Keep Culture Alive!

We have evidence that we are at our planet's ecological tipping point.  Our consumer-based society has largely led us to this crisis.  The fossil fuel consumption that powers our consumer-based, mono-culture dominated, Monsanto-bullied agricultural system is clearly unsustainable, and each day we are becoming more uncertain as to how long we will have cheap fuel.  If environmental costs aren't enough to change our ways, what about human costs?  Do we participate in a system that engages in foreign conflict based on a desire to secure that country's energy resources?

What would a modern society that used much, much less fossil fuels look like?  Of course, it would be based on a local agricultural system.  We would end our reliance on our large-scale food system where our food travels, on average 1500 miles before it reaches us by way of refrigerated trucks.  We would return to subsisting off of the goods that can be produced in our local region.  To take this concept further, we would move away from our current unsustainable modes of food preservation.

Some may have given up hope on the establishment of a more sustainable way of life that can prevent the ecological collapse that looms around us.  But others, out of passion for sustainable-living principles, or out of a propensity toward survival, will be interested in learning the techniques that are necessary for not only short-term survival without fossil fuels, but methods of food cultivation and preservation that adequately nourish and sustain the body over time--a way of living and eating that provides for healthy peoples over generations.  

What would a food system look like that persists despite the decline of the fossil fuel supply?

It may not include the household refrigerator and freezer.  Energy intensive canning that drastically reduces the vitamin content of  foods may be replaced by drying food in low-tech solar dehydrators, or preservation by lactic-acid fermentation, a process where food is transformed by the action of beneficial microorganisms. This is not new technology, but ancient technology used by all of the cultures of humanity that maintained healthy populations over many generations.  Milk is preserved by transforming it to more stable products such as kefir, yogurt, cheese, and butter.  Meat from large animals is preserved by drying into jerky, allowing to age by hanging, or curing by way of sausage in its various forms.  Each home or small community would have small animals such as chickens, quail, or guinea fowl that would be harvested as needed.  Food would be fresh, systems would be small, and each person in society would have some food specialty to contribute to the household, or offer foods for sale or barter.

All cultures that have stood the test of time have had a way of preserving food that harnessed the ability of lactic acid bacteria to ferment food.  For Germans it was sauerkraut - sour greens or sauerruben - sour roots.  Koreans have kimchi.  Italians have prosciutto and salami, preserved meats with the help of lactic acid bacteria.

Not only do these preservation methods preserve food, but they provide increased nutrition, enzymes, beneficial bacteria, easier digestion, and enhanced flavor.

I have not gotten rid of my refrigerator yet, but enjoy making simple fermented foods like kombucha and lacto-fermented vegetables.  I have also made sourdough, kefir and yogurt.  Recently, I have been holding tele seminars for family, friends, and clients in order to share and exchange information and cooking techniques related to the incorporation of traditional foods in the diet.  

Tips for Using Nourishing Traditions

My well-loved copy

I'm going to let you in on some of my health secrets today.  Nourishing Traditions, by Sally Fallon is my nutrition bible.  It has been for about 10 years.  It is what inspired me to teach people about nutrition and to go to school to get my health coaching certification.  I have attended several of Sally Fallon's workshops and lectures, and met her a couple of times.  In person, she is lovely, sweet and mild mannered.  I draw most of my inspiration for the Traditional Foods Tele seminar Series from Nourishing Traditions.

I want to share some tips for using this phenomenally popular text:

1. 1f you have it but have merely skimmed it and kept it on the shelf, I encourage you to study it - especially the first 50 pages.  
2. Sally Fallon is the founding president of the Weston A. Price Organization.  A major goal of the organization is universal access to clean raw milk.  I agree that all people should have access to clean raw milk.  I also think people should have a right to grow and process their own food, right to clean air, and right to clean water. (I'm sure Sally Fallon would agree, especially since her other project is the Farm-to-Consumer Legal Defense Fund.)
3. That being said, you don't need to have access to raw milk to be able to follow the principles of a Traditional Foods diet, described by Weston A. Price, and Sally Fallon.
4. You do not need whey in order to soak grains or in order to prepare lacto-fermented vegetables.  This is a great thing to do if you are a cheese maker and have an abundance of whey to use up, but you do not need to obtain raw milk to carry out the principles of a traditional foods diet.  
5. This way of eating does not advocate eating huge amounts of animal protein.  It advocates using all parts of the animal, including the fat, bones, cartilage, organ meats, and some muscle meat, as traditional peoples did.  
6. If you have pre-existing health problems, you may not get well following a hodgepodge of the many recipes or principles outlined in Nourishing Traditions.  For example, if you have an abundance of Candida albicans, you may gravitate toward a lot of properly prepared dairy and grains, which may exacerbate your condition by feeding this yeast.  Most likely, one single food (even raw milk) is not the silver bullet to solving complex health conditions.  You will need to choose foods that help your specific condition, and most likely seek the help of a holistic health practitioner.   
7. You do not have to cook elaborate meals each day to stay on a traditional foods diet.  Just follow the main dietary guidelines.  Use saturated fats, buy the best quality free-range eggs you can afford, use Celtic sea salt, avoid commercially processed grains, soak grains overnight (in water with a splash of vinegar or lemon) before cooking, save your bones for bone broth, eat several types of fermented foods, eat organ meats, source grass-fed meat, eat plenty of vegetables, especially green ones.  You're going to need a source of vitamin K2 so incorporate raw egg yolks, raw organ meat,  raw grass-fed butter, natto or high-quality cod liver oil into your diet.  Or eat insects :) 
8. My Traditional Foods Teleseminar series is like a study group/support group for this way of eating. 

TF Breakfast Cookies: When Life Hands You Unsoaked Grains, Soak Them!

I've started a little side-activity of selling baked goods at the local farmer's market.  It works out great for me because it fuels my creativity for coming up with new healthy foods, or healthier versions of standard foods.  I start with a recipe that sounds like a good idea in terms of taste and nutrition, and then see if I can make it healthier.  Of course, I don't mean, how to make it low-fat or low calorie.  By healthier, I mean nutrient-dense and along the lines of "non-irriitating to the human body."  Non-irritating to the human body would mean - low in refined sugar, free of refined vegetable oils, and grains that are properly prepared.  Improperly prepared grains can lead to interference with your mineral absorption and gastrointestinal distress.  Essentially, the "healthiest" foods are those that would be included in a Traditional Foods (TF) Diet.  A traditional foods diet takes just a little more "ahead of time" prep work in the kitchen, but it pays off for your body in terms of how accessible nutrients are for your body.  You're not just what you eat, but what you absorb!  

Sweetened with Bananas and Traditional Foods-Friendly!
(13 large cookies if you double the recipe.)

No Time to Cook Breakfast?  Grab a Breakfast Cookie.  (These Babies are Gluten-Free.)

I've been looking for a crunchy way to enjoy oats for a while.  Granola and conventional oatmeal cookies are not the best for your digestion as the mostly raw grains have not been soaked first.  Soaking grains in something acidic helps to reduce enzyme inhibitors and phytic acid.  A quick internet search for pH of bananas puts them at about a 5 (acidic).  This recipe has no refined sugars, only sweetened with bananas and the added raisins and cranberries.  These cookies are crunchy on the outside but soft and oat-cake-like in the middle.  

Recipe: TF GF Breakfast Cookies

(adapted from recipe at Find Your Balance Health)

Makes:  12-15 small cookies

Ingredients:

1 1/2 cups rolled oats
 (gluten-free)
1/4 cup of oat flour (pulverize rolled oats in the food processor, does not have to be finely ground)

3 bananas (mashed)
1/8 cup chia seeds (optional)
1 teaspoon cinnamon
1/4 teaspoon ground ginger
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1/2 teaspoon Celtic sea salt

1/2 cup shredded coconut (unsweetened)
1/2 cup walnuts, chopped
 (extra points for crispy nuts)
1/4 cup raisins
1/4 cup dried cranberries
1/4 cup melted coconut oil
 (or butter)

Mix together rolled oats, oat flour, mashed bananas, vanilla, cinnamon, ginger, and chia seeds in a medium-sized glass or stainless steel mixing bowl. Cover with a towel and allow to sit overnight or for 8 hours at room temperature.

Preheat oven to 350F.

Add salt, coconut flakes, walnuts, coconut oil, raisins, and cranberries. Mix with your hands to combine well.

Using your hands form into cookies. Batch makes about 12-15 depending on size. Bake for about 20-25 minutes until lightly golden brown on top.

Walnuts and chia seeds pack omega-3 fatty acids!

I may experiment with adding more fat to this recipe, as that would make it more suitable to my metabolic type that does better with a diet emphasizing protein, fat, non-starchy vegetables, and minimal grains and fruit. Contact me if you would like to eat according to your metabolic type.

Enzymes! Nutrition Workhorses

Breakfast tacos with an enzyme-rich creamy chili-lime dressing

Last Monday I had the pleasure of holding my first tele seminar on Enzymes, as part of my new nutrition series on Traditional Foods.

A major difference in most modern diets versus those of our ancestors relates to enzyme content.

Why should we care that the standard American diet of canned, pasteurized, microwaved, or irradiated food contains few enzymes?

Enzymes are the nutrition workhorses responsible for carrying out every single one of our body processes and it turns out we are only given so many enzymes at birth. We do fine for a while, but after years of a diet low in enzymes - and subjecting our body to things like toxins, alcohol and stress - we run out. If we do not get enough enzymes from our food, our pancreas has to rob them from other glands, muscles, nerves, and blood to carry out digestion. This can lead to fatigue, premature aging and early death.

Advice from traditional foodists of the Weston A. Price Foundation suggest that 50% of our diet be raw or enzyme enhanced. Surprisingly, raw vegetables and fruits contain few enzymes.

Enzyme rich foods include:

EGGS: raw egg yolks (raw egg whites contain enzyme inhibitors)
FATS: extra-virgin olive oil (cloudy and with a grassy smell), raw butter
RAW FRUITS: Avocados, bananas, dates, figs, grapes, kiwi, mangos, papayas, and pineapple
SWEETENERS: Raw honey
DAIRY: Raw milk and raw cream
CULTURED DAIRY: Cultured butter, raw cheese, cultured cream, yogurt, kefir
SOY FOODS: Miso (unheated), natto
MEAT AND FISH: Rare and raw well-aged meat; lacto-fermented fish, such as gravlax
LACTO-FERMENTED CONDIMENTS: Sauerkraut, pickles, chutneys
LACTO-FERMENTED BEVERAGES: Old-fashioned ginger ale and root beer, kombucha, kvass, water kefir
GRAINS: Grains, nuts, legumes, and seeds are rich in enzymes, but contain enzyme inhibitors that put great strain on the digestive system unless acted upon by sprouting, soaking in warm acidic water, sour leavening, culturing and fermenting.
SPICES: Papaya pepper

Many of these foods are not readily available in our cafeterias, convenience stores, restaurants and common grocery stores. With a bit of work around our buying patterns and food preparation habits, we are able to supply our family with a diet rich in enzymes. Meals featuring traditional foods need not be elaborate, but can be made up of ready-made foods that we have cultured and prepared by setting aside a few minutes a day for enzyme-enhancing food preparation techniques. 


Join in for the Traditional Foods Tele Seminar Series to learn simple recipes and techniques to increase the enzyme content of your family's meals.