Cooking For Well-Being Conference

Last weekend I attended The Cooking For Well-Being Conference, a Weekend of Traditional Cooking Techniques.  Monica Corrado, certified nutritionist and chef taught the course.  The class was centered around the research from Weston A. Price and Sally Fallon’s Nourishing Traditions – The Cookbook That Challenges Politically Correct Nutrition and Diet Dictocrats.

Weston Price was an American dentist who traveled the globe in the 1930’s. Price studied cultures that were healthy, thriving and free from modern day diseases.  His research shows their diets and food preparation techniques had these things in common:

Healthy Diets-

1. Eat whole, natural foods.
2. Eat only foods that will spoil, but eat them before they do.
3. Eat naturally-raised meat including fish, seafood, poultry, beef, lamb, game, organ meats and eggs.
4. Eat whole, naturally-produced milk products from pasture-fed cows, preferably raw and/or fermented, such as whole yogurt, cultured butter, whole cheeses and fresh and sour cream.
5. Use only traditional fats and oils including butter and other animal fats, extra virgin olive oil, expeller expressed sesame and flax oil and the tropical oils-coconut and palm.
6. Eat fresh fruits and vegetables, preferably organic, in salads and soups, or lightly steamed.
7. Use whole grains and nuts that have been prepared by soaking, sprouting or sour leavening to neutralize phytic acid and other anti-nutrients.
8. Include enzyme-enhanced lacto-fermented vegetables, fruits, beverages and condiments in your diet on a regular basis.
9. Prepare homemade meat stocks from the bones of chicken, beef, lamb or fish and use liberally in soups and sauces.

Unhealthy Diets-

1. Do not eat commercially processed foods such as cookies, cakes, crackers, TV dinners, soft drinks, packaged sauce mixes, etc. Read labels!
2. Avoid all refined sweeteners such as sugar, dextrose, glucose, high fructose corn syrup and fruit juices.
3. Avoid white flour, white flour products and white rice.
4. Avoid all hydrogenated or partially hydrogenated fats and oils.
5. Avoid all refined liquid vegetable oils made from soy, corn, safflower, canola or cottonseed.
6. Do not use polyunsaturated oils for cooking, sauteing or baking.
7. Avoid foods fried in polyunsaturated oils or partially hydrogenated vegetable oils.
8. Do not practice veganism. Animal products provide vital nutrients not found in plant foods.
9. Avoid products containing protein powders as they usually contain carcinogens formed during processing; and consumption of protein without the co-factors occurring in nature can lead to deficiencies, especially of vitamin A.
10. Avoid processed, pasteurized milk; do not consume ultra-pasteurized milk products, low-fat milk, skim milk, powdered milk or imitation milk products.
11. Avoid factory-farmed eggs, meats and fish.
12. Avoid highly processed luncheon meats and sausage.
13. Avoid rancid and improperly prepared seeds, nuts and grains found in granola, quick rise breads and extruded breakfast cereals, as they block mineral absorption and cause intestinal distress.
14. Avoid canned, sprayed, waxed and irradiated fruits and vegetables. Avoid genetically modified foods (found in most soy, canola and corn products).
15. Avoid artificial food additives, especially MSG, hydrolyzed vegetable protein and aspartame, which are neurotoxin. Most soups, sauce and broth mixes and most commercial condiments contain MSG, even if not indicated on the label.

Today the Weston A. Price Foundation continues to provide valuable resources to the public.  They have monthly meet-up groups all around the country where people learn and share about local organic farms, grass-fed meat, raw milk resources, and so much more!

They also offer cooking and healthy eating classes throughout the year.  On July 15th I attended my first Weston A. Price Cooking For Well-Being Conference in Broomfield, Colorado and I loved it.  I highly recommend attending a Weston A. Price conference for an in-depth understanding of why grass fed meat, traditional fats, pastured eggs and dairy, nutrient dense fruits, vegetables, non GMO foods, pure water, and wild seafood are so important to prepare and eat with your family on a regular basis.

On Friday night our course instructor, Monica opened the conference with a two-hour lecture called,

What Is Real Food? And Why Does It Matter?

Then on Saturday and Sunday we learned how to cook the Weston A. Price recommendations since we’ve lost many of the traditional cooking techniques which maximize digestion, absorption & nutrient availability

Traditional Fermentation Techniques:  Lacto-Fermented Vegetables, Condiments and Beverage

• Aids digestion.
• If you eat, drink lacto-fermented foods and beverages, you can skip that probiotic pill every day

We made:

Salt solo sauerkraut, salt brine sauerkraut, salt and whey brine sauerkraut and fruit kvass (fermented fruit beverage) with berries, apple (core included), grated ginger, whey from kefir, water and salt.

All recipes can be found in the Nourishing Traditions Cookbook.

Nutrient Dense Stock

• Stock is an original super food. Rich in valuable minerals. Athletes, pregnant woman, nursing women, growing children should all drink stock!
• Check out US Wellness Meats for grass fed, meat and bones.

The Beiler Broth was my favorite. Recommended for energy, overall health, fasting.  This combination of vegetables is ideal for restoring acid/alkaline and sodium/potasium balance to the organs and glands. Especially the adrenal glands.  Beiler Broth is highly recommended for anyone under stress.