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If my mother asks for me
Tell her death done summoned me
I’m going to meet her at the station when the train comes along.
– Mike and Peggy Seeger (American Folksongs for Children, Rounder 1977)
A great name in traditional music passed on August 7, 2009. Mike Seeger was the younger brother of the famous folk icon Pete Seeger, and a founding member of the New Lost City Ramblers. Though not originally from the mountains of Appalachia, Seeger did a great deal to pass on and preserve the music of our region. John and I were fortunate enough to visit with him a few times.
We were looking for a traditional music CD for Deladis and found his American Folksongs for Children. It is one of many recording he has done of traditional music for children. This one he did with Peggy Seeger. The liner notes are a great primer on appropriate music for children. Deladis was around eight months old at that time and really responded to a song with the line “Rose, Rose, and up she rises.” She smiled and squealed, hearing her name in a song, circling our living room floor.
That June at Appalshop’s Seedtime on the Cumberland, Mike Seeger was a special guest. I took the CD we had bought Deladis in hopes that I could get him to sign it for her. I am horribly shy when it comes to certain things, and though Mike Seeger was out and about all during the festival mingling with the crowd, I couldn’t bring myself to ask for the autograph. I got my dad to do it. He’s not scared of a thing, and doesn’t care a bit to embarrass himself in front of anyone. He took the CD with that sly smile of his and walked right up to Seeger. I watched with Deladis in my arms from my little perch behind John’s art tent. Seeger signed the CD smiling and laughing with my dad. Then, I saw both men looking around, and my dad motion for me to come over. It is easier for me to be introduced then for me to introduce myself, so I went on over. We shook hands, and then, Seeger took Deladis by the big toe and sung to her her song. She smiled a glistening grin. My heart was melted.
Earlier this summer, John was contacted by Mike Seeger and company to be a part of some recording they were doing to document old-time mountain banjo music in the mountains of eastern Kentucky for the Smithsonian museum. George Gibson was their primary focus, and having learned a lot from him, John was added to the list. Seeger and his wife spent several days on the creek recording John, George and our friends playing banjo tunes in the various Kentucky styles. Seeger said he remembered singing to Deladis when he met her again running in the yard by the cabin. We talked a little on organic gardening and carrots, and again they were off to document.
It is a mysterious thing how quickly one can be full of life and then be taken by death. It is a strong reminder to me that my work on self is so important. I’m not afraid of death in terms of being taken from earth. I want to be certain that everyday I have here counts for something. I’m not a fan of wasted time. Mike Seeger did very important work here and I’m sure he loved it. It is so important for us to be passionate about our work. As I sit now, listening to the CD of folksongs, my heart is light and my work is easy. God bless Mike Seeger.
Monday was our first day of homeschool pre-school, and we took a field trip. Not being tied to a desk in a classroom and movements on the sound of an electric bell, is the first plus I have seen from our short experience. I can already see how much more can be learned by doing and going than by trying to focus on a teacher in a room full of distractions. We went to Lexington because John had to drop off some artwork for a showing at ArtsPlace . I wanted to tag along with the girls and make it a day in the city that we could enjoy as a family.
Our theme for the week is cats, and Deladis is pumped about it. She was focused on noticing and absorbing everything around her. It was great to watch. At ArtsPlace, we walked through the gallery looking at the various pieces. Eventually, we found ourselves in an open oblong room that reminded me of a ballroom. Deladis entered it first and exclaimed, “Oh, my!” I stepped in and looked in the direction of her eyes, and above us was an open ceiling that was covered in a thin, white gauze pulled upward and gathered in the center like a huge canopy. It was beautiful. The way the natural light shone through it made it appear as a textured mist. She circled the room with her eyes to the ceiling the whole time. They were also getting ready to hand out the horses for a new horse mania, where various artists paint life sized horse statues to be placed around the city. Deladis and Ivy both adored looking at those horses.
Next, we ate and went to Michael’s craft store to buy some remaining school supplies. It satisfied me so much to be there with Deladis. Everything we bought, you would have thought was a gift wrapped in shiny paper. Deladis was so excited and she is anxious to use what we bought. Most of what we needed was tempera paint, modeling clay, and felt. I had went to Wal-Mart in the neighboring county to where we reside to get the first batch of stuff. I was grounded by the difference in price. Michael’s was much cheaper.
After Michael’s, we went to a pet store to look for kittens. We saw every small animal you could imagine, but there were no cats and dogs – an abundance of guinea pigs free with the purchase of a cage and food, but no cats. Deladis and Ivy ran from cage to catch gently looking in and waving to the animals. Ivy hasn’t seen many things like that, and she hasn’t even been to the zoo at an age where she could thoroughly enjoy it, so she was having a blast.
Now, if there is anything to be missed by not living in the city, it is a network of mothers, a good bookstore, and a natural/health food grocery. If I didn’t have a thousand things on my list of what to be when I grow up, I would be the one to bring all of these things to my hometown in the mountains. We need these things here. Our next stop was Joseph-Beth Booksellers where John and I both looked and mourned our inability to buy. I did buy a Dover Press coloring book of cats. Dover Press does the best affordable printings of classic literature and coloring books. The illustrations are realistic and beautiful. It’s not your typical mindless coloring page.
Then, we moved on to Whole Foods Market. I was shocked at the price differences being so much cheaper there than the prices for things at Food City (your typical mainstream grocery with limited organics), where I have to shop now. I was almost moved to tears. I know, crying in the grocery store is a silly thing, but sometimes we forget our limitations and are reminded of them when we are faced with what could be. Out of sight, out of mind. I stocked up on so many things I can’t find around here. I understood, despite my best efforts how compromised our diet is compared to the one I’d like for us to be eating.
The long trip home was a quiet one. We got in, I put the sourdough in the oven, and started on the chalk drawing for the next day’s circle time. It was cathartic, doing something I’ve always enjoyed doing, but never made the time for as it falls outside of my usual priorities – drawing. I went into sleep excited for the first time in awhile about my day ahead at home with my children.
Today, we woke up, ate, did dishes (Deladis helped), and had circle time. I unveiled my chalk drawing of the sleeping kitty to “oohs” and “aahs” from both Deladis and Ivy. Ivy said the word “cat” for the first time. Before today, every four-legged creature was a “doggie”. We went to the library for books about cats, did a little shopping in search for some colored chalk, and made it home to clean the girls’ room before noon. It has been a lovely day. I know we’ll have our troubles with homeschool. They’ll come, but I can rest in knowing that for now, I love the decision we have made to start early and with Waldorf education.
The best photo I could manage around two excited little girls.
Autumn is the best season of the year. It is the time when I feel most at ease. The weather is soothing. The atmosphere of the season sparks my creative juices. Halloween, my favorite holiday, is upcoming, as well as my birthday in October. I will be an aunt once again at the end of September. I look forward to the gorgeous starkness of the bluest skies you ever see in the mountains. I ache for the weeds to die back so I can hike again with John and the girls around the property. I’m ready. I’m tired of all the rain and muggy days. At the Dollar General last night I saw the first signs that I won’t have to wait for long. The Halloween decorations are out.
I found the perfect curriculum for my homeschool, pre-school year with Deladis. Little Acorn Learning offers E-books of lesson plans that are Waldorf inspired and affordable. They are perfect for use with both Deladis and Ivy. I think the plans, from what I have seen in the samples, will help keep me focused and develop a better rhythm than the one we’ve established in chaos. Plus, I’m paying for it, so I have to do it or the money will be wasted. That’s great motivation. The curriculum is largely based in nature and officially begins in September, which is another reason to look forward to autumn. I have bought the summer E-book and am waiting for it to be email to me. It’s exciting and makes me hopeful.
I mentioned before that our fall garden is planted. We only put out more cabbage and some broccoli in hopes it will be ready by November. Honestly, I made a mistake in planting the summer garden. I planted four hills of zucchini, two of squash, and about ten hills of cucumber. It was far more than we’ve been able to eat or store for the summer, and because most everyone grows a garden in these hills, you can’t hardly give it away. The two rows of salad lettuce I planted has allowed us to eat salad almost daily and I’ve made several large ones for social gatherings, given some away, and we still have lettuce rotting in the ground.
We could have used more beans, corn, and tomatoes in the ground. I should have planted more potatoes as well. These things are easier to store or keep unrefrigerated long term. I planted half the garden in organic Painted Hills Multicolor Sweet Corn. I don’t know if it was the seed, the weather, or my novice, but the seeds hardly sprouted and the stalks of those that did are so puny. The ears we’ve gotten from it are tasty, though. A blasted raccoon won’t stop ravenging the newly ripe ears. I’d like to catch him just one time. Our beans are hardly existing because the plan was a three sisters garden, so the beans would grow up the corn. Since the corn didn’t do well, we couldn’t plant but one row of beans. Those are getting their first blooms.
The stalks are so skinny the weight of the beans are bending the stalks to the ground. We’ve added some strong sticks to help them along, and the beans seem to like that. We probably won’t have enough beans to put away for winter, but we’ll have enough to eat on for awhile.
Our cabbage should have had large heads weeks ago, but something is eating them up. I have never gotten a look at what kind of bug it is, so I assume it’s happening at night. I believe it is some sort of slug. I’ve sprayed them with soapy water, but it hasn’t done much good. I planted two more rows for fall, and I hope whatever is eating them now will be dead by the time the fall plants mature. We love cabbage and sausage, and I want to make kraut.
The gloomy look to these pictures completely narrates the mood of the last days. We’ve been stuck inside, and that aggravates me quickly. My biggest excitment was going to the doctor this week. I long, if it’s going to stay summer, to take the girls swimming in the lake. I want to play outside with them in the creek. I want to do something different than what I do everyday in this cabin. Ooo… cabin fever.
*Update: The rain didn’t come today, and I took the girls to the lake swimming! Just me and them. It was a beautiful time and they’ve been asleep since we got home. 🙂
The weekend held more canning for me. Not in the way you might imagine, however. There was no vinegar or boiling and sealing jars involved. I used an even older method of preserving food through lacto-fermentation or fermentation through lactic acid. It is a far superior way of canning to today’s methods in terms of nutrition.
“The proliferation of lactobacilli in fermented vegetables enhances their digestibility and increases vitamin levels. These beneficial organisms produce numerous helpful enzymes as well as antibiotic and anticarcinogenic substances. Their main by-product, lactic acid, not only keeps vegetables and fruits in a state of perfect preservation but also promotes the growth of healthy flora throughout the intestine.”
-Sally Fallon, Nourishing Traditions pg.89
So far, all I have tried is cucumbers and of course made dill pickles. We have eaten two jars already and I have ten more in the works. I plan on trying to do lacto-fermentation with kraut next. Yum! It’s really good in a bowl of soup (pinto) beans with cornbread.
It has taken me a couple of tries to get my recipe right for my pickles. The website that coincides with Sandor Katz’s book Wild Fermentation has been a big help. I used the recommendations there and the recipe in Nourishing Traditions to develop my own.
Line the bottom of some wide mouth canning jars with leaves that are high in tannins. I use blackberry leaves as that’s what I have in my backyard. Grape leaves are suitable as well. These will keep the cucumbers crispy. In the bottom (for a pint jar), place one clove of garlic and 3/4 teaspoon of dried dill. Slice cucumbers into 1/4 inch slices and stuff the jar leaving about an inch of space from the top. Fill with water to cover the cucumbers, but keeping it an inch from the top of the jar. Add 3/4 tablespoon of real sea salt (unrefined), and put a smaller lid on top of the cucumbers to hold them under the water (it is important they remain submersed). Put on the lid. Then, leave the filled jars sit in a warm spot for 2-4 days. My last batch had to go for four. The first batch went three. Taste them after a few days to see if they are to your liking. It is normal for them to be bubbly. Any scum that might form on the top, just skim off. It will be obvious if something has went wrong and they are no longer edible from smell.
The pickles are delicious and the closer you get to the bottom of the jar, the more you can taste the flavor of the garlic. It makes me happy knowing that I am eating a pickle that is more beneficial to me than a boat load of sodium, artificial colors, and other preservatives. This experience has made me brave enough to try other fermented veggies, and I might even buy some kefir grains as I get serious about kicking my coffee habit.
If you’d like to know more about fermenting vegetables, check out this video with Sandor Katz.
I am diligently working on Project Flush. The current room being flushed is the kitchen. I’ve been working on it sporadically the last four days or so. Having this project in mind with Deladis’ upcoming birthday has really been a good thing. Cleaning out their room has been more than just getting rid of junk, but it is making a space for them that is beautiful, safe, noncommercial, and meaningful. Holidays and days of celebration have been hard for me when it comes to motherhood. In the past, I haven’t had much control over what comes into our home via well meaning family and friends. That is one of the reasons we are in the position we are in with too much stuff.
My goal for Deladis’ birthday this year is to have a simple party with family and friends here at the cabin. To do that, I have to have the cabin in decent celebrating order. I also plan on setting some ground rules, and offering those who want to bring gifts some suggestions on what we would like, otherwise I can’t guarantee it won’t end up on consignment or at Goodwill. It’s not that I don’t appreciate the gifts and the help providing for the girls. I truly am grateful for that. I am beyond thankful for the clothes, shoes, and other necessities we receive as gifts for the girls. I do, however, believe that gift giving can become excessive, and it can also get to the point where the money being spent is being wasted. It can come to the point where the gifts given to the girls lose their meaning, and they look at gift getting as too common of a happening.
John recently gave me some time to do yoga in peace, and played with the girls in their room. They played with one of the girls’ favorite toys – playsilks. I dyed these silks myself when we attended the Parent/Child program at the Waldorf School of Louisville. They have been a favorite all purpose plaything ever since.
With a few playsilks you can…
Be a pirate… or
A monster.
A wistful princess… or
a gypsy.
You can even soothe yourself when it is time for a break from play.
Such a uncomplicated natural thing brought an hour of imaginative play. Deladis and Ivy play with things like this and get more use out of them than any plastic, noisemaking, commercial toy they have ever had. They gravitate toward the quiet and basic things that allow open ended, imaginative play. I have seen them attach themselves to very few toys in any other category.
Thinking of the gifts that will be coming to our house in the next month makes me even more willing to purge. I hope that the beauty of our cabin will inspire others to open themselves to the beauty there is outside of capitalism – getting and getting more.
Why do you spend money for what is not bread, and your wages for what does not satisfy? Listen carefully to Me, and eat what is good, and delight yourself in abundance.
Isaiah 55:2 (New American Standard)
We are getting some serious amounts of food from our garden now. It is a delightful abundance! What you see above was grown without pesticides of any sort natural or otherwise, and without any fertilizer or “plant food”. This isn’t even the half of what we’ve harvested the last few weeks. Here you see yellow crooked neck squash, cozocelle zucchini, potatoes, and calypso pickling cucumbers. We have gotten scallions and salad bowl lettuce as well.
In the summer months we naturally gravitate to a lighter fare of fresh foods, but none lacking in flavor. Perhaps it’s because of the heat or because it’s readily available and fresh. Either way, it’s a good thing. Meals in the summer should be simple, quick, and very tasty.
Here is what I did with our abundance for this evening meal.
All the veggies are from the garden except the grape tomatoes and the white onion. The vegetables are cut, wallowed in olive oil, salted, peppered, and sprinkled with garlic powder. Then, they are roasted on a cookie sheet in the oven at about 400 degrees. The salad… well you know how to make a salad. 🙂 The pork loin chop is browned in an iron skillet in bacon grease that I save from breakfast every morning. I sprinkle it with salt, pepper, garlic powder, and basil. This meal is finished in 30-40 minutes and is wonderfully delicious.
I am beaming with satisfaction and thanking God for all of it.
With our garden coming in good, my goal with our $269 monthly food budget is to stock up the freezer with some meat for fall and winter. We are still eating on the rabbits my brother killed for us this hunting season and my dad brought us more from a friend of his. That gives us a good start. My next step was to see what I’m currently spending our money on, and see what I can cut back in order to get us a little extra meat for the freezer. I saved the grocery receipts from this month, put foods into broad categories, and then added the prices.
Here is what I found…
- Nuts – $32.71
- Breakfast Meat – $34.49
- Other Meat – $20.83
- Milk and Half-n-Half – $27.37
- Cheese and Sour Cream – $19.48
- Veggies – $38.08
- Fruits – $23.76
- Condiments (including peanut butter and honey) – $16.72
- Oil – $3.59
- Food for Girls – $19.39
- Juice – $5.63
- Beans – $5.00
- Butter – $7.42
- Coffee – $5.99
- Spices – $1.39
- Eggs – $6.98
My grand total was $268.83! I was pretty surprised that we had stayed right at our top amount for food costs. Keeping a stocked pantry and freezer is a huge help. We have also cut back on the fresh organic produce as it doesn’t seem to be very fresh from the grocery. I bought more frozen organics and potatoes than I had this winter. I’m also getting pretty good about not wasting food. The only time it gets a little difficult is when Deladis goes on one of her hunger strikes after visiting the grandparents and having an abundance of sweets. (I know… it’s the grandparents’ job to spoil the grandchildren. One day I might have the chance myself. ;))
What I knew already and has become very apparent with these totals is that I could probably cut back on my consumption of nuts. I eat them almost everyday in large quantities. If I could cut back and eat some grilled cheese sandwiches instead or something similar, I could use the extra money to stock the freezer with meats.
I have tried my hand at bread making and made a soaked version of the Bob’s Red Mill Whole Wheat Bread Package. I used to make a Pueblo Oven Bread, and I have always enjoyed fresh bread. The soaked whole wheat was really good. I’d like to eventually make bread without the need of baker’s yeast. Our body’s can do without the extra yeast. I’m going to try to make a sourdough starter from the recipe in the Nourishing Traditions cookbook. I already have rye flour. I just need to buy one more large mixing bowl. Then, I might be more willing to add the extra grain to my diet. Refined sugars and grains are the two places where I won’t budge in my dietary habits. Grains must be properly prepared so as not to be counterproductive in our digestive tracts.
Yesterday, eating from the garden was the highlight of an otherwise difficult day. It was a joyful thing to eat my scallions, lettuce, and roasted new potatoes – a joyfully good thing. It makes all the fuss and hard work over the garden seem not so bad. I’m already looking forward to planting season 2010. 🙂 Also, when I saw that we only spent $6.98 on eggs, I was happy. It is a true reward to see our efforts paying off. It’s funny how these efforts can go unnoticed unless we make the effort to check-up on ourselves.
* Check out my new recipe for killed “killt” lettuce and onions https://eastkentuckygal.wordpress.com/favorite-recipes. Also, there is a 3-way tie over at The Nourished Kitchen and my Honey-Molasses Cookies are in the running still :). Voting ends July 7th. As of yesterday, we are in the market for new laying hens. I balked at the egg buying I had to do yesterday.
When we lived in Louisville, I longed for some good down home grits filled with butter and sweetened just a little. I searched in restaurants and grocery stores. There were things called grits, but weren’t the grits I was looking for. Like real Appalachian soupbeans and cornbread and chicken-n-dumplings, good hominy grits didn’t exist out there and it was rare to meet someone who knew what the heck you were talking about if you asked. Now, that I am back home I can buy real hominy grits for 80 cents a pound at the Yoder’s Mennonite Bulk Foods Store. This morning we had a cheesy version of grits with salt and a touch of garlic and I relished how easy they were to make and how only a little bit makes a whole lot of this Appalachian traditional food.
Hominy
White folks were introduced to corn by the Native Americans, which for most of us is common knowledge. For those native peoples depending at least somewhat on agriculture, corn was a base crop and the preparations for it were as varied as the people preparing it. Turning corn into hominy makes it an easily digested food and very nutritious.
It converts some of the niacin (and possibly other B vitamins) into a form more absorbable by the body, improves the availability of the amino acids, and (at least in the lime-treated variant) supplements the calcium content, balancing maize’s comparative excess of phosphorus.
– Wikipedia
My Cherokee ancestors utilized hominy in many ways, even fermenting some for soups and the like. In my recent trip, I noticed every Cherokee dwelling was equipped with a kanona (corn beater) from the richest to the poorest. I’m looking into the more traditional variations of recipes using hominy and grits, and now that I know why it is a traditional Appalachian staple, I plan to use it to the fullest extent because it is a very cost efficient food. (For many Appalachians, especially those forced to live on very little for one reason or another, corn was a key ingredient to all three meals of the day. There are even tales of families eating nothing but things made from corn.)
* Note that when choosing corn products take great care to choose varieties that are non-GMO.
Prepared Grits
Traditional Appalachian Grits (As I am Familiar)
3 cups water
3/4 cups grits
butter (best you can find)
molasses, sorghum, or honey
pinch of sea salt
Bring 3 cups of water to a boil. Add grits, stir and simmer for 5 minutes adding salt, butter, and sweetner as desired. Makes 4-8 servings depending on whether it is a main dish or side dish.
By Marge Fulton
Our family may seem like Green Acres, the sequel. We moved from city to country. In many ways, this gives us amazing tools for coping and sustaining life. When we moved to the Appalachian mountains of eastern Kentucky from midtown Memphis, some thought we’d flown the coop.
Actually the pocket of Memphis where we lived was a haven for college professors and creative folks. One of our neighbors got us involved in an Ozark Mountain food co-op. Every month we went to a member’s home and divided up the goods. I did some of the paperwork too. Our three children were always happy to see our order come home. Whole wheat graham crackers, big buckets of peanut butter, organic carrots, carob for brownies, yogurt; it hit the spot. They wore cloth diapers too. I loved folding those massive gauze diapers, but eventually found some Velcro wonders. It became second nature to use them.
Back to basics can be tough. I had a teaching degree but due to difficulties finding good child care, I decided to stay home. Actually, we found two great babysitters; one opted out when I had another son and the other was a dream but it got expensive. The notion of staying home to raise my kids gave rise to an idea. I ran a family day care and became a food provider with USDA.
My natural foods were our lifeline. As a provider, the local agency could drop in anytime. The only time that happened was one day that I took everyone to McDonalds. After I got them down for a nap, she knocked softly. I passed the test. Anyway, I always had to keep menus and we got commodities. Those along with my coop foods kept us going.
Now my children range from 23 to 29. They grew up healthy if you don’t count the weird illnesses picked up from other kids in my family day care. We saw Hoof and Mouth disease from a little boy from Australia and later Roseola. Other than those flukes and chicken pox, they were off to a good start. We ate many a bowl of mac and cheese made from scratch and even more spinach casserole. There were things like Soysage and tofu burgers after the day care kids left. I am allergic to soy so that had to stop! During the day we had traditional foods.
So, they had a good foundation. Food co-ops are vital in a big city. Here we can get many whole foods homegrown and at the bulk foods store in Hindman. A natural foods store appears to have opened up in Hazard catering to sports enthusiasts. However you fill the void, feed your family basic goodness. Years later, you will find enormous pride in them and your choices from the start. www.hazardgal.blogspot.com
Processed, industrialized food is making us sick. When we took the responsibility of food out of the local economy and started looking for ready made, cheap food, we made a horrible mistake. In the quest for the cheapest food they could manufacture, the big food companies started adding chemicals to our foods to make them retain a fresh flavor, have longer shelf lives, have a fresh appearance (food dyes), and add bulk in order to use less food in the process. The following is a list of the ten food additives I believe we should all try to avoid in order to maintain our health. For many of us, until we achieve a place of sustainability with our own gardens and food sources, we may not have access to health food stores, farmer’s markets, or even the funds to purchase all of the foods we would like to. With a list such as this one, we can strive to keep the most harmful ingredients off of our families’ plates.
Top 10 Scariest Food Additives
- BHA and BHT – chemical preservatives for foods containing oils. Studies conducted by the World Health Organization has shown BHA to be carcinogenic to humans. Similar studies have produced the same results with BHT. Both preservatives are unnecessary, and should be avoided. Read your labels.
- Artificial Sweeteners – toxic levels of this substance can lead to mental retardation in the brain (1 in 20,000 babies are born unable to metabolize phenylalanine, one of the two amino acids in aspartame.) Studies also show it can alter brain function and cause symptoms like dizziness in consumers. New studies show that drinkers of diet sodas actually gain weight. It is my belief that diabetics would be much better off without this “fake” chemical sugar in their diets. Look for natural sweeteners that have a low glycemic index, or stick to naturally occurring sweet foods like fruits and sweet potatoes.
- MSG – monosodium glutamate – an additive to many protein rich foods to enhance flavor. This can cause severe reactions in sensitive people, but all would do well to avoid it. It is an excitotoxin and causes brain to react in a state of hyperactivity. It can cause headaches, tightness in the chest, burning in the forearms, and neck pain. MSG can go under many pseudonyms including hydrolyzed vegetable protein.
- Nitrites and Nitrates – Found in many deli style and cured meats. These chemicals are extremely dangerous and carcinogenic when exposed to high heat (as in frying). Nitrites are linked as one of the causes of stomach cancer. Look for meats made without the use of nitrites. Hormel makes a natural deli meat and Oscar Mayer makes a natural bacon. Swaggerty’s makes an MSG/nitrite free sausage. Also, look at the health food stores for additive free meats.
- Artificial Coloring – Most of these are synthetic dyes and have been linked to things like cancer and ADHD/ADD. They have no nutritional value, and should be avoided.
- High Fructose Corn Syrup – This is not a naturally occurring and its safety for consumption is questionable. Considering that much of the corn product in the American diet is genetically modified we would be wise to avoid all corn that is not organically grown. The idiocy that spawned the current commercials about it being safe in moderation is laughable. Read here to educate yourself on HFCS.
- Hydrogenated Oils – These are a cheap butter replacement in processed foods… like margarine. They contain high levels of trans fats which we know are horrible for our bodies. Read here.
- Pesticides – Our conventional store bought produce is laden with pesticides. We aren’t pests. We aren’t trying to kill ourselves with our food. We shouldn’t consume these.
- Potassium Bromate – Used as a flour improver, it has been proven to cause cancer, and has been banned in Europe. It is also linked to hypothyroidism.
- Canola Oil – This oil is masked as a healthy oil by the diet dictocrats and companies looking to make a buck off of us. Learn what it really is here.
Through my research, this is what I have decided to remove from the diet of my family altogether. There are many others that I could add to this list, but these are ones I consider most dangerous at this time with the information I have. I believe that being more conscious consumers of food is a must in achieving a more healthy American population. We have to know that in a capitalist nation we can’t blindly trust companies who are producing food simply to make money. We need to educate ourselves on what our bodies need and don’t need.
I have compiled this list with the help of information from websites like that of Dr. Janet Starr Hull, and other similar lists can be found be searching “food additives” on Google. I have tried to link as many of the additives to more information that I could to help you to make up your own mind about these additives. Please, in the upcoming days, visit The Behrens Family blog to see a list of 10 Foods to Avoid in your diet. Take a look at The Nourished Kitchen for wonderfully researched and accurate information on food choices.
A Mountain Mama - East Kentucky Gal 