If you missed yesterday's introduction, click here!
DISCLAIMER: I am not a nutritionist, doctor or even a scientist. My only expertise is that I love food and am highly motivated to do what is best for my family! It can be difficult to read various studies all of whom demonize the other side and claim to be right. I am trying to find the truth about nutrition, and am using this series to document and share what I've learned and concluded.
CUT SUGAR
STEP 1: I cut WAY back on sugar years ago when my doctor put me on the South Beach Diet for fertility purposes. I never embraced the "fake" stuff such as aspartame. I couldn't stand the after taste and was skeptical of an artificial sweetener. Instead I cut cokes completely out of my diet and M&M's mostly out of my diet. :)
STEP 2: I cut out all high fructose corn syrup last year. I studied the ingredients in everything we bought and boycotted all HFCS. I switched to organic ketchup and Ben & Jerry's ice cream just to avoid that nasty stuff.
STEP 3: I took the final step this Lent. By this time I was down to a syrup in my coffee and a little ice cream several times a week. (Hey! I love ice cream!) I cut that out, and threw out anything that listed any type of refined sugar in top three ingredients- such as condiments and salad dressings. I embraced healthy fats (more later), which took away the cravings.
STEP 4: Now I'm sticking to my Lenten resolution, but with grace. I bought Ben and Jerry's again, but only have it once or (maybe) twice a week. I get my sweet fix from maple syrup in my oats for breakfast and honey in my granola and chai tea.
NOTE: Notice I didn't introduce fake sugars into my diet to replace sugar? I am very leery of fake sugar (sugar created in a lab? No, thank you!) , including natural sugars, such as agave nectar (which is apparently worse for you than high fructose corn syrup!) and stevia. I had never heard anything critical of stevia, but decided to google it and found this. It just sounds too good to be true to me, and I doubt any of my ancestors ever ate it! I'd rather pass...
MILK and dairy products
STEP 1: I switched back to whole milk years ago when I read the Fertility Diet. They pointed out that estrogen and progesterone are fat-soluble hormones, and when you skim off the fat, you're taking out those female hormones. Then to make the milk creamier and tastier, they inject androgen-like steroids into the milk. The book's conclusion was that skim milk is probably fine for most people, but fertility challenged women should consume whole milk.
WEIGHT CONCERNS? At the time it was a no brainer because I was trying to gain weight in a healthy manner. Only problem? I didn't gain a pound. I drink a gallon of milk a week and switched from skim to whole and didn't gain a pound. Recently my husband switched from skim to whole and he hasn't gained a pound, either. Why are we depriving ourselves?!
STEP 2: After reading Nourishing Traditions and researching the safety and benefits, I became enamored with raw milk. We bought it to try and it tasted great! My husband has been lactose intolerant, but he could drink this since it hadn't suffered pasteurization which kills off the enzymes needed to digest it. He was guzzling milk and exclaiming, "I never knew how good milk tasted!" I felt great about the added benefits of milk that contained all its natural enzymes and vitamins, allowing your body to absorb all the calcium, vitamins A and D, and more. Go HERE for more.
STEP 3: Watch scary videos of people getting sick from raw milk and freak out. Pray. Read. Freak out. Repeat. Decide it's not worth the risk at this point. We don't have access to the dairy farm which provides raw milk and so we're not able to ask questions (much less see for ourselves) regarding safety, testing, and cleanliness. For this reason, we have opted to drink pasteurized milk. We will reassess and probably switch back once we move from this area. I have received a great tip to add kefir to the milk to add back the enzymes lost during pasteurization!
STEP 4: Begin to drink pasteurized, un-homogenized milk and love it! (A and I love it. J does not; he's still lactose intolerant.) It comes from pastured cows on a local farm in a glass bottle that you return for reuse and has a THICK layer of cream on top. YUM.
NOTE: What I don't drink is organic milk that is ultra-pasteurized. This stuff has been heated to 200 degrees instead of the normal 150 to extend its shelf life. It could practically sit in your pantry. YUCK.
Come back tomorrow for thoughts on EGGS and BUTTER!
15 comments:
I'm with you on the HFCS. We cut that out several years ago, though I occasionally still find it in our home, mostly (I've noticed) in things that we buy regularly that the company has switched to HFCS. That always stinks because then I have to find a substitute brand. HEB is great because their store-brand ketchup is HFCS-free!
Since I make most of our food from scratch with very little prepared ingredients, it's not too bad. Plus, we don't get nearly the amount of salt as we did when I was using canned soups/beans/tomatoes.
And you know my thoughts on raw milk. :) I'd like to try the non-homogenized whole milk (pasteurized) sometime.
Good series!
Am loving the results of your research!! What are you going to give Abigail when it's time for her to switch to milk? We've been giving B organic, but not sure if that's the best thing after all after reading your post. Thanks for all the great info and sites!
Thanks for all the info. I don't like artificial sweeteners either...bitter and gross. I have tried Stevia, but don't care for it either. Interesting article about stevia. My big problem is that I like sugar. I could eat it by the spoon full.
I should really try to cut more out of my diet.
As far as dairy goes, I don't eat/drink much, but I do put some whole milk in my coffee each morning. That is a huge step for me. Just 6 months ago I was putting Peppermint Mocha creamer (FAKE FAKE FAKE) in my coffee every day for years. It was hard at first, but now I like my coffee this way.
Oh I love me some splenda in my coffe and coffee mate french vanilla creamer! ;) Love it!
I just choose not to read those studies about it! hahahaha! Going back to the damage is already done in me! ;)
You are lucky you can drink milk! ;) I'm not sure I ever bought more then a pint of it in the past 10 years. I have had raw milk but my gut couldn't handle it.
I'm really at a loss to follow NT because I can't eat any of what she says is healthy and vital. :)
After taking wheat dairy and eggs out of my diet I'm really loosing a taste for all 3 of them as it is...I don't even crave dairy at all! Not even mexican!
I really love your header...A is so beautiful btw! Love her sweet little face..... ;)
Lisa- what's amazed me as I've gone down this journey is just how processed our individual ingredients are. I never considered milk to re processed before- and once i realized how processed it was, it opened my eyes to a whole slew of things! Flour, sugar, honey, pasta... Seems almost impossible to overcome!
The Bowens- feel weird typing that, but want to be consistent so others know who I'm responding to! :) I'm making Abigail's formula from scratch using non-homogenized milk. Friday's post is all about that. So when we switch I'll continue to use that. It's the highest quality milk I can find that is grass fed and as unprocessed as I feel comfortable with. But I'll probably keep her on the homemade formula for a while since it's essentially milk loaded with vitamins.
Julie- I know JUST what you mean. I used to LOVE that stuff, too!!! Now I use real half and half.
(What IS nonfat half and half anyway??? Nonfat milk and nonfat cream???? HUH???? And what is fat free sour CREAM???? Sour milk with added chemicals to thicken it?????? I don't even understand!!!)
Sew- I was thinking about your fat dilemma from yesterday. Wouldn't all the yummy oils add the good fat back in your diet? Olive, coconut, ghee... And I wonder if you can tolerate butter since the casein has already been removed. You're a rockstar, girl. I'm amazed at your self-control!
Barbie- are you out there? This is your official invitation to introduce controversy! :)
Very interesting stuff, L! You already know my thoughts on Splenda. :) as for HFCS, I thought that the research showed our bodies can't tell the difference. I haven't done a lot of research though.
As for the milk, this is very interesting. I will be reading your links! As for organic milk being super processed, that is fascinating! That totally makes sense! I used to work for a family who bought organic milk, and I always wondered why the expiration date was so far away! Interesting!
I'm with you on the sugar and the HFCS. It seems most readers are. Where I probably differ from many is that we drink whole raw milk in our home and have for about 3 or 4 years. I read and read and read up on it before we made the switch. While I wasn't nervous about it, my husband was initially...not anymore. Yup, our kids drink it as well. I'm happy to say our kids are very healthy and I'm not worried they will get sick from it. (Now, in addition to eating good foods, we also visit the chiropractor regularly to keep the nerve pathways open and free of interference...but that's a whole different topic.) I think IF someone is going to do so you have to know and trust the farmer you are getting the milk from. We visit the farm and see the cows and the conditions they are in...both for grazing and milking. I will add I would only drink the raw milk from a farm I felt good about....this includes organic, grade A and the cows being grass-fed....among other things. (The farmers we buy our milk from actually sells milk TO other dairy farmers near them who want the benefits of raw milk but who don't trust the quality of milk their own cows are producing. Keep in mind that said milk is being processed and sold commercially.) I'm also able to get other things from them such as butter, sour cream and cheese. :) As for yogurt and kefir...those I can make here at home with very little effort from the milk I buy.
All that being said....I very much think it is an individual decision and would never want to force my decision on others. Instead I'd encourage other to read up on it. You have sighted some great info sources. Another informative book it The Untold Story of Milk (available on Amazon).
I can't wait to read more of what you have to say....you seem to have put a lot of thought and research into your decisions. I totally respect and admire that.
Forgot to subscribe :)
I just bought some agave recently for a recipe. So glad you educated me before I used too much of it! Good call on the pasteurization for now. I was interested to hear how you had dealt with safety issues and laughed when I realized you had changed your mind for now. I have always thought pasteurization has its draw backs but its definitely one of those things that was invented for a reason! Our store brand organic milk is not ultra-pasteurized, so that is what we use right now.
I totally agree that pasteurization was invented for a reason. However, I wouldn't want to drink the milk that brought about the pasteurization process even if it was pasteurized....the stuff left behind in it...yuk! It came from cows housed in terrible conditions...both in where they were kept and what they were fed. Again, I'm only sharing my thoughts and respect everyone has their own decisions to make. I also recognize that not everyone would even have access to organic, grass-fed raw milk even IF they wanted to get it. I can honestly say that if I had any doubts about the farm we get our milk from I'd be buying the stuff shown in the picture here.
I thought I could tolerate butter. But then I ate 7 gf cookies and was messed up. Not sure if it was the butter and chocolate chips in them?
I make clarified butter at home but not sure. I wouldvtest it but am scared at this point.. Energy is the reason I'm so self controlled. If I had it my way id sit down and eat a pint of b&j with u. I get my own pint.
That is so interesting about the farmer who won't drunk it's own milk. Man. If we only knew the whole story!
Great post! :) I adore Kefir, after discovering it last year. I usually drink it a few times a week for breakfast. Yummy!!
Healthy fats - I love cooking with olive oil now. I think it took me a bit to get used to it, but I've been using it since I got married. Nuts are great healthy fats too - almonds and cashews are my favorites.
I wish I could say I've cut ice cream out of my diet but those frozen treats get me every time once it gets hot! :)
I never followed South Beach, but I've been following the Zone diet for over a year and LOVE it. When I first started following it, I read all about carb withdrawal thanks to those who went through it with SB!
I've followed your blog for awhile now & I love it! Let me just say, I also love love ice cream BUT please don't spend any more $ on Ben & Jerry's. They're big contributors to Planned Parenthood & they have a hundred competitors who aren't. Why not support them instead?
Dearest Lauren, I'm thoroughly enjoying catching up on all your blog posts I haven't read (but have thoroughly enjoyed discussing with you in person -- much more enjoyable). Anyway, I'm not going to post much here except to say this -- if you're going to eat ice cream, try Haagen Daz's (sp?) coffee icecream. Only five ingredients (milk, cream, sugar, egg, and coffee). I don't think you can find anything better (both ingredient or taste wise) to treat your rare sugar splurges with in the ways of ice cream.
LOVE you and kiss Abigail for me.
Your road buddy,
Martha
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