Organ Meat (Simple Recipe Included)

I always encourage the consumption of organ meat, or whatever is not lean meat:

• liver
• heart
• brain (I find this to be the most satisfying)
• bones (in the form of broth)
• bone marrow
• kidney
• stomach
• skin
• tendons (rich in collagen for joint health)

Good Old Lard

Many people ask me which is the healthiest fat for consumption. My answer is that the healthiest fat should be solid at room temperature. In more detail: whatever solid fat their grandparents were consuming when they were children.

Traditional Diets and Dental Health (Switzerland)

After reading this article about the relative absence of tooth decay in hunter-gatherers, I immediately thought of the work of  Weston Price about dental health.

Diseases of Civilization - Japan

Japan is often cited as a proof that a high carbohydrate diet is the solution to avoid chronic diseases. I think it is a misguided belief.

In the 1950s, Ancel Keys considered his hypothesis (dietary fat causes heart disease) confirmed by the example of Japan, where people ate a low-fat diet, had low cholesterol levels, and had very little incidence of heart disease. It is true. It is also true, that at that time, sugar consumption was also very low and carbohydrates (brown rice, millet, buckwheat, etc) were not processed. So, we could also say that the low incidence of heart disease was a result of the lack of sugar and refined carbohydrates in their diet. Of course, Keys paid no attention to sugar consumption.

Nutrition and Dental Health

Most of us are born with a perfect genetic blueprint. If we give the right nutrients during our lifetime to our body, then the genetic expression will be perfect. If our food is deficient in nutrients, then our body will try to adapt to a poor diet, we still survive, but develop chronic diseases. The genetic expression depends on the building material we provide to our body. As we age, genetics play less and less role in the development of chronic diseases, meanwhile nutrition and lifestyle become more and more important.

Diseases of Civilization - Native Americans

In 1902, Aleš Hrdlička, physician-turned-anthropologist, in his Physiological and Medical Observations among the Indians of Southwestern United States and Northern Mexico, reported that:

• "Malignant disease if they exist at all - that they do would be difficult to doubt - must be extremely rare." Hrdlička had not seen "unequivocal signs of malignant growth on an Indian bone."
• "No cases of appendicitis, peritonitis, ulcer of the stomach, or of any grave disease of the liver was observed."
• He also noted that Indians lived as long as or longer that the "whites", suggesting that the low incidence of chronic diseases among the natives cannot be explained by a low life expectancy.

Vitamin and Mineral Deficiencies

I've already wrote about deficiencies that might occur in vegetarians and vegans. Today, I will talk about deficiencies occurring when eating a western diet, as I receive more and more emails from people taking supplements, even though they seem to be consuming a "healthy diet" (low fat, high in fruits, vegetables, healthy carbohydrates) recommended by different health authorities.

Diseases of Civilization - The Inuit

Vilhjalmur Stefansson (November 3, 1879 - August 26, 1962) - Harvard anthropologist, Arctic explorer, spent 10 years among the Inuit of northern Canada and Alaska eating nothing but meat. The Inuit diet consisted of caribou, seal, polar bear, rabbits, birds and eggs. In extreme necessity the root of a local plant was consumed as well. The Inuit considered vegetables and fruits "not proper human food".

Diseases of Civilization - Africa

The eyewitness testimony from missionary and colonial physicians lead to two observations:
1. Diseases of civilization were rare to non-existent among isolated populations.
2. These diseases appeared only after populations were exposed to Western foods, in particular sugar and white flour.

Sugar - "Pure, White and Deadly" - John Yudkin

(I try to keep it very simple.)

Definitions:
- Sugar: glucose (in starches: rice, flour etc), fructose (in fruits), lactose (in milk)
- Simple carbs: one or two sugar molecules bound together
- Complex carbs: chains of sugars, it can be tens of thousands of molecules long (broken down to simple sugars during digestion)
- Glycemic Index: measure of how quickly carbohydrates are absorbed and converted to blood sugar. The more simple (refined) the carbohydrate, the greater the blood sugar and insulin response.