Cool Stuff From Friends {Friday Five}

May 2, 2014 Rachel

It's been awhile since I've posted a Friday Five but my friends go on being awesome and you need to know about their projects: 1) Clintonville writer Sally aka Real Mom Nutrition just published a fantastic book, Cooking Light Dinnertime Survival Guide: Feed Your Family. Save Your Sanity! It contains tips, hints, and lots of recipes for feeding your family real whole food every night in Sally's very approachable writing style. Stay tuned to her website for a local book signing event.

2) Several fellow gardeners are part of the organization team for the Central Ohio Plant Swap coming up May 17 in Hilliard. Though I've never been able to go, this FREE event gives you a chance to infuse your gardens with new varieties. I've heard it's especially good for sourcing perennial flowers.

3) Homeschooling mom and licensed professional counselor Dawn Friedman is teaching Parenting for Attunement this June. Dawn is a grounded, thoughtful, open-minded counselor and her parenting classes will help you solve parenting challenges with respect to your needs and your child's. Register using the code 'harmonious' for 20% off registration, making the two-class series just $100 per pair of adults - can be couples, friends, or any two people who want to support each other to be better parents.

4) The fine folks at Clintonville Farmers' Market are holding a canned food drive for the Clintonville-Beechwold Resource Center at the market tomorrow. The Worthington Farmers' Market moves outside this week and collects produce donations weekly for the food pantry too.

5) Finally, our friends at the Ohio Ecological Food and Farm Association are coming to our homestead as part of their farm tour series! Mark your calendar for June 22 at 1 pm to visit the chickens, gardens, hoop house, and orchard.

What coming events do you recommend? Leave links in the comments!

Cool Stuff From Friends {Friday Five}

May 2, 2014 Rachel

What coming events do you recommend? Leave links in the comments!

Real Mom Nutrition Weighs In On Fat

March 23, 2011 Rachel Tayse

I am delighted to publish this guest post from Sally Kuzemchak, the registered dietitian behind Real Mom Nutrition. When she asked if I had anything specific in mind, I pounced with my standard question to nutritionists: 'What do you think about fat?' what follows is her reasoned and helpful response. An occupational hazard of being a dietitian is that people love to tell us we’re wrong. Anytime a research finding flies in the face of conventional nutrition wisdom—Beer is good for you! You can eat Twinkies all day and still lose weight!—we’re on the receiving end of a certain amount of “gotcha!”

And a report last year seemed to do just that: After analyzing 21 studies involving nearly 350,000 people, researchers concluded there was no proof that saturated fat raises the risk for heart disease or stroke.

So everything we’ve been telling people—buy low-fat milk, eat leaner cuts of meat, lay off the butter—is way off base? And the Wise Traditions folks (and even the Atkins dieters) are right on target? Well, at last year’s national meeting of the American Dietetic Association, even a panel of heavy hitters from Tufts University and Harvard Medical School couldn’t reach a conclusion.

But I can tell you this much: Most people’s fat intake isn’t coming from a grass-fed steak with a side of kale. It’s coming from McDonald’s cheeseburgers and DQ Blizzards and Olive Garden Alfredo sauce. And this highly processed diet also happens to be crammed full of sodium, nutrient-poor white flour, added sugar, food dyes, and preservatives. So could a higher-fat diet without all this extra junk be good you? Maybe, but I’m not ready to start drinking tall glasses of full-fat raw milk just yet.

While the research is still evolving—and the major players in the field are still fighting it out—here’s what I’ve settled on for myself and my family when it comes to fat:

*I buy local, organic eggs and wouldn’t dream of throwing the yolks down the drain to save fat grams (the yolk contains nutrients you won’t find in the white).

*I cook beef every week, from a share we bought of a grass-fed cow.

*I buy full-fat cheese because it tastes better. I bake with real butter.

*I buy conventional, skim milk because I like the taste (and because frankly, I’m not ready to make the financial leap to organic yet since we drink three gallons a week). If I did buy organic, I’d choose one or two-percent since it contains omega-3 fatty acids.

*I use liberal amounts of olive oil in cooking and eat nuts or nut butter every day.

*I limit processed meats. I love wonderful, delicious bacon as much as the next person, but it doesn’t have much nutritional value—and the American Institute for Cancer Research says any amount of processed meat raises cancer risk—so it’s an occasional splurge around here.

*I’m trying to cook more meatless meals. I’m convinced that eating a plant-based diet is important for health and the planet. Plus, it’s more economical. And my Paleo Diet-following friends will have to pry the (whole wheat) pasta out of my cold, dead hands.

I’d love to hear your thoughts on the topic.