Periodically some new study will come out telling you how you are eating your foods all wrong, and how mankind has been duped for the entire history of the world into eating things that are harming them, and that this or that process is necessary in order to avoid the pitfall that the study somehow proves is unavoidable otherwise.
Hence we have groups of people dedicated to one extreme or another of eating, in complete disregard to the fact that historical patterns from society to society are a pretty accurate predictor of what is and is not sustainable.
Some of natures rules that we tend to forget:
- There is no society in the world at any time in history that espoused a vegetarian or vegan diet without the addition of meat, fish or insect protein, usually two or more of those. No society has thrived under a meatless diet.
- Sprouting and fermenting of foods was done as a supplement to seasonal eating, as a way of extending fresh food seasons, in all historic societies that practiced these preparation methods.
- “Miracle foods” do not exist. Food, in and of itself, is a miracle, when it is fresh, not contaminated with things that the body should not be assaulted by, and when it is consumed in variety.
- The best “medicinal supplements” are those that have a long history of being used in significant amounts in a thriving society somewhere in the world. Examples: Cinnamon, cocoa, coconut oil, oily fish (NOT extracted oils), whole wheat, dill, etc.
- “Antioxidants” can be found in ANY fresh fruit or vegetable. They are not miraculous. They are elements in fresh foods, and ALL wholesome fresh foods aid in slowing cellular damage in the body.
- Alcohol is consumed in every society in the world. But it is also KNOWN in every society in the world to be harmful to one extent to another, and is always the subject of some controversy due to negative health effects. This is true of many things, where an item may be accepted in a culture, but is also controversial in that culture.
- More harm is done by trying to disinfect food than is done by the microbes that are considered harmful. Bacteria, molds, yeasts, and other microbes combine in variety to expose our bodies to both helpful agents that aid in the breakdown of food and low exposure to “harmful” agents that strengthen our immune system and often aid in ways we do not anticipate.
- Nature does not rule by extremes, but by variety, and common sense.
Nature is not trying to trick us, and while science is discovering new benefits and cautions regarding food all the time, the fact is that a varied diet of fresh and whole foods is still the best way to stay healthy.
It is not as though mankind has been eating their vegetables all wrong until the last few years when a partially completed study suggested that some foods may cause a negative effect when processed in a laboratory. Not logical!
Food problems are NOT historic. They are recent. Escalating disease rates are also NOT historic, but of RECENT development.
Hence, we may assume that it is MODERN man that has eating all wrong, not HISTORIC man. We may know more about what food does in the body, but we also have more contaminants and our food is more processed and stripped of many of the elements which we need for optimal health.
- There is NO society that fermented foods exclusively in a closed containment. They were fermented in MANY ways, in all societies, as a means of preservation.
- There is NO society that consumed exclusively sprouted grains. Most grains were consumed after being cooked, or ground and baked.
- There is NO society that ate exclusively COOKED vegetables, or exclusively RAW vegetables. ALL successful societies, even nomadic, consumed a combination of raw and cooked foods, depending upon the food.
Eating well is a fairly simple prospect, once we know that we only need a good variety of healthy foods, that have been affected by chemical contaminants as little as possible, and which have not been “refined” in a way that strips them of nutrients. The more natural microbes they happen to contain, the better.
It is THAT SIMPLE!