Sunday, April 26, 2015

Something I have to get off my chest.

One night Suzanne Somers was on the O'Reilly factor and doing what so many people do who think they know it all. She was telling Bill what we should and shouldn't eat. The first thing was wheat, because it contains gluten. I know that anyone who has celiac disease or a gluten intolerance needs to stay away from it, but for the normal person, avoiding gluten has little health benefits. I have no problem with anyone getting on their soap box and saying, "This is what worked for me." But to follow blindly an actress from Hollywood, who has no credentials behind her name to show that she has studied nutrition, not so much. If you do your research, you will find facts from people who actually so know what they are talking about.

"For most other people, a gluten-free diet won't provide a benefit, said Katherine Tallmadge, a dietitian and the author of "Diet Simple." What's more, people who unnecessarily shun gluten may do so at the expense of their health, Tallmadge said.
That's because whole grains, which contain gluten, are a good source of fiber, vitamins and minerals, Tallmadge said. Gluten-free products are often made with refined grains, and are low in nutrients.
If you embrace such a diet, you'll end up "eating a lot of foods that are stripped of nutrients," Tallmadge said. Studies show gluten-free diets can be deficient in fiber, iron, folate, niacin, thiamine, calcium, vitamin B12, phosphorus and zinc, she said."

But what really got my knickers in a twist was when Ms. Somers told Bill he should only eat grass fed beef. "Cattle can't digest corn so they get sick and have to be fed antibiotics!" BULL!!! I'd like to know where she gets her information, obviously she has not talked to anyone who raises beef cattle. I don't know of any cattleman and woman who, while feeding morning rations says this, "Ground corn - check, silage - check, antibiotics - check, mix well and feed cattle."

Do these fat cattle look sick to you?


We did just have to treat a steer for pneumonia, what anyone would do for a family member who was ill, called the vet, well, I realize you would call a doctor, he came out, took the steer's temperature, listened to his lungs and gave him an IV dose of antibiotics and the steer is recovering nicely. There is a withdrawal period when we have to wait so long before sending him to market. We adhere to these rules because we want our food to be safe to consume, after all, we eat too. Sometimes in the fall, after we wean the calves, they will get sick and coughing from the stress and Bruce will feed some Aureomycin but he does so responsibly and only if they need it.

This idea that we use antibiotics casually is a crock, Ms. Somers! (Like she is reading this!) 

This is another blogger who is a self proclaimed 'food expert', The Food Babe. But The Science Babe, scibabe.com, herself a B.S. in chemistry, and an MSc in forensic science is hot on the Food Babe, debunking her 'facts.' One of the FB's criteria for acceptable food is if a third grader can pronounce the ingredients. As SB says, "Do you really want to base your food intake on an 8 year old?" I highly recommend SB for the facts with an apology for her language, I think she could get her point across without so much profanity.

As long as I'm on a beef, so to speak, I want to address the so called 'Humane Society of the United States' here after refered to as HSUS. I say so called because in no sense of the word are they your local Humane Society, who takes in displaced, abandoned and abused animals. They are simply a money machine, playing on your heart strings through their TV commercials. If you are sending them 'only $19 a month to help these animals' let me be the one to tell you that less than 1% of that money is going to help any animal. The rest of the 99% of that $19 a month is spent on CEO Wayne Pacelle's, and the rest of the employee's lavish salaries and inflated retirement accounts. It also pays for a bank of lawyers to handle all the lawsuits they are constantly filing. Donor dollars are paying for a lawsuit to Ringling Brothers circus they just lost along with racketeering charges to the tune of $16.75 MILLION that is not covered by insurance after Mr. Pacelle stated it would be! Donor dollars are used against us, livestock producers who take care of our animals the best way we can while we are entrusted with their care. I could go on and on but all you have to do is go to HumaneWatch.org for your information. Please don't confuse HSUS with your local humane society, the one in Sioux City does a fantastic job with the animals that come into their shelter, they have one of the highest adoption rates around.

I don't care if you are a vegetarian, gluten free, refuse to eat anything white, think organic is the only way to go or that GMO's are bad for you, I do care if you don't find the facts first. And watch for those food labels that suck you in, such as on a can of Cling Peaches in the store the label said, "GMO FREE!!" Well, DUH! There are no GMO peaches!! Same for gluten, things that have never had gluten, the food manufactures are jumping on the band wagon and declaring their food is gluten free!

Now that I have all that off my chest, I will return to my regular blogging, more calves, baby geese....always something going on at the farm.

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