Traditional Diets

Dr. Weil sums up the main points from a new book by Dr. Daphne Miller, The Jungle Effect: A Doctor Discovers the Healthiest Diets from Around the World - Why They Work and How to Bring Them Home:

1. The foods are local, fresh and unprocessed.


2. Animals that are consumed have also “eaten well,” from fresh, local ingredients.


3. Meat and dairy are eaten in small quantities within a larger meal.


4. Processed grains and sugars are eaten rarely.


5. Healing spices such as turmeric and ginger are used in many dishes.


6. Fermented foods are consumed often.


7. People rarely eat alone.


8. Feasting is confined to special holidays, unlike American culture, in which “we have what amounts to a feast every day,” said Dr. Miller.

Excerpts from an interview with her (part 1 & 2):

And you began to experience the "jungle effect"?
Yes, it was so interesting to see some of the American volunteers who were there, and even my own family feeling the same kind of effect. We were not necessarily exercising more – it was too hot to exercise! – and still we were slimming down, and feeling more energetic, while eating very satisfying meals. And I realized that so much of it had to do with the local foods and the way they were put together. These were recipes that had been prepared for hundreds and hundreds of years because they tasted great and kept people healthy.

I also noticed when I was there that I saw lots of snakebites, machete wounds, malaria and other infections and injuries – these were the kind of medical problems that were easy to treat or prevent with modern medicine and sanitation. But I did not encounter anyone other than tourists who had the diseases I saw every day in San Francisco: obesity, heart disease, diabetes and depression.

So I began to talk to people, and I began to write down recipes, because while some of what we ate was exotic and hard to find in the states, many of these foods were available in standard North American supermarkets. When I returned, I emailed a dozen of these recipes to Angela. A month later, she called me back and said she was really enjoying the food, had gotten some of her "jungle energy" back and was exercising regularly. Two months later, her weight was down 14 pounds, and she felt the diet was easy to maintain. When her friends asked for her secret, she had answered, "I put myself on the Jungle Diet."

The thing that's so striking to me is that you went to these different cultures and found diets that seemed quite different: people in Crete eat olive oil and fresh vegetables, while Icelanders eat omega-rich fish and very few vegetables. So in terms of the proportions of fat, protein and carbohydrates, they are not necessarily similar.

This is true. The Tarahumara [the indigenous people of Northern Mexico] are eating 80% of their calories from carbohydrates, albeit slowly digested, low glycemic ones such as squash and beans. Contrast that to Iceland, where fish and dairy are abundant and are a big part of the diet. If you were to actually break it down in terms of percentage of calories from protein versus fat versus carbohydrates, you'd find that many of these diets are radically different. So it appears that there is no hard-and-fast way that way you should arrange your macronutrients in order to eat well.

So what is the element that these diets have in common that makes them healthy?
There are several. The first one is that the foods are relatively local, fresh, and unprocessed. Also, the farm or wild animals themselves have been "eating well," from fresh, local ingredients, and a lot of those nutrients are being passed along when humans consume their meat or milk. Meat and dairy are also generally eaten in small quantities within the context of a larger meal. In most of these cultures, no one is sitting down for a slab of meat; even in Iceland, there are stews and beans and other things combined with the meat. All these cultures eat very little processed grains like white flour. Their starches (grains, beans, tubers) tend to look the same as they do when they come out of the earth. Salt and sugars are not in a highly synthesized, refined form, and by and large are eaten within that wholeness of that food, so salty flavors come naturally with seaweed and fish, and sweetness naturally occurs in honey and fruits. In addition, most of these cultures use healing spices and have fermented foods. Fermentation or pickling is a way of preparing food that has been shown to have a wide range of health benefits.

Her work is similar to that of the Weston A Price foundation, especially the book called Nourishing Traditions:

This well-researched, thought-provoking guide to traditional foods contains a startling message: Animal fats and cholesterol are not villains but vital factors in the diet, necessary for normal growth, proper funciton of the brain and nervous system, protection from disease and optimum energy levels. Sally Fallon dispels the myths of the current low-fat fad in this practical, entertaining guide to a can-do diet that is both nutritious and delicious.

It's also linked to Dr. Mercola's take on raw milk and eggs.

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hoPiNASGeWo]