The Teeth Don't Lie

What is the healthiest way to eat?  What is going to bring us optimal nutrition and a vibrant life?

Many different motivational aspects of eating point to a single conclusion: there is always some component of desire when we eat- the desire to nourish ourselves, to be alive, to live life, both privately and with others.

Look at the many theories and nutritional methods of today on nutrition.  Have we gotten to a point of looking at our food as monotonous and limited?  As simply a way to get our body fat down?  As a restriction to our social life?  We are bombarded with seemingly "good" nutritional material that is promised to work and keep us healthy.  Our health is the one thing we have control over.  It is something that cannot be bought, cannot be abused, and must be a daily discipline.  You have a CHOICE to be healthy.... or not.  While all of these diets that I have listed below are meant to be a positive change in people's lives, the bottom line is, they are just confusing everyone.  Heard of any of these?

• Eating for Your Blood Type
• Atkins
• PH Balance
• Vegetarianism
• Zone Diet
• South Beach Diet
• Food Combining
• FDA Approved Diet

What we are seeing is an epidemic of health problems consisting of growth problems, learning disorders, behavior and emotional problems, infertility and increase in modern disease across the nation.  If you go to the bookstore you are slammed with a ton of books on what the best way to eat is.  Searching the internet, you can find millions of writings on what is the right way to eat and why.

So what is a healthy diet?  It's easy to take another person's word on what eating healthy actually means, but I personally want to know what healthy people are eating and trace back to before we had diseases, obesity, and chronic health problems.  Today the answer seems to be that this is just the way of life for human beings.  That we are to accept that we will become sick as we age and die in a hospital.  That we are supposed to be treated with medicine and drugs versus looking at another alternative and what is at the root of the problem. 

Let's take a look at the work of Dr. Weston Price.  Dr. Price was a dentist and continued to have patients that came in with cavities, decay, and did not have enough room for new teeth to grow in.  He asked himself, "Why are my patients so sick?"  Dr. Price kept getting reports of people without Western medicine that had beautiful teeth with virtually zero cavities.  He wanted to see this for himself and decided to take a 10 year investigative trip around the world to remote areas where they had not been exposed to a modern day diet. The groups Price studied included sequestered villages in Switzerland, Gaelic communities in the Outer Hebrides, indigenous peoples of North and South America, Melanesian and Polynesian South Sea Islanders, African tribes, Australian Aborigines and New Zealand Maori.  Price wanted to know what healthy people were eating and did an amazing study that cannot be repeated today because every person has virtually been affected by modern day foods.  Wherever he went, Dr. Price found that beautiful straight teeth, freedom from decay, good physiques, resistance to disease and fine characters were typical of native groups on their traditional diets, rich in essential nutrients.  They were happy.  They were lean.  They were healthier than anyone he had come in contact with prior to visiting.  He begged these tribes to get permission to examine their teeth and also took general notes of their foods and lifestyle which they agreed to.  He saw them as the answer and the hope for Westerners to be able to return to a healthy body and mind.

Every single person had perfectly straight teeth and almost zero teeth decay.  They used no toothbrushes or toothpaste.  The children were very sturdy and strong with high cheek bones.  The men were noted for their great strength and the women were noted for their great beauty.  Every area that Price visited the people ate a different diet.  Dr. Price's biggest disappointment was that he never found a healthy group of people eating a vegetarian diet.  This would have been suicide for indigenous peope.

When Dr. Price analyzed the foods used by isolated peoples he found that, in comparison to the American diet of his day, they provided at least four times the water-soluble vitamins, calcium and other minerals, and at least TEN times the fat-soluble vitamins, from animal foods such as butter, fish eggs, shellfish, organ meats, eggs and animal fats–the very cholesterol-rich foods now shunned by the American public as unhealthful.

For those that survived on raw milk, they weren't buying homogenized and pasteurized milk from the grocery store.  This milk is very unhealthy for us.  Instead they got their raw milk from cattle and goats that grazed on lush, green pastures.  They also used raw butter, raw cream, and raw cheese.  One tribe in particular grew rye and made a sourdough bread.  A typical lunch was a piece of sourdough bread and raw cheese.  But, also included in their diet was meat where they would eat the whole animal.  They had a few vegetables but their diet consisted mainly of raw dairy, rye and meat, which is a very high PRO, FAT diet with Carbohydrates in there as well.

Every where Price went they had one or more sacred foods.  This was specifically special nutrition for children's growth and women that were in preparation of pregnancy, pregnant or breastfeeding.  They knew that fertility and the growth of children was a very important time.  Some used a specific butter that was a deep orange color.  Another provided Cod's head stuffed with oats and liver.  This was very important for children to have for breakfast each morning.  Another sacred food was fish eggs, for those that had access to it.

For Alaskans, as well as having straight teeth and no decay... they had no crying babies.  A well nourished baby does not cry.  They had also never seen a case of any modern disease.  The number one source of calories was seal oil.  It was used for cooking, a dressing, food storage, and a special Eskimo ice cream.  Their diet consisted of 80% FAT.  They never ate lean meat.  The lean meat was cut in strips and smoked and smothered in fat.  This was true in all primitive people of the world.  They would never eat a lean piece of chicken breast because they knew it would make them very sick.  Fat sustained them.  Lean meat did not and was not useful.  Today we think eating all lean meat is a healthy choice when actually eating the fattier pieces of meat are more satiable to our bodies.   

Check out these photos below and see for yourself how beautiful their teeth are.  Notice the liveliness in their face and how happy they are as well!  Notice their facial structures and the plumpness in their cheeks.  There were no mental diseases, moodiness, instability, or hormonal problems such as PMS, depression, or post menopause.    
 

These children are from New Zealand and their diet consisted of fish and shellfish.

Dr. Price tried to keep modern processed foods away as long as possible to these remote ares.  But, soon these new foods starting creeping in to their diet.  When these Primitive people began eating a modern diet they soon had tooth decay, dental deformities in the 2nd generation, and were also much more susceptible to disease.  Their faces that are vibrant and full of life in the pictures above soon became very tired looking.  Their facial structures changed completely and became very thin and weak.  Before modern, processed foods, the bones of these people were beautiful and strong.  After the introduction of modern day foods, there is chaos in the facial structure, infertility, and very serious disease.  Check out the photos below.

These children are also from New Zealand eating a diet consisting of white four and sugar.  Whereas the original primitive Maori had reportedly the finest teeth in the world, the whites now in New Zealand are claimed to have the poorest teeth in the world. These individuals are typical. An analysis of the two types of food reveals the reason. 

With the advent of the white man in New Zealand tooth decay has become rampant. The suffering from dental caries and abscessed teeth is very great in the most modernized Maori. The boy at the lower left has a deep scar in his upper lip from an accident.

So what is a healthy diet?  It seems that some of these indigenous people ate dairy and grains.  There was quite the diversity from each region.  What it came down to was that each tribe ate what was plentiful where they lived and their traditional native diet.

Some had no plant foods.
Some had very little animal foods.
Some had lots of animal foods.
Some had dairy products.
Some had grains, others didn't.

What does that leave us with?  Dr. Price said it best.....

"Life in its fullness is Mother Nature obeyed." - Dr Weston Price

We have tried to deny nature and eat what we think is a healthy diet.  We have implemented a low fat diet and think that a grilled lean piece of chicken breast, egg white omelets and protein powders are what makes up a healthy diet.  These primitive people would have shied away from the leanest cut of meat.  We are denying that our diet should consist of a lot of fat and a moderate amount of protein and carbohydrates.  If we choose to continue to think the a high protein, low fat, high protein powder diet is healthy, we will find ourselves very malnourished.

These healthy traditional peoples knew instinctively what scientists of Dr. Price’s day had recently discovered — that these fat-soluble vitamins, vitamins A and D, were vital to health because they acted as catalysts to mineral absorption and protein utilization. Without them, we cannot absorb minerals, no matter how abundant they may be in our food.


Sally Fallon has an excellent book called "Nourishing Traditions: The Cookbook that Challenges Politically Correct Nutrition and the Diet Dictocrats."  In this book she lists a Guide to Food Selection.  I've listed these out below starting with the most nourishing, traditional foods.  Below that is the Compromised Foods, or, foods that are a better option than others, but not optimal.  One thing I would like to note is that my stance is still a grain free diet.  You will see that she has listed some grains as optimal.  You have decide this for yourself.

Nourishing Traditional Foods:

Proteins:  Fresh, pasture raised meat including beef, lamb, game, chicken, turkey, duck, and other fowl; organ meats from pastrued animals; seafood of all types form deep sea waters; fresh shellfish in season; fish eggs; fresh eggs from pastured poultry; organic fermented soy products in small amounts.

Fats:  Fresh butter and cream from pasture-fed cows, preferably raw and cultured; lard and beef, lamb, goose and duck fat from pastured animals; extra virgin olive oil; unrefined flax seed in small amounts; coconut oil and palm oil.
Most people feel GUILTY when they have these foods.  These fats are vital to our health and will keep us satiated and happy.

Dairy:  Raw, whole milk and cultured dairy products, such as yoghurt, piima milk, kefir and raw cheese, from traditional breeds of pasture-fed cows and goats.

Carbohydrates:  Organic whole grain products properly treated for the removal of phytates, such as sourdough and sprouted grain bread and soaked or sproated cereal grains; soaked and fermented leguemes including lentils, beans, and chickpeas; sproated or soaked seeds and nuts; fresh fruits and vegetables, both raw and cooked; fermented vegetables.
My stance is still a grain free diet for majority of Westerners.  There is a marked increase in health when these foods are removed from the diet.  Most of your carbohydrates should come from vegetables and fruits.

Beverages:  Filtered, high-mineral water; lacto-fermented drinks made from grain or fruit; meat stocks and vegetables broths.

Condiments:  Unrefined sea salt; raw vinegar; spices in moderation; fresh herbs; naturally fermented soy sauce and fish sauce.


Bottom line is that these are the foods that people have been eating for centuries.  I think it’s much wiser to follow our ancestors who were hardy and healthy and free of disease, than to listen to modern-day faddish diets with no basis for long term health.  You have the power to choose what you put in your body.  Make the right one.