At the recent "Low Carb Nutrition Revolution" conference in Gladstone, which I attended as a presenter on the topic of "Low carb for mental health", I was reminded of one of the main reasons I decided to follow this career path, initially as a Nutritionist.
About 12 years ago (approx 2006) I was dragged along to a day-long seminar about Dr Weston A. Price and his work. I wasn't sure what I was getting into, as I was still in my previous career at that time! Dr Price had passed away several decades earlier, but the spokesperson for the Weston A Price Foundation was the main speaker.
Dr Weston Price (1870-1948) was an American Dentist, Nutritionist and Scientist. In the late 1890s and early 1900s he spent over 10 years travelling all over the world to search for the secret of health. He visited and lived with indigenous populations on most continents to research their diets and the quality of their teeth. He found almost perfect dental arches, next to no dental decay, in an era of no water fluoridation, and very little toothbrushing or toothpaste!
When Dr. Price analyzed the foods used by isolated indigenous peoples he found that they provided at least four times the calcium and other minerals, and at least TEN times the fat-soluble vitamins from animal foods such as butter, fish eggs, shellfish and organ meats.
Dr Price was researching these remote populations at the most perfect time in history, when modern foods were only just reaching these areas - white flour, white sugar, refined vegetable/seed oils, and canned foods.
He then noticed the children of parents who had abandoned their traditional diets in favour of the modern diets had extremely bad and decayed teeth, and also a narrowed face, crowded teeth, and a much reduced immunity to disease. All of this occurred in a few years after modern high carb foods were introduced.
The discoveries and conclusion of Dr. Price are presented in his book "Nutrition and Physical Degeneration", of which reprints are still available today. The book contains striking photographs of handsome, healthy natives who eat traditional diets, and compares them with the physical degeneration that occurs when their fellow natives abandon nourishing traditional diets in favour of modern convenience foods. See some attached photos for a comparison.
While Dr Price's research was done in the early 1900s, his conclusions are still very relevant today, perhaps even more so, in this era of high carb convenience foods, epidemics of chronic disease and poor dental health. The research in his book could only have been written at that time in history! We are very lucky that he conducted these studies at the time.
What can we learn from this?
That people of various cultures should stick to their traditional diets of whole, fresh foods as much as possible, while also avoiding the high carb or highly processed foods such as sugar, flours and bakery products. This is why I recommend to clients of different ethnicities to stick to their original traditional diets and not adopt the modern convenience foods, and ignore the ridiculous government food guidelines which assume that we are all the same when we are not!
I believe that Dr Weston A. Price is a hero for his nutrition and dental research! He also noted big health problems with mercury amalgam fillings and root canal teeth...
Do you think your diet is right for you? Or do you get various aches and pains, or digestive symptoms when you eat something but can't pinpoint what is causing it? Or do you get lots of dental decay issues but can't work out why? I can help!
About 12 years ago (approx 2006) I was dragged along to a day-long seminar about Dr Weston A. Price and his work. I wasn't sure what I was getting into, as I was still in my previous career at that time! Dr Price had passed away several decades earlier, but the spokesperson for the Weston A Price Foundation was the main speaker.
Dr Weston Price (1870-1948) was an American Dentist, Nutritionist and Scientist. In the late 1890s and early 1900s he spent over 10 years travelling all over the world to search for the secret of health. He visited and lived with indigenous populations on most continents to research their diets and the quality of their teeth. He found almost perfect dental arches, next to no dental decay, in an era of no water fluoridation, and very little toothbrushing or toothpaste!
When Dr. Price analyzed the foods used by isolated indigenous peoples he found that they provided at least four times the calcium and other minerals, and at least TEN times the fat-soluble vitamins from animal foods such as butter, fish eggs, shellfish and organ meats.
Dr Price was researching these remote populations at the most perfect time in history, when modern foods were only just reaching these areas - white flour, white sugar, refined vegetable/seed oils, and canned foods.
He then noticed the children of parents who had abandoned their traditional diets in favour of the modern diets had extremely bad and decayed teeth, and also a narrowed face, crowded teeth, and a much reduced immunity to disease. All of this occurred in a few years after modern high carb foods were introduced.
The discoveries and conclusion of Dr. Price are presented in his book "Nutrition and Physical Degeneration", of which reprints are still available today. The book contains striking photographs of handsome, healthy natives who eat traditional diets, and compares them with the physical degeneration that occurs when their fellow natives abandon nourishing traditional diets in favour of modern convenience foods. See some attached photos for a comparison.
While Dr Price's research was done in the early 1900s, his conclusions are still very relevant today, perhaps even more so, in this era of high carb convenience foods, epidemics of chronic disease and poor dental health. The research in his book could only have been written at that time in history! We are very lucky that he conducted these studies at the time.
What can we learn from this?
That people of various cultures should stick to their traditional diets of whole, fresh foods as much as possible, while also avoiding the high carb or highly processed foods such as sugar, flours and bakery products. This is why I recommend to clients of different ethnicities to stick to their original traditional diets and not adopt the modern convenience foods, and ignore the ridiculous government food guidelines which assume that we are all the same when we are not!
I believe that Dr Weston A. Price is a hero for his nutrition and dental research! He also noted big health problems with mercury amalgam fillings and root canal teeth...
Do you think your diet is right for you? Or do you get various aches and pains, or digestive symptoms when you eat something but can't pinpoint what is causing it? Or do you get lots of dental decay issues but can't work out why? I can help!
RSS Feed