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Volume 5, Number 2, Summer 2004

The Gutsy Issue

President's Message

The theme of this issue is healthy digestion, but it could also be the importance of living within the rhythms of nature. Digestion is above all a rhythmical phenomenon--from the rhythmical contractions of the muscles surrounding the intestinal tract, to the filling and emptying of the stomach and gall bladder to the secretion of a myriad hormones according to the time of day.

On page 30, Joel Salatin takes on "sound science" in a brilliant and amusing way. One of the chief faults of the "sound science" that has brought us confinement animal facilities and poison by pesticides is that it fails to honor the rhythmical patterns that characterize the natural world. Instead, we have used technology to obliterate those patterns--planting our farms as monocultures, treating insects as the enemy and preserving our food for long shelf life. We eat turkey in April and strawberries in December.

"Sound science" is reductionist and also highly selective, turning its back on the benefits of microscopic life and eschewing many nutritious foods. We eat muscle meats but not the organs and pasteurized pickles instead of fermented condiments. The result has been a wholesale decline in health and vitality in the western world. Jordan Rubin explains how to restore digestive health by partnering with beneficial bacteria (page 24) and Fergus Henderson’s wonderful book (reviewed on page 45) tells us how to incorporate organ meats into our diet in simple and delicious ways. On page 58, Pamela Noeau Day describes the miracle of poi, Hawaii’s fermented food, for the digestion

Nowhere has the disdain for nature’s rhythms been more obvious than in the modern attitude towards contraception, which attempts to suppress the female reproductive rhythms and disconnect both female and male partners from the pulse of life. Katie Singer’s book (reviewed on page 44) provides practical instruction that can help restore our connection to the ebb and flow of female reproduction, governed by the same lunar forces that cleanse and nourish the oceans with the tides.

Rubin and Singer will join many other fascinating speakers at our upcoming conference, October 1-3. Please visit our website for details and online registration. Conference brochures will be mailed in August. We have received approval for Continuing Education Units (CEU) for physicians, nurses and nutritionists, and we can provide a certificate for chiropractors. We promise not only an extremely interesting weekend, but a wonderful time. You’ll enjoy delicious food and meet board members, chapter leaders and hundreds of individuals who share your interest in diet and health.

FEATURES

Primer on Digestion
Sally Fallon and Mary Enig explain what goes on in the long hollow tube

Restoring Digestive Health
Jordan Rubin delineates what worked for him

Sound Science is Killing Us
Joel Salatin lambastes the phenomenon of science without soul

DEPARTMENTS

President’s Message
Honoring Nature’s Rhythms

Letters

Caustic Commentary
Sally Fallon and Mary Enig, PhD take on the Diet Dictocrats

Farm and Ranch
Michael Anton Parker shows how to make stock on the farm

MSG Update
Jack Samuels reveals an unrecognized cause of obesity--MSG

Know Your Fats
Mary Enig discusses the role of fats in digestion

Ask the Doctor
Tom Cowan presents a therapy for gastroparesis

All Thumbs Book Reviews
Thumbs Up: Garden of Fertility by Katie Singer
Thumbs Up: The Whole Beast by Fergus Henderson

Soy Alert!
Kaayla Daniel takes on udder imitations--soy milk and soy cheese

Federal Update
Bill Sanda keeps us abreast of events on Capitol Hill and elsewhere

In the Kitchen with Mother Linda
Cicada Craze

Food Feature
Pamela Noeau Day describes the miracle of poi

Healthy Baby Gallery

A Campaign for Real Milk (on www.realmilk.com)
Victory in Colorado

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