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Week Two was harder than week one. Johnny fell of the bandwagon…because of his peanut butter addiction. It turns out that having a Costco size peanut butter container on hand isn't the best idea. We went over the budget a tiny bit, but this week I had 3 weddings and it was my birthday; which made staying within it a lot harder. I also started having my allergies again, my eyes puffed up and started itching in the middle of the week after I had eaten some wheat. I haven't fully tied my allergies to wheat but it's what I'm starting to suspect as a trigger. I tried to cheapen our diet with grains which ended up not working out for me health-wise. So…what now!? I can't continue this way, it's proven to me that I need to do more gut healing. For the remainder of the month I am going to switch gears into a diet that speeds gut healing and I will be blogging about that as well as the cost of it. Almost everyone needs gut healing, especially those who haven't been able to afford the best food, so I hope this still remains applicable as well as helpful to my audience. I will also continue to post about different things that pertain to eating on a budget and eating well with a busy schedule. The New Protocol: GAPS diet: Which stands for Gut and Psychology Syndrome This diet was developed by Natasha Campbell-Mcbride, who has a Master of Medical Sciences in Neurology and Master of Medical Sciences in Human Nutrition. "Dr. Campbell-McBride set up The Cambridge Nutrition Clinic in 1998. As a parent of a child diagnosed with learning disabilities, she was acutely aware of the difficulties facing other parents like her, and she has devoted much of her time to helping these families. She realized that nutrition played a critical role in helping children and adults to overcome their disabilities, and has pioneered the use of probiotics in this field. She believes that the link between learning disabilities, the food and drink that we take, and the condition of our digestive system is absolute, and the results of her work have supported her position on this subject. In her clinic, parents discuss all aspects of their child's condition, confident in the knowledge that they are not only talking to a professional but to a parent who has lived their experience. Her deep understanding of the challenges they face puts her advice in a class of its own." About Natasha from: www.gapsdiet.com The affect of gut health on your psychology is undeniable. But this diet is more than that. It was developed for conditions such as Autism, ADHD, Schizophrenia, Auto-Immunity, Depression and Allergies. The reason it works for these conditions is that a lot of them are affected, if not caused, by leaky gut. You may have heard this term, Leaky Gut, before but might not really know what it is. Well, a short description is: Because of a plethora of dysfunction, improper chewing, low stomach acid, etc. our food is not properly digested. These undigested particles make it to our small intestine and start destroying the villi on the walls, these walls, which are usually selective about what they let pass out into our blood and our system, become damaged by our undigested food and start taking any nutrients they can get, even at improper sizes. This begins to overwhelm the immune system. Not only that, but the food that continues on through the large intestine and colon begins to damage those systems as well. Because of low stomach acid there can also be parasites that would have normally been killed by the acid that survive and make it through your system. All these things combined lead to the major health issues I mentioned above. Good news though, there is a way to heal your gut, and the GAPS diet is just what the doctor (actually probably not the doctor) ordered. GAPS starts out really intense at first so you can do major healing, then you slowly start to incorporate more foods. For a full outline of the Introduction see HERE. A HUGE part of this diet is Bone Broth soups. As mentioned on the GAPS website: Homemade meat or fish stock. Meat and fish stocks provide building blocks for the rapidly growing cells of the gut lining and they have a soothing effect on any areas of inflammation in the gut. That is why they aid digestion and have been known for centuries as healing folk remedies for the digestive tract. I didn't intend to end this project so quickly, but my body is asking something of me and I need to listen. I may continue the project after I am done with this part, and I think sharing this experience with ya'll could be just as helpful. We all need some amount of gut healing and I am hopeful that this will be accessible cost wise to everyone.
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 Sugar cravings…one of the worst there are! I used to be a sweet tooth but with diet I have almost fully eradicated my sweet cravings. After you get over the body cravings then you just have to tackle the emotional bond, it's true, we have a strong emotional bond to sugar. We eat it when we're sad, we eat it for celebrations and we use it for rewards. Later on I'll mention some of the deficiencies that are common with sugar cravings, you'll also find an array of foods you can eat to help in the process of removing sugar from the diet. A really important factor: making sure you are getting all your vitamins and minerals as well as consuming healthy fats for satiation. One of the most helpful things I have included in my diet is BONE BROTH. I talk about it all the time but for real, this stuff will help you out beyond your wildest dreams. I cannot stress it enough! There are a hundred reasons to give up refined sugar, and if you're curious, I eat things with sugar in them maybe 3-4 times a month. This is usually in the form of a dark chocolate bar which only has about 5 grams of sugar for half the bar. (Johnny eats the other half) My favorite bar, is called Brown Butter, which actually contains grass fed butter. The inclusion of healthy fats helps slow the absorption of sugar into the blood stream, so if you are consuming sugar, even in the form of fruit, it's ideal to eat it along side a healthy fat source. If you need some more reasons to kick your sugar habit, here they are: Sugar feeds cancer cells and has been connected with the development of cancer of the breast, ovaries, prostate, rectum, pancreas, lung, gallbladder and stomach. Sugar can increase fasting levels of glucose and can cause reactive hypoglycemia. Sugar can cause many problems with the gastrointestinal tract, including an acidic digestive tract, indigestion, malabsorption in patients with functional bowel disease, increased risk of Crohn’s disease and ulcerative colitis. Sugar can interfere with your absorption of protein. Sugar can cause food allergies. Sugar contributes to obesity. People always want to know: what can I replace sugar with! Well, if you really must, I'd recommend small amounts of honey or maple syrup because these contain added minerals and cofactors, they aren't pure sugar like refined sugar is. Sugar cane in nature is a packed full of minerals. In nature, anything with a high sugar content has a high mineral content. So when consuming sugar that is stripped from its cofactors/minerals it will try and find these minerals in your body and in your bones and start stealing them from you. Sugar literally takes minerals out of your body!!! This doesn't mean you can't over do it on the natural sweeteners, they are still simple carbohydrates that can have negative effects on your body. Historically people would find honey every once in a while, it wasn't an everyday thing.  Sugar Cane Plants The average American consumes 140+ pounds of sugar a year! That's at least a quarter of a pound of sugar a day! It's utter madness. Lets go a little deeper: Sugar naturally occurs in a lot of foods, the difference between this and added sugar is a lot! In fruits and veggies, for example, it's mixed with fiber, vitamins, minerals, enzymes and beneficial phytonutrients which moderate the stress it causes to the metabolism. There are also two different kinds of sugar I wanted to talk about: glucose and fructose. Glucose and Fructose are metabolized differently. Glucose is usually immediately used by the body for energy. 20% of it is metabolized by the liver and some of it is stored for later use. It can also curb hunger so you don't overeat. Fructose is not readily used for energy like glucose, instead it can be turned into free fatty acids (or the bad form of Cholesterol LDL), or triglycerides which are stored as fat. Fructose metabolism also produces a long list of waste products and toxins that your body has to deal with. Compared to glucose, fructose is 100% metabolized by your liver so high consumption of this can be damaging to it. In this day and age High Fructose Corn Syrup is used as a sweetener in not only "sweet" packaged food, but also things like tomato sauce. You really have to read your labels. This has literally been the death of us. This is also why you can't just eat as much natural sugar and fruit as you want, they all contain Fructose. Here is the super interesting part. High levels of sugar in the blood start binding to proteins in the blood creating "sticky" proteins. These proteins, known as Associated Glycation End Products, are damaged from sugar and begin causing mayhem in the body. A few of the possible effects: Clogged/hardened arteries (actually Cholesterol comes to the rescue when this happens, yes, Cholesterol is good!), blocked cell communication, joint hardening (arthritis), organ hardening…etc etc. Do I need to say more? I think I will. Now, the body is set up to deal with sugar in a certain way. The three major organs involved in this process are the Pancreas, Liver and Adrenals. Historically we had more of a need to raise blood sugar because we may have not had food all the time. Nowadays we have the need to lower blood sugar more than raise it. Unfortunately our bodies weren't set up for this, so while the body has many different ways it can raise blood sugar, it only has one way to lower it. Hence the epidemic of diabetes and blood sugar dysregulation. Because there is only one way to lower it the organs in blood sugar regulation are over used. I won't get too scientific here, this is probably enough for you to see that there is a REAL problem. So what can be done? Well, I mentioned at the beginning that getting been well nourished is sure to curb your cravings. A few of the common deficiencies when it comes to sugar cravings: Chromium: An essential nutrient for blood sugar regulation, an essential component of Glucose Tolerance Factor, which helps insulin bind to the appropriate receptor on the cell surface Functions in fat, protein and carbohydrate metabolism Found in: Broccoli, grapes, cheese, dried beans, calves liver, chicken Carbon: Fresh Fruits Phosphorus: Chicken, beef, liver, poultry, fish, eggs, dairy, nuts, legumes, grains Sulfur: Cranberries, horseradish, cruciferous vegetables, kale, cabbage Tryptophan: Cheese, liver, lamb, raisins, sweet potato, spinach And like I said, there are TONS of minerals in Bone Broth. Besides these foods it's good to get healthy fats in the form of animal products like Lard and Butter, Coconut Oil, Avocado, Fish Oil, Etc. I HIGHLY recommend a overhaul when it comes to sugar in the diet. It's one of the most damaging substances and it's highly addictive. It's not enough to just give up refined sugar and replace it with the same amount of naturally occurring sugars. You must lower the amount of sugar you are consuming in general. Most of your carbs should come from things like Vegetables, Legumes, Brown Rice, Whole Grains. (all of these properly prepared, some need to be soaked overnight) Keep you fruit and natural sweeteners to a minimum and don't eat a ton in one sitting. It puts more of a load on your body when you consume a lot of carbs/sugar at once. Try and space out your fruit consumption throughout the day. If you think you may be suffering from blood sugar dysregulation or just want help eradication sugar from your diet,
feel free to email me! [email protected] More on this subject can be found here: http://www.westonaprice.org/health-topics/zapping-sugar-cravings/
Let me start off this post by saying, if you are someone with blood sugar dysregulation then this will not be ideal for you just yet. Blood sugar can be normalized with diet and other healing protocols. Here is what you may be experiencing with Hypoglycemia: -Awaken a few hours after falling asleep, hard to get back to sleep -Crave sweets -Binge or uncontrolled eating -Excessive appetite -Crave coffee or sugar in the afternoon -Fatigue that is relieved by eating -Headache if meals are skipped or delayed -Irritable before meals -Shaky if meals are delayed -Family members with diabetes -Frequent thirst -Frequent urination People with Hypoglycemia need to eat frequent, high quality meals during the day until the organs involved in blood sugar regulation are healed. I would go more deeply into this but it's not the subject I was hoping to cover today! On to Ghrelin. What is Ghrelin? Ghrelin is a hormone that is produced in the stomach during hunger, this means it is only present when the stomach is fully empty. Usually, when we experience stomach grumbling, we are producing Ghrelin. (If you're like any normal person you'd be opening your refrigerator right about now.) But if we squelch Ghrelin we are losing some amazing benefits that this hormone has to offer. What does it do? Ghrelin increases growth hormone levels in the body. People usually take supplements for this when they are working out, trying to lose weight and gain muscle. But it's not all physical, Ghrelin also has positive effects on learning, memory, depression and anxiety from stress. Working out and learning are best done when Ghrelin levels are high. It makes sense historically: Our hunter gatherer ancestors weren't able to walk up to their fridge any time they wanted for food, why do we think we need to? Like I said, blood sugar dysregulation can be the exception, but we only have blood sugar dysregulation because of eating poor quality food high in refined sugars, which our ancestors were not doing. When going out to hunt they were able to have more acute thinking and movement on an empty stomach. It also makes sense with people who desire to fast and pray when you think about the mental implications of Ghrelin.  I won't go into detail about this way of eating, there are a lot of resources online. Here is a good one:  Basically, Ghrelin is an extremely beneficial hormone that we rarely get the advantages from because a lot of us eat constantly, unless we are asleep. I try and have at least 12 hours between my dinner and my breakfast. If I eat late at night I'll eat later in the morning for breakfast. Also, learn how to listen to your body, don't just eat out of habit, eat when you're hungry and don't eat if you're not. There are exceptions to this rule, loss of appetite completely is something to look into. This way of eating works with a nutrient dense diet full of lots of good fats, protein and carbs in the form of veggies and some fruit. Even if you don't want to try intermittent fasting, or maybe you are unable to for some reason, at least allow your stomach to be fully empty a few times throughout the week so you can gain some of the benefits of Ghrelin.
It's been a week since I started this project, eating on a budget, and while I'm staying within the confines I set for myself, it's not exactly ideal. Let me explain, I've always wanted good food to be accessible, but to me, good food means something entirely different than the majority may think. This first week showed me that. As I've mentioned before, I struggle with allergies, as I know a lot of people do. I also used to struggle with fatigue, oversleeping, pms, volatile emotions etc. When I changed how I ate all of that faded away. It has been the most amazing year because of it. Now, after a week of trying to fill in my diet with grain products again and cheating in a few other areas, I already feel the repercussions. My allergies are acting up, I'm more tired in the morning, more emotionally unstable. It proves to me, once again, that nutrition is everything. (hence why I wanted to become a Nutritional Therapist in the first place) This makes it really hard for me to come to terms with because I know that the way I eat and how much time and money I spend doing it isn't possible for everyone, I've organized my life around nutrition. And I know that the cheapest food will always be the food our government subsidizes, which is grown, raised or made poorly. I know eating on a budget could work, but you've got to have some amount of time, I don't know how to fully cater this way of eating to someone with no time and no money, it just might not work. Although, if someone is willing, anything is possible.  Week One: Recap Amount Allotted: $85 Amount Spent: $85 Comments: While I did stay within budget, we did have a few parties and BBQ's this week so a few of our meals we didn't pay for. And I ate grains, which I don't want to do this week (besides sprouted rice). It proves to me that my allergies are indeed food related and not just environmental. Food Journal:  Breakfast: For the most part I eat eggs for breakfast because they give me fuel and nutrition for the day, I wouldn't trade this for anything. I used to eat oatmeal in the past, which is by the far the cheaper option, but it would fall hard in my stomach and I would not digest it well. If your breakfast isn't giving you energy for the day then what's the point!? Lunch: Lunch is always light for me. I'm either on the go or just not as hungry in the midday. I attribute this to my high fat/protein diet, it keeps me satisfied for way longer than starting the day with carbs. On Monday I was out and about all day with no food except my fat bomb and hard boiled egg. Needless to say I was pretty dang hungry for dinner. It's actually not bad to be hungry (unless of course you struggle with blood sugar regulation). When your stomach grumbles you are actually creating a hormone called Ghrelin that helps the body in so many ways; I'll explain more about that in my next post. Dinner: I usually try to have a decent sized dinner, and I also try and eat it early in the evening. (Late breakfast, light lunch, early dinner) This gives my body more time to detox overnight, and if you're eating high quality protein and fat it should usually satiate you for a good 12 hours overnight. This is when your body is making repairs so it's best to not hinder it with heavy digestion. Snack: I like my snacks to be nutritious, not usually chips or anything like that. Apples and peanut butter are a big go to for us, fat bombs are great for in between meals, popcorn with butter, nutritional yeast and sea salt, or some dark, fair-trade chocolate now and then. Things I learned about budgeting and eating well: *Buy in bulk whenever possible *Buy in bulk with friends if you can't afford the large amounts up front: this is especially helpful with pasture raised meat. *Meal planning and batch cooking. Plan your meals ahead so you don't spend more than you need to, and prepared them on your day off so you have meals ready all week in the fridge and freezer. *Hard boil eggs and Fat Bombs when you're on the go. This next week will be a bit different as I will go back to my regular diet. I'm hoping to make it affordable and accessible, but that's why this is a project! Trial and Error are welcome.
Thanks for continuing to follow my journey! “No serious investigation into nutrition can be made without a thorough knowledge of the principals of soil health and its relationship to the food produced.” -Bernard Jensen
Just like we use Fat, Protein and Carbohydrates as our macronutrients, plants have their own. So, what nutrients do plants need? carbon, oxygen, and hydrogen, as well as nitrogen, phosphorus, and potassium. The first three plants get from the air and water which are then processed via photosynthesis. The last three come from the soil. (that is if it's healthy soil, like the second photo above) Secondary nutrients: Calcium, Magnesium, and Sulfur. Micronutrients: Boron, Chlorine, Cobalt, Copper, Iron, Manganese, Molybdenum, Nickel, Silicon, Sodium, Zinc, and Vanadium. UNFORTUNATELY modern farming practices are void of most of these nutrients. Some people ask, "what is the difference between Organic and Non-Organic fruits and veggies…well, sometimes there is not much. Organic basically means that pesticides aren't used on them, which is a very good thing, but it says nothing of the nutrient composition. Most organic farms, I assume, have healthier soil then non-organic but I'm sure there are some with soil like the first picture above. I buy Organic whenever possible so I'm not ingesting toxins, but my second goal with fruits and veggies is to buy local from a farmer who cares about their soil like their own body. It's interesting, when the soil is healthy there is no need for pesticides and other toxins. Healthy soil self regulates. Duh! Why do we always want to fight against nature instead of working within it's systems? Oh, that's right, MONEY! It's always all about money, isn't it? Before and After: Toxin load in the body when eating Non-Organic and Organic.  This is one of the reasons Johnny and I want to start a farm. Johnny is trained in Permaculture (sustainable agriculture, basically) and has studied a lot about soil health. It make us the perfect team because he can make sure the soil is healthy so that the food we are eating and sharing with others is nutrient dense. If our soil is depleted then we also will be depleted. You can see it. We have an abundance of food and a lack of nutrients. This is why you see so many people with health issues that eat a so called, "healthy" diet. If our food doesn't get the correct nutrients for their growth then we won't get the correct nutrients for our growth. A little exert from: http://www.natural-health-information-centre.com/depleted-soils.html "Why is the soil depleted? As long ago as the 1920s, the British and US Governments were warned by nutritional experts that the soils on which most crops were grown were so deficient in mineral content that the foods grown on them contained less than 10% of the vitamins and minerals they should have. The intention of these reports was to highlight the problem so that remedial action could be taken to remineralise the soils, leading, once again, to naturally healthy fruits and vegetables. Unfortunately, neither Government took any action to correct this problem, and as a result, which has been intensified by modern intensive farming methods, the fruits and vegetables not only have little or no vitamin and mineral content, but they are routinely sprayed with such a broad selection of chemicals that they are actually poisonous. How can plants grow without vitamins and minerals? Good question. Most plants require only three nutrients to grow, namely nitrogen, phosphorus and water. In the presence of these nutrients, virtually all plants will grow into what appear to be healthy, nutritious adult specimens. However, if the minerals found in their natural habitat are not present, such plants and their relevant fruits and vegetables will be nutritionally "empty". As a result of this, these plants are less able to defend themselves against natural predators and are susceptible to insect attack and damage from viruses / bacteria. In order to control this, insecticides, antifungals, antibiotics, pesticides and dozens of other categories of chemicals have been designed to limit the damage done to plants by their natural enemies. Unfortunately, many of these chemicals have not been properly tested to assess their effects on either plant or human health, and virtually none have been tested in combination to assess their combined effects. The result is that most fruits, vegetables and other plant-based foods are so contaminated with a huge variety of chemicals, and so deficient in nutrient content that they actually do more harm than good." {I've had people say to me, "we have to farm this way in order to feed the billions of people on this earth! But, if we farm this way, we will only be able to feed people for a short amount of time before we totally deplete the land of all it's vitality and all it's nutrients. Wouldn't we rather farm in a way that cares for the soil and can continue on for generations? We are literally running ourselves into the ground.} "When the Earth's population was smaller people could move from one place to another and give soil a chance to regenerate. But now, with more than 6 billion people on the planet, that option no longer exists." -David R. Montgomery So…THE HEALTH OF OUR SOIL IS IMPORTANT! We need to care about this and support farmers who are caring for their soils! Here are a few {large scale} farmers doing rad things! (I wish this is how all farms operated)   Mark Shepard: New Forest Farm "In 1995, Mark Shepard and his family moved to the hills of Southwest Wisconsin to start a new kind of farm. Instead of just growing annual grains, vegetables, or livestock, they wanted to establish a perennial farm, modeled on native ecosystems, to produce abundant food, fiber, and fuel while restoring critical ecosystem services. New Forest Farm is now one of the most developed and productive perennial farms in North America - growing abundant crops and livestock, while sequestering carbon, building soil, recharging groundwater, and enhancing wildlife habitat and biodiversity. " www.newforestfarm.net  “This magical, marvelous food on our plate, this sustenance we absorb, has a story to tell. It has a journey. It leaves a footprint. It leaves a legacy. To eat with reckless abandon, without conscience, without knowledge; folks, this ain't normal.” ― Joel Salatin, Folks, This Ain't Normal: A Farmer's Advice for Happier Hens, Healthier People, and a Better World  Joel Salatin: Polyface Farms Disregarding conventional wisdom, the Salatins planted trees, built huge compost piles, dug ponds, moved cows daily with portable electric fencing, and invented portable sheltering systems to produce all their animals on perennial prairie polycultures. Today the farm arguably represents America’s premier non-industrial food production oasis. Believing that the Creator’s design is still the best pattern for the biological world, the Salatin family invites like-minded folks to join in the farm’s mission: to develop emotionally, economically, environmentally enhancing agricultural enterprises and facilitate their duplication throughout the world. The Salatins continue to refine their models to push environmentally-friendly farming practices toward new levels of expertise. www.polyfacefarms.com “How much evil throughout history could have been avoided had people exercised their moral acuity with convictional courage and said to the powers that be, 'No, I will not. This is wrong, and I don't care if you fire me, shoot me, pass me over for promotion, or call my mother, I will not participate in this unsavory activity.' Wouldn't world history be rewritten if just a few people had actually acted like individual free agents rather than mindless lemmings?” ― Joel Salatin, Everything I Want to Do Is Illegal: War Stories from the Local Food Front We really do have the power when we vote with our money. Not only will we affect change in the soil, but we will affect change with the health of all organisms, animals and people. Food is the base of life, and we're losing it. Buy local, gain knowledge and support the soil. 
Kookoolan farms: a place where animals are treated with respect and care.
I've only been eating meat again for 2 years (after being a vegetarian for 5) so you could say I care about animal welfare. I also want to be eating animals that have been raised in their natural setting: on pasture. That goes for pigs, chickens, everything. Ever since I started eating meat again I've been wanting to find a farm I could buy straight from. And from the looks of it, this is the cheapest way to get high quality meat, that is if you can afford the upfront cost. You see, these cows are slaughtered on their property, which is not regulated by the USDA. That means you have to buy straight from them and you have to buy a portion of the cow. The cheapest portion is 1/8th of the cow for $4.40 a pound. I usually spend $6 or more a pound at the store for grass fed beef so this is quite a savings when you add it up over time. But again, there is that upfront cost of buying it all at once and some people don't have that ability. The one way I can see around this would be starting some kind of buying group, or buying club. Get your friends together who also want grass fed, humanely raised meat and buy a portion together. I am even thinking of starting something like this for my friends and family. This also works with their eggs. They sell them for $6 a dozen when you're just buying one, but they sell them for $5 a dozen when you buy 15.
Another huge bonus to buying from Kookoolan farm is they give you as many bones and organs as you want for free! As I've mentioned before, bones are insanely high in minerals and you can make healing soups with them…FOR FREE! Organs like Liver can be made into a pate'.
Benefits of Liver:
Cassie, one of the owners of Kookoolan, told me they also sell their meat at the Hillsdale Farmers market in SW Portland. In that case you can use your food stamps and she sells it for the same price. She also mentioned that they donate their left over produce to food banks out in that area (they are located in Yamhill). It's good to know that these kinds of foods are making their way into food banks. It's actually a win win, she explained to me, low income families get un-sprayed produce for free and the farm gets a tax credit for donating.
A few other low priced things they offer:
Chicken: they have the option of organic, and non-organic. non-organic $4.99/lb vs. $5.89/lb organic The non-organic's feed does have GMO's (because it's cheap) but the chickens aren't treated with antibiotics, hormones, or chemicals of any kind. They also are pasture raised. So if this is what someone can afford, I find it the best case scenario. Since the goal of this project is to buy the best of the best and still be able to afford it the ideal option would be buying in bulk with a group of people: If you buy in bulk with a group its only $3.99/lb for the conventional and $4.71/lb for organic. So if you want organic chicken for cheaper than conventional this would be the way to do it!
Pork: They also have 2 options when it comes to Pork, the first is pasture raised, the second is what they call Pampered Pigs. These are raised with indoor and outdoor space, fed grains, fruits and vegetables. They are $4.75/lb vs. $5.75/lb for the pasture raised pigs. The pasture raised pigs live their lives outdoors where they are able to forage a lot of their food.
Here is what we got yesterday, I'll be rationing this out to fit the budget for the month, we got a 1/4 of a pig and an 1/8 of a cow. We also got a box of their eggs (eggs last a long time when they are from a farm. Conventional eggs are cleaned so that they become porous and let bacteria in, they put a coating on them to try and stop this from happening, but it's still recommend to refrigerate them. These eggs I'll keep in a cool basement for the month!) Not only did we get a great deal on meat and eggs, they also gave us gifts for picking up at the farm. We got a carton of free eggs and a bottle of mead. They also give you a free book for each share you buy! So we got books on humane butchering for Johnny to read. (since we'll be doing that in the future)
Since I wasn't able to get close enough to the cows for a picture, here is a little video:
Kookoolan Farms Website: www.kookoolanfarms.com
References:
http://blog.radiantlifecatalog.com/bid/26773/Benefits-of-Eating-Liver-Our-Most-Nutrient-Dense-Food http://www.motherearthnews.com/real-food/how-long-will-fresh-eggs-keep-without-refrigeration.aspx   The first farmers market of the season today! The weather was beyond gorgeous and perfect for walking around the market. There's nothing like connecting with your food this way; the open air, the people, the farmers, all the produce displayed like art. It's a far cry from my experience in Costco under the halogen lights. That's why I jump for joy this time of year when I can do at least a part of my shopping outside! Today I bought $15 worth of produce as well as $6 worth of local Honey This includes: Lettuce, Chard, Kale, Red Potatoes and Zucchini There aren't a ton of options this early in the season so I'll be buying the rest of my produce for the week at my CoOp. I've given myself a $25 a week budget for produce. So by the end of the month I'll have spent $100 total. I wanted Local/Organic Produce, Grass-Fed Meat and Eggs to be the bulk of what I'm buying during this experiment. Now I realize some people can only go to the store once a week, I'm lucky to be in walking distance from my CoOp. So today I wanted to talk about using your produce most efficiently if you're shopping once a week. Order of Operations 1. Start with your greens, the first 3 or so days of the week should be devoted to these, this is when you'll be adding greens to breakfast, in soups and having salads. If you buy fresh herbs like cilantro, fill up a jar with water and put the cilantro ends in it in the fridge, this will keep them fresh MUCH longer. 2.) Things like Avocado, Tomatoes, Strawberries, etc. should be eaten first as well. 3.) Half way through the week you can start on Zucchini, Carrots and other root veggies. 4.) Tough Root Veggies and Squash should be saved for the end of the week because they last the longest. So Potatoes, Butternut Squash, etc. 5.) There are a few things I eat all week long, I like to add onion to a lot of things and they last a long time so I just use them all week, I usually eat an apple everyday or two as a snack with peanut butter so this is something that can be dispersed throughout the week. I think the main thing you want to try and use first are the greens. This will also make your diet diverse if you eat greens at the beginning of the week and other things at the end. What my week may look like:
Monday: Use greens first. Fry up some Kale or Chard in butter with sea salt. Have this on the side of some pasture raised eggs. Salad for lunch. For dinner I'll be making hamburgers with the meat I get from the farm and wrapping them in Lettuce instead of a bun. Tuesday: Use greens in your breakfast again. Salad for Lunch. Chop up Kale or Chard and combine with some bone broth and other veggies for a soup. Wednesday: Use greens in your breakfast. Coleslaw for Lunch. Left over soup for dinner. Thursday: If you still have greens use them in your breakfast again. More soup for lunch. Next use the Zucchini, I'll be making a Grain-Free Zucchini Lasagne. Friday: Eggs and sourdough rye pancakes for breakfast. I'll be using some other veggies from the CoOp for a Curry with my soaked and fermented Lentils and Sprouted Rice (blog post to come on soaking and sprouting) For dinner use the Potatoes for a potato based pureed soup. Saturday: Eat left overs of Lasagne, Curry and Soup.  Bone Broths, Fermented Veggies, and Fat BombsSince these are my first few days of preparation for the project, I wanted to share with ya'll a few things that I'm prepping ahead of time. These are things you can include in your diet that give you added nutrition without added cost. They also don't take too much time. I made these 3 things in 35 minutes. Of course that isn't taking into account how long they have to sit. Eating healthy pretty much means you have to prepare ahead; having adequate planning is crucial to maintaining a whole foods diet. First Up: Bone Broth For the sake of not playing into the money making name: Bone Broth, we can just call this stock. People are starting to catch on to this mineral rich broth and places are beginning to sell "Bone Broth" for high prices. The reason I like this so much is because, as of now, bones are cheap. (wondering if they'll remain that way as more and more people start consuming this!) The farm I am getting my meat from this week actually includes all the bones, organs and fat for free with the purchase of meat! That's pretty amazing. I used these broth bases as a part of my allergy healing. (you can read about my protocol here) Broths made from meat and bones have so many gut healing nutrients so if you are someone who has suffered from digestive issues and allergies, this is for you! I feel like it's a really cost effective way to heal yourself. Think about bones…what are they? They're straight up MINERALS. So good. I make a pretty simple base myself. I only use these ingredients: Bones: $2-$5 (beef, chicken, fish, lamb, whatever you like!) Onion Skins: Free (this is the part you don't eat but it's full of the bioflavanoid Quercitin which helps with allergies) Egg Shells: Free (these contain lot's of calcium) Sea Salt: $.10 (a few pinches of this for seasoning and to help draw the mineral out of the bones) Total: $3 Time: 5 minutes (Crock Pot: 8 hours over night) Put all this into a crock pot, fill with water and cook overnight. In the morning you can strain it and store until you're ready to make soup. You can also freeze bone broth if you want to make a lot and stock up. If you're buying from a grocery store you can go to the meat counter and ask for bones. If you're not sure what kind you want just tell them you're making stock and get a recommendation. Bones can be used multiple times for stock (I usually make 2 batches with one set of bones) This means that you're spending about $2-$3 a batch. Other options for use are cooking your grains like rice or your beans in bone broth instead of water for added nutrients. Otherwise just use the stock to make your favorite soups.  Second Up: Sauerkraut Another great way to add nutrition without the cost: fermentation! Fermenting things adds a whole lot of nutrients to food and aids in digestion. Cabbage, for example, is a gut healing veggie. Take those properties, add fermentation and you've got a very healing food hailed for cancer prevention, vitamin content, beneficial enzymes and bacteria. Organic, Local Cabbage: $4.71 (1.49 pounds) Red Onion: $.50 (1/4 of it) Horse Radish Leaves: (we grown them and they are optional) Sea Salt: $.50 (I use Celtic Sea Salt) Total: $6 Time: 20 minutes (1 week+ to ferment) This is a super simple recipe, you can get creative and add more veggies if you like! The basic instructions are something like this: Chop up your cabbage and other veggies into small pieces. There are a few ways to do the next part, you can use a crock, jar or bowl to get started. Put a few handfuls of cabbage and veggies in whatever vessel you are using and sprinkle a decent amount of salt on top. Now you need to mash it, if you're using a crock or jar the opening may be small so you need a wooden masher that fits. If using a bowl you can just use your hands to mash. You want to see the juices start coming out of the cabbage and you want it to soften up a bit. Keep piling more layers of veggies and salt and mashing. At the end you should have a lot of liquid, enough to cover the veggies if you smash them down. With a crock you want to put a plate on top with a weight in order to keep the veggies below the surface of the water. With a jar you can put a lid on loosely and will need to open it every day to release pressure. Other options include an airlock but for the sake of doing this easy I'll start there and you can look up other ways of doing it. Let the mix sit for at least a week, once it's fermented to your liking you'll want to put it in the refrigerator to cease the fermentation. And it might sound gross to some people, but drink the juice in your sauerkraut too! If it's unappetizing to you then just add it to your soups before eating. I like to have a little side of it with breakfast, put it in my soups before eating, and use it as a condiment on burgers. This is meant to be a side dish so a little bit at a time is ideal.  Third Up: Fat Bombs These are for those moments in the day where you are in-between meals and you need a quick source of slow burning energy. Titled: Fat Bombs because that's what they are. Good clean fats. Some recipes just call for coconut oil as the base but I wanted to try adding butter to mine as well! For those of you who are dairy intolerant you can replace the butter with Ghee (clarified butter) or just more coconut oil. The benefits of these, besides providing fuel, are extensive. Coconut oil is high in saturated fats and when digested these fats go straight to the liver from the digestive tract, where they are used as quick energy or turned in to ketone bodies (a form of fuel the body uses) which have therapeutic effects on brain disorders like epilepsy and Alzheimer's. Coconut oil also contains the fatty acid Lauric Acid which has been shown to kill the bacteria Staphylococcus Aureus and the yeast Candida Albicans. It's other benefits include; weight loss, skin health, and healthy cholesterol levels. As far as grass fed butter goes, you can expect the same amazing health giving qualities. One very important nutrient that will not show up in feed lot/grain feed cow butter is Vitamin K2. This vitamin can only be synthesized by the rumen of a cow when they are eating grass. They use the K1 in grass, which you also find in things like Kale, and convert it to K2. So when we consume this kind of butter we are getting this nutrient. K2 prevents or corrects arterial plaque as well as helping the body use calcium efficiently. You'll notice also that grass fed butter is dark yellow in color, this is because it has high vitamin A content, like carrots, but because vitamin A is fat soluble, meaning it can only be absorb into the body with the presence of fat, you get more out of butter than you do out of carrots. Grass fed butter has a perfect ratio of Omega 3 to Omega 6 while grain fed butter has much more Omega 6 in it. Our diets already tend to be heavy in Omega 6 when they are suppose to be in balance with Omega 3. Okay okay! Enough about the awesomeness of these two. Here's what you do: 1/2 cup Coconut Oil $.50 2 Tablespoons Grass Fed Butter $.40 6 Tablespoons Coconut Flakes $.20 1/2 Tsp Vanilla $.5 Pinch of Coconut Sugar, Cinnamon, Nutmeg $.10 Total Cost: $1.25 ($.20 cents per fat bomb) Total Time: 5-10 minutes Melt your coconut oil and butter over low heat. While that's melting put cupcake papers in a cupcake tin. Put 1 Tablespoon of coconut flakes in each cup. (I only have a 6 cup cupcake pan so this recipe makes 6) Put your vanilla in the coconut oil and butter liquid and pour over the coconut flakes so that each one is about a centimeter filled. Sprinkle a pinch of coconut sugar, cinnamon and nutmeg on top. Keep in the refrigerator and take one on the go when you need a little energy during the day.  Gosh…I love this stuff! Nutrient Dense, healing options for those of you on a budget. Now…I know there are likely some vegetarians reading this…in that case I think I'll post some other mineral rich seaweed broths later on this month, so keep an eye out for that!
I can already tell this 30 day project is going to be full of trial and error. But that's the point right? I have the resources and the time to devote to all the possibilities. When we are given abundance we must not hoard it. This is something I was taught from a very young age through the teachings of Jesus. I am so thankful for my upbringing and the support I've had throughout my life. This quote is a big part of who I am, I used to have it painted across a wall in my house as a reminder: "If I could become the servant of all"Quoted from mewithoutyou Becoming a servant of all used to mean: being walked all over and sacrificing my own comfort for others. Now, while this is true some of the time, there are a lot of sacrifices to be made, I burned myself out living that way. I needed to spend some money on myself, feed myself good food and have some comforts in order to serve others. For the last 2 years I've done just that. Johnny and I traveled together, we both got new jobs so we could live without roommates for a while, we stopped running a hospitality house, and we started eating really really well. I have healed so much from this time and now I am full of energy and ready to start giving back again! Hence this project (among other things). I know how energizing proper nutrition is and I want that to be shared with others! I've aways felt this deep sadness that some could not afford this luxury, so I wanted to put on their shoes and see if there was a way we could all have deeply nutritious food. It's Begun!It's May 1st, yes. But I've actually decided to officially start the project next Tuesday and I'll just carry it out for 30 days after that. These next few days will be my prep days. Yesterday…I went to Costco as well as Cash and Carry. I haven't been to these places for years as I mainly shop at my CoOp. The main thing I wanted to do with this project is make sure people could access and afford grass fed meat/eggs and local, organic produce. In order to make it all fit in the budget I had to decide where to cut corners. But I won't fully cut corners. Even though I shopped at Costco (membership is $55 a year by the way) I picked out the best quality products I could. (Another option that I'll be checking out next week is Winco, which requires no membership and has similar deals.) Here is what I'm started with:  Now, when it comes to buying in bulk on a food stamp budget, its more likely that you'll have to buy a few things every month and build up a pantry. Let's say I've built up this pantry over a few months time. Here's what I got: Organic Brown Rice: $13.99 for 12 pounds Organic Raisins: $8.49 for 4 pounds Organic Coconut Oil: $27.99 for 5.5 pounds Lentils: $4.99 for 5 pounds Adams Peanut Butter: $8.39 for 5 pounds Sprouted Bread: $6.69 for 2 loaves Popcorn: $2.40 for 1.5 pounds Some things to note: I will be sprouting the brown rice myself and pre soaking the lentils every time I cook them. The coconut oil is not only organic but it is cold pressed, which is the best process for retain it's healing qualities, Adams peanut butter is just straight up peanuts with no hydrogenated oils, sprouted bread is the best way to go with sourdough in second, when you sprout bread you make it a hell of a lot more digestible. I actually purchased the popcorn at my co-op the other day, I'm curious to know the price of it at other shops. I'll be looking into it. For this project I will only be consuming what is in the budget so I've weighed out different amounts that fit in the budget and I will update them if we end up eating more or less. So far this feels like a dance, I have to learn the steps in order to move smoothly, this project morphs everyday and I'm sure I'll be carrying it on past 30 days.  My next steps:-Sunday is the first farmers market of the season by my house. Now I know not everyone has access to these markets, but I will begin here for those who do. My hope is to buy all my produce from local farmers. Using food stamps at farmers markets will actually save you $5 every week you go.
That means a $20 savings for the whole month! -Monday I'll be heading out to a farm to purchase part of a cow. This is another bulk purchase that would have to be done with friends if you couldn't afford it on your own. {That reminds me, buyers clubs are another good way to buy in bulk with other people, but I've been having a hard time finding ones in my area that are accepting new people, so, if you have close friends that are also trying to save money see if you guys can go in on stuff together.} -I'll also be researching which CSA's take food stamps. -Stay tuned for all this info and more! Thanks for coming along on the journey. -Bailey |
Bailey Patrice & Jonathan David
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All
Date
December 2017
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