Here is the post: Dude, That Isn’t Wax On Your Apple!

You might not be up to reading the entire thing, it is long and contains numerous links, especially to FDA articles which can be a real nightmare to decipher.

But the upshot is this: If you don’t grow it yourself, and you can’t get face-to-face with the farmer who grew it, you don’t know what is being applied to “protect you.” It might or might not wash off in veggie wash and it might or might not prove to be safe and health-supporting.

The number one goal of Local Nourishment is to encourage you to grow what you can, to source your food as close to your front door as possible, and to personally acquaint yourself with your food producers for what you purchase. I challenge you to take a list of the names of the films listed in realityblogger’s outstanding post to the produce manager of the stores you frequent and try to find out what is applied to your food. It may be he or she has no idea and has to do some research for him or herself. Take the same list to your farmers market (and by that I mean enforced producers market) and ask your farmer. I’ll bet he knows what he applies to your food, and I’ll double down that he or she will be happy to discuss it with you!

This post is part of Real Food Wednesday and Fight Back Friday.

Kate's Hand, 2009

If you’ve been visiting here for very long, you’ve probably heard about Kate’s struggles with hand eczema. It goes by several names like: dyshidrotic eczema, pompholyx, acute vesiculobullous hand eczema, and dyshidrotic dermatitis.

The medical establishment is not the least interested in addressing this perplexing condition. It is not a big moneymaker because 1) so few of the population suffer from it and 2) it is usually brought on by allergies, a difficult and frustrating diagnostic at best. So, those of us who have this horrible condition go it alone.

My sister and I had it as children and teens, but never severely enough to warrant medical attention. My daughter has a moderate case, often severe enough that the blisters become infected and scar. I have seen some serious cases online and it is my goal to help Kate avoid that if I can.

How we support Kate nutritionally through careful avoidance of allergens helped quite a bit. Removal of her braces (and the nickel in them that she was reacting to) helped for a while. But there was always something that made the allergy come back every year around her February birthday and last until her summer volunteering job was over in August. I still haven’t identified the allergen, but it’s late April and I’m confident that we have found something that helps!

Here is Kate’s hand today (oddly, she has only ever had the rash on her right hand!)

She has one small patch broken out between her index and middle finger, but it isn’t open, oozing or bleeding. And that’s all! What’s made the difference?

Back around Christmas I read a post about amber teething necklaces and how the succinic acid they contain can break a cycle of chronic inflammation. I immediately thought of my oldest daughter, of the bone in her forearm that has been broken three times and the pain and stiffness she has when the weather turns nasty. But then I remembered that allergies are inflammatory responses! Could Kate’s hand eczema be improved by wearing amber near the inflammation?

Kate (and Blair) got amber bracelets for Christmas and have been wearing them 24/7 taking them off only to shower. Blair no longer complains about stiffness in her arm and hand before a rainstorm and the difference in Kate’s skin is nothing short of shocking. I wanted her to take the bracelet off for a month to see if the symptoms returned, but I can’t pry it off her wrist. She is so thrilled to not have a “leprous hand” anymore!

I don’t know if it will help you, and I don’t claim to understand all the science behind it. But I am absolutely sold. There are many places that sell Baltic Amber bracelets, eBay and Etsy included, but I didn’t want to pay for Baltic Amber and get brown-colored resin. I purchased my bracelets from Inspired by Finn and can highly recommend their products and service. I receive no compensation for this mention.

Above all, if you suffer from an ignored medical condition, keep the faith. Keep trying new things to find relief because it could come in a most surprising way! This post is part of Fight Back Friday, hosted by Food Renegade.

I saw this new drink called “KeVita” the last time I was out and about and picked two up. The basis for the beverage is coconut water kefir, a drink I make at home and really enjoy in the summertime. Coconut water has some great health benefits, then when it is cultured with water kefir grains, it becomes a real powerhouse of probiotics.

I tried KeVita’s lemon ginger and strawberry acai varieties. I wasn’t at all fond of the lemon ginger variety. The strawberry acai was better, and the coconut water was clearly discernable, but it was way too sweet. I’m sure it was formulated for soda-drinkers and the American syrupy-sweet palate, but I was hoping for a light sweetness like what my own coconut kefir yields.

The ingredient panel wasn’t shockingly bad:

Purified Water, organic KeVita Probiotic Culture, Coconut Water, Organic Strawberry Puree, Organic Apple Cider Vinegar, Organic Acai Puree, Malic Acid, Organic Coconut Flavor, Organic Strawberry Flavor, Inulin (Chicory root), Vitamin C, Organic Stevia, Grape Seed Extract.

But so many of these ingredients are just unnecessary! I probably won’t try the other varieties (the $3.50 sticker price isn’t something I feel I need to put out for 16 ounces of something I can make better at home) but KeVita reminded me how much I enjoy coconut kefir.

If you’ve never made coconut kefir water at home, let me encourage you: it takes 5 minutes of active prep time, tastes wonderful and has some real health benefits. The method I use can be found at the Nourishing Gourmet‘s site.

This post is part of Real Food Wednesday, hosted by Kelly the Kitchen Kop.

wtf?! i may have to write a new verse of my song...kombucha, i'm gonna miss yaaa by Shira Golding, on Flickr

There was quite an uproar last week when Whole Foods pulled kombucha off its shelves. Those stung by the recent removal of raw milk complained that it was another “corporate sell out to fear of litigation.” Some said they weren’t surprised, that anything containing “that much” alcohol should be regulated lest we poison the kids. Others called those who have received a light buzz off a bottle of kombucha a bunch of fakers.

There was no kombucha on the shelves Wednesday when I did the shopping. I asked my local health food store (NOT a Whole Foods Market) and was referred to a website that contains a lot of good information about this issue, including regular updates and information about affected brands.

But it’s time to set the record straight. This was not a matter of litigation fear. It started when Lindsey Lohan’s SCRAM-shackle (a court-ordered device measuring alcohol content in the blood) blared an alarm on June 5 that there was alcohol in her bloodstream after the MTV Movie Awards. The actress swore she had only been drinking kombucha, and that’s what caught the attention of the grand poohbahs at Whole Foods. A corporate giant pulling a hot seller from the shelves got the Alcohol and Tobacco Tax and Trade Bureau talking to the FDA, who decided they needed to intervene.

On June 16, UNFI (United Natural Foods, Inc., a major distributor of natural, organic and specialty foods) halted the sale of kombucha products and recommended the same to their member retailers. A statement issued yesterday by the Alcohol and Tobacco Tax and Trade Bureau  (TTB) frames the issue more as a labeling problem than anything:

TTB plans to take samples of kombucha products from the marketplace and test their alcohol content in order to determine if the products are labeled in compliance with Federal law. If TTB finds alcohol beverages that are not labeled in accordance with Federal law, we will take appropriate steps to bring them into compliance. TTB will consult with FDA to ensure that the affected products comply with applicable Federal laws. If the testing results from this labeling initiative indicate potential violations of the IRC, they will be referred to the appropriate office within TTB for further investigation, as necessary.

Right now, I imagine most brands are scrambling to test and submit data, as well as working on possible label redesign. I envision the legal departments of kombucha brewers burning the midnight oil. But it doesn’t look like FDA wants to permanently remove kombucha from the marketplace just yet.

So, what will you do? Will you home brew? Give up your habit? If FDA comes back and says it’s too alcoholic for sale in grocery and health food stores, will you still buy it? Would you go to a liquor store to buy it if that is the only place you can get it?

This post is part of Fight Back Fridays, hosted by Food Renegade.

Four heads of lettuce, three cucumbers, a bunch of parsley, a box of sugar snap peas, four onions, two heads of broccoli, two pints of blueberries and three gallons of milk

Two more gallons of milk, three packages each of beef jerky and snack sticks (like Slim Jims), two packages hot dogs, two pounds of ground beef, two pounds of freshly ground peanut butter

Four dozen eggs, some chive/onion cheddar, three pints of (non-ultrapasteurized) cream, a wedge of aged cheddar

The snack sticks and jerky are something I like to keep around in summer. Very often it’s too hot to eat a meal at lunchtime, but I know the kids won’t make it until dinner on an empty stomach. They are made from grassfed beef and are nitrite/nitrate-free. Same goes for the hot dogs. There are times you just need a hot dog, you know? If we have any leftover baked beans from dinner tonight, I’ll probably chop up some hot dogs and add them in to punch up the leftovers a little. I’m going to use the chive/onion cheddar on quesadillas one lunch this week. I bought two baskets of blueberries: one for eating and one for muffins. Any leftovers will get pureed and frozen for smoothies or adding to popsicles.

Our market is growing. Each week there seem to be more producers, and within each producer’s area there are more items and greater variety. Late spring is such a great time to eat!

Stanley Tucci by califrayray, on Flickr

If I were to make a movie, there are certain actors that would be my first choice. Stanley Tucci is one of them. When I think about his ability to disappear into a role and make it his own, I’m amazed. I remember seeing him first in “thirtysomething,” a TV show I watched every week. But it was his portrayal of Lucky Luciano in “Billy Bathgate” that really got my attention. I saw him again and again in small roles in “Mrs. Parker and the Vicious Circle,” “It Could Happen to You,” and “The Pelican Brief.” His role in “Big Night” next to Tony Shaloub was painfully sweet, and his slick but evil “trust me” character in the television series “Murder One” was very complex.

I could go on for pages, but I’ll spare you and fast-forward to “Julie and Julia” in which he plays the patient, loving, silently-strong husband of Meryl Streep’s Julia Child. He is earning critical acclaim for this role, and not only on the coattails of Ms. Streep and Amy Adams.

In a recent interview with Brad Balfour at the Huffington Post, the following exchange takes place:

Q: What would you have asked the people you played in this film if you had the chance?

ST: I’d like to ask them how they lived so long eating what they ate. I’m convinced that they both had two livers. I’d just be curious.

I had to laugh when I read his response because it is a common response to the real food diet espoused by the dietary guidelines of the Weston A. Price foundation. Many people are shocked by the amounts of saturated fat, cholesterol and dairy in the guidelines, but don’t read on to the details of the recommendations.

It’s saturated fat from grassfed herbivores, not herbivores fed inappropriate diets and held in captivity with no light or fresh air. It’s not just cholesterol for the sake of cholesterol, it’s eggs from pastured chickens on grass, synthesizing vitamin D in their own bodies and passing it down to their progeny without the need for prophylactic antibiotics. It’s not just dairy, it’s raw milk, unpasteurized, fresh, from trusted sources who know what they are doing.

Take a copy of Nourishing Traditions to a mega-grocery-store and purchase eggs to consume raw, dead milk from which to ferment kefir, ultrapasteurized cream to make creme fraiche, and antibiotic-laden meat to consume regularly and occasionally raw, and you have a nutritional and culinary recipe for disaster. Absolutely, eating eggs is important, and if pastured isn’t available, a grocery store egg is better than none, but there is no way I’d recommend anyone eat one raw!

To me, the dietary guidelines of WAPF require careful consideration, thought and planning and not a laissez-faire attitude toward food. The good news is, once you’ve acquired the knowledge and made the leap from CAFO to grassfed, ultrapasteurized to raw, processed to fresh, the learning curve smooths out considerably.

Mr. Tucci, you don’t need two livers to eat the traditional diet of your forebears. You don’t even need an extra trip to the gym. You’re already a food-lover, would you be interested in a role as an advocate promoting real food? Have your people call my people. Let’s do lunch.

This post is part of Fight Back Fridays, hosted by Food Renegade.

Here’s my tip: they can choose anything they want from the produce department. It doesn’t have to be organic, it doesn’t have to be local, it can be exotic like rambutan, something we used to eat that we don’t anymore like a banana, or something as common as an apple. It’s their choice. I’m always amused, but frequently shocked by their choices. One week, my teen was having serious mushroom cravings and picked a box of enoki mushrooms! My youngest is a real adventurer, not only choosing the most exotic item she can find, but coming home and Googling it to see what it is and how to prepare it! My middle girl is enticed by “convenience” so it’s the already-prepped fruit salad for her. My son almost always gets a small bag of grapes.

I didn’t originally plan it for health reasons, it was more a budget thing. In the produce department you can get single-servings of food. On the cookie aisle, the packages are much larger. But as I became more aware of the ingredients, I was so glad we started this habit. The kids aren’t tempted by the candy at the checkout, I don’t have to hear the “gimmes” and they are experiencing unusual, but real food!

This post is part of Fight Back Fridays, hosted by Food Renegade.

jeopardy kid by tinrey, on Flickr

Jeopardy is one of the few television shows we watch regularly. We watch it twice a day, as a family. There was an organic farmer as a recent champion. Please forgive me if I can’t remember if the contestant was on the current or rerun episode we watched. During the interview portion of the show, Alex Trebek asked, “Are organics really more nutritious?” The contestant answered, “It depends on the study.”

I turned to hubby and said, “Conventional is SO much more nutritious! I can think of at least two things conventional has that organic doesn’t—pesticides and herbicides! Atrazine is edible, right? That’s why they put it on our food?”

Alex asked the wrong question.

Research is controlled like the fox watching the henhouse. Subsidies make sure the money flows toward the least nutritious foods. Monocropped GMOs guarantee the most inputs applied in the greatest quantity over the largest possible acreage. Nutrition may be a personal choice, but the rate at which we are losing topsoil and fouling our waterways is shocking.

I want to encourage you to become a personal activist this year. You don’t need to join a group, send money, hold a picket sign, or even write a single letter (although all those things are beneficial if you have the time, finances and passion.) Just make a personal choice.

Choose local. Choose organic. Choose biodynamic. Really think your way through your next shopping trip instead of tossing the same stuff as always in your cart. Leave the kids home just this once and read the labels. Find a blog to follow (like Civil Eats or La Vida Locovore) where you can get food news. Read a book, listen to a podcast. Do something to educate yourself about the issues, then decide on an action to take and take it. Change just one thing.

You might find change addicting in a good way!

chicken factory by Joe Dunckley, on Flickr

Here‘s a fascinating look into the life of a cage-free laying hen.

First, notice the buildings, not yards. Then down the page a little further, how tightly jammed the chickens are against each other.

From the text:

Here, in long plywood-sided barns with metal roosts hanging from wires and pine shavings on the floor, the Hy-Line breed of chicks spend their first 15 weeks of life scurrying around and eating a blend of corn, soybeans, canola oil, flax seed, limestone, calcium and more.

When you take the bird out of the sunshine, they stop making vitamin D for themselves and their eggs. Their production of Omega-3 oils drops and it must be added back in via their feed. So, roll out the genetically modified corn, soy and canola!

The 330-foot-long structures can be loud with an undulating chorus of clucks and coos, and hens occupy nearly every sliver of space, standing on perches, jerking their way around on the floor, drinking water and flapping their wings and tucking their beaks into their chests and sleeping.

That’s a football field long, hens occupying “nearly every sliver of space.” Do they ever get to open their wings and stretch? What are they breathing?

It’s warm in the egg houses, and pungent with the smell of chicken manure…

“Pungent” indeed.

Visitors must wear specially designed jumpsuits, and cover their shoes with plastic bags, to prevent them from bringing disease into the barns.

What does this say about the chickens’ immune system? Are they so frail that they would become ill being exposed to the healthy bacteria a foraging chicken would consume as they scratch for bugs on the ground? If their systems are so weak, would their chicks also exhibit this weakness? Is it a trait passed on through their genes, and therefore present in their eggs? When we consume these “weak” eggs, what impact will that have on us?

The birds don’t go outside, but they do sometimes walk down long, metal ramps to the “scratch area,” a long room with sand on the floor. All of the birds are free to descend into the scratch room, where they “dust” — lie on their sides and kick up sand. Chickens dust to coat their feathers in dirt and sand, which helps rid them of parasites.

Only a few hundred chickens tend to hang out in the scratch area, where they have the run of the place, compared with the barn above, where thousands of chickens congregate.

Only a few hundred take advantage of the extra room to move, the dusting that keeps their feathers and skin healthy, and the decreased stench. Why is that?

Hatcher said most stay upstairs because of proximity to food and water.

Or, perhaps it is because the first several weeks of life are spent in this house and the birds never “find” the scratching area once they are adults.

The scratch area, the perches, the absence of cages, the nests — all of it helps Morning Fresh Farms achieve certification from American Humane, a Denver organization that inspects, evaluates and certifies farm operations that treat their animals humanely.

It also allows them to sell their eggs as “cage-free.”

And here, I’ll bet you thought “cage-free” meant happy, healthy chickens in the sun and fresh air, scratching for insects and fed healthy grains.

Most of the Morning Fresh Farms eggs are sold under the Eggland’s Best brand, but other companies, too, buy the eggs and brand them with their own labels.

Packed into flats and cartons, slapped with labels, stored in refrigerated rooms, the eggs have 30 days before they must be sold.

Wow. 30 days. That’s one old egg.

So, let’s sum up:

• Cage-free means no cage, but also no sunlight
• Cage-free means GMO feed, “enhanced” by probably rancid Omega-3 oils to make up for the loss of healthful oils the chicken would make for itself given proper care
• Cage-free means eggs stored for up to 30 days before sale
• Cage-free means you pay more for the label and the Omega-3 enhancement
• Cage-free means you are voting for more of the same with your food dollar

I can find a dozen pastured chicken eggs for $3 at my Farmer’s Market. There really is no comparison in looks or taste to old, grocery store eggs. If you haven’t tried real eggs yet, why not go search some out for your holiday baking? Be sure you scramble, fry or boil a couple to taste, too. I think you’ll be pleased. I know the chickens will be!

This post is part of Fight Back Fridays, hosted by Food Renegade.

Enjoy your holiday cookies, but be sure you are alarmed about the health risks of doing it!

I read this article when it first appeared on newswires: Study Finds That “Sustainable” Food Isn’t So Sustainable.

For the most part, it had some interesting information and was great fodder for discussion among my family. It certainly challenged our critical thinking skills. There were a few “results” of the study that stuck in my brain like splinters, though.

Supposedly, these researchers didn’t just study food miles, or ocean acidity, but “everything.” Remember that old test-taking strategy: “Qualifiers like ‘never, always, and every’ mean that the statement must be true all of the time. Usually these type of qualifiers lead to a false answer.” That seems to be a safe assumption here as well.

Let’s start here:

Reducing the amount of animal-derived inputs to feeds (e.g. fish meals and oils along with livestock derived meals) in favor of plant-based feed inputs can markedly reduce environmental impacts.

Sounds reasonable, but let’s think about it for a minute. Because we don’t know (no one does, not even experts) the long-term damage to the environment (or our own bodies) resulting from GMO plant production, plant-based feed inputs would almost certainly increase environmental impacts. More GMO corn and soy means more monocropping, more glyphosate in the environment, more pesticide-resistant weeds, and more genetic pollution. I find it hard to fathom how plant inputs could be in any way considered sustainable.

At the point that fish are removed from their natural surroundings and fed man-made “inputs” rather than food, the animals’ body begins to work differently, less efficiently and perhaps dangerously (think: fish CAFO).

Soymeal-fed salmon is already in the markets. You’ll notice a little “color added” notation to the price sticker. That’s because farmed salmon which are fed soy meal don’t produce the pink color you would normally expect in salmon meat. The pink has to be added back in to make the fish “look” right. Does that make it right? Does it contain the same chemical and nutrient composition as salmon that makes its own “pink?”

I’m not saying the feed should be animal-based, I’m saying it should be what is natural for them in their environment. Feeding fish GM soy and corn (the cheapest, subsidized and therefore most likely suspects) would significantly alter their body functions, perhaps making them less suitable for human consumption. This alteration could have long-term effects on their environment as well, something we cannot predict or plan for.

But that’s nitpicking compared to my beef with this statement:

Driving to the store alone and then cooking alone at home has a big environmental impact. Going out to dinner more, or just eating more frequently with friends and family at home, has huge benefit.

Whoa. Did I read that right? Dining out is a more sustainable food model than cooking or dining at home?

This is the kind of message that has taught our children that Sugar Bombs cereal is “part of this complete, balanced breakfast.” Restaurants are wonderful, but do we really need to eat out more than we already do for the sake of “sustainability?” Is it sustainable to have others prepare your food, control your portions, mix sustainable seafood with unsustainable and unhealthful canola oil and irradiated seasonings and MSG, charge you twice what it would cost you to prepare it at home and create increased food waste by their preparation and disposal methods?

I realize the authors intended point was that an oven turned on for fourteen minutes at 350° to cook one serving of fish uses the same amount of energy as an oven turned on for fourteen minutes at 350° to cook eight servings of fish, and is therefore eight times less efficient. I have no argument with the “dining with friends and family” part of the scenario. Shared meals have a long, rich tradition in human history, and far better for society, health and environment to share a meal slowly than to eat in front of the TV or in the car on your way from point A to point B.

It’s a very rare meal in my house that requires a trip to the grocery store for a single ingredient. The drive to the store and back most often is a single weekly trip, carrying food for no less than 20 meals. How does that stack up next to the driving associated with a trip to and from a restaurant for a single meal?

When reading studies and articles by “experts,” I think it is vitally important to understand that we don’t know everything. We can’t possibly take every scenario into account: that’s the law of unintended consequences. It’s also good to bring a healthy dose of skepticism and not check your brain at the door.

This post is part of Prevention Not Prescriptions and Real Food Wednesday.