Click here to view the embedded video.

Think about it.  You are free to drink alcohol until you can’t walk and, though it is illegal, drive home incapacitated.  No one is raiding Budweiser or harassing Jim Beam out of business.  People binge drink with no repercussions to the alcohol community.  We look at those who kill others while drunk and state that the individual is responsible for their actions, not the alcohol.

Yet individual responsibility is not considered in the government’s argument against raw milk.  It is the small dairy farmer who is to blame.

Have I taken a leap here in logic?  Yep.  Alcohol is known to impair individual’s abilities and potentially cause death to the drinker or those around them.

Here’s less of a leap. Foods that are supposed to be ‘safe’ but make us ill any way are out there in the food chain, supported by the government with companies in business without harassment.  Recalls of commercial food products in 2010 thus far (and not including the egg recall) are listed here on the USDA’s Food Safety and Inspection Service website: RECALLS

MSNBC reported on salmonella in a flavor enhancer, hydrolyzed vegetable protein.

Marie Callender’s frozen dinners, Spaghetti-O’s, freshway lettuce, Walmart Alfalfa Sprouts,  etc. all recalled and most of these for salmonella or E.coli according to this article in the Huffington Post.

Food for human consumption is not the only area having a tough time not killing their consumers this year.  Pet food recalls abound as well:  News article, pet food recalls

These food producers are still in business.  These business owners are not having their personal property gone through, computers and paperwork seized, children’s computers taken as evidence.

Let’s hit this argument about abuse of governmental power and misguided public safety concerns from another direction…police officers are being used to raid these “illegal” businesses (dairy farms) and their highly dangerous contraband when there are real problems out there to deal with:

Cocaine, crack, methamphetamine, heroin, LSD, ecstasy, etc.
Prescription drugs doled out legally and abused.
Tobacco and the aforementioned alcohol

If our safety is really the reason for the farm raids and disproportionate energy spent by the government against raw dairy farmers then that same energy should be spent in efforts shutting down all possible things, foods, individuals who could/would do us harm.  These people are not interested in saving us.  What’s going on in this country?

It is a wonderful thing that food is so cheap.  It is a horrible thing that food is so cheap.  Excess weight has to be supported via food intake.  If you spend more money on the quality food with its higher cost of production coming from its better, more time-consuming productions you end up with much more nutrient dense food sources which means eating LESS food.  This means that, yes, the price per bite of food goes up but fewer bites are needed because each bite is much, much more nutrient dense.

For a visual of what you are eating with your egg dollars, check out this short piece from the NYTimes.  A Hen’s Space to Roost and by the numbers of the chickens and their product.

Educate yourself.

Why Does Our Government Hate Raw Milk?

On the note of paleo food choices being better for you…a paleo approved video.  Funny.

Statistics from the NY Times 2009 Almanac [2006 Statistics.] This information was obtained from Get Fit Through Gardening

Rank Causes of death                                                                                     All persons

1. Diseases of heart                                                                                              629,191
2. Malignant neoplasms (cancer)                                                                  560,102
3. Cerebrovascular diseases (stroke)                                                           137,265
4. Chronic lower respiratory diseases                                                          124,614
5. Unintentional injuries (Accidents)                                                            117,748
6. Alzheimer’s disease                                                                                           72,507
7. Diabetes Mellitus                                                                                               72,507
8. Influenza and pneumonia                                                                              56,247
9. Nephritis, nephrotic syndrome, and nephrosis (Kidney Disease)44,791
10. Septicemia, Sepsis (blood poisoning)                                                     34,031
11. Suicide                                                                                                                  32,185
12 Chronic Liver Disease                                                                                     27,299
13 HTN and hypertension                                                                                    23,985
14 Parkinson’s Disease                                                                                           19,660
15 Homicide                                                                                                               18,029
16 All Other Causes                                                                                              455,333
Total:                                                                                                                      2,425,901

Again, I am NOT making light of folks getting sick from drinking raw milk but I am saying that given how much more dangerous the rest of life is I think that the worry and concern from the governor may be a touch out of touch.

The first article, Save the Planet: Eat More Beef, discusses the planet saving impact of eating grass-fed beef.  Anyone who has been following any kind of paleo eating program already knows this.  If you’ve watched Food, Inc. you’ve seen this (one-sided) debate unfold on screen.  Raising livestock on what they are designed to eat is good for them, the earth and for us.  For all of the efficiency of the factory farms, they are horrible for everyone but the company owners.  Pick up a copy of  The Omnivore’s Dilemma and read about, among other very interesting and stomach churning things, the concept of rotational grazing and its benefits to the land, the animals and those of us up the food chain who eat the animals who ate that grass.  Grass fed animals produce LESS gas because they are eating what they are designed to eat and the entire process of rotational grazing captures carbon from the air and puts it into a useful format in the ground.  HUH!  Not only is rotational grazing better for the environment in that there is the reduction of gasses and the capture of gasses but the fat profile of grass fed beef in particular is better for you.  Grains are inflammatory as they are high in Omega-6 fatty acids.  And if the cow is eating foods that irritate its system and is inflammatory by its very nature then those negative and inflammatory properties carry over into its tissues.  Grain-fed beef anyone?  Cows that eat grass, live out in the sun (increased vitamin D) and do their beneficial part in improving our planet also have a positive Omega-3 fat profile that is anti-inflammatory and good for us.  Those are wins all around!

Photo courtesy of Yonder Way Farm and their actual cows eating actual grass out in the sun.  Lucky cows!

The second article, The Trouble With Fish Oil,  talked about our increase in consumption of fish oil, needed as a source of Omega 3 fatty acids, effecting the balance of the ocean’s fish population.  To compensate for our inflammatory grain based diets we need to consume ever increasing amounts of fish oils.  Previously we were tapping larger fish higher up the food chain for this benefit (salmon especially) but we’ve begun to look closer t0 the beginning, at the smaller feeder fish to get the healthy oils and, hopefully, avoid the mercury found in the bigger fish.  While we are avoiding the mercury we are now in competition with every fish population up the line that also feeds on these small fish.  To the victor goes the spoils, right?  We are causing imbalances in the eco-system with our meddling. Anyone notice how the wild fish that we can’t mess with have healthy, positive Omega-6 fat profiles where the farm-raised fish that we pull out of their natural environment (and feed grains!) have unhealthy, negative Omega-3 fat profiles?  It should make you think.

See where I’m going with this?  If we are treating our food animals better via letting them actually graze as they were designed to on healthy grasses out in the sun then they are becoming healthy sources of good fats, vitamins and protein.  If we are getting good fats from the beef that we consume then we do not need as much or any additional fish oil for healthy fat which puts systems back in place.  If our government really had our health on the top of their list of concerns they would do something about factory farms.  That’s a big giant if.  And crazy talk.  Our government is not in the business of actually helping the populace.  It is up to each of us to be our own caregiver and do our part.  Educate yourself, eat healthy and support your local grass-fed farmer.

The farmer’s market hours are Friday and Saturday from 9 a.m. to 1 p.m.

This week’s selection will include…

Strawberry
Bok Choy
Broccoli
Collards
Brussel Sprouts
Cabbage
Cauliflower
Diakon
Eggs
Green Onion
Kale
Leak
Lettuce
Mustard Greens
Potatoes
Radish
Spinach
Turnips
Tomato

A link to their website with location and map can be had here:  Matt Family Orchard

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!

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!

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.

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.