I hate diets. I hate people who talk and teach about diets even more.
If you can’t tell, I’m a bit angry and confused. For thousands upon thousands of years we as a race of humans have walked the earth in extraordinary health living WITH nature and sharing of her abundance. No diets, just eating.
Instinctual Eating
Food, water and shelter were all provided by her all our needs were met. We were rugged, intelligent and extremely vital well into our older age. A strong example of this reality are the Hunzakut people of the Himalayas. This “lost race” of people, when interviewed by Renee Taylor in the 1906’s were found to:
· Live to 100 and 120 years of age in almost perfect physical condition and mental health
no weak and worthless elderly, like we find today.
· 100-year-old men were fathering children and held down strenuous full-time jobs
like moving 700 lb. boulders that have fallen from the mountains out of the road.
· Woman of almost 80 looked younger, felt better and are far more active than the average western woman of 40! I’m moving there for retirement! (4)
OK, I can hear you now “But Elliott, I am not a primal man and aren’t we far better off today due to medical advances”.
My short answers are: Yes, you are a primal man. Today, our bodies are an exact expression of what our ancestors were over 100,000 years ago (2). It is believed that it takes about 100,000 years for the human genome to change 0.001 percent, so you and “Primal Man” are essentially the same (3).
And: No, we are not better off today with our so-called medical advances. There hasn’t been a cure discovered that doesn’t pose the same or worse risk by taking it, than the disease itself. Just listen to the list of side effects listed when you are watching the commercial with the old guys who urinate on themselves, as if wetting the bed is a disease!
Eat Guts and Grease
For too long we have been told by the “dietary dictocracts” and “poly-unsaturated puppets” to stay away from saturated fats, animal products and cholesterol. Today I am setting you free to stuff your face with the same “artery clogging” diet that Native American’s ate prior to The White Man landing on Plymouth Rock with bags of white flour and sugar. These ‘men of the land’ were rugged, super strong and vital and ate tons of Guts and Grease.
The late Dr. Weston A. Price has documented the most comprehensive study ever, of the primal man and his diet / lifestyle in his groundbreaking book Nutrition & Physical Degeneration (1)
A short history Dr. Price was a dentist in the late 1930’s, he began to notice that an increasing number of his patients were contracting dental maladies such as cavities and rotting teeth don’t we all? And most notably, his younger patients were being born with what Dr. Price called “facial deformities”.
These ‘facial deformities’ have become commonplace since the 1930’s, they include: crowding of the teeth, crowding of facial features and, a narrowing of the palate and jaw. As well, Dr. Priced noticed an increased susceptibility to illness when these ‘deformities’ were present. (1)
Not only did Dr. Price notice that the physical structure of man was deteriorating but he also noted that the function of the mind and the body was wasting away.
“That modern man has been declining in physical fitness has been emphasized by many eminent sociologists and other scientists. That the rate of degeneration is progressively accelerating constitutes a cause for great alarm, particularly since this is taking place in spite of the advance that is being made in modern science along many lines of investigation.” (1)
So, like any sane, wealthy, doctor of the time
he set out to find groups of isolated “primitive” peoples through the world. Dr. Price wanted to discover what “Man” was truly intended to eat and how “Man” was truly intended to live.
In his travels not only did Dr. Price discover that “primitive peoples” were happier, healthier and more disease resistant but they were as tough as nails
He was once observing a group of “primitive kids” playing in a stream of water in the middle of the winter while he and his colleges were freezing their butts off with their big winter parkas on!
The Native American’s lived for thousands of years completely isolated from “The White Man”. These folks have adapted to their given environments and have learned how to live WITH the land, not just on it.
The Indians of Canada and the Northern Regions
These folks lived in some cold weather! It was seventy below at some points. This meant that they were definitely not farmers and if you told them that you had to eat 7-12 servings of grains a day (food pyramid) they would put a hex on you!
They ate meat, meat and meat with some meat on the side. Every part of the animal was eaten. Of greatest importance were the organs of the animals that they ate. These wise people knew that it was in the organs that all of the potent nutrition resided not in the lean meat. In fact if the meat wasn’t fatty enough it was fed to the dogs! (1)
Think about that the next time some puppet tells you to eat only lean meats and chicken breast.
There was no Colon Cancer observed amongst these people so out the window goes the Meat = Colon Cancer Theory.
These were rugged and intelligent people.
“They lived in a country in which grizzly bears were common. Their pelts were highly prized and they captured many of them with baited pitfalls. Their knowledge of the use of the different organs and tissues of the animals for providing a defense against certain of the affections of the body which we speak of a degenerative diseases was surprising.” (1)
Their “Fad Diet” consisted of:
· Wild Animals Of The Chase Bear, Moose, Deer, Caribou etc. These people were strong because the animals that they ate were strong. The wild game that served as a staple in the Native American’s diet were respected for their life-giving properties and lived off of the organic land before being sacrificed for human consumption. I wonder where that chicken nugget you had for lunch came from?
· Animal Organs From the Rooter to the Tooter! The Natives knew that the most nutritionally potent parts of the animal meal were the organs. In fact when a kill was made, our savvy ancestors would immediately cut it open and eat the adrenal glands, liver, pancreas and heart first. All the other meat was either stored for later or given to the dogs especially the despised lean-meat.
· Veggies If they were in the stomach of the animal. Why waste valuable time and energy looking for veggies and cooking them when our friendly animals will do all the work for us. The animals are so kind that they were even willing to predigest the plant food for us. Primal man knew that meat was much more nutrient dense than grains and greens so he ate the animals who condensed all of the plant nutrition into tasty little bites.
· Sea Food Fish, Fish Eggs and Sea Weed. Today our oceans are so polluted that it is nearly impossible to get your hands on some clean, untainted fish. So I don’t suggest dining out for sushi every evening. Fish oil is essential and should be a part of every man’s diet. Today our best bet is to consume a high quality Cod Liver Oil supplement.
These, like all of the people that Dr. Price studied were very healthy until they came into contact with “modernized” peoples. It has been noted that medical care and surgeries were almost unheard of amongst the folks living traditional lives but, were rampant among those who adopted the “White Man’s Ways”.
For you to regain your Primal Edge, and avoid sickness and surgeries, take a lesson from these people Eat Real Food. I don’t care if your favorite athlete tells you that it will make you run faster, get bigger or hydrate you better than water, if it wasn’t here 10,000 years ago- don’t eat it. Powders and pills are for p+ssies, eat like a man!
References:
1. Price, Weston A. Nutrition and Physical Degeneration. San Diego, CA: Price-Pottenger Foundation Inc., 1937, 1970, 2000.
2. Constable, George. TimeFrame: The Human Dawn. Alexandria, VA: Time-Life Books, 1990.
3. Sibley CG, Ahlquist JE. 1984. The phylogeny of the hominoid primates as indicated by DNA-DNA hybridization. J Mol Evol 20: 22-25.
4. Taylor, Renee Hunza Health Secrets. Englewoods Cliffs, NJ: Prentice Hall Inc., 1964.