Six months

It' as been about six months of eating local and I'm starving!

A few things we've learned

1.  We have all learned to "not to drown our food",  I never thought I could go without ketchup, mayo or salad dressing.  Don't drown your food .
2.  On a rare trip to the grocery store I can look at a dairy display and tell you what state everything came from as is true for most of the store, and my family can as well. Texas is a huge producer of dairy, Ohio, Pennsylvania and Michigan produce a lot of pasta and flour. Most people are aware that California is the major producer of fruit and vegetables inside the country. 
3. Real food, whole food is hard to find in a sea of processed food. It goes back to the food pyramid, the four basic food groups. Marilyn Manson and the food pyramid.
4. Most people have heard of antibiotic resistance or "super bugs". There are a few causes the first one is one seen in Emergency rooms and doctors offices everywhere, people get sick go to the doctor and demand antibiotics. Antibiotics will NOT cure the common cold or other virus's. Another is the meat we eat, for example; beef, cows are naturally allergic to corn but, it's less expensive to feed cows a corn diet than it is to let them feed on pasture. SO, cows are given antibiotics to fight the infection they get from eating corn. Now you eat the beef and get extra antibiotics.

The chemicals that they pass off as food, can kill you. Many food companies sell their products in other countries without the harmful chemicals because those other countries demand it. The FDA does not? Demand change

Four Months

It's been four months of eating local and I feel great and I'm twenty seven pounds lighter. I found that even in the winter there is a huge supply of local produce and meat. The "pop up" Farmers market in Salt lake has introduced us to more local farms. Lau farm in Soda springs Idaho is a producer of beef and lamb. Clifford family farm in Provo has great pork. Parkers farm in Hooper Utah still has a great supply of produce. We also found fresh made pasta from a local producer. (tankinz.com)I believe that just living with what we have instead of going to the grocery store has helped with being healthier and has helped our pocketbook.




On New Years eve we did indulge in foods that we hadn't had in months. We have been regretting it all week. It is nice to have more energy and not to feel yucky all the time. It's just not worth it I would much rather feel good than have a few bites of something that will make me feel like poop. Actually, the processed food doesn't even taste good any more.




We have gone through our winter supply pretty fast. We are down to four jars of peaches, one applesauce, six jars of marinara sauce, ten jars of tomatoes, one jar of tomato salsa and four small jars of peach salsa. In the freezer we still have plenty of green peppers, Swiss chard, pumpkin, spaghetti squash, butternut squash, a few berries and a ton of zucchini. From our original supply of meat we are down to 2 bags of chicken wings, two bags of thighs, one package of steaks and three packages of ground pork. We do have the winters farmers market once a month, so it's not nearly as hard as we thought in the beginning.

Cheers!

1. The Pop up Farmers Market in SLC was awesome yesterday. We were able to purchase Local Eggs, Pork, Ricotta and Mozzarella goat cheese, Arugula, carrots, tomatoes, basil, thyme, Celery, red Potatoes, Onions, parsnips, leeks, apples and fresh pasta. All of this was local. It was a great way to spend a Saturday Morning with my family. We were all in awe of everything that was available. The atmosphere was nice. There were a few things that I was not able to get because they had ran out. We will have a great Thanksgiving because of our purchases. We look forward to the next "pop up Market".

   

   
   

Allergy

Cerebral allergies' (allergies which affect mental health in some way) can contribute to irritability, depression and psychosis. Carl Pfeiffer, MD, PhD reported that for 10% of schizophrenics, cerebral allergy is the primary causative factor. William Philpott, MD (author of Brain Allergies: The Psycho-Nutrient Connection) claims that more than 50% of schizophrenics display some form of cerebral allergy which contributes to symptoms.

There are around 12 well known mechanisms of food intolerance. Individual laboratory tests test for one. My preference for people with schizophrenia and bipolar disorder is to start with a 30 day diagnostic trial of a gluten and casein free diet. A high number of people report a significant symptom reduction from avoiding these commonly problematic proteins. See Who should trial a gluten/casein free diet?. No laboratory test is definitive to rule out gluten and casein intolerance. The majority of people who find improvement from gluten elimination test negative for celiac disease. After gluten/casein a full range of food intolerances should be evaluated. The next most commonly reactive foods include:

• 1. Eggs.
• 2. Peanuts.
• 3. Corn.
• 4. Soy.
• 5. Cocoa.
• 6. Yeast.
• 7. Citrus fruits.
• 8. Tomatoes.
• 9. Beef.

The most reliable, and also free, method of identifying intolerances to these foods is via a comprehensive elimination diet. When this option is not possible for practical reasons I recommend paying for an IgG food intolerance profile. See sample IgG report from Metametrix.

Food Transport

In our nation we export 1.1 million tons of potatoes, while we import 1.4 million tons of potatoes.

How does that make sense? It makes sense to the oil companies because they really are the only ones that benefit.

Two month's of eating local

It's been two months of eating local. I have more energy and over all I feel better. I have cheated a couple times again for convenience. I also have a few stragglers Joe isn't doing so well living away from home during the week. I try for the most part to prepare his meals before he goes to Wyoming for the week but, he still feels the need to buy from the grocery store. Madison still has a few things she needs to work on but, I would say 80% of the time she is following the new way of eating. When Kerissa eats with us she eats local food but, she has started a new diet. Elloise is enjoying home made baby food.

I'm finally done canning which is extremely nice my kitchen is somewhat back to normal. I'm still freezing pumpkin and a variety of squash. I started a little kitchen herb garden for the winter. It takes up space but, otherwise is great. We received our last CSA from the farm until I believe March but, they have told us that they will be sending out a news letter on bundles of meat to get us through winter. We start a delivery service this week with Winder Farms. We will be getting a 1/2 gallon of whole milk every two weeks, a quart of half and half, cheese from Behive cheese, Organic fresh eggs and coffee. We have started to make our own laundry soap and it has turned out great. I'm still researching other household cleaners and also beauty products. Our grocery bill is 1/4 of what we were spending a few months ago.

We continue to learn more about what we are eating and what we have eaten over the years, it's pretty scary. Most countries have banned GMO's but our country still thinks it's acceptable. California's are voting on whether GMO"S should be labeled as a GMO's, which everyone should have the right to know what they are eating, Whether it be cow's that have been injected with pig organisms to make their skin tougher or corn  modified organisms with poison that will blow up an insects stomach once it bites into the corn but it's supposed to be okay for humans to eat. Then we have corn syrup instead of sugar again most of the world refuses to use this substitute but we have or we just don't know exactly what we are eating?

Happy Autumn