You're a Hero

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posted on

February 3, 2024

As a society, too often we miss true heroism. This is not to disparage in the least the folks who deservedly receive widespread accolades for heroism. Firefighters who risk their lives to save someone in a burning building. On the battlefield, the one who loses his own life to save others. The policeman who steps between a domestic altercation. Yes, we all understand these widely accepted heroes.

But another kind of heroism is standing in the face of orthodoxy during mundane decisions and activities of life to protect your children, your community, and the earth. Way too few people today think about these things.

We’re besieged with advertisements to eat and drink junk. Everybody’s eating Lunchables, right? And fast food—it’s ubiquitous. DoorDash is a click away, even for eggs and milk now. Defunding McDonald’s, Monsanto, and Tyson (“feeding you like family”) takes real effort. If you go with the flow, you’ll finance the production, philosophy, and poor nutrition of the chemical industrial exploitation complex. The only thing you have to do to make sure these miscreants thrive is to not think and not act.

When you sit down to a meal, pause a moment to squint your eyes and try to look through what’s on the plate to everything behind it. What kind of farms produced it? What kind of processing put it in packages for you to buy? What kind of framework delivered it to your hand? Then ask yourself: “Is this the kind of world I want my kids to inherit?”

With mRNA now being used (unlabeled) throughout the livestock industry and a dead zone the size of Rhode Island in the Gulf of Mexico holding steady, one of the most heroic things a person can do is patronize a healing food and farm alternative. Here at Poyface, we aren’t perfect, but we have a 60-year track record that builds soil, creates happy, contented animals, and brings superior nutrition to your plate.

We don’t rely on Russia for fertilizer. We don’t depend on Istanbul for grain. We don’t finance Monsanto’s Roundup (glyphosate) or Genetically Modified Organisms (GMOs) for feed. We don’t pollute the surface or groundwater for taxpayers to clean up. You won’t get diarrhea from anti-biotic-hyped super-bugs. Our animals don’t do drugs.

And the grass. Aaaah, the grass. Phytochemical taste and nutrition come from the pasture salad bar, our signature goal at Polyface. That’s why our eggs have 1,058 micrograms of folic acid rather than the 48 in supermarket eggs. Everything is superior when it gets fresh air, exercise, sunshine, and fresh salads. Because we depend more on grass (solar panels) and management, we’re less dependent on all the nefarious agendas bandied about by the industrial chemical food complex.

But you won’t find this at the normal supermarket. You won’t get it delivered from Grub Hub or DoorDash. You won’t find it at McDonald’s, Burger King or Chik-fil-A. You have to come to a conviction in yourself and make a conscious, intentional decision to find us, to patronize a more stable, secure, and safe system. Standing up to cultural normality takes courage.

In some ways, rushing into a burning building is easier. That crisis moment awakens in the human spirit a have-to, can-do, must-do hyper-awareness that often empowers us to rise to the calamity. But what about when the tragedy wanes? What about when it’s not as apparent? Making life-saving decisions when they seem unnecessary is harder. Crises always draw us to find courage and decisiveness that may not have been apparent.

But to exercise that courage and conviction when things are routine is difficult. Why participate in inconvenience when I can just be convenient? And normal? Because being content to be convenient is a fool’s game. Eventually, convenience catches up. America, as a nation, now leads the world in non-infectious chronic illness: heart disease, diabetes, obesity, and cancer. With the summer Olympics coming up, we’re all pulling for our little superstar Simone Biles and other U.S. contenders, hoping to be number one in numerous competitions. Being number one in chronic morbidity is not a number one spot to covet, folks.

The U.S. invented hydrogenated vegetable oil, TV dinners, DDT, GMOs, factory farming, mRNA, drive-through windows, and now leads the world in research toward lab-cultured fake meat. Standing into this takes courage, intention, conviction. So today, we salute, we honor, we appreciate you as everyday heroes who aren’t waiting until a crisis to act.

When you choose Polyface, you proactively take on the hero’s spirit to fight for your kids, your community, and our collective ecological nest. For immune function, nutrient density, and balance. For pollinators, bluebirds, earthworms, and functional microbiomes. That might not be a burning building, but it might be if we don’t invest in a better future. Thank you for leading the way, and for being a hero right now.

Why Choose Fermented Foods?

My grandparents on my father’s side used to make sauerkraut in wooden barrels in the basement. My mother’s side made cheese and salami. I could smell these concoctions throughout the entire house. Fermenting is part of your national heritage, no matter your family’s country of origin. Alongside nourishing grass-fed/grass-finished pastured meats like Polyface raises, every person should include real fermented foods into their diet. This method of food preservation goes back farther than most realize, reconnecting us with ancient traditions, long before the refrigerator-freezer was invented. Every culture consumed something fermented every day. Here are the reasons why I like fermented foods. Fermentation preserves food without using high pressure, high heat, or chemicals, so it both conserves and increases them. The nutritional value of fermented foods lies mostly in the pro-biotic bacteria that are present, and byproducts of their digestion. The bacteria’s digestive “waste” is a collection of vitamins, enzymes, and co-factors needed for every system of the body. These include: Vitamins B1, B6, B12, C, and K2 Superoxide dismutase (SOD, an antioxidant) GTF chromium (assists sugar metabolism) Glutathione (a potent detoxifier) Phospholipids (cell membrane building blocks) Digestive enzymes Beta 1,2 glucans (present in shiitake mushrooms; modulates immune system) Fermentation neutralizes or eliminates these: Phytic acid (present in seeds, nuts, beans, legumes) Enzyme inhibitors (also present in seeds, nuts, beans, legumes) Nitrites Prussic acid (hydrogen cyanide) Oxalic acid (binds minerals) Nitrosamines (known carcinogen) Glucosides Probiotics and enzymes in whey neutralize phytic acid and enzyme inhibitors, allowing your digestion to access the nutrients in the food. Enzymes are proteins. Proteins are delicate molecules with very complex structure and shape. The structure of the enzyme gives it its function. Without structure and form, the enzyme will not do its job of catalyzing biochemical reactions. Without enzymes, biochemical reactions would cease. Enzymes are denatured (unraveled or broken down) by high pressure, high heat, acidic conditions, toxic chemicals, and electrical disturbances. Once denatured, they lose their form and shape, therefore they lose their function. Unlike canning and commercial processing, fermenting occurs at atmospheric pressure and room temperature, encouraging beneficial bacteria to thrive. Temperatures above 117 degrees Fahrenheit denature enzymes and kill probiotic bacteria. If you wonder what 117 degrees feels like, it’s the temperature at which you cannot touch an object with your bare hands and hold it for a few seconds. If it’s hot, but you can still touch and hold it in your hand and not pull away, it’s under 117 degrees. This innate protection mechanism (i.e., reflex) prevents your own protein (i.e., skin on your finger) from being denatured. It’s also a good indicator of when your food is hot enough to kill probiotics and denature enzymes. For best results, fermented foods must be eaten raw, never hot or cooked. Fermented foods are safe and protective against pathogens. USDA scientist Roger McFeeters, who oversees a fermentation laboratory, says, “The lactobacilli can number a billion per gram of tissue at the height of fermentation. The bad bacteria can't compete." According to McFeeters, lacto-fermentation has caused no known food-borne illness. "As far as we know, it's been going on for thousands of years. It's perfectly safe.” The sauerkraut that my grandparents made had a layer of raw pork chops embedded in the salted cabbage. When the sauerkraut was done, you could safely eat the pork chops raw! They were pre-digested by the bacteria, and “cooked" by the organic acids in the kraut. Probiotics prevented pathogens from establishing. None of us ever got food poisoning. My grandmother lived to be 100. Fermented foods have anti-carcinogenic properties. They normalize blood pressure and heart rate, help to break down fat in the liver, and maintain healthy systemic pH. And they are quite tasty. In the supermarket, look for fermented foods in the refrigerated section, not on the shelf with canned foods. Shelf-stable canned foods were subjected to high temperatures. The probiotics and enzymes have been denatured. Look for “live cultures” or “live probiotics” on the label. Eat something lacto-fermented every day, like your ancestors did. Just a tablespoon or two of sauerkraut or an ounce or two of cheese is enough to have the desired effect. Choose a salad dressing made with raw apple cider vinegar, or a tablespoon of a fermented condiment such as ketchup, mustard, or mayonnaise. Try a fermented beverage, like kombucha, beet kvass, or ginger ale. (Nourishing Traditions by Sally Fallon has some great recipes for all of these.) The original condiments were digestive aids. They’re easy to make. Try it. May you be deeply nourished! Susan

You're a Hero

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