Performance Without Pain by Kathryne Pirtle

Fish Oil vs. Cod-Liver Oil

Many people today are getting extra omega-3 fatty acids in their diet with fish oil. Omega-3s have decreased in our diets today largely because of vegetable oils and corn-feeding of our livestock. From beef to chicken and now, even our farm-raised fish, unless a person chooses to get their food from a farm co-op that pastures their animals, foods that used to have a balance of omega-3 to -6 fatty acids are now overabundant in omega-6. In fact, because of today’s foods, omega-6 fatty acids can dominate omega-3 fatty acids by as much as between 20 to 1 or 30 to 1! (Another important reason to purchase pastured foods.)

An overabundance of omega-6 fatty acids can sometimes be a factor in inflammation as it may cause an imbalance in the production of important hormones called prostaglandins. Because of this, many people turn to omega-3-rich fish oil supplements like salmon oil. These are beneficial, but when you take a high quality cod-liver oil you will not only get the omega-3 fatty acids, but you will also get both vitamins A and D, which are critical to nutrient absorption. Dr. Weston A. Price’s research of healthy populations worldwide found that these cultures consumed 10 times the amount of vitamin A and D compared to diets of his patients in the US–in the 1930s! So that figure now would be much higher today considering how depleted our food supply has become.

Unfortunately, commercial cod liver oil is not the  always the best choice, as the natural vitamin A and D has been removed in processing and a synthetic version of these vitamins is put back. The Weston A. Price Foundation recommends fermented cod liver oil from www.greenpasture.org as an excellent choice for this supplement. It is the only cod liver oil in the world that is  made in a traditional way. It is also much more dense in vitamin A and D than commercial brands so the dose is much smaller.

Cod liver oil has been recorded as being an elixir for good health by cultures all over the world as far back as in the Roman empire. Even your great-grandmother took cod liver oil! So take your cod liver oil!! And while you are at it, take it with high-vitamin butter oil, which was Dr. Price’s prescription for healing (also available at www.greenpasture,org.)

For more information on building health and healing with nutrient-dense foods see Performance without Pain and our new e-book on healing acid reflux.

Best in health,

Kathryne Pirtle

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What does the government and media say are the top 14 foods?

According to the government and media health pundits the top 14 foods are:

  • Beans
  • Blueberries
  • Broccoli
  • Oats
  • Oranges
  • Pumpkin
  • Salmon
  • Soy
  • Spinach
  • Tea (green or black)]
  • Tomatoes
  • Turkey
  • Walnuts
  • Yogurt

This uninspiring list reflects the current establishment “angels” (anti-oxidants and omega-3 fatty acids) and “demons” (saturated fats and animal foods). Unfortunately, a diet containing only these foods is a fast track to nutritional deficiencies.

For more information on a healing diet and nutrient-dense foods, see  www.performancewithoutpain.com.

Best in health,

Kathryne Pirtle

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14 Top Nutrient-Dense Foods

Through the work of Dr. Weston A. Price we know that diets built on nutrient-dense foods can heal the body and build optimal health.  Below is a list of the 14 top nutrient-dense foods.

  • Butter from grass-fed cows (preferably raw)
  • Oysters
  • Liver from grass-fed animals
  • Eggs from pastured hens
  • Cod-liver oil
  • Fish eggs
  • Whole raw milk from grass-fed cows
  • Bone broth
  • Wild-caught shrimp
  • Wild-caught salmon
  • Whole milk yogurt or kefir from grass-fed cows
  • Beef from grass-fed steers
  • Traditionally prepared sauerkraut (homemade, not pasteurized)
  • Organic beets, beet kvass, traditionally prepared pickled beets (homemade, not pasteurized)

For more information on a healing diet and nutrient-dense foods, see our website at www.performancewithoutpain.com

Best in health,

Kathryne Pirtle

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All proteins are not created equal.

When you are deciding which foods to eat, choosing a diet where most of the foods give you the most nutrients per gram makes good sense for building and maintaining good health doesn’t it? In fact Dr. Weston A. Price found through his research of healthy populations worldwide that “All disease comes from malnourishment.” (see www.westonaprice.org)

Next, it makes sense to choose proteins that are easy-to-digest so that the nutrients that they contain are available to the body, which was another aspect of the work that Dr. Price did. When he sought to find cultures of people that had perfect health, he was hoping that he would find one that was vegetarian as he believed in the principle of vegetarianism. Unfortunately, he was very disappointed to find that cultures whose protein sources were from plants displayed degenerative conditions. This is because proteins from legumes, nuts and seeds are difficult to digest and do not have the nutrient-density of animal foods as they do not have the full array of amino acids.

As you can also imagine, fractionated proteins like “whey protein” and other protein powders are highly processed, difficult to digest and are therefore poor choices for nutrient-dense foods. These are among the “new-fangled” food  inventions of today that rob your pocketbook and promise results, when in fact, they are not real food!

So shopping for foods that will comprise a good diet is at best confusing when there is so much conflicting health advice–especially when we have been literally brainwashed into believing that a healthy diet is low-fat and high-fiber.

How can we go about making an educated choice about what proteins to include in our daily fare. If we are looking at nutrient-density alone, the foods highest in nutrients are not only organic, but they come from animals eating their natural diets. So finding a source of eggs, dairy, meat and fish from good sources is critical to good health as there is a remarkable difference in the nutrients in for instance, eggs from a pastured chicken and even an organic egg from a “vegetarian-fed” chicken (chickens are not vegetarian by the way–their natural diet is comprised of bugs and worms). Price also noted that in all cases healthy cultures ate ample amounts of traditional fats with proteins like butter, meat with its fat, cream, lard, coconut oil or palm oil.

Also, all healthy cultures that Dr. Price studied had sacred foods for good health, couples who wanted to conceive and growing children.  One of the sacred protein foods that they consumed was organ meats like liver. Liver from a grass-fed cow or other pastured animal is one of the most nutrient-dense animal foods that you can eat. If you consume liver just once a week, you will greatly magnify the nutrients available to your body for building and maintaining good health. Some people think the liver stores toxins, but in fact it acts as a filter. However, it is also very important to get liver from good sources-see http://www.westonaprice.org/localchapters/index.html for a list of local Weston A. Price chapters in your area to locate farm coops that carry naturally raised foods.

Below is a fascinating list of the comparative vitamin content of various kinds of liver. From this list, you will see just what nutrient-density really means.

Liver Comparison Chart

From: Nutrition Almanac, by John D. Kirschmann

Beef Lamb Veal Chicken Duck Goose Turkey
Amount 1lb 1lb 1lb 1 1 1 1
Weight: gm 454 454 454 32 44 94 102
Vitamin A 199130 229070 102060 6576 17559 29138 18403
Vitamin B1 1.16 1.81 .9 .044 - .528 .062
Vitamin B2 14.79 14.9 12.3 .628 - .838 2.21
Vitamin B6 14 1.36 3.04 .24 - .72 .78
Vitamin B12 363 472 272 7.35 23.7 - 64.6
Biotin 454 454 - - - - -
Niacin 61.6 76.5 51.8 2.96 - 6.11 10.35
Pantothen
Acid
35 32.7 36.3 1.98 - - 7.81
Folic Acid .99 .99 - 236 - - 752
Vitamin C 140 152 161 10.8 - - 4.6
Vitamin E 6.36 - - - - - -
Calcium 36 45 36 3 5 40 7
Copper 12.7 25 36 .126 2.62 7.07 .512
Iron 29.5 49.4 39.9 2.74 13.4 - 11
Magnesium 59 64 73 6 - 23 21
Manganese 1.23 1.04 - .083 - - .294
Phosphorus 1597 1583 1510 87 118 245 319
Potassium 1275 916 1275 73 - 216 303
Selenium 206 - - - - - -
Sodium 617 236 331 25 - 132 98
Zinc 17 - 17 .98 - - 2.53
Total Fat 17.5 19.6 21.3 1.23 2.04 4.03 4.05
Saturated Fat 6.8 6.9 - 42 .63 1.49 1.28
Unsaturated Fat 5 6.63 - .5 .59 1 1.73
Cholesterol 1360 1361 1361 140 227 - 475

So when considering how to build good health for a lifetime, choosing foods according to nutrient-density will go a long way to helping you achieve that goal, and we have history and good research on magnificently healthy people as our example.

For more information on a healing diet and nutrient-dense foods see www.performancewithoutpain.com

Best in health,

Kathryne Pirtle

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Carbohydrate addictions–it’s not all in your head.

Food addictions can be much more than just talk–they can be real biochemical dependencies that may be signs of health issues. Today, many people are addicted to carbohydrates, like breads, chips, cookies, candy, soda pop, etc. From the aisles of “organic” junk food products in our health food stores to literally hundreds of  junk foods that sit on the shelves of grocery, discount and countless other stores, and the billions of dollars that are spent on advertising these products especially to growing children, it is almost unfathomable that these types of “foods” were by-and-large created in the last 60 years. But why do people crave them?

Because there was no refrigeration, our ancestors consumed many foods that were preserved through lacto-fermentation like yogurt and kefir and fermented vegetables, such as traditionally prepared sauerkraut and pickled beets, which contained probiotic bacteria that helped to maintain a healthy digestive system. With refrigeration and the industrialization of our food supply we stopped making these probiotic foods and started consuming more and more new-fangled food creations. These new fascinating “foods” have wreaked havoc on our digestion and the health of our population as they are very nutrient deficient and hard to digest.

When we consume foods that are hard to digest–even organic foods, digestion slows down in our stomach and stomach acid diminishes. Low acid in the stomach can cause an overgrowth of candida . In addition, without adequate stomach acid, the gluteomorphine proteins in gluten containing grains may not to be properly broken down before they reach the small intestine. In the small intestine the resulting byproduct of poorly digested carbohydrates is alcohol and acetaldehyde as well as morphine-like chemicals. We all know that alcohol and morphine are extremely addictive substances. Acetaldehyde is a very toxic chemical that can bind itself to proteins and make them unusable as nutrients. Therefore, carbohydrate addiction is a real chemical problem and without healthy digestion, candida overgrowth and poor gut flora will ultimately cause intestinal damage and malnourishment.

The best way to end the candida cycle and food addictions is to focus on eating a diet of easy-to-digest, nutrient-dense foods. Foods with real nutrients will eventually help you end the cravings as digestion and nutrient absorption improves. For more information on building health and healing with nutrient-dense foods see Performance without Pain and our e-book on healing acid reflux.

Best in health,

Kathryne Pirtle

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Do you get hungry two hours after eating breakfast?

If you are getting hungry two hours after eating breakfast, you may be choosing the wrong kind of foods for your morning meal and this may be a sign that you have absorption problems as well. Let’s look at both of these important issues.

First, a breakfast of cereal, toast or a bagel with non-fat spreads and a piece of fruit may not be the breakfast of champions! For years before I got deathly ill with a digestive disorder, my favorite breakfast was bagels, no-cholesterol “buttery flavor” spread and a piece of fruit. Another choice was a bowl of cold cereal. However by 10AM, I was very hungry again. This is not good. A healthy breakfast is not one that would leave you hungry in just a few hours.

Instead, a breakfast with higher amounts of protein and fat from traditional foods will literally nourish you until the afternoon and will offer far greater levels of nutrients. In our book we recommend a few great breakfasts that besides being nutrient-dense, will also help improve digestion. Smoothies made with 16 oz. whole fat kefir or yogurt (preferably raw milk from grass-fed animals), 2-4 raw egg yolks (from pastured chickens–not commercial eggs), fruit and 1 T. coconut oil are a fabulous breakfast. Another is old fashioned bacon (organic, no-nitrate) and eggs (from pastured chickens). Nutrient density is the key to building optimal health and maintaining blood sugar meal to meal. Nutrient-dense foods have ample high-quality traditional fats, protein and carbohydrates.

However, another reason that you are hungry just two hours after eating may be that you are suffering from inflammation in your intestinal tract. Inflammation is usually caused from bacterial imbalances in the gut flora like a candida overgrowth. When inflammation is present, nutrient absorption will be hampered and a person will feel hungry very quickly after eating a meal. After years of malabsorption, malnourishment is sure to follow.

For optimal health we need eat foods that are high in nutrients and also those that will support good digestion. For more information on building health and healing with nutrient-dense foods see Performance without Pain and our new e-book on healing acid reflux.

Best in health,
Kathryne Pirtle

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What does the health of cats and humans have in common?

Concurrent pivotal  research in the 1930s by Dr. Weston A. Price and Dr. Francis Pottenger determined that there was a profound relationship between nutrition and fertility in both humans and cats. Dr. Price found that in the 14 healthy populations he studied, women had no fertility issues or problems in pregnancy or childbirth, and their children were very sturdy. In fact he noted that the Eskimo women had one healthy baby after another. However, people from these same cultures who had moved away and obtained access to “modern foods” –pasteurized milk, white flour, refined sugar and vegetable oils, had fertility and pregnancy problems, and the children born from these mothers had structural imperfections like narrowed faces and crooked and crowded teeth as well as health problems–the very same issues that he had seen in his own patients in the United States.

During this same time period, Dr. Francis Pottenger was working with nutritional healing for the treatment of tuberculosis and other diseases at the Pottenger Sanatorium in Monrovia, California. He always focused healing on a proper diet based on the principles discovered by Weston A. Price, and served liberal amounts of liver, butter, cream and eggs to his patients.

He also kept colonies of cats who had had their adrenal glands removed to help him determine how much adrenal cortex to give to his own patients. He found that when the cats consumed a species appropriate diet of raw milk and raw meat that they thrived from one generation to the next. However, if they received either a diet of pasteurized milk and raw meat, raw milk and cooked meat or pasteurized milk and cooked meat that the cats developed degenerative conditions. In fact, with these problem diets, in the second generation, the cats had narrowed faces and crooked and crowded teeth, and in the third generation, the cats could produce no more young!

These astonishing independent yet parallel outcomes between both Dr. Price and Dr. Pottenger can teach us the keys to the exponential percentage of fertility problems that we are seeing today. Both humans and cats who have superior nutrition will have no fertility problems and their offspring will be healthy. But when nutrition is inadequate, the first sign is in fertility problems, structural problems and the presence of health issues.

What we must wake up to understand is that widespread fertility problems are truly a sign of something very wrong with our foods and nutritional beliefs. And if we are really honest, by not choosing and supporting a supply of nutrient-dense foods, this lack of fertility really will ultimately translate into extinction. What both Pottenger and Price revealed can help us to be determined to help to turn the clock back.

For more information on a nutrient-dense diet, see www.performancewithoutpain.com

Best in health,

Kathryne Pirtle

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Vitamin K-2–found in foods from pastured animals–is critical for proper calcium absorption and deposition.

Today we are seeing an exponential increase in health conditions like osteoporosis and atherosclerosis that are caused by poor calcium absorption or calcium going in the wrong places in the body–like in the arteries and organs and not in the teeth and bones.  This is partly due to a deficiency of foods that contain both vitamin A and D and also vitamin K-2, which is found abundantly in foods from pastured animals like raw butter and cheese. This vitamin works with vitamin A and D to promote the  proper deposition of calcium. Historically, when people consumed foods from naturally raised animals, these deficiencies were not seen. Dr. Price called this special vitamin “activator X’ as it worked as a “mortar” for the building blocks of vitamin A and D foods like cod liver oil to create the correct genetic expression of the skeletal structure. Here is an excerpt from the Weston A. Price Foundation website that further explains this principal:

In 1945, Dr. Weston Price described “a new vitamin-like activator” that played an influential role in the utilization of minerals, protection from tooth decay, growth and development, reproduction, protection against heart disease and the function of the brain.

Using a chemical test, he determined that this compound—which he called Activator X—occurred in the butterfat, organs and fat of animals consuming rapidly growing green grass, and also in certain sea foods such as fish eggs.

Dr. Price died before research by Russian scientists became known in the West. These scientists used the same chemical test to measure a compound similar to vitamin K.

Vitamin K2 is produced by animal tissues, including the mammary glands, from vitamin K1, which occurs in rapidly growing green plants.

A growing body of published research confirms Dr. Price’s discoveries, namely that vitamin K2 is important for the utilization of minerals, protects against tooth decay, supports growth and development, is involved in normal reproduction, protects against calcification of the arteries leading to heart disease, and is a major component of the brain.

Vitamin K2 works synergistically with the two other “fat-soluble activators” that Price studied, vitamins A and D. Vitamins A and D signal to the cells to produce certain proteins and vitamin K then activates these proteins.

Vitamin K2 plays a crucial role in the development of the facial bones, and its presence in the diets of nonindustrialized peoples explains the wide facial structure and freedom from dental deformities that Weston Price observed.

By eating traditional foods from pastured animals, you can help protect yourself from common degenerative conditions. For more information on traditional diets, see our book at www.performancewithoutpain.com

Best in health,

Kathryne Pirtle


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Can the Body Convert Beta Carotene in Vegees to Vitamin A?

We have discussed the critical importance  of the vitamins A and D from natural sources. Dr. Weston A. Price found that without adequate amounts of these nutrients you could not absorb the nutrients from your foods no matter how good the diet. The best sources of these vitamins are from fermented cod liver oil (see www.greenpasture.org.), pastured animal foods like egg yolks, liver, butter, lard and from fish eggs. Healthy cultures consumed these foods liberally and yet today we are told to avoid most of these because of their cholesterol levels.

But what about getting vitamin A from the beta-carotene in vegetables? The following article by Sally Fallon discusses this issue.

Vitamin A Vagary

by Sally Fallon

This article has since been expanded and updated on the Weston A Price Foundation site as Vitamin A Saga

“Eat carrots for vitamin A.” Such statements, found in many popular diet and nutrition books, create the impression that the body’s requirements for this essential nutrient can be exclusively met with plant foods like carrots, squash, green leafy vegetables and orange colored fruits. The low fat school of nutrition benefits greatly from the fact that the public has only vague notions about vitamin A; for the family of water-soluble nutrients called carotenes are not true vitamin A, but are more accurately termed provitamin A. True vitamin A, or retinol, is found only in animal products like cod liver oil, liver and other organ meats, fish, shell fish and butterfat from cows eating green grass.

Under optimal conditions, humans convert carotenes to vitamin A in the upper intestinal tract by the action of bile salts and fat-splitting enzymes. Of the entire family of carotenes, beta-carotene is most easily converted to vitamin A. Early studies indicated an equivalency of 4:1 of beta-carotene to retinol. In other words, four units of beta-carotene were needed to produce one unit of vitamin A. This ratio was later revised to 6:1 and recent research suggests an even higher ratio.1 This means that you have to eat an awful lot of vegetables and fruits to obtain even the daily minimal requirements of vitamin A, assuming optimal conversion.

But the transformation of carotene to retinol is rarely optimal. Diabetics and those with poor thyroid function, a group that includes at least half the adult US population, cannot make the conversion. Children make the conversion very poorly and infants not at all —they must obtain their precious stores of vitamin A from animal fats —yet the low-fat diet is often recommended for children.2 Strenuous physical exercise, excessive consumption of alcohol, excessive consumption of iron (especially from “fortified” white flour and breakfast cereal), use of a number of popular drugs, excessive consumption of polyunsaturated fatty acids, zinc deficiency and even cold weather can hinder the conversion of carotenes to vitamin A3, as does the low-fat diet.

Carotenes are converted by the action of bile salts, and very little bile reaches the intestine when a meal is low in fat. The epicure who puts butter on his vegetables and adds cream to his vegetable soup is wiser than he knows. Butterfat stimulates the secretion of bile needed to convert carotenes from vegetables into vitamin A and at the same time, supplies very easily absorbed true vitamin A. Polyunsaturated oils also stimulate the secretion of bile salts but can cause rapid destruction of carotene unless antioxidants are present.

It is very unwise, therefore, to depend on plant sources for vitamin A. This vital nutrient is needed for the growth and repair of body tissues; it helps protect mucous membranes of the mouth, nose, throat and lungs; it prompts the secretion of gastric juices necessary for proper digestion of protein; it helps to build strong bones and teeth and rich blood; it is essential for good eyesight; it aids in the production of RNA; and contributes to the health of the immune system. Vitamin A deficiency in pregnant mothers results in offspring with eye defects, displaced kidneys, harelip, cleft palate and abnormalities of the heart and larger blood vessels.

Nutrition pioneer Weston Price considered the fat soluble vitamins, especially vitamin A, to be the catalysts on which all other biological processes depend. Efficient mineral uptake and utilization of water-soluble vitamins require sufficient vitamin A in the diet. His research demonstrated that generous amounts of vitamin A insure healthy reproduction and offspring with attractive wide faces, straight teeth and strong sturdy bodies. He discovered that healthy primitives especially value vitamin-A-rich foods for growing children and pregnant mothers. Working in the 1930’s, he found that their diets contained ten times more vitamin A than the typical American diet of the time. This disparity is almost certainly greater today as Americans have forsworn butter and cod liver oil for foods based on polyunsaturated oils.

In third world communities that have come into contact with the West, vitamin A deficiencies are widespread and contribute to high infant mortality, blindness, stunting, bone deformities and susceptibility to infection.4 These occur even in communities that have access to plentiful carotenes in vegetables and fruits. Scarcity of good quality dairy products, a rejection of organ meats as old fashioned or unhealthful, and a substitution of vegetable oil for animal fat in cooking all contribute to the physical degeneration and suffering of third world peoples.

Supplies of vitamin A are so vital to human health that we are able to store large quantities of it in the liver and other organs. Thus it is possible to subsist on a diet low in animal fatfor a considerable period of time before overt symptoms of deficiency appear. But during times of stress, vitamin A stores are rapidly depleted. Strenuous physical exercise, periods of physical growth, pregnancy, lactation and infection are stresses that quickly deplete vitamin A stores. Children with measles rapidly use up vitamin A, often resulting in irreversible blindness. An interval of three years between pregnancies allows mothers to rebuild vitamin A stores so that subsequent children will not suffer diminished vitality.

One aspect of vitamin A that deserves more emphasis is its role in protein utilization. Kwashiorkor is as much a disease of vitamin A deficiency, leading to impaired protein absorption, as it is a result of absence of protein in the diet. High protein, lowfat diets in children induce rapid growth along with depletion of vitamin A supplies. The results —tall, myopic, lanky individuals with crowded teeth, and poor bone structure —are a fixture in America. Growing children actually benefit from a diet that contains more calories as fat than as protein.5 Such a diet, rich in vitamin A, will result in steady, even growth, a sturdy physique and high immunity to disease.

So it’s a bit embarrassing to the low-fat people, especially as the truth is beginning to come out, even in orthodox publications. A recent New York Times article noted that vitamin-A-rich foods like liver, egg yolk, cream and shellfish confer resistance to infectious diseases in children and prevent cancer in adults.6 A Washington Post article hailed vitamin A as “cheap and effective, with wonders still being (re)discovered,” noting that recent studies have found that vitamin A supplements help prevent infant mortality in third world counties, protect measles victims from severe complications and prevent mother-to-child transmission of HIV virus.7 The article lists butter, egg yolk and liver as important sources of vitamin A but claims, unfortunately, that carotenes from vegetables are “equally important.” So vagueness about vitamin A continues, even among science writers.

Those familiar with the work of nutrition pioneer Weston Price are not so easily fooled. They know that vitamin-A-rich foods like liver, eggs, and cod liver oil are vital to good health. If you–or your children–don’t like liver, eggs and cod liver oil, don’t despair. Studies show that the best and most easily absorbed source of vitamin A is butterfat,8 a food relished by young and old alike. So use plenty of butter and cream from pasture-fed cows for good taste and wise nutritional practice.

Vitamin A Vagary was first published in the Price-Pottenger Health Journal. (619) 574-7763

Endnotes

1. Solomons, N.W., and Bulus, J., “Plant sources of provitamin A and human nutriture”, Nutrition Review, Springer Verlag New York, Inc., July 1993, v. 5 1, pp 199204.
2. Jennings, I.W., Vitamins in Endocrine Metabolism, Charles C. Thomas Publisher, Springfield, Illinois.
3. Dunne, Lavon J., Nutrition Almanac, Third Edition, McGraw-Hill Publishing Company, 1990.
4. Solomons, Op. Cit.
5. Personal communications, Mary G. Enig, Ph.D.
6. Angler, Natalie, “Vitamins Win Support as Potent Agents of Health”, New York Times, March 10, 1992.
7. Brown, David, “It’s cheap and Effective, With Wonders Still Being (Re)discovered”, The Washington Post, November 7,1994.
8. Fraps, G.S., and Kermerer, A.R., “The relation of the Spectro Vitamin A and Carotene Content of Butter to its Vitamin A potency Measured by Biological Methods”, Texas Agricultural Bulletin, N.- 560, February 1938.

Sally Fallon M.A., food historian and nutrition journalist, combines extensive background in nutrition with training in French and Mediterranean cooking. She is the author of Nourishing Traditions: The Cookbook that Challenges Politically Correct Nutrition and the Diet Dictocrats, a full spectrum nutritional cookbook with a startling message —animal fats and cholesterol are not villains but vital factors in the human diet, necessary for reproduction and normal growth, proper function of the brain and nervous system, protection from disease and optimum energy levels. Mrs. Fallon’s book also provides information the values of Real Milk products, both to the consumer and the conscientious farmer. She is President of the Weston A. Price Foundation and editor of Wise Traditions, the Foundation’s quarterly magazine.

To order Nourishing Traditions, call 877 707-1776 or visit New Trends Publishing.

A Campaign for Real Milk is a project of The Weston A. Price Foundation
PMB 106-380, 4200 Wisconsin Ave, NW, Washington DC 20016
Phone: (202) 363-4394 | Fax: (202) 363-4396 | Web: www.westonaprice.org

For more information on healing and building health with nutrient-dense foods and seminars on this subject, see www.performancewithoutpain.com

Best in Health,

Kathryne Pirtle

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Why are vitamin A and D from natural sources so important to good health?

There is so much information about this or that vitamin–but Dr. Weston A. Price’s pivotal research on the diets of healthy populations worldwide determined the critical importance of foods that contain ample vitamin A and D. He found that while the 14 healthy cultures that he studied had different diets, one common element were foods rich in these two nutrients. These cultures consumed more than 10 times the amount of vitamin A and D than people in the US–in 1930! And this level would be much higher today. Foods that are particularly dense in these nutrients are high quality fermented cod liver oil (see www.greenpasture.org), egg yolks, liver and butter (from grass-fed animals) and fish eggs.

Dr. Price found that without adequate amounts of these two nutrients that a person could not absorb the other nutrients in the diet no matter how good the diet. In fact, he found that deficiencies in these vitamins caused noticeable genetic changes in the skeletal structure–a narrowing of the skull and face causing crooked and crowded teeth. We are seeing this narrowing in almost every child born today.

Vitamin A and D are the only vitamins that function as hormones. They help express the correct genetic material in the cells. When there is a deficiency, genetic changes can occur.

The best way to insure that your diet is rich in these fat-soluble vitamins is to eat traditional, nutrient-dense foods–foods from animals eating their natural diet.

For more information see www.performancewithoutpain.com.

Best in health,

Kathryne Pirtle

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Embouchure and muscle weakness and lack of stamina in performing artists are often related to nutrient deficiencies and poor digestion.

When a performing artist suffers from unusual uncontrollable muscle weakness of any kind or an overall lack of stamina, poor digestion and nutrient deficiencies are often part of the problem. In determining if you have a digestion problem, ask yourself if you have any of the following symptoms:

  • persistent flatulence
  • gas or bloating after eating
  • acid reflux
  • irritable bowel
  • constipation
  • diarrhea
  • allergies

Any one of these symptoms may indicate that you are having trouble with digestion and also may have a candida overgrowth and bacterial imbalances in your intestinal tract. Digestive problems are extremely common today because our health dictates tell us that a high-fiber/low-fat diet is a healthy diet. However, high-fiber foods are often hard-to-digest, low in nutrients and can over time give rise to bacterial imbalances in the gut flora. We also absolutely need ample high quality saturated, traditional fats like butter and cream from grass-fed cows or coconut oil in our diet to absorb nutrients. So if we you trying to eat a healthy diet by listening to common dictates, you may ultimately develop digestive problems and nutrient deficiencies.

With both nutrient deficiencies and digestive problems, we can lack the energy needed to fuel our muscles for long periods of time–especially the small muscles used to play musical instruments.

Therefore, the first step to correcting stamina problems  is to carefully evaluate your symptoms and  understand their root cause. The most powerful road to recovery is to eat a diet rich in traditional, nutrient-dense foods that will heal and support good digestion. Although nutritional healing takes time, there are no short cuts to overcoming long-term malnourishment. This process is absolutely necessary to achieve permanent healing. Considering the years you have spent mastering your instrument, dedicating yourself to protecting your continued ability to perform is well worth the same effort.

For more information on a healing diet of nutrient-dense foods, see our book information at www.performancewithoutpain.com

To your health,

Kathryne Pirtle

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“All disease comes from malnourishment”–Dr. Weston A. Price

These profound words of Dr. Weston A. Price came as a result of  a 10 year meticulous study of healthy populations worldwide. Dr. Price, a prominent dentist in the 1930’s, was a pioneer on the quest to understand why the majority of  his patients in the United States had crooked and crowded teeth, cavities, facial deformities and degenerative illnesses of all kinds. He did not feel that this was normal and traveled during the summers of a ten year period to see if he could find populations of people with perfect health. He found 14 cultures who had completely different diets that had this perfect health–no cavities, perfect facial structure with plenty of room for the teeth and no degenerative diseases–including TB.

Although their diets were different, Price found certain common key components. First, the diets had 10 times the amount of vitamin A and D from natural sources–like cod liver oil, egg yolks, organ meats, fish eggs and traditional fats–like butter and cream from grass-fed animals–foods that we are largely told to avoid. Next, he found that their diets had ample traditional fats such as butter, cream, lard, coconut oil and meat with its fat. He found that without both adequate vitamin A and D and traditional fats, that a person could not absorb the nutrients from the foods they ate no matter how good the diet. Lastly, he found that their diets consisted of high quality proteins from animals eating their natural diets, and they ate no refined foods whatsoever.

Importantly, Price found that when people from these same cultures moved to areas where they were able to have access to modern foods–white flour, pasteurized milk, refined sugar and vegetable oils–that they developed cavities and degenerative illnesses and in the next generation, the children had crooked and crowded teeth, cavities and poor health as well.

Today, cavities are commonplace, our entire population is exhibiting  crooked and crowded teeth and the percentage of people–adults and children alike–affected by degenerative disease of all kinds, is growing at an exponential rate. Our modern food supply is a large part of the reason this is happening as our foods are highly nutrient-deficient.

If we follow Dr. Price’s work, we will see that the future of the health of our people lies in improving our broken food supply in favor of traditionally raised, nutrient-dense foods. When we correct malnourishment, healing and building optimal health are possible.

For more information on building health and healing with nutrient-dense foods see Performance without Pain and our new e-book on healing acid reflux.

Best in health,

Kathryne Pirtle

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Purchasing traditionally raised foods from small family farms–good for you, our environment and the food supply.

Supply and demand. When we support locally grown foods and those from small family farms who follow traditional farming techniques like pasture farming, we are improving the quality of foods that we have available to us. More and more people are turning to these foods to support optimal health.

Foods raised with traditional methods, such as dairy, eggs, meat and poultry from pastured animals have far more nutrients than foods from factory farms. Pasturing animals is also an ecologically sound system that  puts nutrients back into the soil without polluting the earth from either fertilizers or the trucks that transport corn and cattle to  factory farm systems.

Since your health is your wealth,  by purchasing foods with the highest nutrients from farms that value the health of their animals, the earth and you, we can insure our choice of foods in the future.

See www.westonaprice.org and realmilk.com. for sources of pasture-raised foods.

For more information on building health and healing with nutrient-dense foods see Performance without Pain and our new e-book on healing acid reflux.

Best in health,

Kathryne Pirtle

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Foods from grass fed, pastured animals vs. organic foods–is there a difference? Which has more nutrients?

Deciding what is a healthy diet can be full of conflicting advice. However, if we ask ourselves what foods can offer our bodies the most nutrients, we will begin to understand what foods will best support our health. Unfortunately, the common dietary dictate that we hear over and over—ie. “Eat a lowfat/high-fiber diet and you will be healthy,” does not have nutrient density as an underlying principal.

However, even finding a good source of nutrient-dense foods can be confusing. When it comes to foods with the highest level of nutrients, eating organic meats, poultry, dairy and eggs does not guarantee a nutrient-rich product as organic can mean many things–like feeding the animals an unnatural diet of organic corn and other grains–or even donuts (hard to believe)…etc. It also does not guarantee that the animal has not been raised in a confinement system either. Organic–which often is accompanied by the highest price tag, therefore does not necessarily mean nutrient-dense.

However, we can be assured of the highest level of nutrients in the foods we eat when the animal has been eating its natural diet and is pastured on organic pastureland. It’s almost comical to remind people that cows eat grass and chickens eat bugs and worms. The nutrient levels of the foods from animals eating their natural diets is quite remarkable. In fact the book Pasture Perfect, by Jo Robinson, (pub. Vashon Island Press) compares the level of nutrients from the foods of factory raised animals and pastured animals–and hands down–there is an enormous difference. It doesn’t take a brain surgeon to figure out that eating corn all day inside a barn would not be a very good idea for a cow….

Pastured foods are becoming more and more available from small family farm coops and in some health food stores. For a good source of pastured foods in your area check out www.realmilk.com. Who’s your farmer?

For more information on a healthy diet see our website at www.performancewithoupain.com

To your health!

Kathryne Pirtle

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Acid Reflux–a Serious Digestive Ailment that Can Lead to Other Chronic Health Problems and Inflammation

Acid Reflux—a National Epidemic and a Precursor to Chronic illness

Treatment of Acid Reflux/GERD with Traditional Foods

There are endless radio, television, internet and magazine ads dedicated to medication that treats acid-reflux and other related digestive complaints. In fact, 60 million Americans have acid-reflux and many people have acid reflux without knowing it. In addition to the typical symptom of acid-regurgitation, other less-known symptoms include hoarseness, belching, chronic throat clearing and sore throat, persistent cough, difficulty swallowing, nausea, asthma and wheezing and persistent hiccups in adults.  In infants and children, frequent ear infections, excessive crying, nausea with or without vomiting, excessive coughing, respiratory problems, refusing food, excessive belching and burping.

What is the cause of this massive increase in GERD—there has been a 56% increase in the last few years of medicine for acid-reflux and digestive disorders in infants and children from 0-4 years old! Should our entire population succumb to these medications that magically “heal” the symptoms of these discomforts, thereby inadvertently expanding the wealth of drug companies? Could it be that there is a great danger in the “purple pill solution”—that the “purple pill” is the wrong answer to your health challenge? In fact, what you need to know is that untreated or incorrectly treated acid reflux may lead to serious, life-threatening illness—that it may be a precursor of severe degenerative conditions.

The most effective approach to the treatment of acid reflux with traditional foods. Through a diet of nutrient-dense, easy-to-digest foods from pastured animals and wild-caught fish, adequate vitamin A and D, and cultured foods that correct poor intestinal flora, acid reflux and intestinal damage can be permanently healed.

For more information see www.performancewithoutpain.com

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A “Healthy” High-Fiber/Lowfat Diet may actually lead to digestive disorders and chronic inflammation

The “healthy”  high-fiber/low fat diet diet that has been given the greatest press by doctors, ads and news reports may actually be quite harmful for your digestive system and leave you over time with chronic inflammation, allergies of all kinds and malnourishment.

High fiber foods are quite difficult to digest as they are high in cellulose. First, when we eat a high amount of fiber, it can expand in our stomach and cause digestion to last longer. This can lower the stomach acid in the stomach making it difficult for the food to be broken down. As soon as stomach acid lowers, bacteria, viruses and fungi can thrive in the stomach where they normally will be kept at bay. This can cause over time a candida overgrowth.

A  candida-or yeast-overgrowth-in the stomach will pass into the intestinal tract causing bacterial imbalances and dysbiosis. Some of the symptoms of dysbiosis are acid reflux, flatulence and bowel disorders of all kinds like constipation or diarrhea. With a candida overgrowth, our foods are not broken down properly, we cannot absorb nutrients well, our intestinal tract can become damaged and inflamed and we eventually can become malnourished. This cycle can cause systemic inflammation throughout the body as well as allergies.

Traditional fats are essential for nutrient absorption. Dr. Weston A. Price (www.westonaprice.org) found that the diets of healthy populations worldwide included ample fats, like butter, cream, lard and meat with its fat from pastured animals, coconut oil and eggs from pastured chickens. He determined that without adequate fat in the diet, a person could not absorb the nutrients from the food no matter how good the diet. When the Indians and explorers could only find lean meat, they starved to death. Adaquate fat from traditonal foods is absolutely necessary to good health and without it, good digestion will not be possible and eventually one will become malnourished and have chronic inflammation.

Following the media’s “healthy” diet may not provide you with a life-time of good health. Building health with traditional nutrient-dense foods can offer healing and protection from digestive disorders and chronic inflammation.

For more information see www.performancewithoutpain.com.

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Cholesterol–why has it been demonized–what is the whole truth? Cholesterol from traditional foods is critical to good health.

Slaying the Cholesterol Lowering Demon
By Kimberly Hartke
The Devil is in the Absence of Details

The work of Weston A. Price determined the critical importance of cholesterol in the diet as he found that the diets of healthy cultures worldwide were all very high in traditional fats of all kinds–from butter, lard, coconut oil, egg yolks and meat with the fat to even blubber. Cholesterol plays a key role  in body chemistry, hormone balance, longevity. But if that is the case, why are we not told? Unfortunately, because the health information released through the media to the public often has a marketing objective.  The objective is to sell more drugs.

Cholesterol lowering drugs (know as statins) have serious side effects.  They suppress the immune system, they cause cancer, they cause muscle wasting. The pharmaceutical companies promote statins to doctors doing organ transplants, because they know these drugs have immuno-suppressant affects. One should think long and hard about going on them. There are even lifestyle changes that can dramatically improve ones blood lipid profile. But, it is also important to know all the facts. Cholesterol is a valuable and healing substance, it is a vital part of your immune system. If the public knew the whole truth, they would only lower their cholesterol as a last resort.

There is one organization setting out to slay the big fat demon who wants to lower everybody’s cholesterol.

Learn the Health Benefits of Cholesterol

The nutrition education non-profit, Weston A. Price Foundation is an important source of science based facts about the nutritional qualities and health benefits of cholesterol. Our cells are comprised of 50% cholesterol. Cholesterol is very important in the proper functioning of our hormones. Our nervous system needs cholesterol. Our digestion and source of vitamin D depends on cholesterol. Turns out, cholesterol is our friend, and we have been misled into believing otherwise.

When government officials will stress cholesterol reduction as a top priority, claiming that “high levels of cholesterol significantly increase the risk of heart disease.” However, the Weston A. Price Foundation, a nonprofit nutrition education organization, urges citizens to learn about the vital roles of cholesterol in the body chemistry and by embracing nutrient-dense, cholesterol-rich foods.

“Cholesterol is deemed a deadly poison. Most people are afraid of eating foods containing cholesterol and of receiving a diagnosis of ‘high’ cholesterol,” says Sally Fallon Morell, president of the Weston A. Price Foundation. “Yet, having adequate cholesterol levels in the body is key to good health. The notion that cholesterol is a villain in the diet is a myth, based on flimsy evidence and opposed by many honest scientists, including prominent lipids researcher, Dr. Mary Enig. But, this theory was promoted by the food processing industry to demonize animal fats, which are competitors to vegetable oils and by the pharmaceutical industry to create a market for the sales of cholesterol-lowering drugs.”

For more information on building health and healing with nutrient-dense foods, see www. performancewithoutpain.com.

Best in health,

Kathryne Pirtle

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Chronic Tendonitis is Often a Warning Sign of Poor Digestion and Malnourishment

New Options for Relieving Chronic Pain and Muscle Weakness

”All diseases begin in the gut.” Hippocrates (460-370 BC)

Imagine: You are a successful professional musician, having spent your entire life mastering your instrument. You however, are fighting a difficult struggle—you have chronic tendonitis, embouchure weakness, or other debilitating problems that make performance a constant struggle. You have researched thoroughly and tried every physical therapy treatment—chiropractic, massage, yoga, Alexander Technique, muscle balancing, Rolfing, etc., etc., etc…You are even eating a very healthy diet—but you continue to have recurring problems that are manageable only with a strict regimen of physical therapy treatments. Is this you? When chronic pain is ongoing, a digestive disorder may be to blame.

This was my story. Although I had been playing professionally and teaching for more than 25 years, I had spent much of that time in pain. Beginning in my late teens and 20s, I experienced musculoskeletal inflammation and early symptoms of digestive troubles such as flatulence—a sign of poor digestion. I relieved my pain through physical therapy-type approaches common to the field of music—you name it; I did it! In my late twenties and throughout my thirties, I was constantly “chasing” pain from practicing and performing. When I would solve the discomfort in one area, another area would become irritated. At 40, I developed acid reflux and in the fall of 2001, at 45, I became chronically ill with an inflammatory condition in my spine that left me with debilitating pain in my shoulders, fingers, arms, and hands. As my illness worsened, my embouchure shook uncontrollably and I suffered from chronic diarrhea and malabsorption. I thought would not survive.

Ultimately, I was diagnosed with a long-term digestive problem, intestinal damage, and malabsorption—all the result of Celiac disease (an intolerance for gluten grains), and surprisingly, following the common low-fat, high-fiber nutritional dictates. I found the answers to healing through a dramatic change in my diet, adopting the principles of Dr. Weston Price, whose research on healthy cultures worldwide during the 1930s led to the book Nutrition and Physical Degeneration and the Weston A. Price Foundation (www.westonaprice.org.), a foundation that helps people understand accurate dietary principles of human health and is helping to improve the food supply in our country.

I knew the problems I suffered were common not only to musicians, but to people in all walks of life as our country’s food supply has drastically changed since the 1950s. I decided to help others have access to this life-saving information by writing a book with Dr. John Turner, the chiropractor who helped me recover who is a former national qualifying gymnast, and Sally Fallon, the founder of the Weston A. Price Foundation. Our book is called Performance Without Pain: Healing Pain, Inflammation, and Chronic Ailments in Musicians, Athletes, Dancers—and Everyone Else (New Trends, 2006).

In my book, we discuss what foods cause digestion problems and chronic ailments. We also discuss the vital necessity of eating traditionally raised foods, adequate amounts of vitamin A and D and traditional fats—fats that people ate for 1000s of years. Without these foods, digestion and nutrient absorption can eventually be severely compromised.

We also cover the importance of traditionally cultured foods that promote healthy intestinal flora, without which our foods are not broken down properly and unhealthy bacteria can thrive in the intestinal tract causing bacterial fermentation and intestinal damage. When the intestinal tract becomes damaged, undigested proteins can “leak” through the intestinal wall, causing an immune system response and inflammatory chemicals to continually circulate throughout the body. For musicians, dancers, or athletes, this can lead to a predisposition to injury and inflammation.

From his research, Dr. Price established a set of dietary requirements necessary for optimal human health that involve nutrient-dense, easy-to-digest foods with adequate traditional fats from pastured animals and wild-caught fish. These include:
•    High-vitamin A and D foods—cod-liver oil, egg yolks, liver
•    High quality traditional fats—butter, coconut oil, lard
•    Bone-broth soups made from chicken, beef, or fish.
•    Traditionally cultured foods such as kefir, yogurt and homemade sauerkraut and pickled beets.
•    High quality proteins—meats, raw dairy, poultry, eggs, and fish—from animals eating their natural diets.

Through this approach, I reversed my acid reflux and intestinal damage, and provided my body with the nutritional elements necessary for building health. I am now recovered and vibrantly healthy! For the first time in 25 years I have had no pain or inflammation in my body for over four years. My embouchure is completely strong and I have excellent stamina.

Although finding high-quality foods and changing your diet may at first be complicated, your health is your most important asset. The dietary principles that Dr. Price found that supported optimal human health were the permanent answer to healing my digestive tract, and therefore, my long-term pain. The exciting news is there is a growing movement of people across the country that is turning to these same foods to improve chronic illness of all kinds.

For more information about our book and seminars see www.perfoprmancewithoutpain.com.

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We all need to protect our right to keep healthy foods available to us.

This important book gives insight into today’s challenge to keep the right to a supply of the nutrient-dense foods we need to nourish our bodies. Our book,  Performance without Pain, www.performancewithoutpain.com is another story of the critical issue of how nutrient-dense foods are necessary for well-being, and how modern foods and dictates severely jeopardize health.

“The Raw Milk Revolution” from Chelsea Green Publishing

For a preview including the Foreword by Joel Salatin, Introduction, and part of Chapter One see http://www.chelseagreen.com/bookstore/item/the_raw_milk_revolution:paperback/prepublication_preview

The Raw Milk Revolution: Behind America’s Emerging Battle Over Food Rights

David E. Gumpert, Foreword by Joel Salatin

ISBN 9781603582193 ▪ $19.95 paperback ▪ 288 pages

“David Gumpert has chronicled the Raw Milk War with insight and humor. He provides an important record of systematic government bias against Nature’s perfect food. Must reading for raw milk fans and government officials alike.”

Sally Fallon Morell, President, The Weston A. Price Foundation

“David Gumpert has become the official chronicler of the ‘raw milk movement’ in the United States . The Raw Milk Revolution is a highly readable expose that successfully captures how the controversy over raw milk is at the center of a larger battle between the industrial food system and the local food movement. Gumpert explains how raw milk, more than any other food, threatens proponents of the ‘germ theory,’ centralized food production, and the ‘nanny state.’ The Raw Milk Revolution is an extremely important book because it sounds a clear warning that upholding the right to produce and consume raw milk is critical in preserving our food freedoms in general.”

Peter Kennedy, President, Farm-to-Consumer Legal Defense Fund

“The raw milk underground is one of the most contentious battlefields in the revolution to reclaim our food from industrialization, over-processing, and corporate control. In this book, David Gumpert investigates in great detail the health claims of both raw milk advocates and public health officials, as well the legal tactics being employed by government agencies to stop the growing movement to obtain and supply raw milk. His comprehensive analysis effectively deconstructs and illuminates the many complex issues of health, safety, and freedom that are raised by this debate.”

Sandor Ellix Katz, author of Wild Fermentation: The Flavor, Nutrition, and Craft of Live-Culture Foods and The Revolution Will Not Be Microwaved: Inside America’s Underground Food Movements

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Protection from Swine Flu by Building Natural Immunity with Nutrient-Dense, Traditional Foods

With all the dire warnings, where is the message about building natural immunity?

You are all aware of the dire warnings about swine flu, the outbreak that started in the Mexican village of La Gloria and which local residents blame on infection and/or toxins coming from local confinement hog operations.

The internet is abuzz with warnings bordering on hysteria (conventional media) to a variety of conspiracy theories, and even to allegations that the pandemic is a government fabrication designed to sell stockpiles of anti-viral medications.

Conventional medical advice ranges from wearing face masks to taking the anti-viral drug called tamiflu (which can have many serious side effects, see http://www.askapatient.com/viewrating.asp?drug=21087&name=TAMIFLU.)

It is interesting to note that not once in all the media broadcasts have we heard any mention of building natural immunity.

NATURAL IMMUNITY
Fortunately, we do not have to sit back and listen to the news about swine flu feeling helpless and anxious.  We can be proactive by simply nourishing ourselves and our families.

Vitamins A and D in cod liver oil offer strong protection against infection of all types, as well as against environmental toxins.

Vitamin C is important-either from vitamin C-rich foods like sauerkraut, or from one of the natural vitamin C supplements recommended in our Shopping Guide.

Healthy gut flora provide 85 percent of our protection against disease.  Be sure to consume healthy lacto-fermented foods and beverages every day and avoid the foods that disrupt gut flora, especially refined carbohydrates.

Bone broth plays a double role of supporting the immune system and helping the body detoxify.

My book, Performance without Pain, offers a clear plan on how to build health and immunity with nutrient-dense foods. See www.performancewithoutpain.com

COCONUT OIL
We are grateful to Beth Beisel, registered dietitian and WAPF member for reminding us about the protective factors in coconut oil. Swine flu is a lipid coated virus (http://www.pnas.org/content/98/5/2115.full.pdf+html), and thus is inactivated by sufficient amounts of monolaurin.   (Our bodies convert lauric acid, found in coconut oil, to monolaurin).

According to our own Dr. Mary Enig, two to three tablespoons of coconut oil per day appears to be an adequate dosage to fight infection, even from virulent antibiotic-resistant organisms such as MSRA.

There are lots of ways to get coconut oil into the diet: stir coconut oil in some tea; make macaroons; replace some of the butter in baking with coconut oil; and use it in cooking/sautéing. Mary’s oil blend (see below) is a good way to incorporate coconut oil in cooking and salad dressings.

MARY’S OIL BLEND
1/3 melted coconut oil
1/3 sesame oil – expeller pressed
1/3 100% olive oil

Combine oils, store in a tight container, in an area free from sunlight, and use in cooking or on salads.

COCONUT SMOOTHIE
Beth has shared this great smoothie recipe with us.

1 banana
1 cup frozen mango
1 cup frozen pineapple
1 cup orange juice
1/2 cup pomegranate/blueberry juice
1/2 cup natural yogurt or kefir, preferably homemade from raw milk
1/2 can coconut milk

Whirl in blender and drink to your health!

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Best Breast Cancer Defense-A Nutrient-Dense Traditional Foods Diet, Lymphatic Breast Self-Massage and Amalgam Removal

There is so much fear around breast cancer that we must know that there are many effective ways of prevention that do not involve the often risky damaging test procedures. Given the possibility that we can attract what we fear–instead of focusing on early diagnosis and a cure, let’s dance  to life-long health and breast health with a nutrient-dense diet and learning the wonderful technique for breast health called Lymphatic Breast Self-Massage. (see www.breasthealthproject.com ) Also, women should know that thermographies are a better way to have the breasts examined as they do not use x-rays.

One of my health goals has been to prevent cancer—three of my mother’s sisters died from breast cancer and my mother had a prophylactic mastectomy. Unfortunately, until I began eating a traditional diet eight years ago, I was probably on the cancer track without knowing it. Like many health seekers, I had rigorously followed a very “healthy” high-fiber, low-fat diet high in salads, grains, fruits and vegetables, and only a little meat, eggs and dairy—and no butter of course. Sadly, this “healthy” regimen left me very malnourished with a severe digestive disorder. Luckily, I learned about the work of Weston A. Price recovered my health and felt sure that I had found the key to cancer prevention.

Despite this, I recently found a painful lump in my breast that really frightened me. How could this be happening with my diet? Was breast cancer inevitable given my family history? After some initial panic, I did my research and learned that most women get these lumps from time to time and that they are cysts. I also learned that regular self-massage will improve circulation, help existing cysts drain, and help prevent them from forming in the future. Within three days of massaging, the cyst had shrunk substantially and it was gone within a week. What a revelation! Unfortunately, because of the media, most women are scared to death when they find a lump and panic. I was so thankful to have learned this holistic, caring information from a project called “The Breast Health Project.”

Here is the site on breast self-care: www.breasthealthproject.com. It says “Women find that this massage reduces breast pain, breast swelling, PMS breast symptoms, cystic issues, calcifications and even fear of breast cancer” and that “The Breast Health Project has created a new model of breast care based on holistic medicine, using the best of eastern and western therapies.”

Another very important step in the prevention of breast cancer is removing mercury amalgams–or silver fillings–from our mouths. Mercury is one of the most toxic substances known to man and silver fillings can be up to 50% mercury! The mercury in our mouths can travel through our lymph system and accumulate in the breast tissue. This is the body’s way of protecting vital organs such as the brain and heart by dumping toxins in less necessary parts of the body like the breasts and the ovaries. Many times breast lumps are accumulations of toxins that have been encapsulated. The removal of amalgams needs to be done very carefully with a highly qualified biological dentist who understands a safe protocol.

Lastly, wearing your bra loosely so that lymphatic drainage is not curtailed will help to keep toxins from accumulating in the breast tissue. This can be done easily by cutting and pinning an extension from an old bra to the clasp portion of the bra adding more room around the rib cage or buying bras that are slightly larger.

Paired with a nutrient-dense, traditional diet, lymphatic massage and amalgam removal sheds a refreshing light on the possibilities of truly taking charge our health. For more information on healing and building health with nutrient-dense foods and seminars on this subject, see www.performancewithoutpain.com

Best in Health,

Kathryne Pirtle

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