Last week I mentioned our Farm Field Day with Dr. Williams. One of the new farmers I met is named Larry. Larry also does some consulting work for the USDA. As we discussed issues in Agriculture Larry mentioned that the new farm bill was being debated in Congress. He continued by explaining that the farm bill sets the SPENDING and POLICY priorities for the USDA. And, how big business is the major influencer (through their lobbyist). So, when you wonder why things are the way they are remember big business & their lobbyist are directing policy and spending decisions... that FAVOR BIG BUSINESS. Larry ended by saying, "Follow The Money".

With food, it's the How, not the What.

Food is a subject that seems so simple, yet is so hard for so many. Farmers and consumers alike are often confused by head-spinning and hair-pulling debates about what's right or healthiest for people and our plant. Sometimes all the noise seems deafening.

Something that was natural and intuitive for many thousands of years has become the subject of intense nutritional research and government intervention. It is mind-boggling to think that people do not know how to eat healthy without the USDA food pyramid or reading some diet book.

What people do know, just by looking around, is that something is broken. Even if they don't notice the missing fish and birds, they know that more of their family and neighbors are overweight, and that many are fighting cancer. It's understandable, and perhaps right, to cast a critical eye at our food system.

For some time now I have been wanting to share some facts regarding fats and the role they play in our health (or not). The delay has been finding the time to complete the research.

This week Mercola sent out a great email complete with videos about the history and role fats play in our diet. And, one of the reasons I trust Mercola is his research includes a "FACT CHECKED" statement and the bibliography reference for his reports. The following is from Mercola's email - due to the length of his emails I will only share his opening bullet points and the videos.
Story at-a-glance

• Fats are the primary building block of your cell membranes. This is one of the reasons why eating the right types of fat is so important for your health and longevity
• While most nutritional experts blame the epidemic of chronic disease on the increase in sugar consumption, the role of sugar is relatively minor when compared to the impact of seed oils
• There are two basic types of fatty acids, based on how many of their carbon bonds are paired with hydrogen: saturated fats and unsaturated fats. Unsaturated fats are further subdivided into monounsaturated fats and polyunsaturated fats (PUFAs), depending on how many pairs of hydrogen atoms they are missing
• Because your tissues are made up mostly of saturated and monounsaturated fats, your body requires more of them than PUFAs
• The main dietary PUFAs are omega-3 and omega-6 fats, and while your body does need these, it needs them in relatively small quantities. The most pernicious toxin in the modern diet, and the fat you need to minimize consumption of, is the omega-6 fat linoleic acid (LA). LA makes up 60% to 80% of omega-6 fats and is the primary contributor to chronic disease

Fats — which are water-insoluble biological molecules also known as lipids¹ — are the primary building block of your cell membranes. This is one of the reasons why eating the right types of fat is so important for your health and longevity.

(click HERE to watch the video)

Mercola also share this video titled "Vegetable Oil Health Risks". (click HERE to watch the video)

Seed Oils Are Far Worse Than Sugar
While most nutritional experts blame the epidemic of chronic disease on the increase in sugar consumption, the role of sugar is relatively minor when compared to the impact of seed oils.

In 1822 the average U.S. sugar consumption was 6 pounds per person per year. This rose to a high of 108 pounds per person per year by 1999.¹⁹ This is a 17-fold increase, but seed oils went up 25-fold during that same time period.

In the 1960s and '70s,²⁰ cardiologist Dr. Robert Atkins was largely responsible for creating the interest in low-carb (low-sugar) diets that seemed to work for many. However, eliminating foods like french fries, potato chips, breads, pasta, pizza and donuts not only eliminates sugar-based carbs, but also seed oils. It is not intuitively obvious, but the carb-loaded foods his diet eliminated are also loaded with dangerous refined seed oils.

Processed foods typically contain about 21% sugar. However, up to 50% or more of the overall calories contained in most processed foods come from seed oils.^21,22 The connection is further confirmed by looking at the U.S. carb consumption. It's been declining since 1997, yet obesity and Type 2 diabetes have steadily increased. Interestingly, this continued rise coincides with the surge of seed oil consumption.

Summary
Do yourself and your family a favor and embark on a journey of eliminating all seed oils from your diet today to ward off virtually all chronic degenerative diseases. This means avoiding all seed oils, and even fruit oils like olive oil and avocado oils as they are frequently adulterated with cheap seed oils.

Cook with ghee, butter or beef tallow, and avoid all processed foods, as they are typically loaded with seed oils. Also avoid eating in restaurants, as nearly all use massive amounts of seed oils to cook with and put it in their sauces and dressings.

OK - that includes some of what Dr. Mercola shared about Fats from his research. As I mentioned earlier, his emails are very long (I copied/pasted the whole email and it took 24 pages).

The good news is that animals raised on pasture like we do at Nature's Gourmet Farm are high in Omega 3 non-inflammatory fatty acids. Additionally, our farm only uses NON GMO feed for our pork, chicken, and eggs (beef are finished on grass only). That means no risk for chemical contamination in the food we produce.

Beth has taken tallow harvested from our pasture raised beef and rendered it ready for use in cooking as a replacement for dangereous seed oils. According to Dr. Mercola, highly processed seed oils are more dangerous than sugar for human consumption and are the major contributor to obecity and health risk like heart attacks.

Dr. Mercola recommends pasture raised beef tallow as a natural product to replace seed oils in our diets. Here is the link for our rendered tallow https://naturesgourmetfarm.com/store/product/beef-tallow-rendered

If you have not heard this before, let me encourage you to "do your own research". Another good source of information is Weston A. Price and the book The Big Fat Surprise.

At Nature's Gourmet Farm, our intent is to create a community that will evolve around one of the most intrinsically important things of the ages, and that’s the provision of sustenance. That's our passion - to raise healthy food to nourish families and strengthen immune systems.

** Product Availability Update **

Chicken - Next harvest date is May 23rd with restock the following day. Starting in June our batch sizes will increase to meet demand. Processing will continue for twice per month for the balance of the year.

Eggs - Eggs have improved drastically and you will see the difference in availability. Please note that eggs will be added to our website the Wednesday PRIOR to your delivery date by 6pm. So, we have decided to put them on sale as follows: (sale ends May 20th delivery)

Jumbo/ XL - buy 4 or more flats for $10 each. Save $5 each

Dozen - buy 4 or more cartons for $4.50 each. Save $1 each

Beef - Restocked April 21st. Next restock will be May 19th.

Pork - Restocked April 28th. Bacon was added Monday, May 8th

Lamb - Restocked April 28th. Next restock will not be until July timeframe.