Naturally Knocked Up » Nourishing Foods

Do You Have Culture in Your Life?

donielle — Wed, 28 Jul 2010 18:12:34 +0000

Bacteria in the correct form is essential to life. Within our bodies it creates an environment that is not hospitable to illness and disease. Unfortunately in our modern culture, we’ve dismissed many of the traditional foods processed by lacto-fermentation, or culturing. We do everything within our power to kill all bacteria with the use of medicinal antibiotics, antibiotic wipes and sprays, and constant pasteurization of our foods.

This severe lack of “culture” is damaging to our intestines and overall health.

Benefits of Cultured Foods

Cultured foods help to repopulate the digestive system with beneficial bacteria that helps fight off any bad bacteria ingested, keeping your immune system strong.
Cultured foods keep your intestines strong and working properly, diminishing the occurrences of constipation and irritable bowel syndrome.
Having the correct amount of beneficial bacteria in the body helps to fight Candida yeast overgrowth (a systematic yeast problem associated with eczema, fatigue, yeast infections, yeasty diaper rashes in babies, jock itch, athletes foot, etc)
They decrease sugar cravings! Your body craves sugar when yeast begins to get out of hand.
Cultured foods are essentially “partially digested”, making it easier for your body to digest the foods and absorb available nutrients.
In many cases it enhances the nutrient profile of a food allowing it to become even more nutrient dense.

Allowing vegetables to undergo lacto-fermentation creates a colony of wonderful bacteria, increases to availability of certain amino acids, and allows our bodies to better digest nutrients within the food. Sauerkraut is a classic fermented vegetable, and you can even make a fermented root slaw, or fermented salsa.

Probably the most well known cultured food is yogurt. It’s frequently advertised that it helps digestion…….and it does – by allowing the beneficial bacteria to work within the gut. Another cultured dairy product is kefir (keh-fear), similar to yogurt but remains much less solidified. You can also culture cream to make cultured butter.

Grains can also undergo a fermentation when you use the process of making sourdough breads. Grains are actually rather hard for your body to digest and when you use sourdough to ferment before consumption, it decreases the activity of the phytic acid contained within. (phytic acid is basically an anti-nutrient) A sourdough starter is easy to make at home for use in breads and even pancakes.

You can also make your own fermented drinks at home by using a kombucha SCOBY (Symbiotic Culture of Bacteria & Yeasts) and fermenting tea, or using water kefir grains to ferment a water/sugar solution. (I get my cultures from Cultures for Health)

We would be doing ourselves a great service by getting back to the way our ancestors consumed these foods. In traditional societies, before the invention of refrigerators, fermentation was a way to preserve foods and they were eaten each day.

How often do you eat fermented/cultured foods?

*This post has been linked to Real Food Wednesday

I have a lot of new and exciting things coming up here this fall, so make sure you add my blog's RSS Feed to your reader or you can sign up for free updates by Email. I can also be found on Facebook and Twitter! **

Fertility Diet: part 2.2 (superfoods for fertility)

donielle — Mon, 05 Apr 2010 15:55:18 +0000

If you missed the beginning of the series you can catch part one – Traditional Diets and Essential Nutrients and

part 2.1 Superfoods for Fertility.

Iodine

Iodine, a non metallic trace element, is required by our bodies for making thyroid hormones. As in, if you do not have enough iodine in your body you can not make enough thyroid hormones. When our bodies are deficient in this element, it affects our thyroid, adrenals, and entire endocrine system. Not only is it important in a fertility diet, it’s essential in the prenatal and nursing period as well. Infant mortality rates start to climb in areas known for iodine deficiency, and it’s also been linked to higher rates of miscarriage and still birth.

It used to be prevalent in our soil, but unfortunately we’ve destroyed so many of the nutrients with bad farming practices and chemicals that much of what we currently grow is lacking in key nutrients, iodine being one of them. While it’s not found in our soil near as much, it is still prevalent in seafoods. Our bodies can not make it on their own, so you must consume iodine in your diet.

Fruits and Vegetables grown by the sea, including coconut products

Blackstrap molasses (158 mcg per 100 grams/3.75 oz)

Saltwater fish; haddock, whiting, herring (330 mcg per 100 grams)

Butter from cows fed on iodine rich soil

Dried Kelp (62,400 mcgs per 100 grams)

Spinach (56 mcg per 100 grams)

Milk and dairy products (14 mcg per 100 grams) (at least 20% of iodine is lost during pasteurization so raw is best)

Eggs (13 mcg per 100 grams)

(and while iodized salt is actually quite high in iodine, it’ can be rather hard for our bodies to assimilate)

The recommended RDA is a small 150 mcgs for women and increase to 220 when pregnant and 290 when nursing, but are you even eating foods that contain iodine in them? I recently came across a very unscientific and unmedical theory on how to test for iodine deficiency. You take a small amount of iodine (you can find it at any drugstore and it has a yellow tinge to it) and place a small swab of it on the inside of your arm. If you have enough iodine in your body the test patch will stay there for about 24 hours. And the quicker it disappears, the lower your level of iodine. Interestingly, when I tried this my patch was gone in about 6 hours. As with every area of nutrition, I’m currently researching to find out what this information might mean to me and looking at ways of making sure i get enough iodine into my diet.

On the other side of the deficiency coin, is that to much in your body isn’t a good thing either. And because iodine directly affects your thyroid and hormones it may be something you want to work with a health professional on. Hormones are crazy things and we don’t want to go messing around to much without knowing what we’re doing!

Omega 3 fatty acids

There are 3 different types of omega 3 fats; alpha-linolenic acid (ALA- plant based), eicosapentaenioc acid (EPA – animal based), and docosahexaenioc acid (DHA – animal based). Plant based ALA can be found in:

walnuts

flaxseed

hemp.

Animal based EPA and DHA can be found in:

Egg yolks from pastured chickens {contain two to four times the amount of omega 3’s as conventional eggs ¹}

oily coldwater fish like salmon, herring, tuna, cod, and trout.

These healthy fats have been shown to help increase a womans fertility by regulating hormones and ovulation as well as increasing both the quantity of fertile cervical mucous and the blood flow to the reproductive organs. It is also thought that these good fats help women who are suffering from endometriosis.¹ And a study done last year suggests that women suffering from infertility, on average, have lower levels of omega 3 fats. ² Men who do not have enough omega 3’s in their system may have issues with sperm production since the DHA within these good fats help protect the sperm from free radicals and damage.

So, how often do you eat foods that are high in nutrients for increased fertility? Other the last few weeks we’ve looked at some of the many things our bodies need – where are you lacking?

I have a lot of new and exciting things coming up here this fall, so make sure you add my blog's RSS Feed to your reader or you can sign up for free updates by Email. I can also be found on Facebook and Twitter! **

Fertility Diet: part 2.1 (Super Foods for Fertility)

donielle — Wed, 24 Feb 2010 09:49:57 +0000

**DON’T FORGET TO ENTER THE GIVEAWAY TO WIN A SCHOLARSHIP TO THE FERTILITY ECOURSE!!***

In part one of this fertility diet series we talked a bit about the essential nutrients needed for our reproductive parts to work at peak performance. This week we’ll discuss a bit about where we find these nutrients. And like I’ve said before, this is not an exclusive list, I’ll keep adding new data as I come across it!

The Problem in Our Modern Diets

Unfortunately most of us no longer consume the foods that nourish our bodies! At. All. Even the “healthy” and “organic” foods we buy in the stores have been pasteurized and processed so that it damages all the precious vitamins and minerals. The standard American diet is now full of white sugars and flours, chemicals and preservatives, all robbing our bodies of the vital nutrients we actually do consume.

Vitamin D

Again, this important vitamin supports the production of estrogen in both men and women¹ , is needed for insulin production, and is key in regulating cell growth and deciding how those cells grow. Vitamin D is also activated into an endocrine hormone within the body.

And it seems that “primitive” societies knew better than us on how to fulfill their daily requirements for Vitamin D as intestines, organ meats, skin and fat from certain land animals, as well as oily fish are all rich in this important nutrient. When is the last time you had some intestine with your meal?

Yea, that’s what I thought.

Other ways to increase your Vitamin D intake would be to include the following in your diet. (IU per 3.75oz or 100 grams)

Cod Liver Oil – is actually the richest source of vitamin D!(²) (and the good news is, it also contains vitamin A for better assimilation in the body)

Lard/Tallow - (from grassfed and pastured animals) the second richest source of vitamin D.

Pastured Eggs -especially the yolks and from chickens who have had regular access to run around in the great outdoors eating grass, worms, and other insects.

Wild Caught Fish - especially fatty fish like herring

Butter – (from grass fed cows)

Organ Meats – I know -eww right? But they are chock full of nutrients!

Sunlight

The way the animals are raised and fed also has a lot to do with the amount of nutrients you gain from eating products made from them. Animals that are allowed to be out in the pasture are recommended, as the exposure to UV-B rays from the sun allow the animals body to produce more vitamin D. Thus giving more vitamin D to us!

You’ll also notice that while the above mentioned foods are high in Vitamin D themselves, many of them are also high in cholesterol. Now, you’ll have to believe me here a minute as I tell you that cholesterol is not bad for you – in fact it’s very necessary! (I’ll get into the cholesterol debate later) But, vitamin D is actually synthesized from the cholesterol in our body when we are exposed to the sun.

Modern RDA requirements are a measly 400 IU per day. From what I’ve seen from the Weston A Price Foundation as well as other natural/holistic doctors, they recommend at least double that amount.

Vitamin A

Vitamin A can be classified into one of 2 groups. Retinols, which are found in animal products, and carotenoids (beta carotene), found in plant foods. The great thing about retinols is that the body can easily convert this to a usable form of vitamin A. It takes a lot more beta carotene on the other hand to come up with the same amount of usable vitamin A. And infants and children as well as those in poor health (decreased thyroid function, celiac, diabetes) or on low fat diets, already have an even harder time converting beta carotene.

The list of foods below are per 3.75oz (or 100 grams)

Beef Liver (30,000 IU)

Butter and Cream – again, levels will be higher on cows fed growing grass.

High Vitamin Cod Liver Oil (230,000 IU)

Regular Cod Liver Oil (100,000 IU)

Eggs from pastured chickens contain 2/3 more Vitamin A than conventional eggs and 7 times more beta carotene. ¹

The current RDA for vitamin A stands at 5000 IU though the WAPF (Weston A Price Foundation) seems to think that the work of Price showed primitive diets contained almost 50,000IUs per day.³ And as you can see, it wouldn’t be hard to get well over 5000 IUs just by making sure you get a small amount of just one of these foods into your diet each day.

Vitamin E

Again, this is also a fat soluble vitamin, but it’s also an important antioxidant. And being an antioxidant basically means that it deactivates free radicals within our bodies. Vitamin E also has a property in it known as tocopherol. It was given the name after a fertility study was done with rats in 1936 and in Greek this means “to bring forth a child”.

Butter – from grassfed cows

Organ Meats

Grains – vitamin E is found in the wheat kernel which is removed to make white flour. It is also easily damaged during processing and can become oxidized. Freshly ground wheat is always best!

Seeds – sunflowers contain 35mg per 3.75oz

Nuts - almonds contain 26 mg per 3.75oz (90% of which is tocopherol!)

Legumes – varies from 7mg to 28 mg depending on variety

Dark Green Leafy Vegetables

Unrefined (and unheated) oils like olive and sunflower oil

Pastured eggs also contain 3 times more vitamin E than conventional eggs.¹

Current RDA is 15mg for both adult men and women. I can’t find anything else regarding how much we should consume, but it seems to me that a diet of fresh ‘real’ foods and freshly ground grains would be much higher than this.

Vitamin K2

Is a fat soluble compound that assists vitamins A & D, also known as Activator X by Weston A Price. It is found in certain fatty parts of animals that feed on young green growing plants. And the growing grass is the most important part of that statement! What happens is the animals eat rapidly growing plants, which are high in vitamin K1. Part of this K1 is then converted by the animals tissues to K2. And the amounts of Kz within the animal products will then vary widely depending on what the animal eats and when they eat it. Sources include:

Liver

Egg Yolks

Butter

High vitamin butter oil {natural supplement}

Fish Eggs

If you’d like to read even more about vitamin K2, I’d recommend an article written by Chris Masterjohn, “On the Trail of the Elusive X-Factor: A Sixty-Two-Year-Old Mystery Finally Solved”. It’s more complex than what I can ever get into.

So are you noticing any trends yet?

To Be Continued………. (part 2.2 iodine and omega-3’s)

1.Mother Earth News - free range egg

2.Vitamin D is Synthesized From Cholesterol and Found in Cholesterol-Rich Foods by Chris Masterjohn May 5, 2006

3. Vitamin A Saga

I have a lot of new and exciting things coming up here this fall, so make sure you add my blog's RSS Feed to your reader or you can sign up for free updates by Email. I can also be found on Facebook and Twitter! **

Recipe: Classic Sauerkraut

donielle — Tue, 23 Feb 2010 17:37:35 +0000

This recipe was sent to me by Scott from Zukay. I can’t wait to try this out myself! Also – don’t forget to enter to the giveaway for the Zukay salad dressings!

CLASSIC SAUERKRAUT

FOOD:

1 large head of cabbage

2 tsp caraway seed

2 tsp sea salt (I prefer Celtic Sea Salt)

Non-chlorinated water

EQUIPMENT:

1 Quart mason/ball jar

Large metal bowl

Potato masher

Peel off any older, discolored cabbage leaves. Cut cabbage into quarters, and thinly slice into ¼ in thin, long strips. Place all cabbage into large metal bowl, add salt and caraway seeds, and wait 5 minutes. Mash with potato masher until cabbage starts to expel water and becomes flat and soft (about 5 minutes of mashing). Once this is done, put cabbage into quart jar. Push down hard onto cabbage, until cabbage juice covers sauerkraut. If there is not enough liquid from the cabbage itself, add non-chlorinated water until cabbage is fully covered. Close lid tightly and allow to sit at room temperature for at least 1 week, and up to 6 weeks for full flavor.

Note: Give at least one inch of space at top of jar to allow for expansion from gassing from fermentation.

I have a lot of new and exciting things coming up here this fall, so make sure you add my blog's RSS Feed to your reader or you can sign up for free updates by Email. I can also be found on Facebook and Twitter! **

Fermenting Foods

donielle — Sun, 21 Feb 2010 22:00:44 +0000

The following is a guest post from Scott Grzybek, whom I had the pleasure of meeting at the Wise Traditions conference back in November. His post covers not only his own personal story and experience with fermentation, but also why you would want to ferment your own food, and the cheerleading to do it!

Hi! I’m Scott Grzybek, the founder of Zukay Live Foods, and I’m a fermentation freak. Honestly, I’m not sure exactly why fermentation got its hold into me so hard, but it’s been a wonderful trip so far, so I’d love to share a little bit of my story and why I find fermentation so fascinating, healthy, and, well, magical –

A little background – over the years, I became a hardcore natural food person, trying to make sure what my wife and I ate was as healthy as possible. Being raised in relatively poor and rural Pennsylvania, it didn’t exactly come naturally, but we did our best. However, through the utter confusion of what is pushed in the media, I stopped eating most meats, milk, and all kinds of other good stuff, and replaced it with soy, whole grains, etc – and paid for it with a expanding gut and a lack of energy I had never had before in my life. Thankfully, I was given a copy of Nourishing Traditions by a friend – still, probably the best gift I received in my life. And I was hooked.

As a former engineer, I wanted to figure out how to make everything – the harder it looked, the better. But fermentation looked like the most mysterious of all the different types of foods in the book. Why? One word – whey. It was like this one magical, mystical ingredient that performed miracles on already healthy foods, but you can’t buy it, and it looked kind of daunting (dangerous, even!) to make it yourself. But, as a man on a mission, I finally got the courage to make my own, and I started to ferment everything I could get my hands on – every vegetable in my garden, grains, potatoes, fish, even corned beef (that one didn’t work out well, at least as far as my wife was concerned). Each new fermentation made me feel like a ancient alchemist, turning lead into gold. Some were better than others (I’ve got a few of my winners below), but each one made me more and more addicted to the process. After awhile, I came up with the idea for Zukay and bringing the health benefits of fermented foods to everyone’s table – but that’s another story.

So, why do you want to do your own fermentation? Perhaps you’ve read about the health benefits, perhaps not, so if you have, bear with me – because I personally think that eating raw and fermented foods are one of the best things you can do for your health (outside of getting rid of all refined sugars/HFCS and refined flours, MSG, and Aspartame). You see, all health starts in the gut – and if your gut is bad, so goes the rest of your body. Consider the probiotics in all raw and fermented veggies as Green Berets in the fight against disease – the more you intake, the better your chance of living a strong and healthy life. These wonderful little guys do all kinds of cool stuff – they kill off and take the place of bad bacteria and yeast, they actually aid in the physical and chemical digestion of food, and they even help train your immune system to work better by training it to better know friend from foe. They’re who you want on your side. And they like being in you, too – if you treat yourself well, you’re a mighty fine home for them as well. It’s a win-win situation.

But that’s not all. This is where I think it gets really cool. You see, these lactobacilli, in fermenting the foods, actually create vitamins and antioxidants that weren’t there before. It’s magic. AND! They even make the vitamins and minerals easier for your body to absorb. It’s almost unfair, in a good way. And personally, they’re super tasty. It may take a little while for you to get there – you certainly need to get used to the tart taste of any fermented food – but once you do, the flavor becomes so welcome, and I think it even weans your taste away from sweet foods (but that’s just my experience).

And it’s the ultimate fast food! Once you learn how to do it, you can set up a quart jar of fermented goodies in considerably less than an hour. Once it’s in the jar, the probiotics do the rest – you just have to make sure they’re in a 65-75 F place away from direct sun, and come back to it at your leisure. Once it’s done to your liking, pop the jar in the frig and eat from it whenever you like. Don’t know what to cook for vegetables tonight? Don’t worry! It’s in a jar in the frig! And it’s crazy healthy!

I’ll be honest with you – my family has never had health problems, so I can’t tell you that fermented foods have “made” us healthy. It may have been part of my weight loss (about 25 lbs) after I got serious about the Nourishing Traditions way, but I chalk that more up to getting rid of grains and sugar than anything else. But I will say this – we eat fermented foods pretty much every night (and some mornings – raw sauerkraut goes SO well with egg yolk from a fried egg), and my wife and my 2 sons almost never get sick and we have no digestive issues. My oldest did get severe pneumonia and ear infections when he was very, very young, and was unfortunately doused with antibiotics for some time, but constant fermented foods and kefir kept him healthy throughout, and there were no long term (or really even short-term) effects from the medicines. He’s not missed a day of school in several years, even during this killer winter. And he loves sauerkraut (he calls it Wowerkraut!), daikon, green beans, carrots, and, of course, Zukay products.

If you’ve never done it before, here’s my suggestion: make some sauerkraut. It’s easy, and you don’t need any starter, as sauerkraut starts itself (assuming you’re using organic cabbage). I have a simple recipe below. When it’s done, use the juice as a starter for other ferments – and on, and on. If you need a starter, I use yo’Kefir culture (available in most natural food stores) – 1 packet in a quart of water gives you enough starter for 4 quart jars of whatever.

And have fun! Outside of rotting (which you’ll be able to tell real quickly), there’s no right or wrong. Experiment! Throw in all kinds of cool stuff! And enjoy the magic of fermentation!

Scott founded Zukay Live Foods in 2008 to bring the health benefits of raw and fermented foods back into the American diet through foods we already use. Zukay makes delicious and healthy salsas, relishes, and salad dressings, and will shortly be launching a line of tasty veggie drinks (kvass) very, very soon. If you have any questions about fermentation or Zukay products, he’d love to talk to you at scottg@zukaylive.com, and you can check out Zukay at www.zukay.com.

****Throughout the week, I’ll also be posting some easy fermentation recipes Scott sent me as well!

You’ll also be pleased to know that Scott has offered to giveaway one case of his fermented dressings to one of my lucky readers! Head on over to the giveaway post !

Zukay Giveaway!

donielle — Sun, 21 Feb 2010 22:00:24 +0000

*If you haven’t checked out the guest post from Scott of Zukay Foods, it’s a must read!

I had not only the pleasure of meeting Scott at Wise Tradition last November, but I was also able to taste test some of their fabulous, fermented foods.

(disclaimer – I was not provided with product or compensation for any part of my review. I just thought you’d all like to know it tastes good!)

Zukay offers lacto fermented salsas and salad dressings, and while you may think of “fermented” as something you’d rather stay away from, these taste great and are also healthy for you!

I got to taste test all of the flavors of dressing and have to say the carrot ginger dressing is my favorite!

My only regret is that I didn’t buy a couple more bottles to bring home as I don’t have any stores around here that offer it yet.

So……..

Zukay is offering to giveaway one case of their salad dressing (includes one of each bottle) to one of my lucky readers!! To enter you need to have a U.S. shipping address and leave a comment here on this post by Friday the 26th by Midnight.

For extra entries you may do the following:

Sign up for the Zukay newsletter

Become a fan on my facebook page

Sign up for free e-mail updates OR for my RSS feed in your blog reader

Share this post with social media via Facebook, Twitter, or StumbleUpon

(make sure you leave a separate comment for each entry!)

Fertility Diet: part one (traditional diets and essential nutrients)

donielle — Mon, 15 Feb 2010 16:38:34 +0000

This series has been on my mind now for a very long time, but there is so much information out there that I’ve hesitated to post it since I don’t want to miss anything. But I’ll do my best to include as much as I can, just know that this is not an exhaustive list and I’ll add more as I come across it.

Traditional Diets

I love the work of Weston A Price for the fact that he researched (and photographed) traditional cultures.

tra·di·tion:

the handing down of statements, beliefs, legends, customs, information, etc., from generation to generation, esp. by word of mouth or by practice

something that is handed down

a long-established or inherited way of thinking or acting

a continuing pattern of culture beliefs or practices

As a dentist here in the United States, he became concerned with how much tooth decay was becoming present in our society. So he traveled the world looking for and researching why other cultures did not have the same problems. What he found was that not only did these people (who’s diets included no processed or refined foods) have no tooth decay or need for corrective braces, they were full of vitality and health. They did not have problems with fertility and pregnancy, cancer and heart disease were unknown, and as a whole they were happy and mentally healthy.

He found that the reasons behind this were because of what they ate and how they ate it.

He also found that eating for fertility was extremely important to them, no matter the country or tribe they came from. In some cultures it was customary for couples to refrain from getting married until after the women had been able to consume these nutrients for a certain number of months when these foods were in season. Many other cultures found it very important for women to eat certain foods before marriage and traveled far distances to provide it for them. And other cultures even held special ceremonies that included many of these foods.

*It intrigues me to no end that although these people had no real knowledge of why they needed certain nutrients (or even what those nutrients were!) they knew from generation to generation how to build healthy bodies and healthy babies.*

Nutrients For Fertility

Dairy and seafoods seemed to be prominent fertility foods for these indigenous people. And together they offer nutrients that without, a women can not conceive; vitamins A, D, E, and K2, iodine, and omega-3 fats. Unfortunately most of us eating a modern American diet are basically eating ourselves into infertility by not consuming the foods that nourish our bodies with these essential nutrients.

Vitamin A: fat soluble vitamin that promotes better cervical fluid and helps ensure follicles develop correctly

Vitamin D: fat soluble vitamin that supports the production of estrogen in both men and women¹ , is needed for insulin production, and is key in regulating cell growth and deciding how those cells grow.

Vitamin E: plays an important role in sperm production, may help normalize hormone production, and is needed for proper absorption of fat soluble vitamins.

Vitamin K2: (referred to as activator X by Weston Price) is important in helping the body utilized proteins by working in combination with Vitamins A&D.

Iodine: a mineral needed for thyroid function and the production of sex hormones² and the utilization of iodine requires vitamin A.

Omega-3 fats: helps regulate hormones, increases cervical fluid, promotes ovulation, and increases blood flow to the reproductive organs.³

To be continued……..

Join me for the rest of the series!

Part 2 – Super Foods for Fertility – where to find these essential nutrients

Part 3 – Other important nutrients

Part 4 – Foods to Avoid

Part 5 – How to Eat and What a Fertility Diet Looks Like

Some of my sources:

1.The Miracle of D

2. Mineral Primer

3. Omega-3 and fertility

This post is linked to Real Food Wednesday

I have a lot of new and exciting things coming up here this fall, so make sure you add my blog's RSS Feed to your reader or you can sign up for free updates by Email. I can also be found on Facebook and Twitter! **

Benefits of Coconut Oil

donielle — Thu, 11 Feb 2010 17:42:27 +0000

Last fall I started a new love affair.

With coconut oil.

Unfortunately, throughout the years it’s received a bad rap due to it’s high saturated fat content and has been labeled “unhealthy”.

But is it unhealthy?

Let me just say – heaven’s no! While it may be full of saturated fat, coconut oil is fantastic and has so many great uses. And while I am not making any health claims about it I do want to to tell you some of the benefits of using coconut oil.

First off – The Fat

Yes, coconut oil is about 90% saturated fat. But about 2/3 of them are Medium Chain Triglycerides, which are supposed to assimilate well into the body. These “medium” sized fats are important because our bodies actually metabolize fatty acids depending on their size. Medium chain fatty acids do not have a negative effect on cholesterol and can actually help protect against heart disease. This medium chain triglyceride, or lauric acid, is also used in the body to produce something called monolaurin which is an antiviral and antibacterial monoglyceride that helps protect us from things like colds and flu virus’s.

I also found an interesting quote from a Dr. Ray Peat Ph.D., (physiologist who has worked with progesterone and related hormones issues for over 30 some years) And while this quote doesn’t quite boast the benefits of coconut oil, it’s being said that changes have been made in our hormones due to the increase of polyunsaturated fats (corn oil, canola oil, soy and flax oil) we now consume.

Their [polyunsaturated oils] best understood effect is their interference with the function of the thyroid gland. Polyunsaturated oils block thyroid hormone secretion, its movement in the circulatory system, and the response of tissues to the hormone. When the thyroid hormone is deficient, the body is generally exposed to increased levels of oestrogen. The thyroid hormone is essential for making the ‘protective hormones’ progesterone and pregnenolone, so these hormones are lowered when anything interferes with the function of the thyroid. The thyroid hormone is required for using and eliminating cholesterol, so cholesterol is likely to be raised by anything that blocks the thyroid function (http://www.efn.org/~raypeat/efatox.rtf)

A Quick Side Note on Why We Need Saturated Fat in Our Diet

For many reasons actually.

First off, saturated fat constitutes about 50% of our cells. It helps to maintain good cellular structure by making sure the walls of our cells are not to thin.

It also helps our bodies absorb calcium which can play a vital role in the health and strength of our bones.

And “Saturated fatty acids are needed for the proper utilization of omega-3 essential fatty acids because omega-3’s are better retained in the tissues when the diet is rich in saturated fats (particularly organic virgin coconut oil)” (source)

Secondly – Some Benefits

While I make no claims myself, here are a few ways coconut oil can be used as modern medicine via The Coconut Research Center

Kills viruses that cause influenza, herpes, measles, hepatitis C, AIDS, and other illnesses.

Kills fungi and yeasts that cause different things like candidiasis, ringworm, athlete’s foot, thrush, diaper rash, and other infections.

Provides quick energy.

Improves digestion and absorption of other nutrients including vitamins, minerals, and amino acids.

Improves insulin secretion and utilization of blood glucose. (important when trying to balance insulin levels and hormones!)

Promotes weight loss

Contains important nutrients our bodies need

Thirdly – It Rocks

Above all else I have found coconut oil to be extremely tasty (depending on the brand some are more flavorful than others) and versatile. I use coconut oil in so many different ways; everything from baking to frying to face lotion.

It has a melting point of 76 degrees which means when it’s warm out, it’s a liquid. Here in chilly Michigan winter, it’s definitely solid! So to use for baking you may substitute both oils and butter/shortening with it! I also have found that because it is slightly sweet and has a great flavor, I can usually reduce the amount of sugar I add to anything I bake.

How I’ve used coconut oil

While this oil has so many more uses, here’s what we use it for:

Chapstick – great for dry and chapped lips

Face lotion – I always put on a light layer after showering

On eczema – because of it’s anti-fungal properties

On my pregnant belly – seemed to help the itching!

As a diaper rash ointment – works better than anything I’ve tried

Hair gel/conditioner – while not perfect for me, it’s worked wonderfully in a pinch

I use it when making nourishing fudge and most of my baked goods

I also put a tablespoon or two into smoothies

I also make a great cold/flu fighting garlic herb butter with it

I would be very lost without this oil in my house now. It’s one of my most favorite things in my pantry!!

So do you use coconut oil? What’s your favorite use?

Other sources of information

Health Benefits

Alzheimers and coconut oil

Effects of Dietary Coconut Oil on women with belly fat

A huge list of coconut oil research

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Sourdough: FAIL!

donielle — Wed, 10 Feb 2010 02:18:12 +0000

Wordless Wednesday

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How to Make a Sourdough Starter

donielle — Thu, 04 Feb 2010 09:07:07 +0000

Making your own sourdough starter can seem like a daunting task, but let me be the first one to tell you how very simple it really is!

So simple in fact that it took me 3 times to get it right! Because my first one went moldy when I forgot to feed it one day during the starting period. The second one died a slow and horrible death when I forgot to feed it for a few weeks. ahem.

Let me rephrase, it’s simple when you do it correctly.

What you’ll need

2 sterilized jars or bowls (not metal)

A non metallic spoon

A coffee filter or thin fabric

whole wheat flour, spelt, rye

water (if you have city water you must boil and let cool or aerate with a blender to rid it of chlorine)

Now the ratios of water to flour are 1:1 when starting a new sourdough starter. For this instructional I used 1/4 cup water and 1/4 cup flour for each feeding, though personally I’d go 1/2 cup if I did it over again. Because 1 + 1 does not equal 2 in this senario, so when I did 1/4 cup each day I ended up with less than 2 cups of starter.

Day One

Place a 1:1 ratio of flour and water into a clean and sterilized jar and stir well.

(Let me take a brief moment and point out my old starter in the jar, top right. Umm, that’s what happens when you forget to feed your starter. It dries out and turns to concrete)

Cover with the filter or thin towel and set in an open area so it can start collecting the natural yeast.

Day Two

Transfer the starter to a clean jar/bowl and feed your new pet another 1:1 ratio of flour and water in the same amount you used for day one. So if you used 1/2 cup for each, you’ll use 1/2 cup again. Stir well, cover, and set back out.

Day Three Through Six

Again, each day you’ll feed your starter a 1:1 ratio of flour and water. It will start to get bubbly and you’ll also notice it separate a bit and get a watery layer. Don’t worry, this is totally normal.

And most directions I read say to put it in a clean jar each day.

I did not.

And yes, I can be that lazy.

So I just changed jars a couple times during the “starting” process.

Day Seven

Your starter should now have gone through the bubbly stage and smell somewhat ’sour’. Transfer to a clean jar and feed it one more time.

At this point it is ready to use! You can now do one of 2 things.

Test out some new recipes! Just make sure you feed it again before you put it in the fridge to store.

Pop it right in the fridge for use later

Care and Feeding of your Starter

Upkeep on a starter is very simple. If you do not use your starter for one week, transfer to a new jar, feed it a 1:1 ratio of flour and water, and set it back in the fridge.

or

After you use it for a recipe, feed it the same 1:1 ratio and let it sit out again for just a couple hours before storing in the fridge. (transfer to a clean jar about once a week)

If your starter starts getting a bit to thin, go ahead and pour out the watery layer that settles at the top!

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