Farm Fresh Foods throughout Florida

Heart Disease on the Rise: Could Grass-fed foods help?

August 5th, 2009

Heart Disease on the Rise:
Is the Prudent Diet of any Help?

There are reasons heart disease in the U.S. has increased dramatically in the last 50 years, and you may be surprised to find that they are not related to the consumption of saturated fat or your blood cholesterol levels.

In the early 1900s, heart disease was practically unheard of. By 1950, coronary heart disease, especially fatal clots that caused myocardial infarction (MI) or heart attacks, was the leading cause of death in the U.S., causing more than 30 percent of all deaths. By 1960, there were at least 500,000 heart disease deaths a year in the U.S. As of 2005 roughly one in five deaths was due to heart disease.

Why the increase?
Americans are living longer giving them more time to develop the disease, have more sedentary lifestyles, and are feeling the effects of years of cigarette smoking, but diet is the main contributing factor.

Back in the 1950s, we gave up our “natural” diets and started eating the way that food conglomerates, the American Heart Association and the government told us we should. Instead of using butter, lard and coconut oil for cooking, we ate the recommended vegetable oils, which contain heart-harming trans fats.

Americans were advised to follow the “Prudent Diet,” in which corn oil, margarine, chicken and cold cereal replaced butter, lard, beef and eggs. (The diet was based on the lipid hypothesis, which states: “saturated fat and cholesterol from animal sources raise cholesterol levels in the blood, leading to deposition of cholesterol and fatty material as pathogenic plaques in the arteries.”)

When asked to support the diet, Dr. Dudley White refused, saying: “Back in the MI-free days before 1920, the fats were butter and lard and I think that we would all benefit from the kind of diet that we had at a time when no one had ever heard the word corn oil.”

To decrease your risk of heart disease, include grass-fed beef, free-range poultry, organic eggs and produce, and raw dairy in your diet.

Sources:
http://www.westonaprice.org/knowyourfats/oiling.html

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Saturated Fats- Your Key to Health

August 3rd, 2009


The Truth about Saturated Fat and Cholesterol

We’ve all seen the countless warnings from the American Heart Association, American Medical Association, food conglomerates and our own doctors warning us to avoid eating saturated fat because of the “heart-disease-causing” cholesterol it contains. But have you ever stopped to ask why?

Since the dawn of time, humans have eaten a diet rich in animal fats such as butter, lard and tallow, which are loaded with saturated fatty acids.  So just what is a saturated fat?  These fats are straight chains of carbon and hydrogen that pack together easily. It is this feature that allows saturated fats to remain relatively solid at room temperature. Vegetable oils(polyunsaturated fats), however are missing various amounts of hydrogen connections and instead have a weaker double bond. Now here is the crucial part, these very same double bonds are weaker and prone to damage from heat, and excessive processing. This same weakness causes vegetable oils to form free radicals much more easily than very stable saturated fats. It is this process (free radical formation) that makes vegetable or seed oils like flaxseed go rancid. Free radicals damage results in inflammation, chronic inflammation is know recognized as the underlying cause of modern degenerative diseases.  Most saturated fat is of animal origins with the  exception of coconut oil which is a plant source of saturated fats. Grass-fed beef, free-range eggs, liver, raw dairy are excellent sources of these neglected nutrients.

So what are the facts?
•    In 1900, at least 35 percent of the calories in the American diet came from saturated dairy fats in the form of raw butter, cream and whole milk. Other sources were pastured eggs, natural pork and grass fed beef. During this time, heart disease was practically unheard of.

•    Research dating back to the 1950s indicates saturated fats are necessary for a strong immune system, healthy function of hormone levels and reproduction, for calcium to be used by the bones, and omega-3s to be used by the body properly.

•    Animal foods that contain saturated fat and cholesterol provide vital nutrients necessary for growth, energy and protection from degenerative disease. Dietary cholesterol helps strengthen the intestinal wall, which is why low-cholesterol diets can lead to intestinal disorders.

•    Cholesterol is essential for proper function of serotonin receptors in the brain. Serotonin is the body’s natural “feel-good” chemical. Low cholesterol levels have been linked to aggressive and violent behavior, depression and suicidal tendencies.

•    Mother’s milk is rich in cholesterol. Children need cholesterol-rich foods for proper brain and nervous system development.

So why is it that the United States spends more than $60 billion a year on cholesterol screening and cholesterol-lowering drugs even though a positive risk/benefit ratio for this treatment has never been established? Do your own research then…You decide!

Sources:
Cholesterol/Saturated Fats

“The Oiling of America” by Mary Enig, PhD, and Sally Fallon                                                            http://www.westonaprice.org/knowyourfats/oiling.html

Inflammation:                                                                                                            http://www.inflammationwellness.com/?cat=12 http://westonaprice.org/moderndiseases/hd.html

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Soy…and Male infertility?

August 2nd, 2009

In the rush to embrace soy foods some inconvenient facts are becoming more apparent. In particular soy foods have are been promoted as a safe alternative protein source for men.

In 2007 , scientists at the Harvard School of Public Health concluded ” that higher intake of soy foods and soy isoflavones is associated with lower sperm concentration.”  This conclusion was reached after an experiment they conducted showed that men eating just  half cup of soy foods  per day  resulted in 41 million fewer sperm per milliliter than men not consuming soy in their study.

I’ve addressed some gross inaccuracies made by Dr. Ian Smith in the interview above:

So called natural soy foods  he claims are safer (soy milk, edamame, and tofu). In reality these are the foods that provided  high levels of the sperm-reducing isoflavones. Especially if you are a vegan or vegetarian.  The real take home message is to avoid them period! http://www.westonaprice.org/soy/dangersisoflavones.html

Asian have been eating fermented soy foods in relatively small amounts.  Mostly in the form of condiments as soy sauce.  Also this was never the main source of food only in times of famine or in isolated places like their monasteries.  Soy was also eaten in the context of a traditional diet that had high levels of minerals which offsets soy’s negative impact. Take home message: Americans overeat soy foods and Asians never had the variety of fake soy foods as we have access to. Avoid them!

Soy lowers cholesterol:  This claim approved by the FDA “relied largely on a 1995 meta-analysis by Dr. James Anderson, sponsored by Soy Protein International and published in the New England Journal of Medicine”   Meta-analysis has come under fire for potentially supporting very unscientific claims . “Researchers substituting meta-analysis for more rigorous trials risk making faulty assumptions and indulging in creative accounting,” says Sir John Scott, President of the Royal Society of New Zealand.  Ronald M. Krauss, MD calls research that ties soy to lower levels of  cholesterol  “incredibly immature,” who is Senior Scientist Director, Atherosclerosis Research at Children’s Hospital Oakland Research Institute. Take home message: Don’t believe the hype!

Dr. Smith claims that 25-50 grams of soy is considered healthy.  Well research shows that  just 30 grams of soy daily resulted in significant suppression of thyroid function as measured by the rise of thyroid stimulating hormone. Y.Ishizuki, et al, “The effects on the thyroid gland of soybeans administered experimentally in healthy subjects”Nippon Naibunpi Gakkai Zasshi 1991,767:622-629

Take home message: Keep your soy consumption to a minimum if at all.


Soy’s negative effects are not limited to sperm counts.  In a study called ” Impact of Exposure to Endocrine Disruptors in utero and in childhood on Adult Reproduction”  the authors found that high levels of the genistein ( the plant estrogen found in soy) had feminizing effects on men.  This included breast development, and reduced sex drive due to a decrease in androgen’s.

The answer to this marketing hype is a dose of real food.  Food that humans have thrived on for millennia, grass-fed beef, free range chickens, eggs, butter, raw milk and a variety of produce.

For more info see:

http://westonaprice.org/soy/index.html

http://www.westonaprice.org/soy/dangersisoflavones.html

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Mysterious Skin disease connected to Genetically Modified Food

August 2nd, 2009

Just in case you thought it was fine to eat Genetically Modified foods (better identified as “FrankenFoods”), along comes a study which makes it clear that you are eating this make believe non-food at your own peril. In fact, the US has been trying for years to prevent the labeling of GM foods and seed in international trade to emulate its domestic policy which prohibits any label indication that foods contain GM ingredients, as 75-80% of all foods sold in the US do.

Morgellon’s Disease was first described when a woman’s 3 year old son developed rashes and intensely itchy sores which produced weird multicolor fibers emerging from his skin. She put up a website about the condition in 2001 and named it “Morgellons Disease” after a 17th century report of a similar affliction.

A study of the fibers shows that they contain DNA from both a fungus and a bacterium which are used in the commercial preparation of genetically modified foods and non-food crops (such as cotton). The fibers themselves are primarily cellulose, which the human body cannot breakdown or manufacture. So GM technology apparently has found a way to animate the non living. These fibers twist and twine, grow and divide. In short, living beneath the skin of people, they form parasitic lesions out of what should be non-living material

The symptoms are so unbearable that a number of people suffering from the disorder have committed suicide rather than deal with the unbearable pain, constant feeling of something very much like an insect crawling without stop beneath the skin and unbearable itching any longer. Of course, it is possible to speculate that the attitude of most physicians that the condition is a mental aberration rather than a physical one may not have helped these poor souls to cope with their affliction.

How wide spread is Morgellon’s Disease? Some registries have 1200 or more people but these registrants only represent those who have access to the internet and have stumbled across the registry sites. The disease produces material unlike anything most people have ever seen.

Original article posted by Rima E. Laibow, MD

http://www.healthfreedomusa.org/?p=599

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Traditional Diet for Babies

July 22nd, 2009
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What Should You Feed Your Baby?

Many parents wonder if it is safe to feed their babies raw milk. The answer is an emphatic YES, as long as you know the raw milk comes from a clean and reliable source.

It is also best if the milk comes from cows that eat a more natural diet of green grass, hay and root vegetables.

While mother’s milk is the most ideal for your baby, raw cow’s milk produced safely is not dangerous in spite of what public health propagandists have lead you to believe. Raw milk actually contains enzymes and antibodies that make it less susceptible to bacterial contamination than pasteurized milk, while many toxins that cause diarrhea and other ailments survive the pasteurization process. Raw milk is easier for your baby to digest than pasteurized and less likely to cause cramps, constipation and allergies.

Many doctors warn that feeding cereal grains to babies too early can lead to grain allergies. Because your baby’s digestive system is better equipped to supply enzymes for digestion of fats and proteins rather than carbohydrates, baby’s first solid foods should be animal foods.

Some experts recommend feeding an egg yolk per day, starting at four months. Eggs from pasture-fed hens are rich in the omega-3 long-chain fatty acids that may be lacking in cow’s milk. These fatty acids are essential for brain development.

Cod liver oil can also be added to baby’s foods for additional omega-3s and vitamin D.

Around 10 months of age, you can introduce meats such as grass-fed beef liver, and mashed fruits and vegetables, and raw buttermilk or yogurt. Avoid fruit juices, as they are mostly sugar.

Of course your baby will come in contact with processed junk foods sooner or later. But if you help your child develop a taste for nutritious foods in infancy then he or she will make better food choices for a healthier future.

nourishing-traditions1Source: Nourishing Traditions: The Cookbook that Challenges Politically Correct Nutrition and the Diet Dictocrats by Sally Fallon with Mary G. Enig, PhD.

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