Jimmy Moore is the energetic host of the wildly popular podcast show, Livin' La Vida Low-Carb. In this show we talk to him about his 180 pound weight loss, the lessons he has learned through personal experience and his interview guests, and his two books. We also discuss the USDA proposal for the 2010 dietary guidelines. Jimmy does not mince words, and I think you will enjoy the interview.

Life on our new farm is busy and hot, but Jon and I consider ourselves "lucky ducks" because we have our first livestock on the farm. You guessed it - ducks! Sunday morning we picked up nine Khaki Campbell ducks that are six weeks old. Hens of this breed are notoriously good egg layers, excellent foragers on pasture, and hardy. Duck eggs are nutrient-dense and rich in protein, fat, cholesterol, and calcium. People who are allergic to chicken's eggs can often enjoy eggs of other layers such as ducks.

Nathan winters traveled by bicycle coast to coast to listen to the voices of American farmers. Along the way he made many friends while growing in wisdom beyond his years. We will continue to follow Nathan's adventures, including his work on a Vermont farm and the community-supported publishing of his upcoming book. You will want to follow Nathan, too.

Did you know that you partner with your living space? When you create the space you want, it allows you to become your best self. And while you're de-cluttering, you can earn income from your unwanted items

Once in a blue moon, something amazing happens that changes everything. Jon and I have been going through a lot of changes since our last recorded Podcast in November. As I write this on the eve of the last day of the first decade of the 21st Century, we are only hours away from a blue [...]]]> http://ournaturallife.com/blog/2010/01/onl057-omg-we-bought-the-farm/feed/ 6 413 Once in a blue moon, something amazing happens that changes everything. Jon and I have been going through a lot of changes since our last recorded Podcast in November. As I write this on the eve of the last day of the first decade of the 21st Century, (http://www.OurNaturalLife.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/DSCF4252.jpg)Once in a blue moon, something amazing happens that changes everything. Jon and I have been going through a lot of changes since our last recorded Podcast in November. As I write this ... Jon and Cathy Payne no 24:08 http://ournaturallife.com/blog/2009/10/onl054-zachary-adam-cohen-on-farm-to-table-and-social-media/ http://ournaturallife.com/blog/2009/10/onl054-zachary-adam-cohen-on-farm-to-table-and-social-media/#comments Mon, 26 Oct 2009 02:34:17 +0000 Cathy R. Payne, EdD http://ournaturallife.com/blog/?p=77

This Podcast is a conversation with Zachary Adam Cohen, creator of the Farm to Table blog and television show and self-described “evangelist for the sustainable food movement”. Zachary talks with us about how his dream project started and addresses skeptics on the topic of social media. The link to our interview is found below.

I met Zachary [...]]]> http://ournaturallife.com/blog/2009/10/onl054-zachary-adam-cohen-on-farm-to-table-and-social-media/feed/ 0 - This Podcast is a conversation with Zachary Adam Cohen, creator of the Farm to Table blog and television show and self-described "evangelist for the sustainable food movement". Zachary talks with us about how his dream project started and addresses ... (http://www.OurNaturalLife.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/ZAC.jpg) This Podcast is a conversation with Zachary Adam Cohen, creator of the Farm to Table (http://www.zacharyadamcohen.com/farmtotable/) blog and television show and self-described "evangelist for the sustainable food movement". Zachary talks with us about how his dream project started and addresses skeptics on the topic of social media. The link to our interview is found below. (http://www.OurNaturalLife.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/FTTLOGO.jpg)I met Zachary on Twitter and found that we had several followers in common. After several tweets and a couple emails, we eventually had a telephone conversation that led to this interview. This is one of the beauties of twitter, which Zachary describes as "global thought talk." It is a place where one can have conversations 24 hours a day with like-minded individuals from around the world. In our interview and in a recent blog he discusses the use of social media as a medium for change (http://www.zacharyadamcohen.com/farmtotable/social-media/social-media-strategy-local-foods-movement/). Zachary recommends Chris Brogan's book, Trust Agents (http://www.amazon.com/Trust-Agents-Influence-Improve-Reputation/dp/0470743085/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1256486449&sr=8-1) as an aide to help individuals use the web to build influence, improve reputation, and earn trust. Cathy and Jon described their own goals to promote sustainable food and to lobby for the labeling of GMO foods. This is a topic Our Natural Life recently explored in interviews with both Jeffrey M. Smith (http://www.ournaturallife.com/blog/?p=372) and Robyn O'Brien (http://www.ournaturallife.com/blog/?p=385). Zachary makes wide use of Facebook, Twitter, Friendfeed, and Stumbleupon to connect with the movers and shakers in sustainable food. How do you use social media to promote your favorite causes? Updates from Our Natural Life Jon has been away for a couple weeks, and Cathy neglected to post this blog October 19th due to responsibilities of daily living in his absence. Our fall garden survived the first freeze alerts with the help of generous mulching and a burlap blanket. The screening of FRESH: The Movie fundraiser for Georgia Chapters of Weston A. Price was a big success. Yesterday Cathy attended another fundraiser and panel discussion. This time it was a Slow Food event (http://www.slowfoodatlanta.org/slow_food_atl_events.html) for Wholesome Wave (http://www.wholesomewave.org/community_dv.html). She was so excited to learn about the opportunities in our community for helping low income families connect to fresh, sustainable, local food for half price! This is definitely a cause worthy of support. Speaking of Slow Food, Georgia Organics is featuring founder Carlos Petrini (http://www.georgiaorganics.org/conference/) as the keynote speaker for this year's annual conference. Past keynote speakers included Joel Salatin and Michael Pollen. They keep raising the bar! Jon and Cathy Payne no 47:57 http://ournaturallife.com/blog/2009/10/onl053-truth-and-lies-about-our-food-with-robyn-obrien/ http://ournaturallife.com/blog/2009/10/onl053-truth-and-lies-about-our-food-with-robyn-obrien/#comments Mon, 05 Oct 2009 02:36:43 +0000 Cathy R. Payne, EdD http://ournaturallife.com/blog/?p=78

This Podcast includes our recent conversation with the activist mother of four, Robyn O’Brien. Robyn is the author of The Unhealthy Truth: How Our Food is Making us Sick and What we can do About It. In her book and this show, Robyn shares her story of how she came to be an unlikely food crusader [...]]]> http://ournaturallife.com/blog/2009/10/onl053-truth-and-lies-about-our-food-with-robyn-obrien/feed/ 0 - This Podcast includes our recent conversation with the activist mother of four, Robyn O'Brien. Robyn is the author of The Unhealthy Truth: How Our Food is Making us Sick and What we can do About It. In her book and this show, (http://www.OurNaturalLife.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/head-shot.jpg) This Podcast includes our recent conversation with the activist mother of four, Robyn O'Brien (http://www.robynobrien.com/). Robyn is the author of The Unhealthy Truth: How Our Food is Making us Sick and What we can do About It. (http://astore.amazon.com/ournatlif-20/detail/0767930711) In her book and this show, Robyn shares her story of how she came to be an unlikely food crusader and began to educate others about food allergies, food additives, GM foods, and the dangers of soy. The interview can be downloaded from iTunes, Zune, or Stitcher. You can also listen from your computer using the embedded device below. (http://www.OurNaturalLife.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/jacket-cover.jpg)Robyn has not always been an advocate for clean food. She founded Allergy Kids (http://www.allergykids.com/) in 2006 to spread the word after her youngest child suffered a sudden allergy to eggs. In her book she traces her journey from conservative mother to researcher and advocate. She now works tirelessly to create awareness of children's issues regarding food safety. During the interview, we discussed GM foods. Robyn mentioned a recent ruling against genetically modified sugar beets. You can read more about this here (http://truefoodnow.org/2009/09/22/victory-court-finds-usda-violated-federal-law-by-allowing-genetically-engineered-sugar-beets-on-the-market/). The USDA's approval of GM beets was found to be unlawful. This is not because food safety studies were not completed - food safety studies are not required of GM foods. However, environmental impact studies were not completed. It is encouraging that many companies have opposed the use of GM sugar, and I imagine that this is due to public pressure. It is my hope that parents like Robyn will continue to unite and lobby for clean, safe, and sustainable food. Robyn encourages our listeners to believe in their ability to affect change, to move forward with baby steps, and to try to do one thing to move in the right direction. Updates Thanks for all the support out there! We truly appreciate our 103 fans on Facebook and our 2,050 fans on Twitter. We'd like to encourage you to subscribe to our newsletters and Podcasts and to review us on iTunes. We now have CDs for sale (http://www.ournaturallife.com/blog/?page_id=340) so you can take your favorite show with you in the car or pass it on to a friend or relative. Atlanta fans, if you have not purchased your tickets for FRESH the movie, be sure to do that today! If you do not live in the Atlanta area, you can find a screening near you here (http://action.freshthemovie.com/p/d/freshthemovie/event/events-display.sjs). Jon and Cathy Payne no 1:01:40 http://ournaturallife.com/blog/2009/09/onl052-preserving-the-harvest-tips-from-karen-k-brees/ http://ournaturallife.com/blog/2009/09/onl052-preserving-the-harvest-tips-from-karen-k-brees/#comments Mon, 21 Sep 2009 02:39:25 +0000 Cathy R. Payne, EdD http://ournaturallife.com/blog/?p=79

Karen K. Brees , Ph. D., author of The Complete Idiot’s Gude to Preserving Food is the subject of Cathy’s interview today. Her book is a great beginner’s reference on canning, freezing, pickling, and more. The Podcast interview can be played on the device below or downloaded from iTunes, Zune, or Stitcher.

Karen, a master food preserver, [...]]]> http://ournaturallife.com/blog/2009/09/onl052-preserving-the-harvest-tips-from-karen-k-brees/feed/ 0 Karen K. Brees , Ph. D., author of The Complete Idiot's Gude to Preserving Food is the subject of Cathy's interview today. Her book is a great beginner's reference on canning, freezing, pickling, and more. The Podcast interview can be played on the dev... (http://www.OurNaturalLife.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/preserving_150.jpg)Karen K. Brees (http://practicalpreserving.blogspot.com/) , Ph. D., author of The Complete Idiot's Gude to Preserving Food (http://astore.amazon.com/ournatlif-20/detail/1592579167) is the subject of Cathy's interview today. Her book is a great beginner's reference on canning, freezing, pickling, and more. The Podcast interview can be played on the device below or downloaded from iTunes, Zune, or Stitcher. Karen, a master food preserver, lives on a ranch in Idaho where she raises South African Boer goats (for meat) and vegetables. In spite of a small growing season, she manages to produce a large bounty of produce for her family. By preserving her harvest, she and her husband enjoy local, sustainable food year round. Food preservation techniques used to be handed down from mother to daughter, but many of these traditions have been lost over the last 40 years as modern, processed, convenient foods filled the supermarket shelves. (http://www.OurNaturalLife.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/images-11.jpg)With the recent interest in eating local foods, eating seasonally, and home gardening, there is an increased need to learn these skills once taught at home. Karen's book is a good beginner text that gives newbies the basics in a wide variety of skills including food safety, freezing, canning, pickling and fermenting, relishes, jams and jellies, drying, salting, smoking and root cellaring. Learning to preserve your sustainable, seasonal food can save you money, as well! I've used a couple of recipes from the book and they were easy to do from her clear directions. I put up 7 pints of Wilma's Bread and Butter Pickles using my own homegrown cucumbers. Karen describes these as "the best you will ever find," and I have to agree. They include 3 ingredients I haven't used in bread and butter pickles before. I've also put up a beef brisket from Natures Harmony Farm using her corned beef recipe. I've made this once before from a Julia Child recipe. I need to wait another three weeks to see how it stacks up, since the corning process takes 4 weeks. (http://www.OurNaturalLife.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/images-2.jpg)If I'm ever successful in growing more cabbage than our cabbage worms can eat, I'd like to try her sauerkraut recipe. One reason I've been hesitant to attempt this is insecurity about what might go wrong at each step. Karen includes a thorough troubleshooting section to address these concerns, detailing what to expect when things are going right and how to know when it has gone wrong. In the interview, Karen discusses some helpful tools and hints that are helpful to know. The supplies and gadgets she discusses can be found at our Amazon Store (http://www.ournaturallife.com/blog/?page_id=22). (http://www.OurNaturalLife.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/images-31.jpg)Chapter 6 is devoted to the freezing of meat, poultry, seafood and game. This includes tips for wrapping, identifying cuts of meat, definitions, and more. We'd love to hear about your favorite techniques for preserving the harvest and your experiences with them. Leave comments below. Write in any questions you have for Karen. New Products Please check out our new products page (http://www.ournaturallife.com/blog/?page_id=340) to check out CDs from some of our popular interviews on sustainable food. We hope you will consider purchasing these for your self or as gifts to support our work for the sustainable food movement. Farm-to-Consumer Legal Defense Fund We recently issued a Call to Action to demand clean, sustainable real food sources in your products. Current laws and regulations to not reflect the growing respect for sustainable family farms, according to the Weston A. Price Foundation's Farm-to-Consumer Legal Defense Fund (http://www.ftcldf.org/). Check out their website to see all the hard work they are doing to help your local farmers. Jon and Cathy Payne no 48:39 http://ournaturallife.com/blog/2009/09/onl051-are-you-eating-franken-foods-gmos-are-everywhere/ http://ournaturallife.com/blog/2009/09/onl051-are-you-eating-franken-foods-gmos-are-everywhere/#comments Mon, 07 Sep 2009 02:40:50 +0000 Cathy R. Payne, EdD http://ournaturallife.com/blog/?p=80

Jeffrey M. Smith did not set out to become the foremost expert on the dangers of Genetically Modified Organisms (GMO). However, since 1996 he has made telling others about the risks of GM foods his life’s work. What he has learned is that these unnatural foods put the health of people, animals, and the environment at [...]]]> http://ournaturallife.com/blog/2009/09/onl051-are-you-eating-franken-foods-gmos-are-everywhere/feed/ 0 Jeffrey M. Smith did not set out to become the foremost expert on the dangers of Genetically Modified Organisms (GMO). However, since 1996 he has made telling others about the risks of GM foods his life's work. (http://www.OurNaturalLife.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/images-5.jpg)Jeffrey M. Smith did not set out to become the foremost expert on the dangers of Genetically Modified Organisms (GMO). However, since 1996 he has made telling others about the risks of GM foods his life's work. What he has learned is that these unnatural foods put the health of people, animals, and the environment at great risk. If you buy conventionally processed foods at a supermarket or eat at restaurants, you are eating GMO food. The fact that a food has been modified with viruses or bacteria is not required to be included on a food's label. At Our Natural Life, we want to support Jeffrey's goals by getting the word out to as many people as possible. Please support us in our effort to educate. Our Podcast interview with Jeffrey can be found in the link below. You can also access the Podcast from iTunes, Zune, Tivo, and Stitcher. Are you eating Franken-foods? GMOs are Everywhere (http://www.OurNaturalLife.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/images-3.jpg)In Iowa, where Jeffrey M. Smith lives with his wife, he is surrounded by fields of corn, soy, canola, and cotton that have been genetically modified with bacteria to allow these crops to either eat poison, meaning that they are herbicide tolerant, or they produce their own poison in order to kill insects. Scientific studies confirm that these foods are very dangerous to people and animals. Smith's book Seeds of Deception (http://astore.amazon.com/ournatlif-20/detail/0972966587) is the best-selling book on GMOs. However, his more recently published Genetic Roulette: the Documented Health Risks of Genetically Modified Food (http://astore.amazon.com/ournatlif-20/detail/0972966528), makes the topic greatly accessible. Instead of using a narrative format, Jeffrey uses easy-to-find, bulleted facts about the scientifically documented dangers and risks of GMO food. Quoting from Amazon reviewer C. J. Robinson, "The layout of the book is an exemplar of clarity and should serve as the model for any reference book. It is designed to make the material accessible to three levels of reader: scanners, casual readers, and those who want detail. Each double-page spread is devoted to a problem with GM foods, with the left-hand page having the topic heading, a quote by an expert, and a few summarizing bullet points; the right-hand page gives technical detail. You don't need a science background to understand it. While the book is not bedtime reading, terms are defined and the boggle factor is kept low. The table of contents enables the reader to scan the problems with GM food and quickly to access the evidence on each. " This comprehensive book was written as a combination executive summary brochure and textbook, making it very easy to readily locate pertinent information. It is written in four parts to include heavily documented evidence for these assertions: 1) There are documented health risks for genetically engineered food; 2) the regulation of GM foods is inadequate to protect public health; 3) industry studies are not competent to identify most of the unpredicted side effects; and 4) there are serious flaws in the arguments used to justify GM crops. (http://www.OurNaturalLife.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/safe_image.gif)In our Podcast interview, we use 2 letters Cathy received from Georgia Senator Saxby Chambliss (http://chambliss.senate.gov/public/index.cfm) as a tool for discussion with Jeffrey. The letters were written in response to letters written by Cathy to Sen. Chambliss asking him to support HR 6636 (http://www.opencongress.org/bill/110-h6636/show) , a bill sponsored by Sen. Dennis Kucinich (D-Ohio). You will hear Smith debunk seven claims that Sen. Chambliss makes - 1) GM foods are similar to selective breeding, 2) GM foods are necessary to feed the world, 3) Use of GM foods reduces pesticide use, 4) GM foods undergo years of rigorous safety testing for people, animals, and the environment, Jon and Cathy Payne no 1:13:02