Page 43 - Summer 2017 Journal

statistics on toxic chemicals such as glyphosate and atrazine, many families have concluded that they must make organic foods a priority.
Individuals eating a Wise Traditions diet often experience first-hand many tangible cost- saving and lifestyle benefits. These include re- duced sick time, more energy to complete tasks and projects, more restful sleep and less anxiety, depression and other mood disorders. After one month of establishing the Wise Traditions diet in my own life, I went from taking ten or twelve vitamins a day to only three or four—resulting in a definite savings in the cost of supplements!
As with household and personal care prod- ucts, replacement is an easier strategy than avoidance. By replacing toxic fats such as canola and other vegetable oils with delicious grass-fed butter, ghee, coconut oil and red palm oil, you can substantially reduce chronic inflammation in your body. In fact, it is especially important for those new to the Wise Traditions diet not to hesitate about adding more good fats to their meals. Primitive diets contained at least ten times the amount of important fat-soluble A, D, E and K vitamins as the modern American diet. Dr. Price found that traditional cultures were not only exceedingly healthy, but the vast majority had no cavities and had room for all thirty-two teeth. Further, depression and anxiety were rare; Dr. Price observed a cheerful outlook in most of the cultures that he visited.24
Another delicious part of the Wise Tradi- tions diet is incorporating fat with meat. Tra- ditional peoples never ate skinless, boneless chicken! They intuitively realized the impor- tance of not discarding but enjoying nutrient- dense organ meats, skin and eating meat au jus or with gravy; most importantly, they ate the fat so that the naturally occurring fat-soluble vitamins could support full assimilation of the proteins and minerals in the meat.25
We should further replicate traditional people’s nutrient-dense diets by avoiding foods produced using modern-day toxic farming and fishing practices. Instead, eat grass-fed meats; wild-caught salmon, roe, sardines and herring; pasture-raised soy-free eggs; and non-pasteur- ized raw cheese, butter, cream and milk.
The Wise Traditions diet also emphasizes the importance of mitigating the phytotoxins
SUMMER 2017
found in vegetables, nuts, grains and seeds. The human body requires a certain amount of daily carbohydrates—but only properly prepared ones. Green vegetables such as kale, spinach, mustard greens, Swiss chard, cabbage and collard greens need to be well-cooked (or fermented, in the case of cabbage) in order to reduce their oxalic acid content, a compound that has been linked to cancer, diabetes, kidney stones and thyroid dysfunction.26 The traditional Gullah Geechee people who still inhabit the coastal areas of South Carolina and Georgia have known this for centuries. They pour hot water over collards and other “tough greens” before cooking them with bacon (Caroline O’Quinn, personal communication).
Where beans, grains, nuts and seeds are concerned, every member of the Weston A. Price Foundation knows that these should be soaked in slightly acidic lukewarm water for hours and then rinsed to remove the majority of protease inhibitors and other antinutrients that retard full assimilation and further inflame the body.
It is also important to avoid “enriched” grains. The vitamins and minerals with which grain products are enriched are synthetically derived from pharmaceutical labs and then sprayed onto flour and grains, typically derived from GMO sources in China.27 Even grocery store chains such as Whole Foods carry breads, pizza dough and pastries made from enriched grains, so be sure to read labels thoroughly to avoid these toxic carbohydrates.
Desserts should come from organic fruits combined with delicious fats such as raw cheese, raw cream, raw butter or coconut cream, as well as soaked and dehydrated nuts. Use small amounts of raw honey, organic maple syrup and sugars made from organic cane and coconut for less frequent treats.
If you have not yet reached level of health where gut dysbiosis and intestinal permeability (“leaky gut”) are things of the past, you must avoid your primary food allergens. The most common allergies are dairy and gluten, with eggs, corn, chocolate, peanuts, shellfish, citrus and soy being close seconds. To determine which allergy or allergies are primary, do the gold standard—and absolutely free—test
By replacing toxic fats such as canola and other vegetable oils with delicious grass-fed butter, ghee, coconut oil and red palm oil, you can substantially reduce chronic inflammation in your body.
Wise Traditions
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