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    • A Guinness on St. Patrick’s Day

    Posted on March 17th, 2010 | 2 Comments »

    Happy St. Patrick’s Day…lovely day for a Guinness, isn’t it?

    Is a Guinness “real food?” People do claim that it is a full meal in a glass. It’s fermented, although I’ve yet to hear of raw Guinness (could be interesting though, right?). It’s made with real ingredients. However, today’s Guinness is put through a bit more than earlier versions, and it’s pasteurized. But for occasional celebrations, whether or not the dark brew really is “good” for you, it’s a nice treat. Here are a few facts about this popular beer:

    • Guinness was first made in 1759.
    • Guinness stout (the most common one people drink) is made from water, barley, hops, brewer’s yeast, and is treated with isinglass finings, made from the air bladders of fish.
    • It is pasteurized and filtered.
    • The dark color and strong taste come from roasting the barley.
    • Draught Guinness, and the cans with the widgets, contain nitrogen as well as carbon dioxide; this gives it its smoothness and the creamy head.
    • Guinness is not meant to be consumed “cold;” it does come out fairly cool from the tap in Ireland, where temperatures tend to be cooler, but traditional Guinness is not meant to be “chilled” or refrigerated. The colder it is, the less flavor you can taste, and if you aren’t drinking it for flavor, why bother?
    • Guinness is an acquired taste; it is very bitter, and Americans are not used to bitter tastes (is it any wonder, when sugars are put into just about everything the majority of Americans eat?). Once you acquaint your taste buds to it, though, the true taste of Guinness is very, very enjoyable.
      • A note on bitters: Tasting something bitter in your mouth stimulates your body to secrete more digestive juices, which results in better digestion all the way through. The use of bitters goes back centuries as a digestive tonic and aid. Perhaps this effect is one reason why people reported feeling good after drinking Guinness over other beers back in 1920s, which led to the infamous claims that “Guinness is good for you.”
    • Have you heard about how a Guinness in Dublin tastes better than anywhere else? It’s true! The ones I had in Ireland were better…and one secret is that the water used to make the brew there comes from a spring in County Kildare.
    • Most people consider Guinness to be strong (alcohol-wise)…but consider that today’s Guinness is not as strong as it was in the 19th century. ;)

    For a couple of laughs…

    About to go on the official tour of Guinness at the St. James’s Gate brewery in Dublin, 1997. I’m on the far right. Way back when I had brown hair. ;)

    Doing what one does at a pub in Ireland. :D This was taken in Killarney, 1997. It’s been so darn long, and I am dying to go back!

    While a pint of stout is not exactly on the usual menu of “real food”…today is a perfect example of when to make exceptions. If you indulge in a pint, enjoy! ;)

    This post is part of Real Food Wednesdays for March 17, 2010.

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    Posted in Celebrating

    Real food 101: Thoughts on where to start

    Posted on March 16th, 2010 | Leave a comment »

    Yesterday as I was thinking about real food things, I got to thinking about a friend who might be wanting to make the switch soon. I know he trusts me, so if I say “eat this not that,” he’ll be ok with it. But as he learns what’s involved, he might balk; it can seem like way too much trouble, especially in today’s world of fast and cheap and easily-grabbable food. And if someone thinks all food is pretty much equal—even if someone knows that processed food isn’t as good as fresh food, they still tend to think the difference isn’t that significant—they will conclude that “real food” might be a nice luxury for some, but it’s way too time-consuming for them. It will look like just another food fad or wacky diet.

    As those of us already on board with real food know, eating this way is not a “fad” or a “diet.” It is actually more like a way of life, requiring a bit of extra time and effort (and money) to make it really work. So while my friend might like the idea of eating better, he might not like what it takes to do it. So I need to steer him toward the information that will help him understand why eating this way is worth the effort…and I realized that I wasn’t sure exactly what I’d tell him. There are so many resources out there. Where to suggest he start, without inundating him?

    Hence this post. I decided that the best way to get it all straight in my own head, and the better to figure out how to pass it on to others, was to write it out.

    I thought about how I’d “teach” this topic in the same way I used to think about teaching grammar. You can’t really get a good grip on writing unless you go back and (re)learn the most basic units of written communication: words, phrases, and punctuation. A person can be told how to eat in a real food way, and they can dutifully buy the right ingredients, but unless they know why they’re doing it, they can quickly become tired of the effort and go back to their old eating habits.  They need to understand the basics of nutrition: what the body needs, why it needs these things, and which foods provide them. And then there are the benefits of giving the body what it needs: most people who eat real food do it out of a desire to reap these benefits, such as a greatly improved outlook, diminishment of physical problems, and a steady mood (to name only three). Just like going back to learn basic sentence construction will give you all you need to know to write well, going back to the most basic, foundational points of what “real food” is will give you all you need to know to want to eat well.

    So here’s my thinking on how I will advise my friend, and anyone else who asks, as to how to get started learning about real food:

    1. Why it’s ok to eat saturated fat & cholesterol: The first thing people are doubtful about when I tell them I eat butter and eggs and such is the saturated fat & cholesterol content. They’re afraid of heart disease, and when I tell them that saturated fat & cholesterol do not cause heart disease, they give me looks that range from doubtful to incredulous (as in, “this chick’s a fruitcake!”). So the first thing I’d recommend to people is to learn about how saturated fat & cholesterol do NOT cause heart disease so that those fears are laid to rest. This also opens the door to understanding that saturated fat and cholesterol are vital for true health. Here are a few articles to start with:
      1. “Cholesterol and Heart Disease: A Phony Issue” – Dr. Mary Enig
      2. “Saturated fat and heart disease: Studies old and new” – Dr. Michael Eades
      3. “No evidence that saturated fat causes heart disease” – Dr. Briffa
      4. “The Cholesterol Myth” – Dr. Barry Groves
    2. Get to know the work of Weston A. Price: The term “real food” has come to be associated with Price’s work, and for good reason. An understanding of his work is vital. Knowing what Price was investigating and why, and then understanding what he found, is foundational to comprehending why real foodies eat the way we do. Not just comprehending, but really getting it.
      1. “Principles of Healthy Diets” – covers the basics of Price’s work and the recommendations stemming from it
      2. Read Nutrition and Physical Degeneration by Dr. Price, the full text of which is available here
    3. Read Nourishing Traditions: This seminal real food cookbook is not just a cookbook but a nutrition-basics tome. Reading the information chapters will further an understanding of Price-based health, and then having the book on hand will be incredibly useful as a person starts making dietary changes and needs to know how to cook a bone broth or make a real food version of mayonnaise.

    I think these three things will give a person a solid foundation on why real food is such an empowering choice of how to eat. There is plenty more to say on the subject, obviously, but for a person just starting out, I think a pared-down, basics approach such as this would be the most helpful. It’s unpolitical as possible on purpose, focused simply on what we should eat and why. The debates, the hows, and the logistics of eating real food is to be tackled later.

    I’ll write next about “Real Food 102: Real food in the real world.”

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    Posted in Education

    Free recipe cards

    Posted on March 12th, 2010 | 2 Comments »

    I know I’ve not posted in awhile, and it’s not from neglect of this blog! I’ve been busy designing new things for one of my Etsy shops, Avidly Dreaming Studio, that had been neglected for a couple of months (my first Etsy store, Geek Bliss, is going along just fine). I’m coming up with all sorts of goodies including matching sets of recipe cards, shopping lists, personal stationery, and bookmarks, all downloadable/printable and even available personalized. The first set I came up with matches this WP theme; I created the items with the idea of using the recipe cards as a way to offer printable blog recipes to you. :)

    So for the first freebie, here’s the card, 4″x6″, front & back, for Fast & Easy Beef & Tomato Soup:

    Click –>HERE<– to download the PDF file,
    save it, print it on regular paper, cut out, and stick in your recipe box. :)

    Ok, I realize that not everyone will want the recipes on the cute check card, haha, so I plan to implement a “printer friendly version” eventually. But for now, I’m having so much fun designing stuff that I wanted to share some of it with you.

    If you want the recipe cards unfilled-in, or to see other designs, head to my Etsy shop. I’ll be adding lots of new goodies to it over the coming weeks, including many more matching sets, digital paper packs, and other surprises.

    I have also started another blog—because, you know, I can’t have enough of them—dedicated to my deepening herbal path. That space is for musings and discoveries as I get to know my herbal allies, explore herbal healing in more depth, and reflect on things green & growing. Please consider subscribing over there if you have an interest in such things! If not, no worries, since here is where all the real food stuff is happening. :)

    Speaking of, I have posts in the works about more bone broth adventures, butter, the problem with supplements, and more. Thank you so much for reading!

    Happy Friday!

    Tags: , , ,
    Posted in Around the homestead, Real Food Kitchen

    Reclaiming (food) power through knowledge

    Posted on March 3rd, 2010 | 3 Comments »

    Have you heard the latest? That the maker of neurotoxin aspartame is going to rename it “AminoSweet” and market it as a natural substance because it is made from “amino acids?” Then there’s Sara Lee, coming up with “EcoGrains” that are supposed to be “more sustainable”  because they use 15% less fertilizer and will be marketed as “better than organic.” I’m sure you’ve heard about all the various “organic” companies that have been shown to be anything but organic (Dr. Bronner’s is still fighting in court about this regarding hygiene products). And then there are the TV commercials that claim high fructose corn syrup is just fine for you because it’s made from corn; despite the numerous problems with such a claim on its own, the commercials then go on to say it is fine “in moderation.” Anyone who’s been reading labels knows the lunacy of that statement—HFCS is in just about every processed/packaged food on store shelves. Even if a person believes that crap about it being ok for you “in moderation,” if you eat processed/ready-made foods, it is impossible to ingest HFCS “in moderation.”

    Every time I hear about industrial food propaganda like these, I get angry. Really angry. It seems that whenever a piece of information regarding true health & wellness gets widespread attention—aspartame is a poison, organic farming is better, HFCS is bad, etc—industrial food producers find a way to twist the truth to their advantage and dupe the public. It makes me very rant-y. Might even have steam shooting out of my ears, cartoon-style. How dare they lie so blatantly?! How dare they try to trick me into eating crap that I know causes illness and eventual dependence on their drugs?! How dare they try to deny me my quality of life?!

    Ranting a bit helps me let off steam. And after I’ve let it out, I can take a deep breath, and realize that “they” cannot hurt me any more. Because I know better, and I can (and do) make different choices. I know aspartame is poison, so it doesn’t matter what they call it, I’m not going to eat it. I make my own bread, so anything Sara Lee does doesn’t have to affect me. I am aware of the problems with personal care products so I am finding alternatives that work for me (Dr. Bronner’s is one of them; I’ll post on my experiences soon). And I wouldn’t touch anything with HFCS in it with someone else’s ten-foot pole.

    I can make these choices because I know better. Sadly, most people don’t, so the best way I try to help them is to live my talk and pass on as much knowledge as I can. Let’s all do what we can; those of us who know the truth of our food system can do the most good by showing people that it’s not hard to make better choices. Answer questions when you can, talk about how you do it. You never know who you might encourage to finally stop drinking sodas or start eating grass-fed butter.

    When I used to teach college writing, I placed a lot of emphasis on critical thinking and questioning pop culture. I wasn’t as concerned with the specific subjects the students chose to question (music or movies or fashion, usually whatever they wanted), but with the fact that they just start questioning. All the “greenwashing” that industrial food companies do only works when their audience does not question what they say and blindly accepts what they are told. The more people who start to pause and wonder and question, even in tiny fits and starts, the less people who are duped by fake greenwashing.

    I do still get a bit grumbly if I happen to see a pro-HFCS commercial, but then by the end of it, I can smile a little smug smile to myself as I remember that not only does that propaganda not work on me, but that I’m actively working to lessen its power over others, and I know that many of them are likewise reaching out. Food knowledge is power. Let’s keep spreading the word.

    UPDATE on Friday, March 5: Today word is out about a big recall of processed foods that use “hydrolyzed vegetable protein” (basically, MSG). If you don’t eat processed foods, then such recalls don’t affect you…but it’s one more reason, as if we need any more, to make changes and spread the word.

    This post is part of Fight Back Friday for March 5, 2010.

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    Posted in food issues

    My 5 favorite cold fighters

    Posted on March 1st, 2010 | 2 Comments »

    Continuing on from Friday’s post about my five favorite immunity boosters (apparently when I write “tomorrow” regarding the next post, I mean “two days later”…lol!), I can’t talk about improving immune response without also talking about what to do when even the strongest immune system comes under attack.

    For years I did what most people these days probably do: I would pop cold pills to mask my symptoms so I could “keep going.” However, the more I learn and study real food and herbalism, the more I have come to reject this approach. First of all, cold pills only mask symptoms, they don’t make your body kick the virus any faster. Symptoms are your body doing what it’s supposed to do, fight. And since it is fighting off invaders, the last thing it needs is to “keep going” with whatever your usual routine is. It needs rest so that it can kick virus butt.

    When I decided to start foregoing cold pills, I needed to find other ways to naturally ease symptoms that also help my body fight invaders. Here are my five favorite ways to do that:

    1. LOTS of rest. Yep, right at the top of the list. When I know I’ve caught a bug, or even when I suspect it, I start trying to rest as much as possible. I’ve had experiences where I feel something coming on in an afternoon, so I get into bed super early—even if I’m watching a movie, or reading, or knitting, or even still blog-reading—I just get myself more horizontal than not, try to relax, and go to sleep early. If I don’t feel better by the next morning, I repeat the resting the next day, and by the following morning, I feel back to normal. The key here is not just more sleep, but more rest. Sleeping more doesn’t help if, when you are awake, you’re pushing your body. To let it fight well, it needs a lot of rest.
    2. Raw garlic: Garlic has antiviral and antibacterial properties (as well as antifungal), and since bacterial infections can often accompany colds/flu (which are viral infections), garlic is a great tool for helping kick all of it. But these properties are only active when garlic is raw and chopped/exposed to air; cooking destroys them and garlic pills are useless for fighting active infections. So to use garlic as a medicine, you gotta eat it raw. I’ve read that swallowing it with honey can mask the taste, but I don’t advise this since sugar suppresses the immune system. Best to cut a clove into a few chunks and swallow with water like you would a pill. I will eat one clove of raw garlic 3-4 times per day when I have an active cold. I do it on an empty stomach before breakfast, then with lunch and dinner, and then once more later on. I’ve never had any issues with smelling too garlicy, but even if I did, too bad, lol! I’m trying to get better, not appease others. However, the raw garlic is only a temporary measure. ;) I must also mention that I have recently started hearing that there is apparently a campaign going on to discredit garlic by saying it “disrupts brain waves” or some such nonsense. Considering garlic’s long use throughout history, and my own personal successes using it, I’m not worried. Garlic is a wonderful ally.
    3. Elderberry tincture: This one I learned about from Kiva Rose, my other favorite herbalist (along with Susun Weed, mentioned in the last post). To quote Kiva:

      “Elderberry does not simply stimulate the immune system, instead, it modulates the immune system to more appropriately respond to environs and circumstance. It also disarms the some cold and flu viruses and helps them flush through body quicker, while strengthening the mucus membranes, supporting the body’s natural fever mechanism without overheating, improves energy and stress handling AND last but certainly not least, it tastes great too.” From the post Elder Mother Immune Elixir

      If you don’t have any elderberry shrubs near you for harvesting your own berries, you can get them or a wonderful ready-made tincture from Mountain Rose Herbs. The tincture is especially nice since the one they offer is not only from organic elderberries (if ever you did not want pesticides in something, you don’t want them in your medicine), its alcohol base is made from organic grapes.  A “tincture” is an herb steeped in high-proof alcohol for many weeks; the alcohol is what pulls the good stuff out of the plant matter. You take only a few drops or dropperfuls of tincture at a time, no more, so you don’t have to worry about getting a buzz off the stuff. But regular alcohol, like the 100-proof vodka many herbalists use to make tinctures, is made from grains; if you are avoiding grains, you can use this particular tincture without concern regarding the alcohol used to make it.

    4. Avoid all sugar. Depending on where you are on your real food journey, this one may or may not be difficult. But sugar is a known immune suppressor. While avoiding most sugar all the time is a goal to strive for, avoiding it when you have an active infection is important. The body can kick out a cold more quickly if blocks to healing are removed.
    5. More bone broth: As I mentioned in my post about immune boosters, bone broth is a major player. When I get a cold, I eat more of it than normal, up to 2-3 times per day, either just warmed and in a mug or made into a soup for a full meal.

    So those are my five favorites at this point in my journey. I know that some of these are easier to do than others. The most difficult things will be rest and avoiding sugar, but I believe that both are really important for fighting colds and for general well-being. The fact that we balk at these ideas says a lot about our culture and our health. I truly believe that incorporating more rest into our lives and consuming much less sugar daily are significant first steps toward reclaiming full health.

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