I would say perhaps yes for protein, but not enough fat in it for the baby.


7 years ago via Forums | Front Porch Forum

Yes.


I'd be inclined to agree with you, Ralph. It may meet protein needs, but I'd doubt there being enough fat as well.


7 years ago via Forums | Front Porch Forum

Trust me Jerry, I know fat! LOL
I have been in a major fat reduction program. I just want to get healthier in time for my retirement! So far, so good.


7 years ago via Forums | Front Porch Forum

Ralph, you are to be commended on your making healthier choices! We all should, and sooner rather than later. I'd be willing to bet you are already way ahead of the curve compared to most folks by just having a more active lifestyle. I'm on the fence about the whole fat thing though. I'm of the opinion that it's more about the origin of the fats than the fact that we eat fats at all. I continue to cook with lard, rendered from my own hogs, and pork is the major meat on our table. I figure my grandparents ate that way and they lived near to or in some cases passing a hundred. I'm very interested in nutrition and it's becoming a topic of much discussion around our place. It's not that we know much about it, but it intrigues me that it seems to have become such a mystery to most folks. What is good for us, and how do we choose what to eat? I wonder at what point in our development we lost the instinct of knowing what our bodies need and in what quantities. I recall discussing this in a forages class in college. Being from Appalachia, I've seen this and maybe folks have in other places as well, but the professor pointed out to us that kids in many households in our part of the country, as soon as they can crawl, make their way to the coal bucket, and dip their fingers in the dust and the put them in their mouth. He thought it wasn't so much out of curiosity but that the baby still had the instinct to want to get some of the minerals it was lacking, perhaps the sulfur. The same with kids eating dirt. We talked a lot about how poor soils made poor people, not just in low returns on crops, but in poor health from lack of minerals and nutrients from crops grown on poor soils. We try hard to grow as much as we can of what we eat, and we try to feed the soil that grows those foods as best we can. I gone from growing all our meat, and most of our vegetables to now baking all our bread and leaning toward growing the grain to make the flour. We are also kicking the idea around of a patch of barley to see how close I can get to the products of Arthur Guinness. I wouldn't mind getting to the point of only bartering for stuff like salt and coffee. Will it make me live longer? I don't know. But I like to think it will make the living more interesting if not more fun. I am thinking more and more we can't do it all, but sometimes doing all you can is enough. Even to the extent that maybe if we really want things made in America again, we all need to be small shop keepers once more. Again , like the food, it would be a bunch of small gestures, but I know I'd rather buy a hand carved wood spoon from a neighbor than a cheap throw away hauled half way around the world, or for that matter most anything a person could choose to handcraft as a substitute for cheap imports. I realize this is a side track from the health issue, but in many ways they are related. By becoming more self reliant and selling or bartering the excess, maybe that's a good start to improve ourselves and our country. That's a long ramble and heck of a tangent from why I like my eggs fried in lard! LOL Hopefully there is some coherency.


7 years ago via Forums | Front Porch Forum

Jerry,
I think we may have let this thread drift a bit, but hey this is a great conversation!
I agree with your comments. We eat everything we grow. My wife doesn't use lard, but I do not think lard is bad for us. I think our bodies can burn up natural ingredients no matter animal or vegetable fats. I do think for me, replacing my foods with a little more vegetables and less sweets is exactly what I need to do.
I changed the way I eat for now, until I lose to where my goal lies. I have lost 55 pounds and want to lose about 15 more. This will put me just under 200 pounds. Any future loss will depend upon how I feel and what the doctor thinks. I am being totally proactive here. I have no current health issues, but I do know walking around 80 pounds overweight is a "ticking time bomb". So, I chose to do something about it.
I am lighter now than I have been in thirty years. I feel great. My knees, were painful, but they too feel great! I am eating lots of vegetable soup, no bread, no sugar, no potatoes, no rice or pasta. My meat intake is 10 ounces per day. My wife has learned to work magic with cauliflower and flax seed. Broccoli has become a new friend. I eat no dairy, so no ice cream, butter or cheese for now.
Once I get to where I want to be, I will slowly add foods back in to my diet. I hope to find what triggers my fat storing so as to only eat those foods occasionaly. This is a journey, but I am eating very healthy. I am eating much of our farm raised meats and veggies. Only the fresh out of season produce comes from off the farm.
I also agree about buying locally made goods. I sure hope our American manufacturers see a resurgence in the ability to make a profit or at least demand the quality of goods that I remember as a kid. I want to buy from anywhere in the world other than China. I look for those products but they get harder and harder to find. When I buy an Austrian scythe, I want it made in Austria...you get the idea!


7 years ago via Forums | Front Porch Forum

Ralph, that really is great that you are thinking about your health and you are on the right track! I've had several friends and family members who have had knee replacement surgery, hip replacement surgeries, heart problems, sleep apnea, and diabetes, and they are all way over weight. Our big change in diet came when my partner got burned. After the accident we had gone to "the city" to the hospital and it was recommended he have skin grafts and we got set to just deal with it. I had a local Amish lady who was doing our baking and while I was picking up bread she asked how things were going after the accident I told her about it and about the recommended treatment. To make a long story short, she told me to go talk t their healer about a treatment they use in place of skin grafts. I did, and we went with the Amish treatment over the conventional. Everything was going well with the treatment for the first few days, but suddenly some of the burns were turning bluish purple, he was starting to swell, and no matter how much cleaning I did the wounds were starting to smell. When we started the Amish treatment, I photographed the wounds every day when I changed bandages They were healing like rings on a tree and you could see them heal in about a half to three quarter of an inch every day. The healing had suddenly stopped. I went back to the healer and he called the Amish burn hospital on the other end of the state. We talked a while with one of the "doctors" there, and when I described he symptoms, his first question was "What has he been eating?" Well, all the neighbor ladies had brought us cakes and pies and such. He told me to cut out all the sugar and refined flour, and basically all processed foot. He said what I was seeing on the outside was what happens all the time on the inside. He compared it to having your liver on your arm. We then cut out all sugar and white flour. In three days time the color returned to normal and the healing returned. Today, he has only a slight amount of scarring about the size of a hens egg on his bicep where the worst of the burn took place and even that scar tissue is now ( three years after the fact) starting to reabsorb. But, we've found if he eats something with sugar or even worse, high fructose corn syrup, the old wound will become irritated. We've cut out all sugar except a slight amount of honey, sorghum or occasionally maple syrup (if we or some of the neighbors have made it and we know it's pure) and we no longer used white flour. As a side note, after cutting out the junk, all my symptoms of arthritis have gone away as well


7 years ago via Forums | Front Porch Forum