Be How You Think Things Should Be

This past week I had the opportunity to hear Joel Salatin of Polyface Farms speak.  Joel is a pretty amazing rancher AND speaker for that matter.  I actually found out about him from Michael Pollan's book, Omnivore's Dilemma.  From there, I immediately became intrigued by him.  He rotates his animals (chickens, rabbits, pigs, and cows) in order to bring in the least amount of food from outside his farm and make the least amount of impact on the environment.  Being "local" is more important to him than being 100% organic and natural.  Although his animals are raised naturally once they are on his farm, he doesn't worry about buying USDA-claimed organic seed.  He'll buy seed from his local buddies instead.  The only animals I've seen (I purchased a DVD of his) that he actually births are chickens and rabbits.  I believe he purchases his cows and pigs as babies, then raises them from there.  In that case, he also buys a few supplements in the beginning to help them get into the groove for his "salad bar" of grasses.

I already knew of Joel Salatin's practices.  I was a little concerned he would just talk about stuff I already knew when I went to hear him speak.  I commend him for knowing his audiences.  For him being in Boulder, he was expecting that everyone there knew who he was and knew what he did.  (I guess that makes sense.  If you are going to buy a ticket to hear someone talk, you know you are most likely going to enjoy it.)  He did call people out about choosing biking over gardening and a dog over ten chickens (which was awesome.)  But he also REALLY motivated me personally.  One thing he said close to the beginning of his talk was, "You need to be how you think things should be."  So many people have asked me "what's the point?" after I talk about my passions with them.  I get the "especially in Nebraska, you know the farm right next to you is going to have a TON of chemicals on it.  Yours can never be natural."  I always tell them that you have to start somewhere!  If I would have to be the example for others to follow, then so be it!  I think whenever I'm faced with that question again, I'm going to use Joel Salatin's words.  "I will be how I think things should be."

There will be many more posts about Joel; I'm just not prepared to write them.  I wanted to write about his inspirational phrase before it lost its luster.

Fighting for the cause

Since I have taken some time off recently, I've been spending the majority of it reading.  Two books in particular caught my fancy, both recommended by friends knowing my interests:  Alejandro Junger's Clean and Michael Pollan's In Defense of Food.

(Sources:  Clean and Michael Pollan)

These two books actually portray the exact same message:  you are what you eat, and we as Americans are not eating well.  

Alejandro Junger is an M.D. that developed a detoxification program for clients that were having health issues, no one issue in particular.  He has several testimonials claiming success and his detox essentially consists of no meat, no caffeine, and no alcohol!  He recommends juicing twice a day and then eating a healthy meal for dinner (from his suggested recipes).  There are also interesting tidbits about eating raw garlic daily to boost immunity, letting your body rest from eating for at least 12 hours a day, and getting enough sleep.  None of his concepts really seem like rocket science.  

Junger's belief that we need to follow our human nature has stuck with me.  Our ancestors didn't have food available every season of the year.  There were months during the year where fasting was necessary due to the lack of food available.  With commercial farming and transport, we have every type of food available 365 days out of the year.  If we eat these "unseasonal" foods, we are not eating them at the peak of their ripeness and are losing key nutrients that our bodies need.  Michael Pollan also mentions this when he speaks of Aboriginies in Australia going "back to the bush".  By eating the foods that their body has evolved to accommodate, they lost weight and were in remission from diabetes.  This story also coincides with a conversation we had at the Yoga Oasis with someone who personally experienced going "back to the bush".  All of the effects were positive!

Michael Pollan made several good points in his book.  The one that I thought to be the most interesting is the amount of money Americans spend on food as opposed to other countries (% of income in ~2008):

• Americans:  9.9 
• Italians:  14.9
• French:  14.9
• Spanish:  17.1

He makes the point that if Americans spend more money on food, maybe they would be less likely to eat as much.  The Italians, French, and Spanish eat less food than us, but spend more.  

More money, higher quality, better health.