The Source

A producer said to me recently:

“Good things happen through food!”

It’s a great way to simplify the message around Food, Farming and our Health!

Our farmers have been encouraged to farm intensively over the last few decades: to focus on yield rather than quality, requiring chemicals rather than pasture rotations and heavy machinery, compacting soils already lacking in dry matter still further & reducing soil cover.

We now know this isn’t the best way – in turning the tide towards more regenerative farming, good things are already happening through food:

Farmers are reminded of their vital role producing food;  it’s not just a commodity which leaves the farm for processing in a long food supply chain, but real food for our nourishment.  Real food which still looks like it did when it left the producer!

Increasing biodiversity is leading to healthy soils which smell wonderful again!  Full of countless microbes - bacteria, yeasts and fungi which ensure the food they grow, animal or arable, is richer in nutrients and a much more effective carbon-sink.

Food within these systems which farm in nature’s image is more nutrient-rich & literally feeds our health – too much processed food is one of the main drivers of chronic diseases like Heart disease, Cancer, Type 2 Diabetes and Obesity.

We’re eating a more plant-based diet, and this is a good thing – science shows our gut health, and our overall health needs more fibre in our diet.  BUT, and here’s the crucial bit – ‘Plant-based’ means just that – food choices that are based around plants – 70% of our plate in fact should be filled with them.  The other third will do wonders for our long-term health if it’s based on animal sources like Dairy, Meat, Fish and Eggs.  These foods help to avoid vital nutrient-gaps like Iron: poorly available from plants but vital for growth & brain development and every system in our body which requires energy. Vit B12: only available from animal foods and prevents anaemia, keeps nerves healthy and helps to preserve brain function in later life. Omega 3: fish gives us the type for its health-giving functions from heart health & stroke prevention to brain health too.  Plant Omega 3 is different and difficult for our bodies to use in the same beneficial way.

Cows – our great Upcyclers!  Beef and Dairy reared on pasture-fed and grass-fed systems work with nature – cows convert plentiful yet inedible grass to nutrient rich food for us!  This is a blog in itself so far better to listen to the podcast below, recorded among the pasture leys with insects and bees buzzing, sitting in the same field as some very content Red Devon native cows on Bailey Hill Farm (Native Beef) Buckinghamshire!

Getting back to more local supply systems not only prevents further nutrient loss through processing and transport but crucially gives better returns for our hard-working farmers and the local community – you get to know your food producer too!

It’s all win win!

Good things happen through food – next time, all the hidden & valuable nutrients in Dairy…

My visit to Bailey Hill Farm, pasture-fed Beef and Sheep: https://youtu.be/KHfQcBcaegY

Calling our Farmers!  This year, together with another fabulous Nutritionist, Georgine Rees and Chef and farm shop owner, Katy Brill,  I’ve founded The Gut Project.  Its aim is to reconnect our health with REAL food & farming… often with the help of our own gut microbes (as well as those in healthy soils).  Please get in touch if you would like us to promote your produce, your farming story and its benefits to our health!  More here: 

https://lwnutrition.co.uk/gut-project/