Thanks Nathan for your Primal Diet and Amish farm experiences!

More about Nathan!

I am satisfied with the Primal Diet - experimenting and refining...

Epilogue

It has been nearly 2 years since I first wrote the Amish Diaries. I prepared this for blog publication while sitting in an open air kitchen in the middle of the jungle on the Big Island of Hawaii (where this photo was taken), typing and editing the last of The Amish Diaries. I am wondering how successful it is going to be and if people are going to find it interesting. I think about how much has changed and how much has stayed the same.

I am still friends with Albert and talk with him regularly. Because of my experience living with him, I fell into becoming his “broker” and was able to get him some large accounts. He is now busier than ever and is sending his products all over the United States and even into other countries. However, he has had many close calls. The PDA (Pennsylvania Department of Agriculture, I like to call them the PDA-Holes) is well aware of his and other Amish and Mennonite activities and have tried to shut him down numerous times. Luckily, the PDA is so inept and unorganized that simply by Albert asking the PDA inspector for his identification when he comes to his farm is enough to confuse and set them back for months. Also, Aajonus Vonderplanitz and The Right to Choose Healthy Foods organization have been instrumental in helping Albert prepare legal documents, assist him with court cases and most importantly, simply know his rights. It has truly been a pleasure and a learning experience to watch the legal savvy of Aajonus in action. Without his love, knowledge and countless hours he has donated, Albert and many others, would have been shut down a long time ago.

As always I am still constantly experimenting with and refining my diet. Living with Albert was a powerful transition point for me from a Weston Price diet to an Aajonus Vonderplanitz Primal Diet. So far I am very satisfied with Aajonus’s diet and recommendations. After years of being fooled by unhealthy looking false gurus, I feel I have finally found a friend and a teacher who, frankly, knows what the fuck he is talking about. I have a home in Los Angeles right by the local Primal Diet style raw foods co-op and have been able to integrate myself in the community there. Having that resource of hundreds of people who are doing the same “weird” diet as me has been integral in my healing. I regularly correspond with Aajonus. As the months go by I find my respect and love for him grows. He is always very kind and humble and continually inspires me to learn more about the world around me. I credit him with saving my life and I will always be thankful for his tireless efforts to learn what makes us healthy.

I am submitting this blog while living at Pangaia, a permaculture and raw food community on the Big Island of Hawaii with about 8 other people. Pangaia is offering me the chance to get truly “primal”. I have gone spear fishing, wild boar hunting, slaughtered goats and drank the fresh blood. I believe that I will never know the true power of food unless I find the best quality available, Pangaia is offering me that chance. I have found that everything people say can kill me actually makes me stronger. I have eaten 1 year old rotten meat, pig intestines, brains, raw organs, fresh blood, feces and I haven’t died yet. It is a constant effort to undue years of brainwashing and force myself to be open to eating things which, for lack of a better term, are revolting. However, if there is one thing that I have learned, it is that when it comes to my health, it is usually the last thing I want to do or the thing that I am most adverse to, that ends up being what my body needs to heal. The fact that thousands of others have blazed the trail before me, and that I am not the first raw astronaut, offers some hope and comfort.

Living experience on a raw food farm - acknowledgements

Acknowledgements

First and foremost I would like to thank Albert, his family and all the other Amish I hung out with who helped bridge the Amish/English cultural gap by allowing me, a raw meat eating, eccentric surfer from California into their homes and lives. I would like to thank my Mom, Dad and brother for putting up with my new choice of lifestyle once I came back from the Amish. I know raw chicken, 8 month old rotten buffalo meat and the multitude of scary and smelly jars that cluttered our house and refrigerators took some getting used to and I want you to know that without your love and support, it would have not been possible. Diane O’Connell for her continued love, support and help in editing the book. Mary Beth Clark and her son Mathew for being my kindred raw spirits, and motivating me to get it published. Manis and everyone at Pangaia for providing a loving raw food community for me to live, work and experiment at. James Steward and everyone at the Rawesome Co-op for providing a place for me to sell my book and by creating an epicenter of health and community. My current success with my diet would not have been possible without the Rawesome Co-op. Weston Price Foundation and Sally Fallon for getting me started on the path towards health and activism and for supporting so many local farmers. The Right To Choose Healthy Food Foundation for their activism and support of local farmers. Aajonus Vonderplanitz, my good friend and raw food compadre. I credit you with saving my life. Your attitude and love for the truth is a continual inspiration for me and I look forward to growing together in the future. Finally, I would like to thank all of the “astronauts” out there. Those people who are willing to dietarily boldly go where no one has gone before. When friends and family have turned their backs and said you were crazy and that eating raw pork, pig intestines, trichonosis, rotten meat, rat lung worm, brains, mongoose, baby mice was going to kill you, you still pushed forward because you needed to know the truth. Your persistence and dedication has helped thousands of people to get healthy. I hope all of the raw foodists realize that most of them would never have transitioned to a raw diet if it wasn’t for the pioneers who had tested the waters by eating things i.e. raw fish, raw dairy that at the time, were considered extremely dangerous and crazy. I have learned that the biggest obstacle to my health is my own prejudices and close-mindedness and I implore the raw food community to support scientific, unbiased and unorthodox research. You raw pioneers truly understand me and are my kindred spirits and I thank you for your inspiration. Everyone lives, some of us die trying.

And I would like to thank Mary Jo for editing and support. I would like to thank Jim Ellingson for his tireless efforts in getting my first book online and for believing in me."
Preface

So how does a “never worked a day in his life” white boy from the suburbs of Dallas, Texas end up living with a raw milk bootlegging Amish family in Lancaster, Pennsylvania? To put it simply, the common love of good food.

I first met Albert at a Weston Price conference in Long Island, New York. I was volunteering for the event and one of the event organizers, a kindly old man named Harry was allowing me to spend the night with him. Albert as well as another Amish named Mathew Fischer were selling their wares at the event and needed a place to stay. So Harry invited them to stay the night also and we had a big sleep over party.

It was the next day that I truly began to fall in love with the idea of living with Albert. His booth was a veritable buffet of life. Cheeses, yogurt, eggnog, creams, eggs, breads, kvass. This was the first time in my life where I was truly able to eat anything I wanted without fear of ill consequences. I remember eating a cup of one of his homemade egg-nogs, then being so overcome by the flavor and nutrition that I asked for 2 more. The more I ate the better I felt (usually the more I ate, the worse I felt with food). My stomach was bulging but I was fat, happy and felt no pain. I was starting to believe that I found the answer, that I could actually feel good for once in my life. Years and years of praying to God to make me better were finally coming true. Then it hit me, I was graduating cooking school in a couple of months and I was required to do an internship. Why not ask Albert? He agreed immediately and that is how The Amish Diaries began.

What follows is nearly the exact transcription of my diary entries of living with Albert from December 13, 2004 to January 14, 2005. If it was up to me, I would have left it exactly as I had written it. However due to reasons of clarity I have been advised to do some minor edits, add foot notes and an index of names. Also, names and places have been changed in order to protect Albert and the other people mentioned in the book. As you will find out, the Amish are a private people and I wish to respect that. Besides what I have mentioned, everything that you are about to read is exactly as I have written it. It is my intention to preserve the soul and “rawness” of my experience and have the reader be able to experience the excitement and newness just as I was experiencing it.

There are many reasons I wrote The Amish Diaries. I wanted to bring to light the extraordinary struggles that ordinary people go through in order to make healing food available to the masses. In this day and age, nutrient-dense food is a luxury and not a right and I want readers to see that without the continued efforts of people like Aajonus Vonderplanitz, Sally Fallon, Albert and many others, their access to healthy food will be become more and more restricted. To this day, Amish Farmers are still being illegally harassed by the PDA and other government organizations and whether it keeps happening or not is up to you. You the reader must not expect others to do it for you, or as the old story goes, once everyone else is gone, no one will be left to stand for you.

I also wanted to share the journey that I went through as I was figuring out “which diet is right for me”. I often tell my friends and clients who are in the process of changing their diets that they need to be aware of how big a shift they are making in their lives. Friends, habits, lifestyles, living situations and relationships will all be drastically affected, for better and for worse, simply by changing what we put in our bodies. The public is generally not aware of the physical, mental, emotional and spiritual pain that people like myself and others must go through when we change our diet. We don’t do it because it is a fad or we are [hypochondriacs]; we do it because we must in order to live. There is an intense amount of self-reflecting that goes one. A continual building up and breaking down of the ego that must be done in order to rid oneself of the self-imposed mental barriers that much of the time are the real cause of our unhealthiness. I want others to see that they are not alone and it is normal for these feelings and situations to happen. If my suffering can help a few people transition easier in their diet, then I am doing something right. It has been said that it is easier to change ones religion than one’s diet and in my experience this has been true.

I hope you enjoy The Amish Diaries as much as I did writing them. When you have finished reading please check out Right To Choose Healthy Foods [an organization set up by my good friend Aajonus Vonderplanitz, that fights for us to get the foods we need to be healthy] and make a generous contribution. .

Living experience on a raw food farm - memories of the Amish

Day 33 1/14/05

A cheerful light skinned, plump, black man just walked into the train car. He announced, “Tickassss Out! Take ya ‘tam!” I asked, “How ya doin?” He said, “Fine, sounds like the train’s fawlling apaaaart.” The train was making a lot of noise. I said goodbye to everyone today. I didn’t stop to say bye to Elizabeth, Naomi, Peter or Susan. The driver was ready and I felt bad making him wait. I shouldn’t have felt bad, I should have said goodbye. I played a final best 2 out of 3 in Ping-Pong with George. He beat me both times. He is the official “Grass Fed Farm Ping-Pong Champion.” He is the “Organic Ping-Pong Champion.” I told him that I am going to come back and surprise him one day and ask for a rematch. I want to catch him off guard so I might have an advantage. I’m going to miss them, not in a huge way. Enough to make me think fondly of them. I’m sitting on a train with all of these English. I feel different, even more different from them now. I don’t want this feeling to end. I only want it to grow stronger. I don’t want to watch TV, radio, music or movies. I don’t want to want to do those things¹. I think of all the years that I’ve wasted watching TV with my family. We could have been out taking a walk, throwing the Frisbee, talking, creating memories. I feel angry at a society that has taken this from me. It has warped the minds of the people I love, destroyed their health, cheapened our relationships. I don’t know how to feel or who to be angry at. I just want everything to be okay. I want my family to be okay. I want my dad to not die soon and have his health². I want him and my mom to make money and feel secure. I want them to have occupations that are meaningful and help people. I want them to be fulfilled. I want to have a loving relationship with my brother. I want him to love me and want to spend time with me. I want to make my parents happy and proud of me. I want to make money doing something that I love and that helps people. I want to surf, in warm waters, really, really well. I don’t know how many of these things are going to come to pass. I’ve been finding out that generally, what I feel, comes to pass. Half of me is confident and filled with purpose, the other half is scared, timid and has low self-esteem. Am I going to make money? Am I going to have to go to another school and learn more? Am I going to have to learn about astrology and start doing that? Am I going to have to start eating raw food all the time? I don’t want to be anything else. Massage therapist, Nutritionist, Chef, Astrologer. I just want to be Nate, surf and help people. The train just passed a parking lot where I saw a kid doing BMX jumps.

1 That feeling still remains, but the willpower doesn’t! I fell right back into my own habits as soon as I got back home. Society is just too addictive for me.

2 Several years before that, my dad almost died in the hospital from a “heart infection”. The doctors had to saw through his chest and replace part of his heart with a pig’s. The doctors said that he probably got the infection from flying on a plane. I do not agree with their theory. I have eaten raw chicken brains, poop, raw meat, raw dairy and 5 month of buffalo kept in a glass jar on my stairwell at room temperature since I was at that Amish farm. I have not died and have only gotten stronger because of it. I know hundreds of people who eat that same food and they are healthy. How could “some bacteria on a plane” have almost killed my dad, if I eat bacteria and pathogenic-laden food every day and feel great! No one has been able to answer that for me yet. Healing my father has been one of the driving forces behind my quest for health.

Living experience on a raw food farm

Day 32 1/13/05

I’m hanging out with Albert and Marie right now. Lucy and Lisa are asleep on the couch. The wind is howling outside. The chimes are chiming. Albert is using my cell phone. I let him use it so we could hang out instead of him going to the phone outside. I hope I’m not being a bad influence. It’s fun though, to be a bad influence. Marie and I are eavesdropping on what people are saying. Some customers are bitching, others are just leaving orders. It was really warm and windy today. Extremely warm and foggy. Albert complimented me today. He said that the Amish made me a farmer and a Dutchman. I liked that. Cultured Bloodered Milk is a funny name.