Beyond Labels: A Doctor and a Farmer Conquer Food Confusion One Bite at a Time

by Sina Mccullough, Joel Salatin, Barbara Damrosch (Foreword by)

Overview

A nutritionist and a renowned organic farmer explore and explain the art of eating well.

Do you want to be healthy, happy and free? But find yourself stuck in your healing journey and want some guidance and encouragement? Perhaps you are overwhelmed by all of the conflicting diet advice. Maybe you don’t know where to start or who to trust. Or, maybe you just need a little motivation.

You’re not alone. We’re constantly bombarded with ever-changing diet recommendations and the latest diet crazes: Paleo, Keto, Whole 30, Specific Carbohydrate Diet, and the list goes on. Eggs are bad one day and good the next. Kale is good for you today. Tomorrow it contains high levels of thallium and is toxic to your thyroid gland. How do you know what to put on your plate that will bring you toward greater health and wellness?

In Beyond Labels, Joel Salatin, a farmer who is blazing the trail for regenerative farm practices, and Sina McCullough, a Ph.D. in Nutrition who actually understands unpronounceable carbon chains, bring you on a journey from generally unhealthy food and farming to an ultimately healing place.

Through compelling discussions leavened with a dose of humor, they share practical and easily doable tips about:
• What to eat
• How to find it and prepare it
• How to save money and time in the kitchen
• How to stay true to your principles in our modern culture

Whether you are just starting your health journey or you grow all of your own food, this book is designed to meet you where you are and motivate you to take the next step in your healing journey – ultimately bringing you closer to health, happiness, and freedom.

“The ideas, evidence and takeaways from this book have the power to reshape America's declining health. This is the most-fascinating, inspirational, and flat out most useful book I've ever read. Joel and Sina have done what no other authors have managed to do. They've created a survival guide for the war on our gut microbiome.”—Andy Snyder, Founder of Manward Press

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781733686600
Publisher:	Rizzoli
Publication date:	05/26/2020
Pages:	448
Product dimensions:	7.90(w) x 9.80(h) x 1.00(d)

About the Author

Dr. Sina McCullough is the author of Hands Off My Food. She holds a Ph.D. in Nutritional Science and a B.S. in Neurobiology, Physiology, and Behavior, both from the University of California at Davis. She was the Director of R&D for a supplement company and taught Biochemistry and Bioenergetics at UC Davis. Despite her knowledge, she developed an autoimmune disease, which prompted her to launch an investigation into our food supply. What she learned saved her life; she reversed the disease without the use of medication. Now, Dr. McCullough is dedicated to helping others avoid the health challenges she has faced.

Joel Salatin and his family own Polyface Farm in Virginia’s Shenandoah Valley. The farm grows pastured livestock and forestry products, marketing directly to thousands of families. Featured in countless print media, documentaries, and YouTube videos, the farm represents the best in commercial-scale environmental agriculture.
He speaks internationally to food and farming conferences, has authored 16 books, and is editor of The Stockman Grass Farmer, the world’s premier trade publication for pasture-based livestock farming. Some 15,000 visitors a year come to the farm for tours, food, education, and entertainment. He writes columns for Plain Values magazine, homestead journals, and Manward, an e-magazine.

Table of Contents

Foreword xix

Introduction xxii

Section 1 Your Roadmap to Health, Happiness & Freedom

Chapter 1 Meet Your Roadmap 2

Chapter 2 Personalize Your Roadmap 6

Chapter 3 Set Yourself Up For Success 23

Section 2 Step Up Your Game with Convenience

Chapter 4 Shift from Low to High Quality Processed Food 34

Practical Bites

#1 Harness Your Power 36

#2 Find A Buddy 46

#3 Say No To Antibiotics When Eating Out 49

#4 Look For The 100% USDA Organic Label 55

#5 Mirror, Mirror 61

#6 Switch to Organic Eggs 66

#7 Say No To Chlorinated Eggs 71

#8 Choose Organic Chicken 75

#9 Choose Your Disinfectant On Your Chicken 80

#10 Don't Waste Your Money on "Free Range" Or "Pasture Raised" 90

#11 Eat 100% Grass-Finished, Organic Beef 93

#12 Eat What You Can Pronounce 98

#13 Avoid Artificial & "Natural" Flavor 103

#14 Choose Preservative Free 107

#15 Don't Fear The Fat Label 112

#16 Throw Out Artificial Sweeteners 123

#17 Get To Know Fake Meat 127

#18 Drink Soda With Intention 131

#19 Hydrate Your Cells 134

#20 Say Yes to rBGH-free Milk Products 145

#21 Be informed At Restaurants 151

#22 Look For The Duo 155

#23 Look For The Trio 163

#24 Look For The Quartet 176

#25 Eat Real Salt 181

#26 Say Yes To Wild-Caught Fish 184

#27 Bring Your Lunch 190

#28 Be Prepared With Snacks 193

#29 Bring Your Own Solutions 194

#30 Step Outside The Grocery Store Box 200

#31 Stock Up On Sale items 204

#32 Give Your Family The Freedom To Opt-in 207

#33 Create Convenience 212

#34 Sprout & Grind Your Grains 216

Section 3 Meet Real Food

Chapter 5 Shift From High Quality Processed Food To Whole Food 224

Practical Bites

#35 Count Quality, Not Calories 227

#36 Avoid The Dirty Dozen®; Choose The Clean Fifteen® 236

#37 Buy A Slow Cooker Or Pressure Cooker 240

#38 Use Your Slow Cooker Or Pressure Cooker 242

#39 Don't Trust The "Gluten-Free" Label 244

#40 Peel Your Apples 250

#41 Cook A Whole Chicken 253

#42 Cook One Meal Using Whole Foods 256

#43 Save Time & Money By Batching & Storing 262

#44 Eat A Daily Helping Of Microbes From Ferments 267

#45 Add One Prebiotic Each Week 273

#46 Spice It Up! 276

#47 Breathe In Microbial Diversity 281

#48 Say No To Arsenic In Rice 284

#49 Listen To Your Body 288

#50 Cycle Your Foods 298

Section 4 Meet Your Neighbor

Chapter 6 Shift From Whole Food To Locally Grown Whole Food 308

Practical Bites

#51 Choose Local In The Grocery Store 312

#52 Eat Ecologically Grown Produce From Your Local Farmer 314

#53 Eat Ecologically Raised, Pastured Chickens From Your Local Farmer 317

#54 Eat Ecologically Raised, Pastured Eggs From Your Local Farmer 319

#55 Eat Ecologically Raised, Grass-Finished Beef From Your Local Farmer 321

#56 Eat Ecologically Raised, Pastured Pork From Your Local Farmer 324

#57 Meet Your Local Farmers 327

#58 Thank Your Farmers 330

#59 Say No To Subsidies 332

#60 Eat Mindfully 335

#61 Meditate Daily 339

Section 5 Get Your Hands Dirty

Chapter 7 Shift From Locally Grown to Home-Grown Whole Food 344

Practical Bites

#62 Grow One Herb In Your Kitchen 346

#63 Grow One Edible Plant Indoors 349

#64 Grow Your Sprouts 354

#65 Start A Small Garden 356

#66 Cover Your Soil 360

#67 Create Your Own Compost 363

#68 Add A Solarium On Your Home 369

#69 Catch The Rain 370

#70 Save Money By Preserving One Fruit Or Vegetable 372

#71 Adopt Chickens & Feed Them Kitchen Scraps 374

#72 Relocate To A Homestead 376

Section 6 Spread Your Wings

Chapter 8 Become Your Own Headliner 378

Appendix

Joel's Story 384

Sina's Story 389

A Farmer and a PhD Unite! 392

Trademark Acknowledgment 395

References & Permissions 398

Index 419

Editorial Reviews

"Dr. Sina McCullough and Joel Salatin bridge the gap between producer, consumer and healthcare practitioner in their amazing book Beyond Labels. Whether you are just embarking on your health or you are a nutrition ninja, this book is for you."—Robb Wolf, New York Times bestselling author of The Paleo Solution and Wired To Eat

“Do you count yourself among the bewildered? Think you should eat better but don't know where to start? Then Beyond Labels is the book for you! Sina McCullough, PhD and Joel Salatin, Celebrity Farmer, lead the way with fascinating discussion coupled with Practical Bites to help you start over with a more nutritious diet and better health.”—Sally Fallon Morell, President of The Weston A. Price Foundation, author of Nourishing Traditions

“The labels we put on ourselves as eaters are as mired in dogma and misinformation as the labels on our packaged food: paleo, vegan, keto, pescatarian and beyond. Beyond Labels makes the complex simple, but more importantly, it is an opportunity for our unity and reconnection to the land, our communities, and our humanity through real food. Let the feast begin…”—Zach Bush MD, Triple Board-Certified Physician & Founder of Seraphic Group, Inc.

“Beyond Labels is the best possible investment you can make to guide you on your way toward optimal health. Don't expect a book that will lecture you or make you feel badly about your current eating habits. Joel and Sina offer budget-friendly tips and break down the choices into easily manageable changes that anyone can make. You won't be overwhelmed by confusing technical jargon or grim warnings that you're going to die if you don't throw away everything in your kitchen right this very moment. Instead, you'll be warmly encouraged to nurture and heal yourself with high-quality food.” —Daisy Luther, Founder of Luther Inc. & TheOrganicPrepper.com

“Most folks know there's something wrong with our food. And this book proves it unequivocally. But it doesn't stop there. It offers dozens of proven, practical ways to beat a system that seems rigged against us. The ideas, evidence and takeaways from this book have the power to reshape America's declining health. This is the most-fascinating, scariest and flat out most-useful book I've ever read. Joel and Sina have done what no other authors have managed to do. They've created a survival guide for the war on our gut microbiome.”—Andy Snyder, Founder of Manward Press

“Liberating! Fascinating! Transformational! The farmer, world-renowned Joel Salatin of Polyface Farm, and nutritionist Sina McCollough, PhD, are exactly what the world needs right now. Their conversational story-telling style in this delightful book is not only informational, pertinent, crucial and fascinating….it is transformational.” —Zen Honeycutt, Moms Across America

“This is a remarkably well-structured book, which unusually educates consumers on the simple steps they need to take to improve their diets rather than just outlining the problems surrounding the products on grocery store shelves. A must read for everyone who cares about food!”—Henry Rowlands, Director of The Detox Project

“Beyond Labels tackles the very root of the cause of most modern diseases: diet! In this time of “food-like substances” as Joel likes to say, we need a return to home-cooked meals. Reading this book will help you better understand how real food can truly heal. We need more collaboration like this between food producers and healthcare providers.”—Diana Rodgers, RD, director of the film and co-author of the book Sacred Cow: The Case for Better Meat

“The beauty of this book is that it addresses both ends of the value-chain and builds stronger connections between the plight of both growers and eaters. We share that goal on the Land to Market team at the Savory Institute - cultivating new market opportunities for farmers while empowering consumers with real-world data about environmental impact and soil health that allows them to vote with their dollar, in a transparent food democracy, like never before.” —Chris Kerston, Chief Commercial Officer of Land to Market - Savory Institute

“In their groundbreaking book, Beyond Labels, Dr. Sina McCullough and Joel Salatin offer a thought-provoking network of strategies to take charge of our health and well-being through food choices adapted to individuals. You get to build your own pathway. You won’t find the magic bullet or any prescribed, mindless fad diets here, rather a complete atlas-makers toolkit for drawing custom pathways to the modern Mecca of good health through a diversity of whole foods. This book should be on the shelves of all eaters.” —Hank Will, Editor At Large, Mother Earth News & food farmer at Prairie Turnip Farm

“Only solutions at the intersection of the food system and community health have the potential to deliver the lasting, sustainable cure we are desperately searching for. This book is a roadmap to that future.” —James Maskell, Founder of Evolution of Medicine

“Beyond Labels unpacks one of the most undervalued powers humans possess: the ability to choose what we eat. With practical advice and no judgment, the authors provide clear entry points to an authentic organic food system, bringing our plates closer to our ideals.”—Michele Marchetti, Co-director of Communications, The Cornucopia Institute

“A successful, all-natural farmer and a savvy PhD nutritionist/scientist get together to write a book about food. What a concept! Finally, a story about eating that invites you, the reader, to co-create your own personalized roadmap to finding the best food options for you and your loved ones.” —Will Winter, DVM, Holistic Veterinarian

“Hands down, the best book I’ve read in years. As a mother, wife, meal planner, and budget calculator, I have found myself overwhelmed standing in the grocery checkout line with the multitude of fad diets or quick mental health fixes available. The colorful pictures with seemingly happy healthy people conflict with what the grocery store offers in their coupons or incentives for me as the grocery shopper. Beyond Labels has given me a simple guided approach for success not only nutritionally, but mentally and emotionally.” —Christine Fauver, mother of two

“This book has the power to change the way the food industry operates and thus, MOST IMPORTANTLY, the health of Americans! We have been gifted, by Joel and Sina, a transparent look into the way food is grown and handled, and the information is packaged in bright, amusing, swirls of color, that left me feeling that this gift could keep on giving. I finished this book feeling empowered to make simple, step by step changes in my personal life and in my business. This book should be included in every high school and university health and wellness class.” —Michelle Walrath, Producer of FedUp & Co-Founder of Organic Krush

From the Publisher