• Well, I’m banking on it….

    ….there’s a study out that says that if you stay away from the typical “western” diet, you have a better chance not only of living longer but in better shape. There’s the usual “scientific” warning about limiting red meat (no recognition that grass fed beef is a cow of a different color altogether).  Still, for what it’s worth: http://www.alphagalileo.org/ViewItem.aspx?ItemId=130281&CultureCode=en

  • What’s in a name….

    ….apparently quite a bit, according to “leaders” in the mainstream meat industry.  Enough that simply “pork chops” will no longer do.  Here’s the article: http://www.chicagotribune.com/business/breaking/chi-bye-bye-pork-chop-hello-ribeye-20130403,0,6636326.story We’ve found that, generally, our meat customers remain suspicious of anything that isn’t one of the most familiar steaks:  NY Strip, T-Bone, Porterhouse, Filet Mignon.  So we mostly grind the rest for hamburger, setting aside just a few cuts such as Silver Tip steaks for family use. On occasion a family that orders a side of beef will specify a rarer cut and our butcher can handle that.  For instance, we recently had a request for “clod steaks”, a term we hadn’t heard before.  But the…

  • The “whole” truth….

    ….about fat-free skim milk. I’m still surprised that some parents continue to feed their kids skim milk, or use it themselves for weight control.  The literature is pretty complete on the subject: skim milk actually will cause you to gain weight…it is usually combined with powdered milk in processing to get rid of its natural blue color and that injects toxins (and the government does not require they note that on the label)…and that Vitamin D they add, has no value at all. Skim milk is, in fact, a waste product that Big Ag discovered they could market as a health food after they had removed the fat to make butter. …

  • An ancient saying….

    …which I translated from the original Sanskrit overnight: When diet is wrong, medicine is of no use. When diet is correct, medicine is of no need. Ayurveda proverb The picture is of Dhanvantari….incarnation of Krishna, Lord of Ayurveda. Okay, our farm manager Duane Ard, came across the quote and knows I’m a sucker for this sort of thing.  The rest is from Wikipedia. While I like the quote, I’m not so sure about Ayurveda, a forerunner of what we now call alternative medicine.  Seems to be that “the lord” and his followers prescribed a lot of questionable medicines, things that were somewhat heavy on the heavy metals.

  • Well, if Harvard says it….

    ….it must be true.  Get plenty of Omega 3 and us old folks will live a lot longer.  Not sure if the world really needs that but… The article recommends fish as the Omega 3 source but you get just about as much from grass fed beef.  Thistle Hill grass fed beef. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2013-04-fish-dying-older-adults.html#nwlt Note the companion links about Omega 3s benefit in combatting Alzheimers.

  • In praise of fat – 2….

    ….as a late convert to the joys of bacon, I find it a bit strange that one could be classified as “in a rut” if he eats bacon and eggs every morning.  What a rut! But one of the Paleo bloggers is worried about it and so offers three other options for your breakfast menu. https://www.paleotrail.com/blog/2013/04/healthy-paleo-breakfast-ideas-without-eggs

  • In praise of fat….

    ….not the kind we carry around, but the kind we eat.  For years, and particularly when I pretended I was dieting, I would try to eliminate fatty foods and butter from my meals.  That included carefully trimming the fat off the steaks I ate, even Thistle Hill steaks. I have concluded that, for me at least, it was wasted effort.  Fat, according to the latest research, is good for you.  The right kind of fat.  Here’s a recent article that  provoked outrage in the comments section from people still wedded to the propaganda rammed down our throats by Big Ag and Big Government for at least 70 years. http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424127887323393304578358681822758600.html?mod=WSJ_hpp_LEFTTopStories#articleTabs%3Dcomments Now…

  • More reverberations….

    ….from the “Monsanto protection act”. Increasingly, Congress has moved away from regular order in handling potentially controversial issues.  Like genetically modified crops. It’s common now to simply skip committee hearings and floor votes.  Just find a complicated bill and slip in some extra language nobody will notice….until it’s too late.  You almost get the feeling they really don’t care what we think. http://www.newsmax.com/newswidget/Monsanto-bill-protection-food/2013/04/01/id/497254?promo_code=EB8D-1&utm_source=National_Review&utm_medium=nmwidget&utm_campaign=widgetphase1

  • Your reading assignment for tonight….

    ….if you’ve been wondering what the “gluten free” fuss is all about, this may be the best treatment of the subject. Technically, only a few percentage points of the total population are said to be gluten-sensitive but I doubt that.  From personal experience, all the aches associated with being 78 years old disappeared from the time we did two things here at Thistle Hill:  went to all grass fed meat and eliminated grains from our diet. Frankly, I wouldn’t bother with all the expensive testing.  Just try it for a couple of weeks.  (Warning: you’ll even lose weight!) http://www.amazon.com/Gluten-Ditch-Grain-Brain-ebook/dp/B009QT5XBW/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1362492183&sr=8-1&keywords=lose+the+gluten+lose+the+gut+ditch+the+grain+save+your+brain

  • A low bar….

    ….now comes a British expert who says we’d be safer eating hamburger than those bags of pre-cut salad.  The label says the salad has been washed, of course, but that’s not enough. http://www.telegraph.co.uk/foodanddrink/foodanddrinknews/9948987/Salad-is-more-dangerous-than-beefburgers-leading-food-expert-warns.html Now about the line:  “safer than hamburger”.  Suffice it to say we think there’s probably nothing more dangerous to eat than commercial hamburger, whether you get it at the store or a fast food outlet.  Or even a fine restaurant. The only thing more dangerous is chicken. Stick with naturally raised meat from a farmer you know….or can find, if you want to.