eatkamloops.org

Grassfed Veal

Confinement veal has a bad reputation. Standard veal production requires the calf to be separated from the mother after birth. The calf is confined in a pen just big enough for the calf to stand or lay down. The calf is fed only milk or a milk substitute for 18 weeks and then slaughtered. This feeding schedule brings on anemia in the calf which produces the characteristic white meat of veal. The meat has a very mild favor and is known for tenderness that can be cut with a fork. These calves are prone to illness and must be medicated to survive.

Grassfed veal is different. The grassfed veal calf stays with its mother on pasture. The calf has access to the mother’s milk and grass. The calf is butchered at 6 to 9 months old, giving a pink meat with more flavor, though it is not as tender as confinement, milk-fed veal. The calves are very healthy and rarely need medical attention. The calves have a better life, even if it is short. You will not be able to find grassfed veal without a serious search and you will pay top dollar for this premium product. Most grassfed veal is purchased by chefs in high end restaurants looking for more flavor from this old favorite. If you are interested in this specialty food please read The New York Times article called: Veal to Love - Without the Guilt.

Traditionally, grassfed veal was a side product of the dairy industry. The male calves would become veal and the females, unless culled, would become part of the milking herd. Traditionally, the offal from the veal calf is greatly prized. The stomach of the young calf is used to produce rennet required for cheese production. I had a chance to try this premium product when Patty’s calf went to slaughter. (Patty is our milking Jersey cow.) The grassfed veal was the best beef I have ever tasted. It was truly delicious. If anyone knows a rancher in the Kamloops area producing this product, I would like to know. Please email me and I will update this posting with the information.

Update October 2, 2009: I have just talked to Susan McGillivray at Jocko Creek Ranch. They have grassfed veal for sale. These animals normally go to the feedlot for grain fattening over the winter. The steers are worth more that the heifers because the steers will fatten-up better in the feedlot. This product is seasonal and must be bought in October or November before they go to the feedlot. You purchase by the animal. The calves will weight about 500-600 pounds and you will have to pay for slaughtering. Right now the cost is $1.00/pound for heifers and $1.12/pound for steers. This is a live weight price. I would buy the heifers because they are cheaper and it doesn’t matter how well they do in the feedlot. If you are interested in getting this wonderful meat please call Jason or Susan McGillivray at 250.374.9495.

Cure Tooth Decay

I have just read Ramiel Nagel’s book called Cure Tooth Decay: Heal and Prevent Cavities with Nutrition. This book outlines a protocol for reversing tooth decay. This book questions a number of very well entrenched ideas about dental health. First, it questions the standard belief that bacteria, feeding on sugar in our mouths, causes tooth decay. Second, the book states it is possible to reverse and heal tooth decay.

As fantastic as these two statements may seem, there is a long history of research in this area. Dr. Weston A. Price and Dr. Melvin Page both worked on this issue and came to very interesting conclusions. Dr. Price found indigenous groups who ate raw or rare organ meats from grassfed animals, consumed raw dairy from grassfed animals, and raw or rare organs and meats from fish and shellfish, were immune to tooth decay. Dr. Price did a feeding experiment on children with rampant tooth decay. He found with proper diet and supplementation he could stop and reverse tooth decay. Please read eatkamloops.org is Now a Distributor for Green Pasture, for more information about Dr. Price’s feeding experiment.

Dr. Page did extensive research on blood chemistry and endocrine function. He found tooth decay was not caused by bacteria feeding on sugar in the mouth but a malfunction in the ratio of calcium and phosphorous in the blood. This malfunction of mineral absorption was caused by fluctuations in blood sugar levels and insulin caused mainly by… sugar. If this hypothesis is correct, managing blood sugar levels and insulin, would help to slow and possibly reverse tooth decay. This is exactly what Dr. Page did in his research. An explanation of this process can be found in Suckled by Triceratops.

Cure Tooth Decay is a summary of the work of these two dentists. The protocol is very simple. Remove all “displacing foods of modern commerce” from your diet. Eat nourishing traditional foods properly prepared from a quality source. Supplement your diet with fermented cod liver oil and high vitamin butter oil. Ramiel has done his own personal experimentation with diet and supplementation with whole foods which has helped his own dental health. He talks about the pain he experienced as a parent making decisions regarding his infant daughter’s crumbling teeth. The wonderful thing about this book it how Ramiel’s family took this very upsetting situation and transformed it into something wonderful. Through research, diligent application of principles he had learned, and experimentation, he found a solution to his family’s health problems.

Ramiel has become passionate about improving our children’s health through nutrition. Children’s health starts before conception with the quality of the parent’s diet. He has started another website dealing with the issue called Healing Our Children.

It is store food that has given us store teeth.
Earnest Hooton

December 27, 2009: Need some more proof? I have just found a very informative blog by Stephan Guyenet called Whole Health Source. This is a link to his writings about Dental Health. There are many very good photos and references for further reading on the topic.

I Got Culture!

I have had a number of emails over the months about dairy and water Kefir. Kefir originated in the Caucasus Mountains and is a gelatinous community of bacteria and yeast. Kefir grains are the real thing. They are different from the “direct set cultures” you will find in health food stores which lose their potency and must be purchased again. Once you get the Kefir grains they will continue to grow indefinitely as long as the culture is fed.

I received my dairy and water Kefir grains from Real Kefir Grains. You can order directly from Marilyn Jarzembski, better known as the Kefir Lady, and she will ship it to you at a very reasonable price. Her culture is very vigorous. If you live in or near Kamloops, you can come and pick up your Kefir grains from me for free. Just email me to ensure I have enough to share.

These are the cultures I have to share:
1. Wild sour dough culture (sour dough bread, biscuits, pancakes, etc)
2. Lacto-fermentation liquid (sauerkraut, pickles, kimchi, etc)
3. Dairy Kefir (yoghurt-like drink, Kefir cheese, Kefir bread, etc)
4. Water Kefir (traditional sodas)
5. Yoghurt culture

Updated December 21, 2009: I am enjoying the ease of using the new Weston A Price Foundation website. I found this favorite essay about Kvass and Kombucha: Gift From Russia by Sally Fallon.

eatkamloops.org is Now a Distributor for Green Pasture’s Products

This month Green Pastures offered all Weston A. Price Foundation chapter leaders the option of making wholesale purchases for the benefit of chapter members. This means we can all benefit from these excellent products. eatkamloops.org is now a distributor for Green Pastures. We will carry fermented cod liver oil, fermented skate liver oil, high vitamin butter oil, and extra virgin coconut oil.

In Dr. Weston A. Price’s book Nutrition and Physical Degeneration, he did studies with children from mill families during a severe industrial depression. These children were chosen because they had developed severe tooth decay. He fed the children one nourishing meal a day and supplemented their diets with cod liver oil and high vitamin butter oil. After seven months on the supplemental diet, the children’s teeth had re-mineralized and the teeth were saved. The health and behavior of the children had improved. Below is a description of the supplemental meal from Nutrition and Physical Degeneration:
The diet provided these children in the supplemental meal was as follows: About four ounces of tomato juice or orange juice and a teaspoonful of a mixture of equal parts of very high-vitamin, natural cod liver oil and an especially high-vitamin butter oil was given at the beginning of the meal. The child then received a bowl containing approximately a pint of a very rich vegetable and meat stew, made largely from bone marrow and fine cuts of tender meats. The meat was usually broiled separately to retain its juice and then chopped very fine and added to the bone-marrow meat soup, which always contained finely chopped vegetables and plenty of very yellow carrots. The next course consisted of cooked fruit, with very little sweetening, and rolls made from freshly ground whole wheat and spread with high vitamin butter. The wheat for the rolls was ground fresh every day in a motor-driven coffee mill. Each child was given also two glasses of fresh whole milk. The menu was varied from day to day by substituting for the meat stew fish chowder or organs of animals.

Unfortunately, the cod liver oil produced today is not the same product used by Dr. Weston A. Price in his study. Most modern cod liver oil is refined to such a point that the natural vitamins are removed. Some processors add back synthetic vitamins. If you would like to read more about this topic please read Cod Liver Oil.

For more information read:
Cod Liver Oil: Number One Superfood
The Yin and Yang of Cod Liver Oil
Cod Liver Oil: Update on Manufacture

Update November 11, 2009: For more information about which Green Pasture’s products eatkamloops.org is carrying, please read Questions and Answers.

Undated December 27, 2009: Need some more proof? I have just found a very informative blog by Stephan Guyenet called Whole Health Source. This is a link to his writings about Dental Health. There are many very good photos and references for further reading on the topic.

Undated January 4, 2010: This is a link to an online version of Nutrition and Physical Degeneration.

Our Children’s Teeth - Choices a Family Needs to Make

I wish I knew then what I know now before conceiving my children. If I had known about the work of Dr. Weston A. Price, I could have eaten differently, and saved my family money and suffering. Maybe I could have avoided the problems I now see in the faces of my two girls.

My two girls suffer from such a common problem, it is now seen as “normal”. My girls do not have enough space in their mouths for all their teeth. This is the “physical degeneration” Dr. Weston A. Price saw in all primitive communities after exposure of only one generation to the “displacing foods of modern commerce”. In his time the “displacing foods” were: white sugar, white flour, pasteurized milk, canned foods, vegetable oils and convenience items with extenders and additives.

So what’s a Mother to do? I can’t go back in time and correct my errors but I can try not to make anymore. For the last three years, I have fed my family the most nourishing, quality foods I can find. We completely avoid all “displacing foods” except for holidays. Halloween, Valentine’s and Easter without candy seems to cause social problems with our children’s schooling community. Nevertheless, this approach of avoiding all “displacing foods”, except for children’s holidays, has improved my children’s health. Their dentist Dr. Hugh Thomson has noted the girls have “cavity resistent teeth”. This is a very good sign we are doing something right. But it does not solve the structural problems in the mouths of my children.

As a child, I had very crowded teeth and so many cavities I have lost count. I had eight extractions: four bicuspids and four wisdom teeth. I wore braces for two years and a retainer for one year. This is standard orthodontic practice. This process was fairly traumatic for me because I lived my prepubescent years with big spaces in my mouth due to the removal of the four bicuspids. Then I spent three years of my adolescence with braces. I always felt ugly.

When I was at the Weston A Price Conference in California last November, I heard a lecture by Dr. Louisa L. Williams. She introduced me to the difference between orthodontic and orthopedic dental practices. It was during this lecture that the lights came on for me. When I came home from the conference, I started reading her book Radical Medicine: Profound Intervention in a Profoundly Toxic Age. After reading the 1000 plus page book, I understood what Dr. Hugh Thomson wanted to do with Sonja’s emerging dental problems.

I feel really grateful for that lecture and book because I understood why I needed to move on Sonja’s work. Orthopedic dentistry works on improving the basic structure of the mouth compared to orthodontic dentistry which is more concerned with appearance. Orthopedic dentistry works best with younger children that are growing fast. It would have been better to start with Sonja at seven years of age. Sonja had two problems. First, she had a “finger sucking habit” which had to be broken before her pallet could be expanded. She had just turned nine when we started the pallet expansion. Pallet expansion works best before a child loses her baby molars. This usually happens at about eleven. So far, her top front teeth have lots of space now. Her lower jaw is still back, but nothing is holding her jaw back except the muscles and tendons which will loosen over time. I remind her to bring her jaw forward whenever I notice.

We thought we had gotten lucky with Erika. She had an over-bite but her teeth looked really straight. I was a bit worried because I have noticed that most children that have straight teeth as adults, have spaces between their teeth by age six. We put “overlays” on her baby molars which corrected her over-bite. In theory, when her adult molars come in they come in at the new height, permanently correcting the over-bite. When the baby teeth with the overlays fall out, their job is done.

Big changes happen in a child’s mouth at about seven. Erika’s permanent teeth came in crowded. About a month ago, Erika got an upper pallet expander. The pallet expander is on the inside of the teeth so the appliance is not visible. She will need an expander for her lower jaw, which Dr. Hugh Thomson recommended inserting about a month later, after Erika became used to the upper appliance. Even in a month, I can see more space for her upper teeth. Pallet expansion works best with younger children. It can happen really quickly.

It is my hope that my children will be able to keep all 32 of their teeth. I have only 24 teeth to chew my food. In Radical Medicine, Dr. Louisa Williams states pallet expansion improves digestion because it avoids extractions and maintains all the teeth for chewing food. Also, the pallet expansion increases the space in the mid-brain area. The mid-brain area houses the seat of our endocrine system, the pituitary gland. This helps the pituitary gland function normally. Hopefully, my girls will have their dental work all done before they hit their teenage years. The cost of early orthopedic intervention appears to by a fraction of the cost of regular orthodontic treatment.

Update October 2, 2009: Erika has had her lower appliance in for about a week. This appliance will increase the size of her lower jaw to accommodate her permanent teeth. The appliance has a key and lock system which increases the tension. We adjust the appliance twice a week ourselves. The biggest issue of earlier intervention with young children is that the parent must be willing to clean the appliance and child’s teeth at least once daily. It is too much to expect a seven year old to have the dexterity to clean their mouth sufficiently.

Undated December 27, 2009: I have just found a very informative blog by Stephan Guyenet called Whole Health Source. This is a link to his writings about Dental Health. There are many very good photos and references for further reading on the topic. Please note the famous Identical Twin Study. One twin was given standard orthodontic treatment and the other was given orthopedic treatment. Note the different in the facial outcomes in the identical twins.

Updated January 4, 2010: If you are looking for a dentist trained in Holistic/Biological/Environmental Dentistry please search these websites:
The International Academy of Biological Dentistry and Medicine
The International Academy of Oral Medicine and Toxicology
Holistic Dental Association

Let’s Talk About Raw Milk Safety

This is a letter sent to The Tyee regarding an article about raw milk:

Last year, I was at the Weston A Price Foundation Conference in California state. I had the opportunity to visit two dairies that supply raw milk: Claravale Farms in Panoche, CA and Organic Pastures in Fresno, CA. I also saw, and smelled, many conventional dairies along the way. The contrast between the conventional, raw, and home dairies was profound.

It is up to you to decide which is a more wholesome food. Is it the conventional dairy with its “complex safety procedures”, the raw dairies with their “bacterial testing”, or the milkmaid with her “soapy water”?. We also have to realize life is risky. Things go wrong with any system, but the more complex a system the more likelihood of failure.

This Weston A. Price Foundation essay gives a general overview of pasturing and its benefits to the farm, community and environment. Please enjoy Splendor from the Grass. This is a link to numerous documents on the safety of raw milk: www.realmilk.com.

New Cow Share Program in Haida Gwaii

Big Bear Ranch sent me a link to an article in The Tyee called: Did you Want your Milk Raw? (The Tyee was started by Alisa Smith and J.B. MacKinnon the minds behind the Hundred Mile Diet). Lisa Graham-Knight has two Jerseys which are supplying Haida Gwaii with raw milk. I read through the postings after the article and was saddened by all the fear the general population has around raw milk. I wrote a posting on The Tyee site about why I like raw milk and consider it safer than pasteurized milk. Below is my posting:

I am the Chapter Leader for the Weston A Price Foundation in Kamloops. My family and I have been drinking raw milk for about three years now. This summer I decided to buy my own Jersey cow so I could ensure a supply of this nutritious traditional food.

I want the government out of my business so I can get nourishing foods directly from the farmer at a reasonable price. Even at this reasonable price, the farmer gets paid more than what they would receive from the Industrial Food System. (I won’t get into government run dairy quota.) Legal raw milk sales would save the small family farm. Legal farm gate sales regarding meats is another issue that would save the family farm.

I will try to connect with the people involved in this new cow share program.

Slaughtering Chickens

We just finished two days of slaughtering chickens. It was a big job because our “fingers” for the Whizbang Chicken Plucker were out of stock. If you have ever plucked a chicken you know this is the most tedious job in processing chickens. Commercial chicken pluckers cost in the thousands of dollars. I decided to look for a used model online but found Herrick Kimball’s book Anyone Can Build a Tub-Style Mechanical Chicken Plucker. I bought the book but the rubber picker fingers, which his son Robert sells, were out of stock. If you would like to see a video on the process, please watch Whizbang Chicken Plucker. You’ve got to love these guys!

The day before yesterday, Shaen set up the assembly line:
1. The first area is for killing cones. He uses inexpensive roadside cones that are cut down to accommodate the chicken’s head.
2. The second step is located outside. The scalding area uses a turkey deep-fryer attached to a 20 pound propane tank. This is a big pot full of water which is heated to 150 degrees. The chickens are dunked for about one minute to loosen the feathers.
3. The third area is the plucking seat. There is a big bin for feathers and a seat for the plucker. An upside-down pail acts as a table to rest the chicken being plucked.
4. The fourth area is a washing area for cleaning and removal of pin-feathers.
5. The fifth area was for cutting off the feet, gutting and final cleaning. The “dressed” chickens then go into a cooler full of ice and water.
6. The sixth area is for wrapping the chickens and packing up the organs. We saved the feet, liver, heart and gizzards. The chickens were then put into our massive old-style freezer. This freezer has a special setting for maximum cool down which isn’t normally available on new freezers. People are just not freezing large amounts of meat at one time anymore.

We started processing the chickens yesterday morning. Shaen caught the chickens and worked at the killing cones. He did double time dunking the chickens in the scalder which loosens the feathers before plucking. I was the main chicken plucker. Christine washed, checked over the birds, and removed any pin feathers. Chris Harder, our welcome volunteer, worked at the gutting table and wrapping area.

It took the four of us about 10 hours to process about 50 chickens. If we called in a professional team to do this job it would have cost about $4.00 per chicken. It will take far less time when we have the Whizbang Chicken Plucker finished.

Update September 13, 2009: I have been asked if I can sell the chickens we are producing. Unfortunately, if I sold even one chicken, I become a criminal. The government wants to keep you safe from people like me. They know their “government inspected meat” is far safer than my chickens wash in the kitchen sink. If you are wondering about the governments record of safety regarding inspected meats, please read: Slaughtering in BC: Information You Need to Know.

Sally Fallon on Raw Milk

One resource I am very happy to have access to is the Weston A Price Chapter Leaders bulletin board. This yahoo group is a way for WAPF Chapter Leaders all over the world to communicate with each other. The group keeps me up-to-date with new information and screens material through an incredible group of knowledgeable people. The hard part for me is choosing the best information to pass on.

This lecture is 1:15 minutes by Sally Fallon to the Northeast Organic Farming Association, Massachusetts Chapter. Please have patience with the poor audio quality. The content is excellent. Sally Fallon talks about the safety issues around raw milk. She talks passionately about the health of children and what we as parents can do to help ensure our children become healthy adults. She answers questions from the audience which I found very interesting.

I hope you enjoy Sally Fallon talking about Raw Milk to NOFA Massachusetts Chapter.

Food Intolerance Test: What NOT to Do

As mentioned earlier, coffee substitutes are not allowed on the Specific Carbohydrate Diet. In theory, over time the SCD heals a person’s system and allows the reintroduction of problem foods. I have done a number of food intolerance tests over the years. In the past, the only food I have reintroduced successfully has been raw dairy products. I have tried reintroducing spelt and rye without success. Some beans may be okay in very small amounts.

Food intolerance testing can be done with expensive lab testing, which will not be covered here. Some simple testing methods you can do at home are: The Elimination Diet, Food Intolerance Test and Coca Pulse Test. The Elimination Diet is a trial and error method to assess which foods can be consumed without negative reactions. The biggest problem with this diet is that it takes a long time to do. The Food Intolerance Test or Challenge Test requires the reintroduction of a food and then waiting for up to 72 hours for any old symptoms to come back. Sometimes, as a person becomes healthier, the person can safely eat a problem food up to a certain threshold. After that point is reached, the food will cause a massive reaction. The Coca Pulse Test is one method commonly used. If the person eats a food which will cause a reaction, there will be an increase of pulse rate after a few minutes. For more information about this test method please read The Pulse Test: The Secret of Building Your Basic Health by Dr Arthur Coca.

I decided to do a food intolerance test with the coffee substitutes. Normally, I would try one at a time but I was doing a taste test which requires trying a number at the same time! This was my first mistake. I normally do not use the Coca Pulse Test but after consuming the coffee substitute I noticed a warming of my body and a noticable increase in my pulse rate. Ignoring this body warming and increase of pulse rate was my second mistake.

After the taste test, I decided I liked both the Krakus and Nutrimax blends. I continued to compare the two over the next few days. What I thought was research on which was the better of the two substitutes, I think was actually compulsive consumption. Normally, food cravings are a sign that something is wrong. This was my third mistake.

By the afternoon of the third day I was very sick. I had a full blown migraine. I was nauseous and shaking. I slept for nearly 18 hours and woke up in the morning with a shadow of a headache and staggered to the bathroom. I was slightly nauseous and had a notable shaking in my hands. My hands were stiff but not numb.

I can safely say now that coffee substitutes are not on the menu. A normal protocol would be to try the food again in about six months. Hopefully, in six months I will be off coffee and I will not need to try this experiment again!