TRADITIONAL DIETS VS. MODERN DIETS? NO COMPARISON! TRADITIONAL DIETS WIN HANDS DOWN!!

I often wonder why our country has not given more thought to the studies done on traditional diets by anthropologists. I mean, what is wrong with a “primitive” diet that creates straight teeth with no caries, good physiques, and resistance to disease? Why not take a look at traditional nutritional concepts that create fine bodies, ease of reproduction, emotional stability and freedom from degenerative ills?

A quick look at the traditional diets of the people from villages in Switzerland, Gaelic communities in the Outer Hebrides, the indigenous peoples of North and South America, Melanesian and Polynesian South Sea Islanders, African Tribes, Australian Aborigines and New Zealand Maori, and one would quickly see the importance in understanding the value of these traditional diets rich in essential nutrients. If you have any interest in improving the quality of your health or the quantity of your life, you may want to take a good look at the differences between “their” Traditional Diets versus “our” Modern Diet.

Basic Premise: The Traditional Diet (TD) maximized nutrients and the Modern Diet minimizes nutrients. How?

TD's food came from fertile soils where Modern Diets come from depleted soils.

TD's focused on organ meats over muscle meats, where MD’s prefer muscle meats and consume literally no organ meats.

TD's were loaded with natural animal fat but today’s diets are loaded with processed vegetable oils.

If dairy products were consumed in a TD they were raw and/or fermented versus today’s pasteurized/ultra-pasteurized and homogenized dairy products.

In past cultures, grains and legumes were soaked and/or fermented, but today grains are refined and grains/legumes are very rarely prepared properly.

If soy was consumed, it was in small amounts and only after a long fermentation process, unfortunately, now the majority of soy foods are man-made, industrially processed, genetically modified and consumed in large amounts.

Back in the day, bone broths were always available, now the majority of soups can be found to be loaded with MSG and artificial flavorings.

In TD's there wasn’t a concern for refined sweeteners as there is now because everything was unrefined.

The food that was indigenous to each tribe was loaded with natural vitamins compared to today where synthetic vitamins are either added to the food or taken alone.

During the agriculture age, and before the industrialization age, farmers used traditional seeds with open pollination, versus now where the lands are loaded with Hybrid and GMO seeds.

The focus was always on traditional cooking and there was no irradiating or microwaving of the foods. (www.westonaprice.org)

How is that for a list? We could learn a lot from those who came before us, and hopefully we will.

People constantly tell me that they know how and what they should eat. But do they really? (I certainly hope they did not get this idea from looking at a nutritional pyramid, or let alone a square).

Do they understand their metabolic make up? Do they understand the workings of the hormones Insulin, Cortisol, Ghrelin, and Leptin, and how they affect their bodies? Do they know all of the ways a “one-size-fits-all” or “cookie cutter” diet will increase cellular turnover and in effect accelerate their aging process? Do they understand the damage that is done by consuming a modern day diet?

Probably not, but for now, I want to make this point, no one, and I mean NO ONE is improving their health by consuming a modern day diet (I don’t care what you look like or what you feel like, it is literally impossible). Be it an infant, child, teenager, adult or senior, everyone can benefit from practicing some of the concepts learned from the basics of the traditional diet.