Carousel Changes

Just a really quick FYI...I'm excited about just having updated the carousel at the top of this page. I am limited as to the amount I can offer and didn't want to lose some I've been recommending all along. But I just had to add one of Joel Salatin's books, (in my personal opinion, THE sharpest guy out there regarding sustainable farming...and to add to his expertise, the guy's a flat-out hoot!) The hard part was in deciding which one to add. For now, we'll settle with this one...Enjoy as you learn!

I am also very happy to show-off a 5-star-reviewed book on something close to my own heart...URBAN Homesteading. As they say, "You can take the girl out of the country, but not the country out of the girl." Well, I'm glad about that, to tell the truth...and glad to find this book to help us convert our small city back yard into something more on the sustainable, and yes...country side of life.

As always, there is The Book...which is the version of the Bible that drew me to knowing Jesus.

And Nourishing Traditions is a must-have in any traditional foods kitchen.

Education about the truth of fats, the good and the bad, (if not familiar with traditional foods, you may be surprised at the fallacy in what our culture has been taught), is a must for this site, as is the information about real, unadulterated milk. (ie: raw)

Peruse. Click. Read reviews. Choose. Always keep learning!

Sweet Potato Biscuits: Eastern Shore, Chincoteague Isle, 'Steamer's' Style

And to add to the rather long title..."With a Weston A. Price Flair"

Remember from THE LAST POST WHICH YOU REALLY SHOULD READ FIRST, these biscuits have very little rise to them. It’s Eastern Shore tradition and we are dealing with traditional foods, right? The only variations I am interested in trying are to add some chopped (soaked, of course), pecans to the recipe…Or have finely chopped pecans, mixed with a tad of cinnamon and ginger, to sprinkle on top towards the end of the baking time.

Before I begin, a word about baking. READ THIS or you may find you’ve wasted a lot of time and ingredients in the end!
As I have said twice now, these biscuits are not like regular biscuits…they have very little rise. If you try to fudge by creating a thicker biscuit, you may well find yourself with a burning problem. Sweet Potato biscuits are very, very moist. If you pat or roll them out too thickly, the inside will not cook through.  In attempting to cook them through, the bottoms will burn. If you just can’t stand the idea of sweet potato biscuits not rising, please find a different recipe. Understand that I urge you strongly in this because of my own past failures. The only adjustment to this, which I have used with success, is to watch them very closely and when the bottoms begin to brown, turn every biscuit over. They will look a little different in the end, but the taste is not comprised, the biscuits get done through, and I coat them all with butter as soon as they’re out of the oven anyway, so the difference in their looks isn’t that noticeable.

A word about mixing: If you know about biscuit making, you understand that less dough handling is better. This dough is sticky, really sticky. Be patient, add extra mix sparingly and slowly and just enough to make the dough manageable for the very small amount of kneading you will do. Also, be sure your counter top/rolling cloth is floured, but not too heavily. I would rather add more as needed, even beneath the dough, as I go. (I use my baking mix as my ‘flour’.)

A word about cutting: I use my smallest biscuit cutter. It’s about an inch in diameter. Dip the cutter in baking mix before cutting so it will release the biscuit more easily onto your lightly greased baking sheet, maybe a ¼” apart. Do not twist the cutter, but instead, use a straight up and down motion. This will allow for a tad more rise. When cutting is complete, there is leftover dough. Gently pull it together, pat it back down with as little handling as possible, and cut again. When making large batches like this, you may choose to use only the half the dough from the bowl at once. Repeat cutting and placing biscuits until finished. (Sometimes, I’ll have a tiny bit left at the end which I hand-form into a ‘baby biscuit’ for a lucky grandchild.)

Last word: Use Organic wherever possible.

Okay…I think we’re ready now…

Steamer’s Style, WAPF-Friendly Sweet Potato Biscuits

3 Cups Sweet Potatoes. Mashed, or better, pureed. (Many folks are put off by the ‘little strings’ that accompany marginally mashed sweet potatoes.)

 ¼ Coconut Sugar, or Rapidura, or Raw Sugar –I have listed these in order of my preference. Raw sugar slides  in just barely above white sugar, where processing is concerned. It's a good start for beginners but you'll want to 'graduate' to less processed over time. I highly recommend coconut sugar, which can be found in most health food stores, online, and more recently, even in some mainstream grocers. It has no coconut flavor (it comes from the nectar of the coconut flour, not the coconut itself), a low glycemic index (recommended for diabetics), and can be used measure for measure in place of sugar. Rapidura has a heavier flavor and can be difficult to find but is highly recommended by the Weston A. Price Foundation.

¼ C. Brown/Muscovado Sugar –Muscovado can be found at Fresh Market and some other higher-end markets. It is expensive, but mineral-rich. I always have this on hand to make Thia’s Tibicos. You could also use Rapidura, found online and in some health food stores.

¼ C. ‘Raw’ Honey -I made a wonderful discovery at our latest WAPF meeting, when the president of the local beekeeping organization was the guest speaker. Most honey from small, local beekeepers is raw! And we all know that buying local, especially local honey, is good, good, good!

1 & ½  Sticks (3/4 Cup) Butter, melted. If you can get your hands on GRASS-FED, all the better!

3 Good Pinches Sea Salt - I use Celtic, but that’s not extremely important. Just stay away from nutrient depraved processed salt.

1-½ tsp. baking powder-If I have homemade on hand, I use it, but this time, I didn’t. I used Rumford because it is aluminum-free.

5 Cups Homemade Baking Mix – Will need more on hand for limited kneading and then, for cutting.

Preheat Oven to 450. Lightly Grease baking sheet(s). (I use the pump-up spray bottle sold by Pampered Chef and add my own olive oil.)

~Mix all EXCEPT Baking mix together.

~Add enough Baking Mix to handle dough-Will be quite sticky. Remember, the less handled, the better. You may want to refer to tips above this recipe. (For quick drop-biscuits, use less biscuit mix. However, I don’t really recommend making drop biscuits for this recipe as the biscuits are inherently flatter than typical white biscuits anyway.)

~Pour sticky dough onto floured surface. If it needs to have more mix added for sake of handling, do so now. Once it’s at a point where it can be handled, knead about 5 times, no more. (If it’s sticking to your hands, try wetting them a tad with cold water rather than adding more and more mix.)

~Pat dough to a max of ½”.

~Cut biscuits according to directions given before this recipe.

~Place on baking sheet about ¼ in. apart.

~Bake 16 minutes. **Keep a keen eye on them to prevent bottom-burn! Some say when you start to smell them, it’s time to take them out-or even 'too late'!…If I start to smell mine, I know it’s time to at least check them.** For tips about not burning, see above this recipe.

~Remove from oven and place immediately on cooling rack.(You will want paper towels or a paper bag beneath the cooling rack for the next step.)

~ Brush tops with butter. You may use melted butter and a brush, or simply unwrap part of a butter stick, hold the wrapped end, and rub gently over biscuit tops.

~ Wait until completely cool before storing. If you need room on cooling rack for additional batches as they come out of the oven, transfer the semi-cooled biscuits to a wax-paper lined counter-top.

~Store in air-tight container. Some think they’re actually better in a few days. I know if you can manage to keep them, they keep well for a week. I’m told they may be frozen, but have never made it that far. I would be a little concerned about whether or not they would dry out. If you have input on this, I’d be happy to hear it!
Hope you enjoy as much as my family has!

Traditional Tuesdays/Cooking Traditional Foods

Milking Your Coconut

A few posts back, I promised to tell how to get milk from a coconut. Why would you want to bother with that? Well, there is the cost of canned. And there is the fact that many of us have reservations about cans and plastics containing BPA. Where coconut milk is concerned, I found source after source saying that Native Forest now uses all BPA-free cans. However, a less-gullible-than-I friend of mine brought up some questions about the validity of this statement, and that makes me not 100% certain.

If you would like to skip the possibility of BPA in your coconut milk, there are ways. One is by 'milking' the coconut you purchase from the grocery store. The process isn't difficult and this method comes from "Eat Fat, Lose Fat":

Preheat your oven to 350 degrees. Find the soft spot on the end of the coconut. Using an ice pick, poke two holes in this soft spot and let the coconut water drain out. Then, put the coconut in the oven until it cracks. A hammer will then make short work of splitting the coconut open. Use a good knife to separate the white coconut meat from the outer shell, then cut up the white meat into 1/4 in. pieces. Process in food processor until it breaks up. Add 1 C. water and continue processing until it appears fluffy.
Use a kitchen towel to line a strainer and pour the processed meat into the strainer, which should be over a glass bowl. Use a wooden spoon or your hands to press the coconut meat down against the strainer, getting as much juice as you can out of it.
Refrigerate and use within 2 days.
("Eat Fat, Lose Fat'' recommends 'milking' 2 at a time.)

Other ways to get your coconut milk without the cans are found in the links, (with videos), given below. And remember, as in house remodeling, educated DIY is the best way to get better quality for less coin.

Nutrition and Physical Degeneration Blog
Tropical Traditions- See Question 8 in Section 5

And if this is too much trouble but you're still troubled with possible BPA content and additives, check out this coconut milk, packaged in cardboard boxes and without additives.

Enjoy!

FAT video w/Fallon, Enig & Dr. Eades & Coconut Myth Buster #1

Still have a problem understanding fats? No wonder...Fifty years of false propaganda has every one's head spinning! The scam with trans fats is up...but the challenge remains to neutralize the 'demonization' campaign against saturated fats. Sounds crazy, doesn't it? Click above to bite off a piece of truth...then chew it for a while. What will you do with it? If you're anything like me, you'll want more info. You can go to the YouTube location of the above video and find more. Nourishing Traditions is another great resource.
******************
Coconut Myth Buster #1:

Coconut is admittedly a high-fat food. We all know, of course, that high-fat foods cause heart disease, right? We've been told and told and told by every 'reputable' resource that this is fact. These 'facts' were based on a hypothesis. To review elementary science, a hypothesis is a theory. An unproven theory.

As an example, think Columbus. Think "The world is flat". Think, "People are gonna think I'm nuts if I agree with ol' Chris, so I'm gonna keep my mouth shut...even if I can't figure out how it is that I see the masts on the ships coming into port before I actually see the ships..." Think of pointing fingers and an outcry of "Heretic!" when you say something isn't what the whole world says it is.

That should give you a little bit of an idea of the battle people like Mary Enig and Sally Fallon have been fighting for decades. But they won the battle over trans fats. Today, people like you and I, regular everyday people, are little by little, learning the truth. In fact, we're learning so well, that the large food corps are starting to shake in their boots. They're doing really dumb things that do no less than confirm suspicions that they're up to no good..."Like what?" you ask. Like running farmers out of business because an organic farmer's seed blows into their field. Like suing people who take pictures of their cattle 'farms', draining the average man's pocketbook long before the courtroom is ever entered. Like using scare tactics as those you will see if you dare to watch the film, "Food, Inc.".

So back to the high-fat scam.The hypothesis I speak of is called the 'lipid hypothesis' which states that there are three stages in the progression of heart disease: 1) Consumption of too much cholesterol & saturated fat w/the consequence of high cholesterol, 2) The high cholesterol produces atherosclerosis, and finally, 3) Atherosclerosis clogs up blood vessels with an end in coronary heart disease.

The problem with this hypothesis is that there is much scientific evidence, ignored evidence that has been known for over fifty years, that actually contradicts each of these stages. So this knowledge has been kept buried away from the public mind for so long that the public has had no real choice but to believe what they have been fed.

So, is it true? Do high-fat foods cause heart disease?

Studies tell us the answer is "No".

1960's:  Masai of Kenya:  Cattle herders whose diets consisted of an average of 1 gallon of full-fat, raw milk/day, (That's about 3/4 lb. butterfat!), and Dr. George Mann of Vanderbilt University who conducted the study reports that at their festivals, the Masai would eat from four to ten pounds of meat. (Sorry, but that even makes me want to gag.) But here are the points. 1) They were completely free of heart disease. 2) Blood Cholesterol was measured at 50 % lower than the average American, 3) In his study of 50 hearts and arteries from varied ages, obstruction-causing plaque was rare, and 4) No evidence of a heart attack was found in any of the hearts.

1975-1981: Framingham-Puerto Rico-Honolulu Study:  The National Institutes of Health, studied 16,000 healthy, middle-aged men from these three areas. In 1975, all they had to do was answer questions about their normal diets. In 1981, the diets were compared between the ones not having had heart attacks and those having had heart attacks. DON'T LOSE THIS NEXT FACT: Those who had fallen victim to heart attacks had consumed more polyunsaturated oils than those who had not. This is exactly opposite the suppositions made by the lipid hypothesis.

Let's look at another, bigger study.

1998: Journal of Clinical Epidemiology: A review of 27 studies of over 150,000 people. The studies were aimed at the connection between heart health and diet.

"In three groups, the patients had eaten more animal fat than the controls. In one group, they had eaten less. In all the other groups, researchers found no difference in animal fat consumption between people with heart disease and those without. What's more, in three groups the patients had eaten more vegetable oil than the controls. In only one group had patients eaten less vegetable oil than the control group."

Critics of these studies site the fact that they are older studies. (But is truth truth today and not tomorrow???) Still, for the sake of conceding to the insanity, I suppose I need to tell the further truth that there are more recent studies that confirm those studies. Following, read two such study reports:

2002: European Journal of Clinical Nutrition: Reported on a Denmark study in which researchers zeroed in on hospital patients diagnosed with heart disease. The patients were divided into three groups: two who ate generally 'healthy' diets, low in animal fats, high in whole grains, fruits, and veggies. The last group ate lots of meat, butter and even white bread. Still, they found no link between food consumption habits and coronary heart disease.
 

Butterfat protects heart health!

2004: British Journal of Nutrition: (Oh, you're going to love this!)...This report comes to us from a Swedish study. Milk fat, (butterfat), was "negatively connected with risk factors for heart disease and heart attack." Translation? Butterfat protects rather than hinders, heart health.

In short, scientific research has never supported the idea that high-fat foods cause heart attacks.

In a coconut shell: Don't be afraid of coconut's saturated fat.

"But what about cholesterol???", I heard a voice plaintively whine...
Geez, this stuff can get deep, can't it? ...Well, that will be Coconut Myth Buster #2.

Coconut: For Weight Loss, Immunity, Thyroid Health...even HIV

As spring progresses and here in Virginia, summer weather descends with hot and humid fury, it's even easier to love the tropical taste of coconut. Like many others, the mix of pineapple and coconut flavors can move my day up an entire notch. And as much as I hate to say it, if you do not like the taste of coconut, this is not going to be a post for you.

In regard to coconut products, the ones that give us the most nutrient value are those that still retain their natural coconut flavor. This is one reason why I will not advocate refined coconut oil...more about that shortly. We also need to be sure not to cut corners when it comes to the fat content of coconut products. The value of coconut is found in its fat, so we need to be sure to purchase full fat coconut products.

I know that as our culture has embarked on its anti-fat campaign, the idea of fat is majorly repulsive to many. I wish I had the time to get into it deeply here, but I frankly, do not. I have read the research and am convinced that fat expert, Dr. Mary Enig and the hundreds of others in her 'camp' are teaching truth. Beyond the science that they use to prove their conclusions, as I have explained in the past, I just don't believe God would give this gift as a food source if it's poison to my body. This is why I don't camp, myself, fully in the "No-Sugar Ever Camp", either. There is sugar in fruit, and sugar cane is a plant...It is the over-indulgence in and extreme processing and genetic modification of something God made perfect in the first place,  that messes up these gifts and turns them into foods that hinder health.


Let's start today with the GOODNESS of coconut. We will refute the supposed 'evils' in a different post. I will be using "Eat Fat, Lose Fat" as my main resource for the information I'm passing along today. This is the book I reviewed earlier and gave less than a perfect score...in my opinion, that is. The reason I did this was because of the caliber of difficulty and time to prepare many of the recipes given. If gourmet cooking is a norm for you, or if you are already familiar with traditional cooking methods, it will be fine for you. If you are new to either forms of cooking, I believe that in order to avoid becoming overwhelmed, you'll need to take the book at a much slower pace than prescribed within its pages. However, this does not usurp the quality of the information given about fats and cholesterol, or the weight-loss or health recovery methods it employs.
I will also be using "Nourishing Traditions", as this was the first place I discovered the good truths about coconut.

I do try to keep my writing as much on a layman's level as possible, as I am a layman myself and understand the frustration and irritation that comes from trying to read medical or scientific jargon without knowledge of the verbiage used. So as I write, I will do my best to explain terms that may be unfamiliar.

A very important term to understand is, 'medium-chain fatty acids (MCFAs)'. Long-chain fatty acids require the gallbladder to work harder because it secretes the bile salts needed for their digestion. Medium-chain fatty acids don't require bile salts for digestion. If you have discovered that fats tend to hinder your digestion, or if you have just become convinced of your body's need for fats after having abstained for a long period of time, you will find that the medium-chain fatty acid of coconut oil doesn't hinder digestion. This makes it a perfect oil to use when reintroducing fats into your diet.

Weight Loss: Ha ha! This is a term every American understands without interpretation! You'll most likely be happy to know that the MCFA's found in coconut oil are exactly the fatty acids that use up energy during mobilization. This means they are effective as an aid to weight loss. The energy used by the body to metabolize MCFA's  is more than the amount of energy they give.. The fatty acid that oxidizes the fastest?  Lauric acid...and coconut oil is almost 50% lauric acid. There are several foods that raise body temperature. This is good for weight loss, too because this is evidence that your energy level and metabolic rate are being raised. Coconut oil 'just happens' to be one of those foods that raises the metabolic rate.

And then there's the "Thyroid Thingy". This is especially important to me as I have radioactive iodine- induced hypothyroidism. But the facts here are important to anyone with low thyroid symptoms. Thyroid deficiency affects about 12 million Americans and some endocrinologists suspect the condition is undiagnosed in millions more. All by itself, hypothyroidism causes a low metabolic rate with consequent weight gain, dry skin, depression, mental fog and lethargy. In addition to this, it can be a precursor to breast cancer, chronic fatigue syndrome, and heart disease. There are no specific studies of coconut oil's affects on the thyroid gland, but it is a confirmed fact that it raises the metabolism and causes weight loss. According to "Eat Fat, Lose Fat", there are many hypothyroid patients who have been able to eliminate their medications after adding coconut to their diet. (I am not advocating this without the approval of your physician.)

Synergy: I talked about this when I spoke of fats in the last few weeks' posts. Synergy is a little like a co-dependent relationship. One can't manage well without the other. One needs the other for best function. Both work together to make it work best. Our bodies must have saturated fats to use the essential fatty acids, (Omega-3 and -6), effectively. As it so happens, the more saturated fats we consume, the less of the others are needed. This makes coconut, a natural saturated fat, a good thing, because most of us have difficulty getting enough Omega-3's and -6's, and trying to balance their intake, which is important, is also difficult. Saturated fats not only ensure that Omega-3 and -6 are used most efficiently by the body, they ensure that they are retained. Once again, the cycle comes around...Perhaps the reason we have so much trouble with maintaining adequate levels of Omega-3 and -6 is because our society has developed a brain-washed paranoia about saturated fats and therefore, strongly or even completely avoids them. The 'therefore' to that? ...Even when we consume 'The Omegas', our bodies can't use them effectively or retain them.

Lauric Acid: This is a biggie! Lauric acid is antiviral, antibacterial and antifungal. It is found in mommy's milk. Converted upon consumption into 'monolaurin', lauric acid becomes a defensive line against bacteria, viruses, and other pathogens...The main thing to remember about the lauric acid, so prevalent in coconut oil, is that it supports, reinforces and strengthens the immune system. Other saturated fats are produced by the liver, but lauric acid comes from the mammary glands in animals. It can also be found in coconut oil, palm kernel oil, or in lesser amounts, butterfat.

Interested in knowing some disease organisms fought by lauric acid? Check these out:

• viruses: herpes, measles and HIV (Yes! HIV!)*
• bacteria: listeria (food poisoning), staphylococcus and streptococcus
• parasites: gastroenteritis-causing giardia lamblia. 

*According to "Nourishing Traditions", "AIDS patients and others with compromised immune system function should consume 20-25 grams grams of lauric acid/day. Approximately 12 grams of lauric acid are contained in 2 TBS coconut oil or 3 TBS creamed coconut; 10 grams of lauric acid are contained in 1/2 C. canned whole coconut milk or 1/2 C. desiccated coconut meat.

 To get deeper details on anything I've spoken of here, I highly recommend, "Eat Fat, Lose Fat". You may order it at the top of the page, find it at the library, or purchase it through a book store or try eBay.

In the next post: "Coconut Oil: 10 More Ways It's Great!"
Upcoming post subjects: "Myth-Busters regarding Coconut's Supposed Evils", "How to get Milk from Your Coconut", "Coconut Sources".

Book Review Tuesday: "Eat Fat, Lose Fat-The Healthy Alternative to Trans Fats"-by Dr. Mary Enig & Sally Fallon

I think the main thing we need to remember is to keep the main thing the main thing. Traditional eating and food preparation is about nutrient-dense eating. Weight loss comes slowly and gradually, as a by-product of this lifestyle and has never been the primary goal.


Eat Fat, Lose Fat is not on my carousel at the top of the page. I could only chose ten books for that, and this one just didn't make it to my 'Top 10' list. However, that's not to say it isn't packed full of some fantastic information.

Eat Fat, Lose Fat is written by the same great authors as Nourishing Traditions, so it has to be good. Dr. Enig is an international expert on fats and Sally Fallon (Morrell) is the president of the Weston A. Price Foundation.

Although much smaller, this book covers much of the same materials as Nourishing Traditions...much of it in more detail. It hones in on the truth about fats and especially applauds the natural goodness of coconut oil. The book is divided into three parts, 'The Truth About Fats', 'Real Foods-for Healing and Health' and 'Recipes and Resources'.

Inside, you will find three options for traditional eating: One is for rapid weight loss, another is for health recovery, and the third is for maintenance of both with gourmet recipes.

My only real objection with the book is in knowing how difficult it could be for the newcomer to traditional foods and traditional food preparation. It's almost as if it were written for those already on the traditional path.  For a newcomer, the changes required to switch from the modern American diet to a traditional diet can be drastic and include a major culling and replacement of pantry foods, learning to plan ahead much more than we do with processed foods, and also learning a new way to prepare and cook these different foods. You have to admit, that's a lot of changes. Changes generally equal stress and stress often triggers us to react in old, unhealthy ways.

The financial expense of a sudden change can be great, and most of the people I know who have successfully  made the changeover to a traditional diet, have done so gradually...My WAPF Chapter Leader and I like to call it 'baby steps'. Eat Fat, Lose Fat  allows a week for the pantry overhaul and gives great details on how to go about it, but to my simple thinking, it's not enough time, so if you feel pressured, I would think this is an area that could be curbed according to your own ability to embark upon a transformed food lifestyle.

For me, it's important to keep transitions as simple and easy as possible, whenever possible. Otherwise, discouragement may set in causing us to stray from new commitments...no matter how healthy that commitment may be.

There may be many who are kitchen whizzes and maybe just a bit more organized with their day than I am, who will get this book and easily follow every page. For the rest of us, who may feel a little overwhelmed, take heart. It really is packed with healthful, helpful information and the recipes are more than just tasty. And there are many testimonies of how well it has worked.

Do be sure to glean the knowledge and information imparted about fats. If you are unfamiliar with these truths, it may take some time to wrap your head around it. You will be pleasantly amazed by the information supplied about the superfood/superfat, coconut, and you will likely learn some new things about the harm that can be and has been brought to our bodies via the supposedly healthy, polyunsaturated fats. You will read firm research and studies as well as personal testimonies. You will also learn the reason behind failure in fad diets as well as the 'made-to-fail-so-you'll-have-to-pay-good-money-to-come-back-and-lose-weight-again' programs.

The 'Health Recovery' section tells about bone broths, how to get non-synthetic, non-toxic A & D into your diet, lacto-fermented beverages that give beneficial enzymes and nutrients, raw foods like milk and marinated meats/fish, superfoods and soaked grains. Here, you will also find listed several illnesses and what they tell us our body needs. It is really quite amazing.

The weight loss section tells how to achieve weight loss and I was relieved that it discusses what is right for us as far as 'correct' weight loss. There are two phases here...a two week plan that goes into a second phase, but only if needed. The 'core principles' here are to eat three meals each day...ALWAYS breakfast, eat traditional fats-including (especially) coconut oil, eat nutrient-dense foods, and moderate...not immense...calorie restriction. There are some other important factors as well: no in-between snacks, listening to your body...head hunger or true hunger? The core principles are explained in detail and 25 ways to incorporate unrefined coconut into the diet are included. Amazing, again.

Phase One, Phase Two and Health Recovery all offer 14 days worth of meal planning, with recipes to all in the back of the book. But be prepared, a recipe often calls for something else that must be made-from-scratch before the recipe can be completed. And this isn't for one meal a day, (many of them are gourmet), but for three. This is where planning comes in, and you will have to be quite diligent in that

Also included in the book is a section full of resources for things like unrefined coconut oil, and why to use unrefined as opposed to refined...and a host of other coconut products. Other resources are for raw milk, Pasture-raised egg and meat products, dolomite, milk and water kefir grains, kombucha mushrooms, lacto-fermented condiments, stocks, acceptable sweeteners, and pages or 'other' food products.

If you buy this book, do so with the consideration that you will need to give yourself time to study it, plan well, buy well, (often via online ordering), and please, give yourself time to learn how to make some of the recipes in the back. I would suggest trying them out before you actually embark on the plan so when you do eat, you'll be choosing the recipes you love. If you haven't set aside a great deal of funds to change the products on your shelves, then start by doing as the book teaches, only do so gradually. Our Weston A. Price Foundation Chapter Leader recently spoke some very wise words to a mutual friend regarding this transition and financial stewardship. She told her not to throw away everything in her pantry, but instead, as items are used up, replace them with those recommended by the Weston A. Price Foundation.  I had already used, and continue to use, that system. I know it doesn't make everything perfect fast, but it is less daunting and certainly spreads the cost out over time. And let's be real, it's less about perfection than progress in the right direction.

You may want to cull some things immediately, (we chose canola oils, shortening and boxed cereals first), and replace them with better foods. The trick for some of us is to do what we are comfortable with and then, maybe push a tiny bit more, just to prevent inertia.

Consider the process in the book as an ideal, not a mandate. Consider the information excellent for your health. In this way, you may save yourself from becoming overwhelmed and giving up. Use the marvelous truths found within the text to form better eating habits and reach toward a healthier you. If you eat as prescribed in the book, you will lose weight. But newbies to traditional eating may want to take a little time to get the concepts, (and proper foods), under the wing a bit before trying to fly.