NT March Thread... - Page 2

[member]

Subbing!

I am not as good at it as Mountain Mom, but I try to do the same thing when eating away from home. I will eat vegan when I am unsure about the food.

April best of luck with the ketchup! I made the mayonnaise last week and it's delicious! I am going to make curried chicken salad with it over the weekend.

I made a double batch of ginger carrots. I have to say they are my favorite right now.

[RidentMama]

Subbing.

[mountain mom]

So how many of you have ever had a $200 grocery bill for the month?

How much do you all spend on groceries?

We are really trying to keep our grocery bill less than $200 a week and I saw a thread in mindful home management where there were a few users that are spending $200 a MONTH on food and that includes a family that has two teenage boys!

I am on a mission now. So how much do you all spend?

[member]

I spend about 300-400 a month for two adults. I used to spend about 30-50 a week but that was on conventional products with very few organics.

DH and I are students and we live on a limited quarterly budget but we cut other places and keep the lion's share of flex money for food. We cut entertainment, eating out and frivilous expenses (I literally had a latte factor).

[toraji]

Yooper: congrats on the name change!

To be quite honest, after my diet change I still ate vegan out of the house. Did that for a loooong time. Then after that, I started including fish with the reasoning that it was easier to find wild fish than pastured animal product since we live on the coast, and would try to stay wild caught though sometimes at family gatherings and potlucks I was not sure if it was farmed or not (at restaurants you can pretty much just ask if it is wild or not). This is pretty much how it has stayed since then. In moments of desperation I have slid to organic but not pastured animal products, though I don't eat non-pastured eggs as I find them to taste disgusting. Since I have cut out most grains, beans, and dairy it's been a rough ride staying vegan while eating out.

I will admit that it is definitely difficult to keep those restrictions in place. I found it easiest to tell people to just stick to fish and veggies. Though that does not work so well if you live inland, in that case I'd probably just stay vegan while eating out unless I knew of a place that used pastured animal products. We are still quite strict on packaged and processed foods as well.

re: kids and food
We have done our best to tell DD that things like store ice cream and candy are just plain junk (we do make our own homemade ice cream, cultured and low-sugar of course). And we mean it, with great conviction in our voices, and we don't eat them ourselves when DD is not looking. We have explained the difference between food that makes healthy bodies and food that makes people sick, and she is pretty good about not wanting to eat junk food. Also since we don't keep a lot of sugar in the house she is not used to really sugary foods and if she does get a bit of birthday cake then she will usually only eat a few bites and then leave it. So for some things we will under no circumstances let her eat (like candy) with reasons why, and other things like homemade birthday cakes at friend's houses we let her self-regulate, also with the warning that it's probably a bit too sweet. There is no way she will ever eat Lunchables or fast food with my knowledge.

MountainMom: ITA!

[Panserbjorne]

$150 a week, but it's a struggle. We have no money and no savings, but this is what's important to us. We won't own a home anytime soon, but we hopefully won't be needing doctors either!

[memory maker]

toraji-I would love your recipe for ice cream. we have made it before, but it was loaded with sugar. It would be great to make it this summer again (without so much sugar)

We probably spend around $150 a week for 2 adults and 2 kids (the other child is still all mommy milk)

[memory maker]

I have a question for those that have soaked/dried nuts. If you dry them and they are still a little soggy in the middle, does that mean they need to dry longer, or is that how they are supposed to be? Some of mine were and some werent. this is the first time I have done it but wasnt sure how they were supposed to turn out. It sounded like in the NT book that they would be crispy throughout.

BTW it was almonds that I soaked/dried

[RidentMama]

$100 or less per week, but we raised our own beef, so I'm not buying any of that in the store.

Re: crispy nuts...I just dehydrate the heck out of them until they're crispy all the way through.

[Worldshakerz]

firefaery here are those recipes:

Pottenger Liver Cocktail
Makes 1 cup

1 small chunk pasture-fed beef or lamb liver, frozen at least 14 days
4-6oz tomato juice
dash of tabasco sauce
squeeze of lime juice
1 TBS whey

Grate liver finely to obtain about 1-2 tsps. Mix with tomato juice, whey and seasonings. Drink immediately.

Raw Liver Drink
Makes 1 cup

1/4 pound raw beef liver, frozen at least 14 days
1/2 cup cold water
pinch sea salt
juice of 1 lime
1/2 cup freshly squeezed orange juice
1 tsp sucanat (optional)
1 TBS whey

Enjoy

[Mirzam]

Subbing.

[mama2j&t]

Hi. I have had the NT book for about a year now. I am finally to the point that I want to really start putting it into practice. I am excited, but am going to try not to put too much pressure on myself- which is why I didn't succeed the first time we tried this. I'm waiting on our raw milk, the farm is a little low on milk right now so he told me it would be a couple of weeks. We already make yogurt and home, and I need to get some kefir grains (my kids love the kefir from the hfs). I also just started soaking some chickpeas in whey to make some hummous tomorrow

Does anyone know about soaking gluten free grains? I am g/f and make my own 'breads'. I wonder if soaking those flours would be beneficial. My family eats wheat, though in moderation, so I need to start making their bread instead of buying it. The two main vices we have left are white bread (darn dh) and store bought ketchup. Other than that we are pretty much on un-processed, a lot of organic, food.

I look forward to hanging out with you guys

[Hibou]

Originally Posted by Worldshakerz

2babybees...I thought I'd share this recipe that was posted on the local WAP chapter yahoo group I go on. It's for her original NT-ized cereal recipe:

DIANE’S OATMEAL CEREAL

5 cups oatmeal + 4 cups hot filtered water
5 tbsp yogurt
½ cup coconut oil
¼ cup butter
¾ cup honey
fruit(s) of choice (4-5 very ripe bananas, 2 cups raisins, etc)
crispy nuts of choice, chopped
cinnamon, allspice, nutmeg to taste

Mix water, oatmeal, and yogurt in bowl; cover and let sit @ room temperature for 24 hours; Blend in remaining ingredients with your hands after soaking; Spread ¼ inch thick in two jelly roll pans lined with parchment paper; place in 200 degree oven and cook 6-12 hours or until crisp; Cool; break into bite-size pieces, store in airtight container at room temperature.

Serve with cold milk or over yoghurt.

It looks absolutely awesome. I haven't made it yet but plan to soon. Doesn't it sound yummy?

Wow! thanks for that recipe- we're gonna go get it started right away!!

So I am reading The Maker's Diet, and finding that it's a really great compliment to NT, and really interesting from a theological point of view. I am especially interested in what he says about organisms in the soil. It got me wondering, if we ate only locally, and digested the local organisms with our local foods, maybe this would cut down on food allergies? I'm probably not articulating very well what I'm trying to get across, but like if my ds was playing in the dirt that the tomatoes he eats grow in, would it make it more likely that he'd ingest the right "beasties" to help his body recognize those particular tomatoes?

[yitlan]

Subbing. I was out of the loop on the new thread! A few random notes: I have no idea how I could ever spend that little to feed my family of 4. Dh is in grad school and I'm home with the kids. I do make a little money, but we mostly live on loans and by the end of his quarter, are scraping by. But, before he started school, we talked about our priorities, and high quality food is one. We cannot sacrifice that. I do make some sacrifices:
If we're low on raw milk, the kids get it and we do organic.
I don't cook with raw cheese.
Sprouted grain bread in the bread machine.
Not a comprehensive list, but just to show....

As to eating out, I don't sweat it. I know people who when they do travel or eat with others, suffer for it: yeast, upset stomach, blah feeling, etc. We don't have that, so it's not as much a concern. I just try to make the best choices. I try to encourage my kids, but ultimately let them choose and sometimes they choose things that make me cringe (hot dogs are exciting to them for some reason). But, I remind myself that they eat well otherwise.

I am headed to Denver this weekend for the WAP conference up there! One of the talks includes a section on how to choose when eating out. I'll take notes! My mom (somewhat into NT) and my sis (not at all) are visiting me and we're going up together. I heard my sister say to her dh "I thought all the meals (at my house) were going to be weird, but their good!"

[member]

Originally Posted by yitlan

I am headed to Denver this weekend for the WAP conference up there!

Oooo! Have a great time! I am so jealous! :

[OceanMomma]

Also reading N&PD here. Totally fascinating. It's given me lots to think about. I would be interested in how the bone structure on the faces of children born in our families differs pre & post NT. My dd born just before I discovered NT has much face wider bones than my kids born before. She looks alot like the kids on the outer hebrides islands in the photos in NT. Except her hair is much curlier & she's not as pale.

I spend insane amounts of money on groceries. But this week, I did not buy dh any of his junk food & mysteriously the whole lot was $90 cheaper.

As to eating out, I dread it. I found it alot easier when I was vegan. It was quantifiable to most ppl. I tend to take my own food alot of the time. I always carry a bottle of raw milk when I go out. I take a suitable version of a main stream dish if I go to potlucks & make sure the kids eat that. The other thing I do is feed the kids before we go out. I make sure they get lots of treats like really yummy fruit ( strawberries, blueberries fejoias etc ) , raw maple syrup icecream & things like that so they are not sitting around feeling "deprived". Burgers & factory farmed meat, I refuse to eat/buy for all the same reasons I didn't when I was vegan.

[Ruthla]

Ok, what's "N&PD"? I know NT= Nourishing Traditions and I'm currently waiting for my library to email me so I can take it out. What other books do you recomend?

I want to learn about NT and make some gradual changes in my diet. For example, I know that getting raw milk is out of the question right now, but things like soaking grains won't cost me any money.

[Boadicea]

N&PD is the Weston A. Price book "Nutrition and Physical Degeneration". It's the book outlining the research upon which NT is based. Excellent read, if you can find it!

Doing what you can when you first start is the only way to go, I think. Trying to change EVERYTHING at once is a bit overwhelming. So, if you already make stock (and I see that you do, from the thread about stock making) and you start to soak your grains, but you're not yet drinking raw milk, you're making progress. KWIM? Then, perhaps, you can start to make cultured/fermented veggies, or make kefir and yogurt out of organic milk (even if it's not raw -- the probiotics are a good for you, regardless). Baby steps!

[Boadicea]

Oh, and as to what other books I'd recommend, here's my (not so short) list:

* Wild Fermentation by Sandor Ellix Katz
* Know Your Fats: The Complete Primer to Understanding the Nutrition of Fats & Oils by Mary Enig (co-author of NT)
* Excitotoxins: The Taste that Kills by Russell Blaylock
* The Untold Story of Milk by Ron Schmid
* The Milk Book: The Milk of Human Kindness is Not Pastuerized by William Campbell Douglas
* The Body Ecology Diet (8th Edition, if you can get it) by Donna Gates
* The Maker's Diet by Rubin Jordan (these last two especially if you have gut issues, Chron's disease, candida overgrowth, CFS, fibromyalgia*, autism, ADHD, allergies, etc.)

I'm about to start reading Breaking the Vicious Cycle by Elaine G. Gottschall, which is the book outlining the Specific Carboyhydrate Diet. I know several others around here consider it required reading, too, if you have gut issues at all.

My list is probably different than that of others, so take it with a grain of salt (sea salt, of course ). And I have others on my list that don't specifically relate to NT, so I didn't include them. But any of the above would be a good place to start, IMO.

[member]

I definitely recommend Wild Fermentation; it's a fun read and the recipes are easy and their pretty common ingredients, just used in fermentin' fashion.