When I first read Nourishing Traditions, I fell in love. But as with any romance, the inevitable bumps in the road quickly emerged, including one stark reality: I was a terrible cook!
The idea of eating traditional foods like our ancestors is a romantic thought that appeals so deeply to many of us. But if you're anything like me, what seems so natural doesn't exactly come naturally in the kitchen. Most of use weren't raised on real food, much less taught to cook it.
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It goes something like this: "But Weston A. Price said traditional cultures who ate carbohydrates and grains had more health problems than those who didn't." Or something to that effect. Because of course we all know that Weston Price came back from his world travels touting the benefits of a low-carb diet and recommending that folks ditch the grains and slash their carbs.
Except he didn't. At least, I can't find anything like that in my copy of Nutrition and Physical Degeneration. Maybe the USDA conspirators went in and took those parts out before the most recent printing? Or maybe not.
Just speculate with me for a moment: maybe Weston Price didn't come back to the states and stick all his patients on a high-fat, low-carb diet. Maybe he didn't tell his friends and family that grains were incompatible with health, that carbohydrates cause insidious weight gain, and that everyone who asked for his advice had better learn to fear potatoes because goodness knows no healthy traditional culture ate starchy tubers!
Well, the fact is that Price didn't do any of those things. In fact, Price gave his patients a therapeutic diet that included wheat muffins and oatmeal sweetened with sugar to taste (gasp!). He even noted remarkable improvement in patients eating these very foods (along with some very important additions, of course).
But you don't have to take my word for it. Instead I'll be sharing some quotes directly from Price's book Nutrition and Physical Degeneration.
Dental Caries in Various Populations
As you may know, Weston A. Price was a dentist, so it comes as no surprise that he examined the teeth of the people he studied during his travels. He kept track of how many teeth he examined as well as the percentage he found with dental caries (or tooth decay).
I've heard a few folks claim that Price said populations who didn't eat grains and carbs had fewer dental caries. I'm curious as to where this rumor came from, because I failed to find the evidence of this claim when I read Nutrition and Physical Degeneration for myself. Of course, populations who didn't eat a lot of grains or carbs (like the Inuit or North American Indians) had excellent teeth, as noted by Price here in chapter 6 of his book:
"In an examination of eighty-seven individuals having 2,464 teeth only four teeth were found that had ever been attacked by dental caries. This is equivalent to 0.16 per cent."
Well, there you go. That's proof that low-carb, grain-free diets are ideal... right? Not quite. Here's another quote from Price about the Baitu tribe in Africa (chapter 9):
"This group lives largely on dairy products from cattle and goats, together with sweet potatoes, cereals and bananas. In a study of 364 teeth of thirteen individuals, not a single tooth was found to have been attacked by dental caries."
By the way, cereals are (drum roll, please)... grains. And a trip to Kenya produces this quote:
"They live within easy reach of Lake Victoria from which they obtain large quantities of fish which constitutes an important part of their diet, together with cereals and sweet potatoes. A study of 552 teeth of nineteen individuals revealed only one tooth with dental caries, or 0.2 per cent."
Here are a few more examples of groups in Africa who Price noted ate diets that included cereal grains, starchy tubers and sweet fruits:
The mission at Masaka in Uganda: 0.4 percent tooth decay out of 664 teeth
The Wanande Tribe in the Belgian Congo: 2.2 percent tooth decay out of 368 teeth
The Dinkas in Sudan: 0.2 percent tooth decay out of 592 teeth
There were also some other groups that ate grains, starches and fruit but did not appear to have animal foods like goat milk or fish as a significant portion of their diet. These groups tended to have dental caries at a rate of about 6-7 percent. (This may seem high in comparison to 0.16-2.2 percent, but keep in mind that cultures who ate a modernized diet often experience tooth decay at an incredible rate of 12-83 percent!)
Leaving Africa for a moment, we'll go to Switzerland where Price commented:
"In a study of 4,280 teeth of the children of these high valleys, only 3.4 per cent were found to have been attacked by tooth decay."
And populations eating a traditional diet of oats and seafood on the Isle of Lewis off the coast of Scotland were noted to experience a tooth decay rate of 1.3 percent.
Why Do We Misquote Price?
I'll be the first to admit that anyone who claims Price said grains and carbohydrate foods cause health issues isn't making it up out of thin air. I understand the misconception, because there is a grain of truth contained therein (no pun intended).
Price did note in chapter 9 of his book (Isolated and Modernized African Tribes) that irregularities of dental arches and facial structure were noted more often in tribes who relied heavily on plant foods (3.4 percent irregularities in the Masai versus 18.2 and 18.9 percent irregularities in the Kikuyu and Wakamba, for example). But he made it clear that a far more dramatic difference existed in populations eating a modernized diet.
And also, in a letter about nutrition, Price does say:
"Cut down on starches and sugars."
There, he did say it. But don't gloat about it yet. Price immediately follows this statement with recommendations that include eating cooked cereal made from fresh cracked wheat or oats (sweetened to taste with a limited amount of sugar), whole wheat muffins topped with high vitamin butter, and cooked applesauce with butter (not too highly sweetened, of course).
Doesn't sound like Atkins to me.
What Was Price Really Saying?
In reading through Nutrition and Physical Degeneration, I was wholly impressed by the level and depth of information Price recorded during his studies. I was also quite surprised that his work is used to promote restrictive diets that limit food groups and macronutrients, when his own recommendations are fairly simple and straightforward:
"In my clinical practice, in which I am endeavoring to put into practice the lessons I am learning from the primitive people, I do not require that the foods of the primitive races be adopted but that our modern foods be reinforced in body-building materials to make them equivalent in mineral and activator content to the efficient foods of the primitive people."
Price never claimed that one needed to eliminate grains, starches and fruit to be healthy. He simply advised not to emphasize them to the extent that highly nutritious foods were excluded from the diet. Basically, make room for the good stuff! As Price says:
"A properly balanced diet is good for the entire body."
The appeal of following a traditional diet is undeniably romantic. I've often perused the pictures in Nutrition and Physical Degeneration, overwhelmed with a deep sense of longing to return to a life more grounded, more whole, more in touch with my roots.
In his book, Price describes hardy children wading gleefully through streams on a cold morning, sturdy grandmothers hauling fresh fish from the sea for their grandchildren, quaint little towns so idyllic that a dentist or jailhouse was considered completely unnecessary. These were happy and healthy people. Their smiles were wide, their hearts merry. They worked hard, slept well and lived a full life.
And somehow, in reading these stories and seeing these pictures, we begin to believe that if we drink enough raw milk, if we devour enough salmon roe, if we take enough fermented cod liver oil... that somehow we will transport ourselves to a time and place where teeth are perfectly straight, bodies are robust, and somehow--somehow--all our health troubles will disappear.
We feel in our hearts that if we follow a traditional diet as closely as we can, then we will achieve unfathomable health.
Reality is not so romantic. Traditional food can be expensive and difficult to source. Sometimes it feels like this perfect diet (and perfect health) is always just out of our reach.
And then we begin to wonder: which traditional diet do we follow? The Swiss in Loetschental Valley ate one way. The Masai in Africa ate another. Then there are the Inuit, the Peruvians, the Pacific islanders. Some experts claim one of these diets is better than another. Others say just the opposite. Who is right and who is wrong? What started as a nostalgic pursuit of the ideal diet suddenly becomes confusing and complicated.
The idea that traditional diets are not infallible is something I've been mulling over for some time, but I didn't quite know how to put my thoughts into words. But since the topic is out there for discussion, I thought I would put in my two cents--or at least what I've come up with so far. My ideas are far from concrete, but I still think this is a subject worth discussing. And I look forward to hearing what you think as well.
The #1 Problem with Following a Traditional Diet
My answer is not going to be what you've read before. Most traditional food enthusiasts will say the number one problem with following a traditional diet is that no one is doing it right.
Most say, "You're not eating enough xyz (input traditional food here: raw butter, cod liver oil, liver, oysters, bone marrow, etc.)."
Or they will say, "You're eating too much xyz (input common scapegoats here: carbs, grains, dairy, nuts, etc.)."
The idea is all too familiar to me: you're not trying hard enough! If only you were more strict, more passionate, more consistent... then all your health issues would melt away.
You know what this sounds like to me? Dogma.
I heard it years ago when I was following conventional wisdom--if only you cut out more fat from your diet and did even more cardio, you would be healthier and thinner than ever!
Yeah, like that didn't totally backfire.
And I'm sure you've heard it from other camps as well. If only you eliminated all animals foods from your diet... if only you stopped eating all cooked food... if only you never ate sugar again... if only... if only...
I hate to break it to you: we don't live in a perfect world. There is no perfect diet. There is no amazing magical formula for eating that will heal all your woes, give you boundless energy, and ensure a long and happy life.
You can learn what works for you, you can do your best, but that's it. There are no guarantees. Not in this life.
And here is the number one problem with trying to follow a traditional diet: it's not that you're not trying hard enough. It's that you're trying way too hard.
Balancing Traditional Food with a Modern Life
Don't get me wrong: I love real food. I love butter and raw milk and all that good stuff. I'm very grateful that a few years ago, a dear friend of mine recommended that I read a book called Nourishing Traditions. It's a book that changed my life and the way I think about food. Real food is a gift. But if you approach it with the wrong attitude, it can also be a curse.
And this is where balance comes in. There's nothing wrong with being passionate about real food. There's nothing wrong with going to a local farm to pick up fresh milk or grass-fed beef. In fact, these things can add a new dimension of experiences to your life.
But you have to know where to draw the line. You have to be able to realize whether something is adding to your life or detracting from it. This will be different for everyone.What's exciting and adventurous for you may feel exhausting and overwhelming for someone else. And vice versa.
Stressing out over eating a traditional diet is no way to live. I don't think I'm exaggerating in the least when I say that stress is just as damaging as SAD, if not more so. And trying to achieve some kind of transcendent level of health is going to have you chasing your tail, always aiming for something that's just out of your reach.
Do what you can. Do what works for you. Keep what adds to your life and ditch whatever detracts from it. And if someone tells you that you're not doing enough, then ignore them. It's not their call.
, I fell in love. But as with any romance, the inevitable bumps in the road quickly emerged, including one stark reality: I was a terrible cook!
grains had more health problems than those who didn't." Or something to that effect. Because of course we all know that Weston Price came back from his world travels touting the benefits of a low-carb diet and recommending that folks ditch the grains and slash their carbs.
. Maybe the USDA conspirators went in and took those parts out before the most recent printing? Or maybe not.
