- The diets of healthy primitive and nonindustrialized peoples contain no refined or denatured foods such as refined sugar or corn syrup; white flour; canned foods; pasteurized, homogenized, skim or low-fat milk; refined or hydrogenated vegetable oils; protein powders; artificial vitamins or toxic additives and colorings.
- All traditional cultures consume some sort of animal protein and fat from fish and other seafood; water and land fowl; land animals; eggs; milk and milk products; reptiles; and insects.
- Primitive diets contain at least four times the calcium and other minerals and TEN times the fat soluble vitamins from animal fats (vitamin A, vitamin D and the Price Factor--now believed to be vitamin K2) as the average American diet.
- In all traditional cultures, some animal products are eaten raw.
- Primitive and traditional diets have a high food-enzyme content from raw dairy products, raw meat and fish; raw honey; tropical fruits; cold-pressed oils; wine and unpasteurized beer; and naturally preserved, lacto-fermented vegetables, fruits, beverages, meats and condiments.
- Seeds, grains and nuts are soaked, sprouted, fermented or naturally leavened in order to neutralize naturally occuring antinutrients in these foods, such as phytic acid, enzyme inhibitors, tannins and complex carbohydrates.
- Total fat content of traditional diets varies from 30% to 80% but only about 4% of calories come from polyunsaturated oils naturally occurring in grains, pulses, nuts, fish, animal fats and vegetables. The balance of fat calories is in the form of saturated and monounsaturated fatty acids.
- Traditional diets contain nearly equal amounts of omega-6 and omega-3 essential fatty acids.
- All primitive diets contain some salt.
- Traditional cultures consume animal bones, usually in the form of gelatin-rich bone broths.
- Traditional cultures make provisions for the health of future generations by providing special nutrient-rich foods for parents-to-be, pregnant women and growing children; by proper spacing of children; and by teaching the principles of right diet to the young.
The site also lists the following dietary dangers:
- Don't eat commercially processed foods such as cookies, cakes, crackers, TV dinners, soft drinks, packaged sauce mixes, etc.
- Avoid all refined sweeteners such as sugar, dextrose, glucose and high fructose corn syrup.
- Avoid white flour, white flour products and white rice.
- Avoid all hydrogenated or partially hydrogenated fats and oils.
- Avoid all vegetable oils made from soy, corn, safflower, canola or cottonseed.
- Do not use polyunsaturated oils for cooking, sauteing or baking.
- Avoid fried foods.
- Do not practice veganism; animal products provide vital nutrients not found in plant foods.
- Avoid products containing protein powders.
- Avoid pasteurized milk; do not consume lowfat milk, skim milk, powdered milk or imitation milk products.
- Avoid battery-produced eggs and factory-farmed meats.
- Avoid highly processed luncheon meats and sausage containing MSG and other additives.
- Avoid rancid and improperly prepared seeds, nuts and grains found in granolas, quick rise breads and extruded breakfast cereals, as they block mineral absorption and cause intestinal distress.
- Avoid canned, sprayed, waxed, bioengineered or irradiated fruits and vegetables.
- Avoid artificial food additives, especially MSG, hydrolyzed vegetable protein and aspartame, which are neurotoxins. Most soups, sauce and broth mixes and commercial condiments contain MSG, even if not so labeled.
- Avoid caffeine-containing beverages such as coffee, tea and soft drinks. Avoid chocolate.
- Avoid aluminum-containing foods such as commercial salt, baking powder and antacids. Do not use aluminum cookware or aluminum-containing deodorants.
- Do not drink fluoridated water.
- Avoid synthetic vitamins and foods containing them.
- Do not drink distilled liquors.
- Do not use a microwave oven.
I think they are probably right on a lot of points, but I have some objections. First, as a general rule, I don't trust anyone who presents only one point of view. If you look through some of the articles on their web site, all of the literature they cite is either in their favor or "obviously flawed". If an exhaustive search of 3,000+ articles has not satisfactorily presented evidence contrary to your worldview, you are at best delusional and at worst a liar.
Secondly, it's absurd to think that our ancestors had an ideal diet. I don't think I need to explain why.
Finally, it's a bit too "Boo Industry" for my tastes. It almost sounds like she would be in favor of a repeal of the agricultural revolution -- 'let's go back to the olden days when we ate what we grew, and ate our meat all the way down to and including the bones -- then we'd be way healthier!' If there's one thing that gets under my skin, it's the overly idealized sense of the past, that all was pristine and wonderful then. Does anyone really want to go back to the not-too-distant past when nearly everyone worked on farms and the life-expectancy at birth was less than 40? And why, if the primitive diet is so wonderful, has every moderately wealthy civilization in the history of the world weened themselves from it? Is it because they're blindly ignorant, or because they prefer to eat differently, given the choice?
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