Why Real Foods?

Maybe Grandmother Was Right

Are you confused about all the different ways of eating you hear and read about? From kosher to vegan, low carb to lacto-ovo vegetarian, and the (appropriately named) SAD (Standard American Diet) diet, what do you choose?

There is a new (well, old actually) way of eating that is getting more and more press lately. It’s about going beyond organic, back to home cooking and sustainable agriculture, as well as local eating and the slow food movement. The catch-all phrase for this way of eating is “Traditional Nutrition” and it is gaining a loyal following, among many who have been eating “TF” (Traditional Food) or following “NT” (Nourishing Traditions, one of the best-known traditional foods cookbooks) for years without even knowing it.

In the 1920s and 30s, Dr. Weston Price, a retired dentist, and his wife traveled all around the world and recorded the health of many different traditional peoples. They found a startling difference between people eating their traditional diets and the health of people that were eating a more “modern” diet. The people who continued eating their traditional diets not only enjoyed excellent dental health (no cavities even though most of them never brushed their teeth), well developed bone structure (very evident in handsome, broad faces), freedom from any modern diseases ranging from cancer, heart disease and diabetes to headaches and constipation, and they also seemed full of a true joie-de-vivre. When Dr. Price compared these people to the people of the same genetic make-up (often siblings or other relatives) who ate a modern diet (refined flour, sugar, less healthy meats and fats) he found rampant tooth decay, stunted bone development (narrow faces, crowded teeth due to lack of room in the jaw) and many modern diseases, as well as a certain lackluster attitude towards life.

Dr. Price published his findings in a book called “Nutrition and Physical Degeneration” and accompanied the text with tons of photographs he and his wife took on their travels. The differences in the faces of the people pictured in those photographs are truly startling. Dr. and Mrs. Price traveled far and wide and visited many different cultures, from the Celtic fisher people of the Scottish Outer Hebrides to the tribes of Papua New Guinea, and found that the diets of many of these peoples were very different from one another. The Maasai in Africa, for instance, subsist mainly on the blood and soured milk from their cows while farmers in the Swiss Alps were found to eat mostly sourdough rye bread and raw cheese. But however different these traditional diets were, the Prices found that they shared specific similarities such as the consumption of animal protein and fat, eating part of the foods raw, using fermentation as a means to preserve and enhance nutrition and the soaking or fermenting of grains, legumes and nuts. 

As of late, more and more scientific evidence is being brought forth to support the ideas behind traditional nutrition.  From Mary Enig's revolutionary research in dietary fats to Michael Pollan's fantastic and revealing "The Omnivore's Dilemma", there is a lot of support for the idea of eating traditional, real, foods. Please check out our Resources page for links to some of this research.  We update that page often.

A Few Basics Of Eating Traditional Food

Eat Meat: In all their travels the Prices discovered that there were no healthy vegetarian societies or tribes. While they did find some vegetarians, there were always healthier tribes nearby eating meat or animal products. While the amounts of animal protein and fat varied from very high (the Inuit got about 90% of their calories from meat and animal fat), to reasonably limited (some mountain tribes got only about 35% of their calories from these foods), there was always some animal protein in the diet.  You can read more about this here.

Eat Raw: Every society studied ate a portion of its food raw. Enzymes that help digestion and improve absorption remain intact in raw foods of all kids. Often it was not just vegetables and fruit that were consumed raw, but also dairy products and meats. Many foods were also fermented to improve taste and increase amounts of enzymes and rates of absorption. Lacto-fermentation was (and still is, think sauerkraut, or cheese, both products of lacto-fermentation) also used to preserve foods.

 
Eat Fat: Diets of traditional people were relatively high in fat. Much of the fact consumed was of the saturated kind found in dairy products, animal fat and fat from tropical plants such as coconut and palm oil.

Soak Grains: And seeds, and legumes, and nuts. It turns out that traditional people rarely ate unsoaked or unfermented grain products. Scientific research has proven the inherent wisdom of their ways by proving that unsoaked or unfermented grains contain high levels of enzyme inhibitors as well as phytic acid. The enzyme inhibitors make the grains hard to digest (they inhibit the enzymes in our digestive tract) and the phytic acid binds to minerals in the intestines and prevents their absorption. Traditionally, grains, legumes, seeds and nuts were always soaked in warm and slightly acidic water or soured dairy and/or fermented as in sourdough breads and the sour porridges found all over the world.  Read our article on soaking and fermenting grain here.

What To Eat and How To Eat It

If you are interested in giving Traditional Nutrition a go in your diet, here you will find some pointers to get you started.   Our menus are all based on the concept of traditional nutrition and our Monthly Features (included with your subscription) focus often on one traditional technique that helps make to most of your food.  Some examples are sourdough fermentation, preserving food naturally and making and using cultured milk products.  However, the menus are designed so that it is easy to transition into a more whole food diet by taking small steps at first. While you may get inspired to make your own yogurt, there is nothing wrong with buying yogurt at the store either.

Meat and fish: Look for grass-fed or pastured beef, chicken, pork, or eat venison. Buy wild caught fish. Cook it however you want to, or try some traditional raw dishes such as steak tartare or raw sushi.

 Vegetables and fruit: Eat a large variety and eat at least some of them raw each day ( that means lots of salads).

Fat: Do not shy away from healthy saturated fats. Traditional peoples ate a lot of healthy animal and other saturated fats, as well as milk fat and the saturated fats from coconut and palm oil. Monounsaturated oils such as extra virgin olive oil are also great. The human animal evolved to eat saturated fat and did so for millions of years before heart disease ever became the staple it is today. It is very likely that the problem is not saturated fat from animals, but merely fat from animals eating unnatural (for them) diets such as corn and soybeans. Check out this article for more on that.

Grains: Soak ‘em! With a little planning it is easy. Want to eat oatmeal for breakfast? Put it out to soak the night before in some water with yogurt or even lemon juice added. Eating grains for dinner? Put it to soak in the morning before you leave for work. Look for traditional sourdough bread or buy bread made from sprouted grains. Use brown rice pasta or sprouted grain pasta instead of regular pasta made from unsprouted flour.  Our menus are not generally built around grains, but they are sometimes added as a side dish.  We believe foods that are more nutrient dense should be consumed first.  Our menus are also easily adjusted for people living with gluten or wheat allergies as well as people preferring a lower carbohydrate diet. The recipes come with gluten free and often grain free suggestions.

Fermented Foods: Eat something that is naturally fermented every day or preferably with every meal to help digestion and absorption. For some it might take a bit of getting used to the flavor but there are many fermented foods that are already part of the mainstream diet. Eat yogurt, cheese, unpasteurized sauerkraut and kim chee (a Korean condiment), naturally fermented pickles (not brined in vinegar) and drink dairy or water kefir, kombucha or home-made lacto-fermented sodas and ginger beer (they are actually good for you and kids love them!).

Dairy: Eat raw grass-fed dairy or if you can only find pasteurized milk, ferment it yourself. Learn to make your own yogurt, which is very simple, inexpensive, and tastier then the store-bought kind and full of healthy probiotics. Eat raw cheeses, which are widely available.  Our menus are easily adaptable for dairy free diets and come with dairy free suggestions.

This may all seem overwhelming at first, especially if you have just been nuking some frozen meals for dinner. Start doing one thing at a time, like making some home-made sauerkraut and eating it on a regular basis. Eating a traditional diet can do wonders for your health, energy, and looks.

Please browse this website to find much more information on eating traditional foods.

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