Thank you to everyone who entered last week’s giveaway for a sampler of all grass-fed beef sausages from U.S. Wellness Meats. More than 400 of you entered, plus there were an additional 200+ extra entries! So, if you didn’t win, don’t feel too bad. This was a HUGE contest. Apparently you folks are as addicted to sausage as I am.

Congratulations Kim Christman, you are the lucky winner! Please contact me within 48 hours with your full mailing address, and we can get your sample pack sent to you.

For the rest of us, U.S. Wellness Meats is offering a GREAT consolation prize — a coupon for 15% off! The coupon is only good for one week, so don’t dilly dally and forget to use it.

I plan on stocking up on those sausages and tallow, but they have a LOT of other good foods to buy, too. Click on the link below to use the coupon or just check out what they have to offer.

Please note, U.S. Wellness Meats is one of my sponsors. As such, I was compensated for hosting this giveaway. Hope you enjoyed it!

Liked what you read? You may find these other posts interesting:

1. GIVEAWAY: Grass-fed Sausage Sampler
2. COUPON & WINNER for Real Food For Rookies eCourse
3. WINNER: Stackable Sprout Garden & 15% OFF COUPON

Admit it. You need to mop daily, but are too lazy to do it. Okay, so maybe I’m not describing YOU, but I’m definitely describing ME. With kids and pet traffic, kitchen spills, and a fetish about clean floors, I really do feel like I need to mop daily. But I also can’t stand dragging out my mop bucket and filling it with hot water, can’t stand mopping with an inefficient mop that feels like it’s just pushing dirt around, can’t stand going over sticky spots repeatedly until they’re clean, yet also can’t stand using some poisonous toxic cleaner like PineSol to make such spots come up easily.

It’s why Swiffers are so darn appealing. You just whip them out and go. They’re light weight, they clean reasonably well for what they are. Yet you have to throw away far, far too many disposables to keep this budding environmentalist happy. AND they still mostly work because of toxic chemicals that assault your nostrils the second you push the magic button to make them squirt.

I’d like to introduce you to the answer to my mopping prayers (and possibly the answer to yours)! It’s called the Norwex Superior Mop, and it’s super-efficient, light-weight, and very environmentally friendly (cleans with only hot water).

Guess what else? This week I’m giving away one of these babies to a lucky reader. I sure do hope you win.

The Norwex Mop is 100% microfiber so it’s picks up “even the smallest particles of dust and dirt, and 99.9% of the germs and bacteria on your floor by just using water.” It functions similarly to a Swiffer in that you have a flat mop head on a swivel base with a super-adjustable handle, so it’s easy to use. But the similarity ends there. Instead of using disposable pads and toxic chemicals to clean, it uses a re-usable microfiber pad that cleans with just hot water.

Last Thanksgiving, my fellow blogger Ann Marie at Cheeseslave tried out a Norwex Mop, raved about it, then decided to give one away. At that time, Ann Marie asked Marilyn of Urban Homemaker (who sold her the mop), to explain why this mop cleans so well. Marilyn answered:

The Norwex microfibers are 1/100 the diameter of a human hair, so they operate like a bionic sponge absorbing dirt and grime, with just water. It is a much deeper clean so doesn’t get so dirty so quick. Chemicals make the surface sticky and cotton mops spread the dirt and chemicals around and are just about impossible to rinse thoroughly, so the dirt spreads.

The mop also comes with a dry-use microfiber cloth that you can use to sweep your floor or even get nasty cobwebs out of high corners.

How To Enter

The first step to entering the contest is to click on the link below. You’ll be taken to the Urban Homemaker website, where you’ll fill out a contest entry form. You will automatically be signed up for Marilyn’s email newsletter — full of handy information, tips, and tricks for the busy homemaker. If you don’t want to sign up for her newsletter, just click on the little opt out box below the entry form. Again, you must CLICK ON THE LINK and enter your email address at the Urban Homemaker site to be entered in the contest.

(Note: If you can’t see the link above, it is because you have ad blocking software enabled or javascript disabled. Please disable your ad blocker or enable javascript to participate in the giveaway.)

That’s good for one entry. For additional chances to win, do any of the following:

1. Blog about this giveaway and link back to this page on your blog. Comment below with the link. (1 extra entry)

2. Sign up for my email updates or RSS feed. Leave a comment below telling me that you signed up. You will also get an entry if you already subscribe — be sure to leave a comment! (1 extra entry)

3. Follow me on Twitter and tweet about the giveaway. Be sure to include the URL to this page in your tweet. Click the TweetThis button at the bottom of the post, or you can use the following tweet: “Win the BEST eco-friendly mop ever! $107 value! (AND INCLUDE THE URL)” Leave a comment telling me that you followed & tweeted. (1 extra entry)

4. Email 5 friends about the giveaway, with a link to this page. Leave a comment below telling me that you did. (1 extra entry)

5. Stumble this post and leave me a comment telling me that you did. (1 extra entry)

There are a total of 6 possible entries!

Questions? Comment below.

This contest will end Sunday, May2nd at 11:59 PM PST. The winner will be chosen via random.org, and will be announced on Monday, May 3rd. The lucky winner will have 48 hours to contact me with his or her full name and email address.

Please note that Urban Homemaker is one of my sponsors, and as such I am being compensated for hosting this giveaway. That said, you can trust that I only accept sponsors whose products I whole-heartedly endorse and believe in.

Good luck, everybody!

Liked what you read? You may find these other posts interesting:

1. WINNER of Eco-Friendly Mop Plus COUPON
2. GIVEAWAY: Real Food For Rookies E-Course
3. GIVEAWAY: Aqua Dome Water Purifier ($225 value!)

First, let me say THANK YOU to all the people who participated in this giveaway! And next, I want to thank Holly Hickman, the wonderful lady whose research gave life to the Healthy Eats Here! restaurant guide. Without her generosity, this Valentine’s Day giveaway wouldn’t have happened.

Now, the moment you’ve all been waiting for: the WINNER!

Our lucky winner is Joy Cable. Congratulations, Joy!

For the rest of you who had your hopes set on this nation wide dining guide to restaurants serving sustainable, organic, and local food, Holly is offering a super-special coupon in the spirit of Valentine’s Day.

(Please note: if you don’t see the link to the coupon above, you may have javascript disabled or be using ad-blocking software.)

The coupon is only good through February 19th, so be sure to take advantage of it soon.

Liked what you read? You may find these other posts interesting:

1. GIVEAWAY: Healthy Eats Here! Restaurant Guide
2. WINNER of Eco-Friendly Mop Plus COUPON
3. COUPON & WINNER for Real Food For Rookies eCourse

Who are they? Why, they’re the Food Renegades. You know who you are — lovers of SOLE (Sustainable, Organic, Local, and Ethical) food, traditional food, primal food, REAL food, the list goes on. I believe that by joining together, our influence can grow, and we can change the way America (and the industrialized world) eats!

So, let’s have some fun.

If you want to participate but aren’t sure how, please read these guidelines for how Fight Back Fridays will work.

Please be courteous and use your BEST blog carnival manners! In the very least, that means remember the two most important things you can do:

1. Share a relevant post from your blog with us using the Mr. Linky Widget below (don’t just link to your blog’s home page).
2. In your post, be sure to link back to this post (not the Food Renegade home page) so that your readers can have access to all the information and encouragement we’ll be sharing.

Please also feel free to make use of any of the banners below by saving the image to your desktop then uploading it to your own server. (You don’t have to use them, but they’re there for you!)

If you don’t have a blog but are interested in joining the conversation, you can leave your comments below!

I can’t wait to see what you all share!

Fight Back Friday Banners

PLEASE NOTE: The smaller banners are also available as badges/buttons for your sites over on my sidebar so that you can sport your Real Food Lovin’ Pride and inspire others to join us in the Real Food Revolution. Just copy the code and paste it into your sidebar. (Again, you don’t have to use them to participate in the carnival.)

Powered by… Mister Linky’s Magical Widgets.

Liked what you read? You may find these other posts interesting:

1. Fight Back Friday July 16th
2. Fight Back Friday April 16th
3. Fight Back Friday July 9th

Who are they? Why, they’re the Food Renegades. You know who you are — lovers of SOLE (Sustainable, Organic, Local, and Ethical) food, traditional food, primal food, REAL food, the list goes on. I believe that by joining together, our influence can grow, and we can change the way America (and the industrialized world) eats!

So, let’s have some fun.

If you want to participate but aren’t sure how, please read these guidelines for how Fight Back Fridays will work.

Please be courteous and use your BEST blog carnival manners! In the very least, that means remember the two most important things you can do:

1. Share a relevant post from your blog with us using the Mr. Linky Widget below (don’t just link to your blog’s home page).
2. In your post, be sure to link back to this post (not the Food Renegade home page) so that your readers can have access to all the information and encouragement we’ll be sharing.

Please also feel free to make use of any of the banners below by saving the image to your desktop then uploading it to your own server. (You don’t have to use them, but they’re there for you!)

If you don’t have a blog but are interested in joining the conversation, you can leave your comments below!

I can’t wait to see what you all share!

Fight Back Friday Banners

PLEASE NOTE: The smaller banners are also available as badges/buttons for your sites over on my sidebar so that you can sport your Real Food Lovin’ Pride and inspire others to join us in the Real Food Revolution. Just copy the code and paste it into your sidebar. (Again, you don’t have to use them to participate in the carnival.)

Powered by… Mister Linky’s Magical Widgets.

Liked what you read? You may find these other posts interesting:

1. Fight Back Fridays August 28th
2. Fight Back Friday October 9th
3. Fight Back Fridays July 31st

Are you convinced yet about the dangers of soy? Many aren’t. “Is soy bad for you? …Really?” I hear the question so often I want to scream.

After decades of hearing marketing spin about how soy is a wonder food, a protein-rich legume able to rescue us from our dependence on meat, I suppose it’s understandable why so many people have yet to understand fully the dangers of soy. Really, you’re not going to get the full story unless you research it on your own. And why would you, when soy is “universally” touted as a health food?

Well, it isn’t.

Dangers of Soy

Thankfully, more and more independent research has been done regarding the dangers of soy, and what it’s revealed should scare you.

Phytoestrogens

Soy is higher in phytoestrogens than just about any other food source. Phytoestrogens are plant-based estrogens that mimic estrogen in our bodies. In recent years, you may have read about studies which indicate phytoestrogens are good for you. But ask yourself, who funded those studies? The soy industry, that’s who. Independent research has clearly shown that consuming phytoestrogens is downright dangerous for the human body.

It’s only common sense. No one argues, for example, that a leading cause of breast cancer, endometriosis, uterine fibroids, infertility, and low libido is unopposed estrogen, or estrogen dominance. Why, then, would anyone argue that we should consume more of a food high in estrogen?

An infant taking the recommended amount of soy formula is consuming a hormone load equivalent of 4 birth control pills a day! Is it any wonder we’ve seen such a dramatic rise in precocious puberty with young girls starting their periods at 6 and 7?

Goitrogenic

Soy will destroy your thyroid. Many foods are goitrogenic (thyroid suppressing), but soy is king of them all. Goitrogens work by preventing your thyroid from getting the necessary amount of iodine. Friends, I believe this is what happened to Oprah’s thyroid. She pushed soy for years, featured it in everyone one of her “healthy” diets, and it destroyed her thyroid. If your thyroid fails, what happens? You gain weight. You have a harder time regulating your moods. You get colder more easily. You’re more easily fatigued. You demonstrate an inability to concentrate and remember details. The list goes on. You simply don’t want to mess with your thyroid.

Phytates

Phytates are enzyme-inhibitors that block mineral absorption in human digestive tract. They are naturally present in all grains, seeds, nuts, and legumes (which is why everyone should read this primer on how to eat grains, if you eat them at all.) But soy is so high in phytates that it’s almost impossible to get rid of them. Simply soaking soy overnight in an acidic medium won’t do the trick. Soy must be fermented in order to be digestible to humans. That means that if you eat soy at all, you should stick to fermented soy products like miso, tempeh, natto, or a naturally fermented soy sauce (tamari).

Trypsin inhibitors

Finally soy is rich in trypsin inhibitors. Trypsin is a digestive enzyme we need to properly digest protein. Without enough trypsin, you’ll experience many digestive problems including stomach cramps, diarrhea, and bleeding. You’ll also be leaving yourself open to future problems with your pancreas.

Debunking The Asian Soy Myth

But, people say, what about Asians? They eat soy every day, and they’re so healthy!

In this article by Nina Planck, she writes:

Soy farming started around 1100 BC in China, where it was used to build soil fertility and feed animals. Soy beans were not considered fit for humans until the Chinese learned to ferment them, which makes them digestible. Asian diets now include fermented soy beans in the form of natto, miso, tamari, and tempeh.

Soy producers want you to eat more soy — more than the Asians eat, and more than is good for you. The Japanese and Chinese eat 10 grams of soy per day — about two teaspoons. Yet a soy manufacturer recommends Americans eat ten times what the Japanese eat — 100 grams of soy protein per day. In The Soy Zone, Barry Sears recommends a daily diet of a minimum of 50 grams of soy, and up to 75 grams for women and 100 grams for men.

It’s like red wine: a glass or two a day may be good for you; a bottle or two every day rots your liver.

Did you catch that? Asians only eat 2 teaspoons of soy a day, usually as a condiment, and it’s highly fermented! Fermentation takes care of many of the dangers of soy. Plus, the typical Asian will also consume soy with mineral-rich and nutrient-dense foods such as fish broth (naturally high in iodine & other minerals which support the thyroid).

So, Is Soy Bad For You?

The short answer? YES! Let’s be clear on the recent history of soy. The soybean was a modest and unpopular crop until food manufacturers intent on creating cheap vegetable oils convinced the U.S. government to start subsidizing it. The soy was turned into oil, and the industry was left with an industrial waste product. Then somebody had a brilliant idea:

Let’s take this industrial waste product full of toxins and carcinogens — isolated soy protein — and turn it into food that people will eat!

Soy foods were born. From Nina Planck’s article:

The FDA refused to approve isolated soy protein as a safe food additive with the designation “Generally Recognized as Safe.”

Agribusiness giant Archer Daniels Midland withdrew its application for the coveted GRAS status for soy protein, after an outcry from scientists about the toxins and carcinogens that come with it. They can still put soy protein in your food, but they have to get pre-market approval for every product.

Isolated soy protein is no health food. But we don’t eat soy protein with a spoon. How do we eat it? It is the main ingredient in soy burgers, ice cream, milk shakes, and fake cheese. These soy protein products are phony foods — but they must look like the real foods they imitate. So the soy industry transforms a small yellow soy bean into something resembling a hamburger. They make soy “milk” and “ice cream” white and creamy.

The other ingredients in these foods are no better for you than the soy protein that goes into them. Soy milk, for example, is simply a cocktail of soy protein, sugar, and vegetable oil. The “natural” MSG formed in soy processing is already bad for you, but even more MSG, and more flavorings, are added. Imitation foods need a lot of help to be tasty. Many savory soy foods are loaded with additives to give them the flavor of the real foods they mimic. Most imitation meat, for example, contains man-made MSG, which causes migraines and is associated with brain cancer.

Soy foods aren’t real food. They aren’t traditional. They aren’t old. They’re industrial waste products dressed up in pretty clothes and marketed to an ignorant public.

ETA: Reader comments below prompted me to include a couple of additions to this post. The questions: What about tofu or homemade soy milk? Their consumption is quite widespread in Asian cultures, and they’re non-fermented soy foods. Are they okay? The answers: Tofu originated around the 2nd century BC in China, and it was made from fermented bean curd. That is how it was traditionally made before the days of refrigeration. Most modern tofu isn’t fermented anymore. You can still buy varieties of fermented tofu (aka “Stinky Tofu” or “Pickled Tofu”) in some Asian markets, though. Also, according to the most comprehensive online account of soymilk’s history, its use was rare before the 20th century and widespread usage was highly unlikely. In other words, it’s not a traditional food. Nor is non-fermented tofu. They’re the Asian equivalents of margarine, hot bath canning, “vegetable oil,” or soda pop — something relatively new on the food scene which became very widespread with the industrialization of the food supply. And like these industrialized food products, they are bad for your health.

This post is participating in today’s Fight Back Friday carnival hosted right here at Food Renegade. For other interesting news stories, anecdotes, and recipes concerning Real Food, go check it out!

(photo by unite)

Liked what you read? You may find these other posts interesting:

1. Your Thyroid: Understanding The Keys To Health
2. Life Threatening Retaliation in Soy Prison Lawsuit
3. Rocket Fuel Found In Baby Formula

Welcome to another Fight Back Friday everyone! Today we’re bringing together a collection of recipes, tips, anecdotes, and testimonies from members of the Real Food Revolution.

Who are they? Why, they’re the Food Renegades. You know who you are — lovers of SOLE (Sustainable, Organic, Local, and Ethical) food, traditional food, primal food, REAL food, the list goes on. I believe that by joining together, our influence can grow, and we can change the way America (and the industrialized world) eats!

So, let’s have some fun.

If you want to participate but aren’t sure how, please read these guidelines for how Fight Back Fridays will work.

Please be courteous and use your BEST blog carnival manners! In the very least, that means remember the two most important things you can do:

1. Share a relevant post from your blog with us using the Mr. Linky Widget below (don’t just link to your blog’s home page).
2. In your post, be sure to link back to this post (not the Food Renegade home page) so that your readers can have access to all the information and encouragement we’ll be sharing.

Please also feel free to make use of any of the banners below by saving the image to your desktop then uploading it to your own server. (You don’t have to use them, but they’re there for you!)

If you don’t have a blog but are interested in joining the conversation, you can leave your comments below!

I can’t wait to see what you all share.

Fight Back Friday Banners

PLEASE NOTE: The smaller banners are also available as badges/buttons for your sites over on my sidebar so that you can sport your Real Food Lovin’ Pride and inspire others to join us in the Real Food Revolution. Just copy the code and paste it into your sidebar. (Again, you don’t have to use them to participate in the carnival.)

Come on, people. Let’s change the way America (and the industrialized world) eats!

Powered by… Mister Linky’s Magical Widgets.

Liked what you read? You may find these other posts interesting:

1. Fight Back Fridays July 10th
2. Fight Back Fridays July 17th
3. Fight Back Fridays May 22nd

Ever wondered how to make sauerkraut? It sounds so intimidating, doesn’t it? So scary. So hard. At least until you’ve made it once. Then you realize how ridiculously easy it is and wonder why you never did it before!

It doesn’t take that much time, particularly if you let a food processor do your chopping. And there are countless ways to vary it once you get the idea down. You can make your own lacto-fermented salsas, your own dill pickles, your own relishes. You can even make the most colorful sauerkraut on earth, just like Sandor Katz does in the video below.

Sandor is the author of Wild Fermentation (a Food Renegade Must Read) and an expert at fermenting vegetables. Watch his latest video clip as he makes sauerkraut.

You’ll notice the key elements right off the bat:

• creating surface area by chopping the veggies any way you like,
• mixing in salt (and sometimes whey when you’ve got it),
• mashing the veggies until the liquid runs out,
• transferring the veggies into a glass jar or crock,
• making sure the liquid covers the veggies,
• letting it sit.

How long you let it sit is up to you and your tastes, but for most vegetables 2-5 days seems to do the trick.

So, what do you want to ferment? (Or read this introduction to fermentation if you’re wondering why you should ferment food at all.)

(photo by cafemama)

Liked what you read? You may find these other posts interesting:

1. Wild Fermentation Goes Mainstream
2. The Revolution Will Not Be Microwaved By Sandor Ellix Katz
3. Weekly Meal Plan

Andrew at Go Healthy Go Fit invited me to share a couple of healthy real food recipes, and Kelly at Kelly The Kitchen Kop invited me to write a post about cooking grass-fed beef.

So, if you haven’t already, go check out their sites and leave a few comments to let them know how much we appreciate their hard work and generous hospitality.

(photo by Linda Yvonne)

Liked what you read? You may find these other posts interesting:

1. Cooking Grass-fed Beef — 5 Ways to Nirvana
2. And the winner is…
3. La Cense Grass-fed Beef Giveaway

Why?

Because I was still cooking that marvelous meat as if it were the same as conventional meat.

If you want to know the five secrets to grass-fed beef cooking bliss, go read my post at Kelly The Kitchen Kop. Kelly is a co-blogger with me over at the Real Food Media Blog Network, and she’s been blogging about

Liked what you read? You may find these other posts interesting:

1. La Cense Grass-fed Beef Giveaway
2. More Advantages of Grass-Fed Beef
3. Meet A Grass-fed Beef And Pastured Pork Farmer