Issue link: https://cp.revolio.com/i/898909
energetic, active and pain-free all day every day. To not have to worry about "catching a cold" or exhausting myself by doing normal, every day activities. The people Weston A. Price observed had an incredibly high level of health. When I look at animals in nature, I see an energetic capability, a vital life force that is palpable. Price's work shows that a sense of physical well-being is our birthright -- that we are genetically programmed to have radiant health -- and that it was available to the people he studied largely because of the way they ate. Observations about Diet So what should we be eating? Although the diets of the many groups varied there were certain common factors: • All foods consumed were raised in a manner which we would label " organic " – no pesticides and no commercial fertilizers. • All foods were what we would call "whole foods." • All diets included a healthy source of saturated fat from animal sources. • None of these cultures consumed polyunsaturated oils. • There was usually a source of fermented food, such as yogurt or fermented cabbage (sauerkraut). • Meat eaters always consumed the entire animal -- the organ meat was considered the most nutritious and some meat was consumed raw. • Grains were always soaked, fermented or soured (to neutralize the phytates in whole grains: phytates inhibit the absorption of minerals). Perhaps the most important point is that these cultures ate only complete, nutrient-dense food. There was no "junk food." There was no "processed food." There was no "fractionated food." Just real, whole food direct from nature. Why are whole foods so important? Recently in the news we have been introduced to the "miracle" of folic acid -- said to help prevent miscarriages, atherosclerosis caused by homocysteine, and possibly Alzheimer's Disease. For years Americans received too little of this nutrient because they were eating white, processed flour, from which the folic acid was removed. So now the food manufacturers remove the folic acid in milling and then put it back as a synthetic vitamin. (At the International Health News Database, see "Folic Acid: Summaries of the latest research concerning folic acid" – http://www. pinc.com/healthnews/folate.html.) So why take it out in the first place? But what else has been removed from the flour that we don't yet know about? What will be the next "miracle" nutrient to be discovered? It might even be pantothenic acid or choline -- other B vitamins that we now strip out of our food. How can we be so stupid! Price estimated that the people he studied all received ten times as much of vitamins A & D as Americans of his time. Ten times!! Price believed that these fat-soluble vitamins were the key to their health. And where did they come from? In many instances the much maligned saturated fats. None of the diets he studied had any heart disease despite eating, in some cases, large quantities of saturated fat. Price also estimated they received about four times as much of other minerals. No wonder they were so healthy! We have replaced nutrient-dense foods with processed flours and sugars -- not only don't they provide us with any nutrition; they rob vitamins and minerals from other bodily functions so we can process the denatured food through our system. They dangerously give us energy without substance -- energy that allows us to keep going without rebuilding Page 30 | Abby's Magazine - www.AbbysHealthAndNutrition.com