In many states, the sale of raw milk is illegal. In some states, even being able to own a cow and drink the milk yourself is in jeopardy. Raw milk producers in states where it is legal to sell raw milk cannot ship their product to other states as transporting raw milk in its final packaging across state lines is a violation of federal law CFR 1240.61.

Drinking raw milk from pastured, healthy cows is not only safe but also much healthier than drinking pasteurized, homogenized milk. Pasteurized, homogenized milk has been heated to the point that enzymes are destroyed and proteins are distorted to an unrecognizable state – causing allergic reactions in many people. Then it is subjected to so much pressure that the fat globules break apart and become uniform, which bits of casein and whey in their protein shells – causing more allergic reactions in many people. Raw milk is a perfect food that needs no processing. If it comes from a healthy cow that has been grass-fed, there is no more reason to fear illness from drinking it than there is from eating any natural food.

There is a bill in the early stages of review called HR 1830 which will make raw milk available in more states.

HR 1830 Summary: Prohibits any federal department, agency, or court from taking any action that would prohibit, interfere with, regulate, or otherwise restrict the interstate traffic of milk, or a milk product, that is unpasteurized and packaged for direct human consumption based on the determination that solely because the milk or milk product is unpasteurized, it is adulterated, misbranded, or otherwise in violation of federal law.

I’ve added a widget to the right sidebar on my site to track the progress of this bill. Please go to http://www.ftcldf.org/petitions/pnum1079.php to send an email expressing support for the bill to your representative. If you and your representative use social networks like Twitter and Facebook, ask them for their support there as well. They more they hear about it, the more they will take notice.

I’ve asked Rep. Ed Royce from California multiple times about his stance on the bill via Twitter and he has yet to respond. The raw milk topic is one that most representatives are hesitant to get involved in. So, we must stay strong and let our representatives know we want them to support the transportation of safe, healthy raw milk from properly raised cattle.

I’ve been on a mission lately to teach my family what I’ve learned about nutrition and how it affects our health. We’ve always been a very healthy family but recently one member developed multiple and numerous blood clots in her lungs (coupled with high blood pressure and near-obesity), another has battled depression and one child has been diagnosed with borderline Asperger’s. As a generally health-conscious family, we all believed the party line about low fat, high grain, calorie restricted diets being healthy. Over the last year I have learned how dangerous this diet is and how beneficial a natural diet consisting of high-quality meats (including organs and bone stock), tons of vegetables, and no refined carbs can be.

In light of the recent health issues my family members have experienced, I have started sharing what I’ve learned with them. It’s not a decision I took lightly. On one hand, I want my family to be healthy and happy. On the other hand, giving nutritional advice is accepted almost as warmly as espousing political opinions. So, I decided to send an email with prioritized recommendations starting with removing sugar, flour and vegetable oils from their diets. I also provided information about buying quality meats (grass-fed beef, pastured chickens, etc.) and eating enough healthy fats.

Recent evidence shows that eating vegetable oils, or not eating enough healthy fats, can contribute to mental illnesses – including depression and Asperger’s. The fact that there are two people in my family who suffer from these conditions and they both eat a low-fat diet filled with grains and margarine, I tend to agree. There is no history of mental illness in our family before this.

My relative that struggles with depression replied to my email and let me know that she purchased olive oil (though not extra virgin and processed with hexane) and that I would be proud because she switched to…drum roll…margarine made with olive oil. She is a very intelligent woman with an advanced education yet she saw olive oil on the label of her margarine and didn’t think twice. She doesn’t know that margarine made with olive oil still has vegetable oil in it. That, in fact, to be solid at room temperature it has to have hydrogenated vegetable oil it in. And by having these vegetable oils in it, it is dangerous and detrimental to her health (and yours). I replied that I was very glad she had made the effort but that next time she should just buy butter. Glorious, tasty, naturally solid at room temperature, butter.

It’s not her fault. She’s never been taught this information. And most people never will be. At the very least we need to learn to be much more vigilant about reading ingredient lists and knowing when we’re being lied to by food manufacturers (pretty much always).

Despite generally being ignored, usually drawing criticism and sometimes seeing more eye rolls than parents of teenagers, I am going to continue trying to educate my family and friends about healthy, traditional nutrition. Any tips on how to convince loved ones that traditional nutrition is healthier are much appreciated!

For your reading pleasure, I give you The 6 Most Horrifying Lies The Food Industry is Feeding You.

I had my biannual dental cleaning today and when I arrived my very sweet Vietnamese hygienist greeted me with “Hi…oh you so skinny!” I smiled and thanked her as she started talking about how difficult it is to stay thin. She said she used to consistently be a size 2/4 but is now more than filling out a size 6. I casually mentioned that it wasn’t hard to stay thin if you eat right but that most of us don’t actually know what that means because of the misinformation we’re given. Usually when I make these comments they’re met with the all-too-familiar “oh you’re a crazy low carb person” look or glazed-over eyes as people tune out. But today was different. Hannah perked up and said “tell me how to eat to be healthy and thin!”

My first thought was that it is so sad that people are so starved for the right information about health and nutrition that she was willing to get advice from someone despite knowing my educational background or my profession. But, she wasn’t looking for a miracle cure or a quick fix so my second thought was that I finally get to share the knowledge I’ve gained with a willing student!

Hannah and her husband are in their 40s and have a toddler that they need to keep up with.  Hannah also lost her mother when she was young so she is dedicated to health and longevity for the sake of their daughter. She truly cares about her health and wants to eat “right” and she knows that the medical community and government have been feeding our country incorrect information for decades. Hannah shops at farmers markets for produce and buys organic and sustainably farmed items when she can. She is doing the best she can with the knowledge has and is far ahead of most people I meet when it comes to knowledge of how nutrition affects your health.

I gave Hannah my typical speech about sugar and refined carbohydrates after which she confessed that she had a sweet tooth and it was hard to overcome. She said that after each meal she needs something sweet so she will usually have a piece of fruit or a traditional vietnamese bean curd dessert.  You could see the guilt on her face when she talked about her sweet cravings and it really made me feel for her. We spoke some more about her dietary habits and she started telling me about her childhood in Vietnam. She said they regularly ate pho with “every part of the animal” in them.  She also said that if she started to get a cold or if she had a bad cut her mother would make a dish from turmeric, intestines and chives. She said after eating that her wound would heal very quickly or her cold would be gone by the next day. So now she just takes a turmeric supplement.

After living in the US for the better part of her adult life, Hannah has abandoned the traditional meals she ate as a child and has begun using supplements to try to get the benefit she inherently knows she got from the food she ate as a child. She also told me that she ate a lot of organ meats in Vietnam and that brains were a delicacy that they could only afford on special occasions. After moving to the US she heard that organs, especially liver which she really enjoys, could be toxic because they filter the toxins from the animals’ bodies so you shouldn’t eat them. So she completely stopped eating some of her favorite dishes that were considered dietary staples and even delicacies in her culture.

In the years that Hannah has been in the US she has virtually abandoned her dietary culture and is not passing along the time-honored recipes of her family to her daughter. She is now taking supplements instead of simply eating what she knows is good for her. She is eating fast food – although she only had half of her Jack in the Box meal yesterday because she’s “watching her weight”. And she has developed a sugar craving that she appeases after every meal, luckily not with sodas and candy bars. But she’s still getting a sugar infusion at least 3 times a day. It is no surprise that she’s now experiencing weight gain.

Hannah sent me home with a WaterPik and directions to floss more. I sent her home with a list of books to read to help her on her quest for health and weight maintenance and advice to return to her traditional cuisine and by all means eat that liver. I have an appointment with her in 6 months and we both promised we’d do better, me with my teeth and her with her diet. I’ve got high hopes for Hannah and I bet when I see her in 6 months she’ll be well on the road to good nutritional health.

In January 2011 I read 4-Hour Body and dove into a rabbit hole of dietary advice. I gobbled up every tidbit in that book then moved on to read and listen to everything by Gary Taubes and Michael Pollan among others. I’ve always been interested in mildy obsessed with nutrition but I was never able to make the connection between my intellectual obsession and my actual life. I’m now at a place in my life where I am able and willing to cook three meals a day, work out regularly and buy high quality ingredients rather than whatever I can afford. I am lucky to have that luxury. So along with that luxury, I am going to take on responsibility. I am going to share the lessons I learn as I tirelessly read scientific articles that drone on and on about nutrient metabolism, books about why “nutritionism” is a bad thing and the latest news in the fight against obesity (and for health). I’m also going to be sharing more recipes but this time they will be focused on health and even taste rather than just on cutting calories.

I’m on a journey to learn everything I can about nutrition, food quality, dietary health, weight loss, muscle development and more and I’d like to take you with me. Upcoming posts will cover everything from secret places corn is hiding in foods to how the ECA stack works to increase metabolism to how to lose “Biggest Loser” levels of weight without compromising your health. I’m also starting an adventure in urban farming by planting tomato and bell pepper plants which I will grow organically on my balcony. I’ll be sharing tips for how to grow your own vegetables with limited space and time as my garden grows (fingers crossed). I’ll also be sharing my ups and downs (in weight and emotions) as I work towards my physical goals. So here’s to the future!

Last week in Slow Carb Diet Week Four I was pretty frustrated. So I made a lot of changes this week to try to get the scale to move, hoping to capitalize on the idea that 4HB kicks in more for women during weeks 5 and 6. I added fiber, cinnamon and Yerba Mate. I also made sure I was under 50 net carbs each day. After all of that, I ended the week without any weight loss.  After my Super Bowl cheat day yesterday I am up a pound and a half.  I have 10 days until I go on vacation and I’m feeling a little frustrated that I decided to do this diet instead of sticking with what I was doing before.  I see so many people having great success with Four-Hour Body and I don’t know why I’m not. Then again, neither are any of the people I know in person who are doing it.  Are we all just coincidentally not carb sensitive?

Either way, I’m going to continue with the slow/low carb plan for the next 10 days but I’m going to kick up my exercise since I’ve been slacking off on that. Although that shouldn’t be a factor according to Tim.

Let’s hope week 6 is my magic week.

Weight: 133.2 pounds

Gain/Loss: -0.4 pounds (since day 1)

As I sit here eating my 28th slow carb breakfast, I’m thinking about all the ups and downs I’ve had during the last month.  Weight is a terribly powerful number. Last week I had a high-carb dinner mid-week so I decided to skip my cheat day over the weekend. I thought that this would result in bigger numbers on the scale by the end of the week. By Wednesday this week I was back in the neighborhood of 131 after putting on a couple pounds thanks to that high-carb meal. This was encouraging and I was sure that by Friday, my official weigh-in day, I would be below 131. Unfortunately despite being steadfast with my diet, on Thursday the number on the scale started to creep up. I thought maybe it was just a bad day or that I needed some more fiber so I decided to use Saturday’s weight as my official weigh-in. Imagine my surprise when on Saturday I weighed almost my pre-Four Hour Body weight meaning I’m only down .4 pounds for the entire 4 weeks. Color me unimpressed.

Since Saturday was my cheat day I decided to go ahead and do it right since it apparently doesn’t matter if you skip one. I started the day with my 30 grams of protein. Then I had a large white chocolate frappuccino with whipped cream and a custard filled donut. Then a friend and I went to the Los Angeles Fitness Expo to get some inspiration and check out the latest products. I picked up some Athletic Greens at one of the booths since I haven’t been using that product to date.  Afterwards we went to LA Market for a burger, fries and a glass of wine. For dinner I had 3 mini street tacos, some beans and rice and a few corn chips with 3 vodka cranberries. Then I had 2 pieces of cake for dessert. So while it was a good cheat day, I definitely didn’t go “whole hog” and eat until I felt like I was going to explode.

Sunday I was back to slow carb eating. I knew today I would have some extra pounds from cheat day but I was not expecting to see 136 on the scale. I get really uncomfortable when my weight goes above 135 because I worked so hard to get below it. I was going to take pictures on Saturday so I could see if there was a positive visual change despite the increase in weight for no discernable reason. But, I felt so fat from the extra pounds that I had no interest in putting on a bikini and posing for the camera.

I can’t figure out where I could be going wrong since I don’t use any sweeteners or any of the other things that it seems may trip people up.

Tim has been very vocal about the 4-6 week window for weight loss.

For people over 40 and women (especially after two kids), it’s quite common that the most dramatic fat-loss and weight change comes after 4-6 weeks on the diet. I have no explanation for this. – Tim Ferriss

I’m at the end of four weeks and have 2.5 until I wanted to see visible changes so I can feel more comfortable in a bikini on the beach. So, the things I am changing this week to try to see results are:

-I’m adding a fiber supplement (the flavorless stuff that dissolves in water & has no sugar like the chewable ones do)

-I’m drinking Yerba Mate once per day

-I’m taking Athletic Greens in the morning on an empty stomach before my 30 grams of protein

-I’m having cinnamon twice a day with hot tea (I don’t drink coffee)

Finger crossed.

This week was full of ups and downs. I put on 2.5 pounds from my cheat day on Saturday and by Wednesday I had not lost it like I was expecting. I was less than pleased. Normally I don’t have this mentality about weight loss. I always preach slow & steady loss. But, I’m under the gun. I have less than a month until I’m on a beach in Mexico and I want to feel comfortable in my bikini, knowing I did everything I could to be in the best shape possible.

Luckily by Thursday morning I had dropped my cheat day weight, plus an extra pound, putting me at 131 pounds! Unfortunately Thursday night I had to attend a sushi making class that I had scheduled for months. I went naive. I thought “I just won’t eat much rice!” Sure, that’ll happen. We got to the class early so to kill time we had a glass of wine. Then we were informed that 95% of what we were making in the class was rolls. I thought we’d at least be learning how to cut some sashimi so I could eat that. Sadly this wasn’t the case. So I ended up having about 1 cup of rice, plus a piece of tempura potato and some sake. Then we had some more wine afterwards. I didn’t think the damage would be that bad since I had been restrained with the rice. Friday morning I had only gained .6 pounds so I was pleased and decided I would still get to have my cheat day this weekend which is good because this weekend is going to be packed full of sporting events. I was very good yesterday and had 130 grams of protein with only 30 net carbs so I thought I’d be golden. However, today I woke up and discovered I had gained 1.5 additional pounds, putting me up 2 pounds after that one bad meal and some wine.

So, my cheat day is out the window this weekend. I’m going to have to just skip having a couple beers and stick to high-protein choices while everyone else eats pizza. I can do it. It’s not like I’ll never get to eat pizza again. I just wished I’d gone whole hog at the sushi class since I’m paying for it anyway!

Weight: 133.0 pounds

Gain/Loss: -0.6 pounds (since day 1)

So last week I was pretty panicked at the end of the week. I stayed the course though and was rewarded this week with a 2 pound loss which puts me down a net 1.5 pounds since I gained one pound during week 1. Tim was spot on with his note that any weight gained on your binge day would be gone by Wednesday if you stuck to the plan. Most of it was gone by Tuesday, the last was gone by Wednesday and on Thursday I began seeing the scale drop slowly into actual weight loss territory.

From Monday through Friday I averaged 148 grams of protein per day, 88 net carbs (total carbs less fiber), 76 grams of fat and 1750 calories. I did moderate workouts ranging from a 2 mile walk to 15 minutes of upper body weights to P90X Plyo.  I am still wearing my BodyMedia FIT armband to track calories burned to see if the cals in/cals out theory holds any water. My armband reports that I burned an average of 2000 calories per day, leaving me with a 250 calorie per day deficit. 250 calories per day is not enough to account for a 2 pound weight loss. Also, it’s almost guaranteed that I missed a few calories here and there so I may not have a deficit at all. Very interesting indeed. I’ll continue to post information on this as I gather more.

Saturday was my second binge day and all I wanted was some brownies. I made a pan of brownies after having my 4HB high protein breakfast of egg whites and chili. I had 3 small brownies early afternoon, did some shopping and then got pizza and breadsticks around 3 PM. I had my CQ, did my exercises and sat down for a pig out. I had 3 slices of pepperoni pizza, 4 breadsticks, 2 or 3 more brownies and some Crystal Light Fruit Punch. Not long after I was in a serious food coma and took a short nap. When I woke up I felt like I was hungover. It was a very unpleasant feeling. I dragged myself off the couch and met my boyfriend at a bar/restaurant to watch the playoffs with every intention of having a few drinks and a big dinner. However, 5 hours after eating lunch I still couldn’t bring myself to eat again. I knew I needed food but had no interest in any type of binge meal so I had an ahi salad. The brownies got the best of my and I had another one when I got home. A few hours afterwards I felt ill again and never wanted to see sugar again.  After sleeping for 8 hours I still feel sluggish and “off” from all the bread and sugar yesterday. I am definitely on board with people who say that binge days lose their appeal after the first couple. Sugar is bad mmmkay!

Weight: 132.0 pounds

Gain/Loss: -1.6 pounds (since day 1)

This side dish tastes exponentially better than it sounds thanks to the bacon and garlic. The texture and flavor combination will remind you of potatoes which you may be missing if you’re doing the Slow Carb Diet.  It’s also a great way to get kids to eat beans and cabbage because the cabbage makes the entire dish purple!

Ingredients

15 oz can cannellini beans (or other white beans if cannellini aren’t available), drained & rinsed

4 slices bacon, roughly chopped

1/2 onion, diced

4 large garlic cloves, chopped

3 tbsp garlic powder

1/4 cup beef broth

1/4 head red cabbage, roughly chopped

Preparation

In a saute pan, cook bacon pieces until crispy. Remove bacon with slotted spoon and set on a paper towel. Add onion and garlic to the bacon drippings and saute until onions begin to soften.  Add cabbage and half of the beef broth to pan. Cover and simmer until cabbage wilts, adding more beef broth as needed. Add the beans and mix while warming through. Add the garlic powder, salt and pepper to taste. Let stand 5 minutes to let flavors combine before serving.

Nutrition

Makes 4 servings

Calories: 150
Protein: 10 grams
Carbohydrates: 22 grams
Fat: 3 grams

This chile recipe will help you get the protein and beans you need during the Slow Carb Diet from 4-Hour Body. It also tastes really good

Ingredients

1 pound lean ground beef (or buffalo)

15 oz can kidney beans

15 oz can black beans

1 onion, diced

2 tbsp canned diced green chiles

3 tbsp tomato paste

15 oz can crushed tomatoes

2 cups beef broth

1 green pepper, diced

4 garlic cloves, chopped

2 tbsp garlic powder

1 tsp each cumin, coriander, paprika, ancho chile powder, chipotle chile powder

1 tbsp sherry (optional)

salt & pepper

Preparation

Brown beef. Drain fat. Add chopped onion and garlic and cook until onions soften. Add all spices, stir and cook over low heat 3 minutes to toast spices. Add tomato paste and let caramelize. Deglaze pan with sherry can be done with beef broth instead). Add green chiles, crushed tomatoes and 1-2 cups beef broth as needed. Salt and pepper to taste. Simmer covered 30 – 60 minutes to allow flavors to blend. Add beans after simmering.

Nutrition

Each 6 ounce serving of chile has approximately:

Calories: 200

Protein: 18 grams

Carbohydrates: 17 grams

Fat: 5 grams