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To: metmom
I've heard before that the Western diet is a real problem for Native American, Hispanic and Black groups. When they stick to their native ancestral diet, they don't have this problem.

A dentist/anthropologist named Weston A. Price wrote "Nutrition and Physical Degeneration" in mid-20th-century based on research he did in various parts of the world. He studied paired groups of people, closely related ethnically.One of the groups would live close to easy access to commercially manufactured foods, while the other would be isolated in some way so that had to rely on more traditional foods, including that grown by themselves.

Most were relatively primitive people, but also included an isolated, Roman Catholic Swiss farming community and their non-isolated nearby relatives who had easy access to "white bread" type foods.

He found extreme differences in dental arches, skull and skeletal structures as well as susceptibility to many diseases including diabetes and tuberculosis, though it was not known at the time that tuberculosis is contagious. His research methods may not have satisfied those of today, but were very convincing, more so in fact than today's sometimes very small reported differences.

The book is available at Amazon, and there is a website dedicated to his work. The website IMO has gone overboard, though I doubt any of their food choices would be unhealthy.




Left: [Fijians] The development of the facial bones determines the size and shape of the palate and the size of the nasal passages. Note the strength of the neck of the men above and the well-proportioned faces of the girls below. Such faces are usually associated with properly proportioned bodies. Tooth decay is rare in these mouths so long as they use an adequate selection of native foods.
23 posted on 11/13/2006 10:28:27 PM PST by caveat emptor
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To: caveat emptor
Anyone interested in reading the book about the dentist who studied ethnic diets and found them far superior to our Western one in terms of health results, can find the book on Amazon here.

Also, Sally Fallon has in many ways picked up the baton. She's put together a cookbook which has tons of information as well as recipes. It's called Nourishing Traditions.

My health has improved a lot since following this way of eating. I've also discovered an intolerance to gluten and dairy, and after going off both of those have lost weight, no longer have migraines and brain fog, and in general have lots more energy and motivation. It's been quite a health journey so far but it's been worth it.

39 posted on 11/14/2006 4:56:15 AM PST by TruthSetsUFree
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