EXPLORING TRADITIONAL DIETS

Throughout our lives, we are fed various streams of information on the consumption and production of food. We are constantly told what is considered healthy and unhealthy and to follow specific diets to look a certain way. This results in the spread of misinformation regarding food consumption and production. Simultaneously, the production of food itself has evolved into a complicated process to the point where we don’t know the true ingredients, processes, or equipment used to make the food that we consume. The capitalist drive to create profit from the production of food has facilitated the production of processed, under-nutritious, and harmful foods. On the other hand, there has also been a capitalist drive to get people to become more healthy, creating schemes to get people to buy diet books, pills, food plans, etc. Among these capitalist food traps, food movements that truly aim to produce and provide people with healthy and nutritious foods become underrepresented or unheard of.

My personal relationship with food can be understood as a reflection of current food trends. Growing up, eating was simple. I was fed delicious and nutritious food, often traditional Indian food. However, as I grew up, I began to fall for Western diets and food hacks which was coupled with my desire to fit the Western beauty standard. When I moved to college, my diet worsened. I had never felt more detached from my culture, family, and home, and it reflected in the food I was eating. From starving myself to binging, eating, one of the most basic necessities of life, had become the most complicated task. Over the last year and a half, my relationship with food has been relatively stable, however, I still find eating to be a burden and I’m yet to find a stable routine. Perhaps this has to do with the stress of being a student or more likely it is because I became bored with food. Cooking with the same ingredients, and following recipes that fit the Western standard of “healthy food” became monotonous. 

In my research for a project in my Community Engagement class, I learned of Dr. Sally Fallon, a founder Weston A. Price Foundation, an organization that promotes educating others on traditional diets and ways of producing foods. I was not only interested in how paleo diets were different from a contemporary Western diet (such as mine) but how attainable it is for us today. To gain a holistic understanding of the subject, I read Fallon’s book “Nourishing Diets: How Paleo, Ancestral, and Traditional People really ate,” which not only provided me with insight into ancestral food but offered recipes for me to try and share with my community.

“Nourishing Diets: How Paleo, Ancestral, and Traditional People really ate” - Main Takeaways and Tips

I want to share the main takeaways from Fallon’s book. She debunks several myths about how Paleo diets are currently understood. She offers insight into what our ancestors really ate and how we can take inspiration from their diet to become more healthy and well-nourished. She explores the diets of ancestors from around the world to current-day “Blue zone” inhabitants (where a high percentage of the population lives to 100 years). Primarily, she expresses that an ancestral diet consisted of high fats, a good amount of salt, and carbohydrates - many of which are considered unhealthy in a contemporary Western Diet. Through examples and case studies, Fallon argues why these foods are vital for our physical health and well-being. 

While the tips in this blog come from her book “Nourishing Diets,” I also used her book “Nourishing Traditions” to provide more detailed information on some topics.

1) Traditional foods contain no industrially processed or refined food 

• A list of commonly processed foods today includes white sugar, white flour, canned food, industrial seed oils, etc. Processed foods are also made with additives such as artificial colorings, flavors, sweeteners, preservatives, starches, etc. Together with the chemicals, pesticides, and herbicides used to produce our food, these products are bad for the human body and “incapable of supporting good health.” Healthy traditional people didn’t consume food this way. When these food-like substances were introduced to their diets, their health declined. Cases of heart disease are not from animal fats and cholesterol, as often expressed, but rather can be attributed to processed foods such as vegetable oils, refined carbohydrates, hydrogenated fats, etc. 

2) All traditional diets contained animal products

• All traditional people ate animal foods, although in varying forms and quantities. Contrary to the present day, animal foods were always consumed with fat (for example milk with its cream, eggs with the yolks, meat and birds with their fat and fatty organs, and fish and shellfish at their fattest). 

• Fats and organ meats are great sources of Vitamin A and the cofactors needed for protein assimilation. Consuming a lot of lean meat can lead to protein poisoning (or “mal de caribou”). 

• Current-day practices of consuming animal products without their fats (ex: skimmed milk, egg whites without the yolks, skinless chicken breasts, etc.) can lead to a vitamin A deficiency (symptoms include: immune system dysfunction, fatigue, chronic pain, etc.). 

• Animal foods provide nutrients that plant foods do not contain. This includes vitamin B12 and the fat-soluble vitamins A, D, and K. 

• Animal foods facilitate the absorption of minerals such as zinc, calcium, copper, magnesium, iron, and vitamin B6. 

• Animal foods are also a great source of calcium (through milk products and bones). 

3) Settling the debate on eating raw foods 

• Raw foodists argue that eating food in its raw form provides more nutrients. This is only true for a small number of foods. Several foods can’t even be consumed raw (for example grains, legumes, many tubers, and dark leafy greens) as they are indigestible or poisonous to the human body unless cooked.

• However, in many cultures, people do consume some of its animal protein raw (for example raw meat, raw fish and shellfish, and raw dairy products). In this case, cooking destroys vitamin B6, which is more plentiful and available in animal foods.

• A popular contestation is the pasteurization of milk. An ancestral diet advocates against pasteurizing milk as heat kills enzymes that can be vital to human digestion processes. 

4) All traditional cultures consumed Lacto-fermented foods 

• Ancestral diets consume Laco-fermented foods in various forms, from food to beverages. 

• Lacto-fermentation is a process whereby special bacteria transform sugars and starches into beneficial acids. Laco fermented foods help replenish gut bacteria for a healthy gut diet. They supply the intestinal tract with health-promoting lactic acid and lactic acid-producing bacteria.

• They also provide enzymes that help the human body with digestion. Around 70% of our energy goes into digestion, and these Laco fermented foods produce enzymes that can facilitate this process, meaning that energy load translates to more energy for the human being, helping them feel energized

5) All temperate regions of the world consume grains

• Traditional cultures cared greatly for their seeds (such as grains, legumes, nuts, etc.) by soaking, culturing, fermenting, souring, etc. Their thorough and caring preparation processes for seeds minimize irritants and antinutrients in them - making them more digestible. They usually also soaked or fermented grains before eating them, neutralizing phytates and enzymes, predigesting the grains.

• The present-day phenomenon of intolerance to grain happened in connection with the way we started to treat the seed. This is due to our production of large amounts of whole grains in the form of rough quick-rise whole wheat bread, granola, muesli, oat bran, etc. 

6) Traditional diets included fats

• Traditional diets around the world vary in the amount of fats they consume. While some people do well on high-fat diets, others feel better on a diet that is lower in fat. For most people, fat contributes between 40 to 60 percent of total calories.

• For those who react well to high-fat diets, high-fat foods can stabilize blood sugar and maximize the intake of fat-soluble nutrients. 

• Traditional cultures consumed several sources of both, saturated and monounsaturated fats. Today, we consume high levels of polyunsaturated fatty acids (through seed oils) which are more harmful as they can lead to imbalances in the cellular level of the human body. Saturated and monounsaturated are obtained through animal fats and traditional oils (for example olives, coconuts, or palm fruit). These are essential for the well functioning of our cell membranes, mitochondria, hormone production, and energy storage. 

7) They consumed Omega-3 and Omega-6 fatty acids

• Omega-3 and Omega-6 fatty acids should be consumed in small amounts and in balance with each other. Omega-6 fatty acids need to be consumed about two to three times more than omega-3 fatty acids. 

8) All traditional people consumed salt 

• Salt is needed to digest our food. We need around one and one-half teaspoons of salt per day to satisfy the body’s requirements for sodium and chloride. 

• Chloride is used to make hydrochloric acid for digesting meat, and sodium is used to activate enzymes for digesting carbohydrates. Sodium is needed for brain function, adrenal function, regulation of blood pressure, cellular function, and the production of a variety of hormones.

• Modern processed and refined salt removes the magnesium and minerals that are present in it. 

• Unrefined salts are not the “stark white” salt we often find, they are identified as being gray, pink, or beige.

9) Traditional cultures ate the skin and bones of animals 

• In addition to the skin and bones (meaning the collagenous portions, gristle, joints, and connective tissues) of animals, they also consumed muscle and organ meats. 

• This is greatly beneficial to collagen production in our own bodies, strengthening our muscles, bones, and connective tissues. 

10) Traditional cultures prepared for future generations 

• While preparing and processing food was about keeping healthy in the present, it was also about ensuring that the next generation would grow up to be healthy and well-nourished. For example, special nutritional diets were developed for pregnant women, young children, etc. 

Traditional diets were nutrient-dense as people maximized their nutrients, from food production to preparation processes. Our modern diet minimizes nutrients, hindering us from developing healthier diets.

“Eating a Traditional/ Paleo Diet for a Day”

“Eating a Traditional/ Paleo Diet for a Day” is my attempt to make recipes from Fallon’s book for each meal of the day to share with my roommates and close friends - emulating a perfect day of eating. To clarify, not all the meals were made on the same day. I have prepared these dishes over the course of a couple of months. 

Here are the results, backgrounds, and some of the benefits of each dish:

For breakfast, I made sorghum porridge which is a staple food in Sudan. There are many different types of sorghum but they can only be eaten when fermented. It can be fermented for foods (such as bread and porridge) or even beers. It can also be used for medicinal purposes to cure coughs if prepared a certain way. Tribes believe that the consumption of fermented foods protects them from disease, enabling people to live longer lives. Fermented foods increase the availability of vitamins and minerals in addition to increasing their shelf life, which is needed to preserve food in hot climates such as in Sudan. Specifically, sorghum contains antinutrients, such as tannins, phytic acid, and enzyme inhibitors. 

The cooking process for this porridge was quite exciting. This was the first time I had fermented anything, but it turned out great because it was bubbling by the end of the 48 hours I left it out. It was also a very easy process as the fermentation required little set up and after, I only had to heat it up for 30 minutes on the stove, continuously mixing it. The end result turned out exactly how I hoped. However, my roommates and I would all agree that we were quite unaccustomed to the taste. Even with ghee or butter, it had a peculiar taste that we had never tried before. I’m not sure if I would make it again, but it was extremely cheap to make as a college student, and the ingredients were surprisingly easy to find (at Bulk Barn!), making it a quick and easy meal to prepare. 

For lunch, I prepared salmon roe on sourdough bread and sour cream. Fish roe is seen as an important fertility food throughout the globe, for example for coastal indigenous people in North America. Fish roe is also one of the most nutrient-dense parts of most fish. Sourdough bread is made with fermented grains which provide the body with nutrients and is easier to digest (compared to other types of bread) by facilitating the breakdown of anti-nutrients 

I’ve had fish roe before in sushi and I strongly disliked it. I made this recipe with my roommates and their partners but not a lot of help was required because it was quick and easy. This is great because realistically, during lunchtime, I’m quite busy so it made for a perfect meal. Unexpectedly, it turned out to be delicious and I felt good after consuming it. With the balance of the sour cream and dill, the roe wasn’t too strong and matched perfectly with the sourdough bread. All my roommates and their partners loved it too. While the roe was quite expensive, I know it's a quick meal I can prepare once in a while. 

Snack: Yogurt Dough Fried in Ghee 

The plain, organic, yogurt used in this recipe is a great source of saturated fats. Saturated fats play a vital role in maintaining the health of our bones, protecting the liver from alcohol and other toxins, enhancing the immune system, and more. Yogurt is also a great source of Lacto-fermented foods which is greatly beneficial for digestion and for maintaining good gut health by replenishing bacteria. Furthermore, ghee is a form of clarified butter where the milk solids have been removed, and as a result, is packed with more fat. This snack is popular among African mothers who cook it for their children. However, versions of fried yogurt dough can also be found in the Middle East and Eastern Europe. 

In making this dish, it would be very interesting to make my own yogurt that is cultured from raw milk, which has more benefits to us than pasteurized milk. Additionally, I would like to have made my own ghee instead of buying it from a store. The balls themselves turned out delicious, the favorite dish for most of my friends! To make them into a sweeter dish we drizzled some honey and sprinkled some maple sugar (which was recommended in many of the other dessert recipes in the book). It was quite difficult to make the dough itself, but with help from friends, I was able to get it done. I hadn’t eaten ghee, a staple in my Indian household growing up, since I left home, so this recipe was great in prompting me to buy some. 

Dinner: Ghanaian Groundnut Stew 

Being the last dish I made, I didn’t have the budget to buy all the ingredients such as the essential palm oil for frying the meat or optionally the dried anchovies. I also initially wanted to make this dish with cassava fufu but cassava flour was difficult to find in Montreal for a relatively cheap price. Despite this, the dish turned out pretty good (the favorite for some of my roommates) and lasted a while after feeding many people. The beef was a great source of protein and the dish was inexpensive to make. It was an easy and quick cook and I will definitely be making it again. 

Eating a Paleo/traditional diet was exciting and it was the first time in a long time that I was met with completely new tastes. Looking back, I should have added at least one vegetable dish to my day, and I will be looking to try some of the veg recipes in the book when I next get the chance. This project made me realize that I don’t have to cook with the same ingredients, especially when I have access to such a wide range of affordable foods to try. As a college student, this diet was sustainable. It was expensive in a way because I had to buy many of the ingredients for the first time, but now that I already have them, it’ll be easier to integrate them into my dishes. For the most part, the dishes were quick to make. The ones that took longer were good for meal prepping. The part of the project I enjoyed the most was being intentional with my cooking. Rather than going to the same groceries to pick boring ingredients to make predictable dishes, I was forced to expand my taste. I had to find new stores, plan my meals in advance, and stay attentive throughout the cooking process. Furthermore, this project provided an opportunity for me to host many group dinners with roommates and friends. It was truly exciting to cook a completely new dish and wait to try it together for the first time. We are more inspired now to do group dinners where we prepare dishes from around the world.