Feed Yourself: How to get off the industrial food grid and have a normal diet.

Why Food Sustainability Matters and 10 Things You Can Do About It

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These superfoods are amazing thyroid hormone boosters and detoxifiers. Will Cole , instructor of The Elimination Diet. The food that wreaks havoc on your hormones is sugar. Sugar leads to the spikes of the hormone insulin, which works to move the sugar out of the blood stream and into the cells. Normally, the body needs to have a balanced intake of sugars, proteins, and fats to choose from to get energy. A healthy body with balanced hormones is able to shift back and forth between sugar and fat metabolism. When you eat a diet high in sugar, your insulin levels will be elevated chronically until such time that your cells will develop resistance.

As this is happening, your body is focusing more on insulin and processing the sugar and not on the other hormones, causing an imbalance in estrogen, testosterone, and progesterone, for instance. Most often, I see sugar wreaking havoc on the body's hormonal system. When we eat sugar, including foods that turn to sugar like carbohydrates , insulin is released to balance blood sugar by managing where and how glucose is stored in the body. This hormonal response is wonderful for managing the occasional natural sugar or complex carb, but when faced with a diet high in these foods like the standard American diet , the body is forced to overproduce insulin in an effort to keep blood sugar balanced.

When this type of diet is eaten over a period of time, the body can eventually become resistant to insulin, lessening the effects it has on managing blood sugar, and often causing an imbalance with other hormones such as cortisol, progesterone, and estrogen. There are seven hormones testosterone propionate, trenbolone acetate, estradiol, zeranol, progesterone, melengestrol acetate, and bovine somatotropin that are used in industrial food production of meat, eggs, and dairy that may wreak havoc on human estrogen levels in humans.

In , the European Union's Scientific Committee for Veterinary Measures Relating to Public Health said in a press release that six commonly used growth hormones had the potential to cause "endocrine, developmental, immunological, neurobiological, immunotoxic, genotoxic and carcinogenic effects," adding that "even exposure to small levels of residues in meat and meat products carries risks, and no threshold levels can be established for any of the six substances.

White bread wreaks havoc on all the hormones in the body. Gluten plus sugar increases inflammation in the body that causes stress on the adrenal glands and subsequently the thyroid and gonads and autoimmunity. This leads to dysregulation of the hypothalamic-pituitary-hormone axis, a decrease in the production of the hormones from the adrenals, thyroid, and gonads due to the stress, and increased autoimmunity to these glands.

Dairy works on a variety of levels to disrupt hormonal balance. It can be irritating to the gut, inflammatory, and, if it's conventional dairy, it can even be packed with antibiotic residue and recombinant bovine growth hormone. One sign that dairy is messing with your hormones is if it gives you acne. In fact, if you have acne of any kind, give it a shot going dairy-free. Your dermatologist may deny that dairy has anything to do with your acne. But it doesn't hurt to try a month off dairy and see if he or she just might be wrong!

Milk contains an abundance of IGF-1, which is a growth hormone.

Too much causes inflammation and a spike in insulin, which causes the liver to produce even more growth hormone. Excess IGF-1 may lead to increased risk of diabetes and increased triglycerides. Dairy can also cause your skin to produce more sebum or excess oil leading to clogged pores and acne. When I'm working with a patient on hormone balance, the first step I take is to remove alcohol for a time. Anyone who's had a night out with a few cocktails knows that alcohol interferes with your brain and that leads to an interference with your hypothalamus and pituitary gland, aka the parts of your brain that tell your body when to make the hormones it needs.

Our hormones are so tightly regulated that even a temporary disruption in their production can have drastic effects. Alcohol reduces testosterone production leading to lower energy levels in both men and women, along with decreased fertility in men. It augments insulin secretion causing a deregulation of blood sugar. Regular alcohol use can also increase cortisol levels, triggering more belly fat storage and an inability to deal with everyday stressors.

The good news is that even one month sans alcohol can help restore your hormone function back to where it should be. Soy can wreak havoc on estrogen because it acts to mimic estrogen phytoestrogen , and therefore blocks normal estrogen from binding to receptors, and disrupts various other hormones due to elevated estrogen such as decreasing testosterone, and inhibiting thyroid function by facilitating production of "thyroid binding globulin" binds up thyroid hormone. Common associated symptoms of high estrogen in women include irregular menses, swelling and tenderness in breasts, inability to lose weight, problems sleeping, mood swings, and poor energy.

In men, it may manifest as erectile dysfunction, gynecomastia breast tissue growth , and infertility. Estrogen also acts as a growth hormone, so various symptoms and risks for disease are related to elevated levels such as cancer especially those that are hormone sensitive like breast and prostate , swelling of breasts, weight gain, and heavy periods thicker endometrium lining. If one link in the supply chain were to fail, people would soon see they are in bondage to wherever they get their food, water, etc.

It has truly been a blessing getting back to the land to live increasingly off-grid and self-sustaining looking to God as our source. It truly is a lifestyle choice. Thanks for the great post, Shannon.

Try bacon.

Yet I am too often part of the system myself! I take heart in knowing that even small changes can make a big difference — and over the years all my small changes have really added up!

I could not agree more, and I appreciate the time you took to write this. Thanks for the great post! Should I Homeschool Or Not? Jamie — So true. Thanks for commenting on that.

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I would agree also! It makes me so happy to know that he realizes that is how we get our food on the table rather than opening up a box and shoving it in the microwave. Cooking more has really increased the time we can spend together even if it many times takes a lot more patience on my end! He loves to be a helper. Thanks for the great article. This article points out so many great points about how to make a difference in the way we live.

Thank you for writing this post. Hopefully it will make some people stop and think, and decide to change their habits. We do many of the things on your list, and some we are working on. But I think each and ever point made is incredibly important — and even better, possible to achieve! Yup- we are on our way. I wholeheartedly agree with point 9! This is a wonderful very well thought out article.

I hope it inspires many to return to home cooking. We all need to come together to fight the corporate take over of our food supply. My new goal is learning to forage, did you know dandelion greens are more nutrient dense than kale? Dehydrating is my new favorite hobby I got my Nesco dehydrator at a tag sale and I just started canning jams and applesauce last year and it is remarkably easy!

Freeganism

Thanks again for such a great post! I love this discussion about what we can do to make changes in our homes towards sustainablity but I have such a hard time when the discussion moves in the direction of those who do not because of percieved laziness or refusing to make the right choices for the sake of convenience. For example, my husband is in law school and we have a VERY limited budget.

But we do the best we can which is a fair amount because I am a stay at mom of a 1 year old. I have nothing but time to figure out how to grow a container garden, line dry my clothes and make all my food from scratch. But mother is in a very different situation. She is also a stay at home mom and even though she taught me all those skills, her time and money is even more limited than mine because she is a single mom, homeschooling 3 teens, 2 with special educational needs and a her child support is forever being challenged.

She might have to get part time job too but that money is not going to be going towards organic food— unfortunately, it will be going to clothes and other basics. We need to come up with ways to help them encorpoate sustainable living too, instead of judging there commitment levels. Rhiannon, Thanks for sharing that. You are quite right that not everyone is in the same position, so we can not all be expected to make the same choices.

We are not passing judgment here, only trying to shine a light. I love posts like this that emphasize what we CAN do. I want to go pick our own berries next month. Thanks for the great post. Many of her action points overlap nicely with yours. About a year ago now, I decided to stop purchasing food in hard plastic. My no-hard-plastic vow has changed my food-shopping habits and has nudged me to follow sustainable tip 6: If I want foods that normally come in plastic, like yogurt, cottage cheese, hummus, pesto, salsa, etc. A natural progression of my no-plastic-vow is to follow sustainable tip 4: This year, we plan to can in glass, of course tomatoes and hot chiles and to dehydrate all kinds of fruit and vegetables for the first time just got a food dehydrator through freecycle.

I have drastically changed the way I eat lately, more out of concern for farmers and animals than my own health…. Unfortunately, due to chronic bad health I do not have one ounce of energy to spare. So I will not be planting anything, canning anything, dehydrating anything, or cooking any more than I already do. So this makes eating sustainably in the winter very very difficult. I spose I could eat meat and potatos all winter.

I worry about the time coming when we are at the point of no return. Our children are the future… so its wonderful that families are spending more time together teaching them the importance of sustainable living and eating. I was wondering how food sustainability can benifit the food indistry aka: In my opinion sustainability is a priority. It helps america consider their best food selections, and also helps you maintain a good eating habit that has a pure approach.

Learn How To Eat Right For Your Brain

Thank you for this article. I came across it because I could not sleep and I am doing research on sustainability. I would like to start up a small youth summer program in my community, and have been wondering how can I make this a Fun, but educational project especially since I am looking at trying to get grant funded. This ideas of food sustainability has been working within my family for a few years now, and recently my husband and I started raising chickens and goats, and hope to plant a small garden this summer. We no usually pack our own food, and cook in the place we rent rather than eating out.

I have two major issues with your article. If you have any sources that you could share with me that show how you came to your conclusions please let me know, but it seems like most of your article is based on your personal beliefs like you mentioned in bullet 9. First off, the way you phrase this title is totally misleading.

If an animal has to eat and drink to grow big enough to be consumed by us, how can you argue it takes less resources to produce that animal than if we were to just eat the food that it eats? I get that there are emissions associated with transporting meat and vegetables and local is better in that sense, but factory farms are definitely more efficient from a land usage perspective.

Even dairy cows on local farms are forcibly impregnated and their babies are removed from them at birth and sent to the veal factories. Earning top quality sleep was not only possible, it became expected over a nightly basis.

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As it is an autoimmune disease which begins in the birth, there are numerous measures to control it, like pancreas and islet cell transplantation, approach to artificial pancreas and gene manipulation. The indoor playground equipment are designed for the usage in homes, whereas outdoor playground are been set up in relaxation clubs, parks, schools and also day care centers. Animal products are increasingly raised purely for profit, without regard to proper stewardship or health. We are monocropping , and the government is subsidizing it. Food is transported and processed using large amounts of non-renewable resources.

Food is being genetically modified, cloned, and patented. You may wonder what little old you can do about all of this. More than you think. Photo by llsimon53 5. Know The Cost of Cheap Food. What do you think defines sustainable eating? About Shannon Real food, sustainability, and homesteading are inextricably intertwined on the off-grid homestead Shannon, her husband and three children inhabit. Like reading this post? Get more delivered to your email inbox. Enter your email address Prefer to subscribe via RSS? Comments Deanna Marzipan says: May 19, at 5: I wish they were teaching all these things in school and in Congress!

May 19, at October 28, at 9: May 19, at 6: Jan Family Bites says: May 19, at 8: May 19, at 9: January 23, at 9: October 23, at February 9, at 6: May 19, at 4: May 20, at 8: May 20, at 2: Thanks for all of the great information and the links.

This makes is seem easier to do it! Jen the Catalyst says: Hmm, I tried it a few times and it worked for me. Are you still unsuccessful, Jen? Thanks for the heads up, anyway! Every seed planted in the back yard is a step towards true freedom. Thank you for posting it, Aimee. May 19, at 1: May 19, at 2: May 20, at Jana The Summer House says: May 19, at 3: May 21, at 4: May 25, at 8: I applaud your statement and the determination it shows.

Hopefully others will learn from your example.

May 22, at 3: May 22, at 6: Hi Beth, That sounds like a hobby I could easily pick up! May 24, at May 24, at 4: Very well put, Alissa. Enjoy your berries and look for a post soon on how to best preserve them! May 26, at 6: July 7, at 5:

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