Did you know the best foods for a healthy heart are the very ones we've been told to avoid? Recent research shows us that we need to go back to the past to learn about healthy traditional cultures and their diets. Traditional cultures did not devise their diets in a lab but they did utilize the natural foods around them.
Today, we are surrounded by abundance in our supermarkets. But this abundance seems to be our undoing. Our ancestors expended huge amounts of energy obtaining their food. They traveled long distances, tracking wild and dangerous animals. They expended enormous physical energy in the actual hunting and killing of prey and more energy hauling the kill back to their families and tribes. And the hunt often failed, which meant starvation. The other members of the tribe, clan or family who did not hunt, expended their energy foraging and gathering wild greens, berries and other foods.
Over the last 40,000 years our DNA has not changed. Our bodies are still genetically linked to the past of living in caves, eating fats, protein and plants. Our bodies also still need to move, to use the energy from our food. It has only been in the last several decades that our bodies have been forced to work out how to process McDonald's Big Macs, Pizza Hut's Stuffed Crust Pizza and a Starbuck's Grande Mocha.
So what are the foods traditional cultures ate to keep their hearts health?
• Fats-Traditional cultures had 30%-80% fat in their daily diet. Animal fats included grassfed lard, tallow and butter. Olive oil and other cold-pressed oils, cream, cod liver oil and coconut oil were also used daily by various traditional cultures.
• Protein-All healthy cultures had some type of protein in their diet, even if it was reptiles or insects. Today we have access to grassfed meats like bison, beef, pork, lamb, chicken, turkey, goose and duck. Eggs were consumed when available also. Raw milk, butter and cheese from grassfed animals were also used as part of a daily diet.
• Organ Meats-Organs like the heart, liver, sweetbreads and others were prized for the super-nutrients that kept tribal cultures healthy. Beef heart is full of CoQ10, which is supplemented today for heart problems, gum disease and inflammation.
• Bone Broths-Broths made from boiling down the bones with raw apple cider vinegar or wine extracts calcium and other rich minerals into the broth. These cultures had about 4 times the amount of calcium and other minerals from their diet than we do today.
• Low-Carb Veggies and Fruits-Lots of greens were eaten and other vegetables and fruits when in season. When eaten with a fat, like butter, your body can assimilate the minerals and vitamins from plant matter better. Absorption is increased dramatically if the plant matter is cooked.
• Seeds, Nuts and Grains-Traditional cultures always soaked, fermented or sprouted seeds, nuts and grains because they have anti-nutrients and phytic acid that inhibit absorption of the nutrients. That's why we have more bowel intolerance problems to grain products today. To be able to access more of the available vitamins, soak grains overnight for porridge the next day.
• Sea salt, Seaweeds and Herbs-Our bodies needs salt. Our modern table salt is bleached and stripped of the trace minerals. Sea salt still has the trace minerals from the ocean that help our bodies utilize the salt. Seaweeds contain natural iodine which nourishes our thyroid. And gentle safe herbs like Hawthorn strengthen and nourish the heart and normalize blood pressure.
By following thousands of years of proven healthy diets we can improve our health today.
©2010 Shanna Ohmes Discover more natural foods and how to prepare them by clicking the following link The Natural Living Site |
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