Traditional Diets

I found myself reading about traditional diets this month.  It was my intent to get to the bottom of vaccinations (or at least as far down as I was comfortable with), but that one goal ended up taking me on a journey of doubting my whole "dieting" lifestyle!

About 3 years ago I was done with dieting and decided to focus on being as healthy as I could.  This goal landed me in the middle of Vegetarian World starting with the book Skinny Bitch.  I really just picked up the book at Barnes and Noble to flip through it and see what it was all about, but I ended up buying the book, throwing away all of my meat and watching countless videos on Youtube about dairy and meat farms.  The idea was simple-humans were not meant to eat animals or their products.  This made sense to me-I mean, humans do not have the physical attributes to catch wild animals like other omnivores, we had to get smart enough to make arrows and knives to hunt them down.  Then there is the milk and dairy product thing-you have to get a cow pregnant just to get her milk!  Of course there were the studies that showed saturated fat was the devil and the less you ate, the longer you lived.

So I was all happy and content on my animal "less" (always had a hard time staying away from the ice cream and cheese!) life, then 2 initially un-related things happened.  1. I decided to stop being told to vaccinate and do my research on the actual "big deal " of vaccinations.  and 2. I decided to finally do something about all my cavities that have been getting progressively worse since the birth of my son.

It didn't take me long to realize vaccines are gross and filled with nasty chemicals I wouldn't want around my son let alone injected into his blood stream.   And it only took 2 teeth being filled to decide I wasn't filling anymore!  These two seemingly un related subjects actually had one major thing in common-Diet.

If I wasn't going to vaccinate ( I am being brave admitting this as I know it is a controversial subject) and I didn't want anymore fillings, what would I do to be naturally healthy enough to not worry about infectious disease or a root canal??  That's what brought me to Nourishing Traditions, a "cookbook that challenged the politically correct nutrition and diet dictocrats."

I should stop here and say, that I have recently read a lot of information about the effectiveness and immunity "shelf life"of vaccinations.  Enough for me to feel comfortable knowing opting out of them wasn't putting my son or anyone else at risk.  So it really was just a matter of being able to put my family in the position to be strong enough health-wise to prevent and fight off common illnesses and stop using doctors as a crutch of sorts to relieve our diet-induced aliments-such as tooth decay!

The book Nourishing Traditions By Sally Fallon sums up a study conducted by Dr Weston Price in the 1930's!!! (Hello 80 + years ago people!!)  Dr Price was infact, a dentist who traveled the world studying the traditional (or never industrialized/processed/commercialized) diets of people all over the world.  His findings concluded that teeth were never meant to decay, and that by simply following a traditional and un-processed diet transferred into perfectly straight, white teeth (no brushing even needed) and superb disease-free physical condition throughout life.

While each civilization had different diets based on their location, they all had a few key things in common that Price and Sally Fallon from the Price foundation (author of Nourishing Traditions) would come to promote as essential to being healthy.  These commonalities included:
1. A diet rich in saturated fat and cholesterol (from healthy pasture raised animal)
2. Proper preparation of whole un-processed grains and legumes
3. High intake of vitamin A and D
4. Lacto-fermented products
(More on these 4 key components of the traditional diet later.)


Of course, this book sites several studies that show saturated fat and cholesterol are not to be feared.  Their point that humans have lived healthy for thousands of years of the land and animals and never seen such diseases such as heart disease and cancer until the introduction of processed and refined foods makes total sense. The more I have searched the internet for info on Traditional Dieting the more I realize, this is also a highly controversy subject!  It seems to be The China Study (the main study all vegetarians often reference) vs. the Weston Price Study.

This diet seems a little "extreme" at first as there are very strict guild lines about the quality and preparations of your food.  It is about making EVERYTHING from scratch and involves much preparation and forethought.  However, a I am beginning this new journey and can easily say the first step to becoming healthier-whether by eating more traditionally or not is ditching the packaged foods.

I encourage you to take a look into traditional dieting!  Not because I think you should embrace it, but because it is something that has really been brushed behind a curtain and never talked about on tv and in mainstream books.  It is something worth looking into if you already eat animal products or have only heard one side of the food story.

Healthy Habit #25-Organize Your Photos!

Let's face it, having infants, toddlers and kids in general we all know how much clutter photos can cause. Whether on your computer in 5 million different files or more likely simply in you iphoto library, or in hundreds of boxes or more likely the envelopes they were sent to you in laying around the house-they really add up!  I actually had over 1000 photos from Teddy's first 3 days of life!!

Here are some reasons to organize your photos:
Neatly matted and framed photos warm our home and create personalized decor for each room.
Organized photos give us the freedom to find our precious memories quickly.
Organized photos to share with guests and browse through occasionally will give you more joy in your life.
Organized photos will release you of the guilt of not having printed or preserved your precious memories.
and of course, a sense of control that you are not behind or swimming in photos, that it is done!

How to organize your photos:
Decide how you are most comfortable preserving your memories.  For some it may be organized folders in a special folder on your desktop and backed up on a hard drive.  For others it may be good old fashioned photo albums.  Any yet others may decide to create digital photo albums to be printed.  Gather your supplies as needed.

Create a space in your home and a day of the month (or for some of us- day of the week) to work on your albums. Having frames, albums and scrapbook supplies on hand will make it easier to complete your photo projects and help motivate you to work on your photos consistently.

Gather up all the loose photos in your home and organized them chronologically or by event.  You can also organize by theme, such as 'holiday', 'summer'. 'travel'.  While doing this, keep a trash can handy for the photos that aren't good enough to preserve and a "give away" box for duplicates or photos that grandma might like.

Make a point to pull out the one-of-a-kind photos that you know you will cherish forever and enlarge and frame them for a special spot in your home.

This can be overwhelming, but it can also be fun and a chance for you to be creative and have some quiet time for yourself!

Weelicous Crock Pot Lasagna

2 Cups Zucchini, Broccoli, Cauliflower, Mushrooms and/or Spinach
1 15 oz Container Ricotta Cheese
1/2 Cup Parmesan Cheese, grated
1 Tbsp Dried Italian Herbs
1/2 Tsp Garlic Powder
1 Tsp Kosher Salt
1 Large Egg
1 25 oz Jar Pasta Sauce
1 Box Lasagna Noodles (uncooked)
2 Cups Mozzarella Cheese, grated

1. Place the vegetables in a food processor and pulse to roughly chop.
2. Place the ricotta, parmesan cheese, herbs, garlic powder, salt and egg in a bowl and stir to combine.
3. Pour half of the pasta sauce in the bottom of a crock pot.
4. Place a layer of noodles on top of the sauce, covering the entire surface, breaking the noodles to fit the pot.
5. Layer half of the ricotta mixture on top of the noodles, followed by 1 cup of the chopped vegetables and then one cup of mozzarella cheese.
6. Repeat with another layer of noodles, followed by the remaining ricotta mixture and the chopped vegetables.
7. Pour the remaining pasta sauce on top of the lasagna and top with the remaining cup of the grated cheese.
8. Cook on low for 4 hours.
9. Serve.