By Jasmin Schellenberg –
HEALTHY SNACKS AND WHY
Kombucha Fruit Pudding
This tasty treat packs a nutritious punch, first from the kombucha and then from the chia seeds, a virtual superfood. The more chia used the more pudding-like it is.
2 cups fresh or frozen fruits
1/2 cup kombucha
3 tablespoons chia seeds
2 tablespoons honey (optional)
1/4 teaspoon sea salt
Combine all ingredients in a blender along with any other seasoning you like, such as mint, ginger, or cinnamon.
Refrigerate 1/2 hour and serve topped with fresh fruits. Keeps in fridge for two weeks. Enjoy!
NUTRIENT DENSE MEAL
Beef Pho (serves 4)
0.5 kg onions, peeled
4 inches fresh ginger
2.5-3 kg beef bones (knuckle or marrow bones are best)
8 litres water
5 star anise
4 cloves
3-inch cinnamon stick
0.5 kg boneless beef (chuck, rump or brisket) cut 2 inches wide, 4 inches long, and 1 ½ inches thick
1.5 Tbsp salt
¼ cup fish sauce
1 Tbsp apple cider vinegar
30 g rock sugar
Parboil and rinse bones, boil them for 3 minutes, and rinse again (this will give you a very clear broth). Add 8 litres of water to the bones, bring to a boil, then lower to a simmer. Skim off any scum on top. Add all ingredients and cook uncovered for 1.5 hours. Take out the boneless meat, cooling down in cold water, then cover and put in fridge.
Meanwhile, keep simmering the broth for another 10 hours or up to 72 hours—crockpots are ideal. Add more water when needed. Strain. Save any gelatinous tendon from bones to add to the meat in the fridge.
Assemble the bowls:
0.5 kg rice noodles soaked in water
cooked beef from broth
0.5 kg beef (sirloin), cut across grain into thin strips
1 onion, sliced thin and soaked in cold water for 30 minutes and drained
3-4 green onions, chopped
3 cups bean sprouts, arugula, bock choy, or any other fresh vegetable
1/3 cup fresh chopped cilantro, leafs only
black pepper
4 eggs whisked and fried as individual omelettes then rolled up and cut into strips
Bring 8 cups of broth to a rolling boil, place portioned (into 4) rice noodles on mesh strainer and dip into broth for 15 seconds until they collapse. Repeat for all four bowls. Divide meat and all other ready ingredients into bowls. Add the 2 cups of broth into each and sprinkle with cilantro.
Enjoy. You will have extra broth. Store in fridge or freeze for later use.
MYTHS UNVEILED
Why We Need Animal Fats for Health and Happiness, the new book by Sally Fallon
We have been hearing about how unhealthy saturated animal fat is for most of our lives. It causes heart disease. It causes cancer. It makes you fat. Sally Fallon has gone in search of the evidence behind these claims and found, well, nothing—only grandiose claims by authorities based on nothing but their authority.
Popular wisdom would have us believe that saturated fats like butter cause heart disease and heart disease rates have skyrocketed over the last century because we eat too much butter. According to the USDA and the US Census Bureau, we ate about 20 pounds of butter per capita a hundred years ago. In recent years that number is less than 6 pounds per capita. If cutting back on butter is the answer, we’ve done that and things have only gotten worse.
What about the famous Framingham study? According to Dr. William Castelli, that study showed that people who ate more fat and cholesterol were more active and they weighed less. There was no correlation with heart disease. Numerous other large studies are cited in this book that come to the same conclusion.
Cholesterol is the other terror of the pop health culture. Again, it is a little hard to find a good study to justify this terror. Studies that seem to support the idea that fat and cholesterol will kill you are flawed in key ways. One very common problem is that these studies do not differentiate between natural animal fat and artificial trans fat. Another common deception is to make statistically insignificant variations look large and convincing. One more mistake is the assumption that high levels of fat in the blood imply high fat intake. High carbohydrate intake can lead to synthesis of fatty acids from excess carbohydrates.
It gets worse. Not only do we lack evidence of harm from fat and cholesterol but there are many studies that show we need both of them to stay healthy. One study showed children on low-cholesterol diets had a lower IQ. People with Smith-Lemli-Opitz Syndrome have a genetic disorder that prevents them from making cholesterol. Cholesterol supplements greatly improve their symptoms. Mental illness is epidemic today in the population in general. That is not surprising when you understand that fat and cholesterol are two of the most critical nutrients for the brain, yet everyone is afraid to eat them.
This book will not wear you out with technical terms but there are technical explanations and terms for those who like that. You can read about the beneficial constituents of butter, which include cholesterol, lecithin, selenium, and glycosphingolipids.
We are seeing headlines in publications like The Washington Post and Wall Street Journal admitting that butter may not be so bad after all. If you have been on the low-fat bandwagon and your diet is depressing you, reading this book and trying the recipes in the back will make you happy again.
Read more in Wise Traditions Winter 2016.
A WALK THROUGH YOUR PANTRY:
GET RID OF: Margarine and industrially produced vegetable oils
REPLACE WITH: Butter, lard, and tallow from healthy pasture raised animals preferably organic.
Brought to you by Jasmin Schellenberg. Inspired by and resourced from “Nourishing Traditions” by Sally Fallon: www.westonaprice.org and Dr. Stephanie Seneff. Read more in Winter journal of Wise Traditions 2017 Dr. Don Huber. For “Nourishing our Children” newsletters of the past visit www.thegreengazette.ca.
