Real Food Real Medicine Conference Day 3

This was a fantastic day. I had a couple of favorite discussions. The first was the portion of the conference where Sally Fallon shared some of her food and cooking tips. There is nothing like getting questions answered directly by the expert. For example, what oil should I use to make mayonnaise when extra virgin olive oil has too strong a flavor? Sesame oil. What is the longest time a person should leave sauerkraut on the counter to ferment? About a week. How do I keep my fermenting pickles crisp? Add an oak leaf. It was such a fun experience!

Go here for the PowerPoint for the cooking with Sally part of her presentation and click on the second PowerPoint: http://www.newtrendspublishing.com/NTDVD/index.php

Here are a couple of other food tidbits.

• The ingredient that allows ice cream, even organic ice cream, to become soft when warming is edible anti-freeze. Here are some links discussing it: http://www.fitnessforoneandall.com/nutrition/emails/antifreeze.htm

  http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2008/01/080114100258.htm

• One of the ingredients in Ensure, the drink for older people, is glue.

• Fruit and vegetables are not necessary for health. They are not a nutrient dense food, but Sally loves them because they are a great vehicle for eating fat. Lots and lots of butter, lard, or olive oil.

• Sally puts a half stick of butter on her oatmeal. She often fries fruit in her bacon grease, with bacon coming from pasture-raised, hormone-free, antibiotic-free pigs. Small farmers produce these kinds of animals, and the organic meat sold organically at large health food stores and supermarkets often is not raised in such a health way.
  

• When people blame American obesity on lack of exercise, Sally responds that traditional cultures sit a lot. Western cultures exercise more. In traditional cultures, the men prepare their hunting weapons and chat. The women sit and make clothes and food. They have high amounts of exercise for short bursts, and then sit. It is similar to Joel Salatin’s paradigm of short amounts of disruption lead to the greatest growth. An Australian study of aborigines that stayed on their lands versus those that moved to the city showed faster declining health for those in the city who exercised more than those in the outback who lived a more traditional lifestyle. The difference was about the food, not the amount of exercise.

• Americans who live to old age and are vibrant were born when Americans still ate nutritious food.

• Today the average lifespan in the U.S. is 69. Parents will start outliving their children due to the increases in processed food.

• Bone broth calms the nerves.

• Homemade soup in a restaurant is often made from a base. The base is loaded with MSG. Do not eat it.

• MSG results in weight gain. MSG is high in soy foods because it is created during processing. AVOID MSG!

• Agave syrup is highly processed and should not be used.

• Sally’s top three heavy metal concerns are aluminum cookware, amalgam fillings, and fluoride.

• Sally’s top three fake food concerns are MSG, which is often not labeled and hidden as flavorings or spices in processed food, Hydrolyzed protein, and Aspartame.

• All commercial breakfast cereals are bad for your health because they are extruded, creating toxins and modifying their nutrient content. They are anti-nutrients. Organic breakfast cereal is worse in some ways than non-organic because it contains the grain’s bran, which is not properly prepared and prevents the absorption of nutrients.

• Organic eggs are not necessarily good eggs. Buy your eggs from a farmer whose chickens are outside eating a natural diet, which is not the case for the chickens from the large organic egg producers. Check out the egg slide in Sally’s PowerPoint mentioned above.

• Organically-raised cows often live in unnatural conditions, not seeing the outside or eating grass and other vegetation. Their milk is inferior to pasture-raised cows.

• The book Excitotoxins by Russel Blaylock is worth reading.

• Be kind and forgiving to yourself and others. Sally stated the usual reasons for this recommendation, but then added one that I do not think about. Anger and frustration cause the stomach to contract and not properly digest the good food you are putting into it!

Earlier in the morning, Sally and Ruth Ann Foster debated the North Carolina State Epidemiologist and a veterinarian who studied raw milk-related food illness outbreaks at the CDC. Sally and Ruth Ann maintained their composure and professionalism, as did the doctors, but it was no contest. I have been a government watchdog, both inside and outside government, for 20 years, and this was a very gratifying exchange, with Sally and Ruth Ann easily carrying the day.

Sally’s presentation was well documented and researched. The two doctors’ presentations only told part of the story and were not well documented. The doctors tried to play up that there have been 80 incidents of raw milk-related illness outbreaks (affects at least two people) in the United States from 1993 through 2007. What they did not say until pressed by the audience, was that these outbreaks account for only 3% of all salmonella outbreaks in the U.S. The number one cause was raw fish, and I believe they said that it is responsible for 24% of outbreaks. The state epidemiologist said that it is his job to keep people safe from raw milk, especially kids, because they do not have a choice when that is what their parents give to them. He did not seem overly worried about the incidence of raw fish. Note that there are other pathogens that can be transmitted in all of our food besides salmonella.

Sally cleaned up on the epidemiologist, citing the many ways in which the data collection and analysis were perverted and how she is gearing up for legal action if better methods and fair treatment are not implemented. Sally gave example after example of raw milk producers who produce clean, pathogen-free milk and cheese. Sally said that the contamination comes from a source other than the farmers, and gave examples of farmers accused of providing raw milk that causes illness who have been vindicated by the government agencies. Unfortunately, the government agencies leave the false information available on the internet and continue to spread misinformation.

A data collection trick that health investigators use to skew data so that raw milk appears to cause illness is to ignore reports of food-caused illness until someone who uses raw dairy reports illness. The actual cause of illness is not raw milk, but raw milk appears to be the cause because the investigators do not take the illness report from non-raw milk users. The cause could be hotdogs, salad, or many other products.

Another of the data collection problems involves the health investigators trying to blame the farmers, but the contamination occurs at a point when the milk leaves the farmer’s custody, such as in someone’s kitchen. Sally estimates that a person is 2,000 times more likely to contract illness from foods other than raw milk.

Sally says that she has faith in properly collected raw milk. It is a living food with probiotics that kill pathogens. The epidemiologist said that homogenized milk was just as good as raw milk from a nutrition standpoint, and the Sally thoroughly rebutted him. I do not think the epidemiologist understands food. I grew up drinking three or four glasses of pasteurized milk a day. I had osteopenia diagnosed at age 30, when I seemed very fit and lifting heavy weights. It was a stunning diagnosis that was repeated six years later. Now that I drink raw milk, eat bone broth and take butter oil and cod liver oil, I literally watch my teeth mineralize (go from opaque transparency to non-transparent) for the first time. Obviously all of that pasteurized milk I drank as a child did not nourish me.

Go to www.westonaprice.org and www.realmilk.com to learn more.

Comments

[Courtney]

"I have been a government watchdog, both inside and outside government, for 20 years,"

Just curious....how so?

[FoodRenegade]

What a thorough review of the day's events. Thanks for sharing!

[Laura Combs]

I worked for the Florida environmental regulatory agency for nine years. When promoted through the agency I had the good fortune to have support from my supervisors (who took a lot of heat) and was able to stand up to other government agencies and internal programs when they were not doing their jobs.

When I left government I worked for an environmental non-profit and was involved with several federal and state lawsuits. I also lobbied against bad legislation. In Florida under the double Bush administration (Jeb was the Governor) there was very, very little good legislation to support.

I continue to consult to Florida non-profits to try and ensure that government enforces its laws. I am fortunate to have government insiders who provide me needed information.

[Courtney]

Neat! You're in an enviable position, then. What do you think of the orange juice article somebody posted on HMN?

[Ann Duncan]

FABULOUS postings, Laura! Thank you SO much for giving us the scoop on the Real Food Real Medicine conference. I definitely will be passing this info on. And I definitely will be promoting your blog!

Blessings!

Ann