Thanks for stopping by… First things first. Nefs' Nest is an entertaining look at food, health and more, especially as it pertains to snack foods. Hopefully, you'll find my views refreshing and insightful, if not comedic at times.

You should know that when it comes to snack foods, I do carry a certain bias toward a brand of snack foods I hope to soon be launching under the name of Teather^TM. This brand is owned by my company, NEFS Products, Inc. I will try to be as fair and impartial as I can whenever discussing Teather^TM, and NEFS Products for that matter. If you feel otherwise, please do not hesitate to "hold my feet to the fire." Suppression of dissenting views simply violates the authenticity of the desired experience. More about me, Teather^TM and NEFS Products as the blog unfolds.

NEFS?

An odd word, isn't it? As an acronym it stands for Naturally Emergent Food Systems. A fancy way of stating a philosophy that characterizes foods made from all edible and palatable components of natural foods. Natural here means it can be plucked from nature without any significant refining effort, other than possibly removing some of its water content. For example, a dried apple slice with its skin intact is natural in this line of thinking. Apple flavor or apple concentrate are not. In either case, components of the original fruit have been removed, which influences the nutritional value, flavor and texture of the food product in which they are incorporated.

At its core, N.E.F.S. acknowledges that foods exert effects on the human body just like drugs, although their effects may not be as immediately pronounced. Over the long-term however, the axiom "you are what you eat" rings true. The effects a person reaps, or doesn't reap, from eating food comes from the thousands of natural chemicals ultimately making up the particular food. N.E.F.S. questions the practice of using just particular components of natural foods to produce food products, and excoriates the use of any"unnatural" foods. For example, what is more healthful – cranberry juice or the whole cranberry? Set aside for the moment the adverse effects of added sugar and other added materials, and its quite clear humans (this excludes by design food manufacturing executives who wish to suggest otherwise) reap more benefit from the whole cranberry fruit than simply its juice. More about this in later posts…

NEFS also, believe it or not, refers to the plural of Nef. Nef? Yes, Nef. According to my teenage daughter, Nef may sound like an unsavory acronym, but it's not. No, Nef is a person who is inspired by authentically nutritious foods. These are foods that follow the N.E.F.S. philosophy. If you haven't already guessed, my company takes it name from this philosophy and Teather^TM is an example of a food following that philosophy.

Future posts will focus a little more on entertainment value. I thought it necessary to just thrust some basic information out there.

By the way, the blog carries a title of "Nefs' Nest" to signify its applicability to persons inspired by authentically nutritious foods AND  to foster a sense of community and culture of learning similar to the way chicks learn in the nest before venturing into the world. We Nefs are all in this together. And that's no April Fools' joke.

All the best,

Jim