Orgasmic... I mean organic

Have never, ever heard of the TB thing before. Not that contamination due to a variety of factors (exposure, dirty processing equipment, sick cows) doesn't occur. Sucks if that's what the world has come to.

Wheat -- I agree on that. It is the processing that destroys the benefits of this grain. Most Americans have never eaten anything made entirely with freshly ground whole wheat. The taste and texture are entirely different and the energy boost is tremendous.

Eat a slice of "whole wheat" bread from the store and watch your energy levels drop. It's essentially still highly processed flour with food coloring added in and some "fiber" (good luck finding out exactly what that entails), and lots of sugar/corn syrup to make it palatable.

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"Pain can be a great teacher of compassion and humility."~ Unkotare-san

"Whatever the case, it proves that countless disasters can be prevented by simply assuming everyone you're working with is a moron." ~ Adam Brown, 5 Tiny Mistakes...

There's several poncey bakeries near me. The pick is probably The Breadshop

They do some fantastic stuff (as well as some real rubbish)

The other great place locally is a Breton pancake place that does amazing buckwheat pancakes.

Having tasted quality baking with quality ingredients it's impossible to go back to the standard health food shop sliced "wholemeal" but it's a scary cost.

I've been through the whole "grind your own" thing (the drums of flower got weevils in so we had to make corn flower with a coffee grinder) and I've done the fresh sourdough every day thing (rats got the yeast, god alone knows what that did to their unpleasant little innards) It leads to great food but it's a huge effort.

The best compromise is probably a good bread maker and good flour - friends have one and it's minimum effort for maximum results

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Consider Phlebas, who was once handsome and tall as you
High mountains are a feeling
I don't need to sell my soul, he's already in me

Mmm. I do the bread machine thing. My mom makes "blender pancakes" which is not what you think -- she grinds the wheat/buckwheat in the blender then pours in the other ingredients, and then just pours the batter straight from the blender into the pan. Very efficient.

She also has a stock of hard red Canadian wheat -- it's packed into 5-gallon lined metal barrels and keeps a very long time, and no weevils.

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"Pain can be a great teacher of compassion and humility."~ Unkotare-san

"Whatever the case, it proves that countless disasters can be prevented by simply assuming everyone you're working with is a moron." ~ Adam Brown, 5 Tiny Mistakes...

I would love to meet your mom! She sounds hard core. She could have her own cooking show.

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"I say, if you want to find out where the road goes, get in the fast lane and hit the gas." Calvin and Hobbes

She talks too much! The show would be over before she got halfway through the recipe.

Not all of the back-to-nature adventure went well ... there's a long harrowing story to tell about the time she put a goat in the back yard so we'd have fresh milk every day. The neighbors were thrilled.

__________________
"Pain can be a great teacher of compassion and humility."~ Unkotare-san

"Whatever the case, it proves that countless disasters can be prevented by simply assuming everyone you're working with is a moron." ~ Adam Brown, 5 Tiny Mistakes...

I try to cook as healthy and balanced as affordable possible on my low salary. Pastas I try to buy the whole wheats, breads whole wheat (except my wifes potato bread) and I cook from scratch. We eat probably 4 out of 7 meals a week are either chicken or fish. Tomorow is Chicken and Dumplings.

Oh yeah and alot of the fresh veggies/fruits and frozen veggies I try to get organic.

Yep, sometimes you do the best you can, and that's much better than nothing. If you can't get it fresh out of an organic garden, buy the freshest food you can. If that's not possible, buy frozen/vacuum packed.

If you must buy canned foods (I keep a stock around the same way we kept a "hurricane stash" in Fla., now it's a "blizzard stash") buy those with lined interiors.

All of that beats the heck out of MRE's (and those are probably still better than big macs any day).

__________________
"Pain can be a great teacher of compassion and humility."~ Unkotare-san

"Whatever the case, it proves that countless disasters can be prevented by simply assuming everyone you're working with is a moron." ~ Adam Brown, 5 Tiny Mistakes...

I figured it was time for me to add some input here again:

I have been recently purchasing all my food from an organic co-operative of farms and it is a LOT cheaper than buying non-organic alternatives from a supermarket.

Organic co-ops are a rather new thing over here in the UK, and even moreso in the US, but if you can find one local to you they are an incredible commodity. You'll get very healthy food at RIDICULOUSLY Good prices. Generally speaking you'll get food that was picked the day before.

I personally use Home Delivery - Riverford Organic Vegetables* but there are lots of others, and for you guys in the US I'd definitely recommend shopping around.

Every one I know who has used these services has a story about how they stopped when their weekly delivery of "seasonal" fruit and vegetables consisted entirely of a box of turnips.

__________________
Consider Phlebas, who was once handsome and tall as you
High mountains are a feeling
I don't need to sell my soul, he's already in me

I just cannot imagine letting someone else picking my fruits. I am very picky about making sure there are not bruises, that the apples are firm enough, and stuff like that. I don't trust anyone else to pick fruits for my consumption to my standards.

Might be my obsessive compulsive disorder though! LOL!

-aaradia

“	Originally Posted By: Zipwolf I figured it was time for me to add some input here again: I have been recently purchasing all my food from an organic co-operative of farms and it is a LOT cheaper than buying non-organic alternatives from a supermarket. Organic co-ops are a rather new thing over here in the UK, and even moreso in the US, but if you can find one local to you they are an incredible commodity. You'll get very healthy food at RIDICULOUSLY Good prices. Generally speaking you'll get food that was picked the day before. I personally use Home Delivery - Riverford Organic Vegetables* but there are lots of others, and for you guys in the US I'd definitely recommend shopping around.	”

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I must not fear.Fear is the mind-killer.Fear is the little death that brings total obliteration.I will face my fear.I will permit it to pass over me & through me.& when it has gone I will turn to see its path. Where the fear has gone there will be nothing.Only I will remain.F.Herbert

“	Originally Posted By: john100 Unpasturised milk = TB risk. Three people I know very well have had TB in the last 4 years and I wouldn't take the risk. Cutting milk is a bit of a fad thing. The number of people genuinely unable to deal with it is relatively small. When it comes to developing a tempory intolerance due to over exposure cutting it down/out can help but has to be balanced with the fact the body often simply finds something else to object to. The same goes for wheat. Wheat gets a bad press because of the kind of wheat products most people eat. Sugar? Most people eat way too much of it.	”

wow. couldn't disagree more.

never heard of TB being passed through cow's milk. i'll have to look into it.

but really, the percentage of people who genuinely CAN deal with lactose is relatively small. (peeps of north euro decent).

DRINKING cows milk is the fad. it's a new thing, which only became possible to do in large quantities since the advent of refrigeration.

wheat? not really that great for you. for around 2 million years, primates (us) ate no wheat what-so-ever. it's not possible to digest it, unless it's heavily processed, not calorie efficient for hunter-gatherers to bother with, until the advent of agriculture only 15000 years ago or so.

even then, it's still loaded with "anti-nutrients".

MRE's uber calories from Hell! Don't eat the brownies...lol.
Actually the newer ones are starting to taste better. They are starting to add more flavors. Now that Im in Georgia next hurricane season I will be stocking up on them. Not many hurricanes hit this way to my knowledge but we are close enough to the coast. BTW I never actually foun d a problem with eating the Brownie...the cheese on the other hand I couldnt ever stomach.


Anyway on the subject of healthier eating. Treat it like working out if your a beginner. Just try to replace one meal/snack a week with something healthy. Its better to start out small and with something you like then to jump into it and hate it. Too expensive.

Milk
Human Tuberculosis Caused by Mycobacterium bovis --- New York City, 2001--2004
"In industrialized nations, human TB caused by M. bovis is rare because of milk pasteurization" My italics.

Drinking it has a longer history in some places than others and a longer history in some forms than others but the widespread idea it should be avoided altogether, along with other dairy products, is relatively new. The idea any food should be avoided altogether is relatively new. The idea that the number of people who lack the enzyme to digest milk easily is the same as the number of people who actually cannot tolerate it - their skin reacts in a skin test for example - is entirely new.

Wheat similar. We've had long enough to get used to it now.

[Edit cut a load of stuff that was more analysis than the discussion needs so far]

The issue is lazy eating. Too much of any one thing does you no good at all. Cutting out any major food source completely without a genuine allergy is the same.

__________________
Consider Phlebas, who was once handsome and tall as you
High mountains are a feeling
I don't need to sell my soul, he's already in me

“	Originally Posted By: john100 Wheat similar. We've had long enough to get used to it now.	”

there's plenty of science to the contrary.