Healthy Food - Naturally

Sick and Don’t Feel Like Cooking

Oct 21st, 2011 by Sandra Clark

Imagine sitting down to a comforting nutritious bowl of soup

For the last week, I’ve been sick. Coughing and sore throat sick. Not wanting to cook sick. The idea of eating isn’t really high on my list, even though I know I need to.

I remember when I was sick back in Los Angeles and married at the time, that my ex-husband (who didn’t really cook) would resort to bringing me Jack in the Box food. It didn’t taste very good and wasn’t really appetizing to me, but I had no energy to make anything myself so I ate it. Later on, when I lived alone, those were the days I resorted to opening a can of Campbells soup.

So now, how do I deal with illness when I live alone and I’m gluten intolerant and I’m committed to eating real food that is local and traditional? I plan ahead.

Even though I’m single, you wouldn’t know it from the way I cook. I don’t cook for one serving. I cook enough for 2 to 4 servings. I freeze my leftover meals in single serving portions. Those are for the nights that I’m either really busy, or sick. So I know that there is usually a variety of foods in my freezer to keep me going. Right now I have homemade chicken soup, beef soup, a sausage and collard soup as well as chili. There is enough variety to keep me satisfied and its easy to defrost something in the microwave and finish heating it in a saucepan. Little work, lots of benefit.

Its easy to do. When I am making something, I just make sure that I make more than I need. I eat what I want for the night, use those disposable Glad or Ziplock containers and freeze meal size portions. Its also very economical. Much more so than buying frozen dinners or cans of stuff with ingredients I can’t pronounce. Continue Reading »

Tags: Cook, Homecooked Meals, Slow Food, Soups and Stews

Posted in Cooking, Personal Story | Comments Off

Getting Glutened

Oct 19th, 2011 by Sandra Clark

Eating is most often a social occasion. When you can't eat what everyone else eats, its a very lonely feeling.

A few weeks ago, I got glutened. It was my own fault, I wasn’t the advocate that I should have been when my boyfriend and I went out to a chain restaurant for a quick breakfast before we went camping. Once we were there, I mentioned to the waitress that I was gluten intolerant and asked that there be no bread on the plate. I ordered what I thought was a safe meal: two eggs over easy, bacon and hash browns. I was hungry, and ate it all. This restaurant specializes in pancakes and advertises that they use pancake batter in their omelets, so I made sure to not order an omelette.) I now think that I was a victim of cross contamination and that they cooked something (most likely the hash browns) on a part of the griddle that they did the pancakes or omelettes on (like I said, my own fault for not specifying a clean grill area). We then drove to the camp ground and set up our tent city (Large tent and a large pop up which acts as our kitchen). Set up takes about 3 hours, which is why we tend to go for longer trips (this one was 6 days).

The next day I woke up to mild stomach cramping. The entire day was spent running into the restroom and trying to convince myself that this was an abberation and that I hadn’t been glutened. By Friday, the stomach cramps were so bad that I had to admit it to myself. I was angry, but mostly at myself. I know that chain restaurants are absolutely the worst for cross contamination, and I still went. Continue Reading »

Tags: Chronic Fatigue Syndrome, Coeliac disease, Fibromyalgia, Gluten, Gluten Free, Gluten Intolerance, Migranes

Posted in Gluten Free, Personal Story | Comments Off

Raw Milk Freedom Riders PA to MD November 1st.

Oct 16th, 2011 by Sandra Clark

Image by Chiot's Run via Flickr

On November 1st, a group of mothers will drive from Maryland to Pennsylvania, where they will legally purchase raw milk from Dan Allgyer (the Amish farmer who was raided by the FDA last year for selling Raw Milk). They will then cross the Pennsylvania/Maryland border and will drive to the FDA headquarters in Silver Spring Maryland where they will then distribute the raw milk to their families and to others waiting there.

The Raw Milk Riders Freedom Rally is being done in response to the raids on Dan’s farm last year as well as the Rawesome raid in California. They have notified the FDA of their intent and it will be *interesting* to see what the FDA’s response will be.

Speakers at the event will include:

Joel Salatin – Poly Face Farm
Mark McAfee
David Gumphart
Max Kane
Michael Schmidt
Liz Reitzig – Raw Milk Activist – Food Freedom Coalition

You can join the Facebook page at: Raw Milk Freedom Riders – Mom Caravan and Rally for more information (including times and location).

I’ve asked for an interview from the Food Freedom Coalition, which is sponsoring the event. I’m hopeful that I’ll have another post this week with that interview and more information.

Thoughts on Raw Milk and a plea. (healthyfoodnaturally.wordpress.com)
Raw milk advocate enters hunger strike after charges (thestar.com)

Tags: FDA, Food Activism, Food Freedom, Joel Salatin, Milk, Raw Milk

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Seasonal Eating – Pumpkins

Oct 12th, 2011 by Sandra Clark

Autumn brings out the pumpkin lover in me. Pumpkin is such a versatile vegetable, it’s able to work within both sweet and savory dishes. Truth be told I had never liked canned pumpkin, but finally gathered up my courage to bring home a fresh pumpkin last year. It was an amazing revelation. If you’ve never worked with fresh pumpkin before, I recommend you try it, its not that hard.

Pumpkins are full of beta-carotene, a pigment found in foods that can be converted to Vitamin A. There are also some studies that show that beta-carotene helps with some eye diseases as well. Pumpkins are high in fiber as well magnesium, potassium and zinc. Pumpkin seeds are high in protein and are a good source of essential fatty acids which help with high blood pressure, arthritis as well as healthy skin. Continue Reading »

Tags: Pumpkin, Recipe

Posted in Ingredients, Seasonal | 2 Comments »

My History with Food Preservation

Oct 5th, 2011 by Sandra Clark

I’m a freely admitted control freak. Not in every way, but in a very important way. I want to know and control where my food comes from. The more I learn about the food industry and what they actually sell as “food”, the less and less I choose to spend my food dollars there.

About 3 years ago, I decided to embark on an experiment, to see how well I could do buying and eating foods that were local and seasonal. I decided this in the winter, after reading Animal, Vegetable, Miracle. I knew that in order to conduct this experiment, I would have to preserve foods during the summer for winter as well. I wasn’t going to go as whole hog as the people who wrote the 100-Mile Diet. I wasn’t going to give up coffee or chocolate and if I couldn’t buy locally, I would try buying seasonally (which meant that winter, I ate a lot of turnips, rutabagas and chard). I found farms where I could buy grass fed meats, chickens and eggs as well. I also signed up for a CSA (Community Supported Agriculture). Most of this however wouldn’t happen in the spring. Continue Reading »

Tags: Canning, Food, Preserving, Seasonal Eating

Posted in Personal Story, Preserving, Seasonal | 1 Comment »

My Gluten Free Adventure

Sep 28th, 2011 by Sandra Clark

In August of 2010, I was at a house party in Upstate New York when I realized that I was most likely gluten intolerant (if not celiac).

For the last 10 years, I had followed a mostly low carb diet. It worked and I considered it a very healthy diet for me. Meats, full fat dairy, lots of fresh vegetables, very few starches and no grains were the basis of my eating plan. I felt good on it. I followed this whenever I could, but when I couldn’t (traveling or eating at someone’s home), I didn’t worry too much about it. During the summer of 2010 though, I was traveling much more than I usually did. And I didn’t have control of my food.

I went to Wisconsin for training. The company that provided the training provided breakfast and lunch. You guessed it, bagels, breads, cereals and pizza. Since it wasn’t politic for me to go out on my own, I ate them. Within 2 days, I was leaving the training room every half hour to deal with stomach issues. I just thought I was coming down with something. But, strangely enough the same thing kept happening every time I traveled.

In August, my boyfriend and I were at a house party in upstate New York. Breakfast was breads and jams, lunch was pizza, dinner was okay. By Saturday morning, I again was spending most of my time in a restroom. As I was dealing with some of the worst cramping I ever experienced, I started thinking about how much I had been sick this summer and started putting two and two together. “I’m most likely gluten intolerant”.

Tags: Celiac Disease, Coeliac disease, Gluten-free diet, Low-Carbohydrate Diet

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Thoughts on Raw Milk and a plea.

Sep 25th, 2011 by Sandra Clark

Raw Milk in a recyclable glass bottle.

For most of my life, I hated milk. I stopped drinking it at a very young age (basically as soon as I could be stubborn enough that my mother realized that it was a lost battle). As I grew older, I realized that I’m lactose intolerant. How did I figure this out if I stopped drinking milk? Mainly because like all kids, I liked ice cream. I didn’t realize until I was an adult that ice cream gave me tummy issues. Fermented dairy seemed to be fine for me though (as did heavy cream). As I embarked on my low carb diet, cheese took the place of sweets.

As I’ve embarked on adding more local and seasonal foods to my diet, I searched and searched for a source for raw milk. Despite data from the government (CDC) detailing the fact that drinking raw milk or eating raw milk cheeses is safe, neither the CDC or the FDA will admit that raw milk is safe. Consequently, trying to find a source for raw milk is difficult. Luckily for me, raw milk is legal to sell in Pennsylvania and I’m about 35 miles from the border. So yes, its a haul to get it, but its worth it.

There is a petition up on the WhiteHouse Web Site that is asking the Federal Government to legalize the sale of raw milk. Whether you choose to drink raw milk or not, after reading this post, please consider signing it so that those of us who do choose to do so, can do so. The petition needs 5000 votes to go forward. Thank you.

Tags: Dairy, Milk, Nutrition, Pasteurization, Raw Milk, Real Food, Weston Price

Posted in food activism | 4 Comments »

MisAdventures with Raw Milk Yogurt

Sep 21st, 2011 by Sandra Clark

In the last four days I’ve thrown away 5 cups of milk that I was trying to make into the holy grail of low temperature, raw milk yogurt. I’ve been making yogurt for number of years very successfully. Up until about a month ago I was regularly making yogurt with a locally produced milk I bought at Whole Foods which while pasteurized, was not homogenized.

My basic techniques for making yogurt has been to heat 4 cups of milk up to 180° remove the saucepan from the heat and cool down to 100°. After that I inoculate with a half a cup of previously made yogurt and let it sit in my yogurt maker for 12 hours. This has worked successfully for many years and I’ve never had a problem making yogurt this way. Occasionally, I’ll have to replace my starter, usually with a small container of organic, plain, whole milk yogurt from the store. But this is becoming harder to find.

I routinely strain my yogurt to make it thicker. I do not use dry milk products to make it thicker, instead I strain it to remove the whey. This makes a thicker Greek style yogurt. I save the whey from the straining to use when I lacto-ferment. There are various claims that dried milk powder can be bad for you, but the jury is still out. However, since I tend to try to stay with food in as natural state as possible, dry milk powder is not on my radar so I don’t use it.

With the raw milk, I did not want to heat the milk so high, effectively pasteurizing it. Raw milk contains many beneficial enzymes that are destroyed during high heat processes. So I tried, boy have I tried. Continue Reading »

Tags: Raw Milk, Real Food, Yogurt

Posted in Personal Story | 1 Comment »

Book Review: Wheat Belly: Lose the Wheat, Lose the Weight and Find your Path back to Health

Sep 13th, 2011 by Sandra Clark

Every so often when I find a book that I think people need to read, I’ll post a review.

In the 1970’s Dr. Robert Atkins, a cardiologist, published “Dr. Atkins Diet Revolution” after following a low-starch diet based on work done previously by Gordon, Goldberg and Chosy in an article published in 1963 in JAMA (Journal of American Medical Association). Dr. Atkins replaced the idea of starches being an issue with the idea that carbohydrates (especially starchy ones) were an issue. Dr. Atkins diet was controversial to say the least, but regardless of the outcry from the industrial medicine community, it did work. It worked for many people, including myself. Most of Dr. Atkins research was either ancedotal, or conducted himself.

In 2007, Gary Taubes, a scientific journalist, published “Good Calories, Bad Calories“, a lengthy tome that describes in detail how the medical research into dietary habits does not support the mainstream (media and goverment) claims that fat is bad for you and that carbohydrates are good. In many ways, Taube’s book provides the links to the research which supports Atkins anecdotal suppositions. Again, Taubes concentrated on carbohydrates as a whole.

Now, in 2011, another cardiologist, Dr. William Davis, points his finger at a specific carbohydrate, grains, with a particular emphasis on wheat, narrowing the culprit down much further. His book, Wheat Belly: Lose the Wheat, Lose the Weight, and Find Your Path Back to Health, is the next step in the realization that processed foods, which are stuffed with cheap, subsidized wheat is the problem. Along with anectodal evidence, Davis provides references to over 250 studies and articles, which bolster his premise. Continue Reading »

Tags: Atkins Diet, Blood Sugar, Carbohydrate, Celiac, Diets, Gary Taubes, Gluten Free, Glycemic index, Low Carb, Nutrition, Weight Loss, Wheatbelly

Posted in Book Reviews | 2 Comments »

Lets Talk about Eggs

Sep 7th, 2011 by Sandra Clark

Image via Wikipedia

While I was reading an article from Dr. Mercola on eggs last week, I started remembering how eggs have been respresented through my life. Growing up in the 70’s and 80’s eggs were vilified, they were the cause of heart disease and you were taking your life into your hands every time you ate one. The problem is, that like so much of what we are told by the government and the media, the story is much more nuanced than that (and in many cases is totally wrong).

Most warnings about eggs have to do with cholesterol, the fact is that eating something with cholesterol in it will not raise your cholesterol. The two are not linked. According to Gary Taubes in his book, Good Calories, Bad Calories: Fats, Carbs, and the Controversial Science of Diet and Health, many of the studies done on cholesterol (Framingham) being one, “could not measure either the diet or the cholesterol of the population, or both, with sufficient accuracy to establish the relationship.

So lets simply make a supposition that eggs are not bad for you and may actually be *gasp* good for you. Does this mean all eggs are created equal? Heck no.

When you go to the market today, you see a wide variety of eggs (and I’m not talking about brown vs white). You see Cage Free, Free Range, Omega-3 Eggs, vitamin enhanced eggs. (Help with Cooking has a good guide to these kind of eggs.)

The issue is that most of the chickens that produce these eggs are raised in conditions that are horrible. And in reality, if the chicken undergoes that much stress, and as a matter of routine, has antibiotics and arsenic added to its feed, doesn’t that end up in the eggs?

An egg from a chicken that is raised on pasture, allowed to run around and be a chicken and eat the bugs its supposed to eat, actually produces eggs that have specific health benefits. All eggs contain lecithin, which helps us digest fat and cholesterol, and biotin, a B vitamin that helps with skin, hair and nerves. Pastured eggs however, contain more beta carotene, more monosaturated fats, folic acid, and beta-carotene. They are also richer in Omega-3 fats naturally than industrialized eggs. Pastured eggs also have a 1:1 ratio of omega6 fats to omega3 (the recommended ratio), while industrialized eggs have a ration of 20:1.

All eggs (unwashed) will last about about a week out of the refrigerator. Fresh eggs will keep for about 2 months in your refrigerator without much change in flavor or nutrition. (Keep in mind though that an egg from the supermarket took about 2-3 weeks to make the trip to you, so they won’t keep more than a few weeks.

I buy my eggs from a farm where I also purchase my chickens. Although I’m single, I tend to purchase about 5 dozen eggs at a time. I love eggs. On the days I work I take two hardboiled eggs with me for breakfast (I’m at work by 6am). I have eggs cooked in other ways the mornings I am home. Since I don’t eat cereal, eggs are a good way to fill me up and keep me going through my mornings.

Most farmers markets, farm markets and orchards with farm stores will have eggs available for sale. To my mind, they taste better and I know they are better for us. So do yourself a favor, read the articles I’ve linked to and have a pastured egg today!

Healthy Food – Naturally