Lets talk about Nutrition

I just spent over two hours watching a Tucker Carlson interview:

https://rumble.com/v5b73od-calley-and-casey-means-the-truth-about-ozempic-the-pill-and-how-big-pharma-.html#:~:text=Calley%20%26%20Casey%20Means%3A%20The%20Truth%20About%20Ozempic%2C%20the%20Pill%2C%20and%20How%20Big%20Pharma%20Keeps%20You%20Sick

Calley and Casey Means

I love food. All kinds of food. From Tofu to sweetbreads and everything in between. I am also obese according to my doctor and the BMI charts. The body mass index is another hoax that you should learn about. But not right now.

Understand that I am not lazy, nor do I lead a sedentary lifestyle. I am up by 6am and begin the day with morning farm chores. I can get help, but I enjoy this time with our animals. After that, with a mason jar of coffee, I head back out and begin projects.

Since we began in earnest building our farm, we have been busy. Sarah did not ride her horse at all in 2023 as every free moment was spent on farm building projects. Many days, we would not eat till dinner, and then it would be leftovers or a pizza. Sounds pretty typical for an American middle class family, right?

Now lets back up a bit. In 2009, we had our first child. As our son grew, baby food became a conversation. We bought Gerber and Beach Nut. We read their ingredients list. We looked at their processing process. We tasted them. We should have tasted them first. That is all it took. We then had one of those magical moments in a marriage when both partners have the same thought at the same time...."I don't want to feed him this garbage." It was, and I assume, still is disgusting. What to do? We were not wealthy. Actually we have been just barely holding it together like most of you. Still we had to do something that would provide actual nutrients and taste good.

I had been a sous chef in my late teens and early twenties at some very fine restaurants. As a side note, I worked at a little deli two doors down from the West St Grill, a rather famous 5 star restaurant. The grill was short staffed and my boss asked me to go and help them. James O'shea, the proprietor, expected the perfection from me that day as he had from every chef he had ever hired. Never being able to hold my tongue, I quickly made it clear that I was not a five star professional, but I was eager to do better and felt honored to be screamed at by him; but only once. Apparently, he was impressed with my confidence and "bullocks" ( I had to look that up and given it was the 90's and I did not know it was British slang, it took a while) I was asked to help out there a few more times over that summer. Unfortunately, the owner just couldn't not scream. I again explained my stance that his environment was not worth the culinary experience, but I sure would appreciate a reference if I went for another kitchen job. I was addicted to cooking since I was standing in my high chair stirring and skimming gramma's sauce. I was definitely going to be a chef!

The next restaurant I went to apply at had a sous position. A 17 year old is not a sous chef; the Exec's assistant takes years to learn. Well as they looked at me clearly not believing a word, the chef asked, "where have you worked and do you have references?" I started with the deli, which was also a well respected catering and specialty food store and butcher shop. Yes the chefs there, the owner, and the butcher were all willing to provide references. I then mentioned the grill and a private golf club. I quickly stated that I would not get any reference from the golf club as I had been fired for horsing around on a golf cart. The part I had left out is that I only did menial tasks at that club. Looking back, I don't remember ever working in their kitchen. But that did not matter. This chef and the owner heard me say the West St Grill in a way one would mention working at a Subway sandwich shop. They questioned me and I acted cool and pointed out that I was not impressed with the management and parted ways. "Your telling me you quit and O'shea will give a reference? He doesn't give references. Everyone knew that once you left the grill's kitchen, you were a bad person and a horrible cook." I looked at him and explained my leaving. Of course I left out the part about me only moonlighting there a handful of times but did vividly describe me telling the grill's owner that he was an evil prick that should be arrested for employee abuse. Then in the same breath asked if he would offer a reference? Yes he would...because of those bullocks. (still no idea what they were) To this day, I do not know if he would have or if my new boss ever actually called him. Any which way, I was hired.

All that to say: I know food.

I also understood basic human nutrition. Macro and micro nutrients. Good fats and bad fats. How hard could it be. So we went to local farms for vegetables and purchased the best quality meats and fish we could afford. We would steam or bake virtually everything and then run it through the food processor with whatever pan juices and scrapings we could save. This continued for our other two kids. During this time, we would garden as much as possible and buy the most natural foods we could. This grew into a mission. We began buying raw ingredients. Wheat berries directly from a Minnesota farm. Raw milk from the horse barn/ dairy farm Sarah worked at. (one time a two gallon jug of fresh milk spilt in the truck on her commute home. Cleaning that is a story worth telling) We would make butter, mozzarella, and buttermilk. Grass fed beef from another local farm.

As time went on, this whole food lifestyle continued. We began raising rabbits first. I am Italian and rabbit was a staple. We could not afford to buy them at $10/Lbs but raising them is very low cost. Then we added chickens, then ducks. When learned about BPI pork and Smithfield being purchased by a Chinese company that changed their old ways into "modern" farming that would produce more profit, we knew that store bought pork was no longer safe. Smithfield went communist on May 29. 2013. BPI was already Chinese. This terrified us. Raising pigs was an obvious next step. Unfortunately we were not set up for such a strong and intelligent animal. (One of the truest statements I ever heard from a pig farmer selling me piglets was this..."don't let it get out. You'll never catch em. You'll hafta shoot em. And that'll be one expensive sucklin pig on the spit") So pigs had to wait, but sheep are dumb and easier to contain. (we were wrong by the way)

The pigs followed closely once our enclosure was complete. After our first harvest of meat, we realized how different the meat we raised tasted. It made us feel better. Cholesterol levels decreased. Energy levels increased and my weight...nope still fat.

The issue we have as a nation is the quality of our food supply. Big farming intends to make as much money as possible. Our animals roam and graze with grain more as a supplement than their staple food. Their animals live in small cages suffering stress-induced cortisol levels through the roof. MMM, cortisol! These animals are being fed a grain containing genetically modified sugars and grains and antibiotics. Prophylactic antibiotics mind you. More if they actually are ill.

The past two years have been difficult. Nana has been living with us due to the slow onset of dementia which is currently becoming an unspoken epidemic. Covid has nothing on diabetes and dementia. Nana is part of the processed foods craze of the 60's. She found the convenience wonderful. She believed the Food Pyramid and that seed oils were better than animal fats. She embraced the center grocery store aisles and never looked back. She loves to bring processed foods home from the store. She brings our kids to the store and lets them pick out cookies and cakes and chips. Then the children will sneak these snacks right before dinner and again at bedtime. One bag of chips leads to a cookie. Processed sugars are addictive. As addictive as heroin. In 1950, the average American consumed 5 pounds of sugar a year. Now that number is closer to 100 pounds of sugar. High fructose corn syrup was developed as a less expensive option to cane sugar. The Farm bills every year since the 70's, when high fructose corn syrup was invented, has tax paid subsidies to big corn farms like Monsanto. Such commercial farms get huge cash payments for their corn from the department of agriculture. They are then able to undercut real sugar suppliers. Our government has been paying for private companies to poison our food supply for more than 50 years. High Fructose Corn Syrup is a science experiment. The results have been reproduced with worsening results each generation. It is poison.

Lets look at a soda. 39 grams of sugar in a 12 oz can of coke. 9 grams of sugar in an orange. So you can drink that soda or eat 5 oranges. (both contain a form of Fructose: Low fructose in the fruit. High in the soda) I bet you can drink 5 cans of soda before you can eat 5 oranges. Why? Fiber. That is why. The orange has fiber. Fiber takes up space in your digestive system. Fiber feeds your gut bacteria. soluble fiber enters your cells, attaches to waste products/toxins and removes the waste from the cells. Insoluble fiber scrubs the walls of your stomach and intestines, expelling the sludge there. Hi-Colonic anyone?

In 1964, Surgeon General, Luther Terry, MD stated publicly that smoking cigarettes led to cancer and chronic bronchitis. At this time, R.J. Reynolds and Phillip Morris were the largest cigarette companies in the world. They were making millions in 1960 dollars. They also had more lobbyists than any other industry at the time.

An article for the University of Michigan LSA states, "In the 1980s, tobacco giants Philip Morris and R.J. Reynolds acquired the major food companies Kraft, General Foods and Nabisco, allowing tobacco firms to dominate America’s food supply and reap billions in sales from popular brands such as Oreo cookies, Kraft Macaroni & Cheese and Lunchables." This article ends with: "The findings suggest that tobacco companies engineered processed foods to hit what is known as our “bliss” point and elicit cravings, said Ashley Gearhardt, a professor of psychology at the University of Michigan who studies food addiction."

This year, Kraft is lobbying to have lunchables added to the USDA school food program. We must understand that big tobacco had an army of scientists working to make cigarettes more addictive. As they realized that the new surgeon general's warning was going to decrease sales, they moved almost all of their "research" divisions to food. They created flavor enhancers, highly refined sugars, and new preservatives. They lobbied the FDA to classify many man made ingredients as "natural flavors." They created the food pyramid to make their "new foods" the base for our diets.

How has this worked? Simple answer: We believed. We believed our scientists and doctors. We believed in our governmental agencies. We believed! Ex: The Surgeon General's warning in 1964 was listened to and smoking decreased by 20% virtually overnight.

While researching this article, I came across the following blog:

https://myserenitykids.com/blogs/news/seed-oil-alternatives#:~:text=In%20the%20grand%20scheme%20of,supply%20in%20the%20early%201900s.

This is an excellent article that I would recommend to you.

One particularly interesting excerpt: Hillary Bennets quotes an issue of Popular Science from the era that sums up the evolution of cottonseed with the following sentiment: "What was garbage in 1860 was fertilizer in 1870, cattle feed in 1880, and table food and many things else in 1890."  

Proctor and Gamble had a tremendous amount of cottonseed oil which was a waste product of cotton production. I cannot blame a company for trying to find a way to make more money from their waste products. On our farm we do the same. We use the scrap cuts from our sawmill to make signs. We use the extra lard from our slaughters to make soap. We use our animal manure to fertilize gardens. I can blame our governmental agencies for allowing this to happen. This is very similar to the fluoride scam. If you did not know, fluoride is a toxic biohazardous waste product of Aluminum production.

The National Institute of Health, has a glowing report on their website about how conclusive their study on fluoridation of drinking water was.

"The architect of these first fluoride studies was Dr. H. Trendley Dean, head of the Dental Hygiene Unit at the National Institute of Health (NIH)...Dean wondered whether adding fluoride to drinking water at physically and cosmetically safe levels would help fight tooth decay. This hypothesis, Dean told his colleagues, would need to be tested. In 1944, Dean got his wish. That year, the City Commission of Grand Rapids, Michigan-after numerous discussions with researchers from the PHS, the Michigan Department of Health, and other public health organizations-voted to add fluoride to its public water supply the following year. In 1945, Grand Rapids became the first city in the world to fluoridate its drinking water. The Grand Rapids water fluoridation study was originally sponsored by the U.S. Surgeon General, but was taken over by the NIDR shortly after the Institute's inception in 1948. During the 15-year project, researchers monitored the rate of tooth decay among Grand Rapids' almost 30,000 schoolchildren. After just 11 years, Dean- who was now director of the NIDR-announced an amazing finding. The caries ( pretty sure this is a typo that should read Cavity) rate among Grand Rapids children born after fluoride was added to the water supply dropped more than 60 percent."

Nothing in the one and only study on fluoridation tested fluoride levels in the body; it only measured how many cavities they saw. It did not factor in that fluoride is a persistent heavy metal. Persistent refers to the fact that fluoride, lead, mercury, etc, settle in our cells and stay there. These metals continue to build up in our bodies and will travel through the blood-brain-barrier.

The difference between our farm using "waste products" and these large corporations is the moral factor. Farm Life Farm considers how our decisions will affect our customers and our family. The corporations only factor in how much money will be made or lost. This would not be a problem if we had governmental agencies actually doing what is right for our people. Unfortunately what we have are protection agencies like the FDA that are filled with corporate actors working for the benefit of the companies, not the American people.