A headline in today's health news reads "8 easy ways to detox your life for better health" and I must say this is a long overdue topic to hit mainstream news.
It's not just cancer causing chemicals in our food that is affecting our society, it's the tons of chemicals that are in some of the everyday products that fill our homes and our lives that is slowly (but surely) killing us!
A piece of advice I read in a book once stated that "you should never put anything on your body or in your mouth that you wouldn't ingest", and although I took this statement lightly at first it has become a creed for which I do my best to consciously live by. But the impending danger goes beyond cosmetic and hygiene products.
We as a society have become too comfortable with the belief that if something doesn't have a warning label on it, it must be safe, when in reality many of the products (better yet smells) that we associate with "new" and "clean" are in fact carcinogenic. Case in point that new car smell you love, or the smell of new leather, or the smell of fresh dry cleaning, or the smell of any of the mainstream household cleaning products including air fresheners!
Needless to say stumbling across this article was a pleasant surprise. One note though, in the authors 5th (of 8) "easy ways to detox..." I think she should concentrate less on the wrappers and containers that fast food or takeout comes in, and focus more on the food itself. It's these quick and cheap meals that are doing more damage health wise than the wrappers (or containers) they come in will ever do.
Thursday, July 28, 2011
Wednesday, July 27, 2011
Fresh Organic Free-Range Eggs (part 1)
Part one in a series of many....
About 3 months ago my wife and I decided that we wanted to contribute to this "organic sustainable" lifestyle that we so passionately and actively support. Although I would love to have a farm similar to that of where we get our lamb and chicken (table birds) from, as my wife reminds me 1.25 acres is not enough land to have a ruminant (cow, sheep, etc.). So I (we) settled for chickens, and a better choice we couldn't have made!
Up until now we have been buying our eggs locally from some of the farms in our area, and although we strongly support our local organic farms we have always felt that eggs seemed to be an afterthought in most cases; something that they provide, but not their area of expertise for lack of a better word. So what better of a way to contribute to this lifestyle we live, 'local food raised right', then to raise laying hens... and so we did.
The benefits are many; fresh organic eggs every day, a highly nutritious food packed with vitamin D and Omega-3, some of the best natural fertilizer around, and the joy of knowing you are doing something right.
With the past 5 years or so of knowledge in the area of health and diet that I've gained from research, experience, and my own trials and tribulations, I wanted to make sure that we entered this venture of 'man and farm animal' with the same motto I like to live (eat) by; "You are what your food eats!"
Although the past 3 months or so that we've had the chickens (4 hens and 5 pullets) has been a learning experience for us, I have learned a lot and would like to share a few important things with you.
About 3 months ago my wife and I decided that we wanted to contribute to this "organic sustainable" lifestyle that we so passionately and actively support. Although I would love to have a farm similar to that of where we get our lamb and chicken (table birds) from, as my wife reminds me 1.25 acres is not enough land to have a ruminant (cow, sheep, etc.). So I (we) settled for chickens, and a better choice we couldn't have made!
Up until now we have been buying our eggs locally from some of the farms in our area, and although we strongly support our local organic farms we have always felt that eggs seemed to be an afterthought in most cases; something that they provide, but not their area of expertise for lack of a better word. So what better of a way to contribute to this lifestyle we live, 'local food raised right', then to raise laying hens... and so we did.
The benefits are many; fresh organic eggs every day, a highly nutritious food packed with vitamin D and Omega-3, some of the best natural fertilizer around, and the joy of knowing you are doing something right.
With the past 5 years or so of knowledge in the area of health and diet that I've gained from research, experience, and my own trials and tribulations, I wanted to make sure that we entered this venture of 'man and farm animal' with the same motto I like to live (eat) by; "You are what your food eats!"
Although the past 3 months or so that we've had the chickens (4 hens and 5 pullets) has been a learning experience for us, I have learned a lot and would like to share a few important things with you.
- Free Range, free range, free range! We currently have 200ft of electric fence surrounding a piece of our property which includes their coop, a mulberry tree, and plenty of grass and clover, and all the bugs they can find.
- Organic Whole Grains. Just as nutrient rich organic and unprocessed whole grains benefit your body where their processed counterparts fall short, they will surely benefit your chickens as well! I have recently switched, thanks in part to much insight from the local organic farm where we by our table birds, from an organic "layer mash" which is basically ground up grains and grain by products, to a diet consisting of organic whole wheat berries, organic whole corn, and organic whole oats.
- An Open Coop Policy! The bottomless coop we use, which we purchased locally from a retired man who builds them, is 8ft long by 4ft wide by ~5ft high, and aside from the nesting box area which takes up about 1/4 of the coop it is open to daylight and a cool breeze that comes right through the chicken wire that encloses all four sides. We keep the coop door open during the day so the chickens can freely come and go as they please. I plan to make a 2nd coop myself...
- Fresh grass for grazing daily! It is important that chickens have fresh grass to free range on, and that means grass that isn't covered with their, well, droppings... In the wild a grazing animal will eat and move, contently roaming in search of green pasture. They don't stick around to eat around there poop. If you have enough land (or very understanding neighbors) where your chickens can roam absolutely freely then this is not a problem, but if you contain them to a limited portion of your property then you must take an active role in resolving this issue. That means pasture rotation and or picking up the chicken droppings, I do both. Because I don't rotate the pasture every day, I collect the poop in a bucket (which ultimately ends up in my compost), in both the coop and their pasture.
- This may be the most important thing to remember, Enjoy! You will find that watching chickens do their thing is not only very relaxing but also funny at times.
Tuesday, July 26, 2011
Don't Eat This... Or That!
There is a monthly article in a magazine I use to read titled "Eat This Not That", which basically compares two unhealthy meals, often from some sort of restaurant chain or fast food joint, detailing which one you should eat assuming you were torn between the two...
The sad thing is that this sort of question really speaks to the majority of our fast-paced on-the-go dare I say lazy society, and back about 5 years ago when I use to be an avid reader of this magazine this particular article made sense to me. Unfortunately this sort of dilemma, "How can I continue to eat this or that and still be healthy?", is exactly what is wrong with today's society.
Living a healthy lifestyle requires a number of important key factors are being met, one of which (and probably the most important) is eating healthy! The problem is however, most people want to eat healthy without giving up anything; convenience, low cost, quick meals.
Microwaves were NOT created in nature through billions of years of evolution!
They were created by and for a growing lazy fast-paced on-the-go society, and there is a deadly price that our society is paying for this "see no evil hear no evil" lifestyle; Cancer, Diabetes, Heart Disease, and Chronic Inflammation in all its many forms.
It's time to get back to the basics, a simpler healthier lifestyle, one that's stems from a healthy diet!
The sad thing is that this sort of question really speaks to the majority of our fast-paced on-the-go dare I say lazy society, and back about 5 years ago when I use to be an avid reader of this magazine this particular article made sense to me. Unfortunately this sort of dilemma, "How can I continue to eat this or that and still be healthy?", is exactly what is wrong with today's society.
Living a healthy lifestyle requires a number of important key factors are being met, one of which (and probably the most important) is eating healthy! The problem is however, most people want to eat healthy without giving up anything; convenience, low cost, quick meals.
Microwaves were NOT created in nature through billions of years of evolution!
They were created by and for a growing lazy fast-paced on-the-go society, and there is a deadly price that our society is paying for this "see no evil hear no evil" lifestyle; Cancer, Diabetes, Heart Disease, and Chronic Inflammation in all its many forms.
It's time to get back to the basics, a simpler healthier lifestyle, one that's stems from a healthy diet!
- Cook from scratch NOT from a box
- Use only Fresh Locally Grown Ingredients
- Know what's in your food and where it comes from
- Support Local Organic Sustainable Farming
- Don't Save Money on Cheap Food
- Say HELLO to your kitchen and GOODBYE to your microwave
- SLOW DOWN and ENJOY your meal... You earned it!
- Live Happy and Healthy!
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