Raw Papaya Custard (VAALT, Paleo, Keto, Primal) - The Nectar of the Gods

I've mentioned this Raw Papaya Custard on a previous blog or two, so here's the recipe. It's basically a recipe Marcus and I modified from Aajonus Vonderplanitz's book The Recipe for Living Without Disease, which you should do as well once you get the feel for the basic recipe. Marcus and I have both shared it with family, friends, students and clients and virtually everyone likes this. It's not only delicious, but it is extremely easy for virtually everyone to eat since it takes very little effort for the body to digest. It's exceptional for people with wasting disease, irritable bowel, diverticulitis, gastritis, gastrointestinal issues, or Crohn's disease.

This custard is seriously good. I could go without sex for an undetermined length of time if I got to eat this every day. (Those who know me well know I wouldn't say that about very many things.)

By the way, we gave this recently to a friend who has had chronic gastritis (inflammation of the stomach wall) and was having a particularly bad bout with some very unpleasant stomach cramps (unfortunately most of the doctors she went to for this couldn't find the cause and concluded it was in her head!). So even though she was trepidatious about the raw eggs and dairy, she tried just one teaspoon of this custard and within a few hours her stomach cramping was gone! She ate a few more teaspoons and kept feeling better. Seriously powerful stuff and it's delicious. Also, it's relatively low carb compared with most deserts and I'm working on making it more so (see Honey/Stevia note below).

Papaya is a relatively low carb fruit (especially if you eat a small, 1/2 cup serving), so that works to our advantage too! Here's the nutrition data for papaya: http://nutritiondata.self.com/facts/fruits-and-fruit-juices/1985/2

Here's the recipe from The Recipe for Living Without Disease, modified based on how Marcus and I make it since we've had better luck with this version and it yields a larger amount. Trust me, you'll want to share or have more for yourself.

Makes 2-3 servings (or 4 very small servings)

Papaya Custard

• 1 medium-sized organic Papaya, remove seeds and peel (if you have a different size papaya, modify ingredients accordingly)
  
• 3 raw Eggs (never refrigerated, from organic-fed, free-range chickens)
• 2 Tbls Raw Unsalted Butter (from grass-fed, pasture-raised cows*)
• 2 Tbls unheated, organic Honey**
• Organic stevia**

*Honey/Stevia note: 
Make sure honey was NEVER heated - many honey companies labeling their honey "raw" actually heat their honey to only 110° to make jarring easier, which by FDA standards can still be considered raw, but for our purposes is not really raw (as enzymes in honey are killed above 100°). Pacifica is a good, reliable brand that has an unheated line of honey. Stevia: I'm still experimenting with adjusting the amount of honey in lieu of Stevia. Even though raw honey doesn't spike the blood sugar like other sweeteners, it still adds to my daily net carb total (which is currently below 40), I've been experimenting with decreasing honey and increasing stevia to make this a truly low-carb dessert. 

**Raw Unsalted Butter Note: 

Unless clearly marked "raw" or "unpasteurized," all butter sold in markets in the United States is from pasteurized milk. This modifies the fat molecule so this is no longer a healing food and the fat is no longer healthy. Rawmilk.com is a great website that lists grass-fed, free-range, raw milk/dairy, and egg farms.

Put papaya, eggs, butter and honey (in that order), in a 16 oz small-mouth mason jar that can fit on an Osterizer blender (they make the right size blender bottom to use mason jars - this is easier for making and cleaning since the jars easily go into dishwashers, but if you must use your own blender jar, that will work okay. A vitamix or blendtec will do wonders with this, but we have yet to procure one of those...

Before blending, place ramekins or small serving bowls (2-6 depending on the size of the bowl) out on the counter, ready to receive the Raw Papaya Custard. Blend all ingredients together on a low speed for a few seconds, increase to medium speed and watch to see that all ingredients are smoothly blended. You may need to shake or wiggle the blender to get the butter and honey to integrate. Once blended, immediately pour custard into the ready bowls as it will begin to set within 1-2 minutes.

Refrigerate to set which typically takes about 2 hours. Please eat within 6 hours for maximum nutrition benefit.

Enjoy and please leave comments on how it goes.

More Interesting Katie Strand World Posts

• And All the Cows Said Moo!
• If you were John Mayer, you would too
• Tiredness - Varieties of and unforeseen side-effects
• Foreplay is overrated
• Food should be As God Intended or Why isn't everything we eat organic?
  
• Yelling - One of the Highest Forms of Compassion
  
• The Cove - Louie Psihoyos' Oscar speech & a guide on how to create change...
• My Favorite Things...Arrabiata Recipe - Fresh, Organic, Vegan or Primal
  
• My Favorite Shows on Television...or how David Duchovney & Jesus are likely Good in Bed
  
• The Hawaiian Islands and Washington D.C.’s sand-paper circle-jerk about Health Care
  
• My Buddha has Termites...A Lesson in Infinite Joy
• The One-Date-Wonders!
• I had to learn SIGN LANGUAGE when I moved to Los Angeles
• Guys can make a game out of anything
• Hello? The power of CONNECTING and how technology has changed things
  
• Popping the question is better than porn!
• Bravo, Stephen Colbert & Co! and your Olympic Vancouverage
• Songwriting is like SEX
• Born To Run by Christopher McDougall - Inspiring a inspiring all of us to be more in the FLOW
• A moment of silence for all the plastic surgery ca...
• Ricky Gervais should be the new Simon on American Idol
• Muscle SURPRISE! The key to physical, mental & emotional fitness
• I think my boyfriend's a snake...
• Release... Sweat & Power
• MY FAVORITE THINGS! - Vibram's Five Fingers
• Dick Morris... How do you sleep at night?
• Rusty DePass, Gorillas, and Obama, oh my!
• Michael Jackson - Troubled Genius

Music

Katie Strand Music

• Please Don't Leave Me
• Going To California
  
• Come Back
• Home

[Original published date: Mar 24, 2010]

The Kindness Fast

(Originally written March 1, 2013)

I'm embarking on a new kind of fast.

A Kindness Fast...

But let me back up a bit first.

I've been on juice fasts, which I highly recommend. I suppose it's more accurately called a liquid fast. 20 days is my max so far, and mine was a blend of the following: 85% fresh, home-made vegetable juices, 15% raw milk with whey protein to prevent muscle wasting, with as much herbal tea (mostly I drank Dr. Schulze's detox tea to help with the cleanse) and water as I wanted. All organic, of course.

I've done the master cleanse, which is ten days of maple-syrup sweetened, fresh squeezed lemonade, topped off with cayenne pepper! I liked the lemonade recipe and taste, but don't recommend it now that I'm with Marcus and he's explained it can be harmful because it lacks key nutrients our bodies need.

I've given up all carbs for an extended amount of time, which I also highly recommend, especially for women and people with mild to severe hypoglycemia. 

I think I blogged about my carb-free diet. It lasted 60-90 days and I was hornier than a hell cat in heat. I went on it to re-balance my hormones because there were signs that things were off. Inconsistent menstrual cycles, bloating and emotional volatility told me (and Marcus who coached me through this whole thing) that my body could be more well balanced hormonally.

And when I say gave up all carbs, I mean ALL carbs. No bread, pasta, rice, sugar, honey, potatoes. It was difficult, but between the carb fast and juicing a few months later for 20 days, my cycles re-regulated and are now healthy and consistent lengths.

I've gone vegetarian, vegan and raw for periods of time ranging from weeks to years.

I've done yoga for over 200 days straight - rain or shine, in sickness and health, whether ten minutes or an hour. I guess it was a yoga fast.

But I have never, ever done an emotional fast.

It's an idea I came up with recently.

My first idea was to do a stress fast, but unlike a juice or liquid fast (where juice and liquid are all that are consumed), I was thinking of how I could do a stress-free period of time. Like giving up meat for lent, but I'd be giving up stress.

But as my self-imposed start date of March 1st approached, I wasn't convinced that focusing on stress was the best way to go about doing this.

I awoke in the middle of the night feeling some anxiety about a recent big purchase Marcus and I made, and I realized stress or stress-free is not the ideal focus for me to have on this particular cleanse.

Kindness is the focus. 

After all, one of the most insidious ways I am un-kind to myself is in the past when I have filled myself with self-doubt, regret, anxiety, and the mental self-abuse of questioning and berating myself and my choices! And guess what all of that mishegoss creates in the body? STRESS!

So, starting today, March 1st, I'm going on a kindness fast.

Inspired by yesterday's quotes from Joseph Campbell and Baba Amte (KSW blog: The Inspiration Hunter) and by the paraphrase of a Gandhi quote: Be the change you want to see in the world, I'm going on a kindness fast.

Pop culture has paraphrased it to be more succinct, but Gandhi's actual quote is: “If we could change ourselves, the tendencies in the world would also change. As a man changes his own nature, so does the attitude of the world change towards him. ... We need not wait to see what others do." 

If a Juice Fast is defined as: (noun) a type of fasting and detox diet in which a person consumes only fruit and vegetable juices. These liquid foods are digested rapidly as the juice digestion process expends only a small amount of energy for the purpose of detoxifying and rebalancing the body's digestion, hormones, and vascular system to encourage optimum function. 

A Kindness Fast, for me, is defined as: (noun, verb) A fast where kindness is the primarily consumed emotional and mental action for the purpose of detoxifying the body and mind from the effects of self-criticism, doubt, stress, regret, and unreasonable expectations... to rebalance mental and emotional well being.

In practical terms, this will involve and evolve (with updates on this blog):

60 days of being kind to myself every day, in every moment possible. Yoga, meditation, healthy, tasty foods that help me to feel good (in emotion and digestion), exercise, enjoying nature, loving myself and my loved ones around me. When I notice a lapse or hiccup in consuming only kindness, I will bring my focus to my breath and recommit to my kindness fast.

I will be checking in here to let you know how things are going. Stay tuned!

We need not wait to see what others do...

The Trouble With Testosterone

This is a little on the personal side, but I wouldn't be me, nor would I be doing a service to any of my readers out there, by not sharing some of my most personal thoughts and feelings on things. Hell, I shared my favorite sex position (link to blog: All Hail The Inverted Missionary) a while back, so if I can do that, I can do this...


Most of you know that Marcus is a health, nutrition and martial arts expert.

Most of you also know, based on how comfortable I usually am talking about sex, that I have a relatively healthy sexual attitude and sex-drive.

But what the majority of you do not know is that my cycles have been off. The reason I'm sharing this is because it's pertinent to what has transpired this past month and especially this past week.

In the last year or two, I've noticed my cycles being a little odd. Sometimes 28-29 days (which according to doctors is "normal" - matching the cycle of the moon), but often would be 22 or 24 days, and 31 days. It seemed to be every other month, which indicates I had a "lazy," aggressive (is that possible?) or otherwise misbehaving ovary.

This concerned me mainly for the following reasons:

a) I don't care to have my period more often, for how obviously inconvenient it is.
2) This is likely an indication that something is off with my hormones and/or ovaries.
c) This could mean, over time, a reduced time period for when I am able to have children, and I want to have that option for as long as possible. Women, unlike men who produce sperm their entire lives, have a finite amount of eggs, and I'm not really interested in running out of mine any sooner than necessary.

Noticing this inconsistency in my cycles, I tried a few different things, very casually, over the last year. A slight adjustment in my diet (which is already pretty organic and raw, and theoretically longevity- and fertility-encouraging). Acupuncture and supplements recommended by a holistic doctor I saw last year. Needless to say (or I wouldn't be writing this blog), nothing changed. Same odd cycle continued.

About a month ago, I asked Marcus, again, what he would recommend. Surprise, surprise, I didn't listen the first time.

He said, "You should clean up your diet."

I didn't like that idea the first time he said it to me 6 months ago, thinking I'd have to be more weird in my eating habits than I already am, and thinking I'd have to spend more money on raw dairy or raw whey protein or whatever specialty item or supplement he'd undoubtedly want me to ingest more of...

But I was (a little) smarter this time, and asked, "can you tell me, specifically, what you mean by that?"

He explained that if I really wanted to re-balance my hormone levels, giving up carbs was the best route. No bread, pasta, starches, sugar or even raw honey (which is my main sweet ingredient these days).

"Really?" I said.

Yes. Of course.

A month ago, I started eating less carbs, but honestly, I was still eating carbs daily, just way less. That helped my energy level a little.

About five days ago, I started this really seriously. I've dabbled with my diet a lot over the years, but have never really given up carbs for longer than a day or two tops. Even when I've done juice cleanses or fasting, there was still enough sugar in the juice or tea (sweetened with honey) to satisfy that...craving and whatever it was doing to my body.

Marcus has some biological explanation for anyone interested - my understanding and sum up of it is this:

All carbohydrates are converted into some sort of sugar, whether it's long or short chain carbs. It goes into your blood and your blood sugar goes up. In order for your cells to receive that energy (glucose), a body has to release insulin to allow the glucose to go into the cell. High insulin levels cause a host of other issues, including a bunch of metabolic/hormonal issues: More insulin means more fat, because your body converts calories to fat more efficiently when a person has more insulin in their blood. More fat means more estrogen, because fat is an estrogen producing cell. More estrogen means reduced testosterone.

The reason humans aren't operating at optimum efficiency eating a lot of refined or even whole wheat carbs and sugars is because we're feast or famine animals. Additionally, humans have not evolved (evolution takes a minimum of 50,000 years, more realistically 150,000+) to deal with processed food for fuel, specifically because they're so high in glucose. For beings who subsisted for thousands and thousands of years on nuts, berries (which were largely sour), fat, meats (mostly raw or sun-dried) and raw dairy (pasteurization is only about 150 years new); large quantities of breads, pastas, sweet corn, sweet fruits, sugars, and pasteurized cheese and milk are relatively new to the human body, and cause these huge insulin spikes, which cause the aforementioned metabolic issues and also, as you might've guessed, lead to obesity and diabetes.

While I am no where near obese or diabetic, I began noticing how eating even "healthy" complex carbs was affecting my hormones.

DISCLAIMER
Before I get into my personal experience with this, I need to give all of you a disclaimer. If you're tempted to try this for yourself, I highly recommend you do your research, as this diet is only healthy if you're eating ample amounts of non-denatured protein every 2-3 hours, large amounts of nutrient-rich vegetables, and raw, healthy saturated fat. If you need more guidance, please comment, or peruse my and Marcus's past blogs, as there's a bevy of nutritional information. Also, of course, check with your doctor or nutritionist.

Now for the lay-woman's anecdotal experience:
Here's what I've experienced. I feel happy. Or at least happier than my normal level of happy. I've felt more energetic. I also feel, to put it bluntly, like a dog in heat. It would seem that my testosterone levels are increasing (weren't they high enough for a chic to begin with?!?) just as Marcus predicted they would. Apparently this can only happen in a healthy way when we give up carbs AND eat plenty of non-denatured (which means raw and unprocessed) protein. Also, my scent is stronger than usual. I do not like this and do not even like admitting it, but it helps no one if I'm dishonest about this experience. According to Marcus, my scent is stronger than usual because I'm not eating glucose, my body finds glucose for fuel by burning the fat off of my hip. We store toxins in our fat, and that gets released as we burn fat and are in what is called ketosis. Ketosis, simply put, is when our bodies use fat for energy.

In the past, my body was using the carbs it was receiving for energy, and keeping fat stored. Currently, based on how I've been feeling, my body is using fat for energy.

The trouble with testosterone is, it's distracting! Sex is on my brain virtually all the time. Construction workers, handsome trees, beware! There's a general warmth and buzzing feeling in my nether-regions. I have more sex dreams than usual, and I seem to be flirting more. (Thank Goddess I'm with a man who doesn't care if I flirt with everyone and everything...there's a good-looking palm tree over there, just give me a minute...)

I don't know how guys do it. From what I understand, this starts in boys around the age of 13 and lasts until the mid to late twenties. How do you function in the world like that? No wonder guys in their teens and early twenties seem kind of stupid. I honestly feel like my I.Q. points have dropped due to this resurgence of testosterone.

Hopefully this is not true. Marcus assures me it is not (and my research says the same), but it can lead to more rash decisions and aggressive behavior. The best correlation is this: when a person is ravenously hungry, they'll do a lot more for food than if they just ate an hour ago.

Marcus assures me this will rebalance itself once my body re-regulates and isn't on heavy fat-burning duty. Once I shift over and my pancreas and liver are healthier, as well as my ovaries, please help me, my body will run more on the raw proteins I'll continue to eat, over the fat that has been stored in my body for at least a decade.

Mainly, I'm looking forward to the day when I can wake up and not feel pure heat from my undercarriage. But maybe this is going to be par for the course because of my age and already high testosterone levels. Only time will tell.

This must be as close as a woman can get to experiencing morning wood.

Poor Marcus. I look at him like a piece of meat now. Mind you, I don't even need my meat cooked to devour it. I just dive right in.

Good thing Marcus doesn't mind so much.

The Road Less Travelled (Reflections on an "Extreme" diet)

Last night someone told me, “Your diet is extreme.”

At first I agreed.

At first.

Let me give a little background.

I've known this guy for over 20 years. He's seen many phases of evolution in me, and it's noteworthy that we have a banter-rich relationship. We've been friends for years, with long stretches of time between when we talk or see each other, but when we reconnect it's almost always easy - we get each other's sense of humor and have a long history of teasing each other about our differences.

In high school I left the "normal" public high school to go to an audition-based Arts High School. Predictably, I was in the music department. He's embarrassed that he used to call it Fag High School, as he fancies himself more open-minded and accepting now.

But when it comes to food, maybe not so much.

Many of you know, but for those who don't or those of you who want a refresher, I eat a diet that is, in fact, unique. Webster says: Unique: different from others in a way that makes something worthy of note.

Truth is, I probably eat a more diverse, but similar diet to our great-grandparents, in that the majority of my foods are home-cooked and based in ingredients that look very close to how they came off the vine, tree or out of the animal or ground.

In other words, about 99% of my diet consists of foods that are unaltered and unadulterated. Food from animals comes from happy animals - those who are free range, eat diets they were meant to eat (grass-fed cows, free-range chickens), and animals who are most definitely not tortured! When they are altered, they're usually done so in a specialized, non-toxic and low-temperature environment. Or they’re cooked by me or someone I know. A large portion are eaten raw (especially farm-fresh eggs, yes I eat them Rocky-style or in a blended protein shake). The cooked ones are usually foods that are hard-to-digest when raw (like potatoes cauliflower, and broccoli). Lately I’ve been grinding wheat and baking my own bread. In lieu of that, I buy organic bread that's higher in protein, and has fewer than 5 ingredients.

Sound confusing? Allow me to expound.

Here's a list of things you will find me enjoying on a regular basis. Everything is either organic or better. I don't care about the certification, I care about the integrity of the farmer and farming. No pesticides (other than natural measures like mint and hot peppers), non-depleting, often biodynamic, utilizing crop-rotation, no torture/mistreatment of humans (pesticide use it's side-effects & the sometimes resulting cancer) or animals.

Raw Milk

Raw Butter

Raw Cream

Raw Honey

Apples

Raw Cheese
Free-Range, Organic Eggs (kept at room temperature and eaten raw - like Rocky!)

Broccoli (lightly steamed or sautéed)

Cauliflower (lightly steamed or sautéed)

Seared, Hormone/Antibiotic-free, organic, grass-fed steak

Uncooked Hormone/Antibiotic-free Italian Ham (Prosciutto)

Potatoes

Cashews

Pumpkin Seeds

Almonds

Home-made Hummus

Carrots

Celery

Cucumbers

Tomatoes

Lemons

Kale

Brown Rice

Brown Rice Pasta

Fresh-ground Wheat Bread

Grass-Fed Whey Protein (One World Whey)

Strawberries, Raspberries, Blackberries, Blueberries

Salads that include:

Spinach

Super-food Plus (Dr. Schulze, link)

Sprouts

Carrots

Onions

Olive Oil

Raw Apple Cider Vinegar

Cayenne Pepper

Raw Honey

Pink Himalayan Salt

How does this list seem to you? Extreme?

The conversation last night with my friend took place in front of a group of about seven people, all people I've known for more than 10 years. Three were most vocal and were saying things like: how do you know something’s really organic (i.e. why bother eating organic) and what about pollution in the air – isn’t that just as bad as pesticides? The main theme was... the food you eat is too expensive, too extreme, and I like my fast-food, cigarettes and soda-pop and if I die younger because of it, so what!?! It's worth noting that everyone, with the exception of two who have grown children, have children under the age of 13.

Of everyone present last night, I was the only one who eats any of the above foods on a regular basis. They’re all nice people, including the protagonist, but it felt like they were singling me out for being different. (Please refer to definition of unique above.)

This group eats a more standard American diet including regularly consuming fast-food, deep-fried foods, and a large daily dose of soda-pop, refined sugars, processed and hormone-treated meats, packaged foods, processed flours and all kinds of things you can’t pronounce. Two women in their thirties who were present (but mostly quiet, interestingly enough) probably eat a more health-conscious diet, but overall, they were a good representation of American people and how Americans eat.

I don’t really talk to or question any of them about the foods they eat, but they notice that I don’t usually partake in eating their food save a small taste now and then. Last night I shared many things with them, answering questions and trying to explain why I make the choices I do. I was pretty calm throughout and explained about my research into GMO (Genetically-Modified-Organisms) foods creating infertility and premature death in laboratory tests with hamsters after 3 or 4 generations. I also explained that pesticides are much more damaging to crops than pollution in the air; many pesticide farm workers have come down with cancer and diseases that their organic counterparts are free from. In fact, The National Cancer Institute note on their website that farm workers using certain pesticides have an increased rate of cancer (cancer.gov link). I also explained that I’m noticing a lot of women in their late 20s and early 30s who are having a difficult time getting pregnant. That is troubling to me.

I explained that my body feels good when I eat this way.

But I didn’t say the following:

I know what my food is.

I know the ingredients that go into my food.

I can pronounce all of the foods that I eat.

Can you?

I love the taste of my food.

I don’t feel heavy, bloated, stuffed or regret after I eat.

It has been two years since I've had a cold or flu. I've been distinctly eating this way for just over two years. (Prior to that I was into heath food and experimented with health, vegan and vegetarian eating, but feel the best on this food plan.)


I don’t have many of the ailments my peers have, including Obesity, Crohn’s Disease, Diabetes, Cancer and other digestive or autoimmune disorders. Statistically, I’m much less likely to have any of these things, additionally Strokes and Heart-Disease later in life. The age at which people are contracting these things is getting younger and younger.

Am I immune?

Probably not.

I cannot predict the future and don’t know what I may face in my own health. But I make choices based on research, observation, and my own life experience with what helps my body feel good, not my emotional state, but my body.

When I used to eat a more standard American diet, I often felt heavy, bloated, heartburn, constipated, stuffed or regret after eating.

Aren't Diabetes, Obesity, Crohn’s Disease, Cancer and Heat-Disease are extreme??

And I think it’s no coincidence that the above things have increased exponentially in the last 30 years, and are starting at a younger age, concurrent with the ubiquitous fast-food and heavily processed-packaged food industries.

We’ve never seen the amount of obesity or diabetes in children that we are seeing today.

Diabetes is so pervasive in children, the CDC renamed it Type 2 Diabetes:

Type 2 Diabetes is a metabolic disorder resulting from the body's inability to make sufficient insulin, or properly utilize the insulin it makes; Type 2 is usually caused by poor diet, weight-gain and obesity. (Sources: health-doc.com and the CDC.com)

Think about this. Type 2 Diabetes used to be called Adult Onset Diabetes. They had to change the name because so  many children were coming down with it!

Never before have we seen children with obesity and diabetes to such an EXTREME amount, we not only had to rename the disease, it’s also likely our children will die at a younger age than their parents.

That, to me, is extreme.

EXTREME.

So I choose another path.

Last night, I really felt how much I’m on the road less traveled.

It was a bit lonely.

But the ground of my path is firm.

The Paleolithic Diet - why it makes sense

The following excerpt is from Aajonus Vonderplanitz's website, wewant2live.com and I think it's worth reading as it helps explain some about the diet that I've grown to love. I feel happier, healthier and stronger than ever. Also, my Mother is currently cancer-free after a little bout with breast cancer 18 months ago, and she underwent ZERO chemotherapy or radiation. She had a lumpectomy, but she's doing fantastic and I think it is due in large part to this diet (my beau Marcus was her nutrition guru during that time, and he was the one who turned her on to this diet, although she was already familiar with some of it since she had all of us drinking raw milk back in the 70s). Anyway, my Mom looks and feels fantastic and her doctor says she's doing great - no signs of anything cancer-like. Woohoo! So, I feel great, my Mom feels great, and I've seen this raw primal diet do wonders with other people. But here's some of the rationale behind it from someone other than me... The second part is a letter to the editor of Whole Life Times and I've included it because it's a testimony from a regular joe. Enjoy! Learning The Benefits Of The Paleolithic Diet Eating Raw For Better Health

A paleolithic diet is one that consists of the same foods the early hunters and gatherers consumed during the Stone Age. This involves eating wild foods and only foods that have not been processed; all-natural unprocessed foods, meat and nuts. 
After all, many foods commonly eaten today are processed in order to be "safely" consumed. If not processed first through cooking or other extensive processes, some foods routinely consumed are actually toxic. How could these foods possibly be good for the body? 
The paleolithic diet, combined with the practice of eating raw dairy foods, is better suited for the human body. The reasons for this are quite simple: the human body had millions of years to adapt to this sort of diet. As such, it learned how to process these natural foods in a more effective method. 
In addition, it involves eating foods in their natural state, ensuring they are truly safe for your body. For this reason, combining eating raw with a paleolithic diet is ideal for the body. It allows your body to function with more natural, cleaner nutrients and fuels. 
Following a diet that goes back to our roots also naturally goes hand-in-hand with Holistic Alternative Medicine, which is a form of medicine that involves treating the entire body rather than just one part. In addition, it focuses on prevention rather than on a quick fix. 
The same holds true with eating food that is raw. By following specific raw diet recipes from Dr. Aajonus Vonderplanitz's books, eating raw foods, your body will be able to effectively metabolize the foods you eat as your body progresses to its original primitive vitally strong healthy state. 
source: wewant2live.com

The following is a letter to the Whole Life Times journal that published an interview with nutritional scientist and author Dr. Aajonus Vonderplanitz titled DIET OF OUR ANCESTERS: 

Note that aprox. 2 years ago you ran an article entitled Diet Of Our Ancestors. That article as I recall at the time was somewhat controversial because the nutritionist who was interviewed, had his clients eating raw foods, including raw meats and raw eggs. 

Note that a few months after that article, I submitted a Letter to the Editor, entitled The Raw Truth, which you published. My letter stated that I had been on the diet for several years and the [Primal] diet had done me 'wonders'. 

I would like for you to consider that...I ... have been on the Primal Diet for five years with ever-increasing health. Will you run a small 'follow-up' article on me , let's say even a paragraph or two which would be like a status check on how my health is doing, 2 years after the Raw Truth letter was published? I noticed that your Fll issue is dedicated to Food and Nutrition. What I could do is coordinate probably several people in the LA area (including former vegetarians) who are on the Diet of our Ancestors and they can all be a part of the testimony.

This solicitation is of my own volition and I have no ties with any food or supplement organizations, nor would I be implying anything other than the powers of Mother Nature - with her raw foods.  

Daniel K. 

Los Angeles ('5 Years on the Diet of our Ancestors')

source: wewant2live.com

And All the Cows Said Moo, TWO!

In March I wrote a blog called And All the Cows Said Moo! about eating raw, organic, grass-fed animal products, and how Eat Wild is a great website and resource for finding raw, organic, grass-fed farmers in your neck of the woods.

Well, via Dr. Mercola and then via Organic Pastures, I found a website that focuses on raw, organic, grass-fed, pasture-raised cow milk. Yay! Eat Wild is great, but they list independent farmers who sell meat as well as farmers who sell pasteurized milk, which I don't drink anymore, and which I don't advocate, and fortunately, I have a credible doctor to back me up. I was going to quote only a few lines, but as I continued to read, I realized there's a lot of good information that you all may be interested in reading. If you want to read the details later, the website for finding good, raw, organic, grass-fed milk in your area is RealMilk.com.

Here's the valuable information from Dr. Mercola's website:

Did you know there are two types of ‘raw milk’ in America?
As Mark McAfee explains, there’s the raw milk intended to be consumed raw, and then there’s the raw milk intended to be used for pasteurization, and contrary to popular belief, they are NOT the same.
When buying raw milk, it’s very important to make sure you’re buying milk that has been produced with the intention of being consumed raw, and not just raw milk from conventionally-raised cows that hasn’t gone through the pasteurization process yet.
There’s a vast difference between the quality and safety of milk from organically-raised, grass-fed cows, and conventionally-raised, grain-fed livestock.

How Can You Identify High-Quality Sources of Raw Milk?

Right now, only six states permit the retail sale of raw milk:

1. California
2. Connecticut
3. Maine
4. Pennsylvania
5. Washington
6. Arizona

However, it’s important to realize that each state sets their own standards. California, specifically, has its own special set of standards for raw milk for human consumption, in which farmers must meet or exceed pasteurized milk standards, without pasteurizing.
You can find raw milk retailers in California by using the store locator available at www.OrganicPastures.com, and for other areas, check out the Campaign for Real Milk Web site.
You can also look here to find out the legal status of raw milk in the U.S. state or country where you live.
However, since many raw milk producers are very small farms, and the standards that do exist vary from state to state, how do you go about identifying solid, high-quality producers of raw milk if you can’t just buy it in a store nearby?
This is a complex question since the environmental conditions will vary from location to location, and from season to season. However, there are a few general conditions you should look for, including:

• Low pathogenic bacteria count (ie does the farmer test his milk regularly for pathogens?)
• The milk is quickly chilled after milking
• The milk comes from cows raised naturally, in accordance with the seasons
• The cows are mainly grass-fed
• The cows are not given antibiotics and growth hormones to increase milk production
• Cows are well cared for

If you’re thinking about purchasing milk from a small farmer, it would be very wise to visit the farm in person. Look around and ask questions, such as:

1. Does the farmer and his family drink the milk themselves?
2. How long has he been producing raw milk?
3. Are the cows clean?
4. What conditions are the cows raised in?
5. Are there any obvious sanitation questions?

If a cow is covered in filth and manure, stinks, is wet and cold and doesn’t look particularly comfortable, that could be a warning sign that her milk is less than ideal for raw consumption.

Only Healthy Grass-Fed Cows Produce Healthy Raw Milk

Naturally, fresh grasses for foraging are not available year round in many areas of the US, so it’s also important to take a look at what the cows are being fed during winter months. According to McAfee, acceptable winter feed includes dried alfalfa, timothy grass, and other cut pasture or forage that has been dried.
A key point to remember is that cows that are fed a lot of grain and raised under substandard conditions will likely produce milk that is unhealthy to drink raw because grains, antibiotics, growth hormones, and filthy living conditions change the pH balance and the natural bacteria present in her gut, which in turn affects the natural bacteria and pathogens present in her milk.
This is particularly problematic because so many Americans have depressed immune function, leaving any pathogen introduced into your gut free to wreak havoc.
Says McAfee:

“So, as an American citizen going out and finding raw milk, if you have a depressed immune system there is an exceptional challenge there, whereas somebody who is searching out raw milk in California, who has been on raw milk before and their immune system is in pretty good shape, it’s less of a problem.
But if you got a really depressed immune system and… find some bad milk from somebody who is intending their milk to be pasteurized… that’s kind of a marriage made in hell. That’s not a good thing at all.
And that’s where I think a lot of the outbreaks happen.
You see people doing research on the internet saying, “Oh, I have a really depressed immune system. I have common cold. I get irritable bowel syndrome. I got asthma. I got allergies. I need to fix that and they say raw milk will fix it.”
But they don’t have raw milk in their area that’s safe. [Milk] that is intended for people, so they go out and find a local dairy that takes pity on them, and they buy raw milk that is intended for pasteurization, and that’s where you start seeing real problems.”
Like McAfee says, “when you work with cows to produce raw milk, you can’t cheat!”

 The Many Health Benefits of Raw Milk

Organically-raised, grass-fed milk naturally contains hundreds of healthy, “good” bacteria, including lactobacillus and acidophilus. There are also several coliform families of bacteria. It’s important to realize that there are over 230 different kinds of E. coli., and only two or three of them are actually pathogenic and will cause you to get sick. The rest are actually beneficial for your gut.
Raw milk also contains vitamins, which are virtually eliminated by the pasteurization process of commercial milk. But it’s the presence of beneficial bacteria are what make raw milk such an outstanding food source to promote the growth of healthy bacteria in your intestine, which in turn has a significant, beneficial impact on your overall immune function.
Other health promoting ingredients in raw milk include:

• Valuable enzymes that are destroyed during pasteurization. Without them, milk is very difficult to digest. So if you have lactose intolerance, it may very well disappear once you start consuming raw dairy products. It also contains phosphatase, an enzyme that aids and assists in the absorption of calcium in your bones, and lipase enzyme, which helps to hydrolyze and absorb fats.
  Enzymes are deactivated when you get above 120 degrees. By the time you get to 150, 160 degrees, almost all of them are completely inactivated, which is why you will not get ANY of these benefits from pasteurized milk.
  
• Natural butterfat, which is homogenized or removed in pasteurized milk. Without butterfat, it becomes very difficult for your body to absorb and utilize the vitamins and minerals in the water fraction of the milk. Butterfat is also your best source of preformed vitamin A, and contains re-arranged acids with strong anti-carcinogenic properties.
• Healthy unoxidized cholesterol
• Conjugated linoleic acid (CLA), which fights cancer and may help reduce your body fat.
• High omega-3 and low omega-6 ratios, which is the beneficial ratio between these two essential fats

Pasteurizing milk, on the other hand, destroys enzymes, diminishes vitamins, denatures fragile milk proteins, destroys vitamin B12 and vitamin B6, kills beneficial bacteria, and actually promotes pathogens.
In my opinion, there’s no reason to drink pasteurized milk, ever.
Unfortunately, the FDA and other health agencies do not acknowledge the inherent differences between pasteurized milk and raw milk.
They claim raw milk and pasteurized milk have precisely the same kind of nutritional values, completely disregarding the value of enzymes, the probiotic value of beneficial bacteria, and the importance of healthy fats.
It truly is imperative to recognize that nutrition is a holistic thing.
You cannot take bits and pieces of nutrients and think you’re going to end up with good health. It is in fact the food as a whole that makes it good for you in terms of nutrition.
Says McAfee:

“When you look at the complete assessment of food, raw milk is a rock star when it comes to dietary meaningfulness.”

I agree with McAfee when he says that hopefully, someday, the FDA will come around and acknowledge the fact that we should look at the whole of the food instead of just pieces of the food. Right now, their assessments on most foods are partial and woefully incomplete, and unfortunately, this is having a major, detrimental impact on your health.

Should Humans Drink Cow’s Milk?

Some people believe that cow’s milk is food for calves only, and should not be consumed by humans to begin with.
However, this may be too simplified a view. As McAfee explains:

“Cows have four stomachs, so they can eat grass… They are literally that animal between us and the sun. They are solar sun convertors. They take sunshine expressed as grass on the ground (because the grass obviously grows when the sun hits the ground and [with] water the grass grows).
We can’t eat the grass but the cow can eat the grass, and then we can eat what the cow provides… [which] is very, very nutrient dense and very digestible by humans.”

I believe that’s an important point, and it’s an area of nutrition that few pay any attention to -- the area of biophotons.
But biophoton research explains the underlying principles of why it’s so vital to eat a diet of mostly RAW food, including raw milk.
As you know, without the sun it is virtually impossible for most life forms to exist. For example, we now know that without appropriate sun exposure, you will become deficient in vitamin D, which will have very far ranging consequences for your health.
Vitamin D influences at least 2,000-3,000 genes (that we know of), and without sufficient amounts of vitamin D, your body becomes susceptible to a staggering amount of diseases. But you can absorb sun energy via your food as well as through your skin (although this should not be confused with being able to alter your vitamin D status).
Every living organism emits biophotons or low-level luminescence, and the higher the level of light a cell emits, the greater its vitality and the potential for the transfer of that energy to the individual who eats it.
Hence, the more light a food is able to store, the more nutritious it is. Naturally grown fresh vegetables, for example, and sun-ripened fruits, are rich in light energy.
The capacity to store biophotons is therefore a measure of the quality of your food, and a very strong reason for making sure milk producing cows are allowed to forage for the healthiest, freshest grasses.
 

Katie Strand again...

I hope this helps to inform anyone out there curious about raw milk and why I've been so enthusiastically posting about it and drinking it for the last year and a half, and what I drank as a child post-breast-feeding. I didn't even realize that I drank raw milk as a kid until I met Marcus and he told me he only drinks or eats raw dairy and animal products (from pasture-raised, organically-fed animals). When he told me that, a light-bulb lit up in my head. I told him, I think I drank raw milk as a child. I called my parents to ask them and sure-enough, the farm we used to visit once a week to get milk when we were children sold us raw, grass-fed milk. Both of my parents were into feeding our family healthy, wholesome, and natural diet, but my mother read Weston Price's book Nutrition and Physical Degeneration - A Comparison of Primitive and Modern Diets and Their Effects, and in addition to growing up in a home where meals were home-cooked, Price's book convinced my mother that raw milk, and a diet consisting of foods closest to their natural state was the way to go for herself and her children.

Please post your comments. For those of you who are lactose intolerant, the above information from Mercola helps to shed some light on that, and I was lactose intolerant once I started drinking pasteurized milk around age 8 or 10 (the farm where my parents got their raw milk closed and my mom relaxed on some of her health practices - she's back on raw milk now and doing fantastic), but I have no issues with raw milk and dairy and I feel better than ever physically, emotionally, and spiritually. Plus my hair and skin look better than ever. My hair is shinier and thicker than ever (I'm told it's because of the healthy fats I'm getting from the raw milk, cream and butter - it helps protect the hair shaft better than any hair treatment ever could-from the inside out!), and it's not just my imagination! I have strangers commenting on my hair - asking what diet or supplements I take because my hair is shiny. Proof's in the shiny hair, I guess. Anyway, try it and let me know how it goes.

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