Re: transitioning to WAPF eating

[Guest guest]

The issue of expense is one that really does need careful analysis.

For example, I just bought a half a pastured hog for $3.81/lb. But

this price is actually lower than most cuts of factory farm pork in my

local grocery. Plus I got 12 feet, 3 hearts/tongues/kidneys, 8 packs

of liver, 5 lbs of fat and 5lbs of bones. It's difficult to get some

of this stuff at the grocery store regardless of the price.

It's not certified organic, but it was raised on pasture and the

producer grew all it's feed without pesticides or synthetic fertilizer.

Another example is my cow share. I pay $2L for raw milk. At the store,

certified organic pasteurized milk is $2.65/L. 1L of raw cream is $7

for 80% butter fat cream. The certified organic cream at the store is

$11.50 for 1L and only 70% butter fat. Plus the store stuff is

pasteurized. The only rub is the producer has to drive so far they

charge $20 delivery fee, but I usually buy so much stuff that the

added cost spread across the price of everything is minimal.

There are a lot of producers that could be organic but choose not to

be for either financial or ideological reasons. When the producer and

consumer can meet and the consumer can inspect and ask questions, the

consumer can feel comfortable about the quality of what they are

buying. The reason organic certification is important is when the

consumer is at greater than arms length or too lazy to investigate

their producers.

So organic certification has it's place, but you can still buy

equivalent or even better quality food that is not certified.

Also keep in mind that organic certification doesn't mean the food is

automatically more nutritious. The primary factor affecting the

nutritional value of any given food is the Brix value of the plant

itself or the plant material feed to an animal. Most of the certified

organic plants grown in the US are low Brix. Thankfully the best way

to get Brix up is to have really healthy soil and that means you can't

use pesticides and synthetic fertilizers as these tend to suppress

soil life.

But even if you shop at the grocery store, you can still radically

transform your diet if you're currently eating everything out of the

microwave, box, can or jar.

Cheers,

>

> This is from the chapter leaders list with permission from the author

> to share here.

>

> Question:

> Ms. Fallon in her talks doesn't seem to argue that organically

> raised animals are all that high priority--mostly that they are raised

> on pasture. She mentions that we live in a toxic world and the fats

> and vitamins in the fats (where the toxins are stored) are what help

> us deal with those toxins. I have a lot of people interested in eating

> more healthily, but often can't find/afford organic, grassfed

> products. In particular, pork is very hard to find around here. Where

> should I tell them to start? Is it enough to start eating nitrate free

> grocery store bacon along with plenty of CLO, or should they drive 3

> hours one way to get their pastured pork? I just want to put this info

> into peoples hands so they can do something with it.... Any tips?

>

> Response:

> This is a big one. WAPF doesn't want to be viewed as a small clique of

> extremists.

> We're here to help people improve their diets however they can, at

> whatever pace

> they can.

> There are plenty of extremist groups out their who turn people off.

> People may

> throw up

> their hands and think they can't achieve the " WAPF ideal " if we're

> not careful

> about how we

> explain things, sadly.

>

> The problem with " organics, " as with most terms, is the wide

> variation in what

> the term

> means. Having the USDA take ownership of the word has made things

> worse, in

> some

> people's views. For example, there are plenty of chickens raised

> " organically, "

> but they are

> raised inside buildings, without sunlight, not eating insects and

> other things

> that grow in

> the pasture.

>

> The sunlight and access to a diet in the natural environment make all

> the

> difference to the

> animals we commonly eat in the Western world. The sunlight develops

> the vitamin

> D in

> the skin and fat of pigs, for example. Chickens outside get to eat

> squirmy

> things that live

> in the ground, as well as a variety of little plants that give them a

> different

> nutritional

> composition than eating only chicken feed made mostly of corn.

>

> Someone else can address the toxins in fats issue. My impression is

> that too

> big of a deal

> is made of the toxin buildup in fats relative to the nutritional

> value. We're

> talking about

> animals who commonly haven't lived very long before they are

> slaughtered, for

> one thing,

> maybe months, or a year or two max. That's different when thinking

> about how

> many

> toxins we must have stored up

>

> People have to do what they can. Here's how I imagine some ways to

> transition:

>

> Level 1: stop eating prepackaged food. Whatever " real foods " you can

> get your

> hands on,

> use those whenever possible. Packaged foods are full of weird

> ingredients, most

> of which

> are taxing on your liver. Eat real meat, the fat of the meat, and any

> bones you

> can get

> your hands on. When you get a hold of any bones, store them in the

> freezer

> until you get

> enough to make stock. Stop eating anything with soy or corn syrup (if

> you

> aren't eating

> packaged foods, that will eliminate most of this). Make your own

> bread if you

> want bread,

> from non-brominated flour. Eat eggs, not egg substitutes. Don't worry

> about

> pesticides

> and animal feed at this point. If you must choose meats, I would

> choose beef

> and lamb

> over chicken (all chicken, even organic, has their guts pulverized

> and spattered

> all over

> the cavity at USDA processing plants; the fecal matter soaks into the

> meat) and

> pork (pigs

> are treated incredibly cruelly because they can be, and because it's

> harder to

> manage them

> outside). Beef starts its life as calves who must be outside for part

> of their

> short lives.

> Lamb and mutton are grass fed and outside, though I know it tends to

> be more

> expensive.

> Buffalo sometimes is not a whole lot better than beef unless you know

> your

> source,

> because they've been feeding some grain to buffalo. If you choose

> fish, choose

> the lowest

> on the food chain, and of course, stay away from farmed fish. Buy

> butter, not

> margarine. I

> would stay away from olive oil at this point, because many of the

> cheap olive

> oils aren't

> totally olive oil. Buy real cheese, not processed cheese. Buy full-

> fat dairy

> products. Go

> hunting or find a hunter and obtain a duck, deer, elk, etc. when you

> can.

>

> Level 2: Clean meat and eggs are more important than clean produce,

> if push

> comes to

> shove. When you decide to worry about the produce, stay away from the

> more

> toxic

> produce, like celery (which will suck up anything in the soil),

> bagged lettuce

> (which is all

> washed in chlorine bleach from what I understand), conventional

> potatoes. Clean

> dairy

> products can mean organic, but at least not cheese made softer with

> aluminum

> compounds, from cows not raised with hormones and such. Stay with

> full-fat

> yogurt,

> cheese, etc. Those tiny watered-down corn-syrup yogurts are not worth

> buying.

> Make

> your own fermented foods - sauerkraut is much cheaper when you start

> with your

> own

> cabbage, and if something icky grows on the top, you might be able to

> salvage

> the rest.

> Buy up a lot of something when it is in season or otherwise cheap.

> Opt for the

> cheapest

> cuts of cleaner meat if you have to. Soak produce in hydrogen

> peroxide or

> vinegar

> solutions in water.

>

> If you want to choose cleaner meat but find you can afford less than

> conventional meat,

> supplement with other protein sources, more eggs, etc. Get organ

> meats when you

> can.

>

> What gets me is that one of the big expenses people have is how they

> buy food.

> Prepackaged food is often more expensive. Little bottles of salad

> dressing? I

> don't buy

> them. Junk foods in small packages? What a waste of money. Small

> amounts of

> packaged

> herbs from the store? Grow them in pots.

>

> I wouldn't overwhelm people with the exotic stuff like CLO or coconut

> oil until

> they are

> eating at home, eating real whole foods not packaged ones, first. The

> rest is

> going to be

> about personal choices. When something tastes good enough to me, I'll

> probably

> drive 3

> hours to get it Hopefully I'll get someone else's during the trip,

> and we'll

> trade off trips.

>

>

>

>

>

>

>

[Guest guest]

I have found something similar. I can keep my food costs pretty modest by

changing how

I buy. Buying directly from a farmer, in bulk, can keep the cost down, while

dramatically

improving the nutrition one gets (those organ meats, extra fat, and bones).

Obviously,

this is on a case-by-case basis, and includes transportation costs to get the

food. Since

we made the jump to a chest freezer though, things have gotten easier - as long

as we

have the electricity to keep it going. There are other ways to preserve animal

foods,

though.

The biggest leaps involve changing thinking and habits. People look at those

prices in the

grocery store and base a lot of their judgments on that. When you get more

curious, more

creative, you can come up with different solutions. How much time it takes to

research

those solutions varies according to each family, each individual. Some have

more

resources (like me, the ability to buy a chest freezer, when some don't have

that extra

money). Other people may find that they can save up a tiny bit of money each

week

toward something new.

But yes, I believe a person can make very different choices just in their

regular grocery

store, and that's a start. Some people leap right past that when making

changes, but for

the easily intimidated, I encourage changes there first.

I know that I was lacking tremendously in energy before I got more nutritionally

dense

food into myself. This affected my food decisions! If I simply didn't have the

energy to

make certain foods, I found the whole thing overwhelming. I look back and think

I was

very slow to implement a lot of changes, compared to the way I eat now. But it

was the

right pace for me, and these changes have stuck and are now happy habits.