Weston Price: The benefits of trad. diets focusing on tp 2 diabetes

[big brown horse]

This is a thread for those of us who are eating traditional diets and the benefits it has on type 2 diabetes. If you do not agree, please start your own thread. This is not a thread for a debate between traditional diets or modern medicine. I would like it to focus on the teachings of Weston A. Price, Michael Pollen, Sally Fallon and the like.

A quote from Michael Pollan:

For example, the Inuit in Greenland subsist mostly on seal blubber (fat is 75 percent of their diet), yet they have no type 2 diabetes or heart disease.

People eating a great variety of traditional diets do not suffer high rates of chronic disease, Pollan said. These come from the Western diet.

 

[hwillm1977]

I watched a great TV documentary where they took an entire native village in Canada, whose incidence of diabetes was like 1 out of every 2 or 3 people, obesity was epidemic, etc... and switched them to a traditional diet... mostly fish fats, (they dipped EVERYTHING in fish fat to eat enough of it in a day), veggies, low or no carb. They rarely ate any meat other than fish... the researchers were trying to get them to eat a diet similar to what they would have eaten before European influences.

The entire town ate this way for 1 year... at the end of the year, most of the diabetics were no longer insulin dependant or had NO diabetes... in total they had lost more than 2000 pounds... and everyone felt great...

It was called 'My Big Fat Diet'

Although I love my breads, I found it really interesting

 

[big brown horse]

I found the link to that documentary: http://www.cbc.ca/thelens/bigfatdiet/video.html

Thanks for the heads up!

 

[big brown horse]

Here is something else I found: http://www.cbc.ca/health/story/2005/02/11/diet-aboriginal050211.html

 

[ohiofarmgirl]

all great info BBH! thanks!

 

[Wifezilla]

I have asked a few questions of Dr. Wortman on his blog. Great guy.

 

[FarmerDenise]

I had a book on Hypoglycemia that was published in the 60's by a doctor. Unfortunately I lent the book out and never got it back and I cannot remember the title nor the doctor's name.
He promoted a diet free from refined carbs and sugars. He said to go back to the foods of your ancestors, whatever region your people came from.
So, if you were primarily of Japanese decent, you should eat the way Japanese ate 200 years ago, if you are Eskimo, eat the way they did 200 years ago etc.
Of course this can be more difficult, if you come from diverse cultures.
I still think it is a valid point though. Humans have survived and thrived without today's medical sciences. I think each individual needs to find out for themselves what their optimum food is. Start by eliminating processed foods that have only become available in say the last 100 years, then go back another 100 years. At the same time start looking in the traditional foods of your ancestors.

It is hard for us to give up foods we grew up with. It is more work to fix everything from scratch. But if we at least make a valiant attempt, our health is bound to improve for the most part.

I allow myself the equivalent of 1 slice of white bread a day. Many days I do not eat anything that comes close to that. But when I come across some really good food that is made with white flour, I allow myself to enjoy it. As the years have gone by, I have found good, healthy and tasty alternatives to many foods I loved.
I also fall off the wagon now and then, and I usually feel worse within a day or two, depending how badly I fell off the wagon.
I just brush myself off and get back on that wagon. I have gotten so that I really enjoy my healthy food. Fortunately for me I also grew up on mostly healthy simple food.
My biggest problem is having a partner, who thinks my food is weird. It is slow hard work to convince him to change his habits or to at least let me eat what I want to eat without coment.
But he is learning. And getting more and more used to my food and my way of cooking.

 

[Henrietta23]

Oh, I'm in! Nothing to add, but I'll be following and reading etc!
I'm definitely seeing my health improve with the elimination of processed foods and high carbs. I'm still a work in progress but being diagnoses with pre-diabetes was enough of a jolt to get me moving in the right direction!
ETA: I'm currently reading Barry Groves' Natural Health and Weight Loss, recommended by WZ I believe. Loving it!!

 

[Wifezilla]

Here is a link to Weston Price's book...
http://www.journeytoforever.org/farm_library/price/pricetoc.html
You can read it for free online.

The same thing that Weston Price saw in his journeys is also documented in Good Calories Bad Calories by Gary Taubes.

He talks about the Pima Indians and the Tokelau Atoll natives. Both of these cultures were isolated and had fantastic health UNTIL they began getting food stuffs from Westerners. Primarily sugar and white flour.


I am so glad you like Barry's book. I have been in contact via email a couple of times. He really has his head on straight

 

[freemotion]

It is amazing what eating what our great-great-great-grandparents ate does for our bodies. I think it is so cool that Dr. Price began his research believing that the healthiest peoples would of course be vegans. I used to think the same way, even though I didn't feel right if I ate vegan for only ONE DAY. I tried really hard to go veg, just couldn't do it. Now I know why it didn't work for me.

He found that the healthiest ate a variety of foods, and a commonality among those healthiest was that they ate meat with fat, always with the fat. The least healthy of the groups were mostly vegetarian, but ate insects, grubs, and such. No thank you!

The one thing I can't do that all the healthiest peoples did is to eat the organ meats. I will have to shoot for ten of the eleven commonalities for now!