The video above options an interview with return visitor Ashley Armstrong, a licensed private coach with a Ph.D., MS and BS in engineering, and cofounder of Angel Acres Egg Co., which makes a speciality of low-PUFA (polyunsaturated fats) eggs. On common, her eggs include 17 to twenty milligrams of linoleic acid (LA), which is about one-quarter of the LA present in standard eggs.
She’s additionally began a brand new personal member meals system that provides milk, cheese, low-PUFA pork and low-PUFA hen, known as Nourish Cooperative. Both ship farm-fresh meals proper to your door.
“One of my favorite topics is essentially just returning back to how food used to be made,” Armstrong says. “One-hundred fifty years in the past, the dietary linoleic acid (LA) was naturally low, so folks would simply go to the grocery retailer and their meals choices did not have a bunch of linoleic acid.
It was, in my view, in all probability simpler to supply meals again then. And now we’re inundated with not simply PUFAs from vegetable oils, but in addition from animal merchandise as effectively, as a result of some animals are simply autos for vegetable oils. The assertion that ‘You are what you eat’ has by no means been extra true due to how a lot the agriculture business has modified over the past 100 years.”
Modern Diet Is Loaded With Harmful LA
Around the arrival of the American Civil War, within the 1870s or so, is after they developed the know-how to extract oils from seeds. Before then, the typical LA consumption was lower than 5 grams a day, and sure nearer to 2 or 3 grams.
Today, most individuals exceed that by the point they’re achieved with breakfast. As famous by Armstrong, eggs and bacon are two sources that, at present, have very excessive LA ranges, because of being fed an unnatural and PUFA-rich weight loss plan.
Eggs and bacon are sometimes perceived as wholesome meals choices, particularly amongst carnivores, however what most are lacking is that LA is a metabolic poison that impairs, if not destroys, mitochondrial operate and, as such, standard eggs and bacon is a recipe for in poor health well being. The excellent news is there are methods to lift eggs and pork that aren’t loaded with LA, which is what Armstrong makes a speciality of.
“I think the best thing someone can do for their health is track their food on chronometer for five days and just pay attention to the amount of PUFAs in their diet. If you can push that as low as possible, I think you’re going to see improvements in your health pretty quickly,” Armstrong says.
“And you may’t obtain that going out to eat at eating places. You cannot obtain that consuming a ton of nuts and seeds. You cannot obtain that consuming standard bacon, standard egg yolks, standard drumsticks and issues like that.
You have to actually take note of the varieties of fats you are consuming. It’s form of eye-opening that meals sourcing actually does matter in at present’s day and age, as a result of the abundance we’ve got in these high-PUFA, high-LA choices is form of alarming and horrifying.”
Fortunately, the phrase is beginning to get out. There’s now an app known as Seed Oil Scout that identifies which eating places prepare dinner their meals in seed oils and which don’t. Unless you go to a seed oil-free restaurant, you may be just about assured they’re cooking in seed oil, as a result of it’s far cheaper than cooking in butter.
Why Healthy Eggs Are so Important
Chicken eggs are an enormously vital a part of our weight loss plan as a result of they include vitamins which are actually troublesome to get from different meals, choline particularly. Choline, present in ample quantities in natural, pastured egg yolks, was first found in 1862.1
It was formally acknowledged as a necessary nutrient for human well being by the Institute of Medicine in 1998.2 Since then, we’ve discovered that choline has a protracted record of well being advantages. For instance, it’s required for:
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Healthy fetal growth3 |
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Optimal mind operate, reminiscence and cognition |
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Nervous system well being — Choline is important for making acetylcholine, a neurotransmitter concerned in wholesome muscle, coronary heart and reminiscence efficiency |
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Cell construction — Choline is required for the synthesis of phosphatidylcholine, higher often called lecithin, which is required for the composition of cell membranes |
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Mitochondrial operate4 |
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Metabolism (power manufacturing) |
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DNA synthesis |
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Methylation reactions5 |
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Cardiovascular well being |
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Liver well being, as choline is required to hold ldl cholesterol out of your liver; a choline deficiency might lead to extra fats and ldl cholesterol buildup6 |
Research7 revealed in 2020 additionally concluded that choline has anti-inflammatory exercise and may be notably helpful in these with insulin resistance and/or metabolic syndrome. And, whereas a choline complement was good on this regard, eggs have been much better.
Choline Is Required for Energy Production
Armstrong feedback:
“In phrases of maximal vitamins in sq. footage, I do not know for those who can beat egg yolk. Mother nature designed the egg to guard the yolk as a result of the yolk is probably the most treasured a part of the egg. The shell acts as a bodily barrier to guard the yolk, and the egg white may be very antimicrobial, antibacterial in nature to guard the integrity of the yolk.
So the egg yolk is a nutrient powerhouse. It has all the vitamins wanted to develop a hen. From this little yolk, a whole hen is grown. How stunning is that? It’s unbelievable. It accommodates a considerable amount of B nutritional vitamins, and all the B nutritional vitamins are needed cofactors within the steps to supply power in your physique.
If you do not have sufficient of the micronutrients, for those who’re micronutrient poor, your metabolism will not be as sturdy, as a result of you do not have the required cofactors to generate ATP. Choline, I feel, is among the most vital vitamins that lots of people are poor in. In carbohydrate metabolism, carbohydrate oxidation, choline is a needed step in power manufacturing.”
Assuming you’re not getting choline from different sources, you have to eat not less than two, in all probability three and extra, egg yolks per day. I eat six yolks a day, however just one egg white, as a result of I work out and stroll not less than 5 to 6 miles a day. The extra lively you might be, the extra choline you have to assist the next metabolic charge.
Armstrong recommends making an attempt honey cured egg yolk. Simply place the egg yolk in a glass container and pour sufficient honey over the yolk to cowl it. Let it treatment in a single day. This will agency up the yolk a bit, making it much less runny. You can simply scoop it out of the honey, eat it uncooked, after which reuse the honey to treatment extra yolk.
Mad Science — Transforming the Fatty Acid Profiles of Animals
As defined by Armstrong, livestock are categorised into two varieties: ruminant animals, which incorporates cows, lamb, goats and deer, and monogastric animals resembling chickens and swine (and people).
Ruminant animals have a fancy digestive system consisting of, sometimes, 4 stomachs. Their digestion includes a wide range of microbes that assist break down the meals they eat. These digestive microbes additionally convert dietary PUFAs into saturated fat by way of a course of known as biohydrogenation. As a end result, ruminant animal merchandise are usually decrease in PUFA, even when they’re fed a high-PUFA weight loss plan.
Monogastric animals have only one abdomen, and no matter fat they eat is translated into their tissues. This is why conventionally raised hen meat and pork are so excessive in PUFAs.
Unfortunately, the mainstream is so satisfied that saturated fats is unhealthy and PUFAs are good that they’re creating applied sciences to govern the fatty acid composition in ruminant animals. In different phrases, they’re utilizing know-how to show the saturated fat in ruminant animals into PUFAs, which is nothing wanting a catastrophe.
“That’s why I think conversations like this are so important, to spread awareness and empower those who are in food production,” Armstrong says. “Our farmers need to be educated on why we need to go back to traditional farming styles, traditional feed programs, so we can return the natural fatty acid profiles that mother nature created.”
While monogastric feed diets are already very excessive in PUFAs, standard farmers are additionally utilizing dried distillers grains (DDGs), constructed from the waste merchandise of the ethanol business, which is driving the PUFA content material in monogastric livestock even greater.
“There are studies showing that for pigs fed DDGs, their fat composition has the same amount of PUFAs as canola oil. So we’re literally transforming the fatty acid profile in our agriculture system for the worst,” Armstrong says.
This wouldn’t be fairly as unhealthy if it was given to ruminant animals, as they’ve the capability to transform the PUFAs into saturated fats. Alas, they’re giving it to monogastric animals like chickens and pigs, turning these meals into one thing that may solely hurt your well being in the long term. Unfortunately, there are not any laws round using DDGs, so we don’t know the way a lot is getting used, or who’s utilizing it.
Barriers to Healthier Foods
Equally unlucky is that farmers like Armstrong, who understands diet and needs to lift animals proper, are held again in additional methods than one. She can’t make the most of authorities sponsored feed, for instance. She additionally doesn’t benefit from scale. She explains:
“The largest impediment is the feed, as a result of the massive feed mills are so environment friendly in what they do this they’ll herald large portions of the feed elements on the identical time. They have that financial system of scale that’s actually laborious to have at a single farm stage.
We’re not bringing in truckloads of feed elements at a time. And the extra trucking that you’ve in creating your feed routinely raises the costs. Anyone concerned in trucking is aware of how costly trucking is true now. So if there’s this technique set in place the place large portions of corn and soy are trucked in on the identical time, and a bunch of feed is made on the identical time, that is the place you may minimize a variety of prices.
That’s good factor, that is advantageous. But proper now, I haven’t got sufficient quantity to push these varieties of economies of scale. It’s simply going to be costlier as we’re beginning to develop and develop.
But the extra farmers that we deliver into our partnership … if we develop hubs in our space and we will create these economies of scale just a little bit higher … bringing feed to a common hub, that is the place we will begin to decrease prices over time and might get increasingly more aggressive with the costs on the grocery retailer.
If anybody have been to log onto my web site proper now and see what the value per egg field is, they’d in all probability be just a little bit alarmed, however I’m not making a ton of cash on the eggs. It is my purpose to decrease the prices considerably over time. We are actively making steps in direction of that.
One factor, for instance, is we’re optimizing field dimensions in order that we will get higher transport charges. Another factor is our feed, hopefully within the subsequent couple months, shall be delivered in semi-trucks with an auger arm. We’ve been doing feed luggage for years now, and that is so costly.
The incontrovertible fact that now we’ve got the choice of a semi-truck, that is going to save lots of vital prices on supply of the feed. Ultimately, on the finish of the day, I feel one of many coolest issues that may occur is connecting feed crop farmers with livestock farmers.
We want folks to develop our feed. I haven’t got sufficient land to develop the crops for our livestock. We’re not going to have feed that is sprayed with pesticides. That’s unacceptable on our finish. So how can we’ve got a community of row crop farmers working with livestock farmers to supply low-PUFA, low linoleic acid meals grown as nature supposed?
We’re at present engaged on these steps behind the scenes, in addition to to instantly join with the folks rising the feed as effectively, as a result of that is a really integral a part of this … We’re simply making an attempt to duplicate what mom nature did 100, 200 years in the past.
It does not matter if the eggs are [labeled] ‘organic;’ if the chickens are nonetheless fed natural soy, it is nonetheless going to have excessive linoleic acid. Organic soybeans haven’t got low linoleic acid. A standard and natural soybean is similar.”
Livestock Guardians
If you wish to elevate your personal chickens for eggs, you not solely want to make sure you’re feeding them accurately, however you have to additionally shield them from predators. I’ve had not less than 50 chickens killed by predators. Armstrong has now hooked me up with a livestock guard canine, a Great Pyrenees pet named Joy. We talk about the rationale for utilizing this breed within the interview. Of course, upon getting a guard canine or two, you additionally must ensure you’re feeding them accurately as effectively.
“Feeding them what they are biologically designed to eat is very important so that they can function at their best and protect the chickens,” Armstrong says. “So, an integral a part of what we do right here, and that is simply one thing that I began means again at first when prices have been so excessive.
How do I cut back prices in a means that does not sacrifice high quality? And I used to be like, effectively, for some motive the butcher store by me has a bunch of additional organ scraps as a result of people don’t love organs they usually’ve acquired meat scraps. So for the final two and a half years, I’ve gone each week to an area butcher store, picked up beef meat scraps and beef organs … that I feed to our chickens.
And the great factor is that the livestock guardian canine simply munch proper alongside the chickens. So, they get bones, they get calcium, they get all of the connective tissue across the bones, they get the muscle meat, they get the organs.
And in order that’s an integral a part of one thing that I’ll attempt to arrange for all the farmers in our community — connecting to an area butcher as a result of there’s a lot meals waste. It permits the chickens to get a protein enhance. It permits the chickens to get a nutrient consumption enhance, and it actually helps the livestock guardian canine as effectively.
I simply go weekly to choose it up. I tip him and I additionally deliver trash luggage, and it is an incredible relationship as a result of it prices the butcher cash for rubbish vehicles to return take these scraps to landfill.”
Why Ashley Was Able to Make Such Brave and Courageous Choices
Ashley had been on a quest for well being and wellness her complete life. She dabbled with numerous fad diets, however by no means was in a position to establish what actually resonated together with her. While attending graduate faculty for her Ph.D., she chased a path in prosthetics, 3D printing and management engineering, believing it to be her ardour.
Yet, deep down, she felt a disconnect, realizing she was extra influenced by others’ expectations than her personal needs. Despite her preliminary pleasure, a grand sense of achievement fully eluded her.
Her true calling got here unexpectedly by way of her fascination with regenerative agriculture. Volunteering at native farms opened her eyes to a world the place meals manufacturing not solely nourishes people, but in addition revitalizes the soil and respects livestock. This newfound ardour consumed her free time, igniting a Joy inside her that educational pursuits by no means might.
Her story additionally illustrates the implications of creating comparable selections. Not solely did she radically enhance the standard of her personal life, however her selection allowed her to create a enterprise that gives the best commercially produced eggs within the United States. Her model is Golden Nuggets as a result of that’s what they’re.
They actually are golden nuggets of diet which are not often obtainable exterior of rising your personal chickens. Her eggs assist folks keep away from one of the crucial potent metabolic toxins of their weight loss plan. So not solely are you able to enhance your personal life by making courageous and brave selections, however you may also enhance the lives of many others.
It is extremely possible that her story will resonate very powerfully with you and provide each perception and inspiration as she describes her journey to reclaim her Joy.
By setting apart the recommendation of others to unearth her personal truths, she embodies the essence of bravery and braveness. Choosing to stroll away from years of laborious work influenced by the expectations of others, she exemplifies a profound instance of somebody rediscovering her Joy. It’s troublesome to ascertain a extra becoming instance of a return to Joy.
Very much like Ashley, I additionally made a brave and courageous determination just a few days after our interview that can have profound implications on the longer term thrilling trajectory of this web site. I believe it can radically enhance your capability to expertise Joy.
In the video phase above Ashley displays on the timeline of her determination, contemplating how just some years in the past, her well being was removed from preferrred. She struggled with mitochondrial power manufacturing, and her physique was in a low thyroid state. Your physique prioritizes power for important duties, and decision-making requires vital power.
Your mind consumes about 20% of your physique’s power regardless of being solely 2% of its weight. Ashley merely wouldn’t have had sufficient mobile power to produce her mind to decide like she did except she improved her well being. Factors like extra linoleic acid, estrogen and endotoxins have been depleting her mobile power, which is essential for making energy-intensive choices.
Her transformation underscores the facility of nurturing your well being to achieve the power needed for making vital life modifications. Avoiding dietary pitfalls like seed oils performed a key position on this journey, enabling her to faucet right into a newfound capability for courageous choices — a testomony to the profound influence of regaining mobile power on her capability to navigate life’s selections.
It is my honest need and hope that you simply contemplate her journey to encourage and empower you to make comparable selections in your personal life and reclaim the Joy that you simply deserve. Imagine experiencing the almost limitless Joy that Ashley has together with her 1000 chickens and 4 Livestock Guard Dogs under.
Join the New Food Revolution
If you wish to buy eggs from Armstrong’s farm, Angel Acres Egg Co., go to angel-acresfarm.com. She’s slowly rising the variety of chickens inside the community to meet the demand, so you should definitely add your title to the wait record. She is doing all the pieces to scale this enterprise as quick as potential, however keep in mind that your assist will assist her scale the operation in order that we will prepare extra farmers to lift the chickens nearer to the place you reside so you may keep away from transport prices and have the very best high quality Golden Nuggets of diet for you and your loved ones.
“Regenerative agriculture and cell pasture raised is essential for me. So, on a single farm, I do not wish to have greater than 2,000 chickens, as a result of at that time, potential ailments begin to come into play. You begin degrading the panorama, and I do not assume that that is the place chickens can actually be tremendous wholesome.
So it is in the end going to be hubs and increasingly more farmers getting concerned,” she says. “Those who join the wait list will be notified first when more spots open up.”
She’s additionally began a brand new personal member meals system known as Nourish Cooperative that provides milk, cheese, low-PUFA pork, low-PUFA hen, grass fed beef and lamb. Both will ship farm-fresh meals proper to your door.
“The goal of both is returning back to how food used to be produced and creating these food systems where humans can naturally consume lower levels of linoleic acid,” Armstrong says. “We’re making an attempt to make it simpler for people to get their vitamins with out rising their PUFA consumption. So we’re beginning each from the bottom, up, and as we attain extra economies of scale, we deliver extra farmers into the community.
That’s how we make a change — once we present these massive gamers within the business that ‘Hey, these are metrics that consumers care about. So either make that change or get out of the way.’
That’s once we can honestly make a change, once we can begin making the folks excessive up within the agriculture system begin to query, ‘Maybe we were wrong about polyunsaturated fatty acids. Maybe saturated fat actually isn’t bad.’ We can present that by client curiosity and the place customers are shopping for meals from.”