Last week it finally got hot out. Yay! I had picked Kobee up and was snuggling her and tickling her tummy when all of a sudden ... cue scary music! ... I saw a FLEA.
I use a supplement in her food - garlic, rose hips, and some other things all of which are supposed to make a dog's blood unpalatable to fleas, and we haven't had a single problem in almost a year. But apparently when it's hot, the fleas don't care what they eat, because there they were crawling on Kobee.
My solution is take a flea comb and comb her daily. Yes, this takes time. The upside is that I usually find all the fleas that are on her, and remove a lot of the eggs. I'm also able to remove a lot of her loose fur, so there's less shedding in the house (I do this outside). Kobee definitely enjoys it; she does her happy dance every time she sees me pick up her flea comb. And we get some bonding time. Really, I don't see a downside to this process.
The first time I combed her, I found about a dozen fleas. The next time, I found three. The time after that, none. But she was still scratching. As a matter of fact, I realized, she was scratching pretty much continuously. I hunted and combed and hunted and combed, and still couldn't find any fleas. Then I remembered her vet had told me that her skin is sensitive, and that fleas will create an allergic reaction. I looked, and her skin was definitely a little on the pink side, she has some raw looking spots where her nails had dug too far into the skin, and one of her nipples was bleeding a little. Not a pretty sight.
I did a little googling ... Google is my friend ... and started reading about my options. I settled on apple cider vinegar, mainly because it seems the easiest and because I have some in the pantry. I poured a teaspoon into her veggie mixture the other night. It may have been my imagination, but she didn't seem to be scratching all that much yesterday. I added a teaspoon again last night, and while it's still early, I haven't seen her scratch once today.
The literature I read also claims that adding the apple cider vinegar to your dog's diet will discourage fleas ... this I'm not sure about ... I'll update it when I make a decision! Once again, I encourage you to research this. Every dog is different, you'll want to figure out what dosage to give, and then watch your dog to make sure s/he isn't having stomach issues because of it.
Know your dog. I've said this before, haven't I? I'll say it again: Know your dog.
Here's the important part!
You can't use just any vinegar, nor just any apple cider vinegar. You MUST use unfiltered, organic, raw vinegar with the 'mother.' The 'mother' is that nasty sediment on the bottom of the bottle, and when you shake it up, the mother floats around the bottle all spidery-like. It should say all of this on the bottle (well, not about the ooeyness of the mother). Bragg's is the normal go-to for this, but I found one the other day called Solana Gold. It's exactly the same thing, but was a little less expensive. Although personally, when it comes to healthy, chemical-free options, I don't mind spending a little more, if I must - within reason, of course!
Saturday, July 3, 2010
Friday, July 2, 2010
Feed Your Dog Raw
When I tell people I have my dog on a raw diet they usually just nod their heads, like they know what I'm talking about, and then tell me how they buy X-Brand Natural Kibble and how much their dog loves it. I leave the conversation there. For whatever reason, they are not interested in hearing what a raw diet constitutes.
I have yet to run across anyone who actually feeds their pet a raw diet. However, occasionally I get people who have been thinking about it, and who ask questions. I'm going to answer a few things here. As always, I encourage people to do their own research!!! Never take just one person's perspective as the way to go.
Q: I buy raw food from my vet. My dog loves it!
A: I'll bet s/he does! It's soft, it goes down fast and the dog doesn't have to work for it. This is a multi-part issue:
For one, it's still a commercial food. It's filled with supplements and vitamins that your dog could get and digest much more easily from eating plain old meat. Amino acids, for example ... why add amino acids to a raw meat food? Meat already has amino acids in it!
Two, bones are good for your dog's dental health. They naturally clean their teeth and keep their gums strong.
Three, the work that it takes to eat a bony, muscle-and-tendon-laden meal strengthens your dogs jaw and neck.
Forth, and this is my favorite for my smart little girl, raw meat with bones, muscles and tendons forces the dog to slow down and actually work for their meal. This mentally stimulates the dog.
Q: But dogs choke on bones!
A: Yes, dogs can easily choke on cooked bones. Raw bones are flexible, cooked bones splinter, get lodged in the throat or intestinal tract, requiring expensive surgeries and even death to the dog. Before I began feeding Kobee a raw diet I read one scary blog about someone whose dog died from ingesting raw bones and a piece got stuck in the dog's intestine.
I don't know about this; it could easily have been a plant by some commercial dog-food maker. Or it could have been true. I know that for that one sad story I read, I've read fifty others that talk about their healthy, happy dogs who have been eating raw diets for years. Kobee has been eating raw for eight months now.
Note: When feeding dogs, feed big! Dogs used to a commercial diet don't know how to chew. Giving a big dog, for example, small bones to start could create a choking hazard. Start big, let your dog learn to chew, and go slowly so you can monitor how your dog is eating. Conversely no dog should be given weight-bearing bones (like a cow's femur). These bones are too hard for dogs to chew. Dogs, of course, don't know this, and could break their teeth.
Q: I was going to try the raw diet, but the thought of it just freaks me out.
A: Yes, I had that problem, too. I started with the raw food from the pet store. Then I tried giving Kobee piece of chicken, without bones. She licked at it a bit, then wolfed it down. After a few days of this I was able to graduate to a chicken wing. She crunched the wing hesitantly, giving me questioning looks, but after a minute or so gulped it down happily. Now I buy whole animals, I butcher them, and she eats every part I give her ... back, neck, thighs, wings, guts ... faced with either eating or taking a walk, Kobee would be hard pressed to make a choice.
Q: What about vegetables?
A: I went back and forth on this one myself. Some of the literature says yes, some says no. The argument on the 'no' side says that dogs don't eat vegetables in the wild. I think that's probably not true. Kobee loves grass, eats it all the time. The literature saying 'yes' points out that the animals the dogs eat would have food in the stomachs, veggie matter, and this has evolved to be a natural part of a dog's diet, albeit a small part.
In the end, for me, it came down to better safe than sorry, and so Kobee gets vegetables. Going with the idea of veggies in the stomach and intestines of a dog's natural prey, I process all the veggies in a food processor or powerful blender, like a VitaMix. This is similar to the masticated food that would be found in the prey's stomach, but also, dogs don't digest raw, chunky veggies all that well.
My veggie mix is mostly dark, leafy greens, an apple or pear, a carrot, two eggs (shell on, shells provide calcium), and handful of raw (not roasted, not salted) nuts, and a can of mackerel ... I know, mackerel isn't a vegetable, but it gives her veggie mix a pleasing flavor - to Kobee! - and it's great for her skin and coat.* I use about a 2:1 mixture of veggies to mackerel, a 3:1 would be fine, too, but I like to do it all in one batch, and space becomes an issue. I process everything and pour the mixture into ice cube trays. This works well for me since each cube is 1oz, and Kobee is little, so she gets one cube a day.
NOTE: Again, please do your research! Not all veggies are dog-friendly - dogs shouldn't eat things like avocado, onion, tomatoes, grapes, raisins, etc.
Q: It's too expensive.
A: A raw diet is less expensive than a commercial one ... unless you buy your dog the really El Cheapo stuff, but even then I think it's going to be a pretty even match. When Kobee and I travel I feed her canned food - it's just easier. I buy a good brand, and it costs me something like $2.50 - $3.00 a can. She eats 9oz a day (8oz meat, 1oz of her veggie mixture), so about 3/4 of a can a day ... let's say $1.85 a day.
I bought Kobee a 15 pound turkey the other day and it cost me $17.00. Kobee eats the entire bird; nothing goes to waste. At 8oz of meat a day (4 in the morning, 4 in the evening), this costs me 56¢ a day. The cost of her veggie mixture is minimal. I figured it out once, it was 3¢ an ouce. All total it costs me 59¢ a day to feed my 14 pound dog, more if I go with duck or rabbit, but still nothing like the cans I mentioned earlier.
Q: Doesn't it take a lot of time to do all of this?
A: Yes and no. Ideally I'll buy two ducks, two rabbits and a turkey. It takes me about an hour and a half to butcher them all into approximately 4oz pieces (the portion Kobee gets for each meal). I have large freezer bags set out on the counter-top ready to put pieces of meat into, usually about seven of them. As I cut off portions of meat I put them into the freezer bags, divvying the different meats, organs and bony pieces as evenly as I can between bags. I clean everything with hot, soapy water, then store the bags in the freezer. When I finish one bag of meat hunks, I just take another out of the freezer to defrost. This is about five weeks worth of meat.
The veggie mixture takes about 20 minutes to process - I wash the veggies to remove pesticides (I can't always afford organic), but I don't bother trimming them. Your dog isn't your kids, s/he won't care! - and I put everything into the processor and then into the ice cube trays. Once those have frozen, I remove them from the trays and put them in a large freezer bag.
Both the meat and the veggie mixture take me maybe two hours every 5 or 6 weeks. I think Kobee is deserving of this, and she always knows when I'm working on her stuff. She hangs around appreciatively, trying not to look like she's begging.
Q: Will you write out a list of what you feed your dog so I can follow it?
A: No, I will not. Every dog is different, you must do your own research. Plus, I have no idea what your dog likes. Kobee has a cancerous tumor in her mouth. Her vet is a holistic, and yes, Kobee has received acupuncture! The vet has given me a list of approved anti-cancer foods. So for example, chicken is a great, inexpensive meat to feed your dog. Kobee isn't supposed to be eating it - her vet says she's a fire personality and chicken is warming ... yeah, yeah, I'm a freak. Whatever. I also have to minimize the fruit I put into her veggie mixture - fruit has too much sugar.
I also know from hard experience that Kobee can't eat lamb or venison: it makes her horribly sick. Plus, dogs, just like people, have food preferences. Kobee is perfectly happy to eat pretty much anything I offer her, thankfully, but I know not all dogs are that way. Know your dog.
_________________________________________________
*For whatever reason, after eating her veggie mix, Kobee likes to jump into the lap of the nearest seated person and belch mackerel breath into their face. She then trots off to roll around on her back, grunting with great satisfaction.
I have yet to run across anyone who actually feeds their pet a raw diet. However, occasionally I get people who have been thinking about it, and who ask questions. I'm going to answer a few things here. As always, I encourage people to do their own research!!! Never take just one person's perspective as the way to go.
Q: I buy raw food from my vet. My dog loves it!
A: I'll bet s/he does! It's soft, it goes down fast and the dog doesn't have to work for it. This is a multi-part issue:
For one, it's still a commercial food. It's filled with supplements and vitamins that your dog could get and digest much more easily from eating plain old meat. Amino acids, for example ... why add amino acids to a raw meat food? Meat already has amino acids in it!
Two, bones are good for your dog's dental health. They naturally clean their teeth and keep their gums strong.
Three, the work that it takes to eat a bony, muscle-and-tendon-laden meal strengthens your dogs jaw and neck.
Forth, and this is my favorite for my smart little girl, raw meat with bones, muscles and tendons forces the dog to slow down and actually work for their meal. This mentally stimulates the dog.
Q: But dogs choke on bones!
A: Yes, dogs can easily choke on cooked bones. Raw bones are flexible, cooked bones splinter, get lodged in the throat or intestinal tract, requiring expensive surgeries and even death to the dog. Before I began feeding Kobee a raw diet I read one scary blog about someone whose dog died from ingesting raw bones and a piece got stuck in the dog's intestine.
I don't know about this; it could easily have been a plant by some commercial dog-food maker. Or it could have been true. I know that for that one sad story I read, I've read fifty others that talk about their healthy, happy dogs who have been eating raw diets for years. Kobee has been eating raw for eight months now.
Note: When feeding dogs, feed big! Dogs used to a commercial diet don't know how to chew. Giving a big dog, for example, small bones to start could create a choking hazard. Start big, let your dog learn to chew, and go slowly so you can monitor how your dog is eating. Conversely no dog should be given weight-bearing bones (like a cow's femur). These bones are too hard for dogs to chew. Dogs, of course, don't know this, and could break their teeth.
Q: I was going to try the raw diet, but the thought of it just freaks me out.
A: Yes, I had that problem, too. I started with the raw food from the pet store. Then I tried giving Kobee piece of chicken, without bones. She licked at it a bit, then wolfed it down. After a few days of this I was able to graduate to a chicken wing. She crunched the wing hesitantly, giving me questioning looks, but after a minute or so gulped it down happily. Now I buy whole animals, I butcher them, and she eats every part I give her ... back, neck, thighs, wings, guts ... faced with either eating or taking a walk, Kobee would be hard pressed to make a choice.
Q: What about vegetables?
A: I went back and forth on this one myself. Some of the literature says yes, some says no. The argument on the 'no' side says that dogs don't eat vegetables in the wild. I think that's probably not true. Kobee loves grass, eats it all the time. The literature saying 'yes' points out that the animals the dogs eat would have food in the stomachs, veggie matter, and this has evolved to be a natural part of a dog's diet, albeit a small part.
In the end, for me, it came down to better safe than sorry, and so Kobee gets vegetables. Going with the idea of veggies in the stomach and intestines of a dog's natural prey, I process all the veggies in a food processor or powerful blender, like a VitaMix. This is similar to the masticated food that would be found in the prey's stomach, but also, dogs don't digest raw, chunky veggies all that well.
My veggie mix is mostly dark, leafy greens, an apple or pear, a carrot, two eggs (shell on, shells provide calcium), and handful of raw (not roasted, not salted) nuts, and a can of mackerel ... I know, mackerel isn't a vegetable, but it gives her veggie mix a pleasing flavor - to Kobee! - and it's great for her skin and coat.* I use about a 2:1 mixture of veggies to mackerel, a 3:1 would be fine, too, but I like to do it all in one batch, and space becomes an issue. I process everything and pour the mixture into ice cube trays. This works well for me since each cube is 1oz, and Kobee is little, so she gets one cube a day.
NOTE: Again, please do your research! Not all veggies are dog-friendly - dogs shouldn't eat things like avocado, onion, tomatoes, grapes, raisins, etc.
Q: It's too expensive.
A: A raw diet is less expensive than a commercial one ... unless you buy your dog the really El Cheapo stuff, but even then I think it's going to be a pretty even match. When Kobee and I travel I feed her canned food - it's just easier. I buy a good brand, and it costs me something like $2.50 - $3.00 a can. She eats 9oz a day (8oz meat, 1oz of her veggie mixture), so about 3/4 of a can a day ... let's say $1.85 a day.
I bought Kobee a 15 pound turkey the other day and it cost me $17.00. Kobee eats the entire bird; nothing goes to waste. At 8oz of meat a day (4 in the morning, 4 in the evening), this costs me 56¢ a day. The cost of her veggie mixture is minimal. I figured it out once, it was 3¢ an ouce. All total it costs me 59¢ a day to feed my 14 pound dog, more if I go with duck or rabbit, but still nothing like the cans I mentioned earlier.
Q: Doesn't it take a lot of time to do all of this?
A: Yes and no. Ideally I'll buy two ducks, two rabbits and a turkey. It takes me about an hour and a half to butcher them all into approximately 4oz pieces (the portion Kobee gets for each meal). I have large freezer bags set out on the counter-top ready to put pieces of meat into, usually about seven of them. As I cut off portions of meat I put them into the freezer bags, divvying the different meats, organs and bony pieces as evenly as I can between bags. I clean everything with hot, soapy water, then store the bags in the freezer. When I finish one bag of meat hunks, I just take another out of the freezer to defrost. This is about five weeks worth of meat.
The veggie mixture takes about 20 minutes to process - I wash the veggies to remove pesticides (I can't always afford organic), but I don't bother trimming them. Your dog isn't your kids, s/he won't care! - and I put everything into the processor and then into the ice cube trays. Once those have frozen, I remove them from the trays and put them in a large freezer bag.
Both the meat and the veggie mixture take me maybe two hours every 5 or 6 weeks. I think Kobee is deserving of this, and she always knows when I'm working on her stuff. She hangs around appreciatively, trying not to look like she's begging.
Q: Will you write out a list of what you feed your dog so I can follow it?
A: No, I will not. Every dog is different, you must do your own research. Plus, I have no idea what your dog likes. Kobee has a cancerous tumor in her mouth. Her vet is a holistic, and yes, Kobee has received acupuncture! The vet has given me a list of approved anti-cancer foods. So for example, chicken is a great, inexpensive meat to feed your dog. Kobee isn't supposed to be eating it - her vet says she's a fire personality and chicken is warming ... yeah, yeah, I'm a freak. Whatever. I also have to minimize the fruit I put into her veggie mixture - fruit has too much sugar.
I also know from hard experience that Kobee can't eat lamb or venison: it makes her horribly sick. Plus, dogs, just like people, have food preferences. Kobee is perfectly happy to eat pretty much anything I offer her, thankfully, but I know not all dogs are that way. Know your dog.
_________________________________________________
*For whatever reason, after eating her veggie mix, Kobee likes to jump into the lap of the nearest seated person and belch mackerel breath into their face. She then trots off to roll around on her back, grunting with great satisfaction.
Tuesday, June 22, 2010
Cranberry Muffins with Orange Zest
These flavorful and moist muffins are healthier than your average muffin because they're made from whole grain flours as opposed to regular white flour. I'm still learning to work with whole grains, so mine don't rise much, but it certainly hasn't hurt the flavor!
Preheat oven to 400°
1 c oat flour, sifted
½ c whole wheat flour, sift
1 ½ T baking powder
¼ t salt
2 T white sugar
¼ c melted butter, cooled
1 egg
zest of 1 orange
1 c buttermilk or soured milk
1 c dried, sweetened cranberries
Soak cranberries in sour milk for at least 3-4 hours. Overnight is fine. When the cranberries have plumped up, strain from milk with a slotted spoon or pour through a sieve. Add water to strained milk to make 1 cup.
Butter and flour muffin tins, or use paper liners.
Sift both flours with the baking powder and the salt. Set aside.
Beat the sugar and the butter with a whisk until light. Add egg, beat until smooth. Add soured milk. Grate the orange zest directly into the mixing bowl and beat until well incorporated.
Add flour mixture into the wet mixture. Mix just until moist. Fold in cranberries.
Fill muffin tins almost full. These muffins will not rise much.
Bake at 400° for 20-25 minutes.
Preheat oven to 400°
1 c oat flour, sifted
½ c whole wheat flour, sift
1 ½ T baking powder
¼ t salt
2 T white sugar
¼ c melted butter, cooled
1 egg
zest of 1 orange
1 c buttermilk or soured milk
1 c dried, sweetened cranberries
Soak cranberries in sour milk for at least 3-4 hours. Overnight is fine. When the cranberries have plumped up, strain from milk with a slotted spoon or pour through a sieve. Add water to strained milk to make 1 cup.
Butter and flour muffin tins, or use paper liners.
Sift both flours with the baking powder and the salt. Set aside.
Beat the sugar and the butter with a whisk until light. Add egg, beat until smooth. Add soured milk. Grate the orange zest directly into the mixing bowl and beat until well incorporated.
Add flour mixture into the wet mixture. Mix just until moist. Fold in cranberries.
Fill muffin tins almost full. These muffins will not rise much.
Bake at 400° for 20-25 minutes.
Saturday, June 5, 2010
Butter is my favorite food group.
I made butter today. My sister told me I'm insane, then she asked me how long it took to churn it, then she went on to tell me about the butter SHE churned for some brownies she made. Insanity runs in families, for sure.
I made my butter from the raw milk I bought yesterday. I scooped the cream off the top with my vegan mom's ladle. Don't worry, Mom, I washed it with hot, soapy water. Along with all your other dishes that I used in this process. The little lumpy things in the cream that you see to the right of the ladle are my kefir grains.
I don't know exactly how much cream I started with - I would have measured it, but didn't want to lose any of the creamy deliciousness by having it stick to the side of a measuring cup; I was sad enough to lose the stuff that stuck to the ladle. I'm going to say I used a cup, cup and a half, something like that.The process was really quite simple. I used a big metal bowl, although I should have used the biggest one I had because the cream was splattering everywhere. I actually know better than this, but I was so intent on getting started that I wasn't really thinking. I used a hand mixer, mainly because I don't have a stand mixer. If you have one, I recommend you use it, it just saves on arm fatigue, but Mom's Oster did a good job.
Basically, making butter is like making whipped cream, but you keep whipping past the whipped cream stage. I remember making whip cream at family holidays. I was the official whipped cream maker, and every time I made it Grandma, Mom or one of her sisters would shout into the kitchen, "Don't whip it too long, it'll become butter!" Sure enough.
I got Mom's Oster up to high speed and just let it run, using a spatula to scrape the sides. First I got the soft peaks of whipped cream, then it began to get lumpier and less pretty. After a time little chunky bits began to poke up from the liquid as the water separated from the cream. I understand this is supposed to be buttermilk, but mine was quite thin, more like fat-free milk, so I'm not sure. Comments on this are welcome.
Once the buttermilk (for lack of a better word) was spattering out of the bowl uncontrollably, about a 1/2 hour into the process, I decided my butter was done. I used the spatula and pushed the lumpy butter against the side of the bowl, allowing the buttermilk to gather at the bottom. I poured this off into a container for later use in something yet to be determined.
I then scooped up the butter and packed it into a little dish. I ended up with about 1/2 a cup. A lot of people salt their butter, I do not. Mainly because I like to bake, and salted butter doesn't work well in baked goods.
I spread it on a good hunk of bread and, well ... I'll be making butter again.
Raw Milk
I found a raw milk source. I'm so excited I can barely stand it. Yes, I'm a hippie, despite all my cute shoes.
By and large, in this country it is against the law to sell raw milk commercially. I don't understand the myriad of rules in the various states regarding the sale of raw milks, so please don't email asking me, but feel free to gripe about it in the comments section below.
I know that I was able to buy raw milk in California at my local Whole Foods in Berkeley. I couldn't buy raw milk at a grocery anywhere in Florida. Here in Oregon I found raw goat's milk in a few of the health food stores, but no cow's milk. Go figure.
I did find a very nice farmer here in Eugene who sells raw Jersey cow milk. Her name is Paula, she has two cows and a pristine operation. We had a long discussion about cows and nutrition and the benefits of raw milk.
Paula has two cows. In addition to allowing them to graze freely on her 29 acres, she feeds them a feed mixture of her own making. She looked everywhere for a feed that didn't include soy or corn, but whenever she asked all she got was blank looks. Soy and corn are not not part of a cow's natural feed. Nor did nature intend humans to eat them in the quantities that we now do. They're used primarily as filler, and are both a source of allergies and create digestive problems. Don't believe me? cut them both out of your diet for awhile and see if you begin to feel better. Check food labels - you'll find one or another of them in almost all pre-packaged food items. In addition, they're two common food stuffs we have in our diet that have been heavily genetically modified. They are no longer a true whole food.
So why raw milk, you ask. When milk is pasteurized, it is super-heated, to kill off any bacteria that could potentially cause illness and to increase shelf-life. But the super-heating also kills off the beneficial bacteria, stripping the milk of it's best properties. Click here for a more detailed explanation.
I can hear a whole bunch of you right now protesting this - milk can carry diseases! Yes, it can. To produce raw milk there has to be strict adherence to cleanliness, and we're just not going to get this from large farms. It's too expensive and time-consuming, and will cut into their bottom line, our health be damned.
I'm not advocating anyone run out and buy raw milk and begin feeding it to their family, nor am I going to list the benefits of raw milk as a whole food - this is another of those subjects that must be researched and decided on by each individual. I do encourage this. Keep in mind, not all farmers are careful with their equipment, and just because one sells raw milk doesn't mean that milk is going to be clean. Ask around, research, know what you're looking for before you buy.
When I say "whole foods," I don't mean the grocery store
I've been threatening to write a blog on this subject for a long time. Well, I've been threatening to do a lot of things for a long time now ... but that's not my point ... I'm here now, so I'll just get to it.
Whenever the subject of nutrition comes up and I say something about whole foods people assume I'm talking about the grocery store. I'm not. I shop there sometimes, but like every other grocery I've ever been in, I can say that 90% of what they sell can be easily removed from everyone's diet. Here's the rule of thumb: if it comes in a bag, a box or a can, don't eat it. There's more, but that's a good start.
That said, I do love my junk food, but it's an abusive relationship. I eat the things I love - the boxed mac n' cheese, the Ben & Jerry's, tater tots ... mmm ... tater tots ... and seemingly, junk food loves me: I never really gain very much weight. But haha, the joke's on me. For me weight isn't the issue. Instead, when I'm off my whole foods diet and onto the basic American diet (which has and is quickly spreading to the rest of the world), I'm plagued by health issues.
Any of this sound familar: fatigue, sore joints, light-headedness, foggy thinking, mood swings, depression, anxiety, difficulty sleeping, (insert complaint here), the list goes on. Chronic diseases are rampant, and while I'm not a doctor and have no intention of issuing medical advice, I can say without a doubt that anyone experiencing any disease in their body and/or mind cannot hurt themselves by introducing more whole foods into their diet. Try it, your body will surprise you.
And I will now say something else that will upset a lot of people: doctors know almost nothing about nutrition. Do your own research, but stay away from the ridiculous, like: cure your cancer with the cabbage diet! Be smart, okay?
So what are whole foods, you ask. Whole foods are foods that are as close to their natural state as is possible - vegetables, fruits, whole grains, CLEAN meats and animal products. I steer clear of pre-cut and packaged veggies, and when I say clean meats, I mean animals that have lived comfortable lives and been fed their natural diet. Cows are not meant to eat corn and soy. Pigs should not be eating rendered animal parts. Chickens need bugs and greens. There's a lot of info on this subject, you'll have to google it.
This blog will focus mainly on my experiences with whole foods, my search for the right foods and my experiments as I learn to work with them to produce the things I love, but that will love me back with the gift of good health.
Whenever the subject of nutrition comes up and I say something about whole foods people assume I'm talking about the grocery store. I'm not. I shop there sometimes, but like every other grocery I've ever been in, I can say that 90% of what they sell can be easily removed from everyone's diet. Here's the rule of thumb: if it comes in a bag, a box or a can, don't eat it. There's more, but that's a good start.
That said, I do love my junk food, but it's an abusive relationship. I eat the things I love - the boxed mac n' cheese, the Ben & Jerry's, tater tots ... mmm ... tater tots ... and seemingly, junk food loves me: I never really gain very much weight. But haha, the joke's on me. For me weight isn't the issue. Instead, when I'm off my whole foods diet and onto the basic American diet (which has and is quickly spreading to the rest of the world), I'm plagued by health issues.
Any of this sound familar: fatigue, sore joints, light-headedness, foggy thinking, mood swings, depression, anxiety, difficulty sleeping, (insert complaint here), the list goes on. Chronic diseases are rampant, and while I'm not a doctor and have no intention of issuing medical advice, I can say without a doubt that anyone experiencing any disease in their body and/or mind cannot hurt themselves by introducing more whole foods into their diet. Try it, your body will surprise you.
And I will now say something else that will upset a lot of people: doctors know almost nothing about nutrition. Do your own research, but stay away from the ridiculous, like: cure your cancer with the cabbage diet! Be smart, okay?
So what are whole foods, you ask. Whole foods are foods that are as close to their natural state as is possible - vegetables, fruits, whole grains, CLEAN meats and animal products. I steer clear of pre-cut and packaged veggies, and when I say clean meats, I mean animals that have lived comfortable lives and been fed their natural diet. Cows are not meant to eat corn and soy. Pigs should not be eating rendered animal parts. Chickens need bugs and greens. There's a lot of info on this subject, you'll have to google it.
This blog will focus mainly on my experiences with whole foods, my search for the right foods and my experiments as I learn to work with them to produce the things I love, but that will love me back with the gift of good health.
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