Fourfold Path to Healing, Day 3

 Today was an "all Sally Fallon" day and what a delight it was!  We had two individual lectures where we carried on with how to change your diet and simple recipes.  We also had one group lecture on the dangers of soy and the benefits of raw milk.

Plus another nourishing meal of grassfed meatloaf, mashed potatoes (with lots of butter), sourdough bread (with lots of butter), fermented radish (I believe), salad greens with olive oil and vinegar, roasted root vegetables and rich cheesecake with a crunchy nut crust for dessert!  Ok, I just had to get the food out there first, it was soooo delicious!

Onto how to change your diet for the better with 11 simple initial steps.  (These principles with thorough explanations contained in the entire Powerpoint from the conference can be found here.)

So here is how you can change your diet for the better:

1. Make your own salad dressings
2. Switch to butter - avoid partially hydrogenated oils
3. Make sure your diet contains sufficient HIGH QUALITY animal products, some raw
4. Eliminate refined sweeteners 
5. Eliminate toxic metals and additives as much as possible 
6. Be kind to your grains... and your grains will be kind to you
7. Make stock (bone broth) at least once per week
8. Eat a variety of fresh vegetables and fruits, preferably organic
9. Reduce stresses to the body
10. Put the principles of lacto-fermentation to work for you
11. Practice forgiveness

So there you have the 11 principles we discussed today.  Much more information regarding these principles can be found in the Powerpoint presentation.

In regards to the dangers of soy, here are some facts for you:

• Soy foods increase the body's requirement for vitamin D.
• Soy contains high levels of lectins, which can damage the gastrointestinal tract, high levels of manganese, which can cause brain damage in infants, and high levels of oxalates, which can contribute to kidney stones.
• Reproductive problems, infertility, thyroid disease and liver disease due to dietary intake of isoflavones (plant types of estrogens) have been observed in several species of animal.

You can read more about soy on the Weston A. Price Foundation website or by reading the book The Whole Soy Story.

So now what do you drink?  Raw milk from pastured cows!  Here are just a few of the benefits:

• Contains lactoperoxidase, which has powerful anti-microbial qualities
• Contains lactoferrin which is a built-in protective system
• Pasteurized milk is causing an increasing number of health problems in children. 

More resources for raw milk include the wonderful Powerpoint presentation, the book The Untold Story of Milk.

I had such a great weekend and learned so much.  I feel more empowered now and am excited to bring in even more nourishing foods to our diet.  I also purchased the DVD: The Oiling of America and just finished watching it.  It is a lecture by Sally Fallon discussing the cholesterol myth and introduction of these polyunsaturated fats.  I'm sure this will be passed around the local community!

I hope you enjoyed the summaries and if you have any questions, don't hesitate to comment and I'll do my best to answer!  You'll definitely be hearing more Nourishing Traditions related posts on this blog from here on out!

(You can also check out the GNOWFGLINS Fundamentals eCourse which is a 5 month e-course on 14 Nourishing Traditions cooking skills.  Also check out the Real Food Face-Off at Kitchen Stewardship for great insight into eating real food.  Yours truly will be featured on February 11th!)