What the heck is ghee? (And why you should try it.)

A friend of mine eats ghee with every meal. I used to feel sorry for her, considering ghee to be nothing more than a poor substitute for butter. I knew next to nothing about it, truth be told, but was somehow under the impression that she had been simply swept up in some new foodie trend.

Little did I know that ghee is simply the fat part of butter (i.e., clarified butter) and that it has been made and consumed for thousands of years, particularly in India and Asia! Its health benefits are well-documented in ancient Sanskrit textbooks, and more and more people are rediscovering its benefits today. It is replete with vitamin A which benefits, among other things, our eyesight, and it has other properties that are rejuvenating, increase our longevity, and strength and immunity. Not only is it beneficial but it also is a vehicle, helping other nutrients get assimilated more easily into our body.

Gee, it’s ghee!

Sandeep Agarwal is from India, where ghee is used liberally. He is an expert on the subject. His great-great-grandfather even started a ghee business in 1889. But living in the U.S., he had bought into the U.S. public health recommendations that saturated fat was to be avoided, so he shunned ghee and other fatty foods. But when his young son began to struggle with a health crisis, Sandeep began searching for an answer to resolve his health. This is when he came upon the Weston A. Price Foundation. And when he began applying the Wise Traditions principles to his family’s diet, he saw his son’s health improve and that’s when he began to realize that he needed to get back to his own roots.

Today he embraces ghee…and fat…and raw milk, along with other organic, natural foods and spices. He is a graduate of David Winston’s Center for Herbal Studies’ two-year herbalist training program and one-year graduate program. He has spoken at Ayurvedic conferences in the USA and India. He is passionate about helping everyone to learn about the benefits of eating organic, healing, natural, traditional foods.

Listen to our conversation “On fat, raw milk, & ghee,” and you will learn:

• the changes he made to his family’s diet that improved his son’s health
• the process for making ghee
• the benefits of ghee
• the chemical composition of butter and of ghee, and how they compare
• why ghee is a good choice for people with dairy sensitivities and for those on the GAPS diet
• what the ancient texts say about raw milk and other healing practices
• about Ayurveda, the ancient Indian healing science which is 5000 years old and about its textbooks (written in Sanskrit)
• the concept of ojaf (immunity) in ayurvedic tradition
• how and why he and his wife started their PureIndianFoods business
• how ghee is a top food recommended for immunity-boosting
• why he believes ghee is growing in popularity as a “fat of choice”

If none of this convinces you to try ghee, you just need to give your tastebuds the treat! I’ve bought this huge tub and started cooking with it like there’s no tomorrow. (But, of course, there will be a tomorrow, thanks to ghee’s longevity-enhancing properties.)

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Hilda Labrada Gore is a health coach and the host of the Wise Traditions podcast (found on iTunes, Stitcher, iHeartRadio and at westonaprice.org). She is also the DC chapter leader for the Weston A. Price Foundation. Get to know Hilda and her approach to health by visiting her website chispainc.com.

 

Chewing the fat with Chris Masterjohn

In the movie, “Little Miss Sunshine” Steve Carrell’s character, Frank, pointedly yells at his niece, “Fat makes you fat.” He was trying to shame the young girl into changing her order at a diner. For decades, the U.S. government was sending Americans the same message–warning us to steer clear of fat, and practically shaming us for craving it. They said it was linked to heart disease. So the public heeded the warning, but health issues–obesity, chronic conditions, and, yes, heart disease–continued to rise despite compliance with the recommendations.

In recent years, the government and even the conventional medical community has begun to pivot, actually recommending that we eat fats for our well-being. But which are the best fats? And how much should we be eating?

Enter Chris Masterjohn, assistant professor of Health and Nutrition Sciences at Brooklyn College in New York. Chris has a  PhD in Nutritional Sciences and is a brilliant person to discuss such a topic. And so we did, on the Wise Traditions podcast. Yes, we chewed the fat…about fat! Give a listen to episode #28: Fat does a body good.

Here are some of the things you’ll learn.

• how fat helps your body run
• moving from fear of fat toward freedom
• how to eat to fuel your body’s needs
• how to figure out what diet (and percentage of fat) will work best for your particular body
• what sources of fats have been eaten over the course of human history
• how our diet has shifted away from animal fats to oils like soybean, canola, sunflower, safflower, corn, and cottonseed
• how this shift may be the cause of many of modern diseases
• the difference between saturated, polyunsaturated, and monounsaturated fats
• the definition of essential fatty acids
• the role of cholesterol (and what numbers could be a red flag)
• a recommendation for a certain type of health care practitioner

Chris concluded our conversation with a surprising suggestion for what to do to achieve optimal health. (To learn more from Chris, check out “The Daily Lipid”  or follow him on social media @chrismasterjohn.)

As we wrapped up our talk, I walked away with some new insights and with a conviction that was stronger than ever:  fat does many things for us, but it most certainly does NOT make us fat, no matter what the movies (or other media) may tell us!

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Hilda Labrada Gore is a health coach and the host of the Wise Traditions podcast (found on iTunes, Stitcher and at westonaprice.org). She is also the DC chapter leader for the Weston A. Price Foundation.