Page 6 - Winter2010

Letters

views. They are probably among the the USDA is to sell the animal live and I avoided most grains, especially wheat,
folks who frequent the farmers’ markets have a butcher hired by the new owner since I have a family history of diabetes
in Virginia Beach. to kill it. and am sensitive to carbohydrate over-
The late father of a friend of mine And here’s the most ridiculous load; however, I ate rice occasionally.
was a CIA agent stationed in South part: home pickling remains banned I also avoided dairy products as they
America. He said that in the last days of on the theory that the food might spoil. seemed to cause flair-ups of arthritis in
the USA, there would be the appearance How sad that cucumbers have become my hands. I wasn’t eating butter so the
of freedom but not its actual substance. controversial. only fat I was eating, other than those
His remarks came back to me as I lis- Christine Ross provided in foods and the fish oil supple-
tened to the farmers’ tales of woe. One of Virginia Beach, Virginia ment, were olive oil and coconut oil.
the first complaints of the farmers to me I started thinking about other pos-
was that they felt that farms were being STEADY WITH THE LARD sible dietary causes for the tremors and
centralized (as in a Communist system). In the late winter of 2009 my hands began to wonder whether it was possible
And my concern is that collectivization developed a mild tremor that became that I wasn’t eating enough animal fat. I
will be next. progressively worse over the next six knew that the myelin sheath of nerves is
As you know, the test of private months or so. The shaking, which composed mainly of fat and that healthy
property is whether you can do what you eventually became nearly constant, was myelin is critical for proper nerve func-
want with your property. It is painfully severe at times, especially when I was tion. Reasoning that I am an animal,
obvious that farmers and dairymen have doing something intentional, like trying not a plant, it seemed possible that my
lost ownership of their farms and live- to scratch my nose or hold something reliance mainly on plant oils (olive and
stock as the government and big agricul- still. I am an artist and need steady coconut) had resulted in a deficiency
ture bear down on them with excessive hands in order to create paintings. of some type of fat that might be more
and punitive regulation. For example, in In the 1980s, after years of poor available in animal fat.
Virginia, goat owners who wish to give eating habits, I began to correlate a va- Since I wasn’t eating butter, I de-
or sell their goat to a neighbor must now riety of health problems, including hand cided to add lard to my diet to see if it
register their premises with the govern- tremors, with my diet and slowly began could help. I started using it liberally
ment, and tag and number the goat. If eating healthier food. When my hands for cooking foods. To my amazement,
a chicken trespasses on a neighbor’s began to tremble, I experimented with within two days there was a noticeable
farm, the chicken’s owner will be fined. additional changes. Although I didn’t decrease in the severity of the shaking.
If a small independent farmer wishes to drink much coffee, I stopped drinking Intrigued, I continued to use lard for
sell pieces of meat from an animal he it entirely. I also began taking additional cooking, added it to soups, and even
has raised, he must drive as far as six B-complex vitamins, over and above added it to my herbal tea. The shaking in
hundred miles to the USDA-inspected that supplied in the multivitamin I was my hands improved so much that within
butcher to have the animal slaughtered. taking. Slowly, over the course of several several months, there was only a minor
Of course, the price of gas will be passed months, the tremors went away. tremor. Now, about a year after I started
on to the consumer. But the shaking of my hands re- including lard in my diet, there is no
As I am sure you have noted, USDA turned in early 2009. At the time, I was noticeable tremor of my hands except,
inspection is no guarantee that the meat eating a very “good” diet, including very rarely, when I am really tired.
will be free of cancer or blood clots. lean red meat, pork, chicken, eggs, and The fat composition of lard ap-
There are plenty of cancerous chicken fish, along with abundant vegetables parently varies based on the diet of the
parts for sale in the grocery store. I’ve and fruit and a variety of vitamin and hogs and the body location of the fat
seen them. The only way to get around mineral supplements, including fish oil. that is used to make the lard. Accord-
6 Wise Traditions WINTER 2010

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