Eating Traditional Foods for Longevity and Overall Wellness
In traditional cultures, balancing health with a balanced lifestyle was a core belief. They live in harmony with the environment. The diseases of modern civilization were rare. Food and medicine were interwoven. All cultures used special or functional foods to prevent disease. Food could be used at different times and different situations and used as either food or medicine. Foods, cultivation, and cooking methods maximized community health and well-being. With methods passed down through generations, cooking processes were utilized that enhanced mineral and nutrient bioavailability. Today, the modern lifestyle lacks many of these traditional practices, and we have the high prevalence of chronic disease to show for it!
Indigenous people have patterns of illness very different from Western civilization; yet, once exposed to Western foods and lifestyles, they rapidly develop common Western diseases like cancer, heart disease, and diabetes. This is the result of epigenetic changes in the expression of their genes that enabled these diseases to emerge. The Western diet and lifestyle promoted the growth of cancers, tooth decay, allergies and asthma. Babies conceived and raised on a westernized diet had more asymmetrical and thinner facial structures and a whole range of health conditions that children raised on traditional diets did not have. With 1 out of every 6 children in the US being diagnosed with learning disorders like ADHD and autism, a return to a traditional diet can reverse these health conditions and strengthen your child’s health for the long-term.
Food is information: what do you want to tell your body? Eating traditional, whole foods can change the expression of your genes to promote wellness. You can change the internal terrain of your body, making it inhospitable to cancer and disease. Moreover, you can lose weight, balance your hormones, reverse insulin resistance and diabetes, reverse heart disease, enhance fertility and prepare for a healthy pregnancy, improve digestion and detoxification, and much more!
More than half of Americans are getting less than the 85% of the RDA amounts of nutrients. And these requirements are to prevent disease, not even to optimize health. The Western diet commonly contains over 50% of calories from sugar! And that doesn’t even include alcohol!
In addition, the wheat grown today contains over 50% gluten compared to only 5% gluten content in the traditional varieties of wheat. These new wheat strains, genetically modified foods, frozen and microwavable foods, and processed foods are considered “New to Nature” foods that are related to these chronic health conditions that are so prevalent in today’s modern world.
10 Ways to give your cells the RIGHT information
- Eat more organic foods (including grass-fed, free-range meats)
- Eat a variety of foods
- Eat more fruits and vegetables
- Eat more nuts and seeds
- Use soaked or sprouted whole grains
- Eat fermented foods, made at home
- Eat fresh, local foods in season (and support your local farmers at their markets!)
- Cooking is self-love: learn how to nourish your body and spirit
- Use more herbs and spices when you cook
- Supplement your diet with high-quality nutrients specific to your body’s needs to correct imbalances and support areas of weakness.
Resources:
Lipski, L. (2010). Nutr Clin Pract. 25:585-593.
http://www.bodyecology.com
Tags: fermented foods, free-range, gluten-free, grass-fed, organic, supplements, traditional foods, whole foods
