A Healthy Natural Whole Foods Diet

We have all heard over and over that we need to eat healthy but what does that really mean.  Many people have very different ideas about what healthy is!  And Many people are very misinformed about what a healthy diet really is.  We live in a culture that tells us fat free is healthy, sugar free is healthy and margarine is best, but when people take the big food company propaganda and turn to the nutrasweet sweetened fat free popsicles and sticks of presevative and trans fat laden margarine on their "wheat" (unless it says 100% whole wheat it is mostly white bread) toast for breakfast, then they have NOT improved the health of their diet!

A true Healthy diet is one that is based on REAL Food!!!  Not chemical sythetics of what nature made for us and we have been eating since the beginning of time!!  Our bodies are bombarded with low nutrient calories with preservatives, artificial colors, flavors, and texture enhancers and we wonder why we as a population are so unhealthy...and I am amazed that as a solution, most will turn to the newest propaganda "food" that was designed in a lab as a "healthier" product to "try to eat healthier"  We need to wake up!!  Get back to our common sense and look back to the traditional cultures and diet of people before we had lab made food and convenience foods to remember what a healthy nutrient dense diet really looks like!

Doctor Weston A Price is one such man who did so.  Price traveled all over the world in order to study isolated human groups, including sequestered villages in Switzerland, Gaelic communities in the Outer Hebrides, Eskimos and Indians of North America, Melanesian and Polynesian South Sea Islanders, African tribes, Australian Aborigines, New Zealand Maori and the Indians of South America. Wherever he went, Dr. Price found that beautiful, straight teeth, freedom from decay, strong bodies, resistance to disease and fine characters were typical of primitives on their traditional diets, rich in essential food factors.

When Dr. Price analyzed the foods used by isolated primitive peoples free of physical degeneration, he found that 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, and eggs.  And of course these diets consisted of all whole natural Real foods!

He also observed that as primitive cultures were introduced to modern processed foods that the amount of disease and physical degeneration increased with each generation and that the amount of foods these groups included directly correlated to the amount of decline in health he would find, which shows just why our current general population is so sick and chronically ill.  And if we do not take charge of our own health and our families health and come back to Natural Real Whole food, then we will continue to see a decline in health and genetic strength in our families and population.

Francis M Pottenger was another man that was obsessed with finding the reason behind genetic degeneration and just what brought about healthy children generation after generation.  He was also among the first to recognize the hazards of pesticides to human health. In a paper entitled “Poisoning from DDT and Other Chlorinated Hydrocarbon Pesticides,” he stated: “The wide-spread use of chlorinated hydrocarbons such as DDT in agriculture, animal husbandry and about the home has been accompanied by a syndrome of hepatic and neurological damage and sometimes death.” This paper presented the first reported cases of insecticide poisoning. He defined the symptoms as (1) hyperirritability, anxiety, confusion, inability to concentrate, forgetfulness as well as slow or racing heart beats, (2) pathological liver hypertrophy, renal lesions, loss of colloid in the thyroid and changes in nerve and skin tissues, and (3) the presence of insecticide in the body's fat deposits.

Pottengers experiments on cats showed that as he removed the whole natural foods that cats normally subside on and replaced it with processed foods, the cats become ill and like Dr. Price he found a direct correlation between the amounts of processed foods included and the amount of decline in health.  

He also found that by the 3rd generation of cats fed a diet with processed foods they could no longer breed because they were so ill. 

Dr. Pottenger also tried to return degenerating cats back to health. He found that it took four generations on raw meat and raw milk from grass fed cows (dry hay fed cow milk did not work) to bring the kittens of second-generation degenerating cats back to normal.  This was not even possible by the 3rd generation degenerate cats since they could not breed and tended to die young.

Dr. Prices and Dr. Pottengers work has shown us just how important eating a nutrient dense whole food diet is.  And it is even more important before and during pregnancy to ensure the health and vitality of your children and future generations.

Eating Back to Nature

Everything you eat should be whole and natural foods that have been prepared with out additives and preservatives.  Of course in this day and age a perfect diet is very hard to acheive and most will not accomplish it nor want to all the time.  There are times (like christmas dinner at relatives) when I graciously eat what is provided, but striving for the diet of traditional cultures should be our goal a majority of the time.

This means go rid your cupboards and fridges of all those process refined chemical laden food.  Try to eat as much organic whole foods as you can.  Follow these guidlines for the best nutrient dense diet and radiant health...

Eat whole, natural foods including a large variety of fresh fruits and vegtables (preferably organic).  Frozen would be the next best option but canned should be avoided unless there is no other option. 

Eat naturally-raised (free range, grass fed, biodynamic, etc.) meat and animal protein including fish, seafood, poultry, beef, lamb, game, organ meats and eggs.  Even the fatty acid profile in animal protein from animals raised properly is better and healthier than conventional feed lot animal protein.  It will be naturally higher in omega 3 and CLA fatty acids that are very beneficial for your health.

Eat whole Organic milk products from pasture(grass)-fed cows, preferably raw and/or fermented, such as whole yogurt, cultured butter, whole cheeses and fresh and sour cream.  A lot of people who cannot tolerate pastuerized dairy can drink raw milk without any problems.  Organic grass fed milk is also much higher in vitamin and mineral content than conventional milk. 

Avoid margarine, refined gmo vegtable oils, hydrogenated oils, etc. and use only traditional fats and oils including butter, extra virgin olive oil, expeller expressed sesame, hemp, flax. and nut (like peanut or walnut) oil and the tropical oils-coconut and palm.  The most commonly used conventional vegetable oil like canola and soy should definetely be avoided.  They are typically gmo and expressed using high heat (which turns the oil rancid) and/or with chemicals that leave toxic residue in the oil itself that you are consuming.  You also want to avoid to much standard types of vegetables since they are high in omega 6 fatty acids that can lead to an imbalance of your omega 6 to omega 3 ratio which causes inflammation and other undesirable health conditions.  Learn more about Essential Fatty Acids Here

When possible most of whole grains and nuts should be prepared by soaking, sprouting or sour leavening to neutralize phytic acid and other anti-nutrients.  This can be very beneficial for those that have a hard digesting grains and for everyone to get more nutrients out of their whole grains. 

Include enzyme and probiotic rich lacto-fermented vegetables, fruits, beverages, diary (like yogurt and kefir) and condiments in your diet on a regular basis.  These give your body probiotics and enzymes that it really needs to assist your digestion, help you get more nutrients out of your food and keep your intestines healthy.  It also helps protect you from dangerous bacteria and pathogens you are exposed to. 

Prepare homemade meat stocks from the bones of chicken, beef, lamb or fish and use liberally in soups and sauces.  These are High in mineral and vitamin content, especially the ones Dr. Price found to be in much more abundance in primitive diets, and are easily digested and absorbed. 

Use herb teas and coffee in moderation.

Use filtered water for cooking and drinking.  Preferrably Alkaline, Antioxidant Warrior Water which will make nutrients more easily absorbed and available and add health protecting antioxidants to your diet and help counteract the acid forming food you eat..

Use unrefined Celtic seasalt and a variety of herbs and spices for adding flavor. 

Eliminate all artificial sweetners (which are toxic to your body), high fructose corn syrup and white refined sugar from your diet and use natural sweeteners in moderation, such as raw honey, maple syrup, and stevia.

Never Microwave in Plastic as it causes the plastic particle to contaminate your food and you should try to avoid cooking in the microwave alltogether

Cook only in stainless steel, cast iron, glass or good quality enamel because other materials used for pots and pans can leach chemicals, undesirable metals, and other unwanted things into your food.

Use Superfoods and a high quality vitamin to fill in the nutritional gaps in your diet (because I hardly know anyone who can follow this wholefoods natural diet perfectly).