Eat more beef, save the planet.

Okay…that’s a very simplistic thought and grand start to this post but the idea is a solid one.  Eating beef IS good for you and the planet but only if the animals are raised right.

If you’ve watched Food, Inc. or read Michael Pollan’s Omnivore’s Dilemma you’ve seen the negative side of cheap meat.  Factory farms are taking nature and systematizing it in such a way that every aspect of the process is ultimately a negative to the planet.  The list of offenses, wrongs and horrors in factory farming is so long and depressing that it threatens to make me forget the point of this post which is the good that can come from raising animals in a positive way.

So the positives:
1.  Did you know that cow manure fertilizes the grass they eat and as the cows trample it into the soil they are reducing their carbon footprints by keeping the carbon in the ground and out of the air.  This makes the cows happy, I’m sure.  Since their biological waste is the fertilizer then no fertilizer is needed to be added to the soil, no fossil fuels burned transporting any unneeded fertilizer and no chemicals to worry about.  Cool.

2.  Grass-fed animals live in the sun.  This gives the end products that we eat from them…meat, eggs, milk…higher levels of vitamin D.  Vitamin D is needed for strong bones.  No need to add extra vitamins to the shopping list if you’re eating outside animals.  (Heat processing of milk will be a later post.)

3.   Grass-fed animals have an ideal ratio of Omega 3 to Omega 6 fatty acid profile.  When cows live on grains (at best) on factory farms their fat profile is for crap.  If you will remember from the nutrition clinics, Omega 3 Fatty Acids are anti-inflammatory and Omega 6 Fatty Acids are inflammatory.  They are needed in balance but our grain based diets have our systems completely unbalanced toward the inflammatory side in an unhealthy, at best, 10-1 ratio.

Everyone and their doctor are recommending that we supplement with fish oil to correct this problem; however, this creates a problem of its own.  We are over-fishing the very life savers that we need to correct our little grain habit and that is causing a rise in algae blooms and dead water in our oceans.  Skip the cheap junk meat and you can skip most of the supplements also.

4.  Rotational grazing leads to healthier animals, healthier land and a healthier planet.  Rotational grazing allows the land to not be over-grazed by moving the animals from section to section, staying always on grasses mid-cycle which causes the grass to grow more dense which makes more for the animals and around and around it goes.

This is a very simplistic start to a whole “benefits of being smart about what we eat and how we manage our planet” conversation.  There will be more posts in the future but check out the links in the paragraphs above in the mean time.  There are so many things wrong with our food supply and so many things right.

Educate thy self!

The Nutrition Seminar was a hit!  Excellent info floated around and I hope the thinking process was started in regards to the role food plays in our lives.  A huge highlight of the day was having Jason with Yonder Way Farm come in to speak about their farm, what they are doing differently than the factory farms and how that benefits us.  The question I got the most this past week when speaking about starting orders with Yonder Way was how do their prices compare to HEB.  Well, if you’re buying the “better” cuts of beef at HEB then you’re already paying more for your meat than the bottom of the line junk offered in the sales fliers.  Take it that next step (which isn’t much more in most instances) and get the really good stuff.  The stuff that you KNOW is quality.  Like Jason said on Saturday…”You are what you eat eats.” Perfect!

This Saturday (1-30-10) from 11 to 2 p.m. CFChampions will be hosting a Nutrition Seminar at Greater Houston Pool Management Office on Old Huffmeister.  Thanks to Eric and Michelle for the use of their facility again!  On a special note…Jason Kramer of Yonder Way Farm will be attending the seminar and filling in with his expertise on grain-fed, pastured animals and their health benefits as well as answering questions and taking orders for a Thursday (2/4) delivery!  CrossFit Champions and Yonder Way Farms will be working together to improve the health of our members and those their lives touch!   Don’t miss this opportunity to improve your health and change your life!

See ya!

If you train with us at CFChampions you soon could.  This past Friday I (along with Alyx and Mia) drove up to Brenham to visit Yonder Way Farm.  It was easy to find, a beautiful farm and a beautiful day.  It’s what you would expect in the land of Blue Bell ice cream and happy cows.  Yonder Way Farm doesn’t make that claim but their animals looked pretty happy doing what pigs and cows and chickens are supposed to do.  They were all out grazing or foraging or just plain enjoying the sunshine.  I could have pulled up a seat and just watched contentedly but I think the guilt of being the only person sitting around doing nothing would have gotten to me.  Every person on the farm was working!

Lynsey Kramer was who I contacted on Thursday about a visit on Friday and she was kind enough to work me into her busy day.  From the get go I felt like I’d known her a long while but maybe hadn’t seen her recently.  Heck, by the time the girls and I were leaving we were already to the hug good-bye stage.  She just makes you feel like you belong there.  I loved it!

Back to the farm and food side of it all…After reading Pollan’s Omnivore’s Dilemma and Cordain’s Paleo Diet and watching Food, Inc. I have been left with disgust at the food source options for not only our family but for our CFC family.  Over the past year I’ve searched for Texas raised grass-fed beef and have found sources that I’ve been happy with but none really close.  Yonder Way Farm’s website did pop up in the list and as they are only in Brenham I thought I’d make the time to drive out to actually see where the animals are eating and how they are treated during their time on this earth.  I’m a sceptic at heart and take claims on food labels with a healthy dose of salt so the seeing has become important.  Advertising and spin, in my opinion, make everything offered suspect and though their website makes no grandiose claims I still wanted to visit.  Life, of course, gets in the way and I’ve not made it out in a year.  After Food, Inc. came out on DVD and the last nutrition seminar there was renewed interest in the gym in food sources.  Nancy W. brought up Yonder Way Farm as an option, mentioning that Robb Exline of CF West Houston is working with them for his gym.  Okay.  That’s way too many times of hearing about/coming across the same place to ignore it anymore.  Time to get my rear in gear.  Last Friday was supposed to be beautiful with no rain in sight so…

Here we are full circle at the start with me contacting Lynsey.  While wandering the farm we tossed back and forth the idea of having her husband, Jason, come out to our nutrition seminar this weekend to answer questions, talk about what they do and see if we can get established as a regular delivery group for our surrounding area.  Just wait ’til you meet the Kramer’s!  This is extremely exciting and, hopefully, the beginning of a wonderful relationship!  Check out their website – Yonder Way Farm – for more info on who they are and their philosophy about farming and life.  The pictures are true to the subject.  No need to dress them up.  That’s really how the farm looks and the animals really are wandering about and its all really the opposite of what a factory farm looks like.  We look forward to seeing Jason on Saturday!

If you haven’t found Dr. Cordain’s website yet you might want to give it a good looksie.  ThePaleoDiet.com is a fantastic resource for all kinds of health and well-being news.  Its one of my favorite sites to visit and it helps keep me plugged into the point of what we promote.  Simpler eating is better, science does not fix all things and what nature provides trumps what man jacks with.  How’s that for insightful?!

On Cordain’s website you can sign up for a free weekly newsletter that is a veritable ocean of information that is neatly divided up into easy to digest sections.  Once a week you get a dose of why you should eat simply and cleanly.  I love it!

You obviously don’t have to take my word for it but it is definitely worth a bit of your time to investigate his site.

I finally found a moment to sit and catch up on my reading and had to laugh at an article in Time magazine’s January 11th edition – Brief History, Fad Diets.  The picture with the article caught my eye because all the food looked good and there wasn’t a bit of bread or a grain in sight.  Awesome!  The picture’s caption, though…”All this, and skinny too The popular Atkins plan allows dieters their fill of meat, dairy and vegetables–just no carbs“…was odd.   The article goes on to encapsulate the efforts of folks trying to control their girth and the popularity of being either skinny or plump (all this in a quarter of a page is pretty impressive.  You’ll hear this stuff quoted on the radio in the coming weeks, I’m sure.).  My laugh out loud moment came from what should be pretty darn obvious…what are vegetables if not carbs?  They don’t fall into the protein category and they sure aren’t in the fat category.  Maybe the article’s author doesn’t know a grain from a carb?  Maybe he, like lots of folks, assumes that all  carbs are from the grain family.  That still doesn’t put vegetables into a category.  Do they get their own category?  Is that confusion caused by the food guide pyramid/trapezoid/octagon or whatever shape they’re using this week?  Despite popular belief, grains are NOT a necessary part of your diet.  Never have been, never will be.  Every possible benefit that one could get from grains can and should be had from vegetables.  Atkins’ diet is healthy.  I, personally, have to avoid the dairy aspect of it mainly because the source of the dairy  out there is getting fed grains instead of, or in addition to, grass and that passes through to the milk and cheeses.

Most interesting about the page that the fad diet article is on, in my opinion, is the short book review and recommendation that shares the page which talks about a book called Crazy Like Us: The Globalization of the Amerrican Psyche by Ethan Watters.   The book looks at how America’s illnesses (as well as the Golden Arches) are being sent around the world and that it’s not a good thing.  Prior to GlaxoSmithKline heading to Japan, for example, to let the folks there know that they are depressed and in need of Paxil, the Japanese weren’t aware they had a problem.  Ultimately, I won’t be picking up a copy of the book as it sounds like another “America is the root of all evil” book and even the reviewer comments that the author’s indignation can get weary at times.  I’m not into America-bashing, so this little article is all I’ll read of the book, but the review’s placement next to the fad diet article struck me as interesting.  It might just be me that sees twisted humor in it.

Funny enough, the same can be said of food and grains.  It is documented repeatedly (and I’ll post an article or two in the coming weeks that covers and re-enforces this) that once Americans come and “help” people in other, less fortunate countries with flour and rice and beans their health begins to mimic the health, or lack there of, of Americans.   Talk about your Trojan horses.

And then I’m not happy with this blog.  Either the direction or content or layout or anything else that could be changed and that’s what will happen.  In January.

So its under destruction and then reconstruction.  The old posts will stay but the direction and structure in 2 weeks will be different.

One can only hope its for the better.

See ya!

The nutrition seminar was this past weekend and the topic came up, as always, of what to feed the kids.  Our answer is always the same…what you feed your kids is just as or even more important than what you eat.  Now you know that you have to lead from the front and they won’t do what you aren’t doing so expecting them to eat better than you is insanity so I won’t go into the importance of you eating clean but will give you information and maybe some questions to get you thinking about your kids food.

We concern ourselves with the quality of their education, the school they are going to, the safety of the buses, the classes, their fellow students.  We pay for tutoring when they fall behind or to help them have a leg up for grades or sports.  Phones, computers, T.V.s.  Helmets to go with bicycles, gear for football, elbow pads for skateboards, lessons for pools, hand and head gear for martial arts.  Protect their teeth and skulls and knees and elbows.  Our cars need airbags every where and anchored in car seats, seats to boost them so the shoulder straps fit.  From the day we bring them home from the hospital we utilize baby gates and cabinet locks and monitor their sleep in their safe baby beds.  These kids are padded from life and protected from harm in every way but one.

When it comes to what they eat, to what they are building their bodies with, we give them what is convenient for us and not necessarily what is best for them.  This isn’t with intent on our parts but it is what happens based on “conventional wisdom”, what our doctors guide us to, what parenting magazines sell and big agri-business marketers tell us is, at the minimum, okay to do.  It’s not okay.

What more and more studies are finding is that the imbalance in fats and the inclusion of modified foods to our food supply is negatively effecting our kids in so many ways that if we gave it premeditated thought we’d be sick at the thought of feeding our kids anything that would harm them.  Literally thinking about what goes into their mouths, what their bodies are built on and what we’re NOT feeding them takes some time and the effort to build the base of acceptible food sources but it is doable.   Just like what you and I need to eat, our kids need clean, basic foods with plenty of healthy fats.  I will be adding more and more articles to back this up but a lack of fat in the diets of our kids is leading to a giant problem with kids today in their emotional and cognitive development and bigger problems down the road for them in everything.  A start in that direction is this article discussing the food changes at a high school in Appleton, WI and the resultant behavioral and grade improvements that followed.

http://www.wanttoknow.info/050520schooldietchange

More information is better and you know what needs to and should be done.  Raise them up in the direction they should go.  You’re the parent.

Lana told us about Food, Inc. waaaayy back and forever ago.  She went to see it in the limited showing here in Houston.  All raves and great information.  It’s been a little while.

We didn’t make time at the time to see it and instead picked up the various books associated with it…The Omnivores Dilemma and In Defense of Food by Michael Pollan, and Food, Inc. the book.  The movie, while a fantastic and eye opening production, isn’t able to include everything that needs to be said.  What is is is a start for anyone who is interested in their health, health issues and what we are doing to contribute to our own problems.

With a step into politics here that will not be discussed in comments, the very same folks who make us sick, do not control the system but contribute to our populations ills, and accept dollars from the companies to keep us medicated are the ones now “fixing” the system from the back end.  The solutions to the majority of ills in this country are not found in  figurative band-aids (medications and insurance controls) applied after the fact but in fixing our food supply system at the front end.  Quality beats quantity over and over and over.  Less more expensive food is better than more cheap food.  Always.

If you haven’t seen Food, Inc you should.  Rent it, buy it, borrow it.  Yes, we made the kids watch it with us.  It’s that important.

Got my weekly dose of The Paleo Diet Update today and the paragraph about vitamin D deficiency jumped out big.  The info in the Paleo Diet is always an affirmation of what I believe and the info within is timely.  Always.

A conversation with a family member just this past Friday had her mention her low levels of vitamin D so that part of this article popped out to me and I wondered at the prevalence of bone problems within society that we are “fixing” on the back end with pharmaceutical prescriptions rather than on the front end with food prescriptions.

Another pop out thought was the mention of the use of oats to induce rickets in dogs almost 100 years ago!!  Check out the label on your dog’s food.  Nice, huh?

Maybe the genetic propensity we think we have in regards to various health results (family history of osteoporosis for example) is more a genetic inability to process various contaminants in the foods we eat.  I eat grains and have significant abdominal pain due to not being able to process them as well as break out with acne.  My eldest daughter is now showing similar problems with upset stomach and breaking out in a rash with prolonged consumption of grains.  The family member with low vitamin D levels is my mom which is the heads up to myself that the same issue is a large possibility for me.  The point of this is that we may have different results from the same cause.  The same issue is displayed in the different people, genetically linked people, with different results all from the same source.  None of us should be eating grains.

From Dr. Cordain’s The Paleo Diet Update:

Whole Grain Cereals and Vitamin D Metabolism

Nutritional scientists have known forever and a day that excessive consumption of whole grain cereals severely impairs vitamin D metabolism and can lead to the bone disease, rickets16. In fact, as far back as 1918, before vitamin D was discovered, a scientist in England by the name of Mellanby routinely induced experimental rickets in puppies by feeding them an oat diet17. Epidemiological studies of human populations consuming high levels of unleavened whole grain breads show vitamin D deficiency and rickets to be widespread 18-20. A study of radio-labeled vitamin D in humans consuming 60g of wheat bran daily for 30 days clearly demonstrated an enhanced elimination of vitamin D in the intestines21.