Modern Farm, Ancient Goals

We did it. We finally made some. And man, was it YUMMY.

Matt’s parents are officially here at Shady Grove Ranch, but they left for a brief trip to Spain last week to help Matt’s sister with her new baby. They’re stocking up on grandkids quick! Bobbi (Matt’s mom) had a birthday last week as well, so we splurged and did a surf-and-turf dinner (with our very own beef strip steaks!). And for dessert, we made some vanilla ice cream with <gasp!> real cream! Of course, it was mostly milk since cream is a little difficult to come by when you’re milking your own cows, but I added about 2 cups of fresh cream from that morning’s milking to the 4 cups of whole milk. Talk about satisfying! I used a recipe from the “Grassfed Gourmet Cookbook” that calls for 6 farm egg yolks, cream, maple syrup (but I used honey), vanilla, and arrowroot powder. It was totally raw and perfectly creamy.

And what’s funny about the whole thing is that kind of dessert is actually pretty darn healthy. Most people would balk at the high fat and cholesterol content, but we relish it! Why? Because we have learned the truth about food. There are a number of sources of research on fats, particularly animal (you know—the ones with all the cholesterol and saturated fatty acids), that show that these kinds of fats not only DO NOT cause heart disease, they probably protect against it. The Weston A. Price Foundation publishes research done by the late Dr. Price, who traveled the world in the 40’s and 50’s in search of a people group that exhibited true health. He considered “healthy” people to be ones free of dental decay, heart disease, tuberculosis, cancer, diabetes, depression and suicidal tendencies, alcoholism, and crime. And he found them all over the place. But there was something they all had in common, and that was they all ate at least some animal fats and consumed no refined foods. Most of them consumed well over 50% of their calories as animal fats. Many indigenous people groups who had never even heard of a toothbrush didn’t have a single cavity in 100 people. Amazing.

Another clinician/MD who found similar results practiced around the 50’s-70’s, I believe, and his name was Dr. Wolfgang Lutz. He cured well over 10,000 people of various illnesses including diabetes, arthritis, overweight, underweight, fatigue, intestinal disease, etc., just by restricting their diets of carbohydrates and increasing their saturated fat intake dramatically. His diet was similar to Atkins (who did NOT die of heart disease, contrary to popular myth), but actually more generous in terms of carbohydrate intake. He wrote a book called “Life Without Bread”, and when Matt and I adopted the diet, we had remarkable results.

Another resource that is now out of print discusses the flaws in the research (and misrepresentation of the research) used to show that cholesterol causes heart disease. It is called “Cholesterol Myths”, and is authored by Dr. Uffe Ravnskov. Unfortunately it is now out of print, but it shows a lot of the popular charts and things used to say heart disease is linked to high blood cholesterol and fat intake. They are frequently only partially published and often misrepresented altogether when used by organizations like the AHA that tell you not to eat butter anymore.

Still another book (yeah, there’s actually a LOT of research out there on this…) written by Dr. Mary Enig and Sally Fallon is called “Eat Fat, Lose Fat”, and it describes the benefits of eating saturated fatty acids when trying to maintain a healthy weight. It discusses the advantages of coconut oil and whole raw milk and butter. One of the best breakfasts you can make to get you through to lunch is a coconut milk/whole milk yogurt smoothie.

I once was on a 2500 calorie diet that consisted of about 1200 calories from animal fats alone (such as cheese, butter, roast beef with the fat, eggs, yogurt, milk, etc). I lost 12 pounds in less than a month and my back and knee problems totally went away. A relative of mine lived with us at the time and went from dress size 12 to size 4 in a couple of months. She had to have her clothes taken in twice!!

So eat your ice cream and cheese cake and other “fatty” desserts—after you’ve had a good, pasture-raised-animal-based meal, of course! But don’t settle for high fructose corn syrup and guar gum in your lowfat ice “cream” (which, by the way, would be labeled “imitation” were it not for the added synthetic vitamins…), or store-bought pie crusts laden with trans fats instead of real butter or pasture-raised lard, or a low fat cheesecake loaded with way too much refined mineral-depleting sugar—all you need is a touch of raw honey or pure maple syrup! Instead, get the best ingredients with the most nutrients and add just enough non-refined sweet to satisfy, and enjoy it without so much guilt.