Mirror, mirror on the wall …

Acceptance.

What if we didn’t perceive whatever we don’t like about our bodies to be flaws or weaknesses but, rather embraced ourselves as we are – as though there was absolutely nothing wrong with us, nothing that needed to be fixed?!  Imagine the ways in which we would feel nourished as a result.  Imagine how self-acceptance and appreciation for our bodies  would feel.

As Cathy Thorne writes, “Only loving your body when you are perfectly fit is like only loving your children  when they are perfectly behaved.”

We need to see you, naked.

Guest Author Tiffani Beckman McNeil

As I gazed down at my chubby knees and brushed my do-I-like-this-hair-color bangs out of my eyes, I reflected on the movie What the Bleep and the water crystals of Masaru Emoto. I wondered why in the world I was still so hard on myself, after 38 1/2 years of living in this body. I mean, we’ve done everything together! My body has gotten me through learning to walk and riding a bike, to playing volleyball and winning a scholarship for Poise and Composure, to re-learning how to be in shape and eat right. I know I am more than just my body, but I am pretty attached to it, you could say.

Body image, particularly for women, has been talked about in numerous articles and books. And even though we probably all intellectually know we should appreciate our bodies, in all their imperfections, it’s really hard. I mean, who looks in the mirror every day and grins at what they see? Anyone over 8 years old?

Well, I want to stop focusing on my imperfections and look for the wonderful things. And even though my body isn’t a stand-in for any super model, it’s still here and working hard for me. Have you seen the experiment Dove did on women’s body images? Check it out here – it’s very powerful. Gets you thinking.

As my friend Freda says, your body is for you! Not for your mate, your beautiful size 4 kid sister, or the 19 year old skinny chicks down the street. It’s your body and it’s time to reclaim it, my friends.

This is where being naked comes in.

We could all compare ourselves to the women we see naked (or at least semi-naked) every day…you know, those 6 foot tall amazon beauties with air-brushed skin and not a trace of cellulite. We could stop comparing ourselves all together…..or maybe there’s a third choice we have overlooked.

What about seeing women – every day women, women you respect, women you barely know, and women you have known since 4th grade – naked? What would it be like to compare your body to your mom’s? To your neighbor Joan’s? To Maya Angelou’s, or Oprah’s or someone else you think highly of? Would it change the way you criticize your own body to see the stretch marks you left on your mom’s hips? Or to see that your best friend also has arm fat they would like to tone up? After all, no one is perfect. But yet we hold ourselves to the perfection every day when we see ads, TV shows, and movies.

Now, I’m all for getting rid of the media you don’t want – for me that’s no newspapers, no magazines (other than Sunset magazine) and no TV. Netflix does me just fine when I want to watch Grey’s Anatomy or a movie. But for most people, being bombarded by ads with fake bodies is a daily occurrence. And really, it isn’t the media’s fault. After all, no one made you look. Did you know they airbrush everything? They suck away fat, they gloss up the hair, even lengthen the neck. What?! Who is the real person under all of that fakeness?

What do you look like naked? What parts do you like? What parts are you glad that clothing hides? Would you be glad to know that you are probably the only one who even notices those flaws? After all, think of your mate or your best friend or someone else you love. What do you think of when you picture their faces? Is it all their flaws? No – its more likely you picture the parts you find irresistible, sweet, or cute. And everyone has those traits, even if we think our flaws outshine them.

My friend Sandrine says it is reassuring to her to see that she looks similar to the women she sees in the Jewish Community Center shower room. No one there is “perfect”. Everyone has “flaws” … but what if we stopped even considering them flaws? What if we were proud of our bodies, no matter the stretch marks, the saggy necks, the cellulite? Who says there is anything wrong with that? After all, they are a natural expression of living. And there isn’t anything wrong with that at all.

The primal part of seeing the same sex in all the stages of life is so missing in today’s world. I don’t know what 50 year old women look like. I don’t know what postpartum women look like. I don’t know what 80 year old women look like. And I think that’s sad – we could all revel in the stages where we are instead of trying to look like something we aren’t. I’d rather be proud of my almost 40 year old body in its strengths. There are always “weaknesses”, even in those supermodels.

And then there’s the children.

I love how we expect our kids to be better than us in so many ways … and they can be, but we have to give them the tools. If all the pictures we give them are TV and magazines, of course, they are going to think they don’t measure up. I mean, if their mom looks in the mirror and frowns after reading Vogue, isn’t that what all girls are supposed to do? I remember stealing a glance in my mom’s notebook she kept when I was a kid … I was expecting really cool things but I was disappointed to read “vacuum on Tuesday” and “call Mary” and “lose 10 pounds immediately”. Monkey see, monkey do.

Can we give our kids a better sense of imperfect bodies being perfectly normal? Can we start to lower our defenses about our bodies? If you have kids – have them describe your face and body. See if their words aren’t the words in your heart you adore, but in your head you can’t quite believe. How many of you allow your picture to be taken when you aren’t “perfect”?

So – invite the girls over for a clothing optional sunning session (non-toxic sunscreens only, please). Take a spa day at one of the clothing optional places in your area. Go to the steam room at the gym and look those wonderful women in the eye. Better yet, start a conversation with them. Remember Charlotte’s steam room experience in Sex and the City? She thought a woman was staring at her fat thighs (what fat?!), but the woman was really admiring her.

Go easy on yourself. It’s the only body you’ve got. It deserves a little praise now and then.

About our guest author

Tiffani received her Bachelor of Science degree from Kansas State University. Her passion in life – Nutrition – was carried over from her academic life into creating homemade food for her dogs and cats for the past 20 years. After seeing how vibrantly healthy they were, she began to question her own diet. The low fat or low carb mantra of the day just didn’t seem to give her that same health. Years spent studying biology, chemistry, physiology, and much more, gave her great foundations for understanding how food can interact with the body. And that scientists of the day may think they know how a vitamin or mineral works, but new information is discovered all the time! She then heard about a dentist by the name of Dr. Weston A. Price – and finally she found a diet for humans that made sense in the same way that her homemade diet for her pets did! She now focuses on eating nutrient-dense foods. Counting calories is now a thing of the past!

Tiffani and her husband, Michael McNeil, own Backyard CSA – a Farm-to-Table Delivery Service that delivers nutrient-dense and truly healthy foods to people all over the San Francisco Bay Area. Tiffani is also owned by a dog Q, an Australian Shepherd mix, and a cat named Diamond. She enjoys gardening, knitting, reading, hiking, camping, working out, and of course – food!

Do you find it challenging to accept your body as is?

In defense of real food.

What defines food?

/fo͞od/
Noun
Any nutritious substance that people or animals eat or drink, or that plants absorb, in order to maintain life and growth.

In response to a post on Facebook focused on the addictive properties of sugar, one reader commented, “People can convince themselves that everything is bad. I, however, think that concerning food, we should eat a little bit of everything.”

Refined sugar is not a food. It has no nutritional value: no vitamins, no minerals, no enzymes, no fiber.

No processed foods.

The healthy population groups that Dr. Weston A. Price discovered and observed didn’t eat a little of everything. They only ate nutrient dense food, they ate what grew locally and seasonally. They didn’t have any processed food of any kind. My mother grew up in Morocco, and similarly, no processed food of any kind. We live in an industrialized food system that offers us non-food, or what Joel Salatin, the farmer/author refers to as unpronounceable. It isn’t actually food.

From our educational materials: “The aboriginal diet was most interesting.  It had a lot of variety, including fruits, vegetables, grains and legumes. The grains and legumes were prepared with great care. They were placed in leaching baskets in a running stream for two weeks and then prepared by roasting, pounding and cooking. We see this careful preparation of grains and legumes in all traditional societies that ate these kinds of foods. Nonetheless, the  diet was still based on animal foods. They hunted birds, they fished, they hunted game animals. As in other cultures, once again we find the tradition of never eating lean meat. They hunted animals at times of the year when the animals would have the most fat. If a certain bush was in flower, that meant a certain animal was fat so they hunted that animal. They left fruit on the trees so that the birds would get fat, they wanted the fat. If they killed a kangaroo and it was too lean, they discarded it.” So, there is evidence that healthy population groups are selective about what they eat.

This photos that Dr. Price captured  of those who ate traditionally prepared, real food exclusively reveal what radiant health and wholeness look like.

I think when it comes to real food, and only real food – then perhaps a little bit of everything may be apropos depending on each person. However, I am not convinced that we need a little bit of everything the industrialized “food” model produces. One may argue that some consumption of “non-foods” is all a part of moderation and balance. I would counter everything in moderation, including moderation. For most of us refined sugar is highly addictive. Brain scans reveal that sugar is is as addictive as cocaine. So I would certainly not begrudge anyone a celebratory birthday cake, but I personally would choose to use natural sweeteners such as honey and maple syrup, which we would identify as food. Read about our recommended diet, in this free booklet.

A picture is worth a thousand words.

Below are photographs taken by Dr. Weston A. Price that demonstrate what happens when human beings eat “food” we weren’t designed to eat. These photographs are used by permission from the Price-Pottenger Nutrition Foundation who hold the copyright. Please do no share them without their express written consent.

Africans on a traditional diet.

Africans who are eating what Dr. Price referred to as the displacing foods of modern commerce.

The next generation on “modern foods”.

Of related interest, if we eliminate certain “foods” from our diet, are we orthorexic?

What do you think?  

Not All Vegetarians Are Created Equal

Guest Author Hannah Healy of Healy Real Food Vegetarian

Ok, maybe not “created” equal, but not all vegetarians choose to eat the same thing or have the same opinions about nutrition. There are a vast array of assumptions about vegetarians; vegetarians only eat tofu or fake meat, vegetarians hate meat eaters, vegetarians only eat salad, vegetarians don’t eat dairy products, vegetarians are loud-mouthed protesters that will ruin your steak dinner or throw red paint on your coat. These are stereotypes. Similarly, it would be an assumption to say that all meat eaters are fat slobs that eat at McDonald’s everyday or that all meat eaters have a lust for blood.

Photograph Credit – Sandrine Love. All Rights Reserved.

Of course some vegetarians do eat soy products and think killing animals is wrong and so on, but you may be surprised to learn that many vegetarians, like myself, never eat soy products, don’t hate meat-eaters and choose not to eat tofu, veggie burgers, soy milk, pasta or other so-called “vegetarian foods.” I opt for whole, unprocessed foods instead. Vegetarians can’t all be lumped into a generalization any more than meat eaters can.

Some Weston A. Price foundation advocates have made some assumptions about vegetarians and vice-versa that has contributed to an almost “us vs. them” rivalry between the two groups. If you are not familiar with it, the Weston A. Price Foundation (WAPF) was created to share the nutritional findings of Dr. Weston A. Price, a dentist who studied how various traditional cultures’ diets affected their dental health. WAPF now educates the public on traditional diets and how they can improve overall well being. Considering that WAPF recommends eating various types of meat for optimal health it’s not surprising that they might want to argue against vegetarianism.

However, vegetarians and WAPF don’t have to be natural enemies. Both groups agree on many things and have more in common than they think. It may come as a surprise that even as a vegetarian I appreciate some of the information that WAPF has provided and feel healthier after making some dietary changes that I learned about through WAPF. Whether you are a WAPF supporter or a vegetarian I believe there is something to be gained from working together and respectfully learning from each other instead of bickering back and forth.

Vegetarians and The Weston A. Price Foundation

I agree with the Weston A. Price foundation [WAPF] on a lot of fronts. I know it seems strange that, as a vegetarian, I agree with many of the principles of an organization that heavily promotes the consumption of meat, but if you look closely at these principles you’ll see that WAPF and vegetarians have some similar ideals. Even though WAPF supporters eat meat I respect them for caring about where their food comes from and their desire to make a difference. This is the basis from which to make a change in our industrialized food system.

In an article called An Open Letter to Vegetarians on the WAPF website author Jim Earles states some ideals that many vegetarians and WAPF agree on. Here are a few:

• “we oppose unsustainable methods of corporate agriculture, which drive out small farmers, thrive on the use of pesticides and chemicals, deplete the soil, produce an inferior product and cause tremendous harm and suffering to countless animals
• we believe that the typical diet of the average (meat-eating) American is extremely unhealthful
• we believe that the practice of raising vast amounts of grains to feed the cows that are turned into fast-food hamburgers is wasteful and destructive of our environment (Raising a cow on grains is the equivalent of raising a child on a diet of candy. The cow will get very fat–which is what drives the practice in the first place–but it also makes the animals unhealthy, makes them produce copious amounts of methane, and greatly diminishes the nutritive value of the milk and meat which are obtained from it. Exclusive grass feeding makes for a happy, healthy animal, provides superior nutrition in milk and meat, and naturally limits the number of animals that may be raised in one location.)”

One of the reasons that I choose not to eat meat is in protest to the factory farming industry. I hope that someday in our future there will be no more factory farms. WAPF has the same hopes for the future of our food. They staunchly oppose eating meat from CAFOs and only recommend eating grass fed.

I believe that if you do choose to eat meat, the only humane way to do it is to get your meat from farms that you know treated animals well. Farm animals were domesticated by humans, we’ve created them to rely on us to survive. It is inhumane to abuse our position of power over the animal by treating them like a commodity without feelings of pain and suffering. To assure that the animal you are consuming was raised humanely and was able to feed on grass, like nature intended, is better for the environment, farmers, the animal and your health.

Both vegetarians and WAPF recognize that our diets can be greatly influential. We can affect change by choosing not to support an industry that values the almighty dollar over the health of our country, of our children, of our animals and our earth.

“We don’t need a law against McDonald’s or a law against slaughterhouse abuse–we ask for too much salvation by legislation. All we need to do is empower individuals with the right philosophy and the right information to opt out en masse.” -Joel Salatin

Living Abroad and The Wake-up Call to Change My Diet

I have been a lacto-ovo vegetarian for about 10 years and have gone through many dietary changes. I used to be one of those vegetarians that basically ate the Standard American Diet (SAD), a diet of heavily processed foods, high in sugar, grains and lacking in nutrients. It was more or less the same as any standard meat-eater but I switched out low-quality meat for fake soy meat products. I didn’t feel very good and had a constant craving for sweets and refined grains. Being healthy was important to me, but I didn’t look into what healthy actually meant any further than a box of bars that said “heart healthy!”… I was subject to the media’s healthy marketing scheme and that was good enough for me.

A few years ago I was accepted into a program to teach English abroad and went to live in Galicia, Spain. It was there that I really felt my worst. In keeping with Spanish tradition I had pastries for breakfast including plenty of chocolate croissants and churros with ultra pasteurized milk and coffee. At the school I worked in, the only snack provided in the teacher’s lounge was cookies, pastries and coffee with powdered milk and sugar. I was dependent on sugar and had intense cravings all the time. I was going to the convenience store for a candy snack almost every day. I’d follow that up with a lunch with lots of white bread, cheese and maybe a few vegetables or eggs every once in a while. Needless to say it didn’t take long for this to take a toll on my body.

In Spain it’s common to have espresso and a pastry for breakfast at 8 or 9am, then have a snack of coffee and cookies around 11am and not have lunch until 2pm. I don’t know how they do it, but from when you wake up until 2pm you’re basically running on sugar, processed white flour and caffeine! Many Americans have an idea that Europeans are naturally healthy and subsist on a mostly traditional diet, but Europe has encountered many of the same health problems as the U.S. due to the industrialization of food. I was surprised to learn that like the U.S., Spain also has an obesity problem.

As a result of such a poor diet my immune system was very weak. I was sick about 1 to 3 times a month and after a few months I was physically and mentally exhausted. I had never been sick that often before in my life. At one point I got the flu, which lasted several days and once I slowly recovered and finally felt back to normal a soreness started developing in my throat again along with aching body pain, a congested nose, and sinus headaches. I couldn’t believe that after battling the flu for a week and then recovering that I went right back through the motions of getting the flu mere days after already having it! That was a wake up call for me.

I’ve always believed that what you eat affects your health and that you can heal yourself naturally with diet. Yet, In getting swept up in the romantic idea of the European lifestyle of coffee and croissants I had ignored all common sense for being healthy. I had stopped regulating my poor eating habits. After such an intense bout of sickness I began researching natural ways to restore my immune system online.

My First Exposure to the Weston A. Price Foundation

When I first heard about WAPF I read an article called Zapping Sugar Cravings by Jen Allbritton, which talked all about the detrimental effects of sugar on your body and immune system. I would highly recommend reading this article, as it details what sugar actually does to your body. Allbritton explains,

“White blood cells, called neutrophils, are a primary player in the immune system… these “germ-destroyers” become much less effective at their job when sugar is consumed (table sugar, fructose and even orange juice), and this immune malfunction can last up to six hours after consumption…the reason for this six-hour despondency is that the neutrophils are too busy dealing with the inflammatory mess created by the influx of sugar.”

After reading this I realized how much I had been weakening my immune system by eating so much sugar. I had even snacked on candy while I was sick! My body never had a chance!

It was then that I decided to quit sugar for good. After that I read more and decided not be a vegetarian that still eats the Standard American Diet. I stopped eating highly processed GMO soy products. I incorporated more nutrient dense foods into my diet like pastured eggs, vegetables, butter, whole milk yogurt and fermented foods. Some of these items were not easy to find in this part of Spain. Like the U.S., Spain also has an overabundance of sugar laden low-fat and non-fat processed food products claiming to promote weight loss. I had to take a train 30 minutes to the next town over to stock up on the good whole milk yogurt.

Healthy Choices for Vegetarians

Since my return from Spain I’ve been happy to have an easily accessible supply of raw milk, organic fruits and vegetables, grass fed butter, sprouted grains, pastured eggs, and the supplies to make my own fermented foods and drinks. I avoid sugar and soy and try to prepare grains by soaking or sprouting them.

After changing my diet I’ve felt better in a multitude of ways. I haven’t gotten sick or even had a cold in over a year! (Knock on Wood!). My sugar cravings have lowered. I have more energy. Before changing my diet, I used to be tired all the time. I needed at least 9 hours of sleep to be able to function properly throughout the day without feeling groggy. I know it’s good to get sleep, but 9 HOURS!? who is able to get that much? Most people need 6-8. I was hardly ever able to get that much sleep, so I was basically tired and groggy all the time. I didn’t even realize that this wasn’t normal until it changed. Now, if I get 6 hours of sleep I have plenty of energy throughout the day.

Anyone who eats the Standard American diet full of processed foods can create a better diet for themselves whether they eat meat or not.

Although it may not seem like it at first glance, WAPF does have some useful information for lacto-ovo vegetarians that can help to improve overall health. They promote the use of pastured eggs and dairy products which supports humane treatment of animals and results in more nutrient dense food. They recommend cutting out processed foods which often have harmful and unnatural additives. They only suggest eating grains if they are soaked or sprouted which makes them more nutritious. They recommend eating fermented foods like sauerkraut and kombucha. They recommend cutting out or drastically reducing sugar intake as well as unfermented soy products. Even as a vegetarian I put many of these dietary suggestions into practice.

Mutual Respect

Everyone has different reasons for eating the way they do, be it moral, religious or health related. Choosing how to eat can be a complicated decision that takes into account what is good for you, what is necessary for survival, what makes you feel healthier, what is good for the earth and what is good for your mental well-being and conscience. Everyone comes up with different conclusions when faced with these decisions and some don’t think about it at all. It has always been important to me to educate myself, take in the information that is valuable to me and listen to my instincts.

After a conversation with Sandrine Love, the head of Nourishing Our Children, I was interested to hear that in her organization they never use the word “should”. She’s found that it more often hurts rather than helps. People feel that they are being judged or belittled when being told that they “should” or “should not” do something which in-turn causes them to reject such suggestions.

It’s important to remember that every body is different and that the food that makes you feel great may make another person feel terrible. So it’s best not to assume that what works for you will work for everyone.

I find that being respectful to others’ choices and being a good example is much more effective than proselytizing your position. Most people, including myself, don’t respond well to unsolicited lifestyle advice. In my opinion the best you can do is to be open about your choices and be available to share that information when people ask you and are ready to digest it.

“When we are no longer able to change a situation – we are challenged to change ourselves.” – Viktor E. Frankl

About Our Guest Author

Hannah Healy is the creator of the Healy Real Food Vegetarian blog where she shares her original recipes. She lives in San Francisco with her boyfriend Victor and terrier mix dog Lentil. Hannah enjoys playing music, spending time with her boyfriend, playing hide and seek with her dog and having a pot of tea with friends and family. She hopes to grow her blog and release an ebook full of healthy vegetarian recipes.

What is your experience of vegetarianism?

Cookware Recommendations

In our educational materials, we advise that one:

“Cook only in cast iron, stainless steel, glass or good quality enamel such as Le Creuset.”

Heavy, old-fashioned cast-iron frying pan such as those made my Lodge are great for all sautéing and stir-frys. These pans should not be washed with soap but merely rinsed in hot water and dried with towels.

Note: Lodge Manufacturing, the oldest U.S. maker of cast-iron cookware still in business today, only sells theirs pre-seasoned with soy oil now, however some would argue that it is irrelevant. On a paleo based site  I read one commenter assert that “The type of oil used to season is irrelevant. A season is made up mostly of burnt oil turned to carbon, and there’s no paleo/non-paleo carbon. The oil burns off, leaving carbon in the uneven parts of the surface making it smooth. Adding to the season that comes from the factory will only get “more paleo” (and much better) as you cook on it with healthy fats.”  Dr. Kaayla Daniels, author of The Whole Soy Story, reflects about cast iron pre-seasoned with soy: “It’s certainly no problem for most of us. For severely allergic people, it’s a risk they can’t afford to take.”

Others recommend that you scrub your pre-seasoned Lodge in the sink with hot soapy water a couple of times and re-season anew. “Once the seasoning is off, use flax oil to re-season it, unless you have a known sensitivity which may be an issue. This is not for any Paleo reason (being a seed oil and all, I’m not advocating eating it in quantity), but because it creates a nigh-indestructible base coat. From there, build up your normal polymerized layers of clarified butter, tallow, and coconut oil.”  Read another article in favor of using flax oil to season a cast iron pan. Seasoning with flax oil is not without controversy however, as is mentioned in this article in the last paragraph.

Others advocate that you season cast iron with lard, tallow or coconut oil. Olive oil and butter is not advised by some because of the low smoke point.

Dr. Kaayla Daniels advises us not to use tomato sauce in cast iron so as not to pull the iron from the pan.

Stainless Steel Magnet Test

How do we know which stainless steels are safe? There are two main types of stainless steel, magnetic and nonmagnetic. The nonmagnetic form has a very high nickel content, and nickel is allergenic and carcinogenic. It is much more toxic than iron or aluminum. You can use a little “refrigerator magnet” to test your pans. The magnet will stick firmly to the safer type of pan.

It is wise to use the magnet all over the pan – inside and outside since some have found that the pan contains mixed ingredients and sticks firmly in some places and not in others.

Sources: Magnet and Stainless Steel Cookware, Magnetically Attractive Stainless Steel Cookware

Titanium?

A community member asked about titanium. Dr. Kaayla Daniel answers, in short, “I think titanium is fine.”

Copper?

Not recommended due to copper toxicity concerns.

How do you season your cast iron?!

See our public discussion about this topic on Facebook.

Is there a cure for eczema?

Yes!  According to Emily Bartlett, LAc

While it is commonly thought that there is no known cure for eczema, Emily Bartlett, a holistic health practitioner and  acupuncturist practicing in Los Angeles, has created a self-help guide called The Eczema Cure: Heal from the Inside Out with Real Food. She also has a blog called Holistic Squid. I downloaded the guide today, which comes as a .pdf, and so enjoyed the clarity and simplicity of her recommendations! The guide was, believe it or not, a page turner for me!  I found myself quickly enrolled in her no-nonsense approach and her personable writing style. It is clear to me that there is no magic involved in curing eczema, it will require that you make some changes. 

The Eczema Cure is part of the Village Green Network’s Spring E-Book Bundle Promotion – 30 books for 39.00.  1.30 a book!  Offered until April 23, 2013. Click here –> http://bit.ly/11bMeKM

Some highlights about what I read:

Emily explains why dermatologist can’t cure eczema. The common allopathic  treatments for eczema include: steroid creams, non-steroid petroleum based lotions, antihistamines, and anti-itch medicines. These medications work with varying degrees of success, but typically after a variable period of time, the eczema flares again – sometimes while the medications are still being used.

These treatments fail because stopping the rash does not resolve the reason why the rash is happening in the first place. Eczema (and in fact, most skin conditions) is a reflection of a deeper, internal imbalance typically originating from poor digestion. When a dermatologist gives you creams and medicines to make the skin clear, the internal issues are not addressed.

Using cortisone cream to fix eczema is a bit like painting a rickety house thatʼs about to fall down. It makes it look better, and you may feel better for a short period of time – but ultimately the underlying issues must be addressed.

“Leaky Gut” and Eczema

Leaky Gut Syndrome is a condition where the lining of the small intestine is damaged. This allows incompletely digested nutrients, toxins, bacteria, and wastes to “leak” through the intestines and flood the blood stream. The foreign substances entering the blood then cause an autoimmune response in the body, which leads to inflammatory and allergic reactions such as headaches, joint pain, psycho-emotional imbalance, respiratory issues and digestive problems, and skin conditions – like eczema.

Leaky Gut Syndrome usually goes undiagnosed, misdiagnosed, or is ignored by conventional doctors. Perhaps this is because pharmaceutical companies have little to gain by the treatment of this condition. Or, perhaps it is because western medicine tends to see the body as a machine whose individual parts must function on their own rather than a complex being with interdependent components.

Diagnosed or not, Leaky Gut Syndrome is likely the root cause of your eczema.

Plan of Action

Emily asserts that there are no quick fixes that have lasting results. Eczema can be challenging to live with, and it takes hard work to completely cure. But when you commit to the four actions below, you’ll be on the road to living eczema-free.  Thereʼs a saying in Chinese medicine that for every year youʼve had a condition, it takes about one month to treat.

Action 1: Identify and avoid triggers – Emily outlines how to eliminate environmental triggers, how to reduce stress triggers, how to deal with dietary triggers, and how to use elimination diets.  

Action 2: Put out the fire –  In Chinese medicine, nearly all eczema is seen as a manifestation of ʻDamp Heatʼ trapped in the skin. There can be other factors that support or complicate the skin condition, but Damp Heat creates the itch, red, and oozing rash. To treat Damp Heat, you must take measures to clear heat and drain dampness while simultaneously addressing underlying conditions. To do this, it is helpful to add cooling, bitter foods to the diet.

Action 3: Strengthen your defenses – What you need to battle eczema are the beneficial microorganisms in your body (probiotics) and important nutrients like Vitamin D.

Action 4: Heal your eczema with real food – Emily provides information and recipes about bone broth, cultured foods, dairy (and its role in relationship to eczema), and cleansing foods.  I found the recipes to be well organized and  easy to follow.

Emily includes a section about what to do when newborns have eczema, and when even vaginally born and breastfed babies get eczema, as well as answering frequently asked questions.  I would highly, highly recommend this self-help guide.  In fact, having previewed it, I am purchasing it for a friend of mine who has long suffered from eczema!

Again, The Eczema Cure is part of the Village Green Network’s Spring E-Book Bundle Promotion - 30 books for 39.00.  1.30 a book!  Offered until April 23, 2013. Click here –> http://bit.ly/11bMeKM

What has your experience of eczema been?

Nourishing Traditions for Rosh HaShanah

Menu

Following are traditional recipes for Rosh HaShanah, the Jewish New Year.  This menu would be well suited to break the fast of Yom Kippur, the Day of Atonement, as well. Symbolic foods at Rosh Hashanah would include pomegranates, honey, apples, carrots, sweet flavors, and whole fish including the head.  The meaning will be explained next to relevant recipes.

Appetizer

Chicken Liver Pate
Serve with traditionally prepared bread, crackers or vegetables

Side Dishes

Tzimmes
Tzimmes is a sweet and savory stew served at many Jewish holiday meals. This meatless recipe includes carrots, sweet potatoes, prunes, and dried apricots. Serve this as a side dish with roast chicken or brisket.

Glazed Carrots with Orange and Ginger
Sweet foods, such as carrots, are traditional for the Rosh Hashanah holiday. Here, they’re dressed with an orange-and-ginger glaze for an extra-tasty side dish that enhances any menu. The symbolism of this vegetable is based on the fact that in Yiddish, the word for carrots is “merren,” having the additional connotation of “more.” We want to have more of the blessings of life.

Honey Roasted Red Potatoes
Read comments for hints!  Honey represents the sweetness hoped for during the coming year.

Beet and Pomegranate Salad
It is traditional to consume pomegranates on Rosh Hashanah because the pomegranate, with its numerous seeds, symbolizes fruitfulness. Also, it is said to have 613 seeds, which corresponds with the 613 mitzvot or commandments of the Torah.

Pomegranate and Herb Salad
It is recommend that the cup of mixed herb leaves, such as parsley, cilantro, mint, or any combination herbs be finely cut.

Roasted Vegetables for Rosh Hashanah
I recommend that one leave out the sugar

Kibbutz Vegetable Salad

Ferments

Ginger Carrots

Main Dishes

Braised Brisket

Pot Roasted Brisket

Paprika Roast Chicken
Roast chicken is a classic main dish at Rosh Hashanah. This easy recipe features a paprika spice rub which adds extra flavor and color to the crisply browned bird.

Pomegranate-Glazed Chicken

Rosh Hashanah Chicken with Cinnamon and Apples from Metz. Read comments for hints.

Braised Brisket With Pomegranate Juice, Chestnuts and Turnips - substitute alternative for vegetable oil

Braised Flanken With Pomegranate

Whole Roasted Fish - helpful hint — The recipe calls for cooking the fish in aluminum.  I lined the aluminum foil with parchment paper so that the fish didn’t touch the aluminum, however the juice spilled out – so I recommend to put the fish with the lined aluminum as the recipe indicates yet place it within a pyrex baking pan or other pan with sides so that it catches the juice.  I didn’t have a pan large enough for the 8 pound fish I cooked.  Also, be sure to buy wild caught.

The symbolism of a whole fish: Rosh HaShana means the “Head of the Year” in Hebrew. As such, fish is traditionally served with its head. Why fish? A fish’s eyes never close and God’s eyes are said to always stay open as well.

Lamb and Prune Tagine

Lamb tagine sweetened with dried fruit

Dessert

Flourless Honey-Almond Cake
http://www.eatingwell.com/recipes/flourless_honey_almond_cake.html - recommend crispy almonds to make almond flour. Or http://www.anjasfood4thought.com/2010/09/flourless-almond-honey-cake.html

Honey-Coconut Milk Ice Cream
One of my guests doubled the recipe and many of us found it too sweet — so reduce honey.  Organic Berries for the ice cream were a lovely addition.

Homemade Raw Milk Ice Cream – Honey

Coolers

Pomegranate Cooler

Ritual

The Jewish New Year is a time when it is traditional to reflect on the year behind us and consider our vision for the next.  It is common to say to one another, “May you be inscribed in the book of life for another year.”

I envision this traditional holiday ritual may be of value to all of us because it invites us to “cast off” that which we want to release.

Consider the ways in which you may have “missed the mark” in the last year. Write down that which you would like to cast away – and throw stones into a body of water that flows/moves — such as the ocean, a stream, a river – to symbolically release it.

Some do this with bread or other food but, bread and/or other food is likely not of value to the animals that may live within the water, so it is my tradition to use stones.

I also add this part:

Consider what you would like to hold onto, develop, and evolve within yourself and your life. Keep a rock or rocks that represent those items as a symbolic way to embrace them.

I think this ritual has therapeutic value for all of us, regardless of religious beliefs.

What recipes or rituals would you like to share for this holiday?

An Oxymoron: McDonald’s and Coca Cola Sponsor the Olympics

An oxymoron is a figure of speech that combines contradictory terms such as “living dead”.

As their press materials explain, “McDonald’s has been a proud sponsor of the Olympic Movement for more than 35 years, and every dimension of our partnership reflects the Olympic ideals we share of excellence, teamwork and being your best. As the Official Restaurant of the Olympic Games since 1996, we are proud to feed the world’s best athletes, coaches, officials, media and spectators on-site at our four new Olympic venue restaurants.  We are connecting our customers to the Games by creating meaningful, relevant and fun experiences both on-site at the London 2012 Olympic Games and in our more than 33,500 restaurants around the world.”

McDonalds may be feeding, but are they nourishing the world’s best athletes, coaches, officials, media and spectators?!  The Weston A. Price Foundation recommends that in order to nourish ourselves, we “eat only foods that will spoil, but eat them before they do!”

As Dr. Joseph Mercola explains, “Manhattan artist Sally Davies has photographed a McDonald’s Happy Meal every day for six months. And it looks almost as fresh as the day it was bought, with no trace of decay.

The Daily Mail reports: ”In a work entitled The Happy Meal Project, Mrs. Davies, 54, has charted the seemingly indestructible fast food meals’ progress as it refuses to yield to the forces of nature.”

However, it turns out that Davies has some catching up to do. A Hamburger Today reports that wellness educator and nutrition consultant Karen Hanrahan has kept a McDonald’s hamburger since 1996, which is pictured on the left below.  As you can see, it still looks the same as the fresh one on the right next to it!”

Mercola concludes, “Folks, wholesome food is “live” food, and the hallmark of live food is the fact that it will wilt and decompose. The fact that these burgers, buns, and fries do not decompose, even after a decade or two, is a clear sign that it’s just not real food, and serves no beneficial purpose as part of your diet.”

A look  at the list of ingredients in McDonald’s most popular items will reveal how a bread can remain mold free for years, embalmed in chemicals.  Mercola has linked to many of the ingredients below.

“Enriched flour (bleached wheat flour, malted barley flour, niacin, reduced iron, thiamin mononitrate, riboflavin, folic acid, enzymes), water, high fructose corn syrup, sugar, yeast, soybean oil and/or partially hydrogenated soybean oil, contains 2% or less of the following: salt, calcium sulfate, calcium carbonate, wheat gluten, ammonium sulfate, ammonium chloride, dough conditioners (sodium stearoyl lactylate, datem, ascorbic acid, azodicarbonamide, mono- and diglycerides, ethoxylated monoglycerides, monocalcium phosphate, enzymes, guar gum, calcium peroxide, soy flour), calcium propionate and sodium propionate (preservatives), soy lecithin.”

The editors of The Lancet argue that the Olympic “Games should encourage physical activity, promote healthy living, and inspire the next generation to exercise. However, marring this healthy vision has been the choice of junk food and drink giants—McDonald’s, Coca-Cola, and Cadbury’s—as major sponsors of the event. Health campaigners have rightly been dismayed. On June 20, the London Assembly (an elected body that scrutinizes the work of the Mayor of London) passed a motion urging the International Olympic Committee (IOC) to adopt strict sponsorship criteria that exclude food and drinks companies strongly associated with high calorie brands and products linked to childhood obesity. Meanwhile, the UK’s Academy of Medical Royal Colleges has said that the presence of McDonald’s and Coca-Cola at the 2012 Games sends out the wrong message to children.”

Jan Cho writes in her article for Care2, “The International Olympic Committee (IOC) has a responsibility to its brand like any other company or organization, and it makes no sense for junk food and sugared-up sodas, hardly the optimal fuel for body or brain, to be associated with world-class athletic achievement.” McDonald’s and Coca-Cola have signed as major sponsors of the Olympic Games through 2020. Cho reports that Jacques Rogge, president of the IOC confessed that “It was not an easy decision,” but he was forced to set aside his reservations in light of financial realities. McDonald’s and Coca-Cola are each paying up to $100 million for access to this market.

Malcolm Clark, writing for CNN, notes how “the sponsors try to sugar-coat their Olympic involvement with ever-grander sports and exercise schemes that they claim will make children more active.” The companies, however, “cannot disguise one salient fact: no amount of free equipment and sporting initiatives will make unhealthy diets any less unhealthy. This is what makes McDonald’s, Coca-Cola and Cadbury’s such unsuitable Olympic sponsors.”

As Joel Salatin, the American farmer, lecturer and author asserts: “We don’t need a law against McDonald’s or a law against slaughterhouse abuse, we ask for too much salvation from legislation.  All we need to do is empower individuals with the right philosophy and the right information to opt out en masse.” 

There may be hope! Take a look at the Walt Disney Company who recently announced that it’s taking ads for junk food off its children’s programming.  The term junk food appears to be another oxymoron. As I recently read, “there is no “junk food”.  There is junk and there is food.” Food is defined as “any nourishing substance that is eaten, drunk, or otherwise taken into the body to sustain life, provide energy, promote growth, etc.”

Here are the dietary recommendations  we support – comprised of whole, real food that will nourish. Food that spoils! http://www.westonaprice.org/images/pdfs/healthy4life2011.pdf

Let us opt out en masse – do you think we can ever put McDonald’s and Coca Cola out of business?!