Our Philosophy
Food is more than fuel. Food is nourishment.
Food not only sustains — it has the power to restore us. Food brings energy, comfort, and pleasure. It connects families, friends, and roots us to the earth. Many health issues can be eased and addressed through the simple act of eating well.
At The Oliver Weston Company, we follow the principles of Weston A. Price within a Paleo template. We prioritize local seasonal produce, pasture-raised proteins, bone broths, and healthy fats that the body recognizes and uses with ease. Every dish we prepare is made by hand using local and organic ingredients.
Our food is made to support digestion, flavor, and offer whole-body nourishment. This is food that feeds you in every sense.
Traditional cultures simmered or ground animal bones to release valuable minerals. Bone broths are the easiest and most delicious way to gain these benefits, along with gelatin for joints and skin, plentiful free amino acids, and hydrophilic colloids for enhancing digestion. Using bones for broth is an important aspect of nose-to-tail eating, a practice which respects and cherishes the value in each part of the animal. Read why ours is the best.
Here are some easy ways for you and your family to consume bone broth daily:
Drink as a hot beverage
Add to soups and stews. All of our soups are all made with bone broth!
Replace the water for cooking grains and bean with broth. It’s so healthy and naturally enhances flavor.
Use chilled or lukewarm broth in baby bottles and sippy cups, or serve cold “jelly broth” with a spoon.
Bone Broth
Think raw is the way to go for optimal nutrition? Fermented vegetables have much higher levels of enzymes and vitamins than their raw counterparts, plus the powerful benefit of probiotics. The fermenting process (time + salt + a sealed environment) allows the naturally-occurring lactobacilli present on all living things to use the sugars in the veggies for food and multiply dramatically. There are more beneficial live organisms in one jar of properly-fermented veggies than in an entire bottle of probiotics! Ferments enhance digestion of protein and fats which is why they are traditionally consumed as part of a protein-rich meal.
But what do they taste like? Chances are you’ve had fermented foods many times! Kimchi, pickles, and sauerkraut are three of the most familiar to the American palate. True probiotic ferments require refrigeration and do not contain vinegar, which kills beneficial bacteria. Our ferments are pleasantly sour, tangy, and salty. The mildest in flavor are green cabbage mix, green beans, kohlrabi, pink cabbage with apples, and carrots with garlic, while our wide variety of radish ferments pack more of a punch.
Enjoy a few tablespoons with each protein-rich meal, and serve the liquid brine in 1-2 oz servings as a tasty tonic to enhance and soothe digestion.
Fermented Foods
We advocate conscious consumption of grains and legumes, which is why you won’t find many grain options on our menu; those we do use are soaked and either fermented (millet sourdough, buckwheat sourdough) or sprouted (quinoa pilaf). Our beans and legumes are given a long soak, simmered with spring water and kombu, and prepared with healthy fats.
Grains, beans, and grain-like seeds (which include wheat, rice, corn, millet, buckwheat, quinoa, amaranth, spelt, rye, barley, and teff) are a potent source of lectins which, if not properly prepared, can cause considerable issues for the human body. Many people connect eating grains and legumes with bloating, weight gain, brain fog, inflammation, joint pain, increased allergies, digestive issues, sluggishness, and even depression. While going gluten-free (avoiding wheat, barley, rye, and spelt) and eating only slow-cooked beans can help many of these issues, some individuals need to further reduce consumption, even those that are properly prepared.
What to eat instead? Emphasize vegetables, high-quality protein, and nourishing fats to reduce your dependency on having lots of carbs at each meal.
Unripe (green) and ripe (yellow) plantains.
Carb-rich veggies like sweet potatoes, winter squash, green peas, parsnips, and Jerusalem artichokes.
Baked items made from grain-free flour. Some of our favorites are cassava, arrowroot, tigernut, coconut, and almond.
Pasta that is not made from grains. We like red lentil pasta, sweet potato “glass” noodles, and zucchini noodles.
Grains & Legumes: Good or Bad?
Did you know that babies and children need more calories from fat than from protein? The right kinds of fats provide incredible nourishment and are essential for growth, energy, mental function, healthy digestion, and hormone balancing. They also contain valuable nutrients and provide a feeling of fullness or satiation that quells sugar cravings. Traditional fats for cooking are safe at medium to high temperatures, including ghee (clarified butter), poultry fat (chicken, goose, duck), beef tallow, pork lard, and refined coconut oil. Butter, raw virgin coconut oil, and extra-virgin olive oil are best added after cooking to retain their nutritional content.
Using traditional fats allows us to avoid the rancid and damaging processed vegetable oils that are used so widely in restaurants and home kitchens.
Coconut Oil: Antiviral, antimicrobial, a special source of immune-boosting lauric acid, also found in breastmilk.
Beef Tallow: When obtained from grass-fed/grass-finished cattle it boasts high levels of omega-3s and CLA for preventing cancer.
Pork Lard: Mostly monounsaturated, a great source of vitamin D from pigs raised outdoors exposed to sunlight.
Butter or Ghee: Contains Activator X, found by Weston Price to be a powerful catalyst that helps the body absorb and utilize minerals.
Duck fat: Mostly monounsaturated, rich in Omega-3 fatty acids and vitamin E.
Nourishing Fats
High-quality protein contains all the essential amino acids the human body needs, typically only available from animal sources. Depending on blood type, activity level, age, and ethnic background, you may require more or less high-quality protein in your daily diet, but a good rule of thumb for most adults is 20-30 grams at each meal. Insufficient protein can lead to fatigue, irritability, edema (fluid retention), muscle loss, and strong cravings for unhealthy foods. Rather than denying or neglecting your body’s needs, focus on choosing wisely and responsibly.
What to look for:
Wild-caught seafood, including shellfish
Grass-fed/grass-finished beef, buffalo, lamb, elk, etc.
Meat and eggs from pasture-raised chickens
Pork from pigs raised outdoors on pasture, with access to grass and plenty of sun
All livestock should be free of antibiotics, feed containing GMOs, herbicides or pesticides used on their pasture or forage (an organic label will ensure these standards are followed, but does not indicate grass or pasture fed)
Buy direct from farms and farmers’ markets so you can find out how the animals are raised. To order online, visit USWellnessMeats.com
Protein: The Building Block of Life
Vegetables and greens are the critical foods needed to provide cleansing and detoxification, while also serving as nourishment for the beneficial microorganisms in your digestive tract. Fresh greens and vegetables in all the colors of the rainbow, served raw or cooked as needed for good digestion and enjoyment (not in the form of juices or powders) should be the foundation for each meal. We recommend a strong emphasis on vegetables over fruit.
Individuals with chronic digestive issues may have reduced populations of beneficial “bugs” along with an inflamed, irritated, and damaged gut lining. Pay attention to how vegetables affect you and select the ones that work best for your body. For more on healing, read the Gut And Psychology Syndrome.
When plants cause problems:
Nightshades – potatoes, tomatoes, eggplant, bell peppers, and hot peppers – contain compounds that, when improperly metabolized, can cause joint inflammation, digestive issues, insomnia, arthritis, and even gallbladder problems. The American diet is heavily reliant on nightshades, and many people consume them multiple times each day. If you have chronic health issues this is something to be aware of. Read this article to learn more.
Produce
For people who digest dairy well, we recommend ghee, butter, and raw grass-fed cheese as the most nutrient-dense options. Fermented dairy, including kefir and yogurt, can be very beneficial as well, and many people, especially children, will do well with raw cow’s or goat’s milk from a safe, clean, and trusted small farm. Signs of dairy intolerance include digestive issues, eczema, altered mood after consumption, headaches, sinus infections, and increased mucous production though some people only react to pasteurized dairy which contains denatured proteins and is difficult to digest.
At the Oliver Weston Company, we’re very conscious of food intolerances, so we don’t usually include dairy in our recipes; raw cheese is an option in some of our casseroles and quiches. For recipes that require a rich, creamy flavor, we opt for delicious, additive-free coconut milk. Coconut milk does not contain the phytic acid and enzyme inhibitors found in some nut milks, or the high levels of estrogen found in soy milk.
How to obtain healthy raw dairy from grass-fed cows:
In CT, raw milk is available in health food stores. In NJ, selling raw milk is illegal. In NY and MA, it can be obtained by going directly to a farm that is inspected and authorized to sell raw milk. Be sure to select a farm that does not feed its cows grains and follows organic practices. In Dutchess County, we love Chaseholm Farm in Pine Plains – they sell a wonderful grass-fed raw milk.
Visit RealMilk.com for more information, education, and resources.
The Dairy Dilemma
Turn to natural sweeteners and fruit to satisfy that desire for something sweet, and be sure to have it after a meal when it will do the least harm to your blood sugar. Here at the Oliver Weston Company, we exclusively use dark (formerly Grade B) maple syrup (less refined, and higher in minerals), raw dark honey, and very occasionally organic coconut sugar to sweeten our baked goods and desserts.
We also always add plenty of healthy fats to our desserts to minimize a blood sugar spike, and in our muffin and sweet loaf recipes we use less sweetener than is typically called for to help our customers’ palates adjust to a less sweet taste.