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I want you to be my new best friend!!! An organic farm???? Baking? (I’m a bread baker and pastry chef), healthy-for-the-environment dishsoap??? WOW! All the things I dream about. Here’s my e-mail addy: quemirabella@hotmail.com — I’d be glad to help you any way I can because those are the same things I want to incorporate into my life in Costa Rica. Would rather live like a campesina than a gringo!
RV: Interesting stuff on the W-P site definitely have to keep an open mind to some of it. I have been eating Lacto-Vegetarian since I was 17(now just shy of 44)and always bought organic when possible. The last 2 years I started adding in fish and them some meats but recently reverting back to a veg, no meat/fish for about 5 months. I have also experimented with raw foods which I didn’t like much although enjoy it as part of my diet. My big objection to meat eating has been the factories that produce it, although I don’t feel it is morally wrong to kill animals(except for the way the big producers do it!) I felt I lead a more peaceful existence by abstaining and considered it a forward step in our evolution as a species. With modern habitats, transportation and refrigeration we no longer need to eat like our ancestors did. That said of course I agree that our diet should be whole foods, least processed as possible. Well it’s all very interesting and I will spend a few days looking over all the information on the site. Thanks! And look forward to visiting you when you get the farm and bakery going. I already know who I’m dropping in on in San Ramon…
Judging by that photo you posted some months back, your diet has served you well!! For the most part, I’m a quasi-vegetarian; I can go 4 – 5 months without eating any meat, but I do eat chicken twice a month and fish 2 – 3 times a week, but mostly I live on fruits, vegetables, legumes, beans, salads, etc. If I do eat meat it has to be organic grassfed and killed in a humane way. I don’t like the idea of eating meat, but sometimes it’s what my body craves! Weston Price has lots of good info; at least he isn’t influenced by the big consortiums who are telling us to eat all the wrong foods and fats that will eventually make us very sick or outright kill us. I’ve been trying to educate some of the gringos that live in our community — the ones with all the health problems are also the ones who insist that drinking soda isn’t THAT bad for you, same with white flour, sugar, or lots of Omega 6 fats. Sometimes you can lead a horse to water, but you can’t make it think. I can’t wait til I’m in CR fulltime and can devote all my energy to growing a completely organic garden or orchard.
Hi crazyfnmama: This is a site that shows some of the organization of Costa Rican organic farmers (CATIE/EARTH/IICA have lent a hand). Those agricultural research/education orgs that have lent a hand have come a long way and are now supportive of the these local groups with education, resources, organizational support and much more. Anyway, it’s in English and will give you some info on the farmers, but I’m sure you will enjoy most meeting them as they are really great people that have had to work really hard to produce organically in CR. They’re proud of their journey and recognize some of their pitfalls. Like most Costa Ricans they are very generous and friendly people. Besides, they just love to talk about their work…Enjoy y Pura Vida…
http://www.newfarm.org/international/features/0603/cost_rica/slide_show/pg1.shtmlThere are also claims that margarine is one molecule away from plastic. Our farm has been in the family for six generations, and as far as I know,never has anyone eaten anything but homegrown produce, be it meat,dairy or vegetables and no-one in the family has ever suffered from high cholestrol. In fact when each one of our children were born we selected one cow from the herd and they had whole milk from that particular cow the first year of their lives. Needless to say they are all in the best of health.
Margarine is hydrogenated and it scars the arteries so plaque will stick to it. How anyone eats this stuff I will never know, but the Ticos love it! Mainly because they’ve been told that it’s better for you than butter (such a lie). There is also no scientific evidence whatsoever that cholesterol leads to heart disease, but the constant consumption of corn oil, sunflower oil, canola oil, sesame oil and margarine WILL cause heart disease. That’s great that you lived on a farm and could benefit from the way people used to eat. I long for that kind of life where you absolutely know where your food came from.
Your family has been very fortunate to still be able to have such immediate access to your food sources. You and all the people that are still able to do this really impress me (many in this forum and also outside of it). I am surprised that cow’s milk didn’t adversely affect the babies since their digestive system is so tender and meant to ingest human milk not cow’s milk, but I’m glad it worked out for them and has made them healthy and strong. As for the cholesterol issue, I think that big pharma has wanted us to buy into this and that’s exactly how they touted margarine, told everyone to avoid eating eggs and have made mega $$ with cholesterol lowering meds that have nasty little side effects. The healthy lifestyle you’re obviously leading and that of other people in this forum is what will continue to keep you and your children healthy. The cholesterol markers don’t tell the cardiovascular story as much as they originally thought they did. This is especially true for women–there are plenty, and the numbers are growing, of women that have had cholesterol levels within “normal” parameters and have suffered heart attacks. As for men, the whole story isn’t in but it seems that it’s worse for them to be under continuously high stress levels than to have high cholesterol or smoke. What is great news is that some studies are starting to correlate having a positive attitude (which means finding meaning & feeling you have learned something valuable from the difficult times in your life–not just going thru life oblivious to hardship) along with a flexible attitude can add 10 more years to your life! That’s more than you can hope to obtain when you stop smoking! So here’s to everyone’s good health and keep a positive mindset. Pura Vida!
Babies can digest raw milk; they cannot digest homogenized/pasteurized milk. In fact, most people cannot digest the stuff in its altered and unnnatural state. As for cholesterol, the ratio between LDL/HDL is what’s important. If it’s below 5, it doesn’t matter what the other numbers are really. There has been a discussion on another forum about palm oil and how bad it is for you, but the Ticos use it for frying. The argument for NOT eating it is that it’s a saturated fat. So one of the participants in this discussion sends me some article written by “scientists” warning of the dangers of saturated fat, but lauding the benefits of margarine and omega6 oils. I just had to laugh at such ignorance! The scientific community has been bought so you can’t even trust what they say anymore. Read The Ascendancy of the Scientific Dictatorship and you’ll see what I mean. My response to this whole argument was to go out and buy Red Palm Oil, so I can put it in my smoothies every morning! The whole low-fat diet craze is what has made people so sick and fat. Saturated fat isn’t the culprit in heart disease, but white flour, white sugar, and elevated insulin levels are. The more the Ticos adopt the Standard American Diet, the sicker they are going to get. In not too many years, CR will also have an obesity epidemic with the influx of all that awful junk food that Americans insist on exporting.
I hope you’re not referring to my post since I’ve never touted eating margarine (nor do I ever touch the stuff). When I mentioned Omega-6 oils, I clearly said that all Omega-6 oils are not alike or are you suggesting olive oil is bad for you because it has a ratio of 10:1 of Omega-6 to Omega-3? I cautioned for balance and to avoid lard due to the high proportions of an animal’s toxicity being left in that fat. Salmon, along with other fatty fish, happen to be great food sources, but due to the increasing contamination of our waters, it can also contain levels of mercury (among other things) that can harm us in the long run and really hurt a growing fetus if the mother ingests too much of it during her pregnancy! Although you may wish to think that all animal milk is created equal, it is not. The biochemical makeup of all lactating milk produced by various animals is quite different and meant specifically for that particular species. There are some animal’s milk that tend to be more compatible for infant consumption (when maternal milk is not available) such as goat’s milk and sometimes cow’s milk, as happygirl had wonderful results with cow’s milk, but raw or not, it evolved to benefit calves and human milk evolved to benefit human infants. Maravilla, you have so much wonderful information and experience growing your own food sources, why not use it to teach with humbleness instead of making fun of the ignorance you perceive in others? The organic farmers that I have had the pleasure of knowing and working with teach with example, humbleness and a conciliatory intelligence that makes their audience feel better not mocked by stating things like “you can lead a horse to water, but you can’t make it think” I really do respect the efforts and life you’re leading, I hope you will earnestly consider the question I pose to you…Con toda sinceridad y real afecto…
It was NOT your post to which I was referring but rather the articles from “experts” who say don’t eat butter, coconut or palm oil, and then tout the benefits of margarine. The sat fat war is not winable with some people when they put their trust in the experts, even though they may have been bought by Big Pharma, Big Food, etc. That makes me laugh! Really, I do try to teach by example, and mostly humbly, but some people just cannot be persuaded to give up that which is slowly killing them. They’d rather take a handful of meds than eschew bad fats, white flour, and sugar. We had thought of giving cooking lessons when we get to CR fulltime because with the plethora of foods available in Costa Rica, it is shameful that some people choose to rely on packaged food laced with all manner of chemicals. I had one of my CR neighbors over for dinner one night and when I asked her why she chose San Ramon, she replied because it was close enough to San Jose that she eat at Taco Bell. I honestly felt like snatching the plate of gourmet, organic food away from her! Olive oil is 70% oleic acid, which is what makes it so healthy, and I couldn’t live without it. It’s the primary oil in my diet. Most fish oil capsules on the market have been distilled so that the contaminants are removed. They may be safer to consume than the real fish! As for milk, I know it’s not all the same, but it is a fact that the pasteurization and homogenization of cow milk is what makes it hard to digest. I get raw milk in Costa Rica (which I ferment) but it’s illegal here unless you own your own cow, which I did for some time just to get the milk. I know people who gave their babies raw cow’s milk rather than formula and the babies did fine; they also did fine on goat milk. Pasteurized and homogenized milk made those same kids terribly sick.
Yes it was raw milk they ingested, and by the way, my “babies” are now 48, 46, 45 44 and 42 years old! LOL
Maravilla: Give people a chance to digest how you’ve been living and all of the information you have to offer–they will come around….Even if they don’t always show it, you have given them a reason to question–one of the best things we can do for anyone stuck in our modern day illusions…it just takes time…
Happygirl: Aren’t they still your babies at any age? (LOL)….Mine is in college now and I can still see her in Suretka, Limon as a little 5 yr old running around with her newly made Bribri friends… :-] I can’t wait to be back in CR. Pura vida!
Why was milk ever homogenized in the first place? What was the purpose for it? I’ve had milk in my coffee at a restaurant in CR, and because it was cream on top of the decanter and what appeared like skim milk on the bottom, I thought something was a little wrong at first. I have been drinking homogenized my whole life, and got used to it being “normal.” Except for a brief period in the 50’s and early 60’s when milk was delivered to the home every day and the cream was sometimes on top, I’ve been drinking it homogenized. Is this what causes us lactose intolerance as we get older?
Don’t know about the homogenizing, I would imagine it was done more for looks and creating longer shelf life rather than health–Maravilla or Happygirl may have more info on that. As far as lactose intolerance, the percentage of the population affected varies according to ethnic group and it’s usually not a full inability to produce lactase, but more of a difficulty doing so (+/-70% for Hispanics/Southern Europeans/Jewish populations, 5% for Northern Europeans, 30% for Central Europeans, 25% for Northern Indians, 65% Southern Indians, 90% for Asians/Africans). In infants, a milk protein allergy is usually the culprit and it tends to be misdiagnosed as lactose intolerance. For adults, our bodies start to loose the capacity to produce/use lactase enzymes since childhood, but it doesn’t seem affect us until we’re adults. We need lactase to process lactose which is in all mammalian milk (in differing degrees–whether raw or pasteurized) and when we don’t have enough enzymes to break down the lactose, it goes directly into our intestines and causes the upset stomachs so typical of this problem. Yogurt is one of the dairy items that usually doesn’t bother people with lactose intolerance. Hope this helps Alfred…Pura Vida, Rebeca.
Thanks, I guess I’m in the majority for once! Not that I really wanted to be. I use lactaid which works well for the intolerance. Makes you wonder if it is just our bodies telling us not to have milk products when we get older, or if it just another one of those genetic defects that have crept into our makeup.
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