I was raised athiest by a scientist mother and gravitated towards my own sort of spirituality, in which I most definitely pray to a single god, mostly giving thanks. I never thought I’d end up engaged to a new-agey guy, but I am.. I found that we share more than we don’t when it comes to core values. We both believe in living as close to nature as possible. We just thank different gods in different ways for this.

I just payed $1,000 to have 9 silver fillings pulled and replaced in a holistic fashion about 9 months ago because my mercury and other heavy metal load was so high. It definitely was a strong contributor to Candida overgrowth for me…which then contributed to adrenal failure…then thyroid failure — in spite of eating a primarily real food diet. I felt I just had to go back and get to some of the underlining reasons why I was going through this downward health cycle. Thus, I had the fillings pulled and have been striving ever since to pull the mercury out of my organs with chlorella and/or spirulina. It’s a huge battle, but my battle plan is working, thankfully! I guess for me personally, I just have no desire to add to my mercury load right now. I do give my children a heavy-duty, mercury-free fish oil supplement in the morning. But I will consider what you are saying! Perhaps eating certain fish works for those whose systems are already in balance, but for those of us who are still pulling mercury out of our brains, I think it’s perhaps better to just avoid the fish and take a mercury-free fish oil or CLO supplement. Interesting discussion!

You can also avoid mercury by eating lower on the food chain when it comes to eating fish. Eat smaller fish like sardines and anchovies — and shellfish & mollusks. Avoid swordfish and bigger fish that eat other fish.

CHEESESLAVE

If you read Nina Plack’s books, she heartily recommends fish for children’s development — even with the mercury. She says the benefits of eating fish outweigh the harm of mercury.

Dr. Campbell-McBride, author of the GAPS book, also said we can eliminate mercury and other toxic metals from our system if we have adequate good microflora in our gut.

You can order fish online from companies like Vital Choice — they ship it right to your door. US Wellness Meats sells their products, too. See Kristen’s resources page.

And I agree w/ Kristen – the nutritional benefits of shellfish, mollusks in particular, are so enormous. We try to eat oysters and/or clams/mussels/shrimp/crab at least once a week. If you can’t get it fresh from the ocean (we are lucky to live near the coast), you can find good seafood frozen at most health food stores. I often find jarred or canned oysters at stores. A good recipe for canned oysters is oyster chowder — or you can add canned oysters to risotto or pasta.

CHEESESLAVE

Although I would not call myself a hippie, nor do I necessarily identify with “new age”, I would definitely call myself spiritual and in no way religious. A crunchy left-wing Californian. I even used to usher for the Grateful Dead in San Francisco when I was in college.

So… maybe I’ll like the book.

That said, here’s what I think: we in this real food movement are all so different. Some of us are very right wing, some of us are very liberal. Some of us are Christian, some are Buddhist, some are Muslim, some are atheist.

I guess my point is it doesn’t matter. This is why I try to leave politics and religion out of my blogging and any writing I do about real food. I have found that when I inject a political or religious statement or belief, while some people out there may agree with my position, many will not and they will feel alienated or offended or whatever.

I wish we could all be more accepting of the diversity and less divisive. Who cares if we don’t go to the same church or worship the same God? We can still break bread together.

Anyhow, I haven’t read the book. Maybe Nagel should have left his spiritual beliefs out of this book, too. I’m a crunchy Californian but some of that stuff can get on my nerves, too. I agree with you — I think you have to be very careful about bringing your faith or religious beliefs into a book about nutrition and raising healthy children.

One of the things I appreciate about Weston Price’s book, “Nutrition & Physical Degeneration” and Sally Fallon/Mary Enig’s book, “Nourishing Traditions” is that both of these books embrace diversity among very different people around the globe. That’s the whole idea — we are all so different and yet we can all agree what nourishing food is.

I do very much appreciate your honesty — as always!

Lindsay

Lindsay

Kimi @ The Nourishing Gourmet

I read a few years ago that Wild Red Alaskan Salmon was still mercury-free for some reason. But then I read shortly after that that although the salmon is mercury-free, it is infested with lice (must have been farm-raised). YUCK.

About fish, I feel your pain! Sadly, fish is the basis of many, if not most, traditional diets and YET our oceans are so overfished and fish farming can be so harmful to the environment. Then you compound the problem with pollutants like mercury and it’s just a mess.

Many of the benefits of seafood can be got from shellfish. I’m not anywhere near a fresh source for oysters, clams, mollusks and the like but if I were you could bet I’d be learning how to eat them!