Archive for the ‘Food-Nutrition-Health’ Category

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Gathering Summary: Putting Food By, July 22, 2009

Saturday, July 25th, 2009

by Catherine Haug

Fran provided a copy of her script, which I copy here, inserting notes from the discussion where appropriate. For a printable copy, see: Gathering Summary: Putting Food By, by Fran Wade.

Putting Food By, by Fran Wade

Putting Food By is a term for preserving food without refrigeration.  Nothing new, our grandparents, or great-grand parents, for some of you younger people, lived this way, very well.  We wouldn’t be here if they hadn’t.

Tonight we will cover:

  • preserving fruits and vegetables through drying,
  • meats through cures, brining, drying and smoking, and
  • a bit on more conventional canning with hot water bath and pressure canner, pickles & relishes, and jam making.

(more…)

Posted in Food-Nutrition-Health, Gathering Summaries | Comments Closed

A New Health Paradigm

Saturday, July 11th, 2009

by Catherine Haug

Dr. Mercola offered a provocative article in his July 8, 2009 newsletter: Changing Your Beliefs About Health and Illness.

For those not familiar with Dr. Mercola, he’s an osteopathic physician in the Chicago area, who started his website in the late 1990s, focusing on natural healing.  This particular article comes with a 5 minute video video by Dr. James Chestnut, a chiropractic physician honored in 2007 as Chiropractic Educator of the Year.

As our government leaders grapple with legislation to provide health care coverage for all, I think it is pertinent to look more deeply into what is meant by health and illness. I fear that our leaders are still living in the old, wrong-headed paradigm, and we will ultimately suffer because of this.

In fact, I believe this wrong-headed paradigm is precisely why our health care system has failed us. (more…)

Posted in Food-Nutrition-Health, Health | Comments Closed

Making Yogurt, Kefir & Whey at Home

Saturday, July 11th, 2009

by Catherine Haug

October 2 Update:  Added section on how to make liquid whey.

This post discusses”

  • Making thermophilic yogurt that cultures above room temperatures, and viili yogurt that cultures at room temperature;
  • Making kefir (from powdered culture and from live kefir grains;
  • Making liquid whey from yogurt or kefir; and
  • A discussion on the difference between kefir and yogurt.

(more…)

Posted in Fermentation, Culturing & Curing, Food-Nutrition-Health | Comments Closed

“The Devil in the Milk”

Thursday, July 9th, 2009

by Catherine Haug

First, honesty in journalism:  I’ve borrowed the title of this post from The Devil in the Milk, a book by Dr. Keith Woodford.

Friesian-Holsten (from Wikipedia, cropped)

Friesian-Holstein, from Wikipedia (cropped)

Scientists have long marked a link between commercial milk consumption and the following health issues:

  • Increased mucous,
  • Lactose intolerance,
  • Heart disease,
  • Type 1 diabetes,
  • Autoimmune diseases,
  • Autism, and
  • Schizophrenia

While this is usually attributed to the pasteurization of milk, some people continue to have problems even after switching to raw milk. But now it appears that there is an additional problem with commercial milk:  the type of cows that produce it; namely the black and white Holsteins and Friesians. It’s not their color, but a mutated milk protein (termed A-1), that lies at the root of the problem.   (more…)

Posted in Food-Nutrition-Health, Home & Ranch | Comments Closed

Avoiding Swine Flu Naturally: Update September 3, 2009

Thursday, July 9th, 2009

by Catherine Haug

September 3, 2009 update: added info on basil and holy basil (tulsi) for prevention and treatment of influenza.

August 15, 2009 update: addition of probiotic foods to list of ways to support your immune system, based on recent study published in Pediatrics.

July 10, 2009 update:  Flu.gov has information about the swine flu, and the preparedness plans of our government, in the event of an outbreak this fall.  I’ve added some information from this website in a new section of this post, titled Swine Flu Symptoms.

July 9, 2009 update:  a video of Dr. Don Beans:  What to Do About the Flu, as recorded on KGEZ radio, is available from Dr. Beans, a Licensed Acupuncturist and Certified Homeopath.  He tells me he’s working on a written version of this 2-hour recording, in booklet form, and hopes to make it available on his website, drbeans.com.  Contact Dr. Beans at 837-0310 or 863-9300.

Original post (April 29, 2009):

“Swine flu” is much in the news today, along with conspiracy theories about its origin. Without getting into all that, see below for some things you can do to support your immune system, and help you fight off the flu should you be exposed.   (more…)

Posted in Agriculture, Health, Shop Local | 1 Comment »

Sugar and Salt in Food Preservation

Wednesday, July 8th, 2009

by Catherine Haug

During our discussion of topics for our upcoming event, Putting Food By Without Refrigeration, the question of salt was raised,

Salt is needed for so many of these processes; what will we do when we can no longer import salt from out of the area?

I ask our ESP community:  Are there any salt licks or other natural sources of salt in our valley?

And it’s not just salt, but also sugar that is used in preservation of foods; here are just a few uses: (more…)

Posted in Fermentation, Culturing & Curing, Food-Nutrition-Health | Comments Closed

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