone has caused so much pain and misery, causing the horrible cycle of drastic weight loss followed by drastic weight gain that is so common today. This horrible cycle is repeated by person after person, resulting in huge profits for the diet industry.

It should be noted that Hippocrates prescribed various diets to help sick people. Sometimes he would prescribe a diet that contained carbs, and sometimes he would put a patient on an all-barley diet for a short period, but not for weight loss. As always, he customized his treatment to the individual patient.

Hippocrates Said
Some of the quotes from Hippocrates really show his philosophy, and are completely consistent with the alternative doctors of today:

“Let food be thy medicine, thy medicine shall be thy food.”

“Leave your drugs in the chemist’s pot, if you can cure the patient with food.”

“Walking is man’s best medicine.”

The Hippocratic Oath
Hippocrates is famous for establishing a code of ethics for the medical profession, which was embodied in an oath he wrote for all physicians to take.

There was a time when all Western doctors took the oath, though many did not honor it. The modern version of the Hippocratic Oath does not even resemble the oath written by Hippocrates, and is completely different.

To me, the most important part of the original Hippocratic Oath is stated in this paragraph:

“I will use those dietary regimens which will benefit my patients according to my greatest ability, and judgment, and I will do no harm or injustice to them.”

In other words, doctors used to take an oath to heal with diet! Not drugs, radiation, or surgery, but diet.

Hippocrates and the Research of Dr. Weston A. Price
The healing approach of Hippocrates, based on a healthy diet that supports the natural functioning of the body, is completely consistent with the findings of Dr. Weston A. Price.

Dr. Weston A. Price studied a number of healthy peoples who ate the diet of their ancestors. All of these peoples followed the Hippocratic method of using diet to support the natural functions of their bodies. All of these peoples were completely free of the chronic diseases that plague the modern world. All of these peoples ate a diet that was much higher in animal and fish fat, and much lower in carbs than modern diets. And all of these peoples were in great physical shape, with obesity being unknown.

Dr. Robert Atkins, the founder of the modern low-carb diet, had been demonized, vilified, and heavily criticized. His critics constantly claimed that his findings had no support in science or history. They were wrong, as the greatest physician of all time, Hippocrates of Kos, also prescribed a low-carb diet for losing weight, using very much the same approach as Dr. Atkins.

Source: Tender Grassfed Meat

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Whole Grains And Vegetarianism: The Myths

Wednesday, February 9th, 2011

Let’s start with grains. From a blood sugar perspective grains will cause an insulin reaction, so I recommend that people pay attention to how much they have, measure the grams of carbs, and learn what a serving size is, or just limit them. I’m going to assume that you know that refined grains are a complete waste of time. But the myth is that we have to eat grains, and that we think we can digest them. Let me explain.

Grains, nuts and seeds, just like soy, contain a number of “anti-nutrients” that need to be dealt before they become digestible. Think about a bird eating a seed — the seed is designed to survive the digestive track of the bird, so that it can live to sprout another day. Those protections are also present when you eat those grains, nuts and seeds. Just like soy (and legumes and seeds in general), all grains contain phytic acid in the hull of the seeds, and phytic acid combines with calcium, iron, magnesium, copper, and especially zinc, preventing their absorption in the digestive tract. Other anti-nutrients include enzyme inhibitors (inhibiting trypsin and chymotrypsin) which puts stress on the pancreas and inhibits digestion. There are also tannins which can irritate the system, along with gluten and other related difficult-to-digest proteins that can cause digestive problems, and lead to over 40 different diseases. We had a patient with multiple sclerosis reduce her symptoms to zero by finding out she had Celiac disease.

Anti-nutrients are there to protect the seed — they prevent sprouting until the time is right. What we forget is that animals that nourish themselves on plants and grains have longer, slower digestive tracts, with some having multiple stomachs for digestion. Those plants, grains and seeds want moisture, warmth, time and slight acidity to sprout, and imitating that is what will allow you to eat grains and legumes (soy excluded), extract the nutrients from them, and not have them cause short and long-term damage. All traditional cultures eating grains either fermented or soaked them. So what should you do to your rice, granola, oats, beans, and your wheat for homemade bread?

Soak your legumes, grains and seeds overnight in water with a little whey or other acid-like lemon. Make sure you don’t eat them raw — cook your grains, even just a little, to reduce the anti-nutrients. Heat alone will not negate these compounds (although the very high heat used to extrude grains to make cereals will damage the nutrients completely and make the proteins into poisonous compounds) but some heat has to be used. Add a little whey, vinegar, lemon juice, kefir or yogurt to provide the acidity to activate phytases and break down some of the anti-nutrients. For great suggestions on this, read “Nourishing Traditions” by Sally Fallon Morel, who provides recipes and explains why the traditional methods of preparation prevented many of the nutritional problems we see today.

Another “myth” about food is that being vegetarian is healthier. I am not, in any way, against vegetarianism from a philosophical point of view — my only qualm with it is that many, if not most, vegetarians, and to a greater extent, vegans, are damaging their health due to a lack of knowledge about nutrition.

Take the grains I just wrote about — vegetarians tend to be the worst offenders in terms of carbohydrate intake. The staple of many vegetarian diets is, in all honesty, not vegetables, but rather foods like pastas, beans, breads, and grains. If someone is trying to be “healthy,” those might be whole grains, but for most people, it’s a mix at best. I see insulin-resistant vegetarians all the time in my practice, and they got there because their thoughts are that if they’re eating whole grains, it must be OK. Did you know that a serving size of rice is one-third of a cup? cooked? Do you know anyone who is eating that small of a serving? I don’t. Nor are those grains, nuts and seeds being properly prepared to prevent the problems mentioned above.

Soy is another minefield. People, and vegetarians in particular, have been told that eating soy is healthy, and it cannot be said more emphatically that it is not. As one of the most genetically modified foods grown, soy for that reason alone should be avoided – indigestibility, phytoestrogens, and link to hypothyroidism are just a few of the many reasons that it should not be a staple in anyone’s diet (fermented soy excepted). My article in AT’s January 2011 edition titled, “Food Myths: Bamboozled by the Soy Hype” discusses the drawbacks of soy in detail.

Another big myth is that vegetarians can get all their nutrients from plant products. Fat-soluble vitamin A is a good example. Assuming someone has all the enzymes necessary in the correct amounts to cause a conversion from beta-carotene to vitamin A (a certain percentage always will not), one would have to eat two cups of cooked kale, two cups of carrots, or one cup of sweet potatoes per day versus the one serving per week of liver, or the half teaspoon of cod liver oil that provides the same amount. The conversion rate is not 1:1 but, depending on an individual, anywhere between 2.4 and 20.2, which explains why a study involving pregnant Indonesian women who were fed enough carotenes for three times the recommended amount of vitamin A (according to WHO), had a large amount of them suffering from vitamin A deficiency.

Vitamin D, associated with sunshine and cod liver oil, has been shown again and again to protect against cancer, prevent autoimmune diseases, increase bone density — the list goes on and on. Vitamin D3 (cholecalciferol) is the form most effective for humans, although a vegetarian form of vitamin D2 has been found in mushrooms exposed to UV light. Vitamin D2, however, appears to be five to 10 times less effective at supporting good nutritional status, and had been linked to abnormal calcification of the kidneys and arteries. That’s the form added to soy and rice milk.

Vitamin B12 is often very deficient in vegetarians and while the end result of B12 deficiency is pernicious anemia and irreversible nervous system damage, other conditions manifest earlier, most often neurological problems like numbness, pins-and-needles sensations, memory loss, irrational anger, and psychological conditions like dementia, depression and OCD. President Kennedy was quoted as saying that he never would have become president without vitamin B12 injections to deal with many of his illnesses.

Vegetarian references often state that one can get adequate vitamin B12 from plant sources, but that’s incorrect — sources like spirulina and seaweed contain analogs of B12 (called cobamides) that actually block the B12 receptors and prevents absorption of the real B12. High intake of folic acid (from green leafy vegetables) can also mask B12 deficiency and it’s for that reason that it’s best to take B12 and folic acid together. The food sources of B12 are almost exclusively in the animal products of shellfish, liver (these are the best sources), meat, fish, milk and eggs. Unfortunately, eggs also contain a substance that blocks vitamin B12 absorption, leaving only milk as a good source of B12 for vegetarians (although pasteurization deforms the milk proteins that aid in absorption). And vitamin B12 deficiency is rampant — as early as 1974, it was found that 92 percent of vegans, 64 percent of lactovegetarians, 47 percent of lacto-ovo vegetarians, and 20 percent of semi-vegetarians had blood levels below normal (meaning, below the low range that marks pernicious anemia).

Some others that shouldn’t be ignored: vitamin B6 in plant form is ineffective without B2, which is found in animal products, essential fatty acids from plant forms are more vulnerable to oxidation and increase omega-6 inflammation, vitamin K2, which only comes from animal products and natto, amino acids like carnitine, taurine, glycine, creatine, zinc — the list is long.

There is not enough space to write about other potential deficiencies.

It might be best said in the words of one of my patients, “I completely agree with the philosophy of being vegetarian; it’s just that I’m unwilling to sacrifice my health over it.” It’s with that thought that, if you wanted to find a middle ground, it would be great to incorporate eggs, and butter, and full-fat cheeses. Adding seafood would be huge. You just want to make sure of a couple of things: that your food is organic and nutrient-dense, that it’s local if you can get it (for example, vitamin C in broccoli is lost in seven days, so it might not have much if it’s been shipped), that it’s non-GMO, that your meat is also nutrient-dense, meaning it’s grass-fed, pasture-raised or wild-farmed. There is definitely a way to eat responsibly and attain optimal health in order to prevent the scourge of health issues from the typical American diet. It’s just a matter of educating yourself and your patients.

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