On my about page, I mention that I co-author another blog focused on traditional Middle Eastern cuisine — yes, MidEATS is the one! My friend and co-author of MidEATS, Brenda, moved to the United Arab Emirates a little over a year ago. Her move there introduced us to a lovely and supportive group of food bloggers in the UAE, who collectively go by the name ‘Fooderati Arabia’. Through Fooderati’s Facebook Page (and accompanying group), I have had the pleasure of meeting a number of exceptionally talented cosmopolitan food bloggers, each with her/his own culinary focus and creative palate. If you’ve been following my posts for quite some time, you must have noticed that I have a strong appreciation for anyone who is seeking health through nutrition, or is particularly fond of the locavore movement.

When Irini started sharing posts about Superfoods and Cancer and Summer Vegetable Salad with Chia Seeds (yep, the awesome nutrient-packed seeds have found their way to the UAE!), as well as delicious traditional recipes such as Comforting Mediterranean Fish Pie, she caught my attention and I just had to learn more! And even though I have reduced my intake of most glutenous grains for some time now, I still grow weak in the knees when I smell homemade flaky phyllo bites filled with a savory concoction of caramelized red onions and cooked spinach and parsley, kept together by delicious halloumi or feta cheese and eggs, and wrapped in a buttery flaky roll … yes, otherwise known as spanakopita; Irini’s version looks especially tantalizing! One more recipe from her blog I’d like to share before jumping right into the interview: of course, it has to be dessert: French Chocolate Beet Cake. Yeah, I know what you’re thinking: “why didn’t I think of that combination before!?”

An Interview with Food Blogger and Greek-Cypriot Tradtional Cook Irini Savva

1. I love Greek food! What’s a typical meal like in your house? 

We eat mainly a whole food diet due to my husband’s food allergies, so I prepare a lot of foods from scratch.  Recently we found out that he has a soy allergy as well.  As you already know, soy is in everything these days, so we’ve been adapting our meals again.  Generally, I’d say a typical everyday meal in my home would be some kind of grilled or baked meat or fish with some kind of potato side dish and a fresh salad.  Greeks love their salads and a meal is never complete without one!  They also love potatoes and my husband is especially fond of them, so we often serve potatoes.  I also believe in eating meat-free meals at least once a week.  When I was growing up, my mother would cook vegetarian food every Monday and I still do that today.  These days we also have the Meat-Free Monday movement which I think is great way to encourage people to eat a bigger variety of vegetarian food.

Vibrant colors in this purple cauliflower and kale salad - another lovely creation from Irini Savva.

2. Cooking is not hard, but it’s more time-consuming than a microwavable dinner – that’s for sure. When and why did you decide to cook more meals at home?

My parents are Greek Cypriots who moved to South Africa when they were young.  The only way they could eat the foods they loved was to cook it themselves so home cooked meals were very important in our home.  We ate home cooked food every day and eating out was considered a treat.  I don’t ever recall specifically deciding to cook more meals at home, it’s just how it always was.  As I grew older, I realized that I craved home cooked food naturally and if I did eat out a lot, I got bored of it quickly.

3. Traditional food preparation is often the most healthy because it has been passed down for many generations (and perfected over the years).  What are some examples of traditional food preparation in Greek culture? 

The most popular traditional food preparations are grills (souvla - barbeque, souvlakia - kebabs with raw vegetables in a pita bread), bakes (pastitsio – a kind of Greek lasagna, moussaka – layered vegetable and meat bake with béchamel topping), roasts (particularly lamb) and stews (we call them yachni – a tomato based stew with meat and seasonal vegetables or just vegetarian).  We also prepare a lot of legumes and seasonal vegetable dishes which are an important part of Greek and Mediterranean cuisine.

4. These days, it’s difficult to know where your food comes from, unless you value shopping at a local farmers’ market and meeting your farmers in person. Why (or why not) do you care to know where your food comes from?

This is particularly of interest to me because I used to work in the chemical and food additives industry for 10 years before moving to Cyprus.  It was an interesting experience as I had never considered what goes into processed food, and other manufactured products before.  Over the years, I learned to identify ingredients on labels and choose my food more carefully and so I became more interested in fresh, organic and sustainably sourced foods.

5. Speaking of fresh food, where do you find fresh food in the UAE, where you currently reside? How easy or difficult is it to find the kind of food you’re looking for, as compared to other places you’ve lived like South Africa and Cyprus?

I currently reside in Dubai.  Initially I found it difficult to find the kind of local fresh foods that I was used to enjoying, as most foods in this region of the world are imported.  With time, I found out about the weekly farmers markets held during the cooler months of the year, so I support them as much as I can.  During the hot summer period, local produce is very limited and I have to get my produce from supermarkets.  I look for meat that is either organic, free-range or grass-fed – whatever I can get as there isn’t always a consistent supply.  Unfortunately, it’s all imported as the United Arab Emirates does not have local organic meat and poultry. There has been some media attention on local organic produce in the UAE lately so I’m hoping this will change in the future.  There are a lot of sustainable fish options here and I use the EWS-WWF recommendations on buying local sustainable fish.

If you live in the UAE or plan to visit, check out this website for suggestions on which of their fresh fish is sustainably harvested: http://www.choosewisely.ae/

6. I noticed that you celebrate Orthodox Easter, which means that your family tradition is probably Orthodox, like me! (I’m not quite sure what your fasting schedule is like throughout the year), but what are your favorite meals to make during fasts?

Yes, I am Greek Orthodox.  I’m not particularly strict when it comes to fasting during religious holidays and prefer to eat meat-free meals on a regular basis instead.  At the moment, I’m 7 months pregnant so I did not fast this year for Lent.  Greek cuisine has a lot of vegan and vegetarian foods since the older generations did not eat meat as often as they do these days.  My favorite meat-free meals are fages – lentil and rice pilaf, louvi – black-eyed beans cooked with greens, roasted or baked vegetables, and colorful fresh salads.  I also love to eat ‘mezze’ (small plates / tapas) type of foods; it’s such a great way to get a variety of vegetables and legumes into my diet that way.  Usually during fasting, there are several vegetable dishes served at one meal, so you never go hungry!

7. Comfort food – do you see it as a body’s need, or an unhealthy habit? What are the most irresistible comfort foods in your opinion?

It depends on the comfort food and how it has been prepared.  The kind of comfort food I grew up on and still enjoy today are homemade curries (South Africa has a large Indian community, hence curries are very popular – even in a Greek home!), baked pasta dishes like the  pastitsio I mentioned above, and roasts.  Even our burgers were homemade!  I believe it’s healthier to prepare your favorite comfort foods at home rather than buy them ready-made.  I’ve always had a weakness for dairy products but since I’ve discovered that dairy doesn’t agree with me anymore, I eat very little these days (thank goodness for Pacari dairy-free chocolate!).  I don’t believe in depriving myself of any foods, and prefer to eat everything in moderation.

8. What is your favorite food group, and what are some of your favorite (easy) recipes using these ingredients?

I love all food so it’s difficult for me to choose!  I basically eat a variety of foods from various food groups.  I choose my recipes based on what fruit and vegetables are in season or what I’m in the mood for that day.  My favorite easy recipe is a roast chicken with vegetables.  You can’t go wrong with a roast and I love that you can cook everything in one dish (which is also more environmentally-friendly!).

9. Seafood is delicious and packed with healthy fats too. I love your recipe for whole roasted sea bass in sweet tomato & onion sauce. What tips do you have for picking good quality, healthy seafood, and what are some easy ways to cook it? Would you know about sustainably fished seafood and where to get it from?

I love seafood too and this recipe for sea bass is truly a typical Mediterranean dish.  I also like to bake whole fish with lemon, garlic and fresh herbs – similar to the one I prepared for the EWS-WWF Sustainable Fish Recipes cookbook.  Some of the best seafood I’ve tasted has been prepared with the fewest, simplest and freshest ingredients, so I generally stick to this method.  Luckily, in Dubai, fresh fish is fairly easy to find in most supermarkets.  I tend to choose my fish based on the clarity of its eyes; but more importantly, if it smells fishy, it’s not fresh!  Like I mentioned earlier, I use the EWS-WWF sustainable fish guide for buying sustainable fish in the UAE since I’m not familiar with all the local fish here.

Whole roasted sea bass in a sweet tomato & onion sauce - how appetizing does that look, wow!

 Who is Irini Savva?

I’ve been meaning to write this post for over a year, but well, you know – life gets in the way. I do have some exciting news to tell you though: I’ve come awfully close to perfecting an almost-raw (depends on sweetener of choice) chocolate-hazelnut spread that rivals Nutella. I ain’t gonna lie — until about two years ago, I found Nutella to be mouthwatering-ly delicious.

But then, something happened: I discovered real food. After enjoying things like McDonald’s greasy fries, Coldstone icecream and … yes, you guessed it — Nutella — for years, they suddenly tasted disgusting in comparison to real food treats like raw grass-fed cream with dates and walnuts, for instance, or organic potatoes fried in a healthy saturated fat. It was such a relief to me to find out that I can simply make healthy, homemade real food versions of these comfort foods, and that they would blow their ‘original’ junk food counterparts out of the water in terms of both taste and nutrition!

What is Nutella made of anyway?

Consider Nutella. While you and I know that Nutella is a junk food item, some others have been swayed by Ferrero’s clever marketing tactics. This brave mom recently sued Nutella for misleading the public into thinking that Nutella is a “healthy product”.

But, as one example, what the claims of healthfulness sharply contradict is the fact that one serving (just 2 tablespoons) of the chocolaty goodness is comprised of a heaping 21 grams of refined sugar — which is terrible news if you’re trying to stay in shape, or if you have (or are predisposed to) any kind of metabolic condition. Okay, so it has a ton of sugar … is that it? I can deal with a little extra sugar. Oh, that’s just brushing the surface, my friend. Here are some of the obvious and not-so-obvious issues with Nutella’s list of ingredients, besides the sugar:

(1) “Modified” palm oil: One thing that’s getting a lot of flack is the ‘saturated fat’ content in Nutella. The problem is, saturated fat in general is not a problem! In fact, the body needs a good amount of saturated fat to function properly. But just like not all meat is created equal (meat glue, anyone?), saturated fat sources aren’t all the same. The fat in Nutella used to be hydrogenated palm oil … you know what that means? Hydrogenated means that it is a trans fat! When consumers riled up against the trans fat content, the company changed the terminology to ‘modified palm oil.’ Modified, in what way exactly? This is how the Nutella official website describes it: ”This palm oil is adjusted to assure the best consistency for easy spreading by reducing the level of saturated fat” (Nutella USA).

Notice that they use the word ‘adjusted’ because it sounds milder than ‘modified’? Clever, huh. Well, they leave it ambiguous for a reason: Ferrero does not want you to know (because maybe then you’ll refuse to eat it, and then they’ll lose a loyal Nutella-loving customer, and that’s not good for their pocketbook). Here’s the thing: palm oil is available in nature and it’s healthy when consumed moderately in whole form. But when you ‘modify’ it to reduce the saturated fat content, you’ll also end up changing its chemical structure, thereby ruining it! Here’s what one website had to say about what this ‘modification’ of palm oil entails:

Once anti-trans fat laws were passed, manufacturers of inexpensive chocolate could not simply use palm oil, whose melting point is not sharp enough. So what they did instead is rely on the interesterification of triglycerides, one of several methods of “modifying an oil”. Eighty percent of cocoa butter triglycerides have palmitic and stearic acids in the R1 and R3 positions with oleic acid in the R2 slot. To create an impostor molecule from palm oil, a stearic acid residue is introduced at the R1 and R3 positions, where it’s normally absent.

There are different ways of interesterifying. The superior method relies on enzymes because it leaves the R2 position unchanged. The catalyst that creates a greater hodge-podge of products is sodium methoxide. In either case, we don’t exactly have the equivalent of a “Nurse’s Study” to investigate the health impact of these molecules that are being included in foods (Science 20).

The problem is that something healthful like palm oil can very easily made very unhealthful with a few tweaks in the laboratory. Also, something worth noting: companies can lawfully claim that a product has 0 grams of trans fat, even while the product contains 0.5 grams of trans fat per serving. Don’t believe me? Read for yourself on the FDA website. Here’s the problem, trans fats are known to be bad, but these other modifications are just as much of a wild card as trans fats used to be before it use confirmed that they were bad for us. So, why are we repeating the same mistakes we’ve made in the past?

(2) Skim milk powder: That’s one of the ingredients in Nutella that is touted to be “healthy”. Is it? Think about it logically first, then I’ll present the facts: milk doesn’t come out of a cow or goat watered down, homogenized, and dried into powder. It’s not natural. If you give a newborn baby or a calf skim powdered milk, they would probably suffer from malnutrition and develop all sorts of disorders within a matter of days. Yeah, but we’re adults and want to fit in our jeans, not be well-fed and plump, right? What if I told you that skim milk is given to animals like pigs to fatten them up? Yes, it’s true. Also, when fat is homogenized and/or taken out of milk, some molecules become oxidized. Here’s a snippet to explain what that means when you ingest it:

Powdered skim (which is also added to organic low-fat milks) is produced by spraying the liquid under heat and high pressure, a process that oxidizes the cholesterol. In animal studies, oxidized cholesterol triggers a host of biological changes, leading to plaque formation in the arteries and heart disease, Spanish researchers reported in 1996 (Details).

All this talk about skim milk and I can’t believe I didn’t even mention the fact that Nutella likely uses conventional milk from cows that have been injected with rBGH (milk-producing genetically modified hormone developed by Monsanto) and a good amount of antibiotics. Seriously, you still think the skim milk ingredient in Nutella is healthy? (p.s. You should check out my post on raw milk if you haven’t already.)

(3) “Reduced minerals whey (milk): Yeah, that doesn’t sound natural to me either. Why do we need to reduce the minerals in whey and turn it into dried ash? Natural whey is in liquid form- it’s what happens to milk when it clabbers (sours) or in yogurt. It’s a wonderful food when consumed in whole liquid form from grass-fed cows. But dried, separated, and filtered? No thank you.

(4) Soy lecithin:  Soy is in everything. You know why, right? Well, it’s dirt cheap to produce, and it can be used in many processed foods to give certain characteristics that make these products more marketable. For example, in Nutella, soy lecithin is used as an emulsifier; in other words, to keep all the ingredients together. Part of what makes Nutella desirable is its smooth and creamy consistency … if it separates and part of it becomes liquidy, you wouldn’t be inclined to think of it as a flawlessly designed food. So, they add an emulsifier. Most store-bought chocolates, even organic ones, have an emulsifier added. But when it does not state that the soy used is non-GMO, you can be absolutely certain that they have used genetically modified soy in the product you are consuming, because something like 93% of all soy grown is genetically modified, and when it isn’t, companies tend to want to state that it’s not.

(5) Vanillin (artificial flavor): If you’ve been reading in the health food world for any amount of time, you will quickly come across the ‘flavors’ industry … you see, when it says ‘natural flavors’ or ‘artificial flavors’ on a package, it doesn’t just mean one little chemical, or even two, or three. The word ‘flavor’ in an ingredient list implies that potentially dozens (or maybe hundreds?) of chemicals were put together to come up with this flavor. If derived from ‘natural’ sources originally, then they fall under the category of ‘natural flavor’ (even if heavily messed with and adulterated to a point where they no longer resemble their original form); and if completely constructed in the lab, it’s called ‘artificial flavor’ – it can be the same identical substance, but on one package might be referred to as “natural flavor” and on another package, it might be referred to as an “artificial flavor”, depending on how it was obtained. In the case of vanillin, it’s made with wood pulp and a bunch of chemical solvents. If this doesn’t sound like real food to you, it’s because it isn’t!

The only good thing that Nutella has are hazelnuts, and for a 13 oz jar, it’s kind of pathetic that they only use a little over half a cup of nuts. Hey, gotta fit in all that sugar somewhere! Unprocessed cocoa is healthy too, except that the kind in Nutella is super processed and probably not fair trade. Also, it doesn’t actually contain that much cocoa — in fact, the Italian government has forbidden Nutella from labeling it as a chocolate cream because it doesn’t contain enough cocoa to be actually considered a chocolate product. Crazy, huh?

A better Nutella is possible if you make the chocolaty spread at home

All this info about how crummy processed Nutella is made may turn your intellect off from desiring it forever, but your gut might give in when you see a tiny French-inspired bakery with freshly-baked croissants and Nutella goodness oozing from the corners. You can now obey your craving with your intellect at ease, because I have tried (and succeeded) at making a homemade Nutella that puts the machines at Ferrero to shame. I’m clearly very biased, but I swear it’s better than the original.

I have made this a few times, each time tweaking the recipe a little. I’ve tried a very chocolaty version (the pictures of the spread on sourdough pumpernickel toast had more cocao powder than the recipe below calls for), and I’ve tried a more milky version (pictured in this post in a jar next to strawberries). I’ve also tried a vegan version with almond milk and coconut butter — it was good but not as creamy as the version with milk. I consulted a variety of online recipes to come up with this version, most notably Nutmeg Nanny’s version and Chocolate Covered Katie’s vegan version. The main difference in my version is the heavy cream and raw milk, which give it a richness and creaminess that is lacking in the other versions. Also, as much as I love raw cacao, it tends take over the taste if you add too much. Something around 1/4 cup is best if you’re using a pure raw cacao; if using a milder cacao, you can probably increase it to about 1/3 cup.

I’ve also tried keeping the skins on the hazelnuts (out of laziness), and also taking them off — this sounds obvious, but peeling the hazelnuts results in a much smoother and creamier spread. I’ve also tried making these in a Vitamix and in a much weaker blender — no surprise on which outperformed the other (hint: it’s not the no-name blender, hah). I also recently tried making this in a Cuisinart food processor, and the result was pretty close to when I used the Vitamix. Okay, let’s get to the recipe now, shall we?

Something about collard greens just sounds homey … maybe that’s because I associate it with the South? Apparently, the southern tradition of eating collard greens every New Year’s Eve goes something like this: each bite of greens you eat is worth $1,000 in the upcoming year (Little Rock). You know what this means? I was very poor in “collard green dollars” for many years, because I never had collard greens growing up. My family is of Middle Eastern origin, so we cooked a lot of spinach, molokhia (a favorite in my household to this day), cabbage, Swiss chard, and many other leafy greens that I’m probably forgetting … but never collards. Actually, we only adopted kale into our fridge only a few years ago — because we couldn’t figure out how to tame the curly leaves without wilting them into unappetizing mush. So we now eat kale mostly raw, usually in salads with toasted almonds and dried fruit. We tried doing the same with collard greens, but the taste of the greens wasn’t particularly distinct in salad, so I decided to find another way to make them. First, I was doing a vegan fast for Lent, so I was limited to beans and veggies. I came up with this tasty combination of black eyed peas, sauteed mushrooms, and collard greens stewed in a spiced tomato-garlic sauce, which was pretty good.

After Easter, I can’t bear to do anything vegan and almost find excuses to add ghee to everything and anything, so I had to find another recipe to use up the organic collard greens I found on sale at my local health food store. Sauteed greens are always a nice and simple choice for a side, but I wanted to make the collards shine. I wanted to elicit the reaction of: “ooh, this is great … what kind of greens are in here?” Yeah, yeah, I know the drill: add bacon. I am a lover of pastured bacon like no other, but I thought that the collard greens-bacon combination is a little tired (p.s. I also didn’t have bacon in the house .. hah). So, I decided on making a collard greens quiche! And not any regular ‘ol glutenous pie, mind you. I’m on a record gluten-free streak that I’m not planning to break anytime soon, so it had to be a grain-free quiche crust for me.

Don’t want to eat your greens? Consider quiche!

Let me tell you a little thing about gluten-free baking: I don’t like to do it. The results are (almost) always unpredictable and I don’t have the patience to find obscure ingredients like xanthan gum (what the heck is that anyway?). I decided to use my first successful grain-free petit fours experience as a reference, and quickly came to the conclusion that almond flour was going to be the main ingredient in the pie crust. It’s as easy as mixing the almond flour, fat (I used ghee), an egg, a pinch of salt and nutmeg, and pulsing in a food processor until all are well incorporated and a dough has formed. Then, you can press it down into a baking dish and pop in the oven for 10 minutes or so. Super easy.

For the filling, I thought I’d half-cook the collard greens to soften them up a bit, and to mix in the flavors of caramelized onions and garlic, before baking. Nothing says savory quiche like ricotta cheese, so a layer of that just ‘makes sense’ to go on top of the crust (I wish I had that on hand when making this!). Then, the lightly spiced greens, mixed in with an egg for binding purposes, goes on top, and then some shredded hard cheese is crumbled on top for a quiche effect. Pop in the oven for another 10 minutes or so, and you have a grain-free quiche that uses up an obscure leafy green vegetable and makes it tasty too! Let me tell you something: last time I just sauteed collards as a side, I didn’t get the same reaction from family members as when I served it in a quiche. Something about the French-inspired savory pie just attracts even the most staunch greens-hater out there. Try it!

A little bit about collard greens …

Collards are a member of the Brassica family of leafy greens, which include a wide variety of edible plants that are super-good-for-you like cabbage, broccoli, mustard greens and kale. They’re native to the South (in the U.S.) and apparently taste better when they’re harvested after a bit of a chilly winter and spring: “Even though collard greens are more heat tolerant than other cabbage relatives, the vegetable tastes better after chilly weather arrives. A bit of frost makes the leaves taste sweeter” (Vegetable Gardening). So that means their peak season is between January and April for most places in the US.

According to this article from Serious Eats, picking collards comes down to selecting the greenest and sturdiest of the bunch: “avoid yellow, torn, and pitted leaves and opt for crisp, plump, deep green bunches. Due to a high water content, collards shrink down when cooked, so plan on two large bunches to serve four people.” If organically grown, you need only rinse them under running water to take off any clinging dirt. And to cook them, just chop and saute. Why eat them in the first place? Well, they’re yummy when paired with enough healthy fat. They also pair really well with beans, meats or dairy. And they’re really healthy, boasting a good amount of Vitamins K, C and A, folate, and minerals like calcium and zinc. So, if you’re looking to change up your leafy greens routine, consider making collards … in a quiche!

(2) Add dough to an 10-inch baking pan and bake. Press down to even out the crust, making sure it covers the bottom and curves upwards on the corners and sides. Bake on 350F for 10 minutes until crust starts to turn a very light golden color.

(3) Saute the collard greens, onion and garlic. Chop one onion, and saute in ghee for a few minutes till beginning to caramelize. Chop collard greens (I include the stems, but it’s up to you), and add to pot, stirring for a couple of minutes. In a separate small pan, peel 4-5 garlic cloves, and saute in ghee till lightly golden. Then, add garlic to collard greens and onion mixture. Stir and turn off heat.

(4) Add spices and egg. Add salt, ground ginger and ground nutmeg to collard greens mixture. Taste to adjust seasoning. Then, beat one egg, and mix well into collard greens.

(5) Add cheese and bake. Add a layer of ricotta cheese on the set crust. Then, pour the collard greens mixture on top of the ricotta cheese, and even out. Add hard cheese on top (I used Dubliner), and put in the oven to bake for another 10 minutes. Add a dash of freshly ground black pepper and serve warm.

This post was shared on the following blog carnivals: Real Food Freaks’ Freaky Fridays, The Healthy Home Economist’s Monday Mania, and The Tasty Alternative’s Allergy-Free Wednesdays.

For those readers who may be unfamiliar with the Paleo movement (maybe ‘eat like a caveman’ will jog your memory), here’s a great intro post on paleo eating from Laura’s blog). In a nutshell, meats, wild-caught seafood, healthy fats, vegetables, a little fruit (especially berries), and some nuts and seeds are the foods recommended in the Paleo lifestyle; while pasteurized dairy (some believe that raw dairy is okay) as well as grains and legumes of all kinds are not encouraged. This goes without saying, but processed foods are completely shunned (as they should be!).

From the moment I stumbled on Laura’s blog, I found the information she shares to be both interesting from a scientific standpoint, and still super applicable for daily life. See, that’s the thing with those who have a strong nutrition background: it’s hard to maintain a balance between knowing too many details, and still being cognizant that a practicality is needed to effectively apply that knowledge to most people’s lives. I find that Laura has that balance, and it’s very relatable! One of my favorite posts from her blog is a recent post titled “Paleo Women Are Phat”. Laura addresses a salient point that often goes unexpressed in the world of health and nutrition: there is no “ideal” weight for women; in fact, she shares that extreme leanness and very low body fat, both prized qualities in the world of fitness, aren’t necessarily ideal or even healthy for women who wish to conceive at some point. Makes sense … and ’bout some someone well-versed in the subject spoke up about it!

Here’s an hour-long video where Laura shares some basic paleo lifestyle principles at an ancestral nutrition seminar at Fit Boot Camp. Check it out if you’re curious about paleo eating, and read the interview below for more personal details and healthy living tips that Laura shares!

An Interview with Nutrition Student and Health Blogger Laura Schoenfeld

1. How’d you get into blogging about food? Was there an “a-ha moment” for you that inspired you to look more deeply than most into the human diet? 

I was raised since about the age of 12 on a Weston A. Price inspired diet, thanks to my mother doing her own independent research. It was a rough transition for our family at first, but eventually we got used to things like raw milk and sprouted grains. I became more interested in food and nutrition in college when I started making my own food choices and saw how poorly my friends ate. The more interested I got in nutrition, the more I realized that I wanted to get a graduate education in nutrition and health, and I wound up applying to UNC Chapel Hill for the MPH-RD program. Being a part of the Weston A. Price community, I had heard a little about the Paleo diet and thought I’d give it a try. My 30-day Paleo challenge was the inspiration to start blogging about my nutrition experiences, both as a grad student and as a general reader of many different sources of information about nutrition. Since then, I’ve gotten very excited about learning about the optimal human diet and trying to determine what kinds of foods we should be eating on a regular basis.

2. As the author of the real food blog Ancestralize Me, you obviously have a lot of respect for the way the early humans (our ancestors) ate.  Why is that, and how did you come to look into ancestral behavior?

As I mentioned before, much of my nutritional knowledge has come from both my mother and prominent members of the Weston A. Price community, such as Chris Masterjohn and Chris Kresser. More recently, I’ve been reading books like “Nutrition and Physical Degeneration” by Dr. Price and listening to podcasts such as Robb Wolf’s “Paleo Solution”. I think it’s pretty obvious to most people that what Americans are eating now is outrageously inadequate, and I think it makes intuitive sense to look to more primitive cultures and historical societies that have been immune to degenerative diseases of civilization, and to consider what qualities in their diet contributed to their improved health. Truthfully, as much as I appreciate the ‘early human’ evidence, I think we can look at more recent evidence, such as that outlined in Dr. Price’s work, to show that most non-Western cultures had a diverse range of diets, yet none had the same type of chronic disease and obesity that we do. While the major components of each culture’s diets vary widely, we can see there are certain commonalities in types of foods that they did or didn’t eat.

3. In a recent post, you share that while you do appreciate the contributions of many paleo and primal diet experts, you think it’s important to think for oneself and not simply follow the diet recommendations like sheep. What is one example of how you’ve managed to pull away from the “flock” in regards to paleo food tradition?

I get a little concerned sometimes that people can get caught up in the ‘idolization’ of certain experts in our field, for whatever reason: their looks, their charisma, or even the evidence of their arguments. That said, I don’t think any one person has all the right answers, and it makes me nervous when I hear more prominent members of the community making statements that may not be entirely accurate for every person. A good example of this is the safe starch debate. There are certain people who do quite well on a very low carb diet, and there are others who crash and burn. Not that Paleo is by nature ‘low carb’, but it can become that way if you’re not careful and paying attention to your food choices.

If someone is telling you to follow a certain diet and you feel terrible on it, I don’t care how strong their evidence is: stop following the diet! It’s so important to learn to listen to your own body and use the expert opinions as a guide, but not as a dogma. No one knows what is best for your body and your health except you, and don’t be afraid to challenge the ‘experts’ if something isn’t working for you. That said, don’t completely throw away the idea of something like Paleo simply because you’re struggling with it. See what you can do by playing around with macro or micro nutrient amounts to find an intake that best supports your life and circumstances.

4. You’re currently in grad school earning your RD-MPH. How to do you hope to use your degree to make strides in the field of nutrition?

To be honest, I don’t really know yet! I’ve played around with the idea of opening a multidisciplinary wellness center, writing a book, getting involved in food policy… right now my options are pretty wide open. I really want to have the greatest impact possible, so its just about finding my niche and figuring out where I can make the biggest difference in people’s lives. That said, it would be pretty amazing to collaborate with more prominent folks like Chris Kresser or Robb Wolf in the future, since they’re really making waves in the Ancestral Health community. As of right now, though, I’m really just open to any opportunities that come my way!

5. What’s wrong with what most Americans (and increasingly, people all over the world) think is ‘healthy food’?

Well that article spells it out right in the first paragraph: “We all know the rules of basic nutrition: whole grains, lots of veggies, lean protein — as well as less sugar, salt and saturated fat.” I would have to disagree with 90% of that statement. I don’t think whole grains are specifically healthy (and certainly not necessary), protein does not have to be lean, salt is an essential component of the diet, and saturated fat is generally benign and possibly beneficial. Notice the ‘basic rules’ didn’t mention anything about trans fats, polyunsaturated vegetable oils, refined grains, food toxins, or artificial flavors and preservatives. People have a completely skewed sense of what food is healthy or unhealthy thanks to a really inaccurate food pyramid and lots of shoddy ‘science’ circulating the media.

The sad part is that American nutrition policy is starting to infiltrate other areas of the world who have been eating a healthy, nourishing, traditional diet for centuries, and the idea that we have any right to tell other countries what to eat, considering the state we’re in, is absurd. Part of this is the government’s fault, part of it is science’s fault, and perhaps even more of it can be blamed on the food industry which has taken these dietary guidelines and created a whole range of processed garbage that aligns with these inaccurate guidelines. Part of my goal as a future nutrition educator is to teach people what real food is, which includes saturated fat from animal products and natural seasonings like salt, and move them away from eating the highly processed, nutritionally devoid junk that lines the shelves in the grocery store.

6. What do you think is the biggest problem with our industrial food system? Can you think of actionable ways to gather together like-minded people beyond the grass-roots level to effect real change?

I think the biggest issue is people rely way too much on convenient, processed, and packaged foods. No one knows how to cook anymore, and the food industry has capitalized on this. That, and we’ve become way too reliant on commodities like corn, wheat, and soy to feed both us and our animals. It’s not a natural way of doing things. I’m working with a group right now called the Healthy Nation Coalition to start getting some top-down changes going. The project is still in its infancy, but we’ve got a lot of really good ideas about how to get the conversation going about how to fix our food in this country, and where we see the future of food policy and food production. It’s a huge issue to tackle, but we know that whether or not we do something about it, the way things are going now is going to eventually fail. So we can either take action now and change it, or wait for the inevitable collapse of our food system.

7. Grains. Lots of contention about whether or not we need them for good health. Primal and paleo circles are strictly against grains and gluten-free cooking has become mainstream, while many people in the WAPF (Weston A. Price Foundation) camp are zealously defending properly prepared grains. What are your thoughts, especially as some archaeological evidence shows that wild grains and tubers were eaten by our ancestors 100,000 years ago?

Yikes. Well, I’m not a huge fan of sweeping nutrition prescriptions, but I’ll take a stab at this one. For me, I don’t really see the point of eating grains, particularly glutinous ones. From all the data I’ve seen regarding the problems with modern wheat and excessive gluten consumption, it appears that avoiding gluten may be a smart move for most people. I feel that its easy to get plenty of carbohydrates from non-grain sources, and the supposed nutrition they provide is easily obtained through animal and other plant sources.

That said, if someone is adamant about eating grains, I think its really important that those grains are properly prepared by soaking and fermenting. This might sound crass, but I personally don’t really care what humans were eating 100,000 years ago. I look at the diets of the most healthy cultures in the world in the last 100 years and see that most of them weren’t eating grains whatsoever, and if they were, they were ‘properly preparing’ them. So when it comes to grains, eat them at your own risk, but just be smart enough to prepare them in a way to minimize the damage they may cause to your gut.

8. Making healthy changes in diet and lifestyle can be overwhelming for most of us on a tight budget and with little time for recreation. What are some simple tips for gracefully transitioning from the SAD to a balanced diet and a primal fitness program? 

As a graduate student with limited time and resources, I totally understand being overwhelmed by the prospect of changing to a more ‘primal’ lifestyle. I think a big first step can be simply making the switch from processed foods to whole foods. That alone will make a huge difference in most people’s health. Once you’ve started cooking with real ingredients and cut out the processed junk, then you can start looking at food quality. I think its more important to focus on the quality of your meat, and try to look for grass-fed and pastured food products. Figure out things you’re spending money on that you don’t really need. This might sound a bit crazy, but I don’t have TV in my house. I don’t have time to watch it, and it would be a waste of money that I’d rather spend on feeding myself well. You need to be okay with making sacrifices on things that don’t really matter in order to funnel that money into something that will seriously improve your quality of life.

As far as exercise goes, a little goes a long way. Even if all you do is walk every day for an hour, or do some squats and pushups in your living room, you’ll be good to go. It shouldn’t take more than an hour a day to fit in a workout. As Robb Wolf said at PaleoFX this year, “You can eat well, sleep well, and square dance, and you’ll be lean and healthy.” Long story short, people just need to rest more, relax a bit about their diet and exercise, get adequate sleep, and just start enjoying themselves more.

9. Offal. You wrote a post not too long ago about including more organ meats into the diet. What are some reasons you choose to eat things like liver, tongue, and heart? Why do you think SAD-eaters usually find these gross? 

Well, I’ve eaten tongue several times mainly because I just like to be weird like that! But as far as liver goes, even though I’m not obsessed with the way it tastes, I can’t overstate the nutritional quality of grass-fed ruminant liver. As Chris Kresser has pointed out, liver is nature’s most potent superfood, and it’s especially high in the important fat soluble vitamins A and D. If I don’t eat liver, I’m at least taking [fermented] cod liver oil on a regular basis. People who are eating a typical American diet find these foods gross mainly because they’re not used to them. It wasn’t that long ago that families were regularly cooking things like liver and onions, or eating chicken liver paté. They also get grossed out by the idea of it being an animal’s organ, which just demonstrates how disconnected our country has become with where food comes from. My goal is to try and show people that eating organ meat is totally normal, and an inexpensive way to get an incredible nutritional boost in your diet. Every time someone comments on my blog telling me that they’ve tried liver for the first time, I get a little burst of joy: I feel like I’ve made a difference in that person’s life, and hopefully it’s a lasting one!

10. What’s your favorite food quote?!

Here are a couple of good ones (I can never pick ‘favorites’!):

• “Those who think they have no time for healthy eating, will sooner or later have to find time for illness.” ~ Edward Stanley
• “To eat is a necessity, but to eat intelligently is an art.” ~ La Rochefoucauld
• “Don’t dig your grave with your own knife and fork.” ~ English Proverb

Who is Laura Schoenfeld? 

Laura is currently a graduate student at the University of North Carolina in Chapel Hill, pursuing a Masters in Public Health Nutrition (MPH-RD). She was essentially raised on a Weston A. Price diet, but fell into the pitfalls of the Standard American Diet while in high school and college. Constantly struggling with her dietary habits led her to ‘return to her roots’ and start following the principles of Dr. Price’s research. Eventually, she stumbled upon the Paleo/Primal way of eating, and after challenging herself to 30 days of primal eating, she hasn’t looked back since! Now, once she completes her MPH-RD degree, she plans to use her knowledge of traditional and biologically appropriate diets to help others make healthy changes in their own lives.

Check out her blog, Ancestralize Me, and ‘like’ her Facebook page for updates on all things related to nutrition and natural health!

Spring is a wonderful time of year. Weather-wise, you can’t ask for more: sunny days, a refreshing light breeze, the smell of flowers in the air, and beautiful butterflies fluttering around. It really can’t get better than this. On days like this, I feel the urge to get outdoors and enjoy nature. For me, this means walking or hiking briskly outside, and stopping every now and then to observe bright flowers and marvel. Today, I went for such a walk, and came back both refreshed and still hungry to be more active. So, I decided to do a 10 minute intense strength training workout. I didn’t do it outside (I really should have – maybe I can find a way to do pull ups on a tree?), but I still enjoyed the burst of energy in the mid-afternoon.

A walk and workout like this need a healthy replenishing and refreshing drink! Since we are at the tail end of citrus season, we have a box of oranges chillin’ on the floor in our kitchen. Well, technically, it’s never actually citrus season in Virginia, because we have no citrus trees growing at any time of year, but I make exceptions to my ‘buying local’ mantra for things like citrus and tropical fruits. I immediately thought of the famous orange julius recipe, usually made with milk, cold orange juice, sugar and vanilla extract. This mixture was actually popularized by the fruit chain store by the same name, Orange Julius, which started in the 1920s. Back then, I bet they used real food ingredients like whole milk and fresh oranges, but nowadays, all kinds of refined sugars, artificial flavors and chemicals lurk in these smoothie joints. Here’s the ingredient list for their classic orange julius … nothing real about modified whey solids, artificial flavors, corn syrup solids, sodium benzoate, etc. This is why I avoid these smoothie places  at all costs, and always make my own juices and smoothies at home — especially because it just takes 5 minutes (max!) to whirl everything in your blender!

Today, I wanted to experiment with making a homemade orange julius. If you’ve been following my blog for a while, you know that I’m never happy keeping the recipe as is, since I’m always looking for ways to make it healthier and add my own creative touch. Same with this recipe — instead of the now-recognized-as-toxic white sugar, I used local raw honey (awesome for naturally combating spring allergies, by the way!). I also used fresh oranges — with the pulp – instead of refined, pasteurized and preserved orange juice sold in cartons. For milk, I used fresh raw milk that I picked up from the farmer yesterday (check this post on my raw milk conversion). If you don’t have access to raw milk, you can use whole unhonogenized organic milk (not ultrapasterized), or for a dairy-free version, just use a homemade nut milk (almond milk is just one option).

Since I like to be different, I thought to add fresh ginger in there and two heaping tablespoons of chia seeds!

Fresh ginger and chia seeds -- superduperfoods!

Ginger is a superduperfood (like the new buzz word I created?): certain studies have found its anti-inflammatory properties to be useful in inhibiting cancer growth, alleviating gastrointestinal distress and nausea, soothing sore muscles, and healing sore throats. The little spicy kick they give this otherwise sweet, lightly zesty and creamy drink is a nice touch too. Chia seeds don’t have a taste, so I add them liberally to parfaits, smoothies and even … water! They’re chock-full of  good stuff — I outline some of their benefits in this post.

As I mention in the recipe below, you can also add a pastured egg or egg yolk to the mixture (though I didn’t add one this time), for extra protein after a taxing workout. Either way, it’s really a refreshing and nutritious drink that is suitable as a post-workout recovery drink or just to sip on to add some zest to an otherwise beautiful spring day. And best of all — it takes just 5 minutes to put together! Enjoy!

* This post has been shared on Whole New Mom’s  Allergy Free Wednesday, The Nourishing Gourmet’s Pennywise Platter Thursday and Real Food Freak’s Freaky Friday.

The real problem, in Adele’s opinion, is the skewed dietary guidelines, which only propagate myths (Yeah, I too was shocked to hear that saturated fats can be good for you(!) about a year ago). Despite years of trying to follow the US dietary guidelines, Americans have seen obesity and lifestyle diseases like diabetes and heart disease increase as never before … Something is terribly wrong, and we can’t stay quiet much longer. My friends, I introduce to you the passionate Adele Hite:

And the second part:

An Interview with Nutrition Student and PhD Candidate Adele Hite, RD MPH

On getting a nutrition degree …

1. What’s the best route to take for someone interested in dispensing nutrition information? 

First of all, I think it’s terrific that you want to get involved — right now it seems like a lot of people kicking away at this problem on their own. It’s important to find a way to collaborate and join forces. The route you will want to take will depend on what you want to do. If you want to write books, you can do that now. If want to publish online on blogs, it will depend on state regulations how much ‘advice’ you can give, even for free. Take a look at state licenses and requirements; once you figure out what those are, you have some choices. There are a number of certifications out there besides the traditional RD route; you can get a clinical nutritionist certification or a nutritional specialist certification. You have to have a Master’s degree or a PhD to apply for these certifications, so they’re quite rigorous. There are also interning hours you’ll have to complete. I like these certifications because they’re associated with the American College of Nutrition, an organization that has recently passed a resolution stating they will not take funding from industry, and that the Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics (AND) would do well to follow suit.

The Healthy Nation Coalition

There are other options as well – you can be a nutritional therapist or a health coach. But if you want people to take you seriously, you have to get established credentials. At the same time, getting established credentials means you have to slog through the established curriculum. That could be painful but it can also be very illuminating. I didn’t know the system was so broken until I got involved in the system myself.

I had a wonderful mentor through this, Pam Schoenfeld, co-founder of the Healthy Nation Coalition. She contacted me while I was still working at the Duke Clinic. She has been sort of going “You’ll be okay Adele; you’ll live through it”, which has been a big support for me! And now her daughter [Laura has a great paleo-focused blog called Ancestralize Me], is here at UNC in my program. We all just try to support each other, even if we have different views about how much of the message we want to pass along. It all depends on how controversial you’re willing to be — I’ve gotten some heat for my perspectives on nutrition … but that’s okay since I’m still a student!

2. What is the most ‘valid’ real food, science-based nutrition program out there?

The certified nutrition specialist is the up-and-coming one. I think that’s what people are going to start turning to instead of the Registered Dietitian (RD) degree. Part of the reason for its popularity is that it requires a higher degree of education — you have to have a Master’s or PhD. To be an RD, you can just have a bachelor’s, so it’s not as rigorous in training. I have a friend who actually set up a program at  the NY Chiropractic College and we talked about it a good deal. If I had to do it all over again, that’s the kind of program I’d want. It’s teaching you how to understand what’s going on with the person in terms of lab values and lifestyle and really personalizes nutrition. Best of all, it’s free of a lot of the dogma that you get when you go through AND.

However, it’s important to note that those who are certified nutrition specialists or health coaches and are not certified by the AND can be asked to stop practicing nutrition if the state in which they reside passes a law stating that one needs an RD degree to practice. This is important to some degree because we don’t want people who don’t know anything about nutrition advertising themselves as nutritionists. But at the same time, as with doctors who can be an MD or a DO, there is more than one way to be certified as a professional in nutrition. Just because the AND doesn’t want to recognize this just yet doesn’t mean it’s not so. If you got one of those certifications, it would be worth fighting for, now wouldn’t it?

3. If everyone who wants to practice nutrition has to get an RD degree, is there a program that you recommend?

I would recommend my program at UNC, and for good reason. I recommended it to Pam’s daughter – she wouldn’t want her daughter to go through a program where Laura’s opportunities to learn and inquire are squashed at every turn. That is not the way that UNC operates at all. I imagine that there are similarly good programs out there, but I don’t know them. However, I can give you some tips on figuring out how to go about selecting a program:

1. Find out who is the director of program
2. Learn about his or her educational background
3. If they have lot of research done in areas that are well-established in the field but that we know to be erroneous, this is a red flag — is it all whole grains and fiber? Is the focus on polyunsaturated fats? I’m making sweeping generalizations, but there is a possibility that that program would be less open to questioning that standard way of thinking.
4. Look at the faculty members’ backgrounds since they are going to be giving the instruction, and you want to ask the same question: are these people really invested in the status quo, and for what reasons?
5. Find out if in that department of nutrition, there is a five-hundred-pound gorilla who is the big name in that department who gets all the funding, who writes all the books, and who has his or her name on 800 different articles every month. If so, there’s a good chance that this person is likely inflexible and embedded in the status quo.

Again, these indications wouldn’t necessarily mean that the program itself will be inflexible; it just means you may run into more issues, or not be able to raise the questions that you want to raise as easily.

Adele’s journey and food philosophy

4. You were a vegetarian for many years before becoming a convert to real foods (including animal protein and high-quality fats). What prompted this change? Was there an “aha moment” for you?

I can put my finger right on that moment. When I have an exam or another paper to write, or when I’m just overwhelmed by the material, I remember a patient I met at the clinic whose circumstances and story I’ve been able to relate to on a personal level. When I was working at the Duke Clinic, I was educating her about the low-carb diet that we use in the clinic. I start telling her about the importance of eating good delicious food, but the need to give up sugary desserts. She started crying, and I felt bad for her. I realized that most people don’t want to be told to give up anything and so I started telling her about sugar-free cheesecake recipes she can make, etc. Then, she looked up at me with a furious look on her face and I realized she’s mad at me! In a shaky voice, she said: “I have already given up almost everything. I gave up desserts and sweets years ago. I haven’t had a piece of chocolate in forever.” So, she’d already given up everything we’d asked her to give up years ago. But she was also surprised and relieved to find out from me that she can eat real food … that she can have eggs for breakfast and blue cheese dressing — and still lose weight.

First, she didn’t believe me. But then she said: “If what you’re telling me is true, then I’ve been hungry for the past twenty years for no good reason.” And that just struck me to the bone! Because if we see a child who is hungry, we don’t want him to feel one single hunger pang; we want to feed him. But a middle-aged woman who is overweight or obese … our reaction is often: “Let her be hungry; that’s her tough luck!” And that just infuriates me now when I think about it. If we’re overweight or obese, we’re expected to just be hungry and deal with it. And there is something deeply wrong with that.

We got her straightened out, and she started losing weight, gaining energy and getting her life back, and she’d say to me, “Hey Adele, when are you going to get started? When are you going to fix this problem?” This is what really inspired me — I saw it as a social injustice!

I was also one of these people; I was obese, struggling to lose weight, eating less and exercising more, and just being marginally successful at best. And people would give a most discouraging reaction, like “you must not be trying your best” or “you must be lying to yourself or others about what you are eating”. These statements are not only condescending, but also devaluing of another person’s human experience. You get that a lot — even in studies. We assume that people lie about their intake, but we don’t question the intake instrument: Are they accurately probing? Do fat people want to just hide their dietary habits from us? To suggest this is just offensive.

I was a vegetarian for my first two pregnancies, and I had difficult pregnancies; one baby was born 4 weeks early and another 6 weeks early … just a lot of problems. With my third pregnancy, my OB-GYN said “you will eat protein at every meal.” And he made such a big deal out of it; so I did it, and my pregnancy went smoothly! Now, did I put two and two together? No, I did not! After I gave birth, I went back to low-fat vegetarian eating and 6 months after I gave birth, I weighed more than before I gave birth! My weight went in the wrong direction, which was so frustrating. I joined a gym, did everything I was supposed to do, but I was miserable.

There’s that moment when you go “I’ll just have to live as a fat person, because I can’t live like this!” Then, I thought there has got to be a better way to do this. “Maybe there’s something wrong with me — surely it’s my thyroid”, I thought. I went to my family practitioner’s office and they found that my blood pressure and blood glucose were going up. Their solution? I should eat less and exercise more! I was so upset about that, the doctor left and sent in the Physician’s Assistant, who finally gave me some truly useful advice: “Don’t worry so much about the fat; make sure you’re getting protein at every meal.” And then I thought “What’s all this about protein? I thought a plant-based diet was best and all this red meat was bad for you …”, and I just didn’t believe a word he said, but it was the second time I had heard that message.

I went over to the Health Sciences Library at UNC with my littlest one in the stroller, and I was using the then-high-tech tool called the Internet, scrounging as much information as I could. I understood two pieces of information: carbohydrates were mostly for energy, and that body fat is stored energy! In my brain I said “Why am I putting energy into my body when obviously I have been storing plenty of it?” I didn’t know about the insulin thing or anything like that, but that just sort of struck me. Then I picked up the book Protein Power by Mike and Mary Eades, and there was a sentence in there that said there is no dietary requirement for carbohydrate, which again, I did not believe at the time. But I starred and underlined it, and thought maybe there’s something here.

Putting together the advice to increase protein and reduce carbohydrates, I changed my diet. My God, was it a life-changer for me! I started losing weight and feeling great … and started to acquire muscle, which was a brand new thing for me because when I was thin, I still wasn’t muscular. Eight or nine months down the road, I decided that I was doing so well that I had to go back to my old dietary habits! I added more plant-protein, some eggs, and low-fat cheese, and I gained 15 pounds in a month, felt terrible again, and decided it’s not what I need to be doing. It really is all about experimentation; it’s important to find out what works best for each of us, individually. It’s true that some parameters have been hidden from the public, such as the information about the fat-storing consequences of carbohydrates. There’s also misinformation that has been propagated, such as the lipid hypothesis. Additionally, the supposed dangers of saturated fats were overstated. That doesn’t mean that everybody will do well on one particular diet, but there is a range of normal …

This is what makes being a nutritionist really important — to tailor advice to peoples’ needs. Well-trained nutritionists can help people evaluate the science, see how it applies to them, evaluate their own body’s messages, because that can be an art by itself. We haven’t been taught as Americans to understand what the body is trying to tell us. Nutritionists can be especially valuable to help people make these educated guesses about their own dietary habits and lifestyle.

5. A lot of people who are trying their best to lose weight on a “low-fat” diet are struggling, and now we know that this is because they are likely consuming a large amount of simple carbs instead. As a result of the media indoctrinating the public about the supposed danger of fats, many are hesitant to increase their fat intake. What are some resources you would recommend that would help to convince someone to consider a more traditional diet that doesn’t shun fats?

It’s tricky, because some of the resistance comes from “I love the foods I’m eating now, even though I can see quite plainly that they’re not providing me with the best health.” So you have to look at the population that you’re trying to approach. The Weston A. Price Foundation is a good resource for families; Nourishing Traditions is a good resource for mothers raising children. NT is not about weight loss; it’s just about returning to a way we used to eat before all these industrial processed foods entered our food system. For younger people, I think the Paleo lifestyle really captures their imagination. I really like Robb Wolf’s book, The Paleo Solution, and his approach because he has that attitude of “don’t just take my word for it; look at some other evidence.” The audience for the low-carb lifestyle seems to be people who are already severely disregulated, who are obese, diabetic, etc — this makes sense because they need a stronger prescription. The book that just came out by Stephen Phinney and Jeff Volek called The Art and Science of Low Carbohydrate Living is a valuable resource. There’s lots of material out there; you have to simply address the specific needs of who you are trying to help.

6. There’s a lot of contention in the food blog world regarding grains and whether or not we need them for good health. Primal and paleo circles are strictly against grains, and gluten-free cooking has become mainstream, while many people in the WAPF (Weston A. Price Foundation) camp are zealously defending properly (traditionally) prepared grains. What are your thoughts, especially as some archaeological evidence shows that wild grains and tubers were eaten by our ancestors 100,000 years ago?

I guess if someone asked me “should I stop grains?”, I’d ask them why they’re eating them in the first place! What’s your motivation for eating them now? If you’re eating grains just because you like them or you’re used to eating them, then how much pain is it going to cause you to give that up? Is it going to be a real struggle for you? Then, we are looking at other issues besides just nutritional content. I thought this was a good question actually, because we do see a lot of zealotry or moralizing about food in the world, and I think it’s interesting especially when we’re looking at ancestral ways of eating. Do we look at the far, far past — the caveman’s diet? I’m taking a food culture and anthropology class and one of the things we know is that we ate a lot of insects and grubs when we were at sustenance-level eating, but I don’t see anybody zealously defending eating bugs! I think a lot of times what we’re defending are our own cultural norms and our own personal proclivities, and maybe even addictions.

If you’re a person who likes puttering around in the kitchen and like sprouting stuff, pickling stuff, and fermenting stuff, then getting grains to the point where they’re not toxic can be fun for you. For someone else, these processes can be seen as additional chores, and it may not be worth it for them, so they cut it out completely.

On hacking the food/healthcare system …

7. What do you think is the biggest problem with our industrial food system? Can you think of actionable ways to gather together like-minded people beyond the grass-roots level to effect real change?

When you’re a hammer, everything looks like a nail; so my answer to the biggest problem is going to be the dietary guidelines. I used to not think this way, but it seems that all major barriers that I run into when it comes to reform have the dietary guidelines behind them. “We can’t do this” or “we can’t change this” because of what it says in the dietary guidelines. As long as the USDA and the HHS own the definition of “healthy”, there is so much we are unable to change — our agricultural food supply structure, the labeling of products, the advice we give people in medical care and health care systems, the information distributed in the media, our health educational system, all funding for studies — each one of those is tied back to the guidelines. I’m not saying we need to necessarily change the guidelines; I’m saying we might just need to dismantle the system or try a different way to talk to the public about how to achieve health by making food choices that are appropriate for individuals. It’s not necessarily going to be the current top-down system that we’ve got, because goodness knows — it just has not worked all that well!

Graph taken from the Healthy Nation Coalition website.

To me, it’s a real puzzle. If I put up another graph that shows installation of a plastics factory and at the bottom it’s cancer incidence … and you saw an inflection point like that, people will definitely think there is some type of relationship to this crazy slope. But when you relate obesity to the dietary guidelines, this is the response I get: “Well, people are moving less.” I think there’s not that big of a difference between how much we were moving in 1980 and how much people are moving now … but there weren’t a lot of fat people in 1980! I was alive and remember it. My parents didn’t own a pair of jogging shoes; in fact, no adults I knew “exercised” when I graduated from high school. Kids had sports in high school but adults didn’t play sports or exercise, but no one I knew was really fat. So, what changed? There are all sorts of excuses … women in the workforce, automobiles, etc.  But what it comes down to is when we added the guidelines; it affected every aspect of our food system. It changed the way that Americans thought about food and their health. They were taught to think that they can get health out of a box. They were no longer taught to listen to their own bodies or their grandmother’s advice, or pay attention to what is real food or isn’t. If it comes from a manufacturer and if it’s been quantified, labeled and health-claimed, then it’s okay … and everything else — an egg, a pork chop — is suspect. It has fundamentally changed the way that we think about our food.

So what can we do about it?

First of all, I think we have to get rid of these silos; we have to stop saying “my diet is better than your diet” to everybody, including vegetarians. It’s vital to acknowledge that there are different paths people are going to take to health, but we are going to agree on the fact that our current industrialized food system isn’t working. This doesn’t mean that we have to eliminate it or that it’s going to go away; it just means that it’s going to be different than how it works now. The best thing as I’ve said before is to join forces — those who are in the slow food movement, the agricultural reform movement, WAPF, paleo, low-carb, healthcare reform movement … all these people, if they came together as one and were willing to simply agree on the fact that what we’ve been doing up until now is not working, we can start to push for things to change. We don’t have the answers. If we create another top-down, one-size-fits-all system — another dietary prescription that we think is right for everyone — we will fail again, because there will be unintended consequences that we don’t know about just like there were unintended consequences from 1980 that they didn’t know about.

The work that you’re doing — just getting the word out — is so important. Tell stories like yours over and over again. I share that I tried following the rules, and they didn’t work for me. Why aren’t we questioning the status quo? Being in the academic scientific community, we are simply not asking the questions. It’s almost forbidden to “go there”. This is not because scientists don’t care or are afraid. I think they ask the questions by themselves, but once they get to a certain status, they need to stop asking questions in order to secure funding or get accepted into the club. The system is rigged — not necessarily against people, but rigged for other peoples’ special interests. There’s a lot of political bullying, pressure in the form of funding, etc without taking into account what happens when you hand the nutrition business over to the agency whose real mandate is to promote agricultural products. At what point [is the USDA] going to recommend a change in diet that’s going to really hurt some of the big agricultural businesses? It doesn’t make a lot of sense.

8. What is the simplest way to convince the general public that the current dietary recommendations are sub-par?

The joke always is “I have a copy of Good Calories, Bad Calories, but only read the first half” because once you get into the second half, you’ll just want to cry! The first half is a page-turner; it’s just fabulous. Go to the library and just read the first half; don’t feel guilty about not reading the second half [because it's known to be very difficult to understand] — that’s a great place to see where it sort of all went awry. Unfortunately, I don’t think there’s good documentation yet of what happens next. I wrote my Master’s paper on this,  which I just put up on the web, so more people have access to it, and hopefully that’s the whole purpose of starting a blog — just so I’ll have an outlet for that. What the public doesn’t understand is that we tend to blame a lot of this on industry. That’s not entirely unfounded, but the big industrial culprit at work here is what I call the “scientific industrial food complex”. A lot of people make their living from funding to study science that is sort of geared to prove the theory behind the [current] guidelines. It’s biased from the outset. Scientists come to science with their own biases, with their own microscopic view of the world … because they’ve been taught to specialize and narrow their focus.

When it comes to nutrition, it’s exacerbated because we have this giant umbrella called the dietary guidelines. So if you’re a scientist putting together a study and you want to know what the “healthy diet” is going to be, you don’t have to guess; you’re programmed to look to the dietary guidelines. If you put in any other diet in there and call it healthy, you will be going against the organization that is funding you! So if you want to study nutrition, you have to study the nutrition of the dietary guidelines. People have the reaction of  “where’s the science that says …” or, “well I read in Fuhrman’s book and he quotes lots of studies that show …” Well, he also tells us that broccoli has more protein than steak, which is just goofy! Until we begin to be skeptical of who we’re believing when we think we’re believing science, we will remain confused. It’s a culture change or a paradigm shift, and it will take some time for things to change.

People in the medical establishment also have to be on board. Doctors are not taught proper preventive care. The healthcare community is one of those threads that when you start tugging at food and nutrition policy in America, you get tangled up in … because the funding for studies about cholesterol and about saturated fats, sodium, and all these other measurements of heart-health, come from — to a large extent — the NIH, which is housed in Health and Human Services, which is one of the places that creates the dietary guidelines in the first place! So, it’s not an independent agency. Therefore, you have a funding agency that is going to want to fund studies that support the guidelines that the other part of the agency has already come up with and already said that these are what should be. The agency is not going to try to undermine its own work, so it will try to limit funding in areas that might upset the status quo. And that’s the core of the problem.

In America, we’ve been taught that medication and surgery are going to fix us. And that’s an expensive and ineffective route to go. Statin drugs are a perfect example of causing more problems than they solve for some people. That said, as Americans, we need to step up and take up responsibility for our own health.

9. So, factory farmed beef versus an organic granola bar. What are your thoughts?

I would rather have someone have factory-farmed beef over organic granola bars. That’s my take on it based on what I saw in the clinic. From a clinical perspective, the meat is going to make the person better faster than the so-called healthy whole grains. The organic granola bar is going to raise the blood sugar faster and the person will have a harder time losing weight. From an environmental perspective, not so much. We have a little burger place by our house and we call it the “Magic McDonald’s”. All their food is handmade: meat is ground on the premises, the fries are hand-cut and fried in non-GMO oil (I’d be happier if they were fried in lard, but they have to cater to their consumer base). Just think how much better it would be to turn McDonald’s into this. It’s still burger and fries, but the quality is incomparable. And it’s a local business, so I’m supporting the local economy too.

You can’t have impossible standards right out of the gate. You have to help people find what can make their health better, and then we can figure out how to make the world better. If I could change one thing for most people, I would encourage them to switch from cereal to eggs for breakfast everyday, and so many other things will fall into place!

On making locally-grown foods more accessible …

10. My topic of greatest interest at this point is this: I’m trying to understand what are the main barriers to making locally and sustainably sourced food more directly available to consumers, and what it would take for more farmers to embrace a more organic and sustainable (and traditional) approach to farming. What would it really take to change the paradigm and the ecosystem of agriculture and food economics?

I’m right on board with you. I think it’s a very interesting issue to tackle. I’m taking a social entrepreneurship class and working on a project that addresses this. I think what it’s going to take is a combination of top-down policy change and bottom-up culture change and consumer awareness. There are some barriers that policy changes can reduce: enforcing anti-trust regulations in the food industry so we are no longer centralizing all of our meat processing, for example.  That’s a real problem for consumers because everything we want to eat comes from these centralized processing plants where everything gets processed the same way. It’s a problem for farmers because they end up being contractors in a vertically-organized system instead of being their own entrepreneurs on the farm. So we need to encourage and support smaller circles of production, processing and retail, through state funds and local funds. Instead of food being grown in North Carolina, shipped out of state for processing, and brought back in to be sold, let’s keep it all local.

If we keep things local, we keep things in our local community, and we have a lot more control over the extent of the processing, and the farmers end up having more control over what their part of the production line is. They control what they grow, and who they sell to. It diversifies what is happening on the farm, gives them a more stable basis for income, and it’s good for the consumer because we are getting things a lot closer to home. But to make this work, we have to increase demand by consumer information through the health care system. So if doctors were recommending a whole foods diet, if their first-line treatment for diabetes were farmers’ market produce and meat, that would change consumer demand! You can’t tell me that buying prescriptions from the drugstore is cost-effective compared to even buying more expensive meat products.

Again, I sound like a broken record, but it comes down to the dietary guidelines — they tell our healthcare providers what to recommend! My nephew is in medical school now and he was told (and I was so pleased to hear it) that a low-carb diet is the best treatment for diabetes. But then he was told that the patient won’t follow through with it, so a medication would still be necessary. But just because someone might not follow through with something doesn’t mean you should not provide her with the correct information and let her decide! We need to lower the barriers for the consumer instead of blaming the consumer for not wanting to follow a lifestyle treatment that is going to be really effective.

If demand increases, industry will follow. The industry will go to where the consumer will put his/her money. The flip side of that is industry also regulates what the consumer wants; by putting certain health claims on the packages of food, that manipulates consumer demand. Consumers may think that the absence of a health claim on broccoli or pork chop is weird, and that somehow the presence of a health claim on Cheerios — no matter how unscientific or meaningless — overrides the real food items. So we need to have a more informed consumer base; and I think industry will shift according to consumer demand.

Who is Adele Hite? 

Taken from her new blog, Eathropology, Adele is “a PhD graduate student in Nutrition Epidemiology at UNC-Chapel Hill. She completed a Masters of Public Health/Registered Dietitian (RD MPH) program, a Masters of Arts in Teaching, and a BA in English at the same institution and she still doesn’t care much about basketball. She’s a mom, a yoga instructor, an omnivore, a songwriter, proud co-founder of the Healthy Nation Coalition, and a general thorn in the side of the nutrition establishment.”

 

 

 

 

*This post has been shared on Butter Believer’s Sunday School and Real Food Freak’s Freaky Friday.

Circa 1999. Yes, the fight has been long, but we're not giving up.

I have the right to know what I am eating. You have the right to know. Really, anyone who is paying hard-earned money for a food or drink, or anything that is going to be ingested and absorbed into the bloodstream, has the right to know. Think about it: you’re at the grocery store, trying to find healthy foods to feed your your family. You pick up a few slices of fresh Atlantic salmon … fatty fish like salmon is a good source of Omega-3s, you’ve heard. But what if I told you that soon enough (as in, sometime this year in 2012) you may be buying “Atlantic salmon” that has been genetically modified … without having a clue that it is, because it’s simply not labeled as such. There is currently no law that requires the labeling of genetically modified foods. And that, my friends, is absolutely absurd. Let me tell you why.

What the heck is a genetically modified food?

Quite simply (… or not), genetically modified foods are plants (or animals, in the case of fish) that have had their genetic makeup tweaked in the lab. Scientists cut-and-splice genes from a particular organism and add it to another plant or animal to give it a particular characteristic, such as resistance against forces of nature such as weeds, pests or drought. (It must escape them that these calamities can be dealt with more effectively without the genetic modification due to biodiversity and the organism’s own evolutionary adaptive mechanisms, humph). Another goal is to increase plants’ yield, or make animals grow faster, for larger profits — never mind the possible health and environmental ramifications. Finally, genetic modification may be done with the intent of making the plant or animal look artificially more ripe or fresh even when it really isn’t … which I’d consider a deceptive practice of course.

Whether or not you think this sounds like quackery, you probably agree that these genetically modified foods should at least be labeled, so that consumers can have a choice. Over 93% of Americans, on both sides of the debate, think that labeling of genetically modified organisms (GMOs), also known as genetically engineered (GE) food or bioengineered food, is a basic right. Just Label It is a wonderful campaign aimed at mobilizing the public to demand that GM foods be labeled - sign the petition and share!

Are you currently eating genetically modified foods unknowingly?

Okay, so you don’t eat farm-raised Atlantic salmon … think you’re off the hook? Are you still consuming genetically modified food unknowingly? Here’s the simple answer: If you live in America, and if you eat, period, genetically modified foods will find their way to your plate, unless you’re extremely vigilant (more on that later). After all, the United States is the largest producer of genetically modified crops in the world. And 10% of all the world’s crops are genetically modified. By the way, many European countries including Austria, Bulgaria, Hungary, France, Germany, Greece, and Luxembourg have put a ban on GMOs. The UK requires labeling as do the 15 European Union nations, Russia, Japan, China, Australia, New Zealand, and many other countries. Even China, whose residents distrust its unsafe food practices, has suspended the commercialization of genetically engineered rice. The United States would do well to follow suit.

Do you eat grains? What about other animal products? Do you eat vegetables? About 86% of corn and 93% of soy grown in the United States are genetically modified. These form the bulk of the diet of conventionally-raised animals who spend their entire lives in cramped, filthy feedlots. Oh, you’re a vegan? Think you’re immune to GM foods? Think again. If you eat cereals, granola bars, store-bought veggie burgers, cheese substitutes, or even edamame in ‘whole form’, then you’re out of luck, because each of these is almost guaranteed to contain genetically modified ingredients unless it specifies otherwise. And since there’s no regulation of what constitutes non-GMO foods, companies aren’t forced to adhere to any rules before claiming that a GM, pesticide-and-preservative doused food is still, somehow, “all-natural”. Yes, believe me when I say that the “all natural” label means nothing at all. In fact, not only do I walk away, but I run from a food product when I see the all-natural claim — because through my real food journey, I’ve learned that nine times out of ten, it’s the farthest-thing-from-natural, and in fact, the claim that something is “all natural” increases the probability that it is questionable. Usually, the company claiming it is natural is not one that I would trust with my body and my health.

Even WebMD – which I don’t consider to be a beacon of light in the health movement — admits these facts in regards to genetically-modified foods:

Experts say 60% to 70% of processed foods on U.S. grocery shelves have genetically modified ingredients. The most common genetically modified foods are soybeans, maize, cotton, and rapeseed oil. That means many foods made in the U.S. containing field corn or high-fructose corn syrup, such as many breakfast cereals, snack foods, and the last soda you drank; foods made with soybeans (including some baby foods); and foods made with cottonseed and canola oils could likely have genetically modified ingredients. These ingredients appear frequently in animal feed as well (WebMD).

Oh, but you shop at Whole Foods! Surely, this establishment committed to as many organic foods as possible (53% of products are organic there) cannot be deceiving you and selling you “all-natural” foods that are contaminated with GMOs. Unfortunately, that is simply not the case. In this interview with Joseph Mercola, DO, Senior VP of Whole Foods admits that some products sold at Whole Foods, even some that bear the “all-natural” label, are contaminated with GMOs. There are no saints in the corporate game. If you’re a non-discerning  Whole Foods consumer, there’s a big chance you’re still buying GE (genetically engineered) foods, and paying a premium for it.

So, you want to avoid GE foods, huh? Well, here are the biggest offenders …

These top 10 ways to avoid GMOs according to Maria Rodale, chairwoman and CEO of Rodale, Inc. are really helpful, and a good place to start. Also her endearingly hand-drawn flowchart below is quite useful:

These above are general guidelines, but it is very difficult, if not impossible, to find an exhaustive list of genetically modified foods, simply because there are no rules mandating that GM foods be identified, singled out, or labeled! But, as mentioned in the link and flowchart above, we do know that there are a number of foods that are most commonly genetically modified and are used ubiquitously in processed and packaged foods and in conventional animal agriculture.

Here are some of the worst offenders:

*Among each of these crops grown in the U.S., the approximate percentage that is genetically modified is shown in parentheses. For more information, take a look at the FDA’s List of Completed Consultations on Bioengineered Foods; it doesn’t tell you which of these is actually at your local supermaket, but at least you have an idea of what the FDA has approved.

- Sugar Beets (95%): I love beets, but always make sure to buy them certified organic. Any processed foods containing sugar is also suspect because the sugar therein is typically extracted from GE beets.

- Soy (93%): Can you believe that a whopping “82% of edible fats and oils consumed in the U.S. are soy-based”? (Healthy Child)  Other soy products to watch out for include soy beverages, tofu, meat-substitutes, soy oil, soy flour, lecithin. I personally avoid soy products like the plague, for a number of reasons; this GMO issue is just  the cherry on top! If it’s a packaged product with a list of non-organic ingredients, it will likely have a GM soy by-product. Read ingredient labels scrupulously.

- Canola / Rapeseed (93%): ”Heart-healthy” canola oil? Think again. Besides 93% of it being genetically modified, the rapeseed plant, used to make canola oil, is industrially processed and refined. Steer clear of this rancid junk!

- Cotton / Cottonseed Oil (93%): Did you know that this cheap industrial oil is used in many packaged “salad dressings, baked goods and snack foods”? (Healthy Child) Don’t eat anything with cottonseed oil, GM or not. You might want to invest in organic cotton clothes for your baby if you can afford it too. I personally can’t afford all organic cotton clothes for myself, but I think it’s worth it if it’s within the budget.

- Corn / Maize (86%): Everyone who knows anything about health has heard of the evil high fructose corn syrup, which has gotten a lot of media attention in recent years. Besides this sugary syrup, corn is pretty much in every other processed food product. The newest kind of GE corn is extra scary, because it is a herbicide-tolerant mutant crop “that can survive being sprayed with the infamous herbicide 2,4-D, an Agent Orange ingredient with documented serious human health impacts, from cancer to immunosuppression, reproductive damage,  and neurotoxicity” (Organic Consumers). Yummy, eh?

- Hawaiian papaya (more than 50%): “More than 50 percent of papaya from Hawaii is genetically modified to resist a virus. Most U.S. papayas come from Brazil, Mexico, or the Caribbean, however, where there are no GM varieties” (Smith). Emily of Butter Believer (who lives in the lovely Hawaii) recently wrote a great post about how to differentiate GM papayas from non-GM varieties. Good thing, because I love the taste of fresh papayas!

- Squash and Zucchini (13%): I haven’t found enough information about the prevalence of GM squashes, except that the Crookneck variety seems to be the most popular GM kind out there. Nothing beats the taste of summer squash, in season, from the local farmer’s market!

- Alfalfa: ”On January 27, the US Department of Agriculture reached a decision on genetically engineered Roundup Ready^® alfalfa, having reached the end of the review period for the environmental impact statement (EIS). Out of the three possible options—regulation, partial deregulation, and complete deregulation—the USDA chose the worst possible option: full non-regulated status [...] Deregulation is dangerous. Without regulation, GM alfalfa will encroach on non-GM alfalfa, irretrievably contaminating it” (ANH).  Alfalfa is a big deal because dairy cows graze liberally on it. If there is nothing regulating this high probability of cross-contamination, then the integrity of organic milk can really be in question, with cows grazing on GM alfalfa. And no testing will be done to ensure that it isn’t actually GM alfalfa. If it sounds fishy, it’s because it is. Again, nothing beats buying dairy locally.

- Honey: Apparently, “Some Canadian honey comes from bees collecting nectar from GM canola plants. This has shut down exports of Canadian honey to Europe” (Disabled). Yes, the EU is smart enough to ban GE-contaminated honey … It’s best to buy local honey, from a farm you trust.

- Potatoes (some of the GM varieties include Atlantic, Russett Burbank, Russet Norkatah, and Shepody): GM or not, it’s probably wise to buy only organic potatoes if you can, because they’re one of the most heavily sprayed crops.

- Dairy from cows injected with rBGH:  [As of 2002], about 22 percent of cows in the U.S. are injected with recombinant (genetically modified) bovine growth hormone (rbGH). Dairies generally collect their milk from many sources. In the U.S., if a dairy product is not labeled organic, non-GMO, or made without hormones, it is likely that a portion of the product came from cows that were injected with rbGH” (Smith). On a similarly disturbing note, scientists have recently been able to engineer cow’s milk to make it more similar to human breast milk, through genetic modification. It might be coming to a supermarket near you in the next few years, so beware. I drink my pure, unadulterated cow’s milk raw from a local farmer I trust in order to avoid all this nonsense.

- Atlantic Salmon (made by US-based company AquaBounty): pending FDA approval. Just don’t buy farmed fish, especially if imported from another country, capisce? Well, that is if you want to avoid antibiotics, toxic chemicals and artificial fish feed and dyes!

- Enzymes, Additives & Sweeteners: “Genetically modified bacteria and fungi are used in the production of enzymes, vitamins, food additives, flavorings and processing agents in thousands of foods on the grocery shelves as well as health supplements. Aspartame, the diet sweetener, is a product of genetic engineering” (Smith). And by the way, there’s a new artificial sweetener in town called Neotame, also brought to you by Monsanto. Told ya; it’s probably a good idea to avoid any and all packaged foods!

- Synthetic Vitamins: “Vitamin C (ascorbic acid) is often made from corn, vitamin E is usually made from soy. Vitamins A, B2, B6, and B12 may be derived from GMOs as well as vitamin D and vitamin K may have ‘carriers’ derived from GM corn sources, such as starch, glucose, and maltodextrin” (Disabled). Another reason to ditch the Centrum!

What’s the big deal with GM foods anyway?

What’s wrong with genetically engineered salmon, you ask? Oh, well, we really don’t know yet. We do know that it’s manipulated enough to cause it to grow three times faster than regular salmon, that it’s more aggressive and much larger than normal salmon, and yet is weaker and has a higher mortality rate than its non-GM counterpart. Yikes. It’s also farm raised, and since it has no access to nourishing natural food in the form of living plankton and krill, farmed fish are given artificial feed like genetically modified corn, soy and synthetic supplements, a big dose of antibiotics to “prevent disease” (I wonder if they ever heard that this may cause antibiotic-resistance?), and are artificially dyed orange-red to mask their nutrient-deficient white color (the bright red color is naturally present in wild fish because they eat plankton). All this, and there’s a large chance that many of these Franken-fish can escape and contaminate fish in the wild. Appetizing, eh? Still think this antibiotic-filled, artificially-colored, genetically-modified fish can be in any way good for health? I think not.

Salmon aside, you might think it odd that the FDA and USDA completely gloss over studies like these, which have found genetically modified foods to be damaging to the organs of mammals and causing weight gain, even though the longest of the trials only studied the effect over a 90-day period and already found it damaging! Also, despite claims by big biotech firms like Monsanto that the GM properties would be ‘destroyed in the gut’, “a landmark study found 93 per cent of blood samples taken from pregnant women and 80 per cent from umbilical cords tested positive for traces of the chemicals” (Daily Mail). Hmm, would you like to wait to find out if over-consumption of GE foods can hurt you or your baby? Kill some kidney cells and ruin your digestive functions in the process; no real harm done, right? Wouldn’t it be wiser to practice a more precautionary attitude when it comes to novelties in science and health … especially because there are such studies that already shed light on possible dangers?

Plus, what if I told you that the genetically modified foods were starting to be ineffective in their sole job to kill weeds and pests? And what if I told you that the pests and weeds are becoming resistant to the technology, and that more manipulation via genetic engineering is required to keep these crops alive, and to keep the farmers who depend on them employed? How would you feel about that?

The shadiness of it all …

The truth of the matter is that large bioengineering firms like Monsanto, which develop these GM foods, will never admit that their product is fundamentally flawed, has a negative impact on health and environment, and strips traditional farmers the world over of their natural farming methods needlessly, or that their practices are irreversibly altering our ecosystem. The companies will not admit it; but the companies cannot be expected to self-regulate. That’s what the government is for — to protect the rights of the people to be informed to make their own decisions, and to monitor these companies’ practices to ensure that they are lawful. If these companies would like to mess with some part of nature, they need to maintain that their activities are not destroying other parts of nature. And if they are destroying more than allotted belongings, then they’re responsible! But guess what? The exact opposite is happening.

Monsanto and other biotech giants own GM seeds; they have their patents registered with the government. So, farmers whose organic crops have been contaminated by GM seeds (due to wind or cross-pollination; not because the farmers have planted the GM seeds themselves) end up being harassed and sued by Monsanto for patent infringement … the very company that is ruining their crops and livelihood! Oh, the irony. And when the farmers recently tried to band together to sue the corporate behemoth, they lost the case … for no good reason. Money talks, I tell you! And if we don’t stand up as concerned citizens and demand transparency, pretty soon our children can be susceptible to indoctrination and brainwashing by these corporate giants.

You’d think that enough testing takes place before these genetically modified foods hit the market, but the reality is that corporate interests often supersede public health; so, foods, medications, vaccinations, substances — anything manufactured, often gets approved in a shoddy, unscientific way, without enough testing to deem them safe for humans. Within the past few decades, opinions have been reversed after people have been burned using things like asbestos, painkillers, and even “organic” baby foods and products, as a result of hasty approval and poor regulations. I wonder … will GM foods be next?

Down the road, after humans use these medications and buy this food, without knowledge of their side effects, a lot of bad things can start to happen. People may die. They may get sick. Babies can be born with more birth defects and complications. We are then forced to face the reality that maybe this so-called “promising” invention isn’t so promising after all, but only when it’s too late. And the recommendations to consume these things is often rescinded, but often after the damage has been done to a large segment of the population. And if precedent is any indicator, the companies responsible, with their powerful attorneys and billions invested in marketing, slip away with only a couple of million of dollars worth of lawsuits … chump change in their book. The real victims? People who fell for the scam, and have suffered needlessly.

Some resources to help you navigate the GM-free food scene

If you want to avoid GMOs in your food, you have to be vigilant. As mentioned earlier, buy only certified organic foods, limit your purchases of anything packaged, eliminate processed foods and shop at your local farmer’s market or join a CSA that sources from local farms.

There are a number of labels and food guides available for free to help you navigate the isles at your grocery store. Look for foods with the Non-GMO Project certification label (to the left) and/or the USDA organic certification label.

There’s a neat Non-GMO shopping guide by the Institute for Responsible Technology (You can even download the guide on your iPhone!). There’s another True Food Shopper’s Guide by the The Center for Food Safety to help you identify which brand(s) have GMO-free ingredients. Dr. Joseph Mercola of the health news site Mercola.com frequently shares posts on GMOs, their dangers, and how to avoid them. A number of real food bloggers have also put together lists, including Jenny of Nourished Kitchen who has a handy-dandy list of brand names that are GMO free, and Raine of Agriculture Society who busts the top 10 myths about GMOs in this post. Any other resources that you’re aware of? Share in the comments, and I’ll update the article.

What you can do to demand your rights

As you can see in the cartoon at the very beginning of this post, we’ve been fighting for labeling of GM foods for a long time. But don’t throw in the towel just yet! Here are some things you can do to demand your rights:

- Raise awareness: Share this post and similar posts with friends and family. Share this article on Facebook. Pin the cartoons and infographic on Pinterest. Tweet about the petitions you have signed — all in an effort to help inform more of your social circle that they can demand that GM foods are labeled, and why it makes a lot of sense to avoid Frankenfoods in the first place.

- Vote with our dollars: It’s no secret that money talks. As demand for organic, non-GMO foods increases, supply will increase and industry will follow. Don’t buy any processed food products, diligently read ingredient labels of any packaged foods that you do buy, and look for the certified organic and the non-GMO project labels on foods before you purchase.

- Buy local: If you buy from small local farms either directly or through buying clubs, farmers’ markets or CSAs, you can easily verify the source of your foods, visit the farms anytime and ask your farmers the hard questions. As a bonus, you keep the money circulating in your local economy, and you promote sustainability in agricultural practices and carbon emissions while you’re at it!

- Petition the U.S. government to require the labeling of genetically modified foods: Call your congresspersons and senators, send letters to the White House and FDA, and sign petitions left and right like it’s nobody’s business. One of the best campaigns working on this initiative is Just Label It - it is as straightforward as it sounds … sign their petition addressed to the FDA. A few clicks here and there, and you’ve voiced your opinion … quickly, easily and for free!

- Donate: You can donate to the Organic Consumers Fund - “Every dollar donated goes directly into the fund that will be used to support Ballot Initiative signature gatherers, media experts, consultants, and lawyers who will work together to get GMO labeling on the ballot, and pass this law in November.” There’s also the Label GMOs grassroots campaign, a California ballot initiative to label GMOs in our food; donate to the organization here.

I bet you didn’t know that President Obama has promised to label GMOs (Watch this one minute video below). As citizens of the United States, we can demand that he follow through on his promise:

Through it all, don’t lose hope. Every attempt to get the word out matters … a lot. Don’t underestimate your power as a consumer to effect real change.

Update: On March 27, 2012, the Just Label It campaign announced that they have already collected 1 million signatures from concerned U.S. citizens, demanding that they have the right to know if the food that they are purchasing has been genetically modified. Below is the updated infograph shared on the Just Label It website. Let’s keep up the pressure — there is power in numbers!

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*This post has been shared on Butter Believer’s Sunday School and Real Food Freak’s Freaky Friday.

Thanks to all of those who participated in the first My Life in a Pyramid giveaway to win a $25 voucher good towards any Miessence product or  a 30-minute consultation with sustainability coach Lacey Swartz! Marwa I. was selected as the lucky winner by the Random.org feature through Rafflecopter’s automated system. Congratulations to Marwa, and best of luck to others in future giveaways!

On this lazy Sunday afternoon in the beginning of spring, I am reminded of how beautiful nature is, and how we are called to be stewards of the earth, no matter our religion or background. Part of stewardship is not only caring for the environment and our surroundings, but also caring for our own bodies, and not ‘polluting’ them with junk, both externally and internally. Take some time to think of how you can rid yourself of any pollutants today. Share one idea for how to do so, in the comments. Explore Pinterest boards on natural living for inspiration, or simply look to nature for answers on how to do this. I’m interested in your ideas!

Happy Spring, and look for more exciting giveaways from My Life in a Pyramid in the near future!

]]> http://mylifeinapyramid.com/2012/03/winner-of-miessence-giveaway-announced/feed/ 3 http://mylifeinapyramid.com/2012/03/enter-to-win-miessence-giveaway-meet-sustainable-personal-care-guru-lacey-swartz/ http://mylifeinapyramid.com/2012/03/enter-to-win-miessence-giveaway-meet-sustainable-personal-care-guru-lacey-swartz/#comments Thu, 15 Mar 2012 04:25:25 +0000 Heba http://mylifeinapyramid.com/?p=2190 Get excited, My Life in a Pyramid fans and friends; today I’m hosting my first giveaway on the blog! Enter at the bottom of this post.

As you’ll learn through this interview with my friend, personal care consultant Lacey Swartz, what you put on your body, and what you clean your surroundings with are just as important as what you put in your body. To enter this giveaway, simply go through the Rafflecopter widget at the end of this post. Every step through the Rafflecopter at the bottom of this post affords you one entry, and you can get a total of 6 possible entries (failing to comment on this post disqualifies you). So, what can you win? Here’s the exciting part: you get to choose between a free 30-minute consultation ($25 value) with Lacey or a voucher for a $25 Miessence gift certificate good towards any Miessence product(s). So, to be clear, the winner will be guaranteed $25 worth of awesome personal care advice (in the form of a label reading workshop or personalized suggestions) or in the form of Miessence certified organic products.

The Importance of Natural Personal Care

I wrote a couple of posts in the past about personal care: What a lot of people fail to realize is that our physical health is partly concerned with how much we expose our bodies to unnecessary toxins. Even if you already eat mostly organic foods with the least processing so that you’re avoiding a lot of toxins there, what about the personal care products you use – soap, lotion, deodorant, shaving cream, cologne/perfume, makeup, shampoo, conditioner, etc? What kinds of chemicals are used to make these products? Evidence has shown that ingredients slathered on the skin do get absorbed into the bloodstream over time (think about it: some women apply a simple patch to the skin as a birth control method!) I believe that it’s very important to seek out the most natural and least toxic brands of personal care, cosmetics, and cleaning products available. (And if all else fails, you can learn to easily make some products yourself at home).

But, even if you try your best to seek out these products, you will likely face some challenges. Since there is no governmental regulation of these products, people remain confused. According to the Campaign for Safe Cosmetics:

The FDA does not review – nor does it have the authority to regulate – what goes into cosmetics before they are marketed for salon use and consumer use. In fact, 89 percent of all ingredients in cosmetics have not been evaluated for safety by any publicly accountable institution. Ironically, most consumers believe the U.S. government regulates the cosmetics industry the same way it regulates food and drugs sold in this country to make sure they’re safe. The truth is, no one’s minding the store when it comes to shampoo, skin moisturizers, baby products, lipstick or any other personal care product.

(You can learn more about the issues with the personal care industry in this short video “The Story of Cosmetics” made by Annie Leonard.)

These days, it’s becoming increasingly difficult to decipher whether or not a company is honestly committed to being more eco-friendly. The practice of greenwashing, or painting a misleading picture of environmentally-friendly activities and ingredients, is becoming a prevalent reality, with more and more companies trying to literally ‘cash in’ on the green market. However, a handful of companies have sprung up in recent years that have been promoting a rigorous approach of using only the most environmentally-safe and health-friendly ingredients in their products. One such company is Miessence, a personal care company that is heralded as carrying “the first and most comprehensive range of certified organic skin, hair, cosmetic and body care products on the planet.”

Interview with Lacey Swartz, Miessence Representative and Eco-Friendly Mom of Four

Eager to learn more about Miessence, I chatted with Lacey Swartz, a Miessence representative and a staunch believer in eco-friendly products, to get her take on the personal care and cosmetic industry. Lacey is a mother of four, ages 7 and under, who started becoming passionate about safe products shortly after having her first child. You can read more about Lacey’s “green” journey on her website.

1. Tell me a little about your story and what you do. How did you get interested in working in the area of personal care?

When my daughter was 7 months old, I became aware of the questionable ingredients in the baby shampoo and lotions we were using. Around the same time, a friend introduced me to a safer semi-natural line of products that allowed me to build a home-based consulting business in the field of healthier personal care options. Today, I help people learn to evaluate the health and environmental impacts of personal care product choices in general, and for those who are interested, I offer various client services on behalf of the particular organic brand that, after 7 years of research, I personally find to be the best choice for the health of my family and the planet.

Miessence concealer and lipstick on the Organic & Natural newsletter

2. When did you realize that you are passionate about safe cosmetics and products to focus your career around this important issue?

Becoming passionate about this was a gradual process. The more I researched, the more passionate I became about raising awareness about the negative effects that toxic synthetic chemicals can have on our health and the health of the planet. For me, this goes way beyond just personal care and cosmetics; however, I have found that this is one of the easiest places to start toward living a less toxic, less environmentally-damaging life. As opposed to equally important but often more difficult habits to break such as food choices, energy consumption, or trash disposal, committing to non-toxic, eco-friendly personal hygiene is a simple matter of finding safe and environmentally responsible products to replace the ones you already use.

3. What are the top three easiest ways to start making a transition to a greener home, free of harmful chemicals and  abrasive solvents? 

Personal care is definitely the simplest place for most people to start – and especially important because the products are used in direct contact with the body, often 2 times a day.  Whether high or low maintenance, most people have established routines and it becomes a simple matter of choosing safer products.  Choosing safer household cleaners is another important step that is simple for the same reasons personal care is – swapping out products – but more challenging because on most cleaners, there isn’t even an ingredient label to be read and evaluated.  There are a lot of good DIY cleaning options out there, and you can find ready-made products nowadays that don’t say ‘hazardous’ and ‘warning’ all over the label.  And the third thing I’d recommend is to stop using chemicals in your yard – which is a whole ‘nother topic itself!

4. What is special about Miessence? How are the products set apart from others in the industry?

I spent nearly a month researching Miessence and testing the products before deciding to represent them, and what impressed me most was their staunch commitment to truly natural ingredients and sustainable business operations. As the world’s first line of personal care products to achieve certification to organic food standards back in 2001, Miessence offers the widest range of certified organic products on the market, with fully recyclable packaging and bio-degradable packaging under research. Certified organic products offer the purest possible options for your health and ensure that zero pesticides, GMOs, or other synthetic chemicals were released into the environment to create your products. By powering their manufacturing facilities with wind power and offsetting more than their share of global shipping emissions through global reforestation work, Miessence is also the world’s first carbon-negative personal care and wellness company. I love knowing that the box arrives direct from the manufacturer to my doorstep in 5-7 days not only with zero net negative effect on the environment, but actually with a net positive effect – even all the way from Australia. The products are just excellent in every way.

5. What products in personal care and home cleaning would you say are the “worst offenders”? In other words, what conventional items would you say people should definitely stop using right away, and which products, Miessence or homemade, would you recommend instead? 

Ditch the antibacterial hand soaps and cleaning products.  They are contributing to the rise of super germs and weakening your immunity to fight the germs at the same time.  Plus, antibacterial ingredients cause serious problems in the waterways.  For hand soap, I love the refillable hand soap and its concentrate from Miessence.  For hand santitizer, you can make your own with some aloe gel (2/3), water (1/3), tea tree oil (2-5 drops depending on bottle size), and your choice of eucalyptus, peppermint, orange, or lemon oil (also 2-5 drops).  You can also make natural antibacterial cleaning solution with water and essential oils.

Also ditch the chemical sunscreens – I really need to do a blog post on this one this spring.  Long story short – again, the chemicals are not good for you or the waterways.  If you go to Mexico, they won’t let you wear chemical sunscreens in the water near the coral reefs - it’s toxic to the eco system.  Look instead for a physical sunblock ingredient, such as non-nanoparticle zinc oxide.  We are super pale in our house and were really impressed with the Miessence Reflect Outdoor Balm. It made the EWG’s best sunscreen list back when there were only 30+ options that ranked. It works really well, and stays on really well. It’s pricier than some, but we found, because it stayed on so well that we didn’t have to keep reapplying a ton and so it lasts a long time. And unless you have a serious skin cancer risk, give yourself a bit of sun first before applying a sunblock. Vitamin D deficiency is a huge issue, and too much sunblock is contributing to this problem.

6. What are your favorite Miessence products?

I have not tried one yet that I didn’t like, though a couple took some getting used to at first. For example, having been so used to the slick, lathery feeling of semi-natural shampoo, the Miessence shampoo felt very strange in my hair – like a bird’s nest. But boy, did it work (and after a few weeks, the nest feeling while shampooing went away). The shampoo lady where I get my hair cut always used to say to me, “Well, you have some build-up…” But after switching to Miessence, she said, “Did you just wash your hair? It’s so clean.” Yay for detoxing the hair and getting all the dimethicone and other synthetic junk out of it! If I had to pick my absolute favorites: the basic skin care products, the shampoo and conditioner, the toothpaste, the deodorant, the lip balm… Oh, and it’s a special treat, but I love ambrosia essence serum… And the blemish gel, though I don’t have to use it often… And the probiotic and antioxidant superfoods …

A few Miessence products, from left to right: Certified Organic Jaffa Lip Balm, Concealer, Mascara, and Lipstick

7. It is often said that many companies participate in greenwashing these days, and give off a false impression about their products. Do you feel that the words ‘natural’, ‘organic’, ‘fragrance-free’ are sometimes stamped haphazardly and dishonestly on products that don’t deserve these labels, and for the sole sake of marketing and advertising? Also, how do you promote awareness about these issues?

Yes, this is a huge issue. If you don’t understand what’s really in the product, it’s hard to find one that lines up with your values for natural or organic. Many of the products out there today are just marketing ploys: adding a few “natural” ingredients here and there, or developing a natural line alongside their conventional lines just to gain market share on the ‘natural’ personal care industry (which is not as natural as you’d probably hope). Since everyone values different things, I work to educate people on how to decipher the marketing claims, ingredient lists, and environmental impacts of any product they consider so that they can find what lines up with their values. For example, some people are okay with semi-natural and don’t mind non-recyclable packaging (unfortunately), while others want truly all-natural and as beneficial to people and the planet as possible.

8. You lead label-reading workshops as part of your effort to educate people about what they’re putting on their bodies or using in their homes. Tell us a little bit about label reading. How can we learn to understand what’s safe on an ingredient label? (Some of those long scientific names are hard to pronounce, let alone figure out what they’re made of!)

Heba, great question, but this is really hard to answer quickly.  The super short version of our workshops is 10-20 minutes and the long version is close to an hour.  One quick tip I can give you is to type an ingredient you’re unsure of into a Google search with “MSDS” after it.  That will bring up the material safety data sheet and you can see for yourself what’s going on with the ingredient.  A good example is the MSDS for phenoxyethanol.  We do have a recording of one of our most recent label reading webinars availabe on my website if your readers would like the whole scoop.

Ingredients on the Miessence Lemon Myrtle Shampoo and Anise Toothpaste

9. The fashion scene is infiltrated with countless ads about personal care products and cosmetics, which oftentimes contain many artificial ingredients. How do you envision shifting the focus in fashion circles to more natural products that are also more healthy?

Information, empowerment, and encouragement to spread the word are key. Many people simply don’t know what are in these products and why they should be concerned. Many people are confused and frustrated by the misleading marketing terminology and greenwashing. Very few people realize the huge impacts something as seemingly trivial as personal care product choices can have on the environment. And among those who have an awareness of the concerns, many don’t yet realize that advancements in green chemistry have reached a point where synthetic chemicals are not necessary in these products anymore. You can get great products with great results and a great shelf life, without the synthetic tradeoffs.

10. How do you see yourself using social networking to market Miessence to the general public?

Social networking – online or offline – is the most effective way to get the word out for any message these days. People ignore impersonal ads that just pitch products but are devoid of any truly valuable content or genuine face and mission behind them. But if you have a valuable message to share that a growing number of people actually want to hear, with a product or service that truly lives up to those standards, then a beautiful win-win situation is created. In the case of my work with Miessence, my clients find products they can trust for their health and the health of the planet, and I get two major joys out of it all: 1) I love helping people live less-toxic, greener lives, knowing it is contributing to a better future for all, and 2) it is such a blessing to have my own, home-based eco-business to balance both my family and professional goals.

Who is Lacey Swartz?

Lacey Swartz is a mom of four and a believer in sustainable, eco-friendly products. In April 2005, she began using personal care products with fewer synthetic chemicals, but she had no idea there actually existed a truly chemical-free option that would stay reliably fresh against dangerous microbes or rancidity and also deliver great results. Then she found Miessence. She was a very happy customer for a while before she decided to become a representative. She holds label reading workshops to promote awareness about ingredients in personal care products, and consults on how to transition to a more eco-friendly, sustainable and toxin-free lifestyle. She will happily help you select personal care products, cosmetics or superfoods during a consultation. There are several ways to save on Miessence products; contact her for more information!

Contact Lacey here, or give her a call at 609-504-1802.

To enter the giveaway, carefully follow these instructions through the Rafflecopter widget. Failing to comment on this post disqualifies you. Winner will be announced by Sunday, March 25, 2012. 

*Post shared on Real Food Freaks Freaky Friday, Butter Believer’s Sunday School, The Healthy Home Economist’s Monday Mania, and Real Food Wednesday. 

a Rafflecopter giveaway

I feel like I mention this in every blog post with a vegan recipe, but I just want to be very clear: I’m not a vegan. In fact, I really love raw dairy, grass-fed meat and wild seafood – I just haven’t blogged about them as much as I blog about vegan meals. Why? Simple answer: as an Orthodox Christian, I try to fast from animal products a few times per year, most notably during Lent (i.e. now). I find vegan eating to be quite challenging, because I love natural fats. They keep me satiated, help me stay in shape, and allow me to absorb fat-soluble vitamins in the salads I love to eat everyday. So in order to stay satiated and keep myself from gaining weight during these fasts, I have to get creative with my recipes, and find other sources of natural plant-based fats that can satisfy my cravings. Naturally, when I victoriously produce a satisfying vegan recipe, I am quite eager to blog about it!

Some plant-based fats I enjoy during Lent include:

• Coconut – I love all things coconut, and include it in my diet even when I’m not fasting. I use virgin coconut oil to lightly saute veggies and in smoothies, and in vegan baking. I also use unsweeted, unsulfured shredded coconut in smoothies and baking, and coconut manna (dried whole, unsweetened coconut) in smoothies and all kinds of recipes, including this one for curried cauliflower soup. I do avoid store-bought coconut milk though, because a) it has added synthetic vitamins and is watered down b) the creamier ones are sold in cans, and I have a bias towards any kind of plastic lining, even “BPA-free”. I did make coconut milk at home, and I’m planning to blog about it, but it’s kind of a laborious process, so I’d stick with the coconut manna (dried coconut) dissolved in filtered water to make coconut “milk” – similar end result anyway. I also use coconut flour from time to time to make easy grain-free pancakes and crusts – yum! Anyway, all this to say: I really don’t think I can do a vegan fast without coconut!

• Avocado – I make it no secret that I have an ongoing love-affair with guacamole, but I actually got really excited when I found that I could make a vegan creamy chocolate pudding using avocados a couple of weeks ago. Also, it’s worthwhile to note that avocados are super healthy (and ideal for glowing skin!) This article does a good job discussing some of the health benefits.

• Nuts – There’s really no way to go without nuts if you’re a vegan for any period of time. My favorites are almonds, walnuts, hazelnuts, pecans, macadamia nuts, pistachios and cashews. I eat them as is (as snacks), or I soak them and make nut milks, or use them in vegan (homemade) spreads, or even in desserts like this grain-free apple pie or this grain-free pumpkin pie.

  

• High-quality extra virgin olive oil – It’s no secret that high-quality olive oil is good for health, and I use it liberally on raw salads and in dips. I also sometimes cook with it during vegan fasts, but I try not to do that very often because the jury is still out on how much olive oil oxidizes (releasing free radicals) when heated. I definitely don’t deep fry in olive oil (or any other vegetable oil for that matter). In case you’re curious, I use Nabali Organic Olive Oil from Canaan Fair Trade – one of the purest olive oils on the planet!

How to make a vegan soup super creamy and filling …

If you’re making a vegan soup, but you still want it to have a creamy taste and consistency, you can’t use awesome homemade chicken broth/stock or bone broth, because … well, then it’s not vegan anymore. You also can’t use any dairy products like cream or milk to achieve the creamy effect you so crave. Another thickener used in soups is gluten (in the form of various flours), but if you’re avoiding gluten or grains for health reasons, you won’t be able to use those either. But don’t despair! There’s a great solution, my friends, and it’s called coconut! With coconut oil, manna (dried coconut), and homemade coconut milk, you can achieve the creamiest soup you’ve ever had, and it would still be vegan!

Now, for today’s recipe … if you’re new to cooking, you may be a little confused by the choice of flavors in this soup. Cauliflower + coconut + Indian spices … really? I can imagine some of you thinking, “will this be any good …?”  Well, to assuage your fears, I don’t share things that I don’t drool over and crave, so yes, it’s delicious! This recipe was actually inspired by a recipe for creamy (but dairy-free) cauliflower soup made with homemade chicken stock, which I shared on MidEATS several weeks ago. And that recipe was inspired by this really simple vegan cauliflower soup recipe on Food52. Both were lovely, but I wanted to get a little creative and find an excuse to use a lot of organic ground turmeric … you know, the spice that has been shown to slow cancer growth and inhibit inflammation? Yeah, turmeric is pretty darn awesome. So this is basically “Take 3″ of the cauliflower soup extravaganza, and it introduces coconut and Indian spices to a really simple base of water with sauteed onions, cauliflower and garlic. This is so easy; it can be made by someone who really don’t consider himself or herself a cook by any stretch of the imagination. Try it and let me know what you think!