If you are steering away from red meat due to the negative press on saturated fats, you may be happy to hear that a very powerful fatty acid primarily found in beef and dairy products has been linked to long-term weight management and health.
This potent nutrient is called conjugated linoleic acid, or CLA, and the best possible sources of CLA are grass-fed beef and raw dairy products that come from grass-fed cattle. Read more…
SBA Honors Nation’s Best Small Businesses
Will Harris III of Georgia will join Other State Winners in Washington D.C. During National Small Business Week
WASHINGTON – Will Harris III, Georgia’s 2011 Small Business Person of the Year, is among the nation’s top entrepreneurs who will be honored at the U.S. Small Business Administration’s National Small Business Week events May 18-20 in Washington, D.C. Under the theme, “Empowering Entrepreneurs,” a series of events and educational forums will mark the 58th anniversary of the agency and the 48th annual proclamation of National Small Business Week.
Harris is owner and president of White Oak Pastures, one of the largest producers of organic, grass-fed beef in the country. Harris has taken his family farm in Early County, Georgia, passed down over five generations, and coupled it with modern technology to meet the growing demand for grass-fed beef.
Today, White Oak Pastures has 40 non-family employees and is the largest certified organic farm in Georgia. Its grass-fed beef is available in Whole Food Market stores as well as Publix Supermarkets in five states.
As one of only two, on-farm USDA inspected grass-fed plants in the country, White Oak Pastures was already distinctive. But it became even more so with the installation last year of the largest solar barn in the Southeast. This facility has 50,000 watts of capacity and turns sunlight directly into energy for the beef processing plant.
A few months ago, Harris broke ground for a new USDA-inspected poultry plant to process his other free-range chickens and turkeys. This facility, also housed on his farm, is expected to be operational in August of this year and initially employ about 25 people.
The three-day Small Business Week event in Washington, D.C., will take place at the Mandarin Oriental Hotel. Events can be viewed virtually through SBA’s free, live webcasting, which will be accessible at http://www.nationalsmallbusinessweek.com/.
As a food writer and cookbook author, I’m faced with an occupational hazard: eating. That explains why, when I re-applied for life insurance, the rejection notice came at me faster than a fierce tennis serve. My blood sugar was too high. My doctor told me I had to lose 20 pounds, so I did. In fact, in less than a year, I lost 25. Taking off the weight was surprisingly easy. It is now five years later, and I have not surrendered even one precious notch on my belt.
The way I did it, however, was by focusing more—not less—on food. I know this is an unorthodox approach, as most diets try to take your mind off eating with formulaic meals or meal substitutes, like protein shakes. But at the outset, I knew that the only long-term eating plan that had a prayer of succeeding for me was one that worked with my love of food.
So, rather than putting food out of my mind, I worked hard to raise what I call my Culinary Intelligence (CI): my ability to choose food with so much flavor that I wasn’t left seeking satisfaction in sugary sauces, deep-fried crusts and melty cheeses. In the course of writing my upcoming book, Culinary Intelligence, I figured out how to eat wonderfully but not fat-fully. Here, my key healthy eating strategies:
Healthy Eating Strategies: Umami rules
Steak is one of my favorite foods. But not the kinds of steak served at chain restaurants, which are often covered in barbecue flavoring or melted blue cheese. These calorie-laden sauces disguise the bland meat, usually mass-produced from feedlot, grain-fed cattle. I could eat a pound of it and still feel unsatisfied. Grass-fed beef is a whole different matter. Read more…
Along with taste, freshness and cost, consumers these days are also concerned with where their food comes from.
This new focus has created a renewed interest in grass-fed beef, both as a healthy alternative to corn- and hormone-fed cows and as an environmentally friendly industry.
Until just a few generations ago, read more…
WASHINGTON — Kentucky author Wendell Berry was honored at the White House Wednesday for his writings and conservation advocacy, receiving the National Humanities Medal from President Barack Obama.
Berry, 76, a Port Royal novelist, essayist, poet, farmer and activist, shook hands with Obama, and read more…