Back to the Basics - Nutrition

I thought it was time to post another one about our quest to eat more nutritiously.  We have taken baby steps so I thought that I would let you in on what we have done to eat more healthy.

From what I have read and researched, the best nutrition is not calorie counting, fat limiting, label reading, etc.  The best kind of nutrition goes way back to eating the way man ate in the beginning.  I'm not going back to the Garden of Eden and telling you to eat all raw fruits and vegetables (although I did read that book - found it interesting - just not for us).  I mean eating as little processed foods as possible and eating a well balanced amount of fruits, vegetables, carbs, meats and fats (all God-made, not man-made).

About 10 years ago was when I started my quest.  It dates back to a 2 year stint of sickness in our family and a mission to improve our overall health.  My first findings were herbal remedies.  I'll save those for another post, but in my research of herbs, I found the benefits of raw milk.

I won't post a huge list of the benefits of raw milk, because they are readily available on the internet so I encourage you to conduct your own google search but I will include this helpful chart comparing store-bought pasteurized milk to raw milk.  Not only has my family enjoyed the taste of raw milk, but I enjoy knowing that this is the best stuff I could give my growing Fish Sticks.

I have loved using the cream off the top for my coffee each morning and for homemade ice cream.  I have made homemade butter many times also.  I keep warning the Fish Sticks that when they go to college, they will have to drink the store bought milk so prepare now.  They are not too happy about this.  Some might worry that the high content of fat will make them fat, but look at history.  That is just not so.  Some may say that it contains germs that could cause sickness, but finding a farm that you trust with cows that are living natural lives is key to keeping sickness away.  We have never gotten sick from drinking raw milk.  When the milk starts to sour, it is still good to be used to make sour cream, cheese, butter and to cook with.  This can not be said of pasteurized milk.  Milk became pasteurized when early Americans crammed cows into warehouses in large cities so that the milk man didn't have to travel from the farms to the cities each a.m. with fresh milk.  The living conditions were very unsanitary, resulting in sick cows, contaminated milk and many deaths.

I started asking around, trying to find a way to purchase raw milk as the local farmer's market charges about $9 a gallon.  I found a way to purchase it weekly for my family, along with a group of other interested families who formed a co-op.  We do this by owning a share of a milking cow from some "plain folk" to receive milk from them weekly.  We take turns driving the hour distance once a week to collect the milk and distribute it at a meeting place for all families.  At first it was a bit inconvenient for me because only 4 families were involved, meaning I drove once a month.  Now there are about 12 families involved and I only drive about 4 times a year.  I revolve my weekly shopping days around the pick up time.

From there I learned about farm fresh eggs and grass fed meats - but will save those for another post.  Have you ever tried raw milk?  If not, you are missing out!!  Come hang out with us and I'll share some!