egg whites

I had a long trip down to NC yesterday for medical stuff, and overslept so there was no time to make a proper breakfast.

On the run, I broke one of my rules and went through McD's for an Egg McMuffin. The 'special' offer was an "egg white McMuffin" which I declined.

True, the egg whites are high in protein, but the real value in eggs is the yolk. More so if the eggs are from free-range hens. That means truly free range, like from a local farmer who has a dozen or so hens that are outside all day, not the factories that have a small dorr to allow hundreds of hens access to the cement outside. I never buy nutritionally deficient factory eggs anymore... I'd rather do without.

Almost all of the ever-important nutrients like DHA, folate, choline and the essential vitamins like A, D, E, K-2, B-6, & B-12 live in the yolk rather than the white.

Makes me wonder why the spiel, and what are they doing with all the yolks?

Micro Greens

 

Beet and Kale microgreens from NPR

Micro greens are something I can actually chew, and love, so salads are finally on my menu again!! 

Not only that, they are 4-6 times more nutrient-dense than larger greens of the same varieties. Microgreens could easily be confused with sprouts, but they're not the same thing. Sprouts are seeds germinated in water just long enough (usually 48 hours) to grow roots, a stem and pale, underdeveloped leaves. Microgreens, on the other hand, need at least 7 days to grow before you can harvest them. Source

Six years ago I went through all the pre-testing for a liver transplant and as part of the process they pulled all of my teeth (except 6 in the lower front). Medicare will NOT pay for dentures (nor hearing aids and eyeglasses) so I'm nearly toothless, making chewing many things a problem. What I've missed the most is salads, because the lettuce leaves are so thin they are difficult to chew, and blenderized salads do NOT appeal to me!

Several weeks ago I bought some micro greens at the farmer's market, and not only can I chew them, the taste is just terrific! They were expensive to buy, so I just ordered 1/4 pound each (minimum order) of mild and spicy mix, great for beginners, from Johnny's Selected Seeds. I can grow them all winter long on a window sill in my LR in a small flat, so it's a Win-Win.

After I see how I do with the beginner mixes, I will branch out to making my own mix of greens and herbs. 

Johnny's has some great information on how to grow them, varieties available, and mixes for beginners. 

"Micro Greens are the leaves of certain vegetables and herbs harvested when quite young, generally at the first-true-leaf stage of growth. In cuisine, micro greens are added to gourmet salads, sprinkled over entreés, or used for garnish. They can be marketed as individual components or in signature blends, combining a number of varieties with different flavors, colors, and textures."

Basics of Growing Micro Greens

Micro Greens Comparison Chart

Herb Varieties for Micro Greens

ps... if you do an internet search for "micro greens recipe" you will find hundreds!

Agave Nectar

Recently, a friend gave me a bottle of agave nectar, saying how much she loved it. I haven't opened it, but did do some research out of curiosity. Turns out it has more fructose than HFCS.

Since I'm still recuperating and not up to doing much yet, here's the whole reprint:

Agave Nectar: Good or Bad?

http://www.foodrenegade.com/agave-nectar-good-or-bad/

The short answer to that reader’s question is simple: agave nectar is not a “natural sweetener.” Plus, it has more concentrated fructose in it than high fructose corn syrup. Now, let’s get into the details.

Agave Nectar Is Not A Natural Sweetener

Once upon a time, I picked up a jar of “Organic Raw Blue Agave Nectar” at my grocery store. It was the first time I’d ever seen the stuff in real life, and the label looked promising. After all, words like “organic,” “raw,” and “all natural” should mean something. Sadly, agave nectar is neither truly raw, nor is it all natural.

Based on the labeling, I could picture native peoples creating their own agave nectar from the wild agave plants. Surely, this was a traditional food, eaten for thousands of years. Sadly, it is not.

Native Mexican peoples do make a sort of sweetener out of the agave plant. It’s called miel de agave, and it’s made by boiling the agave sap for a couple of hours. Think of it as the Mexican version of authentic Canadian maple syrup.

But this is not what most so-called “agave nectar” is. According to one popular agave nectar manufacturer, “Agave nectar is a newly created sweetener, having been developed in the 1990s.” In a recent article now posted on the Weston A. Price foundation’s website, Ramiel Nagel and Sally Fallon Morell write,

    Agave “nectar” is not made from the sap of the yucca or agave plant but from the starch of the giant pineapple-like, root bulb. The principal constituent of the agave root is starch, similar to the starch in corn or rice, and a complex carbohydrate called inulin, which is made up of chains of fructose molecules.Technically a highly indigestible fiber, inulin, which does not taste sweet, comprises about half of the carbohydrate content of agave.

    The process by which agave glucose and inulin are converted into “nectar” is similar to the process by which corn starch is converted into HFCS. The agave starch is subject to an enzymatic and chemical process that converts the starch into a fructose-rich syrup—anywhere from 70 percent fructose and higher according to the agave nectar chemical profiles posted on agave nectar websites.

Compare that to the typical fructose content of high fructose corn syrup (55%)!

In a different article, Rami Nagel quotes Russ Bianchi, managing director and CEO of Adept Solutions, Inc., a globally recognized food and beverage development company, on the similarities between agave nectar and high fructose corn syrup:

    They are indeed made the same way, using a highly chemical process with genetically modified enzymes. They are also using caustic acids, clarifiers, filtration chemicals and so forth in the conversion of agave starches into highly refined fructose inulin that is even higher in fructose content than high fructose corn syrup.

So there you have it. Agave nectar is not traditional, is highly refined, and actually has more concentrated fructose than high-fructose corn syrup. It is not a “natural” sweetener. Thus far, the evidence definitely points toward the conclusion: Agave Nectar = Bad.

“But,” you ardent agave nectar enthusiasts say, “agave nectar has a low glycemic index. I’m a diabetic, and it’s the only sweetener I can use!”

What’s wrong with fructose?

First, we need to clarify something. Concentrated fructose is not found in fruit, or anywhere else in nature. When the sugar occurs in nature, it is often called “levulose” and is accompanied by naturally-occurring enzymes, vitamins, minerals, fiber, and fruit pectin.  Concentrated fructose, on the other hand, is a man-made sugar created by the refining process. To clarify:

    Saying fructose is levulose is like saying that margarine is the same as butter. Refined fructose lacks amino acids, vitamins, minerals, pectin, and fiber. As a result, the body doesn’t recognize refined fructose. Levulose, on the other hand, is [fructose] naturally occurring in fruits, and is not isolated but bound to other naturally occurring sugars. Unlike man-made fructose, levulose contains enzymes, vitamins, minerals, fiber, and fruit pectin. Refined fructose is processed in the body through the liver, rather than digested in the intestine. Levulose is digested in the intestine. (source http://www.naturalnews.com/024892_fructose_food_health.html )

I want you to pay special attention to those last two sentences, for they are a huge key that will help unlock the mystery of why fructose is bad for you.

Because fructose is digested in your liver, it is immediately turned into triglycerides or stored body fat. Since it doesn’t get converted to blood glucose like other sugars, it doesn’t raise or crash your blood sugar levels. Hence the claim that it is safe for diabetics.

But it isn’t.

That’s because fructose inhibits leptin levels — the hormone your body uses to tell you that you’re full. In other words, fructose makes you want to eat more. Besides contributing to weight gain, it also makes you gain the most dangerous kind of fat.

This has been verified in numerous studies. The most definitive one was released just this past year in the Journal of Clinical Investigation. The full study is available online, but for the sake of space I’m including Stephan’s (of Whole Health Source fame) summary here:

    The investigators divided 32 overweight men and women into two groups, and instructed each group to drink a sweetened beverage three times per day. They were told not to eat any other sugar. The drinks were designed to provide 25% of the participants’ caloric intake. That might sound like a lot, but the average American actually gets about 25% of her calories from sugar! That’s the average, so there are people who get a third or more of their calories from sugar. In one group, the drinks were sweetened with glucose, while in the other group they were sweetened with fructose.

    After ten weeks, both groups had gained about three pounds. But they didn’t gain it in the same place. The fructose group gained a disproportionate amount of visceral fat, which increased by 14%! Visceral fat is the most dangerous type; it’s associated with and contributes to chronic disease, particularly metabolic syndrome, the quintessential modern metabolic disorder (see the end of the post for more information and references). You can bet their livers were fattening up too.

    The good news doesn’t end there. The fructose group saw a worsening of blood glucose control and insulin sensitivity. They also saw an increase in small, dense LDL particles and oxidized LDL, both factors that associate strongly with the risk of heart attack and may in fact contribute to it. Liver synthesis of fat after meals increased by 75%. If you look at table 4, it’s clear that the fructose group experienced a major metabolic shift, and the glucose group didn’t. Practically every parameter they measured in the fructose group changed significantly over the course of the 9 weeks. It’s incredible.

Back to our original question — Agave Nectar: Good or Bad?

The conclusion is clear. Agave nectar is bad for you. It’s not traditional, not natural, highly refined, and contains more concentrated fructose than high fructose corn syrup.

What natural sweeteners do I recommend?

If you’re interested in what other traditional sweeteners are out there that are actually natural, check out My Natural Sweeteners of Choice http://www.foodrenegade.com/my-natural-sweeteners-of-choice/ .

Or, simply skip straight to what I buy and use:

organic, raw honey

coconut palm sugar

maple syrup

stevia

sorghum syrup

maple sugar

Whew, almost back to Normal... and Peaches!

Computer is now fixed, and I downloaded software so I can read all my research notes and my recipes again. However, my CapTel (captioned telephone) still isn't working; not the fault of the telephone itself but rather the VOIP (Voice over Internet Protocol) box that runs it.

The VOIP box is an Ooma Telo, and their customer service is the pits. After getting no help from repeated emails and calls to them from a neighbor's phone for a week or more, I gave up. I bought the Ooma box through Amazon so I finally contacted Amazon. With no hesitation, Amazon is replacing the unit at no charge. I hope the new one works longer than the 3 weeks the first one worked.

With as much catching up I have to do, I also have a trip away next week, so I'll still be behind and scarce in posting for another week. A Virginia friend is picking me up after my doctor's appointment in Winston-Salem, NC next Monday afternoon, and we are going to upstate South Carolina around the Gaffney area for peaches. A gardening friend there is giving us a place to sleep.

If you have never tasted a freshly picked ripe South Carolina peach, you have missed a really big treat, nothing like you can taste in cold-storage peaches from the grocery stores. Georgia calls itself "The Peach State" but SC grows and sells more than twice as many peaches as Georgia. Several years ago when I still lived in Georgia, I took a bushel of huge SC peaches to a garden gathering in Tennessee, and they were gobbled up like hotcakes. I haven't had really good peaches since then.

My onerous chore for this weekend is to wash canning jars in preparation for the peaches. Peaches do not keep well, so I will have to process mine as soon as I get them home. I plan to make peach chutney (some mild, and some spicy) and perhaps make some peach curd and maybe even peach vinegar for summer fruit salads. Any remaining peaches that I don't eat fresh will be canned in very light syrup.

My Encounter with McDonald's Fast Food

I never eat fast food. It's against all my principals, but very occasionally I'm on the road without having prepared some foods from home to take with me.

This week was a good example. I overslept on the day I needed to take my computer downstate for repairs, so about halfway there, I actually stopped at a McDonald's. Being really hungry, I ordered their "Big Breakfast" which is eggs, sausage, pancakes, a biscuit and a fried hash browns patty.

Imagine my surprise when the condiments supplied with the meal included 2 sealed containers for the pancakes and biscuit marked "margarine" and the syrup marked "flavored high fructose corn syrup". I took them back to the counter, saying I don't, and won't, eat that fake stuff.

Not that it registered on the kids who work the counter at McD's...

The eggs weren't too bad even though factory eggs have little to offer nutritionally, and the thin sausage patty was in the same category. The hash brown patty soaked so much grease onto the plate (either canola oil or soybean oil) that I refused to eat it... same with the biscuit.

Is it any wonder our population who generally depend on fast food has become obese??

Cravings 2

http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File%3A2006_sardines_can_open.jpg

 
I'm concentrating on listening to my body... 

As I was winding down from the recent cravings for grapefruit (which helped balance my body pH), I next got a craving for sardines!

Sardines??? Yep, sardines. Sardines in olive oil. Not sardines in tomato sauce, not sardines in mustard sauce, not sardines in safflower, safflower, canola or other oils, not sardines in water, but sardines in olive oil.

I don't remember when I first ate sardines but it sure wasn't with my family when I was growing up. In the beginning I only ate skinless and boneless tinned sardines, and then I learned how much nutrition (like calcium) is in the bones... and I found the bones are soft without any crunch so you don't even realize you are eating them.

These days I always keep a few tins of sardines in my pantry. They make a great survival food, packing a lot of nutrition in a small tin and don't take up much space in the pantry. They are also handy when I need to eat something NOW (like when I haven't planned ahead for a meal).

So, I had sardines piled on saltine crackers last night, along with a big salad. As I was eating them, I realized why I was craving sardines... My most recent hospital stay was due to a high count of ammonia in my bloodwork. One of the things that can cause that problem is from an abundance of proteins that don't fully digest, and frankly my diet is fairly high in proteins. 

The main protein I eat is from grass-fed beef, which is high in Omega-3. Cutting back on  protein per my doctor's advice, has also cut the amount of Omega-3 in my diet. Sardines are high in Omega-3, Calcium, Selenium (a component of the antioxidant enzymes), Vitamin D, and B12. 

Sardines have a high ratio of Omega-6 to Omega-3, which I don't much like, but I really don't eat them that often. Anchovies have all the good things that sardines have... and a great ratio of Omega-6 to Omega-3, but not something I'd sit down and eat a tin of them. Too salty, for one thing.

I have never lived where fresh sardines were available from a fishmonger but I'd love to know how they taste fresh. I see photos of sardines on the grille that look very appealing, and sardines cooked/served in a variety of other ways.

I guess I'll dream of going to Portugal...

How I Got Hooked on Weeds...

Another case of where someone else says it better... I'm discovering the benefits of edible weeds. Good thing, because my yard and gardens are full of them! (I have made a few posts about them over the last few years but you'd need to enter "weeds" in the search box on the right column to locate them.)

How I Got Hooked on Weeds—and Why You Should, Too

When I moved to a small organic farm in 2004, I quickly got hooked on weeds (note plural). First, there would be salads of chickweed—a grassy-tasting plant that popped up just after the ground thawed in spring. Next, from the marshy banks of a creek, tender, peppery watercress would sprout. Soon after, dandelion greens would proliferate, adding a bitter note to those spring weed salads. And then, along an old wood road up the forested mountainside, would come a flush of stinging nettle—we'd harvest the leaves with gloves, boil their sting away, and add them to pastas and pizzas. Finally, by high summer, my favorite weeds of all would emerge from plowed fields: a high-rising, spinach-related green called lamb's quarters, and a low-slung, creeping plant called purslane, with its succulent, lemony leaves.

We never found much of a market for these delicacies (save for the watercress, which chefs loved). But they became staples of the farmhouse kitchen, supplements to the cultivated greens that went mainly to the farmers market and to our CSA shareholders. Now that I spend more of my time off the farm and in a city, one of the things I miss most is easy access to these flavorful wild foods.

Turns out, the void I'm feeling may be more than aesthetic. According to an op-ed by Jo Robinson in the Sunday New York Times, wild edible plants tend to be loaded with phytonutrients, "the compounds with the potential to reduce the risk of four of our modern scourges: cancer, cardiovascular disease, diabetes and dementia."

And most cultivated crops—even celebrated healthy foods like spinach and blueberries—are pale copies of their wild progenitors in phytochemical terms, Robinson shows, adding some eye-popping infographics for emphasis. She is not talking about the small but significant decline in nutrient density since the industrialization of agriculture half a century ago, but rather a steep drop in phytonutrients that began when we "stopped foraging for wild plants some 10,000 years ago and became farmers." Robinson writes:

    Each fruit and vegetable in our stores has a unique history of nutrient loss, I've discovered, but there are two common themes. Throughout the ages, our farming ancestors have chosen the least bitter plants to grow in their gardens. It is now known that many of the most beneficial phytonutrients have a bitter, sour or astringent taste. Second, early farmers favored plants that were relatively low in fiber and high in sugar, starch and oil. These energy-dense plants were pleasurable to eat and provided the calories needed to fuel a strenuous lifestyle. The more palatable our fruits and vegetables became, however, the less advantageous they were for our health.
 
I would push back against the inverse relationship Robinson posits between palatability and nutrition. I imagine that we've lost a lot of flavor in the ages-old quest to breed for sweetness—and in the last 100 years or so, we've definitely lost still more by breeding for portability and shelf life. I would argue that flavor has declined along with nutrient density. 

Few people would choose modern supermarket tomatoes bred to last for weeks post-harvest over old varieties selected to taste good when eaten quickly. And weeds play a role in some of the globe's most celebrated cuisines. I wouldn't want to imagine Mexico's street food without tlacoyos con quelites (lamb's quarters) or Italy without ravioli d'ortica (stinging nettles). There's no puritanical trade-off here. (Patience Gray's classic Honey from a Weed demonstrates how vital weeds remain in southern European cooking, and Rebecca Katz and Mat Edelson's recent The Longevity Kitchen offers plenty of good recipes for them).

That caveat aside, what do we do with Robinson's message about the loss of phytonutrients? Obviously, we can't all suddenly become hunter-gatherers, stalking city parks for hidden bounty (though a fellow who calls himself "Wildman" will take you on a foraging tour of Manhattan's Central Park). Nor can we all live on small organic farms surrounded by woodlands.

But what we can do is start seeking out varieties of fruits and vegetables that haven't been bred to be insipidly sweet or high-yielding. Robinson suggests arugula as an example—it was a Mediterranean weed until very recently. Arugula is "very similar to its wild ancestor," she notes, and "rich in cancer-fighting compounds called glucosinolates and higher in antioxidant activity than many green lettuces." Robinson also points to herbs, which she calls "wild plants incognito." That is, they much more closely resemble their wild antecedents than do, say, modern apples or tomatoes or corn. She adds: "We've long valued them for their intense flavors and aroma, which is why they've not been given a flavor makeover. Because we've left them well enough alone, their phytonutrient content has remained intact." Robinson's paean to herbs reminded me of my love for parsley, and how I've come to shower it on every meal, and even give it the starring role in a salad.

But here's the thing about arugula and fresh herbs: They're fantastic when you can get them recently picked, but dull when you find them in in little plastic bags shipped cross-country. And if Robinson is right that "many of the most beneficial phytonutrients have a bitter, sour or astringent taste," I wonder if phytonutrient content doesn't degrade along with flavor on those long trips.

That got me to thinking that one of the unsung benefits of the explosion of farmers markets and CSAs over the past 20 years is that it's giving more and more people access to vegetables bred for things besides just sweetness, shelf life, and portability. We might not sell much in the way of lamb's quarters at Maverick Farms (the North Carolina farm I'm involved with), but we can never grow enough of our famously spicy arugula to satisfy demand. And like many farms that sell to neighboring communities, we favor tomato varieties that balance sweetness with acidity—and may well deliver an extra jolt of phytonutrients because of it.

And small farms can deliver actual weeds, too. Just last weekend, at the Saturday farmstand of Austin's wonderful Boggy Creek Farm, I found nestled in the back a display featuring just-picked bunches of lamb's quarters and purslane. So I finally got my fix of weeds right here in the city—ever since, I've been making salads combining those two wild edibles with some parsley I also picked up at Boggy.

Some things are Better Said by Others

Some people just say it much better than I can...

Breeding the Nutrition Out of Our Food
By JO ROBINSON

WE like the idea that food can be the answer to our ills, that if we eat nutritious foods we won’t need medicine or supplements. We have valued this notion for a long, long time. The Greek physician Hippocrates proclaimed nearly 2,500 years ago: “Let food be thy medicine and medicine be thy food.” Today, medical experts concur. If we heap our plates with fresh fruits and vegetables, they tell us, we will come closer to optimum health.

This health directive needs to be revised. If we want to get maximum health benefits from fruits and vegetables, we must choose the right varieties. Studies published within the past 15 years show that much of our produce is relatively low in phytonutrients, which are the compounds with the potential to reduce the risk of four of our modern scourges: cancer, cardiovascular disease, diabetes and dementia. The loss of these beneficial nutrients did not begin 50 or 100 years ago, as many assume. Unwittingly, we have been stripping phytonutrients from our diet since we stopped foraging for wild plants some 10,000 years ago and became farmers.

These insights have been made possible by new technology that has allowed researchers to compare the phytonutrient content of wild plants with the produce in our supermarkets. The results are startling.

Wild dandelions, once a springtime treat for Native Americans, have seven times more phytonutrients than spinach, which we consider a “superfood.” A purple potato native to Peru has 28 times more cancer-fighting anthocyanins than common russet potatoes. One species of apple has a staggering 100 times more phytonutrients than the Golden Delicious displayed in our supermarkets. (I'm sorry she didn't name the apple variety in this article.)

Were the people who foraged for these wild foods healthier than we are today? They did not live nearly as long as we do, but growing evidence suggests that they were much less likely to die from degenerative diseases, even the minority who lived 70 years and more. The primary cause of death for most adults, according to anthropologists, was injury and infections.

Each fruit and vegetable in our stores has a unique history of nutrient loss, I’ve discovered, but there are two common themes. Throughout the ages, our farming ancestors have chosen the least bitter plants to grow in their gardens. It is now known that many of the most beneficial phytonutrients have a bitter, sour or astringent taste. Second, early farmers favored plants that were relatively low in fiber and high in sugar, starch and oil. These energy-dense plants were pleasurable to eat and provided the calories needed to fuel a strenuous lifestyle. The more palatable our fruits and vegetables became, however, the less advantageous they were for our health.

The sweet corn that we serve at summer dinners illustrates both of these trends. The wild ancestor of our present-day corn is a grassy plant called teosinte. It is hard to see the family resemblance. Teosinte is a bushy plant with short spikes of grain instead of ears, and each spike has only 5 to 12 kernels. The kernels are encased in shells so dense you’d need a hammer to crack them open. Once you extract the kernels, you wonder why you bothered. The dry tidbit of food is a lot of starch and little sugar. Teosinte has 10 times more protein than the corn we eat today, but it was not soft or sweet enough to tempt our ancestors.

Over several thousand years, teosinte underwent several spontaneous mutations. Nature’s rewriting of the genome freed the kernels of their cases and turned a spike of grain into a cob with kernels of many colors. Our ancestors decided that this transformed corn was tasty enough to plant in their gardens. By the 1400s, corn was central to the diet of people living throughout Mexico and the Americas.

When European colonists first arrived in North America, they came upon what they called “Indian corn.” John Winthrop Jr., governor of the colony of Connecticut in the mid-1600s, observed that American Indians grew “corne with great variety of colours,” citing “red, yellow, blew, olive colour, and greenish, and some very black and some of intermediate degrees.” A few centuries later, we would learn that black, red and blue corn is rich in anthocyanins. Anthocyanins have the potential to fight cancer, calm inflammation, lower cholesterol and blood pressure, protect the aging brain, and reduce the risk of obesity, diabetes and cardiovascular disease.

European settlers were content with this colorful corn until the summer of 1779 when they found something more delectable — a yellow variety with sweeter and more tender kernels. This unusual variety came to light that year after George Washington ordered a scorched-earth campaign against Iroquois tribes. While the militia was destroying the food caches of the Iroquois and burning their crops, soldiers came across a field of extra-sweet yellow corn. According to one account, a lieutenant named Richard Bagnal took home some seeds to share with others. Our old-fashioned sweet corn is a direct descendant of these spoils of war.

Up until this time, nature had been the primary change agent in remaking corn. Farmers began to play a more active role in the 19th century. In 1836, Noyes Darling, a onetime mayor of New Haven, and a gentleman farmer, was the first to use scientific methods to breed a new variety of corn. His goal was to create a sweet, all-white variety that was “fit for boiling” by mid-July.

He succeeded, noting with pride that he had rid sweet corn of “the disadvantage of being yellow.”

The disadvantage of being yellow, we now know, had been an advantage to human health. Corn with deep yellow kernels, including the yellow corn available in our grocery stores, has nearly 60 times more beta-carotene than white corn, valuable because it turns to Vitamin A in the body, which helps vision and the immune system.

SUPERSWEET corn, which now outsells all other kinds of corn, was derived from spontaneous mutations that were selected for their high sugar content. In 1959, a geneticist named John Laughnan was studying a handful of mutant kernels and popped a few into his mouth. He was startled by their intense sweetness. Lab tests showed that they were up to 10 times sweeter than ordinary sweet corn.

Mr. Laughnan was not a plant breeder, but he realized at once that this mutant corn would revolutionize the sweet corn industry. He became an entrepreneur overnight and spent years developing commercial varieties of supersweet corn. His first hybrids began to be sold in 1961. This appears to be the first genetically modified food to enter the United States food supply, an event that has received scant attention.

Within one generation, the new extra sugary varieties eclipsed old-fashioned sweet corn in the marketplace. Build a sweeter fruit or vegetable — by any means — and we will come. Today, most of the fresh corn in our supermarkets is extra-sweet. The kernels are either white, pale yellow, or a combination of the two. The sweetest varieties approach 40 percent sugar, bringing new meaning to the words “candy corn.” Only a handful of farmers in the United States specialize in multicolored Indian corn, and it is generally sold for seasonal decorations, not food.

We’ve reduced the nutrients and increased the sugar and starch content of hundreds of other fruits and vegetables. How can we begin to recoup the losses?

Here are some suggestions to get you started. Select corn with deep yellow kernels. To recapture the lost anthocyanins and beta-carotene, cook with blue, red or purple cornmeal, which is available in some supermarkets and on the Internet. Make a stack of blue cornmeal pancakes for Sunday breakfast and top with maple syrup.

In the lettuce section, look for arugula. Arugula, also called salad rocket, is very similar to its wild ancestor. Some varieties were domesticated as recently as the 1970s, thousands of years after most fruits and vegetables had come under our sway. The greens are rich in cancer-fighting compounds called glucosinolates and higher in antioxidant activity than many green lettuces.

Scallions, or green onions, are jewels of nutrition hiding in plain sight. They resemble wild onions and are just as good for you. Remarkably, they have more than five times more phytonutrients than many common onions do. The green portions of scallions are more nutritious than the white bulbs, so use the entire plant. Herbs are wild plants incognito. We’ve long valued them for their intense flavors and aroma, which is why they’ve not been given a flavor makeover. Because we’ve left them well enough alone, their phytonutrient content has remained intact.

Experiment with using large quantities of mild-tasting fresh herbs. Add one cup of mixed chopped Italian parsley and basil to a pound of ground grass-fed beef or poultry to make “herb-burgers.” Herbs bring back missing phytonutrients and a touch of wild flavor as well.

The United States Department of Agriculture exerts far more effort developing disease-resistant fruits and vegetables than creating new varieties to enhance the disease resistance of consumers. In fact, I’ve interviewed U.S.D.A. plant breeders who have spent a decade or more developing a new variety of pear or carrot without once measuring its nutritional content.

We can’t increase the health benefits of our produce if we don’t know which nutrients it contains. Ultimately, we need more than an admonition to eat a greater quantity of fruits and vegetables: we need more fruits and vegetables that have the nutrients we require for optimum health.

Jo Robinson is the author of the forthcoming book “Eating on the Wild Side: The Missing Link to Optimum Health.”

Gonna Quit going to see Doctors...

Yep, I'm thinking to quit going to see any doctors. (No, not really, it's just a negative thought wave I was having.) It seems every time I go, they find more problems, with some now showing up as severe.

I am a firm believer that we are all responsible for the consequences of our actions (including what and how we choose to eat), and I'm no different than anyone else in the aspect of how those choices affect us individually. However, I DO wish I had been better informed years ago about what consequences our food choices have on our health.

My food choices have been great for the last several years, but not so for the first 60 years of my life. (I think I can thank mis-information, advertising and greed for that.) I cannot change the earlier damage that's just now showing up, although hopefully I CAN keep it from getting worse by continuing a healthy, real food diet. I also hope I can pass along lots of healthy food information!

My young (under age 40) primary care physician will not agree with all my food choices, but I have to remember she's a product of what she was taught in medical school, which generally has little emphasis (if any) on good nutrition. She has already recommended a low- to almost non-fat diet and we know the brain thrives on saturated fats!

Medical schools teach how to treat or cure diseases, not how to prevent them. I simply cannot buy the concept of a low-fat diet (and those are too high in bad fats anyway), the excessive sugars found in many fruits and grains, and "foods" filled with fake chemical ingredients... vs. the real foods Nature intended.

Magnesium for Health

The majority of Americans are deficient in magnesium, and that includes me (but not for much longer for me). Both times I have been hospitalized this year, they have given me magnesium through the IV lines and I began to feel better.

Actually it took some digging to make the connection with how I felt and my magnesium levels. When a person isn't well, and is admitted to a hospital, it's easy to believe feeling better is the result of the overall course of treatment rather than focus on a single element (unless it's specific like surgery, setting bones, stopping a blood loss...).

Magnesium is extremely important for good health. Yet for far too many years this vital mineral has been largely overlooked by most doctors. Shockingly, most laboratory blood tests do not even measure magnesium status although magnesium is involved as an essential factor in more aspects of health than any other mineral. Since magnesium status is rarely measured, most doctors don't know when their patients are deficient in magnesium, even though about 80% of us are deficient in this essential mineral.

I did notice that both times after I was released from the hospital, I felt better overall for several days and then went into a slow decline even though the original cause had been "repaired".  It was only in recent soil testing minerals for my garden that I began to make the connection (which I actually knew about several years ago and soon forgot).

My Wish List on Amazon.com has a folder of books I want on health, and I'd had The Magnesium Miracle by Dr. Carolyn Dean listed for a long time... so I finally ordered it 2 weeks ago. Fantastic book for anyone really concerned about health and well-being! I was about halfway through reading it when I had a routine follow-up with my doctor. When they drew blood for some tests, I asked that magnesium be measured. (It is NOT routinely measured.)

Sure enough, the labs showed a magnesium deficiency, and my doctor sent in a prescription to my pharmacy for magnesium oxide (with no calcium), 400mg in the mornings, and another 400mg at night. I'm not convinced this is the best form of magnesium for bioavailability, so more research on my part is needed. For the nonce, it's what I have.

By the way, there is a serious additional benefit from magnesium: it's alkaline. Our American diet is far too acidic when it should be pH neutral, so adding an alkaline food or supplement will help towards a neutral pH balance.

Most OTC magnesium supplements have too much calcium, and the ratio of calcium to magnesium is quite delicate, according to Dr. Dean. Magnesium is necessary to properly metabolize calcium, and it keeps calcium in solution in the body, so it prevents calcifications which are quite common. Calcium causes muscles to contract, while magnesium gives them the ability to relax. (That means no more leg cramps for me!)

Magnesium (Mg) is needed for more than 300 biochemical reactions in the body. It helps maintain normal muscle and nerve function, keeps heart rhythm steady, supports a healthy immune system, and keeps bones strong. Magnesium also helps regulate blood sugar levels, promotes normal blood pressure, and is known to be involved in energy metabolism and protein synthesis. There is an increased interest in the role of magnesium in preventing and managing disorders such as hypertension, cardiovascular disease, and diabetes.

Magnesium is at the core of the chlorophyll molecule, and an essential ingredient for healthy plants, and the animals (including humans) that eat those plants. All living organisms depend on magnesium in all types of cells, body tissues and organs for a variety of functions. Magnesium in human and animal bodies is important in regulating muscle and nerve functions. Half the magnesium in humans is found in our bones but only 1% in the blood.

Where can we get magnesium other than in supplements? Foods such as green leafy vegetables, some legumes, nuts, seeds and unrefined grains are good sources. (There is a list below of some good foods for magnesium.) However, if those plants do not get enough magnesium from the soil, neither do we. We know our soils have become depleted in minerals and microminerals over the last hundred years, yet few of us have soil tests done, nor do we add much-needed mineral replacements.

Without enough magnesium, plants often develop some yellowing in their older leaves between the veins. Magnesium is essential for photosynthesis, and helps activate plant enzymes needed for growth. Animals have a need for more magnesium than plants, so a plant magnesium deficiency often shows up first in the animals, especially those that graze or forage.

Magnesium in our soils
Where does magnesium originate? Magnesium is an abundant alkaline element in the earth’s crust, occurring naturally in several minerals like dolomite, vermiculite and clay soils like montmorillonite. It is the third most dissolved element in sea water, and seafoods are among the foods highest in magnesium. Alkaline soils and humus-rich soils generally contain more magnesium that acidic soils. Magnesium found in the form of magnesium ions (Mg2+) in the soil (in solution or bound to soil particles) is the most important for exchangeable magnesium. However, magnesium ions are at risk of leaching along with nitrates and calcium.

Other plant sources for magnesium are organic materials (compost), animal dung and plant material. The more magnesium taken up by the old plant material, the more will be available again for new crops. Cation Exchange Capacity, called CEC, affects the potential for plants to take up magnesium.  Soils with a high CEC tend to hold more magnesium. However, if there are also high levels of N and K (nitrogen and potassium) in the soil, less Mg will be available. 

You can add magnesium with serpentine superphosphate (a slow-release magnesium), dolomite (a calcium-magnesium limestone), and calcinated magnesite. You can also add magnesium by using Epsom salts, which is very water-soluble (thus readily available to plants) and best used as a foliar spray to prevent leaching. 

Epsom salts is a magnesium sulfate, extracted from the mineral Epsomate, and naturally occurs in water. The name Epsom comes from the town in England (Epsom) where water was first boiled to release these minerals. The advantage of magnesium sulfate over other magnesium soil amendments (such as dolomitic lime) is its high solubility.

Some plants, notably tomatoes, potatoes and peppers require a soil high in magnesium. If you grow these, you should have a soil test done to determine magnesium levels, especially available magnesium, and then choose your magnesium amendment(s) carefully for optimal uptake.

Some High Risk Groups for a Magnesium Deficiency
People taking Certain Medications:
 
Proton Pump Inhibitors: 
Prescription PPIs include Nexium (esomeprazole magnesium)
Dexilant (dexlansoprazole)
Prilosec (omeprazole)
Zegerid (omeprazole and sodium bicarbonate)
Prevacid (lansoprazole)
Protonix (pantoprazole sodium)
AcipHex (rabeprazole sodium)
Vimovo, Prilosec OTC (omeprazole)
Zegerid OTC (omeprazole and sodium bicarbonate)
Prevacid 24HR (lansoprazole)36
 
Diuretics: Lasix, Bumex, Edecrin, and hydrochlorothiazide
 
Antibiotics: Gentamicin, and Amphotericin
Anti-neoplastic (Cancer) medication: Cisplatin
Zinc Supplements

People with Gastrointestinal Disorders - Most magnesium is absorbed through the colon so people with gastrointestinal disorders like Crohn's disease are at high risk for a magnesium deficiency.

People with Poor Functioning Kidneys - The kidneys should be able to regulate magnesium in the blood, excreting less when stores are low, however, excessive loss of magnesium through urine can occur to people on specific medications, poorly managed diabetes, and alcoholics.

People Consuming high amounts of Fiber - Eating large amounts of fiber has been shown to interfere with the bodies ability to use magnesium. However, more research needs to be done to confirm how much fiber affects magnesium.

Some Magnesium Rich Foods:
Fish - Halibut and Yellow Fin Tuna
Seafood - Oysters, Shrimp, and Scallops
Chocolate - Chocolate Nibs, Dark Chocolate, Cocoa Powder and Milk Chocolate
Beans - Black Beans, White Beans, Kidney Beans, Black Beans, Lima Beans, Navy Beans, Pinto Beans
Nuts & Seeds - Pumpkin Seeds, Almonds, Pine Nuts, Brazil Nuts, Macadamia Nuts, Cashews
Dairy - Cheese from Grass Fed Cows, Chocolate Milk, and Organic Raw Milk
Meats - Grass Fed Meats, Pastured Poultry & Eggs, and Bison Meat
Leafy Greens - Spinach, Kale, Dandelion Greens, and Beet Greens
Vegetables - Artichokes, Pumpkin, Potatoes, Sweet Potatoes, Okra, Squash, and Parsnips
Sea Vegetables - Kelp and Seaweed
Fruit - Dried Figs, Dried Apricots, Prune Juice, Bananas, Avocados and Raisins
Culinary Herbs - Basil, Cilantro, Tarragon, Chives, Spearmint, Sage, Dill, Savory, dried coriander
Legumes - Peanuts, Chickpeas or Garbanzo, Cowpeas, Black-Eyed Peas, and Lentils
Grains - Buckwheat, Oat Bran, Brown Rice, Millet, Cornmeal, Spelt Grain, Barley, Quinoa and Whole Wheat
Tomato Products - Tomato Paste and Sun Dried Tomatoes
Blue Green Algaes - Spirulina, Chlorella, and Klamath Lake Blue Green Algae

A good substitute for refined sugar in cakes and breads, molasses is also a great source of magnesium. Molasses provides 242mg (61% DV) per 100 gram serving, 816mg (204% DV) per cup, and 48mg (12% DV) per tablespoon.
Source
Source

Why Butter??

WHY butter?Butter is rich in short and medium chain fatty acids, including even small amounts of lauric acid. It is rich in antioxidants as well, in the form of beta carotene, vitamin E, and selenium. It is one of the best sources of vitamin A. Because living grass is richer in vitamins E, A, and beta-carotene than stored hay or standard dairy diets, butter from dairy cows grazing on fresh pasture is also richer in these important nutrients. The naturally golden color of grass-fed butter is a clear indication of its superior nutritional value.

By nature, cows are grazing (grass-eating) animals. 85-95% of dairy cows today are raised in confinement on a diet of grain, particularly corn, because it is far more cost-efficient for agribusiness. This grain-based diet can cause changes in the ph in cows, creating many abnormal physiological conditions in the cow, which can increase the need for the use antibiotics.

The CLA Advantage
Conjugated Linoleic Acid (CLA) is a naturally occurring free fatty acid found mainly in meat and dairy products in small amounts. CLA was discovered by accident in 1978 by Michael W. Pariza at the University of Wisconsin while looking for mutagen formations in meat during cooking. The most abundant source of natural CLA is the meat and dairy products of grass-fed animals. Research conducted since 1999 shows that grazing animals have from 3-5 times more CLA than animals fattened on grain in a feedlot. Simply switching from grain-fed to grass-fed products can greatly increase your intake of CLA.

I often make my own butter and cultured butter from local cream, but it has been pasteurized before I can get it, Thanks to government regulations that make the dairies cook out all the good enzymes. It's not bad butter, but not great either, except compared to commercial butter.

A friend sent me a link to a site that sells imported close-out cheese, charcuterie and things like butter, at good prices. This time they have pastured butter from New Zealand for $4 a pound (Anchor brand). It's hard to really know if this pastured butter is made with raw milk rather than pasteurized milk. They say it's made from "fresh milk collected twice daily" but never actually say if it's pasteurized or not.

Either way, I'm ordering at least 5 pounds because butter freezes well. Got to be better than what I can buy here, and for more $$.




About this butter:
New Zealand Anchor Butter from grass-fed, free-range cows has a richer taste versus barn raised non grass fed animals. Butter from grass fed cows is higher in Omega 3, Beta Carotene and Vitamin A.

Free Range
Means cows are feed on grass only, 365 days of the year. Therefore no grain, artificial feed or meat & bone meal is feed to cows on New Zealand’s farms.

Means naturally raised and humane living conditions for cows 24/7.

No Hormones
The New Zealand government prohibits the use of animal growth hormones in dairy, sheep and beef farming. There is mounting evidence that growth hormones can adversely affect the heath of cattle and humans.

Made for 100% from fresh milk
Our milk is collected twice a day from the farm.
Not made by reconstituting milk power and anhydrous milk fat.

What Else I'm doing...

Well, my health is preventing me from doing much, but here's the pea shoots I just bought. If you haven't ever tried pea shoots, they are marvelous! I love them topped on a baguette hat's covered with fresh soft cheese and lightly dressed with EVOO, or in a salad. They can also be lightly cooked in a stir-fry, or sautéed with some garlic. Do not overcook them!

Pea shoots are showing up more and more at farmer's markets because they produce 4X what fresh peas do. I couldn't find any information about their O-6 to O-3 ratio, but being a green shoot, I would expect it to be good.

Then, on the not-quite-so-good-for-me list, I bought a box (18 pcs) of Champagne Mangoes that I'm slicing to freeze. I grew up with Florida mangoes, and as my mother always said, "I could just waller (wallow) in them". These are close in taste but with an added hint of lime to the fruit. I figure if I only eat a few frozen pieces once a month, it will satisfy my mango cravings, and not disrupt my O-6:O-3 ratio too much.

Expect Upcoming Posts on Good Nutrition

I've been taking a harder overall look at nutrition since I was in the hospital (again) last week, even though I know my nutritional intake is probably better than 90% of Americans. The first things I will be looking at more closely are my Omega 6/3 fat ratios, and body pH.

Two days ago I got the results of the ultrasound done last week, where they were looking for a build-up of abdominal fluids (which turned out to be non-existent). However, the report shows they also found a lesion on my left kidney, and a growth (hopefully just a cyst) on my pancreas. I'll have an MRI scheduled soon to get better definitions of each, but both are worrisome.

So I've been (and will be) taking a deeper look at the nitty-gritty of the vitamins, minerals and healthy fats we can get from Real Food, and how they impact our health. Most of what I've read so far has to do with how cancer cells grow in our bodies, and while my kidney and pancreas anomalies hopefully aren't cancerous, my doctors have told me for several years that any liver disease puts someone more at risk for cancers of the liver and pancreas.

I am a firm believer that most disease wouldn't occur at all with a nutritionally balanced diet of real foods, containing all the vitamins and minerals we need to function. Our food system is woefully inadequate at providing them.

Deer in the Headlights

We all know that vitamins we get from natural food sources are more easily assimilated in our bodies than synthetic vitamins. So are essential fatty acids.

I posted a blip about the importance of a proper ratio of Omega 6 fatty acids to Omega 3  fatty acids a few days ago. Those fats are considered essential because our bodies cannot make them, and they really ARE essential to us. 

Here's a copy from a post by Ted Slanker with specifics about humans and cattle eating green leafy plants and/or grains.... and what each choice does to the O-6:O-3 ratio. He explains it so much better than I could...

"Scientists have determined that the “essential fats” in the membranes of cells have a very powerful influence on each cell’s ability to function. These essential fats consist of the Omega-6 family of fatty acids and the Omega-3 family of fatty acids. Via laboratory experiments on rats and in some cases humans, scientists have determined that the appropriate balance between these fats is one to one.  That means the O-6 and O-3 fatty acids must be in nearly perfect balance for proper cell function. When the balance between O-6 to O-3 exceeds 4:1 cells malfunction and chronic disease is the result. All chronic diseases are body failings. They include, but are not limited to, heart disease, cancer, diabetes, arthritis, lupus, attention deficit syndrome, autism, and most other mental disorders, Crohn’s disease, obesity, osteoporosis, and the list goes on and on.

A chemical analysis of the fatty acid profiles of the cells of cattle tells the story that is common for all animal life. Cattle, which are raised on pastures and only in major emergencies are fed hay, have a 1:1 fatty acid ratio. Feedlot steers that have been fed grain have a ratio of 15:1 or higher. Skinless chicken breasts from chickens fed all “vegetarian diets” (grain) have a 18:1 ratio. 

Here are some additional ratios:  
wheat 11:1
rice bran 32:1
corn germ 59:1
raw kale 0.5:1
raw spinach 0.1:1

Many of the vitamins required by animals and humans come directly from the leafy, green plants or the meats from animals that ate the leafy, green plants.  Without this tie animals can experience severe vitamin deficiencies. For instance, after 180 days in a feedlot eating grain a steer can lose as much as 80% of the vitamin A that would normally be in its liver and 75% of the vitamin E that would be in its muscle tissues!

But what about grain?  Why is it bad?  Grain is the seed head of grasses.  Grain is one of the ways the grass-plant kingdom perpetuates itself.  Consequently, the plant kingdom does everything it can to protect its survival as a species.  Grains can host defensive fungi (endophyte) and mycotoxins.  Mycotoxins are nearly all cytotoxic, disrupting various cellular structures such as membranes and interfering with vital cellular processes such as protein, RNA, and DNA synthesis. 

Of course, they are also toxic to the cells of higher plants and animals, including humans. In addition, the chemical composition of seed heads differs significantly from the leafy, green plants themselves. Green plants can be clipped over and over again and they grow back. A green leaf falls to the ground and it becomes a food source for microorganisms that break down the leaf into organic matter that ultimately feeds the next generation of green plants.  The green plant creates its own perfect cycle.

A seed head has a strong protective coat that protects the “internal workings.”  When a seed falls to the ground it can remain in the soil for decades (under appropriate conditions) and still sprout when favorable conditions occur. For grain to perform its natural function it has to have a totally different fatty acid profile than the grass it will be once it sprouts. Seeds cannot re-grow. They are the grass plant’s one-time shot.

Man invented grain farming by isolating certain grasses and protecting them from grazing pressure until their seeds had ripened.  Then he harvested the seeds in a narrow window of time and was able to store the seeds for future use. This turned a minor food source into something that was more abundant. 

Unfortunately, even though grain farming increased the quantity of “food” available for the masses, it dramatically lowered the health of the people who ate the new food source.

Today, in America’s grain-based food system in which nearly all livestock products come from grain-fed livestock and nearly all food products have grain additives or are made from grain because it is cheap, the food system is more grain-based than during any other civilization in the history of the world except that of India. This is why 70% of all deaths in our nation are due to chronic diseases. Most other deaths are from accidents, infectious diseases, murders, and wars. Very few people die of natural causes in our country.

Here's why. Take a steer off pasture and put him in a feedlot. As he comes off pasture his O6 to O3 fatty acid ratio is close to 1:1. After about 180 days in the feedlot his fatty acid ratio will have increased to the 15:1 to 18:1 range. As his fatty acid ratio changes his vitamin levels plunge. Vitamin A in the steer's liver can drop as much as 80%. Vitamin E in his muscle tissue can fall 75%.

This is the same thing that happens to people who eat grains, grain-based foods, and food products from grain-fed livestock. Alarmingly, scientists in the know estimate that due to "modern" foods the average American consumes a fatty acid ratio of from 20:1 to 30:1. 

It's no wonder then that children in America (grain-fed from conception) have ADD, diabetes, are obese, and suffer from many other chronic diseases unheard of 60 years ago.  Their parents are in deeper trouble, yet they are none the wiser. 

The entire population resembles deer in the headlights.  It focuses on materialistic consumption while its health and well-being wallows in the sewer."

I may learn to like "Whole Foods" stores!

I need to change my opinion of the giant grocery chain Whole Foods. "Whole Foods" has often been called "Whole Pocketbook" because of the cost of many of their items. Since there isn't a Whole Foods store within a hundred miles of my home, I don't have much opportunity to check them out. However, if I'm on a trip, I will occasionally stop by a Whole Foods store in search of goodies I have not found anyplace else.

Then today, the NY Times carried the story that Whole Foods has become the first retailer in the US that will require labeling of ALL genetically modified foods sold in its 339 US and Canadian stores. 

Whole Foods’ shelves already carry some 3,300 private-label and branded products that are certified non-GMO, the largest selection of any grocery chain in the country. (Look for 365 Everyday Value.)

Genetically modified ingredients have been deeply embedded in the global food supply since the 1990s. Most of the corn and soybeans grown in the United States have been genetically modified. Efforts are under way to produce a genetically altered apple that will spoil less quickly, as well as genetically altered salmon that will grow faster. 

The Whole Foods announcement ricocheted around the food industry and excited proponents of labeling. “Fantastic,” said Mark Kastel, co-director of the Cornucopia Institute, an organic advocacy group that favors labeling.

22 states in the US now have some sort of pending labeling legislation.

Roasted Sweet Potatoes with Fennel and Apples

I still have quite a few sweet potatoes and winter squash stored in my cool pantry, so I've been looking at new ways to use them before they aren't good anymore. I found this recipe online, Roasted Sweet Potatoes with Fennel, Apples, and Pecans.

I didn't add the pecans (I can't chew nuts), nor the maple syrup (I don't need the sugar), but I did sprinkle a little cinnamon mixed into a full teaspoon of sugar over the top before roasting.

I served this with the rabbit I fried. YUM!

I Cooked a Rabbit!

New Zealand White Rabbit, photo courtesy of laugh45

For a couple of years I have considered raising meat chickens, ducks, or rabbits for a protein food supply. I don't have enough flatish land for larger livestock like a cow or a pig. Rabbits, of course, require the smallest amount of space so they are high on the list.

However, I hadn't any recollection of ever eating rabbit, although I'm fairly sure I must have when I was a young kid. Finding a domestic rabbit and cooking it to check the list became important, and finally I found frozen rabbit about 3 weeks ago in a grocery store in a nearby town.

This was a VERY small rabbit, just a tad under 1.5 pounds, whereas an average young fryer dresses out at 3 pounds or more. Still, I thought it would be enough meat to give it a try, and not much wasted expense in the event I didn't like the taste.

Top of the photo are the belly pieces and the rib cage, which went into the freezer for stock later. Lower on the photo are the skinny forelegs, fatter back legs, and the backbone cut into 2 pieces.

First, I needed to cut up the rabbit, and found several photo tutorials online. There is very little meat anywhere but the hind legs, although I cooked the backbone section and the front legs as well. I'm sure a larger sized rabbit would have more meat on the backbone and front quarters. The "belly" was very thin, and it went into a freezer bag with the rib cage to make stock when I have enough bones, using a mix of rabbit and chicken.

I'm told rabbit fat is as un-palatable as venison fat, so it got trimmed away. (There wasn't much of it anyway.) Most of the outer silverskin had already been trimmed before it was frozen, but after my disjointing there was still a little more to trim.

It actually does taste a lot like chicken, although I thought it had a bit more flavor than commercial chicken. I fried it without any seasoning except salt and pepper so that any added herbs or spices wouldn't mask the rabbit flavor. I just dipped it in milk and rolled it in flour with a little salt and pepper.

My neighbor / friend Buster used to raise meat rabbits and I'm sure he will offer advice and help when I'm ready. If I decide to try raising rabbits, it will only be on a small scale. Timing depends on my health over the next few months, and whether I can stomach the butchering process. (I think I can, but I have to do it to be sure.)

Institutional Food, Again

After being MIA for about 2 weeks, I'm starting to think about food and health again.

Recently I started throwing up blood (which I hadn't done for 6 years), and my sister called 911 for an ambulance. They took me to the local hospital (where they don't have an endoscopy team) so they transferred me to Wake Forest in Winston-Salem, NC, about a 2-1/2 hour drive. There they put me on a ventilator in order to do an EGD to stop the bleeding without possibly obstructing my airway, and I NEVER want to be on a ventilator again. To awaken and find my wrists and ankles tied down, and a balloon-feeling thing in my throat was frightening.

They repaired a Mallory-Weiss Tear (usually caused by forceful or long-term vomiting or coughing) and a small adjacent arterial bleeder in my stomach. I spent 2 days in ICU, and almost a week in a regular room. I have enough punctures from IV's and blood draws and blood sugar finger pricks that I look like I was fighting with a porcupine and lost. Both arms are black and blue from the armpit to my fingers. 

For 4 days I was only allowed a plain liquid diet, and that was unpleasant. Most liquid things available were high in HFCS or sugars, and high in sodium.
 
Institutional Food, BLECK! This hospital, part of a medical school, was better than most I've seen, and they even have a gluten-free section on the menu. That encourages me to think not ALL institutions are destined to serve swill.

I did have a decent slice of grilled salmon with a baked potato and broccoli once I was allowed solid food. 

When they discharged me, the hospital sent me back to Virginia via Greyhound, to the bus station downtown last night. Fortunately my neighbor had the day off and drove into town to fetch me. We have a foot of snow on the ground, and it was 10º here yesterday early in the morning, whereas it was a balmy 45º when I left Winston-Salem in the afternoon. I'm glad to be home, though.

They discovered I have a small aneurysm on the aortic arch, which we will watch and probably repair in 3 months unless it gets worse sooner.

In the meantime, my doctors said my recuperation will be slow. All the UTI-kidney problems I had back in November and December are part of the overall trauma that led up to this. I have zero energy, and I'm sleeping 15-20 hours a day. Some of that is due to the medications, which will not continue for very long (I hope). 

I go back in 2 days for a hospital follow-up, more blood work, and a full pulmonary function test. Then I have some appointments booked in March, and in May we may do the surgical repair of the aneurysm if I have healed enough. Thankfully, it's half the distance I was driving for medical care at UVA medical school and I really liked the medical team approach at Wake Forest. I'm cancelling the appointments already scheduled next week at UVa since the Wake Forest appointments are for the same things.

UVa and Wake Forest are ranked almost the same in Medical School Rankings. Of course, I worked many years for the #1 ranked medical school, Johns Hopkins, so I have a bias... but Hopkins is too far away for me to seek treatment there.

I have to draft and print a copy of the dietary protocol I follow for my digestive health doctor, and it may prove to be fodder for a post here. My docs spent a lot of time trying to get my electrolytes balanced, and my hemaglobin up. They seem to think the imbalance was from extended body trauma and not my diet, from what I could tell them I eat. This is the first time I've seen Residents, Fellows, and Doctors willing to discuss food/diet that's NOT the S.A.D. (Standard American Diet). Of course that wasn't ALL of them, but quite a few.

One Food Plan Doesn't Fit Everyone, Part 3, Fats

Fats.

Did you know that our brains are about 60 percent fat? The fats we eat strongly influence our level of brain function. Some nutritional anthropologists believe the human brain would not have developed as it did without access to high levels of DHA (a type of fat) found in fish and wild game. 

Just two generations of eating high omega-6 fats and low omega-3 fats can lead to profound and detrimental changes in brain size and function.

Saturated fats: Saturated fats are found in animal products such as butter, cheese, whole milk, ice cream, cream and fatty meats. They are also found in some tropical plants and vegetable oils such as coconut, palm and palm kernel.

Saturated fats are not as dangerous as you think. In fact, coconut oil is quite healthy and is the best oil to use for cooking since it is far less likely to be damaged through heating.

A misguided fallacy that persists to this day is the belief that saturated fat will increase your risk of heart attacks. This is simply another myth that has been harming our health for the last 30 or 40 years. The truth is, healthy saturated fats from high quality minimally processed animal and some vegetable sources provide a concentrated source of energy in your diet, and they provide the building blocks for cell membranes and a variety of hormones and hormone like substances.

When you eat saturated fats as part of your meal, they slow down absorption so that you can go longer without feeling hungry. In addition, they act as carriers for the important fat-soluble vitamins A, D, E and K. Dietary fats are also needed for the conversion of carotene to vitamin A, for mineral absorption, and for a host of other biological processes.

It's important though to understand that not all saturated fats are the same. There are subtle differences that have profound health implications, and if you avoid eating all saturated fats, your health will likely suffer as a result. There are in fact more than a dozen different types of saturated fats, but you predominantly consume only three: stearic acid, palmitic acid and lauric acid.

It's well established that stearic acid (found in cocoa and animal fat) has no adverse effects on our cholesterol levels, and actually gets converted in our liver into the monounsaturated fat called oleic acid. The other two, palmitic and lauric acid, do raise total cholesterol. However, since they raise "good" cholesterol as much or more than "bad" cholesterol, you're still actually lowering your risk of heart disease.

Omega-3 fats improve our cell's response to insulin, neurotransmitters and other messengers. They also help the repair process when our cells are damaged. On the other hand, omega-6 fats are pro-inflammatory and contribute to insulin and membrane resistance, altering our moods, and impairing learning and cell repair. To avoid high levels of omega-6, it is important to avoid all vegetable seed oils. (That does not include olive oils, or palm and coconut oils, none of which are from seeds.)

Omega 3’s in beef that feed on grass is seven percent of their total fat content, compared to just one percent in grain-only fed beef. Grass-fed beef also has the recommended ratio of omega 6 to omega 3 fats (a minimum of 3:1 although 1:1 is much better).

Please understand that it's not only necessary to consciously consume omega-3 fats, but it is just as important to lower our omega-6 fat intake. If we don't lower our omega-6 fats to acceptable levels, our omega 6 to omega 3 ratio will not be low enough, and we will not receive many of the wonderful benefits of omega-3 fats such as reduced risk of heart disease, cancer, stroke, Alzheimer's, arthritis and many other degenerative illnesses.

Our intake of omega-6, a fat found in corn, soy, sunflower and other vegetable oils, is far too high. The ideal ratio of omega-6 to omega-3 should be 1:1, but the typical American's ratio ranges anywhere from 15:1 to 50:1

If you only can afford to buy one organic food it should be butter. It is not uncommon for non-organic butter to have up to 20 times the level of pesticides of non-organic fruits and vegetables.

Partial source: Mercola.com

I have more comments about the Omega-3 in eggs from pastured free-range hens... but that's for another post.