So I was reading, or rather listening to an article on Natural News about fingernail health and after hearing about something called “ridges” on one’s nails, I decided to take a look at my nails and I saw that I have vertical ridges on my nails!  Although these ridges are very small and hard to see unless you look very closely, I got a little upset thinking that I might be anemic.  So I went and read about the symptons and one of them was fatigue, which can lead to one feeling depressed!  So we have a little bit of a chicken and egg complex here… I was sad because I found out I am iron deficient, and one of the symptons of iron deficiency is a form of depression…

So anyway, I decided that I should take the necessary precautions and advise my readers how they can avoid getting an iron deficiency, which according to the Natural News article is a possible cause for anemia, which is a cause for ridges in ones nails.

The culprit: Tea drinking

Drinking too much tea, which is what I have been doing since the summer of 2012 is the culprit for decreasing your body’s iron absorption, which in turn leads to anemia, which leads to ridges in one’s nails.  This however only applies to non-HEME sources of iron, which means if you eat very little or no meat and drink a lot of tea you are risking low iron levels in your body.  So the advice I found on the internet is a bunch of lists of foods high in iron, and the advice was to not to drink tea right before, during or after a meal.  The tannins in the tea bind to the iron and prevent your body from absorbing the iron.  There are many ways to still drink tea, even herbal tea and to avoid these poor effects, but the best advice was to:

• avoid tea with meals
• add milk or lemon to your tea
• get Vitamin C with your iron
• get your iron from meat sources.

See this article on VeeTea.com for more information on how to deal with drinking tea and iron absorption:

http://www.veetea.com/site/articles/tea-and-iron

How I “listen” to natural news everyday:

I purchased a license to the IVONA Text-to-Speech Software (http://www.ivona.com) for around 79 US Dollars.  All you need is one voice, I got Salli, she sounds pretty good.  So I get an email each morning from Natural News and I simply select all the text, copy it and paste it into a large document in my IVONA Reader, then I simply press play and start my work!

See this article on natural news to learn more about fingernail health:

Fingernail health is an indicator of overall health and wellness – http://www.naturalnews.com/007750.html

It is the morning of January 2nd, 2013, and I woke up bright and early to go to work.  I still felt bloated and full from all the conventional foods that I consumed during the holiday season and decided to officially “weigh myself in” to see where I stand.  I weighed 210 pounds, with my height of 5 feet and 11 inches that brought my Body Mass Index (BMI) to 29.3, which according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention makes me “Overweight”, with a real close margin to “Obese”.  I will have to agree with the CDC here and say that yes, I am indeed overweight.  Regardless of how much muscle mass I may have, or how thick my bones are, I still am overweight and I am going to “practice what I preach” and will post my updates here following this new diet that I am creating, which shall be called “The Would John Eat It Diet”.

It must be noted that having a 6-pack in your abdominal area like those from the movie 300 is not healthy, nor is it intrinsically attractive to the opposite sex.  Your body is supposed to have some fat reserves that can help you get through a period of starvation, and having 6-pack abs means that once you skip a meal your body starts burning muscle, as opposed to fat.  As long as the amount of fat you have does not decrease your agility and stamina, it is okay, plus it helps keep you warm during the cold winter months… There is an article on this somewhere on naturalnews.com, but I don’t have the time to look it up right now.

So, for 2013 I will be regularly weighing myself using multiple scales, noting the time and location of each scale and will be posting the results here.  I will also keep a detailed “diet” log where I write down to the bet of my abilities everything that I eat.  Hopefully this will provide some usefulness of the efficacy of my own diet that can help you and others see its effectiveness.

Anyway, my diet guidelines are as follows:

• • Avoid Coffee
    • If you have any, get an iced coffee from Pret a Manger.  No Starbucks, no Dunkin’ Donuts.  Oh, and did I mention no sugar or sugar substitutes?  Only some half and half.  Yes, you heard me right, half and half is preferred, not skim milk, not soy milk.  Whole milk is okay.  Soy milk, by the way, often contains sugar!  And the soy milk at Pret a Manger contains sugar… so drinking soy milk instead of whole milk leads to your consumption of sugar without even realizing it.
  • Drink tea
    • When sitting at your desk at work, use a tea steeper to brew loose tea throughout your work day.  Never use sugar, never add milk, just straight water.  I am lucky that my workplace has a Poland Spring water cooler that produces warm water suitable for my tea steeper.
    • I purchased my tea steeper from Teavana.  It fits only one cup of water, which is good because it results in my taking many trips to the pantry for refills.  Here is a link to my specific tea-steeper:
      https://www.republicoftea.com/travel-mugs/c/94/?
    • I like a brand of loose tea called “The Tealogist” (see http://www.thetealogist.com). You can find that at upscale tea shops and health food stores.  You can purchase any loose tea you want, I tend to avoid the naturally caffeinated ones and the non-organic brands.
  • Eat raw, unfiltered honey
    • If you are drinking tea and want to add some “sweetness” to it, or if you are sick, buy raw, organic and unfiltered honey.  I like to get my honey from farmers markets, which means it is hard to find in cold weather.  So in the winter, go to an expensive supermarket and get yourself “raw” organic honey.  Sorry, only expensive supermarkets carry this because the “poor” are not entitled to organic food.  Write your senator and ask them to lower taxes on the poor to allow them to deduct organic food expenses… yeah, not happening, Big Agra won’t let it.
  • No grains
    • I like the paleo diet theory of avoiding any and all grains.  Of course the anti-nutrients in grains are mostly diminished if you properly prepare those grains (and legumes) in the proper method.  However, I have to analyze each grain and legume to make sure that it is properly prepared before adding it back to my diet.  So the paleo diet is for cavemen, but if you eat grains, you are a little bit more modern right?  Maybe this diet should be called the “Bronze-Age” Diet, or how about the “Minoan Diet”?
    • Avoiding grains means no bread, no whole wheat bread, no rye bread no bread of any kind.  The theory goes however, that rye bread and other types of “fermented” breads such as sourdough should be better for your health, because the souring aka fermenting process used to create these breads breaks down enough phytic acid making the effects of these anti-nutrients negligible on your body.  The only problem is that these breads are no longer lovingly made by a housewife, which probably did soak them for the right amount of time to break down the phytic acid, but instead they are made by a factory that is “farmer-owned” which has been optimized to produce as much sourdough bread in as little time as possible and to make sure that the FDA allows them to call it sourdough bread.
    • No corn, no potatoes.  Yes, I too was saddened when I found out that corn is a grain… Especially after I found an organic farm that produces non-GMO corn that tasted so good raw.  Also, you want to avoid corn at all costs because 99% of it is GMO and you don’t want to eat GMO products, especially if you are a female because they have been linked to many cancers and infertility that specifically target females.
  • No sugar
    • This should go without saying, you are not supposed to eat the amounts of sugar that we do in any of the civilized world.  From a creationist standpoint, our bodies weren’t “made that way”, and from an evolutionary standpoint, our bodies have not had enough time to “evolve to handle sugar” ever since we started consuming it 10,000 years ago.  So there you have it, no sugar, no sugar substitutes, no agave, no stevia you name it.  Just avoid it and all of a sudden you will start tasting the actual food you are eating, and not the sugar or sweetener that was added to it.  Ever have an actual carob? Or have you ever chewed on an actual sugar cane stalk?  They taste nothing like the products we derive from them.  And remember, we removed the fiber from your sugar products, they were meant to be eaten along with their fiber.
  • No chicken
    • Free Range, organic, all-natural, cold chilled are all words used by lawyers after successfully lobbying to make the FDA not regulate these words to mean anything that they are supposed to mean.  Free range chickens are as free range as a lady receiving counseling on how to raise children at Planned Parenthood.
    • Believe it, no chicken in this country is clean.  No chicken was raised in the outdoors, roaming free, eating small rocks and pebbles, flowers… etc.  Even chickens that are fed a “vegetarian diet” are fed a diet consisting mostly of grains.  Even if those grains are organic, chickens aren’t supposed to be eating them.  No animal eats grains, not even cows.  So eating that chicken will not only not help you lose weight, it will not taste good, will be dry and you will have to add a lot of sauce or some other kind of condiment to it in order to eat it aka make it palatable.
  • No meat during the week
    • I sometimes cheat and have meat on a friday, but my typical routine is to go to Whole Foods on saturday morning and find some nice cuts of beef or lamb that have been rated with a Whole Foods Animal Welfare Rating of 4 or 5.  Then along with some local and organic garlic, onions and mushrooms  I sautee them and make a nice simple stew.  The goal is to buy so little meat that I eat it all in one sitting without having to save any for a later day. If you do go to Whole Foods, notice that none of the chicken in poultry section has an Animal Welfare Rating that is greater than 2.  A grade of 2 means it is basically veal.  So either stop eating chicken or start eating veal.
  • Eat sashimi, not sushi
    • Sushi contains white rice.  Lots of it.  White rice is empty of nutrients and full of phytic acid and other anti-nutrients.  Sashimi served in a restaurant has to be “sushi” grade, which although I haven’t researched yet, is I am sure much better than your “frozen foods grade fish”, which probably means the fish can be frozen for 6 months and then it can be sold in your local market…etc
    • Sashimi also is typically served as a dinner dish in a Japanese restaurant containing a nice selection of various fishes.  This is good because each fish contains a lot of nutrients that the others do not.  Skip the salad, which has some sweet dressing, and ask for a Japanese Clear Soup instead of the usual Miso Soup.

I once asked someone if they liked how the “free range” turkey they purchased for Thanksgiving tasted and if it was worth the “extra” money they paid for it.  They told me that it cost $20 and that is wasn’t worth the extra money and that the whole “organic” thing is just a fraud.  So I asked for clarification on what exactly they purchased and they told me “the turkey said it was natural and free range”.

I got news for you buddy.  Natural means that they didn’t inject the turkey with any colors to make it look more appealing to you, and free range means that they got rid of the cages and made a hole in the wall so that the turkey can have “access to the outdoors.”  The USDA Food Safety and Inspection Service (FSIS), regulates the use of this term “Free Range” for poulty in the United States and defines it as follows:

“Producers must demonstrate to the Agency that the poultry has been allowed access to the outside.”

As for the word “Natural”? Are you expecting anything better? Here is the actual definition “NATURAL”:

“A product containing no artificial ingredient or added color and is only minimally processed. Minimal processing means that the product was processed in a manner that does not fundamentally alter the product. The label must include a statement explaining the meaning of the term natural (such as “no artificial ingredients; minimally processed”).”

So there you have it, if you want something that is really organic, you have to make sure that your food has as many of these organic-oriented phrases as possible.  If you don’t, well, remember, you are what you eat, and if the animal you are eating was raised in filth, the quality of its meat shall be filth, and then you will become sick! So eat right!

Before I forget, I was recently given an article to read from the Wall Street Journal titled “A Reality Check for Organic Food Dreamers”.  I read the article (link below), and noticed that the author argued against the labeling of “genetically modified” foods and said that instead of avoiding such products we should be applauding them.  He brings up many arguments, however, he leaves out a lot of pertinent information… i.e. he says that industrial farming produces more crops per acre than traditional organic farming.  Does he mention what happens to all the extra waste that is created? Normally a plot of land can handle a certain amount of waste naturally, but a “modern” farm cannot, and has to have its waste thrown into places like rivers… creating a problem for someone that is further down the river…  Anyway, check out this article and remember its author John R. Block, used to be the secretary of the Department of Argiculture from 1981 to 1985 and is a senior policy adviser at OFW Law in Washington DC.  OFW Law, has its website here: http://www.ofwlaw.com and appears to be a big law firm that helps large companies pass legislation to have words like “Free Range” mean what they currently mean.

If you really want to know what GMO and other “factory-farming” methods have given us, google the words “North Carolina CAFO”.  Notice that the acronym CAFO stands for “Consolidated Animal Feeding Operation”.  John R. Block, as per his biography (http://www.ofwlaw.com/CM/SPA/JohnBlock.asp) built a large and successful hog operation in his home state of Illinois.  Hmmm… I wonder what that means? Anyway, knowledge is power, so read about Hog Operations and draw your own conclusions as to whether or not GMO deserves applaud or abandonment.

Listen to the first 30 seconds… of this (John R. Block’s weekly radio address of Food Waste):

http://www.ofwlaw.com/CM/Audio/FoodWaste.mp3

Sources:

So, Talitha of Edgwick Farms tells me that they stop milking the goat’s in the end of October to allow them to “dry off” before they start “kidding”, which in farmer-speak means let the goats have children and leave them alone while they nurse them after birth.  I guess this is the exact opposite of what happens on a regular CAFO (Consolidated Animal Feeding Operation) where once a farm animal is born it is immediately separated form its mother, denying it its mothers milk and placed into confinement so that its muscles do not grow and the meat is extra soft, which is sold at a premium price and is known as “veal”.  Of course, veal are raised in horrible situations, but if you think about it, all animals raised in CAFO’s are raised in a horrible environment that is a step away from veal, whereas a veal lives in a 2×2 cell, the rest of the animals live in a 4×4 cell… so if you don’t eat veal because it is “cruel”, well, then you should consider not eating any factory-farmed meat because that is also “cruel”.

So this morning I made my last trip until January 2013 to Edgwick farm with my father, who used to work in area power plants while a Mechanical Engineer for General Electric. It brought back memories for him and I finally got to show him where I get my milk from and what a real farm looks like.  Of course, being born and raised on the Greek Island of Crete, he already knew what a real farm looks like, but I just thought it would be a good refresher for him to see a real american farm.

Now, the question is, what do I do with the 3 gallons of Goat’s milk that I have in my refrigerator knowing that the next time I will get some will be in late January?  Well, I guess that is what makes something special, knowing that you only get it for a limited amount of time, and not to have it available every single day.  I have some rennet which I purchased from the New England Cheese Making Company (www.cheesemaking.com) along with some cultures for creating Chevre.  Now I know that cheese making is an art, and the most important part of that art is using quality ingredients.  So right away I have a huge edge against every single professional cheesemaker out there… and I have non-GMO rennet which is made by the New England Cheese Making Company itself, so that is yet another huge edge against every single professional cheese company out there.  So I guess I will try making some Chevre with a half a gallon, and I might as well try making the Greek cheese called “mizithra” with another half gallon.  Then I can use another half gallon for yogurt and retain the rest for drinking.

Now, for the past couple of days I have had a sour stomach, this sour stomach was brought on from a series of unfortunate meals.  On Tuesday I had some candy bars along with a gin martini and some beer.  On Wednesday they served us factory-farmed cheese burgers and gmo-potato french fries during a “celebratory” lunch at work. On thursday I met a friend for lunch at a diner where I had a bison burger with fries… and finally, on Friday my new manager took my team out for lunch to some Japanese place for some “menchanko”.  So… the balance between good and bad bacteria in my intestines have been disrupted by all of the antibiotics that the meat I ate was laced with, and the result is a bit of pain in my gut and some acid-reflux.  Now, here is the magical part.  I know that acid reflux is caused by an imbalance of good and bad bacteria in your intestines and stomach, and I knew that once I would drink some raw goat’s milk everything would be okay.

On the day that I got my milk I came home really tired and was faced with the option of (a) go directly to sleep, or (b) drink a glass of raw goat’s milk and then go to sleep.  I chose option a, and after about 45 minutes of not being able to sleep, I went for option b and slowly but surely, my acid reflux and any gut pains went away… I hope that one little glass has provided me with enough good bacteria to last until January 2013!

If you are still a skeptic, I will say this, you must try raw milk sometime!  Head over to www.realmilk.com and see if there is any farm near you.

p.s. I hear that they milk cows throughout the winter, so my next stop is the Stap Family Dairy Farm in Pine Bush, New York, which is another farm that has a permit to sell Raw milk in the State of New York.  It will take me an extra 30 minutes to get there and I am sure it will be worth the drive.  Until then you can find Edgwick Farm at the New Amsterdam Green Market in Lower Manhattan.  Might I say, try their Cheddar Cheese!

What do you get when you combine my favorite Yugoslav head of state, a Mad Men drink that makes a morning cameo, and our rawsomeness?  After pushing my Swedish meatball of an automobile to the mechanic, we felt that a reward was in order.  Stopped in the liquor store and picked up a liter of Tito’s Handmade Vodka.  Can I get a volunteer to go find out what the f— is handmade vodka?  Thanks.  Anyway, this is made by a geologist and geophysicist, as opposed to the rest of distillers who have distilling degrees.  I mean if it were made by a chemist, I guess it would appeal to the scientific side of me but I guess it’s good that it’s made by a man of science and his crack team of Mad Men found a story to tell.  I like Austin, Texas where this vodka is from, I have two friends who like to drink it, it beat out many high priced vodkas in competitions, so at $21 it’s also recession proof.  Sold!  We come home, fill dissimilar glasses with ice cubes, pour Tito’s into the glasses, and add legally obtained but socially defiant raw milk.  Not a fan of vodka per se but since this action produced a blog post, a smile on my face, and a frown on many others, I’m happy.

I pride myself on my humility.  Back up, scratch that.  Ever see that big cheese ball who’s eating cheese?  He’d be lucky if it were cheese.  I just cracked an egg with one hand and dropped its contents in my mouth with two, some day it’ll take just one.  So many people fear the idea, the action, yet they consider themselves open minded.  Somehow they’ve been indoctrinated into being scared of these things.  They eat chicken, they eat tofurky, they eat what they eat and are what they eat what they are.  I think Oscar Wilde said that at a raw foods buffet or was it F. Scott Fitzgerald.  Not sure but I’m running out of ideas and this egg is rotting in my teeth.  Wasn’t the exhilarating experience I was expecting.  Eat everything once and then decide.  Eat everything more than once to make a conclusion.  Don’t talk the talk if you’ve never tried it.  I am fed up with that and you’re time is up.  Next!