Reading Room

Putting on the Irish

by Tammera J. Karr, PhD, BCIH, BCHN

Family traditions are strange and sometimes wonderful things. As a kid the night of St. Patrick ’s Day meant putting out a saucer of milk for the little people, so we would have good luck and no mischief through the spring and summer months. Now this was not a tradition outside of our household, my grandparents would have been appalled being of a different denomination than us. This tradition which I have carried on in our family was something my mother learned from the Irish sheep herders’ fresh over from the old country. It is hard to say if she was gullible and easily swallowed blarney from real Irish mischief makers or if it was a true tradition in some counties in Ireland. Any way you look at it a cat is smiling on the porch.

This year as we planned out our traditional St. Patrick’s day feed –my husband and I decided to do real Irish foods instead of the standard corn beef and cabbage, which is an American invention. Many have the misconception that food in Ireland, England, Wales and Scotland is bland, tasteless and boring; all fish and chips, potatoes, cabbage and grease mutton. There is a certain amount of truth to this, but all of these countries also have a rich culinary history loaded with flavor and tradition.

The humble blackberry is found in early archeological evidence dating back to 150_BC.,  crabapples, Elderberries, Sloe (a tart fruit that resembles tiny plums) where the name for sloe gin comes from, rhubarb, gooseberry, blackcurrant, strawberry’s, damson plums are all native foods found in Ireland. Cabbage and many forms of the braccus family grow wild as does asparagus and watercress legend says, is why St. Brendan the Mariner lived to be 180.

The potato is a new comer to Ireland, after Sir Walter Raleigh almost poisoned Queen Elizabeth and her court with potato tops; potatoes were fed to livestock or forgotten until the 1800’s. Before and during this time the turnip and carrot root crops made up the staple of Ireland and most of northern Europe’s root cellers.

Other traditional foods include eggs, pheasant introduced in Elizabethan times, venison, boar or pork, lamb, beef, sheep and goat dairy and later cow dairy, salmon, trout, shellfish, sea vegetables, wild mushrooms, herbs, buckwheat, millet, oat, and wheat, rye and barley after the Romans introduced them. Every manor house and cottage had an herb garden- herbs were the medicine cabinet, preservatives and used by the skilled to flavor foods.

The herb garden was home to shallots, leeks, rosemary, lavender, basil, parsley, fennel, caraway, thyme, edible flowers, chives, onions, and many more.

Most of these foods are loaded with anti-oxidants, vitamin C, essential fatty acids and minerals. The herbs also aid in digestion and helped the immune system. Cooking methods were simple; many dishes are prepared on the stove top, as cottages in antiquity did not have ovens. I have found simple well prepared foods are rich in flavor and nutrition. We will be in the kitchen for hours preparing these dishes for friends and family, not because they are hard, only new to us – reading directions required on first tries.

So what does a traditional Irish menu look like? Here is what we came up with after looking through old and new cookbooks: Irish Old Fashion Salad with Shannagary Cream Dressing, Creamy Watercress Soup, Poached Salmon with Irish Butter Sauce, Roasted Pheasant with chips, Butter Cabbage, Asparagus, Scones with Honey Butter, Baked Apples with Cream and it wouldn’t be St Patties Day without Irish Coffee made with Jameson’s Irish Whiskey.  Hardly bland and boring is it.  Oh and a saucer of cream, just in case.

For more traditional Irish foods check out “Irish Traditional Cooking”  by Darina Allen

May you be poor in misfortune, Rich in blessings, Slow to make enemies and Quick to make friends.  And may you know nothing but happiness from this day forward. Irish Blessing

Bacon Not What It Used To Be

By Tammera J. Karr, PhD, BCHN, BCIH ©2012

The pig dates back 40 million years to fossils which indicate wild pig-like animals roamed forests and swamps in Europe and Asia. By 4900 B.C. pigs were domesticated in China, and were being raised in Europe by 1500 B.C. On the insistence of Queen Isabella, Christopher Columbus took eight pigs on his voyage to Cuba in 1493.

It is suggested that as man traveled he domesticated wild boar as he found them, rather than bringing pigs along for the journey. Food historians believe human consumption of pork is ancient. So is cured (smoked, salted, dried) pork, aka ham. Pigs were first commercially slaughtered in Cincinnati, Ohio, which became known as Porkopolis. More pork was packed there than any other place in the mid-west.  Now I admit it, I love smoked ham and lean bacon, especially like what I grew up with, made from apple wood smoke in an old smokehouse – there wasn’t a high Tec robotized system injecting gallons of smoke concentrate, salts, sugars and preservatives into the fat and flesh like today.

My dad would carve off slices of jowl or cheek bacon to fry up on Saturday, he also sliced the rind to make cracklings, and I especially liked the hard chewy smoky goodness. Ok I just described one of Sadie’s rawhide chew bones… hum I wonder, was I a taste tester for pup treats?

Back to Bacon… The side of a pig cured with salt in a single piece. The word originally meant pork of any type, fresh or cured, but this older usage had died out by the 17th century. Bacon, in the modern sense, is a product from the British Isles, or is produced abroad to British methods. Preserved pork, including sides salted to make bacon, held a place of primary importance in the British diet in past centuries. The first large-scale bacon curing business was set up in the 1770s by John Harris in Wiltshire, England.  Wiltshire remains the main bacon-producing area of Britain.

For years Bacon, pork and sometimes any meat that isn’t turkey or chicken has been deemed bad for your health. Many will argue it isn’t the meat that is bad it is the processing, and commercial feed lots that are the problem. Interestingly Bacon is considered the food tipping point for vegetarians.  It seems that bacon has a way of awakening carnivorous desires within even some of the preachiest of vegetarians.  Because bacon is one- to two-thirds fat and also has lots of protein, it speaks to our evolutionary quest for calories.  And since 90 percent of what we taste is really odor, bacon’s aggressive smell delivers a powerful hit to our sense of how good it will taste.

A new study published in the Archives of Internal Medicine finds daily consumption of red meat — particularly processed meat — may be riskier than carnivores realize.

“The statistics are staggering,” study author Frank Hu, a professor of nutrition and epidemiology at the Harvard School of Public health said. “The increased risk is really substantial.”

He found people who consumed about one serving of red meat (beef, pork or lamb) per day had a 13 percent increased risk of mortality, compared with those who were eating very little meat. And processed meats raised the risk higher, to about a 20 percent increased risk of death from diseases including cancer and heart disease.

Once again I think back to family members who ate piles of bacon, sausages, and chops for breakfast before heading out for a day of building fence, moving cows, falling timber or working in the fields. Many of these individuals worked up till their 70’s and 80’s, doing what they loved. But the pork foods they enjoyed had never seen a stock yard, GMO corn, wheat and antibiotic baths.

The FDA has stated that salt is not a food preservative – they do however recognize sodium nitrates and nitrites as acceptable meat preservers. Correct me if I’m wrong, but wasn’t salt curing one of the oldest forms of preserving meat? Today our food contains so many chemicals it is almost imposable to read the label on a food so simple as bacon.

So where does that leave meat lovers like me, the key to all things is moderation. I may not eat as many vegetables as I should or could, but I can be discerning about my meat, no longer do I even consider purchasing commercial meats or preserved meat products like lunch meats.  For me I am fortunate to have family still ranching in eastern Oregon, a husband and son who hunt and fish and for those times the freezer is running low; locally owned meat markets like Nicabobs who only carry antibiotic, hormone free meats.

You see I think it is the chemicals and government regulations that lead to many of our health problems – not the meat we consume.  If we return to natural foods both plant and flesh, get off the couch and push away from the computers, we will lower our stress levels, and that has been proven to be more indicative of good health than living off bean curd.

There is more to good health than the Status Quo.

Salt Vindicated-a personal case study

by Tammera J. Karr, PhD, BCHN, BCIH

In 2005, I thought I was developing hypothyroidism; I was tired, overweight, with high triglycerides, and muscle pain, all symptoms. I was eating real food, but I was under a lot of stress. Remember I have said several times over the last three years that stress is the number one cause of illnesses, and can kill you.

I saw a doctor I had confidence in, had her run a battery of tests and found out – nothing. So I cut back on salt, red meat, grains, and cut all sugar out of my diet. By 2006, I was running very high heart rates, triglycerides as well as my LDL’s were still elevated, I felt like crap, and my stress had doubled. Now my thyroid test began showing elevations in my TSH (thyroid stimulating hormone), my free T4 and free T3 numbers changed also.

This scenario would have continued to escalate and in fact did – my TSH levels reached 8, my doctor told me I was too difficult of a patient and I needed a specialist, I couldn’t tolerate thyroid medication due to my elevated heart rate, and refused to take medications to slow my heart rate for the rest of my life.

I kept looking till I found the answers that made sense to me, and am very pleased to say today my thyroid numbers are all perfect without medication. My current nurse practitioner, when reviewing my labs from the last 7 years, admitted she had never seen anyone turn their thyroid around. Oh and my heart rate is normal again!

Dr. James Wilson told me in 2006, “If you don’t treat the Adrenal Glands before the thyroid, the client will never get better.” I went back to eating Celtic sea salt, lean red meat, and took supplements for thyroid support and stress. The hardest part was acknowledging what the major stress triggers were, and over time cleaning house so to speak.

Salt

In 2011, the medical communities called on food manufactures to cut sodium in commercial foods. GOOD, why, because the forms of salt used in commercial foods are nitrates and nitrites, not natural salt with all the trace minerals for health.

A study released October 2011, in the American Journal of Hypertension, brought into question the time honored belief salt is bad for you. When I first viewed this article on Medscape the opening sentence was, “critics don’t believe study findings”, and of course after reading the conclusion of the study I can see why – it is throwing salt in their eyes. The study titled – Effects of Low-Sodium Diet vs. High-Sodium Diet on Blood Pressure, Renin, Aldosterone, Catecholamines, Cholesterol, and Triglycerides.

At this point I need to tell you several of the aforementioned named in the study title are either manufactured in the adrenal glands or in the liver –salt, is a detoxification agent for several glands and organs. Cholesterol and triglycerides are also elevated by poor thyroid function. Beginning to see the connection here? This is what the study found to my hearts delight.

“sodium reduction resulted in a significant increase in plasma cholesterol (2.5%) and plasma triglyceride (7%), which expressed in percentage, was numerically larger than the decrease in blood pressure of 1%. These results do not support that sodium reduction may have net beneficial effects in a population of Caucasians.”

Aldosterone is a steroid hormone produced by the outer-section of the adrenal gland, and acts on the functioning unit of the kidney, to cause the conservation of sodium, secretion of potassium, increased water retention, and increased blood pressure. The overall effect of aldosterone is to increase reabsorption of ions and water in the kidney — increasing blood volume and, therefore, increasing blood pressure. So if this hormone goes up, so does your water retention and BP, salt prevents this from happening according to the study.

Renin is an enzyme released by the kidneys that breaks down proteins and helps regulate blood pressure. This enzyme is the key to activating a complex process in which it increases the secretion of aldosterone, and stimulates the hypothalamus to activate the thirst reflex, each leading to an increase in blood pressure.

Catecholamine is a compound that acts as a neurotransmitter or hormone; neurotransmitters are used in the brain. They include dopamine, as well as the “fight-or-flight” hormones adrenaline. Dopamine is the neurotransmitter lacking in Parkinson’s patients, and when under stress our fight or flight hormones increase. That’s why Dr. Wilson and Dr. Brownstein believe salt to be critical for adrenal health, when under constant stress the adrenal glands dump salt through the kidneys, creating an imbalance in electrolytes. When potassium levels elevate, tachycardia can result. (an excessively rapid heartbeat, typically regarded as a heart rate exceeding 100 beats per minute in a resting adult)

Cholesterol, is painted as the evil one, in fact it is far from it. Without cholesterol we would not be able to think or make hormones. All forms of cholesterol are important to the body as a constituent of cell membranes, and involved in the formation of bile acid.  Cholesterol is necessary for the synthesis of vitamin D and the steroid hormones, including the adrenal gland hormones cortisol and aldosterone.

Now this doesn’t mean you can eat all the salt you can stuff in, but the reasonable use of high quality salts from Selina Naturally and Redmond, are indeed a recommendation for everyone living with stress. It won’t fix all of your health challenges; you will have to take back control of your health just as I did with the right supplements and dietary changes.

There is more to good health than the Status Quo.

Crimson Beet

by Tammera J. Karr, PhD

Fall and early winter are the time of year root crops like carrots, turnips and beets come into their own. I never have thought much about beets… the only thing I found appealing about them was their exquisite crimson red color.   This year however I decided to look at this root food a little closer and here is some of what I found.

Beets, are native to the Mediterranean. Although the leaves have been eaten since before written history, the beet root was generally used medicinally and did not become a popular food until French chefs recognized their potential in the 1800′s.

Beet powder is used as a coloring agent for many foods. Some frozen pizzas use beet powder to color the tomato sauce, as well as jams, jellies, juices and soups. It is estimated that about two-thirds of commercial beet crops end up canned.[1]

There are four main beet types: the garden beet, whose root and leaves are eaten as a vegetable; the sugar beet; the mangel-wurzel, which is stored and used for livestock feed; and Swiss chard, which is cultivated for its edible leaves. About thirty percent of the world’s sugar production comes from sugar beets.

Beet remains have been excavated in the Third dynasty Saqqara pyramid at Thebes, Egypt, and four charred beet fruits were found in the Neolithic site of Aartswoud in the Netherlands. The earliest known written mention of the beet comes from eighth century B.C.E. Mesopotamia, Roman and Jewish literary sources indicate domestication by 1st century B.C.E., domestic beet was represented in the Mediterranean basin by leafy forms (chard) and very probably also by beetroot cultivars.

The Romans used beetroot as a treatment for fevers and constipation, and considered beetroot juice to be an aphrodisiac. Beets are a rich source of the mineral boron, which plays an important role in the production of human sex hormones.  Apicius in De re coquinaria, gives five recipes for soups to be given as a laxative, three of which feature the root of beet. Hippocrates advocated the use of beet leaves as binding for wounds. From the Middle Ages, beetroot was used as a treatment for illnesses relating to digestion and the blood.

In 1747, German chemist Andreas Marggraf identified sucrose in beet root and eventually his student Franz Achard built a sugar beet processing factory at Cunern in Silesia. This plant operated from 1801 until it was destroyed during the Napoleonic Wars. Napoleon, banned sugar imports in 1813. This cut off supplies of sugar produced from sugar cane to much of Europe. The beet sugar industry emerged and thrived.[2]

Today the beetroot is championed as a universal panacea. One of the most controversial examples is the official position of the South African Health Minister on the treatment of AIDS. Dr Manto Tshabalala-Msimang, Health Minister under Thabo Mbeki, had been nicknamed “Dr Beetroot” for promoting beets and other vegetables over antiretroviral AIDS medicines, which she considers toxic.[3]

Beets contain vitamin C, while the leaves are an excellent source of vitamin A. Beets are among the sweetest of vegetables, containing more sugar than carrots or sweet corn. The content of sugar in garden beet is 10 percent, in the sugar beet it is typically 15 to 20 percent.

Another nutrient in beets is betaine, named after its discovery in sugar beets in the nineteenth century. This nutrient is benificial for the cardiovascular system. Betaine supplements, manufactured as a byproduct of sugar beet processing, are prescribed to lower potentially toxic levels of homocysteine, a naturally occurring amino acid that can be harmful to blood vessels thereby contributing to the development of heart disease, stroke, and peripheral vascular disease.

Blood Pressure: An American Heart Association study indicates that drinking 500 milliliters of beet juice can measurably reduce blood pressure within one hour after drinking it. This effect is measurable for 24 hours.

Cancer: In Europe, beets are commonly used to treat cancer. They contain an antioxidant, betacyanin, which both inhibits tumor growth and prevents the formation of cancer-causing nitrosamines.

Digestion: Beet root is high in both soluble and insoluble fiber, which aid in the proper function of the digestive system. Because of the high levels of fiber, beet root is used as a treatment for constipation.[4]

An average sized cup (225.8 grams) of sliced beets will contain:

31 Calories – Carbohydrate 8.5 g

Dietary fiber 1.5 g

Folate 53.2 µg

Phosphorus 32 mg – Potassium 259 mg

Protein 1.5 g

èBeets, like kale, spinach, carrots, and turnips, can be a source of nitrates and should not be fed to infants under 6 months of age. All parts of the beet plant contain oxalic acid. Beet greens and Swiss chard are both considered high oxalate foods which have been implicated on the formation of kidney stones.[5]

The color of red beetroot is due to a purple pigment betacyanin and a yellow pigment betaxanthin, known collectively as betalins.  Beetroot cells are quite unstable and will “leak” when cut, heated, or when in contact with air or sunlight. Leaving the skin on when cooking, will maintain the integrity of the cells and minimize leakage. Betacyanin in beetroot may cause red urine and feces in some people who are unable to break it down.

So all in all we find natural foods like beets are not only loaded with nutrients and provide health benefits in the forms of vitamins, minerals and antioxidants – just don’t let the government know or they will ban them as unlicensed drugs.  I don’t encourage diabetics to consume beets because of the high sugar content. But if you love this food, eat it in moderation with lots of other healthy foods. Then get up and go for a walk to burn the sugar off.

 

Preservation

by Tammera J. Karr, PhD

Growing up in rural America you find yourself aware of the self-sufficiency of your neighbors. Especially as the dog days of summer weighing into the vivid days of autumn, the need to dry, freeze and can, becomes as evident as the seasonal changes.

Food preservation is a sign of independence, preparation and for some freedom. I like knowing where my food has come from, what is on it and how it has been handled; as you already know I’m a bit of a health nut and object to wasting my money on poor quality foods ladened with chemicals.  But what is the best food preservation method? Well there are countless resources out there from your grandmother to the local extension agent. And there are more than a few ideas that make even me shake my head.  Let’s put it this way – If your using your dishwasher to can fruits, STOP IT.

Preservation of food permeated every culture at nearly every moment in time. To survive ancient man had to harness nature. In frozen climates he froze seal meat on the ice. In tropical climates he dried foods in the sun. In moderate climates he smoke cured meats over a fire.

And the FDA says we have no Innate Right to select our food…. But I regress.

Food by its nature begins to spoil the moment it is harvested. Food preservation enabled ancient man to live in one place and form communities, and cultures. Each culture preserved their local food sources using the same basic methods of food preservation. Middle East and oriental cultures actively dried foods as early as 12,000 B.C. in the hot sun.

The Romans were particularly fond of any dried fruit they could make. In the Middle Ages purposely built “still houses” were created to dry fruits, vegetables and herbs in areas that did not have enough strong sunlight for drying. A fire was used to create the heat needed to dry foods and in some cases smoking them as well.

Preservation with honey or sugar was commonplace in the earliest cultures. In ancient Greece quince was mixed with honey, dried somewhat and packed tightly into jars. The Romans improved on the method by cooking the quince and honey producing a solid texture. Whalla jam! The same fervor of trading with India and the Orient that brought pickled foods to Europe brought sugar cane, housewives learned to make preserves—heating the fruit with sugar.

The earliest curing was actually dehydration. Early cultures used salt to desiccate foods. Salting was common and even culinary by choosing raw salts from different sources (rock salt, sea salt, spiced salt, etc.). In the 1800’s it was discovered certain sources of salt gave meat a red color instead of the usual unappetizing grey. In this mixture of salts were nitrites (saltpeter). As the microbiology of Clostridium botulinum was reviled in the 1920’s nitrites were found to inhibit this organism. The FDA does not approve the curing of foods with table salt – that is why your favorite jerky or lunch meat contains sodium nitrates and nitrites.

Fermentation not only preserves foods, it creates more nutritious, palatable foods from less than desirable ingredients. Microorganisms responsible for fermentations produce vitamins as they ferment.  The skill of ancient peoples to observe, harness, and encourage these fermentations are admirable and humbling – they had an ability to reason and simply believe, we seem to have lost. Anthropologists believe mankind settled from nomadic wanderers into farmers to grow barley for the making of beer in 10,000 BC.

Any geographic area that had freezing temperatures for even part of a year made use of the temperature to preserve foods. Less than freezing temperatures were used to prolong storage times. Cellars, caves and cool streams were put to good use for that purpose. In America communities built icehouses to store ice and food on ice. Soon the “icehouse” became an “icebox”. In the 1800’s mechanical refrigeration was invented and quickly put to use. In the late 1800’s Clarence Birdseye discovered quick freezing at very low temperatures made for better tasting meats and vegetables. (Freezing preserves the most nutrients in foods as well as enzymes.)

Canning is a process were foods placed in jars or cans is heated to a temperature that destroys microorganisms and inactivates enzymes. (remember no enzymes no life, canning is the least beneficial method for nutrient content – but one of two method available to use without electricity) This heating and later cooling forms a vacuum seal. The vacuum seal prevents other microorganisms from recontaminating the food.

Canning is the newest of the food preservations methods pioneered in the 1790s by French confectioner, Nicolas Appert, he discovered the application of heat to food in sealed glass bottles preserved the food from deterioration. In 1806 Appert’s principles were successfully trialed by the French Navy on a wide range of foods including meat, vegetables, fruit and even milk. Englishman, Peter Durand, used tin cans successfully in 1810.

In 1864, Louis Pasteur discovered the relationship between microorganisms and food spoilage/illness , it become clear that preservation involved not only the elimination of air but the destruction of micro-organisms’. Just prior to Pasteur’s discovery, Raymond Chevalier-Appert patented the pressure retort (canner) in 1851, allowing canning at temperatures higher than 212ºF. It was the 1920’s before the significance of this food preservation method and Clostridium botulinum were understood.

To Your Good Health and Independent Preservation

References and Sources

Mc Govern, P. The Origins and Ancient History of Wine at the University of Pennsylvania Museum of Archaeology. Available at http://www.upenn.edu/museum/Wine/wineintro.html. Accessed 2002 Feb 12.

Shephard, S. 2001. Pickled, Potted, and Canned: How the Art and Science of Food Preserving Changed the World. Simon & Schuster. 366pp.

Eden T. 1999. The Art of Preserving: How Cooks in Colonial Virginia Imitated Nature to Control It. Eighteenth Century Life 23(2):13 23. Also available from: http://muse.jhu.edu/journals/ eighteenth century_life/v023/23.2eden.html Accessed 2001 Sep 30.

Mack L. 2001. Food Preservation in the Roman Empire. Chapel Hill, NC. University of North Carolina. Available from: http://www.unc.edu/courses/rometech/public /content/survival/Lindsay_Mack/Food_Preservation.htm. Accessed 2001 Sep 30.

C. Anne Wilson. 1991. Preserving Food to Preserve Life: The Response to Glut and Famine from Early Times to the End of the Middle Ages in “Waste Not, Want Not”: Food Preservation from Early Times to the Present, C. Anne Wilson. ed. Edinburgh: Edinburgh Univ.

A Cast Iron Love Affair

by Tammera J. Karr, PhD

Did you grow up with cast iron skillets in your home? Well I did, and still use them daily. This summer I had the opportunity to chat with two colleagues, one of them came to America from Hungary; Agnes recounted the story of throwing away her mother-in-laws cast iron when she got married. As I sat in horror, she continued to tell how she was convinced the oil was rancid and she couldn’t get it clean.  This brought to mind my mom and all the varied ways I saw her clean her cast iron.  My dear friend has been forgiven her crime, but I will be watchful of my precious cast iron when she comes to visit.

Mom loved cooking with cast iron, not only could she fry, sauté, bake and simmer in it, but it went camping, fishing and to the branding pens. If there was no water around then a hand full of salt was tossed in the pan and scrubbed around. Soap was rarely used, if food was stuck on the bottom, mom would warm it on the stove top with water and use a turner to scrape it clean.  On occasion it may have even been used as an instrument of enforcement. This may explain the odd shape to my brother’s head.

For me cast iron is the first and perfect non-stick cookware. And somehow it feels American.

Where did it start?

Cast-iron vessels have been used for cooking for hundreds of years.  Ancient China, around 513 B.C., is the earliest known development and use of cast iron. It was the Chinese who invented furnaces capable of producing the intense heat required to melt and work iron.

The same process for creating cast iron arrived in Europe about 1100 A.D., cast iron was so valuable during the medieval age that cast iron implements, including cookware and utensils, were bequeathed in wills, estates and listed as part of the estates assets. Cast iron cauldrons and cooking pots were treasured as kitchen items for their durability and heat retention, thus improving the quality of meals. Before the introduction of the kitchen stove in the middle of the 19th century, meals were cooked in the hearth or fireplace, and cooking pots and pans were designed for the hearth. One of the very first manufacturing industries in North American was the production of cast iron cookware. The Lodge Manufacturing company is currently the only major manufacturer of cast iron cookware in the United States, the rest are made in Asia or Europe.

Is it good for you?

Researchers have found cooking in iron skillets increases the iron content of foods. Acidic foods generally have higher moisture content, foods like applesauce and spaghetti sauce, were found to absorb the most iron. The study showed for 100 grams of each (about 3 oz.), the applesauce increased in iron content from 0.35 mg. to 7.3 mg., and the spaghetti sauce jumped from 0.6 mg. to 5.7 mg., a scrambled egg went from 1.49mg. to 4.76 mg., chili with meat and beans went from 0.96mg. to 6.27 mg. of iron.

Foods cooked for longer periods of time absorbed more iron than food heated quickly. Researchers found foods prepared with a newer iron skillet absorbed more iron than those cooked in an older one. Hamburger, corn tortillas, cornbread, and liver with onions didn’t absorb as much iron. This was probably due to the shorter cooking times, and the fact that they were either turned once or not at all, resulting in less contact with the iron.

It’s all in the Seasoning: A seasoned pan has a stick-resistant coating created by polymerized oils and fats. Seasoning is a process by which a layer of animal fat or vegetable oil is applied and cooked onto cast iron cookware. The seasoning layer protects the cookware from rusting, provides a non-stick surface for cooking, and prevents food from interacting with the iron of the pan.

How to season your pan? After a good cleaning to remove the factory coating, I set my new skillet on the stove top or in the oven on 350⁰, I add a heavy layer of olive oil to the inside bottom and sides and let the oil soak into the pores of the pan. I wipe out the extra oil after 1 hour of cook time and additional cooling time – a favorite storage place is in the oven. I will only use this pan for frying hash browns, potatoes or bacon for the first few uses to add to the seasoning.

Health Warning: If you have hemochromatosis or hepatitis C you should avoid cast iron as the increase in iron exacerbates damage to the liver.

If you can’t bring yourself to use the ol’ cast iron, take some time to check it out on eBay, many of the older pans are going for some serious money, they are almost as valuable as gold!

To Your Good Health and Old Fashioned American Cookware.

Woe to Walnuts

by Tammera J. Karr, PhD, CHN, BCIH, CNC, CNW, CNH

The walnut is one of the special foods that have caught the attention of the FDA. I had hoped it was because of its shape resembling that of the human brain, but alas I was wrong.

Walnuts have joined the exclusive group of foods including cherries and blueberries, the FDA has listed as “unauthorized drugs” – no you didn’t read that wrong.  Last year the FDA determined walnuts sold by Diamond Foods cannot be legally marketed because the walnuts “are not generally recognized as safe and effective” for medical conditions referenced on the Diamond website.

According to a report in the August 2011edition of Life Extension Magazine and supported by my research the FDA classified walnuts as “a drug” and unauthorized health claims cause them to become “misbranded,” subjecting them to government “seizer or injunction.” And Diamond Food was forced to capitulate in order to keep their doors open.

Life Extension sited over 46 studies supporting the health benefits of walnuts. Here is a little banned information for your health on walnuts.

Walnuts may help to prevent atherosclerosis (by lowering LDL cholesterol and lipoprotein (a) levels), breast cancer, and retard the growth of prostate cancer cells and cognitive decline in Alzheimer’s disease patients.

Power packed with minerals, vitamins, amino acids, healthy fats, and antioxidants, walnuts for those who are not allergic or sensitive to nuts may be one of the most important foods you can incorporate into your daily diet.  Of all nuts, walnuts contain the highest content of the important essential fatty acid, alpha-linolenic acid. This EFA is necessary for the protection of the nerve pathways, muscle, heart, brain and liver health.

Now what makes the ruling by the FDA so very irksome to me is their stand on medications and commercial foods. Every year there is a long list of drugs on recall because they are not safe – most of these drugs the general public never hears about. Before all this happened very few consumers logged onto the Diamond website to read about the health benefits of walnuts, the same is true of the Cherry Growers of America website in 2006 that mentioned the health benefits of antioxidant, proanthocyanidins rich cherries.

What the consumers do hear loud and clear are advertisements for artery-clogging, high calorie, chemical drenched junk foods. The FDA allows potato chips to be advertised as “Heart Health”, Frito-Lay is a subsidiary of the PepsiCo, Inc®, makers of Pepsi®. Frito-lay® sells $12 billion a year in Lays ®potato chips, Doritoes®, Tostitos®, Cheetos® and Fritos®.  Now those of us reading this column more than likely would never consider these snack foods as “healthy choices” but the FDA allows this company to place on it’s website statements like the following;

“Frito-Lay snacks start with farm –grown ingredients …. Good stuff like potatoes which contain vitamin C and essential minerals,… corn one of the world’s most popular grains packed with         B-vitamins and phosphorous – all necessary for healthy bones, teeth, nerves and muscles. Our  all-natural oils help lower total and LDL “bad” cholesterol and maintain good cholesterol HDL levels which support a healthy heart.”

Please excuse me while I run to the bathroom to be ill.  Sure looked like a health claim to me, how about you? Oh and just in case you were wondering Frito® also owns Nut Harvest,  a competitor to Diamond Nuts.

The FDA and FTC are proposing new regulations that will stop the ability of natural food businesses from disseminating scientific research supporting the consumption of said foods.  And it doesn’t stop there, your ability to buy nutritional supplements is once again under fire by these regulatory agencies.  The combined sales from natural food producers and nutritional companies is a fraction of what monster junk food companies like Frito-Lay® earn in a year.

That is why it is so very important for the small businesses that are American Owned and consumers to fight back. Together is the only way we can protect our health, farms, businesses and country from Gestapo tactics supported by the FDA and FTC. It’s time to remind them of who their boss really is – us the citizenry of America.

Make your opinion known about “Free Speech About Science Act (H.R. 1364)” today.

To Your Good Health.

An Onion by another name is Lily.

With fall fast approaching my thoughts turn to those warm and savory foods like onions. The thickness of the onion skin has been used to predict how severe the next winter may be, thin skins mean a mild winter and thick skins indicate a rough winter ahead.   Onions along with garlic, chives, shallots, leeks, green onions (scallions) are in the Amaryllis family-often incorrectly referred to as the Lily family. There are two basic types; the bulb-forming favorites like Walla Walla, Vidalia and Spanish red onions and the perennials that produce clusters of onions that can be replanted. Cluster onions include shallots, Egyptian onions and garlic. This family is cultivated worldwide and has been in use for health care as well as culinary for a millennium.

Onions originated in Central Asia, from Iran to Pakistan and northward to the Slavic countries.  Onion gardens have been excavated dating back 5,000 years; Pharaohs were buried with onions as a sign of eternity. Documents dating back to the sixth century show onions being used medicinally in India. The Romans believed that onions could cure them of whatever ailed them. Even though the onion itself was not spicy enough for the Greeks and Romans they were heavily used for their pungency and their availability to the poorer populations throughout the world. Christopher Columbus and other explorers have brought onions to the Americas.  The three main vegetables of European cuisine from the middle ages to present are beans, cabbage and onions.  Onions have been used as currency and given as wedding gifts.

Wild onions have been growing in North America since well before the pilgrims’ arrival. The Native Americans used wild onions for cooking, seasoning in syrups and for dyes. Official onion cultivation began in America in 1629 and is now one of the top ten vegetable crops grown in the United States. The world’s leading producers of onions are China, India, the United States, Turkey, and Pakistan. In the United States, Idaho, Oregon Washington, California and Texas are the largest producers.

Vitamin C, fiber, biotin, folate, chromium, vitamin K, and thiamin are found in members of the onion family along with potent anti-cancer phytochemicals like quercetin, phenolic acid, sterols, pectin, volatile-oils, sulfur compounds and the enzyme alliinase. It is the enzyme release and it’s conversion to trans-S-cystine that stimulates crying by the cook.

While not as highly valued as a medicinal as garlic, onions have been widely used because they possess the same properties. Like garlic, studies have shown onion extracts decrease blood sugar and, lipid levels, prevent clots, lower blood pressure, reduce inflammation (onions are one of the only foods that contain prostaglandin E1), improve asthma and allergies and retard viruses by improving the immune system.  The blood sugar lowering effects of onions have been clinically found to be comparable to that of prescription drugs tolbutamide and phenformin, commonly given to type 2 diabetics. Onions have been found to help the liver process glucose more efficiently by increasing the life span of insulin and increasing the natural secretion of insulin.

Historically, onions have been used in the treatment of asthma due to its ability to inhibit the production of compounds that cause bronchial spasms and mucus production.  Onion extracts have been found to inhibit the formation of tumor cells and shallots exhibit significant activity against leukemia.

Beneficial For

Cancer of the lung, breast, ovarian, kidney, prostate, skin, mouth, esophageal, stomach, colon, and liver.

Diabetes, hypoglycemia, metabolic syndrome, insulin resistance.

Heart Health: lower cholesterol, reduces risk of atherosclerosis, cardiovascular disease, heart attack and stroke.

Bone health: increases bone density and possibly decreases the risk of osteoporosis.

Onions are available in fresh, frozen, canned and dehydrated forms; my preference is fresh as this form will have the most nutritional benefit. Store your onions in a cool (55 degrees), dry location; this will help them retain their vitamin C content for as long as six months.

Onions are prone to contamination by aflatoxin produced from aspergillus parasiticus if incorrectly stored. Onions are often subjected to food irradiation in order to inhibit their sprouting potential – food irradiation has various toxic effects.  Onions may cause food allergies and trigger migraines in some people.

No matter how you fix them, the onion family is just plain good for you and a food that your cells will know what to do with.

To Your Good Health and Real Foods.

What’s Your pH?

by Tammera J. Karr, PhD., CNC, BCIH,

I’m frequently asked what I think of acid/alkaline balancing plans. I try to look at things from not only current application but the history. This one has a long history, some of it a little on the colorful and not often mentioned side.

The Alkaline diet is based on the theory certain foods, when consumed, leave an alkaline residue, or ash. Minerals like calcium, iron, magnesium, zinc or copper, are said to be the principal components of the ash. A food is thus classified as alkaline, acid or neutral according to the pH of the solution created with its ash in water.

A Little History

In 1863, Dr. James Caleb Jackson operated the Dansville Sanitarium in Dansville, New York; Dr. Jackson was a staunch vegetarian. One of Dr. Jackson’s, patrons was Ellen G. White, Ms. White went on to found the Seventh Day Adventist religion which advocates a vegetarian lifestyle. One of the members of Sister White’s new church was John Kellogg. Dr. John Harvey Kellogg’s vocation was in the health spa and hospital business. He was the superintendent of Battle Creek Sanitarium in Battle Creek Michigan. While history has relegated John Kellogg’s medical status to that of “bowel-obsessed” quack (novel and film, Road to Wellville), in his day he was considered a very skilled surgeon.

Charles William Post entered the Battle Creek Sanitarium in February 1893 to recover from a second nervous breakdown. While recuperating, he became impressed with the new healthy foods being served. The stay at the sanitarium didn’t do much for Post’s health, but it did revive a passing interest in food development. By the following year, he had started his own Battle Creek-based sanitarium, La Vita Inn.

This was the height of the Victorian era and there were a lot of odd ideas about health. Dr. Kellogg was reported to say, he and his wife had been married for over forty years and had never once polluted themselves with fornication. He later went on to say that he had, one hundred percent success with his patients – those who failed did so through their own fault – they practiced self pollution, (sex and or masturbation) and failed to stop eating animal flesh.

A similar theory, called the Hay diet, was developed by the American physician William Howard Hay in the 1920s. A later theory, called nutripathy, was developed by another American, Gary A. Martin, in the 1970s. Others who have promulgated alkaline-acid diets include Edgar Cayce, D. C. Jarvis, Robert Young, Herman Aihara, Fred Shadian, and Victor A. Marcial-Vega.

Today

“The pH Miracle” by Robert  O. Young, PhD, and Shelley Redford Young, is the most common book clients present me with on the pH eating idea….it is a strict vegetarian plan.  And in my view one that doesn’t make a lot of sense when you compare it with current research in Nutrigenomics, cancer nutrition sciences and phytochemicals studies.

A second very popular book “the Acid Alkaline Diet” by Dr. Christopher Vasey, a Swiss naturopath, follows the same thought possess and is contradictory on food selection.  Both of these authors and researchers contest that a restricted vegetarian, predominately raw food  lifestyle with no grain (a new twist on Kellogg’s idea), sugar, fruit, dairy, eggs, mushrooms, alcohol, caffeine, condiments, fermented or yeast foods, fat, nuts and a huge selection of vegetables will bring about a cancer, heart disease and diabetes free life. They also believe you can gain all the protein necessary for muscle, tissue, bone and brain health from only vegetable sources like soy.

For some this eating program may work because they are highly sensitive to sugars, gluten, yeasts and molds. The reason you feel better is partly due to elimination of inflammatory agents and a much more sinister possess called a Catabolic state, the teardown and destruction of cells, tissues and hormones – you’re feeding off of your own body.

We know that foods like mushrooms, broccoli, berries, organic meats and fish oils are very important in cancer, heart disease, depression and diabetes prevention. Please don’t throw the baby out with the bathwater by eliminating healthy foods because you think it will improve your pH.  From 1920-1945, Dr. Weston A. Price conducted extensive anthropologic studies on indigenous populations, searching not only for the cause of degenerative illnesses but also for the perfect vegetarian diet.  He never found an indigenous population who was vegetarian. Price’s research took him to every continent , what he consistently found was it was not the meat, fat, dairy or fruit, individuals ate that created a problem, it was processed foods; refined sugars, grains, fats and salt that rapidly damaged the human body (Nutrition and Physical Degeneration, Weston A. Price).

If we do nothing more than take high quality digestive and proteolytic enzymes we reduce our likelihood of developing many age related illnesses. Francis M. Pottenger, Jr, M.D., in 1984 began a longitudinal study of enzymes in food and how they affected health. The Pottenger’s Cats study is forgotten or overlooked by many, but the study clearly supports eating real, natural foods loaded with enzymes to prevent degeneration and illness. Of biochemical ingredients utilized by our body, minerals and enzymes are the two most important, they are what make healthy cell replication and stabilize the delicate pH balance of the blood, saliva, urine and tissues, without enzymes we don’t live very long. The complex phytochemicals found in fruits and vegetables interact with cell mitochondria to maintain healthy cell replication and energy. The only simple solutions to health is clean up your diet and go back to eating real foods that don’t come out of boxes, cans, bottles and plastic bags.

To Your Good Health and Natural Healing Through Real Foods.

Is It Turmeric or Curcumin

By Tammera J. Karr, PhD., BCIH, CNC

Turmeric (Curcuma longa) or Indian saffron has been used for centuries in India and Southeast Asia, where by chance the prevalence of Alzheimer’s and cancers are a fraction of the westernized worlds. A perennial plant native to India cultivated in China, Bengal and Java for its rhizomes, and several other species of the curcuma genus grow wild in the forests of Southern Asia including India, Indonesia, Indochina, nearby Asian countries, and some Pacific Islands including Hawaii. All of these areas have traditional culinary and medicinal uses going back to pre-history.  Turmeric needs warm tropical temperatures and plenty of rainfall to thrive, so that leaves out Oregon.

The herb Turmeric is a mild aromatic stimulant used in the manufacture of curry powders and mustards, in the same family as ginger, cardamom and zedoary. The curcumin in turmeric has recently been shown effective in the fight against breast cancer, osteoporosis, gluten sensitivity, Alzheimer’s, skin health and arthritis.

Without question, the scientific literature supports that this widely used spice possesses potent anti-inflammatory and antioxidant properties. However, curcumin lacks the ability to be readily absorbed from dietary sources and does not produce adequate, sustained blood levels for optimal impact on its own. Add black pepper, or dried ginger to help activate turmeric or choose supplements that include it. Commonly in the world of health science, just because findings look good on paper, it doesn’t mean it works on the cellular level were the health-promoting mission is accomplished, so I encourage you to use turmeric in cooking, salad dressings, soups, rice dishes or sauces, as this is one of the most traditional ways of utilizing this herb. In the book “the Blue Zone” a longitudinal study of factors common in long lived populations; the cultures with the greatest number of Centegenariens have a variety of ways turmeric compounds are made available in their diet, one is the predigesting and redistribution through goats and goat milk. I can hear your groans and gagging noises.

The Science

In a recent study it was discovered that curcumin’s natural anti-inflammatory and antioxidant properties may reduce both oxidative damage and pathological changes in the brain that frequently leads to brain abnormalities. More specifically, curcumin has been shown to reduce the incidence of harmful plaques by slowing deposition of beta-amyloid precursor protein (APP) within the brain, which is hypothesized to play a pivotal role in the progression of Alzheimer’s disease.

Curcumin produces beneficial effects on bone structure. Bone health and strength is a significant concern to people in the U.S., as it is estimated that 34 million have low bone density and are at risk of further problems. We know that millions of Americans are being overdosed on calcium for the supposed protection of their bones. Current research in the area of Nutrigenomics supports the idea that our bones require a long list of nutrients to maintain their flexibility and strength. Sulphanes contained in turmeric are some of those vital nutrients.

The researchers concluded “curcumin can prevent further deterioration of the bone structure and produce beneficial changes in bone turnover. (if you are not taking a prescription bone medication that prevents this.) The change of inflammatory cytokines, including TNF-alpha and IL-6, may play an important role in the mechanisms of action of curcumin, but the detailed mechanism remains unknown.”

A recent study evaluated curcumin, on allergic airway inflammation and hyper-responsiveness. According to the American Academy of Allergy, Asthma and Immunology, 34.1 million Americans have been diagnosed with asthma during their lifetime, and the academy estimates that the number of Americans with asthma will increase by over 100 million by 2025. The study authors stated that in mice, “Curcumin attenuates the development of allergic airway inflammation and hyper-responsiveness, possibly through inhibition of NF-kappaB activation in the asthmatic lung tissue. Our results indicate that curcumin may attenuate development of asthma by inhibition of NF-kappaB activation.”

Common Uses

Abrasions/Cuts * Aches & Pains * Cancer Prevention * Candida/Yeast Infection * Cholesterol Control * Concentration/Memory/Focus * Culinary * Eye care – Vision * General Health Tonics * Gout * Heart Tonics/Cordials * Lupus * Osteoarthritis * Rheumatoid Arthritis * Stop Smoking

Properties

Anti-inflammatory* Analgesic* Antibacterial* Cardic tonic Cordial* Hepatic* COX-2 Inhibitor* Antifungal* Aromatic*

Parts Used: rhizome

Constituents: volatile oils (terpene, curcumen), starch, albumen (30%), coloring due chiefly to curcumin, potassium, vitamin c

So add a little spice to your life and health to your brain, bones and lungs.