Help Fix the Farm Bill!

 

Happy Pastured Cows

Happy Pastured Cows

The Farm Bill currently up for a vote before the Senate and discussion in the House will cripple our local food system, unless we pass some very important amendments.

For the full story go here: Farm to Consumer Legal Defense Fund

What can you do to help?

Call or email your US Senators and say the following:

 

Senator ____________________,

My name is ______________, and I live in _____________________________. As a constituent of yours and a consumer of locally grown foods, I urge you to protect my access to the healthy foods that I want to eat.

Please consider voting for the following ammnendments to the Farm Bill to help protect my freedom to choose the foods I want to eat.

YES: on King’s Amendment 1033
YES: on Boxer’s Amendment: 1027
YES: on Grassley’s Amendment: 969
YES: Wyden’s Amendment: 952
NO: Johann’s Amendment to eliminate Country of Origin Labeling (COOL)

Thank you so much for your time and support. We need you to defend our rights to choose the food we eat.

Sincerely,
Your name

If you live in California, you can email
Senator Boxer
Senator Feinstein

If you’re outside California, find your Senators

As of today (6/20/13) the House is considering their version of the Farm Bill. There are several important amendments there as well.

Send an online fax OR

Write your reprensentative and use the subject line: Support Amendments 115, 136, 176, 214

Say something like:

Representative  ____________________,

My name is ______________, and I live in _____________________________. As a constituent of yours and a consumer of locally grown foods, I urge you to protect my access to the healthy foods that I want to eat.

Please consider voting for the following ammnendments to the Farm Bill to help protect my freedom to choose the foods I want to eat.

YES on Amendments 115, 136, 176 and 214.

Thank you so much for your time and support. We need you to defend our rights to choose the food we eat.

Sincerely,

Your name

Not convinced our farmers need your help? Watch Farmageddon the movie. It will change your mind. If we want to continue to access quality foods, we need to act now to preserve our rights!

It is vital that we protect our access to foods grown in a non-industrialized setting, and if we allow continued erosion of our food choices, we may end up buying our beets on the black market. No joke!

Please take 2 minutes of your time RIGHT NOW to follow the links and cut and paste the message. Our democracy can only work through participation. Imagine how you’ll feel if your farmer’s market closes down and you didn’t do anything. Act NOW!

 

GAPS Intro Diet Week 1

 

This is my personal account of my own GAPS experience. It’s important to note that my diet may not be correct for you, even if you are doing GAPS. GAPS should be applied to each individual with consideration of their unique health condition and probable food sensitivities. I am tracking and sharing my own diet here just to demystify it a bit. I hope that questions like, “How do I put together a meal?” and, “Should I be living off broth?”(NO!) will be answered in the way that only an illustration of GAPS in action can.

If you are considering GAPS, please make sure to consult with a certified GAPS practitioner (link to online resource to find certified GAPS practitioner) before starting to make sure the GAPS approach is appropriate for you, and so that you have the support you need to trouble-shoot as you go along. If you’re in the SF Bay Area, you can consult with our clinic (email) directly.

I’ve split the article into weeks to make it easier to find the phase you have a question about, so you can come back and reference these articles easily in the future. Good luck! And remember that we at Wood Tiger Wellness are here to help! Just call 415-424-3213 or email info@woodtigeracupuncture.com

A special note about probiotics: I have been eating large amounts of probiotics for a long time. Because of this I jump right in with huge doses of probiotic foods and supplements. PLEASE DO NOT follow my doses! See a certified practitioner to find out how to taper up correctly.

GAPS Intro Phase 1:

The weekend before starting:

This is my prep weekend. I have to make sure I have enough food on hand to keep me from suddenly having to grab lunch out mid-week. For my wife and I, we’ve decided to prepare the following items in advance:

Duck stock w/ duck neck

Lamb broth w/ lamb shank

Mashed Cauliflower

Stewed Onions

Mashed carrots

And we stocked up on the following:

1 dozen Tomatero Farms  pastured  eggs in case we add yolks this week

10-12 c sauerkraut juice: I get this by using a ladel to get all the juice out of the bulk sauerkraut at Rainbow Grocery or ordering from Three Stone Hearth or Back Yard CSA

Lard, Duck Fat and Lard Butter from Avedano’s

Raw Cream to make crème fraiche: Organic Pastures or Claravale

 

 

Lamb Broth with Lamb Shank

Lamb broth w/ lamb shank

 You Will Need

3-4 lbs Lamb shank from Avedano’s

2 T apple cider vinegar

4-5 2 qt. jars

Ladel or 2 c. pyrex measuring cup

Canning funnel

Metal tea strainer

Tongs

1 programmable slow cooker

 

  1. Place lamb in slow cooker
  2. Pour vinegar over meat.
  3. Add filtered water to fill slow cooker
  4. Cook for 24 hours on low.

Tip: Make sure you’re slow cooker isn’t going to go off and need to be re-set in the middle of the night while you are sleeping! Just re-set it before bed if necessary.

  1. Let the stock and meat cool for a couple of hours before attempting to work with them.
  2. Place a colander inside a large mixing bowl, and set up a jar with the canning funnel in the top and your tea strainer across the top of the canning funnel.
  3. Use the ladel or 2 c measuring cup to pour the liquid through the tea strainer into your jars.

 

Tip: If you plan to freeze your broth, use BPA-free plastic containers . My jars always seem to crack into the most frightening giant shards of glass you’ve ever seen!

 

  1. Use your tongs to remove meat and place into colander inside the bowl.
  2. Once all the stock is in the jars, it’s time to pull the meat off the bones!
  3. Using your hands, slowly pick the meat off the bone.
  4. Place meat in a jar or Tupperware in the refrigerator.
  5. Leave stock on counter to cool for a few hours and place in fridge.

 

Meat can be stored on the bone or removed from the bone prior to storage.

 

Duck Stock with Duck Neck

Duck stock w/ duck neck

You will need:

1.5 lbs duck feet (ratios and total weight may vary)

1.5 lbs duck neck

2 T apple cider vinegar

4-5 2 qt. jars

Ladel or 2 c. pyrex measuring cup

Canning funnel

Metal tea strainer

Tongs

1 programmable slow cooker

 

  1. Place duck feet and neck in slow cooker, no need to thaw them.
  2. Pour vinegar over meat.
  3. Add filtered water to fill slow cooker
  4. Cook for 24 hours on low.

Tip: Make sure you’re slow cooker isn’t going to go off and need to be re-set in the middle of the night while you are sleeping! Just re-set it before bed if necessary.

  1. Let the stock and meat cool for a couple of hours before attempting to work with them.
  2. Place a colander inside a large mixing bowl, and set up a jar with the canning funnel in the top and your tea strainer across the top of the canning funnel.
  3. Use the ladel or 2 c measuring cup to pour the liquid through the tea strainer into your jars.

 

Tip: If you plan to freeze your broth, use BPA-free plastic containers . My jars always seem to crack into the most frightening giant shards of glass you’ve ever seen!

 

  1. Use your tongs to remove meat and place into colander inside the bowl.
  2. Once all the stock is in the jars, it’s time to pull the meat off the bones!
  3. Using your hands, slowly pick the meat off the neck bones and discard the bones. Feet can be saved for a second round of stock.
  4. Place meat in a jar or Tupperware in the refrigerator.
  5. Leave stock on counter to cool for a few hours and place in fridge.

Mashed Carrots

Mashed Carrots

You will need:

Carrots (Peeled)

½ lb duck fat, lard or lard butter

Filtered water

Large steaming pot

Large mixing bowl

Immersion blender or potato masher

 

  1. Pour a few inches of filtered water into the steaming pot. Put on high heat and cover.
  2. Chop and peel carrots. Place in steamer basket.
  3. Put basket into pot and cook on high until lid starts to jostle. Turn down until lid is settled.
  4. Steam for 10-20 minutes, until carrots are very soft. Don’t worry about overcooking.
  5. Dump fat into large mixing bowl and pour hot carrots on top.
  6. Blend or mash until there are no large chunks.
  7. Eat hot or place in Tupperware or jar in fridge.
  8. Salt to taste.

Optional:  mix in fresh ginger juice

Mashed Cauliflower

Mashed Cauliflower

You will need:

2 medium heads cauliflower

½ lb duck fat, lard or lard butter (Avedano’s)

Filtered water

Large steaming pot

Large mixing bowl

Immersion blender or potato masher

 

  1. Pour a few inches of filtered water into the steaming pot. Put on high heat and cover.
  2. Chop cauliflower, removing and discarding stem. Place in steamer basket.
  3. Put basket into pot and cook on high until lid starts to jostle. Turn down until lid is settled.
  4. Steam for 10-20 minutes, until cauliflower is very soft. Don’t worry about overcooking.
  5. Dump fat into large mixing bowl and pour hot cauliflower on top.
  6. Blend or mash until there are no large chunks.
  7. Eat hot or place in Tupperware or jar in fridge.
  8. Serve with butter and salt to taste.

Stewed Onions

Stewed Onions

You will need:

4 large yellow onions

1-2 c stock/broth

2-4 T duck fat (other fats are fine, but duck tastes particularly good in this recipe)

Medium to large sauce pan or stock pot

Salt

 

  1. Place all ingredients in pot with lid on over medium heat.
  2. When ingredients start to simmer, turn down to low.
  3. Simmer for 10-30 minutes, until onions are soft and translucent.
  4. Salt to taste

Dr. Oz agrees, Cholesterol is NOT a killer!

Wow! I didn’t think I’d see this in the mainstream media so soon!

My clinic has been following the science about cholesterol for years, and we’ve been counseling patients to think more about their overall health and less about their cholesterol numbers. But many people think we’re crazy!

Well, it doesn’t get much more mainstream than Dr. Oz! And he’s here to tell you that the MD’s are catching up to us. Check out this awesome video to find out more.

Thanks so much to Food Renegade for bringing this to our attention. They are a great resource for nutrition-related information!

The Dangers of Anti-depressants

If you think only crazy people are concerned about the safety of anti-depressant medications, you should watch this video. Mood disorders have skyrocketed in the last decade, with psychiatric medications keeping pace. Now we have a new age of violence which has never been seen before in history.

Every major violent assault from Columbine to the recent Connecticut tragedy involved an assailant recently going on or off anti-depressant medication (the most dangerous phases). There are better, safer options.

Read my article on amino acids or go to moodcure.com to learn more.