Shiny happy people eating butter
Tonight Sarah and I went to our first local chapter meeting for the Weston A. Price Foundation (http://www.westonaprice.org/). It was a "fermented foods potluck" in an upstairs room at the Wild Oats in Santa Monica.
We ate homemade pickles and kimchi and drank kombucha and told stories and exchanged recipes and laughed more than I have laughed all month.
These were possibly some of the most joyous people I have ever encountered. They were bubbling with life and laughter.
I think it's all the raw butter and cheese they are eating.
I've been thinking about it and (no offense to you vegetarians out there) but on the whole, vegans are such a serious and self-righteous lot. I think it's because they have to deprive themselves of so many delicious foods. And I think they are cranky because they are hungry.
Not this group. Well-fed, well-researched, and more than anything -- I keep coming back to this word -- joyous. They reminded me of Julia Child -- laughing and telling people to eat more butter. ("If you are worried that there is too much butter in this recipe, don't worry, you can just leave out some of the butter and add more cream." -- JC)
I ask you, how can you be unhappy eating butter?
One of the women at the meeting tonight was probably in her fifties or sixties -- she said she has been eating this way for the past ten years. Said she hasn't seen a doctor in a decade.
What if you found out that butter and bacon and whole milk and cheese and foie gras didn't give you heart disease and make you fat? Wouldn't you be happy?
Well it's true. And I am happy to finally know this. Happy I can now eat what I always knew was good for me. It just needs to be processed correctly (unpasteurized, organic, not genetically modified or corn- or soy-fed).
I have started reading Weston Price's book, "Nutrition and Physical Degradation". He was a dentist, and he traveled around the world in the 1920s and 30s, studying the healthiest people on the planet. People with almost no tooth decay or degenerative disease. The Eskimos, American Indians, Scottish fishermen, Alpine Swiss villagers, African tribes, etc. etc.
What did they all have in common (other than their perfect health)? They were all eating lots of animal fat (60-80% of their diet), lots of organic, mineral-rich, nutrient dense foods, lots of fermented foods, only whole grains and no processed foods (no refined sugar or flours and no modern junk food).
I just read the chapter about the villages in the Swiss Alps. None of the children needed braces -- and only a few out of hundreds of children ever had a cavity. They never got sick. There weren't even any doctors in any of the villages. They had no need for them.
What did they eat? Whole rye bread and raw dairy products -- milk, cheese, butter, and yogurt -- as well as a smattering of vegetables, and once a week, meat.
That's it. That is what they ate. And they were vibrantly healthy. What does that tell you about the nutritive quality of wholesome raw milk and raw dairy products?
Speaking of raw milk, Sarah and I also went this weekend to the Organic Pastures dairy "store" -- a parking lot behind a chain link fence in South Central -- to buy our raw milk at rock bottom prices. We felt like we were going to buy drugs. It's not exactly the black market -- the sale of raw milk products is legal in California. But you definitely get the feeling that you are doing something criminal.
We got the milk half price (it's normally $8/half gallon at Whole Foods -- we got it for $4). We also got raw cheese and butter and kefir. I'm such a believer in the healing and nutritive qualities of raw milk, I would do whatever it takes to get it. Even if it means moving to the country and buying a cow. Would that be so bad? I don't think so.
I will need some chickens, too.
We ate homemade pickles and kimchi and drank kombucha and told stories and exchanged recipes and laughed more than I have laughed all month.
These were possibly some of the most joyous people I have ever encountered. They were bubbling with life and laughter.
I think it's all the raw butter and cheese they are eating.
I've been thinking about it and (no offense to you vegetarians out there) but on the whole, vegans are such a serious and self-righteous lot. I think it's because they have to deprive themselves of so many delicious foods. And I think they are cranky because they are hungry.
Not this group. Well-fed, well-researched, and more than anything -- I keep coming back to this word -- joyous. They reminded me of Julia Child -- laughing and telling people to eat more butter. ("If you are worried that there is too much butter in this recipe, don't worry, you can just leave out some of the butter and add more cream." -- JC)
I ask you, how can you be unhappy eating butter?
One of the women at the meeting tonight was probably in her fifties or sixties -- she said she has been eating this way for the past ten years. Said she hasn't seen a doctor in a decade.
What if you found out that butter and bacon and whole milk and cheese and foie gras didn't give you heart disease and make you fat? Wouldn't you be happy?
Well it's true. And I am happy to finally know this. Happy I can now eat what I always knew was good for me. It just needs to be processed correctly (unpasteurized, organic, not genetically modified or corn- or soy-fed).
I have started reading Weston Price's book, "Nutrition and Physical Degradation". He was a dentist, and he traveled around the world in the 1920s and 30s, studying the healthiest people on the planet. People with almost no tooth decay or degenerative disease. The Eskimos, American Indians, Scottish fishermen, Alpine Swiss villagers, African tribes, etc. etc.
What did they all have in common (other than their perfect health)? They were all eating lots of animal fat (60-80% of their diet), lots of organic, mineral-rich, nutrient dense foods, lots of fermented foods, only whole grains and no processed foods (no refined sugar or flours and no modern junk food).
I just read the chapter about the villages in the Swiss Alps. None of the children needed braces -- and only a few out of hundreds of children ever had a cavity. They never got sick. There weren't even any doctors in any of the villages. They had no need for them.
What did they eat? Whole rye bread and raw dairy products -- milk, cheese, butter, and yogurt -- as well as a smattering of vegetables, and once a week, meat.
That's it. That is what they ate. And they were vibrantly healthy. What does that tell you about the nutritive quality of wholesome raw milk and raw dairy products?
Speaking of raw milk, Sarah and I also went this weekend to the Organic Pastures dairy "store" -- a parking lot behind a chain link fence in South Central -- to buy our raw milk at rock bottom prices. We felt like we were going to buy drugs. It's not exactly the black market -- the sale of raw milk products is legal in California. But you definitely get the feeling that you are doing something criminal.
We got the milk half price (it's normally $8/half gallon at Whole Foods -- we got it for $4). We also got raw cheese and butter and kefir. I'm such a believer in the healing and nutritive qualities of raw milk, I would do whatever it takes to get it. Even if it means moving to the country and buying a cow. Would that be so bad? I don't think so.
I will need some chickens, too.