Diet of the Ancestors

September 7, 2015 — consumer, diet, Dr Weston Price, nutrition, Whole Foods

The typical American diet is driving obesity, diabetes and heart disease to higher heights. Fad diets and processed shakes abound, but to heal the country of illness we need to return to whole foods.  Factory farming and distribution call for processing, refrigeration or freezing.  The end product often costs more to ship and preserve than it did to grow.  The longer it is stored the more it costs to keep it frozen.  The health of the nation would be better served by consuming food that has not been packaged or canned.  I do, of course, eat some processed foods, but I am working to get back to basics.  I want to improve my habits for the sake of the earth, and for the benefit of my health.

Coconut oil is now a daily part of my routine.  I swish a tablespoon of oil in my mouth for 40 minutes each morning to kill cooties. The oil slides into all spaces and treats all surfaces in my mouth with anti-bacterial agents.  I spit out the oil and rinse my super-clean feeling teeth to finish the process.  On my last dental visit my dentist raved about the positive properties of coconut oil and extolled the virtues of eating it and using it topically.  I let him know I was using it to kill bacteria since it seems to be working for me.  My annual thermography report showed much less inflammation in my eye ear nose and throat than last year, and less in my digestive tract also.  I am a fully committed oil puller.  It takes some getting used to, but now I have the habit.  It is one of the easiest things I can do to improve my health.

I think oral health has a big impact on the entire body.  My dentist agrees.  Today I learned about Dr Weston Price, a dentist with an interest in diet and anthropology.  His popular ideas are still followed today.  He determined that avoidance of artificial and refined sugars, fats, and flours that were not available before industrialization, could prevent disease.  He recommended local nutrient dense foods that included a variety of natural fats.  His view into the mouth of societies with ancestral diets showed him the wisdom of developing a palate for savory unprocessed foods.  I am lucky to have time and circumstances that support home preparation of whole foods.  I may not be able to give up sweet potato corn chips or my favorite jars of salsa, but at least I do eat them with home made guacamole.

Westin Price’s book